Game design concepts

Today saw the start of the game design course by Ian Schreiber. The course is online and it's free, and will be published on his blog for everyone to see. The first predictable post is on the definition of 'game' and 'play'.
Here's the post:
Game design concepts - Lesson 1

If you are a game designer still learning like me, it will be an invaluable experience.

Braid

I am always against latest fashions, and this happens also for games. Whenever I see a game getting enormous acclaim, I think that it's somehow overrated.
I did the same with Braid, a game by Jonathan Blow, but then I tried the demo all the same. Only one play through the first two level was needed to change my mind. Braid is deserving every bit of the good reviews it already has. Check the demo on Steam.

Shift

Shift is a wonderful game I just discovered. As usual, the most marvelous and innovative games are Flash...
In Shift you play the part of a monochromatic man who runs in black and white labyrinths, trying to get to the exit. What sets the game aside from the rest is the ability to press Shift to turn the world upside down, and go where you couldn't before. If you're white you're walking on white blocks into black space, and vice versa (if you're black you stand on black and can move into white space).

The author, Antony Lavelle, has made three of them. I recommend playing the third first if you only want to give it a quick go, otherwise start from the first (they tend to repeat the first tutorial levels).

Shift 1
Shift 2
Shift 3

Amazingly, the second and third games also have a level editor! I love level editors!!

Froggle

A nifty little game from team HardCode, a group of DigiPen students. Directly from their site:

"You control a small frog-like creature that can use his extraordinarily long tongue to grapple, bounce and swing around a world of beautiful terrariums. Navigate and explore a variety of picturesque environments, complete different sets of entertaining challenges, all while licking flies and flicking other froggles. The interactive cartoon world of Froggle comes to life as you discover where your tongue can take you."



Team HardCode also submitted it to the IGF for the students' showcase...

Back to the roots

Today on the site ArsLudica a guy posted a small article about the fact that SEGA and EA are cutting a number of new IPs in favor of tested franchises. He complained that people writing comments in response to the news didn't understand the situation and only asked for sequels of the storical SEGA franchises.

Part of a comment (in italian) to the blog post says:
"- credit crunch fucked Factor 5: Nintendo blocked the development of Kid Ikarus Wii because she was let down by Eggebrecht & co.'s work and they didn't have credit warranties.
- A massive credit crunch could bring the [videogames] sector to "casualize" even more, killing risky AAA titles in favor of silly games that will put someone like EA or Ubisoft on the same level of a start-up company."

I say, this isn't bad at all. Ok, some people will get fired, and this is sad, but I'm an optimistic person and I think that in the end those ex-employees will find something to do.
What gives me hope is that, if this scenario is realized, all the indie companies will get more power, more sales, and more funds. Games will get better thanks to this renewed competition, and for people like me (small independent aspiring developers) it will be easier to break into the industry with some small concept turned into reality.
Those same people fired by the great companies will try to put up their business and maybe succeed, and get their revenge with some quality games. It would be a great renewal! It would be like in the eighties when individuals coded a game from start to end...
The games industry would only get better this way.

Will Flash 9 ever arrive on Wii?

Everybody knows that Wii has got a browser, that the browser is Opera, and that it can only play Flash movies up to the version 7.
Now everybody knows that Flash 7 is old now, there was 8 who added filters, enhanced video playback, there was 9 (the current standard) that brought ActionsScript 3.0, and now there's 10, which brings to the table some nifty features like 3D APIs, image processing effects and so on.

I am investigating into making some games for Flash on the Wii, thanks to some great APIs created by the guys at Wiicade, which let you use the wiiremote in awesome ways even in a Flash game. You could use buttons other than A, you could read the rotation of the wiimote, the distance from the sensor bar and wether or not it's pointing at the screen. This is all good things and actually I already made a small game, although it's incomplete.

The problem is that with Flash 7 we're not going anywhere. I'm tired of ActionScript 2.0, and besides, I can't even port things to the Wii easily from now on. So Nintendo should really let Opera update the browser, and a rumor has it that they are just doing that. The rumor appeared in December, so it's a bit old now, but I'm not desperate yet. Some things point at the fact that while that rumor is not accurate and the screenshot provided is a fake, the Wii could receive a Browser Channel update sometime soon.

1 - There was a post at the Opera forums that told people why the browser could only play Flash 7 movies. That post was sticky, meant to be seen from everyone, but not it's not the case. Maybe the Opera team means to bury that thread because it's becoming old? Will this be a hint that the browser will add Flash 9 or 10 soon?

2 - The PS3 can play Flash 9 movies. They haven't got an exclusive, so there's no reason Nintendo couldn't have them.

3 - Adobe released some sort of kit of APIs to let everyone port Flash to every device. They mean to spread the player even more, to conquer more than the PC scene. This could mean that Nintendo doesn't need a deal to use Flash 9 on his browser, but I can't bet on it.

Some people think that Opera has a new version of the Wii Browser already, they are only waiting for Nintendo to give the green light. Let's keep fingers crossed.

Kind Code

Some days ago Kotaku and other sites published an article about a patent filed by Nintendo (from Miyamoto itself actually) about something called Kind Code.
I read a big deal of the patent itself, and came out with the following: Kind Code is a fanciful name for something that actually exists in some way, and then some more.
The patent describes various ways to play a game: "Play", "Digest" and "Scenes select".
"Play" is the normal way of playing a game, and then it adds a hint button that the player may press to get a hint for riddle and puzzles in the games (I guess it won't work for action games).
"Scenes select" is also something already seen (lately in Alone in the Dark): the player can select, from the first time he starts the game, the chapter that he wants to play. So he can choose the last level, and clear the game in 5 minutes. It's an option, a bad one for me, but not too stupid.
"Digest" is the new part that generated a lot of chaos: the player is allowed to see a video of the developer playing the game (thus turning the game in a sort of movie) and by pressing a button, he can drop in the game and take control. Playing in digest mode does not allow to save.

While I can see that some people tremble at the thought of "games as movies", I think it's not something to worry about too much, since the patent clearly states (I'm quoting it directly):

"That is, a player who desires to easily play the game or a player who dose not have a lot of time for the game is allowed to easily enjoy the game by selecting the "digest" (or "scene menu" described below). On the other hand, a player who desires to enjoy the game as much as possible is allowed to thoroughly enjoy, by selecting the "game", the game including, for example, a trick event, and a sub-story (elements other than the main game story) which are not provided in the "digest". Further, data of the game obtained by his/her own attacking can be stored as saved data."

So the key is in the hands of the developers and hardcore players do not need to worry about it. Furthermore it's only a patent for now, so it's higly possible to misunderstand it.
I'm having a big discussion with people at ArsLudica (sorry, it's in italian)... it seems that people like a lot to bash new things, just for the pleasure of bragging. Some of them twist the meaning of the article that started it all, just to say something. Every discussion is impossible.

Fly! Clyde!

This being the title of a game for the iPhone I'm working on, with the help of three other guys from the Rome scene of development ;)
It's a vertical shooter set between the two World Wars. It has a comical feel to it, kinda like Metal Slug (I'm not saying it will have that class though!)

I just finished the preliminary work on the blog, we're going to post some things about the development... for everyone interested, here's the URL:

http://flyclyde.blogspot.com

IGF has come and gone, for me at least

Some time back I entered UFHO for the Independent Games Festival. Yesterday the finalists were nominated and we aren't among them. I can't but feel a little disappointed, but after all I wasn't expecting too much. Don't get me wrong, I love UFHO and I still really believe in the concept, but I think it needs a little bit of polish still to get noticed. Oh well...

Anyway at IGF the judges tend to prefer smaller concept games, but this is not a critic! There are wonderful games among the finalists, I just tried The Graveyard by Tale of Tales, a Belgian developers duo. It's kinda poetic.
There's also You Have to Burn the Rope! It's a crazy game, very very long, it takes five months to beat it. Play the game first, and if you get struck read the manual and the complete walkthrough.

World of Goo Level Editor

Today's the day. World of Goo is going to be available on the European WiiWare service. I'll buy it as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, I found out that someone called "nitrozark" started a project for a free World of Goo Level Editor. It's available on SourceForge here: http://apps.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/wogedit
The guys at 2D boy know that, and they gave their blessing to the editor. Hurrah!

You can't fool a casual (gamer) thrice

What I mean is... why software houses are trying so hard on the average casual gamer? How long do they think it's gonna last?
If a person that just got close to videogames buys a really bad game, one of those games that swears "Fun for the whole family!", and then turns out to be boredom for the whole family and even the pets, maybe he will try again.
He could buy another bad game, but that's it. There's a company (whose initials are D.D.) who developed a complete series of bad games in a few months, each one similar to all the other ones (although being different genres). How many they think they can sell, after this bad service to the player?
I'm referring of course to Wii and DS situation, I'm sick tired of seeing a bunch of cash-ins every month. If they keep going like this, each casual and potential hardcore player will turn off in disgust from videogames.

You can trick a casual gamer into buying your game once. Maybe you can fool him twice. But you can't fool a casual THRICE.

(actually some get fooled more than ten times... but not all!)

Fieldrunners

Surely Fieldrunners came a bit ago, it's not new and neither is the concept. But on the iPhone this is the greatest execution of the Tower defence gameplay. As you can see the graphics are really sharp and both towers and troops are fully animated.
The only downside is that, as of now, there's only 2 maps and 4 types of towers, but Subatomic Studios add features with every release, so maybe the situation will get better.

I got really hooked by Fieldrunners, of course it's only tower defense after all, but if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch, you should give it a try. I think the current price is around 3 dollars...

UFHO has been entered for the Independent Games Festival

UFHO, my Flash game, has been entered as a contestant for the 11th Independent Games Festival. The entrance fee was 95 dollars, that's why it took so long for us to submit it, we're stingy (whenever I say "we", I mean me and my boss, it's a "company we").
I can't say I think it could win in any cathegory for there could be spectacular games out there, but deep in my heart I know UFHO has a great concept and if it was managed in a better way could have been a big hit as far as puzzle games go.

The Retro Remakes 2008 competition

Some time ago I discovered this competition about making retro games. Well, not every category is retro, but 5 out of 6 are, so... It's called Retro Remakes Big Competition, and is hosted by the Retro Remakes site. You can see the rules and all on the competition blog, and everything else on the forums.
They accept games in almost every form, for every platform, but the deadline is December the 2nd, so hurry up.

I'll be entering with a game in the Games For Helen category, that is games that can be played by people with physical difficulties. There's two subcategories: one for games that have a one-button control scheme (if you can call it a scheme), and games that are controlled with the gaze of the eye. Yes. Gaze, you read it well. Look here (look, ah ah).
My game will use Flash as platform of development and will be called Paper Circus, it's a game in which you are a boy that dreams of his paper circus becoming real, and the player must perform a circus show to please the public. The game will be made up of very small mini-games...
I can't share much for now because I just started, but more will come soon.

Wario Land: Shake It creative advertising

This is something that HAD to be shared:
http://it.youtube.com/experiencewii
Let the video run for at least 20 seconds and you'll see...

Beside the very funny commercial, I love this game. Too bad that the first reviews say that it's a little bit short...

A custom class to draw dashed lines in Flash

Ever wanted to draw a beautiful dashed line in Flash with a single line of code?... Well you can't do it yet, but my code needs only three or four to intialize the object and then one for each line.

I made a custom class called DashedLine, which is an extension of the flash.display.Shape class. With it you can create a DashedLine instance that has the following methods:
drawDashedLine - Draws a dashed line between to points. You have to provide four coordinates.
drawDashedLineP - Draws a dashed line. You have to provide two Point objects.
drawDashedRectangle - Draws a dashed rectangle. You have to provide the two coordinates of the left top corner, and then width and height.
clearAll - Deletes all the lines

I wrote every explanation at the top of the class file DashedLine.as. Don't forget to import the file, I put it in a package called ccontinisio (so you'll remember me when you use it).
Don't bother to quote me when you use it, I'm not after personal glory :D

Here's the file:
DASHEDLINE_CLASS (.zip)

(manually copy this link if the above doesn't work...
http://ccontinisio.altervista.org/varie/DashedLine_class.zip)

Spore: Space stage

Well, this post actually talks about everything except the Space stage, because I reached it only at 3.00 AM last night, so I was forced to turn the game off (I have a daytime work, you know).

After trying the demo I bought the game, so how is the full game? Is it worth 54,90 € (italian price)? The answer can be yes, for the most part. Spore is a fun, addictive game, maybe a little short since I arrived at the final stage in two days of gaming.
I also find it a little bit annoying at time, with some stages (the tribal and the civilization ones) a little bit too tedious due to the small repeating tasks and the slow pace. As most reviewers wrote before me, the game feels like an action game, a sim game, a strategy game, all stripped down in some way and packed together. So a little disappointing from this point of view.

BUT they're packed together with the best editors out there (except for the anthem creator), and they are really one of the best accomplishments of videogames of all times. The game also has a plethora of accomplishments, like 50 in all. From the Spore Addict (play for more than 100 hours) to the Deja Vu (see a creature you created before in a new game on a different planet).
And the cutscenes are too much fun, I will play the whole game again just to see them.

So yes, it was worth it. I expect to create at least 50 beings before the end of the month...

Pro (R)Evolution Soccer

Tonight I have to talk about one of the most surprising games of the latest years. Yes it's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 for the Wii, and I'm gonna tell you why. Meanwhile, watch some movies of the game if you don't know about it.

This game does what I dream I could do at least once in my life, to take game mechanics unchanged since ten or more years, and change them. The team at Konami (I think the name is Greyhound) took classic aim-with-the-dpad-and-pass-with-a-button mechanic and reworked it, giving the gamers so much freedom that when I watched the first video I thought: "ok, this looks good but... is it gonna work?"
Thanks God that team was creative and looking really forward, everyone could have said "the Wii doesn't have PES, let's take the last version and port it there". After all they could have taken the PS2 graphics (and it's what they did) and only port the controls.
Instead they built a game from the ground specifically for the Wii, and changed things so much that I think I will never play an 'old conception' football game without feeling deprived of something. I'm not going to explain every move in the game, I only want to make clear that you can move every single player in the game, whether with the ball or not, and pass in every single space, pixel perfectly. And move at about ten different speeds. It's the ultimate football control.
And all of this when the other versions of PES let you move and pass only in eight directions. Think about it.

On board of the spore mania

As a big fan as I am of game editors, I couldn't resist to give Spore Creature Creator a try.
For those who don't know the game, Spore is a simulator game in which you build your creature and then take it through all the stages of evolution. The game is full of editors to create your creature, buildings, spaceships and so on, and Creature Creator is one of them.
What I didn't knew though is how powerful the editor is. It lets the user assemble a monster in so many ways that it's simply overwhelming. Also from a technical point of view, it's also an enourmous accomplishment in character animation since every creature that you do, no matter if the legs are stitched on the forehead, animates properly, walks, jumps, and so on. Even the textures stretch to fit the form YOU created, not some shape that the developers thought of in advance. It's complete freedom. Well not 100% complete, but you get the point.

I thank God I only have the Demo edition so the pieces to create my creatures are limited, otherwise I could spend days creating the latest fashion in monsters.

Speaking about Spore, I once had an interesting conversation with my uncle about why he didn't like videogames. He said that games are only a big, very big bunch of predetermined game states, and playing is only going through them. What he meant is that games aren't interesting because you're essentially doing something that someone else set for you, in a way he had already predicted.
While I see this is ultimately true, I don't see this as a problem... after all, games are like a story that the developers are telling us, so it's ok if they know how we're going to play it.
With Spore though, I think that even the developers haven't foreseen every possibility. And I think it's the first time in the history of games... well ok, maybe I'm too excited about it and I forget other games who had editors before it, but seriously: try Spore Creature Creator Demo.

PS: did I mention that Spore CC lets you take screenshots and videos of your creations and upload them on Youtube directly from within the game? Here's my latest one:

Oh my I also forgot another thing. The creature creator features dynamic simplicistic music, that changes based on the action you do. There's a basic beat and then the music changes when the game is loading a texture or you attach a part to the creature... Spore's dynamic music is poetry for me...

UPDATE: I just found this nice article on Spore's dynamically generated music.

MMORPG: How can we make people play less?

I wrote an article about MMORPGs. Long story short:

This article deals with my thoughts on online multiplayer role playing games that push the player to stay hours and hours in front of the screen and make him lose contact with real life and relatives/friends. Since this behaviour is obviously wrong, this article proposes some ways to actually force the player to play less time. This is done by incorporating elements that makes the player lose if he plays too much. Further, a number of proposals are made to make the player feel "rewarded" as much as he is by playing other MMORPGs.

To read it:
http://www.notesongamedev.net/inspiration/play-less/

Careful: it's long.