In other news. I have a mua-hassive backlog of games to play and TV to watch, not only having a ton of work to get on with. It's all piling up!!
You don't have to see the world to know that it keeps turning
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Concept Items
Playtesting has been going well. Figuring out which mechanics work, which don't and coming up with new weapons and items on the fly. Here are a bunch of sketch designs for some weapons, if I could get some feedback about which work and which don't, that'd be really helpful. I know which ones are my favourite, but I'd like some feedback about which of the different items look best.
In other news. I have a mua-hassive backlog of games to play and TV to watch, not only having a ton of work to get on with. It's all piling up!!
In other news. I have a mua-hassive backlog of games to play and TV to watch, not only having a ton of work to get on with. It's all piling up!!
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Incoming Transmission
Hello? Hello? Damn, this blog's dusty. Ok Christmas was great New Years was great blah blah I'm stressed about the course and filled with a foreboding sense of dread.
BUT.
I've finished up a bunch of rough cards and designs for Research Outpost: Hades and I'm hoping to get a game going this Thursday, mainly to test out the mechanics. It should be fun, there'll be a lot of changing rules up on the fly to see what works and what doesn't. I'm going to be concentrating on the core gameplay, so there won't be anything like the underwater areas or having to worry about environments without any atmosphere. It could be fun, it could be a disaster! Either way, it'll be helpful to get some information about the game as it's being played. Oh golly gosh this is exciting!!
In other news: I've been playing games that nobody bought recently. Surprise surprise, both NieR, Rock Band 3 and Bayonetta are really good fun. Wonderful art direction and gameplay that you can sink your teeth into. NieR feels like a cross between Kingdom Hearts and a bullet hell shooter at times, some of the patterns of magic you have to dodge from the bosses feel very DoDonPach-ey.
See what I did there?
Heh.
BUT.
I've finished up a bunch of rough cards and designs for Research Outpost: Hades and I'm hoping to get a game going this Thursday, mainly to test out the mechanics. It should be fun, there'll be a lot of changing rules up on the fly to see what works and what doesn't. I'm going to be concentrating on the core gameplay, so there won't be anything like the underwater areas or having to worry about environments without any atmosphere. It could be fun, it could be a disaster! Either way, it'll be helpful to get some information about the game as it's being played. Oh golly gosh this is exciting!!
In other news: I've been playing games that nobody bought recently. Surprise surprise, both NieR, Rock Band 3 and Bayonetta are really good fun. Wonderful art direction and gameplay that you can sink your teeth into. NieR feels like a cross between Kingdom Hearts and a bullet hell shooter at times, some of the patterns of magic you have to dodge from the bosses feel very DoDonPach-ey.
See what I did there?
Heh.
For a thousand years on this prison moon
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Furutes
I feel like this project is going to be the end of me. I was freaking out the other day about how I didn't want to fail the course, which I don't, but I think I'm getting better about this. I sent a draft of the essay to my tutor just now, but hadn't done anything for the IP Justification. I don't have an IP yet, but that's something I'm going to spend time working on now.
It's the same kind of problem I've always had, I freak out about deadlines then waste time doing pointless rubbish. Like with this, I knew I had to get the Horizon Scanning done a few days ago, but instead I just wasted a few hours playing Super Meat Boy. Should be alright with this, I've kinda got an idea for the IP. Because my Futures project is talking about character customisation and mascots a lot, I might do something similar to Maplestory, an accessible platformer game with character customisation and premium items.
Anyway none of this matters. The band I was a part of last year that I thought everybody has forgotten about is apparently semi-famous. We put a few of our songs online, and somebody in Germany used "Av Minne" as a backing track for a video of theirs. I think this is actually seven shades of awesome, video's below.
It's the same kind of problem I've always had, I freak out about deadlines then waste time doing pointless rubbish. Like with this, I knew I had to get the Horizon Scanning done a few days ago, but instead I just wasted a few hours playing Super Meat Boy. Should be alright with this, I've kinda got an idea for the IP. Because my Futures project is talking about character customisation and mascots a lot, I might do something similar to Maplestory, an accessible platformer game with character customisation and premium items.
Anyway none of this matters. The band I was a part of last year that I thought everybody has forgotten about is apparently semi-famous. We put a few of our songs online, and somebody in Germany used "Av Minne" as a backing track for a video of theirs. I think this is actually seven shades of awesome, video's below.
OUTTAKES: BERLIN from À NOS AMOURS on Vimeo.
You won't let those robots eat me
Friday, 5 November 2010
D:
Ok so. I'm actually really happy with how the Proposal project is going. I think that my pitch pages have come out really well and I feel like there's going to be a lot to talk about. There is one problem though. On the cover sheet for my pitch, I've used the Roman symbol for Pluto - God of the afterlife. I've used Greek terminology a lot, even in the title, so using Roman isn't too much of a stretch, right? Anyway, cover sheet down there.
Now that's fine. I'm happy with that. Then, one of the people in the class looks at it and mentions that it has more than a passing resemblance to one of the Eldar's signs from Warhammer 40,000. I google it, and sure enough, he's right.
First reaction - Aaaaaaaa. Can I even use my original idea? It's so similar to another symbol that's used popularly in a similar setting. It should be fine, right? It's a different style, and they're both based on an ancient symbol. It's not plagiarism, we're both using something from 2000 years ago that is probably in the public domain by now.
tl;dr: I'm annoyed that it looks like I'm ripping off the Eldar. They're objectively the worst race in 40k as well, which is just rubbing it in.
Now that's fine. I'm happy with that. Then, one of the people in the class looks at it and mentions that it has more than a passing resemblance to one of the Eldar's signs from Warhammer 40,000. I google it, and sure enough, he's right.
First reaction - Aaaaaaaa. Can I even use my original idea? It's so similar to another symbol that's used popularly in a similar setting. It should be fine, right? It's a different style, and they're both based on an ancient symbol. It's not plagiarism, we're both using something from 2000 years ago that is probably in the public domain by now.
tl;dr: I'm annoyed that it looks like I'm ripping off the Eldar. They're objectively the worst race in 40k as well, which is just rubbing it in.
I foamed at the mouth while the lights winked at me
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Fun Animation
Did some more work on those guns I put up the other day. Modelled them in Maya, then animated them expanding and collapsing. Sort of like Mass Effect or Vanquish, I like to think I've achieved it quite well! Have some gifs. Obviously the guns aren't textured yet, I'll do that eventually. This was fun though! I haven't properly modelled something in Maya for a while, and there were a few mistakes made here. Still, pretty enjoyable, I really liked animating them too!
Tier 1 weapon
Tier 2 weapon
Tier 3 weapon
Need to get to work on this Pitch Doc. A whole week to do two or three pages? Ooh I dunno, sounds like a tall order.
Tier 1 weapon
Tier 2 weapon
Tier 3 weapon
Need to get to work on this Pitch Doc. A whole week to do two or three pages? Ooh I dunno, sounds like a tall order.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Gun nut
I tried designing some weapons for the characters in the board game to use. I know I should've been working on Futures or Honours, but I really wanted to try out my new tablet. I used the technique that guy oh God I should be able to remember his name. Uhh. Him. I used his technique to make the guns, just drawing shapes and seeing what worked. I'm pretty happy with them, the idea is that the guns on the left are the compact forms, and they expand into the larger forms on the right. I reckon I could animate these myself, wouldn't be too hard, right? I like animation, it's easy enough once you get your head around it.
I might have overdone it on the white bits on the expanded forms, but they're really just there to break up the black space. They'll probably be replaced with smaller more subtle details on the final thing, it's just a sketch for now.
I might have overdone it on the white bits on the expanded forms, but they're really just there to break up the black space. They'll probably be replaced with smaller more subtle details on the final thing, it's just a sketch for now.
Got no time to take a picture
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Let's talk about storytelling pt. 2
I talked about bad storytelling, now let's talk about good storytelling
Left 4 Dead is one of my favourite examples of storytelling in recent years. There is one cutscene at the start of the game when you first turn it on to get you established in the game universe, but everything else is in-engine. Despite the game never taking you out of the action to force you to listen to the characters banter, they are still characterised excellently. From the way they shout when they see monsters attacking, to even the way they dress and their idle stance. Just from the characters interactions, we can paint a picture of their background.
Another commendable part of the characters in L4D is that they are all on equal playing fields, and nobody mentions race or gender. Louis' character is that he is the super-boring IT technician, not the black character. Zoey is a horror movie geek teenager who was more prepared for the apocalypse than her friends, not the woman.
The ball was royally dropped with The Sacrifice DLC and Left 4 Dead 2 but I'm not going to talk about that now. I'll just say that the although the new campaigns leading into each other works much better than 4 unrelated campaigns, the new survivors aren't as well realised as the original survivors.
Despite it going completely loopy towards the end, I thought that Condemned 2 was admirable for the way it tried to tell it's story. The cut-scenes between levels are mercifully short and exist mainly to provide context to the different locations the players find themselves in. The main part that I feel deserves praise is the investigation mechanic. The player puts themselves in the main characters shoes and is expected to figure out the sort of puzzles that are generally reserved for the boffins at HQ.
The plot develops with the character, the investigation gameplay ties directly into the main overarcing storyline so the player never feels too disconnected from the actions of the story. You begin to feel a connection with the characters, Le Rue saving your life a few times, and Rosa providing helpful information regarding the mission.
Although I mention Condemned 2 being a good example of storytelling, it is a very bad example of narrative in games. A lot of the levels (Doll factory, Carnival) seem barely connected to the main game, and also don't make any fucking sense. Not only that, but the story goes off the rails at the end with talks of an ancient cult connected to the Mayor, Police Force and the Presidency.
Finally, I would like to talk about X-Com: Ufo Defence. The entire game has three cut-scenes. An opening cut-scene which is mostly irrelevant to the actual game, a "bad ending" in case of a failure state, and a "good ending" for when the player succeeds. However, the game creates a massive sense of attachment to the marines, despite them being essentially faceless and completely devoid of dialogue or personality whatsoever.
The sense of paranoia and the feeling of being watched is present throughout the entire game. The fog of war hangs tightly over the battleground, but the player knows that behind any corner could be an army of aliens fully able to destroy the character in a few turns. The sense of fragility next to the paranoia works excellently in making the player feel very defensive of his marines. When a mission starts going wrong you worry about your characters, especially the high-ranking marines with high skills. They may be the most skilled, but when they die, they're dead.
There are other games I could talk about here, but these are the ones I wanted to talk about. I chose not to talk about games that are generally too plot-centric, as they have their own thing that they do in their own way. I might do a part 3 where I summarise. I might also talk to Rhoda about putting something like this on WebCT. Maybe???
Left 4 Dead is one of my favourite examples of storytelling in recent years. There is one cutscene at the start of the game when you first turn it on to get you established in the game universe, but everything else is in-engine. Despite the game never taking you out of the action to force you to listen to the characters banter, they are still characterised excellently. From the way they shout when they see monsters attacking, to even the way they dress and their idle stance. Just from the characters interactions, we can paint a picture of their background.
Another commendable part of the characters in L4D is that they are all on equal playing fields, and nobody mentions race or gender. Louis' character is that he is the super-boring IT technician, not the black character. Zoey is a horror movie geek teenager who was more prepared for the apocalypse than her friends, not the woman.
The ball was royally dropped with The Sacrifice DLC and Left 4 Dead 2 but I'm not going to talk about that now. I'll just say that the although the new campaigns leading into each other works much better than 4 unrelated campaigns, the new survivors aren't as well realised as the original survivors.
Despite it going completely loopy towards the end, I thought that Condemned 2 was admirable for the way it tried to tell it's story. The cut-scenes between levels are mercifully short and exist mainly to provide context to the different locations the players find themselves in. The main part that I feel deserves praise is the investigation mechanic. The player puts themselves in the main characters shoes and is expected to figure out the sort of puzzles that are generally reserved for the boffins at HQ.
The plot develops with the character, the investigation gameplay ties directly into the main overarcing storyline so the player never feels too disconnected from the actions of the story. You begin to feel a connection with the characters, Le Rue saving your life a few times, and Rosa providing helpful information regarding the mission.
Although I mention Condemned 2 being a good example of storytelling, it is a very bad example of narrative in games. A lot of the levels (Doll factory, Carnival) seem barely connected to the main game, and also don't make any fucking sense. Not only that, but the story goes off the rails at the end with talks of an ancient cult connected to the Mayor, Police Force and the Presidency.
Finally, I would like to talk about X-Com: Ufo Defence. The entire game has three cut-scenes. An opening cut-scene which is mostly irrelevant to the actual game, a "bad ending" in case of a failure state, and a "good ending" for when the player succeeds. However, the game creates a massive sense of attachment to the marines, despite them being essentially faceless and completely devoid of dialogue or personality whatsoever.
The sense of paranoia and the feeling of being watched is present throughout the entire game. The fog of war hangs tightly over the battleground, but the player knows that behind any corner could be an army of aliens fully able to destroy the character in a few turns. The sense of fragility next to the paranoia works excellently in making the player feel very defensive of his marines. When a mission starts going wrong you worry about your characters, especially the high-ranking marines with high skills. They may be the most skilled, but when they die, they're dead.
There are other games I could talk about here, but these are the ones I wanted to talk about. I chose not to talk about games that are generally too plot-centric, as they have their own thing that they do in their own way. I might do a part 3 where I summarise. I might also talk to Rhoda about putting something like this on WebCT. Maybe???
It looked as if I picked your name out of a hat
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