Posts tagged games
You’re not playing Skyrim, you’re sucking the life out of it.
Skyrim is wonderful. It’s alive.
Wherever you go there is something going on. The characters you meet have stories, thoughts, desires. They have lives.
The more you talk to people, the more you have in common with them. You’ll do anything for them, as long as you get an XP boost in return.
However, once you finish the task that you’ve been asked to complete, they don’t want to know you. They’ll revert to the stock lines and VOs that come out of the mouths of any other Skyrim inhabitant, the same things the unimportant people say… the ones you can’t click on.
Soon you’ll have cleared out a small village. Then Whiterun. Then Winterhold. The people that once greeted you with open arms simply pass by and tell you the origin of their surname. Just like everybody else.
You’re sucking the life out of Skyrim. You monster.
Busy times at PLA Studios - Our first ‘game’.
It’s been busy at PLA Studios lately. Whilst in the middle of putting the finishing touches to our first game, we had a call to make a game for a well-know band. It needed to be done quick, be addictive, and give away a free song. We talked for a bit about the best approach, and then Iain came up with a great idea.
He came up with get182.
It was announced a few days later on BBC Radio 1, during Zane Lowe’s show, and within 2 hours had over 1 million plays.
You can play it at get182.com
We’re incredibly pleased with the response it has got, and Tom wrote a nice little blog post about it over at the PLA blog.
Now we can get back to finishing our first game, which I guess is now our second game…
Wonderputt
I’ve been keeping an eye on, the very aplty named ,Wonderputt for a while. It was created by Reece Millidge, who is otherwise know as Damp Gnat (twitter @dampgnat). It’s not Unity, it’s Flash. Regardless, it’s beautiful, charming, and golfy(DEFINITELY a word).
You can play the game on Kongregate here » Wonderputt
Check out Reece’s website here » dampgnat.com
London Unity3D Usergroup…
This Friday is the first meet up for the new London Unity Usergroup. It’s an event that myself and Jasper Stocker have been organising, and we’re very pleased with the way it’s shaping up.
The idea is to provide inspiration and advice to both new and experienced users. In order to achieve this we’ve managed to bag two very exciting guest speakers. One is quickfingers, who is well know amongst the Unity community, and the other…well, that would be the kind folks from the Unity UK office!
On top of this, the kind folks over at Packt Publishing have supplied us with copies of Unity books to give away!
If you’re in or around London and you’re interested in Unity3D in any way, then I suggest you come along, who knows what could happen….
More details can be found on the meetup page!
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beatLines - A 557kb game in Unity with under 200 lines of code (that includes the comments!)
I’ve always been a believer that the early days of learning game design and development should be like learning a musical instrument…you practice by playing the stuff you listen to. So why not practice game development by making the stuff you play? Then, when you’re good at the basics, you can move onto your own stuff… I really think one of the worst mistakes you can make in the early days is to get carried away and try to make ‘Left 4 Dead’ when you don’t even know how to make Pong…
On the flip side to that, it’s always fun to have small pet projects when you’re bogged down with all the difficult stuff. Creating something basic, with a quick turnaround is a good way to give yourself a quick pat on the back.
So, In order to help some of the newcomers along, I’ve attempted to show how easy it can actually be to create a game in Unity…by recreating one of my favourite games, Elektroplankton.
I loved Elektroplankton on the DS. It was a great mix of quirky and retro-chic…with a nice bit of music generation thrown in. So, for a few hours over the last few weekends I’ve been playing around with recreating the core mechanics. I don’t really have enough time to create proper beats and hooks, so it’s just placeholder sounds. Anyway, Here it is, and it’s called ‘beatLines’.
Source Code…
beatLines source code download
In order for it to be of any use to people, I’ve provided the source code, so you can see how it was made, and go about making your own changes. I’ve commented on most of the lines to give a good idea of how it all works, so hopefully you can work it all out.
Whilst the game is under 200 lines of code, which is a 1/3 comments, it still isn’t the best way in which to make something like this…why? Well, I wanted to cover some things that might become useful in your future developments. The main things that are covered here are…
Triggers
Playing Audio
Turning scripts on or off
Assigning objects to GameObject variables at run-time.
Switching textures
Setting min/max int values
OnMouseOver
Basic input from left and right mouse buttons
Referencing static variables from scripts attached to other objects
So, for example, each time we click on a waypoint, we change the position it faces. We are in fact loading a new texture. We would be better off actually using one texture and rotating the object to actually face the desired direction. If you want to experiment with optimising the code further, then it’s all setup for you, otherwise it can act as a nice reference point to see how you can do certain things…
It’s desperately crying out for some really cool beats, because at the moment it’s just placeholder sounds. If you want to add your own stuff, go ahead. Alternatively, if you’d like to contribute some sounds, then give me an email.
Web Player Version
beatLines - A 557kb game in Unity with under 200 lines of code, including comments.
Sounds provided by http://www.superflashbros.net/as3sfxr/ (thanks to @iainlobb )
video game students have a hard time…
Studying a video games related course? Then you must be pretty excited about the prospects of having a career that revolves around one of your hobbies, right? Well, you should be, but there is a constant whisper through the fog that suggests what you’re doing is completely irrelevant and wont help in your search to ‘break into’ the games industry. Oh dear.
Recently graduated from a video games related course? Then I’d probably guess that, unless you are one of the lucky few, you’re pretty lost and bemused right now.
The stories of how worthwhile game design courses are pops up every 6 months or so, with studio heads claiming that students don’t graduate with the necessary skills and it costs too much to train them up. To be honest, they are probably right, but if you’re on a games related course then you should really be making the most of the time that you have. You need to make sure you’re in a good position come graduation, because that’s really when the hard stuff starts.
The industry, and the mainstream industry in particular, likes to employ ‘specialists’. If you’re not REALLY good at a particular thing, then you’ve not got much of a chance of getting employed in that area. If you’re looking to be an artist or a composer then I’d suggest taking a course that focuses specifically in those areas.
However, general game design courses aren’t all bad, they do give you the opportunity to learn a whole host of skills that you can either put to use to create your own content, or provide you with an opportunity to make a decision on what area of the industry you want to focus on.
There is also an alternative to the ‘mainstream’ industry. Small indie start up studios are always looking for individuals that are multi-talented. There’s no black and white answer to whether or not your course is irrelevant, it’s all down to how you choose to spend your time.
I spent three years at London’s South Bank University, studying the Game Cultures course, and since graduating I’ve also been a member of the teaching staff. The one thing that was blatantly obvious from both sides of the fence is that a lot of the students don’t understand how much work they actually have to put in.
So, whilst there’s a million things that could be said to help any current or prospective student, here are some of things that helped me through it…
Read your unit guide and assessment criteria
So many students ignore this. For the first few sessions they seem to be idly dream of the amazingly beautiful games that they will create in the next 12 weeks, preparing their Bafta acceptance speeches, and boasting about their 1337 Halo skillz…When in reality, if you don’t have a good grasp of what you’re actually going to be marked on, and when it needs to be finished, you’re going to struggle to pass.
Once you understand what this particular unit is asking for, design something for it. If you’ve got an idea you’re desperate to do, but it doesn’t quite fit the unit, then don’t do it, save it for later.
Preparation is key
Arguably the most important part of the development is pre-production. You need to make sure that everything that you are intending to create is written down and that you understand it. Why? So that you know what you need to do. It also helps to solidify an idea, meaning that most of the important areas will be covered. Buy a notepad and pen and stick it in your stylish satchel.
Start writing down what your basic idea is. Then try to look at what control mechanics are required. Once you start thinking about the environment you’ll understand what 3d models are needed. Then you need to think about the textures…and don’t forget sound.
There’s SO much stuff that needs to go into creating your work that writing it down is actually quite a daunting process, but it really helps you understand how hard you need to work.
Stick to your goals
Once you’re into the swing of developing your ideas you need to regularly remind yourself of what you’re trying to achieve. Focus on the core goals of the project and what the ultimate goal is, and make sure you achieve them. If you’ve done a good job in the pre-production and design stage, then you will already know that your project is fleshed out enough, so all you’ve got to do is get it all working.
Starting to design extra mechanics/features during the development stage can really affect your work. Not only could it unbalance what you’ve designed, but it can also waste a lot of time. We all know that coming up with new ideas is exciting, and it’s very exciting to start developing them to see if they work, but the best thing to do is to write it down in as much detail as possible and shelve it for another project.
Talk to others
Talk to other people about your ideas and try and get them to give honest opinions about your work. If you’re asking fellow game design students about what they think, they are usually more than happy to tell you how they would have done it better, so why not listen to what they have to say.
Similarly you should be offering your opinions on other people’s work. Don’t just say you think an idea is bad, but instead focus on the positives and suggest how these could be complimented to improve the overall idea.
You also need to be accepting that not everyone will agree with your opinions, but never take it to heart. Also don’t try to take the moral high ground and hope for a ‘I told you so’ moment…it’s just not nice.
Don’t be afraid to stand up and present your work
One thing I never understood is why people don’t like to stand up and talk about their work. Especially those that are producing work to a high standard. Being able to confidently stand in front of a room of people and articulate your ideas is a great skill.
If I hadn’t of been open to talking about my work then I wouldn’t have been on the front page of the LSBU website, which wouldn’t have contributed to a greater web presence, which wouldn’t have led to my work on the Nissan Leaf project. Standing in front of people might seem a little pointless sometimes, but it can really pay off in the long run.
In order to make the whole process easier you need to be prepared. Presentations should never be left to the last minute and you should start thinking about them at least a week before. Practice what you’re going to say and always focus on the positives of your work. I’ve seen quite a few presentations where students mentioned the things that they didn’t get a chance to put in and all it does it make them look like they weren’t prepared enough.
Post Graduation
Once you’ve graduated you’ll realise that all the talk of a ‘competitive marketplace’ for jobs was grossly under estimated. Everyone that you studied with will be applying for the same jobs as you will..and so will everyone else at all the other universities.
What you need to remember is that there will be a lot of self proclaimed ‘game designers’ out there (I’m one of them), so you’ll need to show that you’re one step ahead of everyone else.
Here’s some of the most important things I’ve learnt over the last 9 months…hopefully you’ll find them useful.
Make small projects that showcase your skills.
Make as much stuff as you can. I’ll be honest and say that in the past I’ve attempted projects that were too large for one person to realistically achieve. Starlings, in it’s initial conception wasn’t too large, I actually spent a lot of time making sure that it was a good balance. The problem was that when I was close to completing the original prototype build I tried to add a lot of extra stuff. I didn’t take the same approach to designing these new ideas, and they were too ambitious. I regretted this period as it took a lot of time to realise that whilst I wanted to develop the new ideas, it would be more beneficial to actually focus on smaller projects.
One of the best bits of advice I’ve received was from Neil Holmes from Blitz1Up. He said that many people attempt projects, but very few actually finish them, which is the most important thing. To be able to show that you can conceive and complete an idea is actually hugely beneficial.
Have a quick think back to all of those people applying for jobs with their generic game design graduate CVs…If you can link potential employers to playable content that you’ve created then you’re going to be ahead of a lot of those.
You’re going to need to learn how to program
The moment I realised this I nearly cried. It wasn’t through the sheer terror of knowing I’d have to be one of ‘those’ guys, but because I couldn’t believe I didn’t realise this sooner.
Anyone on your course will say that they are a game designer, but very few will be programmers. If you’re a passionate designer and want to get your ideas working on screen, then the best thing to do is to do it yourself.
You don’t need to learn to be the world’s best programmer, you just need to learn how to use an engine to prototype your ideas. Start following tutorials online and creating little games based around traditional mechanics and go from there. Once you get the hang of things you’ll feel like your really in control of your own work…
Don’t take yourself too seriously.
One thing I’ve noticed is that students and individuals are taking themselves too seriously. For some reason students are spending more time coming up with fictional company names to attach to their work. I really don’t support this idea, as it actually removes you from your work.
Another reason is that it actually makes you less ‘available’. If you’re putting yourself as an individual out into the marketplace, talking up your talents and portfolio, but all of your work has a ‘company’ name on it, then who actually did the work? Potential employers could be turned off hiring you based on the fact that you already look like your involved in your own business projects and wouldn’t necessarily need a job.
If you’re making games, then put your name on it instead of some imaginary company, and make it easy for people to find you if they like it. The more things you have your name attached to the bigger online presence you’re going to have, making you easier to find.
Get involved
Networking really helps, it’s the same with any career…Sometimes it’s more about who you know rather than what you know. Obviously you’re still going to have to be pretty good at what you do, but knowing people always helps.
Get involved with development communities, either on the web or IN REAL LIFE. Bafta host some great game industry events that are always excellent opportunities to meet industry contacts. Twitter is a brilliant way of finding people of similar interests, as well as just doing a good ol’ google search.
If you find someone who you find particularly interesting, or someone that provided a tutorial that you really liked, then give them an email and let them know…follow them on twitter. Just start making friends.
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Hopefully you’ll find some of this useful….
If you’ve got anything to add to this post then feel free to comment. Whether you agree or disagree I’d love to know what you think….
Valve’s Gabe Newell talks about marketing…
Valve are busy finishing up Portal2, entering the final stretch, where the last remaining bugs are being ironed out and marketing strategies are being revved up.
Valve are also a success. You didn’t need to even read the news last week that Valve make more money per employee than Apple or Google to know that.
That success wasn’t only because Half-Life was awesome, or any of their other games being some of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, but what really helped was a great eye for innovative marketing strategies.
Around 8 minutes in there is a good outlining of Valve’s pricing structure with Steam, and how cutting the price by 75% can give a 40 fold increase in revenue.
Take a look.
Other highlights include
- Highest grossing item in the TF2 store was the most expensive item
- Second highest grossing item in the TF2 store was the cheapest item
- one price for everyone isn’t the best deal, people’s expectations of value is different.
- Valve are a bunch of dropouts. Awesome dropouts.
- Valve look for people that can build communities around their projects and manage that community successfully.
That Dead Island trailer….what do you think?
This post was lifted directly from my blogger account, so excuse the formatting issues…
Game dissection- Mass Effect 2’s UI.
I finally finished Mass Effect 2. After purchasing it on Xbox 360 on launch day, on PC six months later, and on the Playstation 3 launch, I’m ashamed to say that it was at the third attempt that I actually took the jump through the Omega4 relay.
On the two previous attempts I had completed everything up to the moment when you were required to enter the end game. Up until that point I was thoroughly enjoying the experience. The combat, whilst having frustrating mechanics and brain-dead AI was fun. The fluidity of the combat through the environments hardly ever out stayed it’s welcome, and the variety of combat scenarios that play out at any given situation keeps things fresh enough.
So what happened when I had to jump through the Omega4 relay? I felt I needed to take a step back. When reaching milestones in games I like to have a little break and reflect on what I’ve done until that point. If I’ve enjoyed the game it makes the climactic moments special, as I can fully appreciate everything in the moment, rather than reflecting on it later.
That original 24 hour break turned into 48 hours. Then I ran out of money and had to sell some stuff, along with my xbox 360. I never returned. My crew were stranded.
With the PC version I got to the same point and took a little break. Forgetting that Mass Effect 2 doesn’t support Steam Cloud, I lost my save file in a reformat. My crew were not only stranded, they had been wiped from the face of the galaxy.
So I picked it up on PS3, and I finished it. Whilst enjoying the overall experience, for a third time, there were moments that really stood out. The Garrus loyalty mission, along with releasing Grunt from his ‘tube’ were particularly highlights. One complaint I did have was that each of the missions seemed to follow the exact same pattern of ‘land on planet, sit through expositions moments that eventually lead to combat, rinse, repeat.’ It left me thinking “can’t we just talk about it?”. However, it seems that there is enough variety, it just so happened that the order I chose to do the loyalty missions meant that I did all of the combat orientated ones one after the other.
The conversation system is excellent. It’s one of the great game mechanics of all time. The way it revolutionised the flow of interactive cut scenes is hugely important in keeping the player involved within the experience. Heavy Rain used a very similar system, however the ambiguous descriptions of the choices it presented were often confusing, meaning you didn’t always feel in control. Mass Effect handles this extraordinarily well. The placement of your choices dictate whether or not they are going to be ‘good’, ‘bad’ or neutral, whilst the brief descriptions give and indication of which path the conversation is likely to take. You’re always one step ahead of the conversation, meaning there is never a break in the experience.
In contrast to the excellent conversation system is the menu system. I really feel like a trick was missed here (or probably just not enough time). Whilst it’s mostly in context with the overall style of the Mass Effect universe, it’s derivative, very ‘video gamey’, when it could have really have helped the experience.
Press Start and you’ll see this…(well, this is the original Mass Effect screen,but it’s the same…but orange)
Fine, right?
It’s just an options screen. So in a world that we have omni-tools, and in particular ones which are used most of the time as a portable computer, can’t we interact with the menu system in a way that doesn’t remove us from the experience. Fallout 3 says hello.
Having the menu screen activated in a way that makes it seem that Shepard is interacting with an omni-tool would make the player feel as though Shepard is making the decisions. Mass Effect 2 does a great job of making the player make decisions that feel natural to the main character, that it’s a shame it removes the player from the experience so often by switching to the ‘mission computer’… 
Dead Space’s UI is an excellent example of not only designing a UI around the overall game, but using it in a way that improves the experience. You basically can’t piss about with options and stuff in combat. Why? Because your in combat. You need to be prepared and ready to fight at any point.
I’d love to see this approach to UI in more games, especially ones where your supposed to be role playing. Mass Effect 2’s UI didn’t ‘ruin’ the experience in any way, it’s just one of the areas that I would like to have seen more creativity…
0 plays
Weekend Confirmed is a highlight of my week. It really is.
This week’s highlight? Garnett Lee, Jeff Cannata and Jeff Mattas take a closer look at CityVille, Zynga and Facebook as a platform for casual, social games.
I’ve clipped this bit out from the show for you to listen to.
Like this link? Then go get the full podcast from ShackNews…
L.A. Noire - More Gollum, less Jar Jar Binks….
L.A. Noire looks good. I’m not going to say whether I think it will actually be a good game game or not, I’ll leave that to the fanboys, but regardless of the review scores, what L.A. Noire gives us is that the opportunity to sit on the sofa and go…
“oh, it’s him! you know, that guy from that show”
Just like we do with TV shows.
The technology being used to performance capture the actors is one small step away from the uncanny valley, but it’s a very important step. Similarly with Heavy Rain, it allows us to forget that we were involved in a video game in such a way that it allowed us to enjoy video games in a new way, to think about how our decisions affect the main protagonist (and the other characters too) . It made the performances believable and heartfelt. It was the ‘gollum’ moment rather than the usual Jar Jar Binks we are used to getting.
but L.A. Noire will be a step above Heavy Rain. Why?
Because it’s got that guy in it, you know…the one from Mad Men.
An offer you can refuse - Mass Effect 2’s digital release.
The news that Mass Effect 2 was coming to Sony’s PSN was a welcome one. I like digital distribution as a platform when it’s done correctly, which makes it frustrating when the benefits of digital distribution are ignored.
Valve is doing a great job with Steam, it recognises how it can benefit the consumer, as well as the developers, and tries to keep everyone happy. Crazy Steam sales aside, the strength of Steam is that it offers new releases day and date with high street retailers at a price that is on context with the lack of overheads occurred through physical release. Some can argue that online retailers can sell PC games anywhere from £5-£10 cheaper, but this is usually a case by case basis. The basic point is that overall, Valve do a bloody good job with Steam.
When I found out that Mass Effect 2 was having a digital release I was more than prepared to avoid changing out of my pyjamas and purchasing it from my sofa. I’d even quite happily wait for the 10+GB file to download (pre-loading was too much to ask). The price wasn’t even much of an issue. I knew it would be roughly £40 on the high street and £35 online, so somewhere between the two made sense for a game that had very little overheads,right? I was prepared to stand up and applaud Sony for making a great move, a defining move on the console landscape.
I also held out hope that Sony would see the benefits of really making this an attractive offer to those interested in digital distribution. A ‘come and get me’ plea to those wanting to embrace the zeros and ones that would eventually make up our upcoming quest to save the galaxy.
So what did they do?
They shaft you, hard.
£47.99.
There’s no real reason that it should be that price. Why should you pay such a premium for a digital release? Especially when, by the time it downloads, you might as well travel from London to buy it at a store in Dundee, then come back and still have time to install.
More frustrating than the price, was that this was a great opportunity for Sony to do something very interesting. I guess I’ll have to wait around for that to happen, probably in the empty plaza of Playstation Home.
I’m so used to using the XMB to launch PSN games that I sometimes forget that I need to put discs into the machine.
So what happens when I do need to put in a disc? I grumble and moan about getting off the sofa and having to open a box. God forbid if there is already a disc in the PS3 and I have to OPEN ANOTHER FUCKING BOX!
So what does the PS3 need? An old school multi-disc changer.
Buy one, get one free - Valve giving as good as it gets.
Valve are very successfully. Many times I’ve called them ‘the Pixar of the games industry’, and there are very few development studios that are in touch with their communities as Valve are.
There are also very few who are as generous.
Last e3 Gabe Newell surprisingly strode out onto the stage at Sony’s keynote press conference, and within 3 and a half minutes did a good job of improving not only the PS3’s image, but Sony’s (and his).
Newell’s thoughts on the PS3, and in fairness, console platforms as a whole, is that they are too ‘closed’. Fire and forget releases are the norm, and despite the trend in post-release patches of the last 3 years, these are mostly to patch bugs that are present because the game was pushed out too early, rather than to add-functionality and improvements, something that Valve think is necessary.
Team Fortress 2 is a vastly different game to what it was on release. Half-Life 2 has benefited through post-release patches that has implemented things like HDR lighting. Not only does Valve bring gameplay updates, but they update games to meet the latest hardware specs and technical trends.
So 9 months after Gabe Newell praised Sony effectively giving Valve the keys, prompting a PS3 release of Portal 2 with integrated ‘Steam works’ patch delivery platform…they go and do this….
Buy the game on Playstation 3…get it for FREE on PC and Mac.
Valve, you REALLY didn’t have to do this, but it’s amazing that you did.
There is a high possibility that Portal 2 is going to be good. Regardless of the quality of the game play, one of the most important features is that Portal 2 will allow cross-platform game play. For this to be a success, Valve need to sell a lot of copies, on multiple platforms. Or do they? Why not just give it away, ensuring that there are more copies of it in the wild. Sure, they wouldn’t make as much money as if they had sold those copies, but how many people are actually going to buy it on multiple platforms anyway?
Bravo, Valve, bravo.
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