The Etrain Games

Galaxy Nexus Geeky Art Challenge

2011-11-18T19:56:00.001-05:00

I saw this tweet

I then thought, "Awesome, I get to be creative this time!" Google has this contest on Twitter, you see, and they're giving away the Galaxy Nexus to those swift enough to answer uber-challenging puzzles before everyone else. I'm very glad that some of these questions, such as the one above, are not about speed, but creativity.

Not to say that I cannot handle the other puzzles, of course. I managed to crack some of them last year on my own - but of course, I was too slow.

When the above tweet was posted on the 15th, I was knee-deep in assignments and couldn't bother thinking about drawing a picture, or anything of the sort. Now that there is a brief lull in University work tonight, I thought I'd take a crack at it.

A good friend of mine also participated in this challenge and submitted a funny drawing. I suppose physical media is the only fair media in a competition full of graphic designers, 3D modellers, and compositors from around the world with super-expensive equipment. I'm no exception, being a game developer, so I decided to put my creative ideas to the test.

I found a game:

It's convenient that I recently purchased 麻将 (Majiang, or Mahjong for the English). It's green, and so is the Droidman itself. The cat came to help:

It's okay; I wanted it all over the floor like that anyway. I had to start building Sir Droidson McDroidger XVII.

And I'm quite selective about which tiles are the prettiest. AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

I made an ice cream cake earlier in the week. Partially relevant. After some ~~caking~~ moving around tiles, I now have:

But it needs to be GEEKIER. What can I do? I'm literally thinking as I type this, because the picture above reflects what is still on the ground beside me. I really like China, and I really like Android. Hmmmmm. I'm kinda geeking both of them right now, aren't I? A penta-band Galaxy Nexus would be so useful in China and Canada, or any other network!

What would Rocky Balboa do?

...NOT GIVE UP.

No problem. I got 象棋 (Xiangqi) for good measure.

I'm having issues taking this final photo. I need to be super-still. It would be nice if I had a 1080p camera or something.

I present to you: 安的锐 (An de rui)

It comes it peace, or pieces.

ALL DONE.

Its antennas have full reception. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog, goodnight!

The Beginning of the End

2011-09-09T21:04:00.001-04:00

I'll get the cliched reference out of the way first:

This week I began my first week of lectures for my fourth year of Game Development. This year I will be, for the first time, conducting a group for two major course projects. I am thrilled!

Also, I am the president of the Game Development Club, and my team and I have hauled serious effort into making this year's club the best it has ever been. The main idea I want to get off my chest here is the fact that this may be my final year of post-secondary studies ever. Mind you, everything changes.

Android IME Comparison: Gingerbread Keyboard VS. Swype

2011-06-19T18:20:00.001-04:00

Typing on a small capacitive display warrants an intuitive input method (IME). On Android 2.3.X (Gingerbread), the built-in keyboard is quite good, but there are numerous other input methods available for download, thanks to Android's modular design. On my laptop PC keyboard, my typing speeds range from 90-130 words per minute with 85-100% accuracy, and I can only hope to achieve such speed and accuracy on my phone.

The two keyboards I will be comparing are the native Gingerbread keyboard and Swype Beta 3.6. For the most part, I use default settings and will specify when I have changed settings for comparitive purposes. I will not extensively cover the features of both keyboards since I only intend to cover the differences of the purpose they both serve. Any features that I do not mention were probably too similar and not worth mentioning.

Which keyboard is better?

Better, as in: most comfortable, most practical, and has best speed potential.

Pecking
"Pecking" refers to tapping on keys to write out a message. The IMEs in question have very similar pecking methods, especially since it's the most popular input method for handhelds in the world (think Blackberries, XBOX/PS3 Controllers add-ons) since it most closely resembles typing on a standard keyboard with the QWERTY layout. However, on a small device this typically involves both thumbs and nothing more.

Gingerbread

I can type my sentences on the Gingerbread keyboard perfectly as long as my finger lands adjacent to the desired letters; the autocorrect will fix most of my mistakes upon spacebar-press. It's incredibly responsive.

The spacebar has an orange glow meaning it will change the underlined mispelled word to the bold auto-suggested word.

Swype

Pecking works fairly well on Swype in terms of autocorrect. Swype is obviously designed for Swyping and not pecking, but it's important to have pecking for typing any personal jargon not readily available within a typical autocorrect dictionary. Not bad, but not perfect.

Left: When typing at a regular pace, I sometimes miss the spacebar button and hit the comma instead. I'm not too keen on having so many keys on the bottom, but I presume those buttons were intended for careful use (such as voice input and language selection, I happen to enjoy Swype's Pinyin IME).

Right: Alternative to using the spacebar to complete a word, I used the autocorrect instead. My result was a slightly slower input, but with more accurate spelling since I would click on the bold suggested word instead of the spacebar to complete each word and provide an automatic space afterward. This slightly compensates for its small-spacebar shortcoming.

Best Pecking: Gingerbread

Punctuation
When it comes to typing anything in English, simple punctuation such as commas make a huge difference with what message you're trying to convey. No arguing. That being said, I like to have an IME that integrates easy punctuation input.

Gingerbread
By default, the bottom row of the keyboard has the following keys: Numerical inputs, Settings, Voice Input, Spacebar, Period, and Return. I've configured in my settings to replace the Voice Input button with the comma key since I use commas more often.

One: Spacing after the last word, or selecting any blank area, will bring up common punctuation suggestions in the autocorrect box. I no longer have to press ALT (123mic button) just to get a question mark or exclamation mark. Very good use of the autocorrect bar. Also in this image is the common punctuation, symbols, and numerical inputs (after switching to numerical input mode) layout. The exclamation and question marks are nicely positioned where the user's thumbs would typically be nearest.

Two: After entering numerical input mode, you can press ALT to view uncommon symbols. You can bet your life I use the [tilda]~

Three: If you've configured the IME to have the Voice Input displayed instead of the comma, you can still access some jumplists. For instance, holding the letter [Q] will display the [1] key as a shortcut. Holding the period key will display common punctuation and symbols, as depicted above. At the time of this writing, I discovered that I could hide the settings button to provide even wider space for the [spacebar]. Nice.

Swype
It is possible to quickly input punctuation by swyping from the contextual punctuation keys to the spacebar.

One: Swype [comma] to [spacebar] to make a comma and a space!

Two: Swpye [z] to [spacebar] to make an exclamation mark and a space!

Three: Interestingly, the jumplist for holding down on a key will bring up that key's alternative inputs that you can swype towards instead of entering numerical input mode or further up to numerical-alternative input mode. Still, I've tried many times to input parentheses and quotation marks (perfectly swyped, even slowly), but it only works sometimes. I guess that's a beta issue, but even if it were perfect - it's not as convenient as having dedicated punctuation keys that are scrollable like they are in Gingerbread.

Best Punctuation: Gingerbread

Special Fields
On an Android phone, the OS can detect some special text input fields where the user can dial phone numbers, input passwords, email addresses, and much more. The virtual keyboard is designed to change accordingly.

Gingerbread
The Gingerbread IME dynamically changes its key layout for the context.

One: Typing in URLs would replace the [comma] input to a [forward slash] since, of course, you're more likely to use them.

Two: To the right of the spacebar, you see an arrow. This button will transfer the current text input field to the next one. In the context of my example, the user would input their username and then transfer to the password entry field with the ease of a button.

Three: When setting an alarm clock, the keyboard changes into a dial pad. Just what I needed!

Swype
Conversely, Swype does not do the same within the same contexts as above.

One: Same layout.

Two: Same layout.

Three: An interesting dial pad. It looks as though I'm going to be using a calculator. It's slightly out of context, but even more strange is the fact that if I were to use a calculator - then I would use the built-in virtual controls on the actual calculator. A dial pad would be enough, this just seems redundant.

This is unfortunate for peckers, but on Swype you can Swype some URL jargon such as http:// and .com by swyping. Still, no dictionary can tell what exact URL you want, but hey - built-in Google works!

Best Special Fields: Gingerbread

Speed
Probably the most important category. Phones are not word-processors, yet they are commonly used to type short messages rapidly.

Gingerbread
This is a stress test. I'm going to type as much as I can in under ten seconds. I have carefully timed myself for three sets, trying to type: "Hey, do you know if there's any free parking downtown?" Accuracy was my secondary goal.

One: I tried to rush as quick as I can, and failed miserably.

Two: I slowed down a bit for accuracy, but couldn't finish the sentence on time.

Three: The third attempt was almost perfect, I seemed to type 'of' instead of 'if.'

Swype
Pics, it happened:

On average, I was able to complete the sentence in 9 seconds. Swype is barely faster when typing short-spurt messages, but the accuracy has a bigger learning curve than I thought. It wasn't until my fourth attempt that I realized the word "there's" has to inputted as [there]['s] - that's two swypes. In general, Swype is better-suited for common whole words. I also later figured out that it's easier (for me, at least) to input with my index finger instead of thumb.

Overall: Gingerbread

My unbiased consensus shows that the native Gingerbread pecking keyboard is superior. But personally, ~~I prefer the air~~ I use both IMEs (I actually use 4 IMEs). Maybe next time I'll do a comparison for the Chinese IMEs that I use on Android, because Swype has decent pinyin-input capabilities (you may notice the quick-language-switch located two keys to the left of the spacebar). Still, for roman/English input, the Gingerbread IME is the most dynamic and accepting for any desired input.

Swype can potentially be a primary keyboard. It is also more comfortable since it gives the illusion of typing more with less effort (one gesture is less actions than several pecks). I know for a fact that some Galaxy S handsets have Swype pre-installed, with an on-off switch. Perhaps when it's out of beta, it will be much better.

Notes and disclaimers***
I'm just reviewing and talking about stuff, I don't own any of it. Special thanks to the developer of ColorNote: it's very useful for simple text input and I use it all the time. I reviewed both IMEs on a Samsung Nexus S running Android 2.3.4.

I am willing to take requests for reviewing Android applications, video games, and more.

What is a man?

2011-02-25T13:56:00.000-05:00

The fancy-pantsy question: What is a man?

I know this isn't related to Game Design, but I've always wanted to write something just about general life, with a touch of comedy. This is not an academic paper, so do not take it seriously.

A man is one, all, or some of these traits through my own and others' observations:

A miserable pile of secrets
Above the age of 25
University graduate
A human with male genitalia
A guy with a job
A guy with a mortgage
A guy with a wife
A man is mature, responsible, sacrificing, passionate, forgiving, and loving
Someone with a clean police screening / criminal record
Australian
Has a mustache, grow beards and stuff
A follower of God
Eats spicy food
Has a lot of money
Brutish
Adaptive

Introspectively, I qualify for 6/16 of those things. I guess I'm not a man due to possessing a minority percent of the above traits! You can best guess that most of those have a lower relevance than others. Was it even worth defining after all?

Meaningful Play

2011-02-15T13:03:00.001-05:00

The following is a short description on "Meaningful Play" I wrote during my studies on January 26, 2011.

According to common beliefs in game design, a game must have a consistent balance in aesthetics, mechanics, technology, and story. These are typical, objective aspects of all video games. The player’s input and the game’s output are connected by these experiences to form meaningful play.

“Meaningful play” is a term loosely defined as “the meaningful outcome of player interactions” that occurs in several forms and can produced in an infinite amount of ways (Salen and Zimmerman 60). Conceivably, meaningful play can be categorized as an art form, scientific approach, and mathematical graph in any sequence or simultaneity.

As an art form, meaningful play is derived from the message that the game designer chose to deliver to the players of their game either explicitly or subtly. As long as the progression of the game consists of elements that are visually and audibly relevant to the quality of the game’s story and game play mechanics, then the player may be susceptible to artfully meaningful play. For instance, in the game The Path, if a player were to stray from the game’s iconic path and into the forest, the music would morph into a haunting theme, creating a looming sensation for the player (Tale of Tales). Conversely, in the game Team Fortress 2 there exists downloadable content that the player may purchase to acquire extra in-game weapons (Valve). This gaming model does not contribute to the concept of meaningful play because it is mostly non-interactive and does not emphasize the game’s main premise of battling.

Metaphysically, the cause and effect of a player’s actions must include relevant feedback from the game. Using The Path again as an example, all interactive events produce an end result to a certain degree of completion. If a player were to wander off somewhere, the game would reward the player for that purpose (Tale of Tales). Game designers often place subtle or explicit indicators within a game to provide a purpose or goal for the player to accomplish. When these cues lead the player into the intended feedback provided by the game, meaningful play is created. In any game, when there is a glitch such as trapping the player in a non-interactive environment, there may not be an opportunity of meaningful play.

Lastly, a certain formula of consistency can be used to determine how meaningful a game is over the entire period in which it can be played. In moderation, when one hour-long sequence in a game includes a successful pattern of input and output to keep the player interested, that sequence may be repeated to multiply its effectiveness. Using the game Shadow of the Colossus as an example, it maintains a consistent sequence:

1. Travel to boss

2. Practice new manoeuvres

3. Battle with boss

4. Rest

This pattern creates a classic scenario of contemplation, rising action, catharsis, and settlement or rest (Team Ico). This entire sequence produces meaningful play since the sequence is seamlessly executed with complete balance in story and game mechanics. By itself, though, this pattern is not as powerful as the game actual delivers on the whole. Since this pattern is repeated sixteen times, the story’s profoundness multiplies by each succession of meaningful play.

Conclusively, meaningful play is the game designer’s executed vision, the relevancy of output towards a player’s action, and the succession of meaningful response to the game’s aesthetics, story, mechanics, and technology.

Cited Works

Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. “Game Design and Meaningful Play.” Web. n.d.

Tale of Tales. (2009). The Path. Tale of Tales.

Team Ico. (2005). Shadow of the Colossus. [DISC]. PlayStation2. Sony Computer Entertainment.

Valve. (2007). Team Fortress 2. PC. Valve.

Young Game Developers

2011-01-08T15:24:00.003-05:00

You hear about it in the news: "11 Year-old boy makes iPhone app that reaches 1 million downloads." That's nice. However, some people approach me indirectly stating that I have "no excuse" not to make a game right now. Actually, I can think of several excuses. Let's have an intimate comparison between me and the average 11 year-old game developer:

I own a proprietorship (I make websites), so does the kid
I didn't have a computer at that age

My first computer was at the age of 12 and I did not get dial-up Internet until I was 13
There hardly existed online tools on how to develop games for the PC, maybe some Adobe Flash

I hardly have time now

I am a full-time University student, the kid is getting straight-As without breaking a sweat

I'm working on making bigger things because that's my interest/passion
I hope that poor kid doesn't miss out on other great youthful things because they're too busy running a business
I might even say I feel sorry for the kid

So there you have it. When I was 11, I had a broken left leg which consequently involved lots of Metroid Prime gaming. When I was not doing that, I was becoming a gold-medalist Track and Field athlete. When I was not doing that, I was playing gymnastics in my backyard with my friends and cousins. The computer was a huge afterthought for me back in 2001-2003. My resources were super-limited at that age as well (read dial-up Internet) and it just was not easy to be viral back then as well (remember this? It's about as old as the Internet itself, but it was soooooooo popular).

And now what? An 11 year-old these days have iPhones, Macbooks, are too lazy for sports, and have stupid-fast Internet connections to learn all the iPhone game development they could ever want for the low price of "Mommy can you get me this?" Even TODAY I don't have these resources, but I have my excellent University training that is good enough for me. In time, I will move up to the big-budget game creation that I have always wanted.

As for that kid, I hope he can maintain social relationships. I know that when I am up until 2AM doing simple "Hello World" coding I find it easy to say to someone, "No thank you, I do not want to play Left 4 Dead right now - I am coding." I wouldn't like to imagine an 11-year-old boy or girl to say the same thing at that age: "I am coding." Admittedly, coding is highly anti-social because it takes place on your personal computer, at home, by yourself. You are easily accessible to others, but not really. At that age, children should focus on making friends, watching Transformers, making home movies, eating watermelon slices, and asking Santa for an iPad for Christmas (I hear these conversations between 6 year-olds all the time). But that's just my opinion.

The Triple Constraints

2010-11-27T13:16:00.001-05:00

Friends, Fun, and French Toast

And Now For Something ~~Related~~ Completely Different
I have completed my rig of 2-Bone in Maya last Wednesday. Give me a moment to pose him for you...

Rendered all up in this hizhouse!

I would definitely like to complete his texture and then produce a cool high-quality render that can be printed and hung-up on one of the walls in my game lab.

As for Game Engine, my group's game is rather classy with classes, but isn't quite a racing game yet. It's more like God of War with a movable cube and no baddies - but a nice racetrack with a moonlit scenery. We have 6 days to make it a racing game.

***

Daily, I learn tons of life lessons. My favourite one this week would be:

For all the times when there is too much work to get done and so little time, with no chance for compensation, there is only one option: deal with it. I am cutting up the workload and going all-out.

Beating up 2-Bone

2010-11-21T13:55:00.002-05:00

Intermediate Modeling
I really enjoy the majority of my courses this semester, but as far as progress goes - the most noteworthy oftentimes is Intermediate Modeling. I have completed painting weights on 2-Bone and have already applied some IK handles and manipulators. In the process, I have:

Jumped for joy...

Punched a hole through his chest...

And have done some sweet Michael Jackson stunts!

Adding some channel manipulators and character sets should not take much longer now. As for:

Game Engine

My group and I have made primitive assets and only need to have a few cut-scenes and vehicle control for the game to be playable.

Rigging, State Management, and China

2010-11-13T12:43:00.000-05:00

Intermediate Modeling
I've certainly come a long way:

And there's lots more to go; I have one month counting down. Above is the complete skeleton for my rig-in-progress. Next are IK handles, weights, attributes, and polish. I can't wait to manipulate 2-BONE into some neat poses!

Game Engine

I plan on placing all my homework assignments into one executable package. In order to do so, I will need to use the WildMagic state manager. It would be the only way to conveniently have players switch between tech demos without having to reload the entire program. As for the grand game project, my group and I have finalized key game components on paper; we are going to build the game right away and hurry to the play-testing phase.

Entrepreneurial Finance

I have not talked about this class before, but recently I handed in an assignment involving the annual report on the game publisher Take-Two Interactive. While researching, I learned about their research center in Shanghai. I plan on contacting their HR personnel on this matter since it is a strong interest of mine to earn employment experience in China. As a would-be entrepreneur, I am continuing to learn about the economic state of certain countries to maximize growth in my potential business ventures.

Game Critics, Gamers, the User Experience, and Portfolios

2010-10-30T15:44:00.002-04:00

Recently, Jim Sterling (funny guy) of Destructoid.com reviewed Fallout: New Vegas.

The perfect game - in an arguable idealism - exhibits the perfect balance of game design, artistic presentation, polished gameplay, and outstanding technical production (quick load-times, impressive graphics under hardware constraints, proper collisions, all that good stuff). And yet, based on Mr. Sterling's review - it appears that some of the most imperfect games can still achieve (or come close to it) honourable praises.

This leads me to think that games are all about their distinct impact on the player amidst any technical limitations. I'll have to continue this thoughts later, for now: ON TO SCHOOLWORK.

Portfolio Building
At the Game Development Club at UOIT, I assist in mini-jams where students work to produce something practical and related to game development. These projects becomes assets for every person's portfolio afterward. There will be more to show, time-permitting. The hardest part is actually acting upon these words, I must have made several promises in this blog already.

Enrico in 3D

2010-10-20T22:30:00.001-04:00

So you take two stereoscopic photos...

Superimpose them...

FLICK BACK AND FORTH AT 120 Hz

AND WHAT DO YOU GET?

Me, in 3D yeaaaaaaa

Pretty exciting, eh? This is how I reward myself after reaching LEVEL 2 in Game Engine. I have discovered the ways of Havok and Wild Magic++. I consider myself an enhance novice and will be able to pursue fun camera effects in my group's final project this semester. Stay tuned for demonstrations!

Board Games and Releasing Tigers

2010-10-16T19:33:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday, I helped conduct the first impromptu board game jam. Members of the Game Development and Entrepreneurship Club at UOIT walked in not knowing what craziness was about to ensue.

"Awesome" by Team Awesome

"That Other Game" by The Other Guys

What isn't pictured above are "YEAH" by Team Yeah, "HEY" by Team Hey, and "Sean Connery's Pebble Brigadiers" by Team The Shit. When I have time, I'll be sure to share more details and how to play each game later on. All credit goes to the members of GDeC of course.

How's school?

Too much is going on, and I'm trying my best to keep up with so many different tasks. I'd like to study for a certain midterm, but in order to do so I must first qualify. There's something paradoxical about my time management: I must qualify a few days before exam time to justify a reasonable amount of study time.

Alignment for Refinement

2010-10-08T20:47:00.001-04:00

"It's time to stop pissing around. This is taking forever."

- Duke Nukem

Good old Duke. The theme for this week is learning from my mistakes quickly.

Intermediate Modeling
I need to re-do the area on my model where the arm meets the torso. A proper mesh has a circular pattern where the arm bridges onto the torso, and then follows with edge loops.

Left: Right arm; Top: neck; bottom: torso.

As you can see above, I knocked out that centre area in order to improve the mesh design for the shoulder and torso. UV Mapping will have to wait!

Game Engine Design

The Havok visual debugger is so nice! I think it's time to level up soon now that I have a general grasp for importing models, visualizing scene graphs, and applying basic gravity physics to objects. Hopefully I'll have a video demonstration on an upcoming blog - we'll see!

In general, I realize that when I don't have a complete understanding of something, I need to stop and ask questions right away. I will surely enforce this new habit of mine and demonstrate the different between getting things done and getting things done well.

Browsing the Internet with the right Web Browser

2010-10-04T15:04:00.001-04:00

First off, I'll say with 100% certainty that finding the best web browser is mostly a subjective idea. It is impossible to say which web browser is technically the best because the Internet is evolving by the second: new ways to create and destroy sprout up constantly - and a web browser's army of creators have to constantly keep up with the latest patches, security measures, and media rendering speed and accuracy.

That being said, my main question is what is the best web browser for you? I don't know, but at least I can share the thought process I went into selecting my web browser.

1. List your needs
It is very basic stuff. What do I use a web browser for?

Banking
Email
Calendar
Facebook
Twitter
Searches
Development

I would say that most of the items on that list are universal, except Web Development is a rather important one. And so, I embark on finding a browser with these features:

Easy deletion of history/cache or a 'hidden mode' for browsing without saving information locally
Super-fast start-up times (I want that inbox or calendar right away)
Power User utilities to get tasks done efficiently (i.e. extensions)

URL Shotener
Facebook/Twitter publisher
Ubiquitous search (bookmarks, Google, website search in one place)

I'm not so concerned about hard disk space or RAM hogging. Thus, my level of needs may differ vastly from others'.

2. Try out some browsers
A gamer's philosophy (at least it should be) is "You don't know until you try;" unless [oftentimes] one can justify how something may be a colossal waste of time. Either way, what are we looking at as far as web browsers are concerned? Obvious choices include Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.6, Chrome 6, Safari 5 and Opera 10. These are just the major browsers and I won't include others since they may have a more niche purpose, or won't be actively supported like I am demanding. Let's see which browsers meet my minimum requirement:

I'll cut to the chase and say that Opera and Internet Explorer 8 do not have extensions for power users. That does not mean they're bad browsers - they're just not for me. In fact, there are a few things these browsers do better than the other two - very useful, subtle things. However, they won't win me over on just a few things, I need to find the whole package. That obviously leaves Firefox and Chrome. Now, this isn't a Firefox vs. Chrome blog - it's a thought process on how I may choose one over the other, personally.

**I know I just completely ignored Safari because I'm merely assuming it's a specialty browser for MAC users. If I'm missing out, leave a comment and I'll give the compass a spin.

3. Try them out for at least a week each.
When it comes to being comfortable with any software, I know it involves using it daily and frequently. When I'm developing websites, I end up using every major browser anyway because I need to make sure things render properly in all four. I've used every browser for several years, and I know that their current state is far different than their incubating states.

The Current Firefox
It's what I'm using to write this blog, actually. It seems to treat all pages with equal priority, and the loading times are fast enough for me. To the best of my knowledge, it currently stands as the best-supported browser for extensions, so I can't complain about its power tools. It leaves a light footprint on my task manager.

The Current Chrome
Comparatively, Chrome has a better built-in development kit and user interface than Firefox. When I'm building websites, I often turn to Chrome's development tools to debug my pages. The 'firebug' extension on Firefox would be the comparative other, however it doesn't stand up to Chrome's built-in functions.

In some cases, one can customize Chrome to be 'like Firefox' and vice-versa. When it comes to bloatware, though, the best mode of action is to choose a browser with the least necessity for customization.

4. I Choose all of the above
Why? Because on government websites, they utilize proprietary .aspx pages that only Microsoft's Internet Explorer can render. When developing websites, I have to make sure they work in all browsers. Currently, the reason I am using Firefox is because Chrome is actually quite buggy on my machine. I have some sort of bad luck because occasionally there are programs that should be running stable on all machines such as mine, but just don't. Chrome 6 oftentimes would not fully load a web-page unless I do a hard refresh a couple times.

-- TLDR --

However, when Chrome works - it works the best for me. I typically use a mouse when browsing, so I often middle-click bookmarks and links to bring them into new tabs and such. When closing tabs, I like how they animate shut and shifts succeeding tabs' close button right to my cursor's position. Also, the real-estate saves me 60 pixels of vertical space: 60 very important pixels (I didn't measure, but my intuition tells me so). So yeah, without beating around the bush, I use Chrome for regular browsing. Of course, I'm using Firefox right this very moment because Chrome doesn't work at the moment. No start-up time is faster, so I'll come back for more.

Here are some more subtleties that I appreciate:

Multi-threaded tasks
Omnibar for immediate site search (try pressing i, m, tab, "star wars" on Firefox's address bar - it will not return the imdb result for Star Wars)
Opening links or bookmarks directly into a separate incognito window (Internet Explorer also does this, but not FF)
Dragging and docking tabs to either side of the screen

And that's all I can think about for now. Everything changes, so we'll see how things go in the next month, because they change rapidly.

This is how I roll

2010-10-02T22:44:00.001-04:00

BOOM

This is my faithful battle station. Putting that mobile machine to good use with a programmable mouse, second monitor, and a business card facing me so that I don't forget my name!

I see you rolling, but what have you done lately?

I'm glad you asked. It has been a busy week, and my sticky notes are piling all over my virtual desktop. I am powering through them at every glance.

Intermediate Modeling

Here's the 2BONE mesh!

He's missing a neck!

I sort of like him without a neck, but for both practical and story-continuity reasons, I will include one tomorrow morning. Check out that head, eh? Yup, it was quite an undertaking.

Game Development Workshop

My group and I will have our Project Management documentation as well as group evaluation ready before the start of next week. This is not school anymore, it's a serious entrepreneurial venture.

2-BONE 3D

2010-09-23T19:35:00.001-04:00

Intermediate Modeling
That's right, I'm separating my blog post's content by course name. In this class, I learn how to use Maya like a champ. So far, that makes me a half-hour champ because that's how long I took to produce this:

Just one leg to go!

I understand the importance of being visual. The best way to communicate ideas to anyone is to appeal to all of their senses. Sound, touch, and sight. I'm sorry that you cannot touch my intangible model, but here's an audio recording of the words I spake when I figured out how to implement MEL script into my custom shelves! You bet your life I was excited.

Game Engine
My group and I are on the verge of collecting the sum of all ~~fears~~ things that make a racing game fun into one internal game design proposal. That being said, 2-BONE has a racing partner: Captain Bananas! How will the two cross paths? Stay tuned.

Meet 2-BONE

2010-09-21T18:06:00.001-04:00

One of my biggest influences when it comes to creative work is the band Rush. No lie. For Intermediate Modeling class, I have created traced line art of my character "2-BONE" in the standard t-pose.

Roll the bones

He is a magnet of good fortune.

And now for something completely different
Game Engine is about to begin for real this week. I have a lab that will provide learnings for the University-brew game engine WildMagic++. My group-mate selection is close to completion. It has been difficult formulating a group in a timely manner, but I have learned that the blue-sky method works in the respect that the sooner things are accomplished, the better. Also, it is interesting that as I was orchestrating my group's selection process, the invitees seemed obligated to present themselves with a portfolio as I mildly interviewed them. There is some real-world experience, right in the classroom!

MMO Workout

2010-09-17T19:47:00.003-04:00

In reaction to the latest news regarding Phantasy Star Online 2, I thought about how many massively-multiplayer online games I play. In the past, MMOs were about connecting to lots of people at a time and taking part in regular game-like settings and activities, usually in a group fashion. I have only played less than a few hours of Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II, Phantasy Star Universe, City of Heroes, and Runescape. This isn't saying much at all, especially now that I hardly fit the time to play any video games in general.

When I think about MMO games, specifically the modern ones, I notice how they are socially-aware and share common traits or activities found in everyday life. However, unlike real-life, one must be fixated on the platform or device that connects them to the MMO world - and life is put on hold. I think that if there existed an MMO where it took place anywhere, anytime, and in unison with everyday life, then I may actually have the time to play it. Something such as a wristwatch connected to the Internet, monitoring me, bridging a connection between me and my friends, and can be switched on or off at any time. This is like a game literally anyone could play.

Edit: Here is a video by Jane McGonigal describing the usefulness gamers can provide for world research using online games.

New Beginning

2010-09-15T20:40:00.002-04:00

It is time to turn over a new leaf. Without beating around the bush, I'll be straight about facts regarding Game Engine class at UOIT. From what I have heard - it is difficult. I am not saying "you may actually need to buy the textbook for this class or you will fail the exam" difficult; I mean "if this course does not justify the Honours Degree you can earn in the end, then what does?" difficult.

I'm ready, though; ready like a fish is about to be caught by a hook - which is all the time. There are many digital tools to keep my organizational skills in check, and I utilize most of them.

When finding group members I tell them straight about my expectations, skills, and limitations. If there is lots of file-sharing to be had, we shall use Dropbox or an alternative network drive. When there is a thought or idea to be thought, it should be shared. If there is a document to collaborate upon, we should strongly consider Google Docs. If it is possible to work together in the same room and at the same time, it should definitely happen. If we are separated and must work together remotely, we should consider using our voices with Skype. Documentation of the journey is important, and I'll do it myself if I have to. I enjoy writing, programming, image manipulation, animation, and working in pairs. I can conduct a group, cut corners to save time, and maintain balance between ambition and output. I'm not the best at utilizing APIs, and I am admittedly slow at perfecting primitive functions in an OpenGL application. I don't have the best graphic sense, but I have good graphic taste. I am a jack of all trades, and a master at none.

There is no 'i' in team, but we all have to pull our own weight. This is a filler sentence to justify that I have ranted far too much already.

All that being said, I have a single partner for Game Engine. It shall soon be between 4-5 members, or ~~the whole universe is going to die~~ I'll have to keep searching.

I'll be realistic: it won't take a dozen years - just a semester.

Image of Duke Nukem not owned by me.

Art Game Critique: The Path

2010-04-16T17:39:00.001-04:00

Back in the heydays of my PC gaming (circa September 2008 – April 2009) I was subtly introduced to the world of art games. Since they exist mainly on the PC (quick, easy development for individuals to distribute), I would need and finally have the machine capable of running such games (thanks, UOIT). I basically had Steam tunnel-vision and would stick exclusively to what I had on The Orange Box and would only care about buying new games if they were on sale within the Steam distributor. And so, one day I got a pop-up telling me to download a demo of “The Graveyard.” I thought, “This game is only 5 dollars, in proportion to most other games, wouldn’t a demo consist of the game’s entirety?” Not only that, I noticed in screenshots that it was in 3D will some decent visual effects; my judgemental mind (at the time) could not believe such an experience was only worth 5 dollars. So I downloaded the demo and gave it a spin.

The demo for The Graveyard was short, yet a strange experience. I played as an old lady who I could make walk slowly and crippled-like to the end of a graveyard and listen to an eccentric song. Three minutes into that song, I closed the game. During this time period, I lived with my brother who would periodically show me some zany indie-games (perhaps a few times a week), so I knew I could talk to him about my play-through experience for The Graveyard. He told me that the game is intended to be an interactive painting; no wonder it was only 5 dollars!

Short story aside, The Graveyard was produced by a game company called Tale of Tales. Based on the description of my past-self’s behaviour; I may not appear to be fit for such a brand of video games. That is, until now. Now that I’ve made a basic description of my personal history and some of the work by the game company in question, there is a general justification for my thoughts and critique for their unique and mysterious game The Path.

The Path, released in early 2009 on the steam platform for approximately 10 USD, is a game about guiding a few young ladies donning red and black to their grandmother’s house. The flow of gameplay is completely up to whoever plays the game, but the formula stays the same:

Select a girl
Stay on the path, but you don’t have to
Discover some hidden treasures (or what I assume to be ‘memories’) in the forest, or not
Go to grandmother’s house at the end of the path
Walk through grandmother’s house (on rails, you WILL find her)
See grandmother
End game

Although the formula stays the same, it’s evident that parts 2, 3, and 5 (and possibly 6) are completely dependent on the actions of the player and could result in dozens of changes in gameplay. These changes occur in the events within the game’s environment and not the gameplay mechanisms. That being said, the core gameplay mechanism in The Path is to explore. The controls are very simple: walk, run, turn, or stop. There is no walking backwards, which I bet my life is a control scheme created by design with respect to the game’s many complex themes. I’m willing to give The Path the benefit of being identified as a game that is supersaturated in design: with too many themes and dynamics than what is known at the surface. I would definitely have to play The Path for several hours (not just one) to grasp a better understanding of these undertones. Tangent aside, the control scheme is the primary interaction for the player and their character. However, the aesthetics communicate with the player in more ways than any other game I’ve played have.

When you are on the path, everything is serene, colourful, and borderline beautiful. It’s a comfort-zone for the player, which in tune is a comfort-zone for the girl that which is being played. When you walk, it’s low-tempo and peaceful. When you run, the music builds up with more dramatic melodies – but as long as you’re on the path, it feels alright. On the right and left sides of the path is the forest – stay the heck OUT OF THERE. The following gameplay dynamic is more daunting that words can describe. In the forest, it’s not just stereotypically gloomy, depressing, dark, and tension-inducing, but there are things in there waiting to be discovered. Fear of the unknown is the most powerful fear of all. On a side note, the game Penumbra Overture utilized this fear as its core gameplay dynamic: in order to avoid being seen by monsters, you must not look at them. In The Path, you hear so much and expect the worst constantly, but never quite see anything of which to be fearful.

In this forest, when you control your character to run: this interest effect occurs. The camera pans above the character and all you can see is them running. It sort of seems like the perspective of an owl flying at a low altitude and observing the girl as she runs. Also, sounds of growls, chains rattling, rain drops landing in buckets, gasps of breath, and some others percolate from the game and into your eardrums (especially if you’re playing The Path in a dark room and with a nice pair of headphones). This dynamic stood out for me the most while playing The Path because when all I could observe was my character, I thought about nothing else but what that character could be thinking about. “What am I running from?” is a particularly-repeated question I would think about during this sequence. “Why am I running?” and then after that I would release the controls and the girl would stop dead in her tracks; the camera would return behind the girl; and then the music and sounds would fade to something more relaxing. What harm was I doing just by running? I do not know, but I will revisit that question once I complete The Path (if it is even possible to complete). Penumbra Overture was the scariest game I’ve ever played: it’s so scary that I didn’t beat it yet – I would keep closing the game after half-hour playtime sessions because I was too tensed and frightened by the gameplay. The Path produced the same effect on me, but to a higher degree thus making it currently the scariest game I’ve ever played.

Last, but not least, the aesthetics in The Path. I couldn’t possible list and describe each things I’ve seen in the game since I haven’t seen everything yet, and there’s too much implicit detail to behold. The aforementioned dynamic sound works its way in with accompanying filters on eh game screen. Back to the “running in the forest” example, when hearing those sounds – there are ink blots that produce vine-like designs along the borders, some wolf paws that wander up and down the screen, and other obscuring visuals. In the forest, there are objects to be discovered. Some objects are exclusively interactive for specific girls that the player may select in other plays through the game. When standing still in front of an object, the girl will interact with it. A pre-choreographed scene may take place and the player can observe the relevancy of such object to their character. An example is a piano: if a certain girl interacts with the piano, they remember a time when their mean teacher would constantly push them to practice and be perfect.

Grandmother’s house is a sight to behold. On the outside, it’s unsettling. On the inside: it depends on how you play The Path. Depending on what items you collect in the forest, grandmother’s house may either be quaint or ridiculously surreal. There are certainly different outcomes to discover. All that is seen can be symbolic and up for interpretation.

The Path is filthy-rich in style and visual detail. It’s certainly no Crysis, but it gets away with enough visual effects to be considered a modern video game. I may have committed a harsh taboo by even comparing it to a modern video game; to be simple: The Path is a gorgeous art-game that stands on its own without a problem. I’d say this game is 70% immersion, 30% entertaining gameplay. Those are values to look into if you’re willing to make a purchase on The Path – you’re here for the art and not the fun even though The Path has more widely-acceptable gameplay mechanisms than most other art-games. I say it’s something worth experiencing. In fact, it is ground-breaking – to me – how such games can interact with the player in ways that would be impossible in other mediums. More games like The Path should be made: games that invoke emotions for the player in unusual ways. There are lots of games that already do that, but they often go unnoticed by the masses. Unfortunately, that’s how it will always be – but that’s another rant. I can at least say that The Path changed my entire perspective on art games, very much so than the old-self I once was as described in the first two paragraphs.

Art Game Critique: Flower

2010-04-16T17:36:00.001-04:00

Flower was brought to you by the creative mind of Jenova Chen of thatgamecompany, a second-party independent game development company under contract of Sony. Released on February 12, 2009 on the PlayStation Network, Flower is the second game released by thatgamecompany.

As creative director, Jenova Chen was a key influence to the production of Flower based on my play-through experience. In 2005 he released a game for Windows named Cloud whose core mechanism was collecting clouds by colliding into them with a flying character. This simple mechanism has evolved in Flower wherein the player controls what appears to be the wind in order to guide a petal through a field of flowers to create a stream of petals. The main interface for the player is the PlayStation 3’s SIXAXIS controls combined with any button: the former used to steer the petal stream and the latter to accelerate along the negative z-axis facing the TV screen. The controls are simple and easy to understand.

What makes Flower interesting is the engrossing level of emphases placed on the subtle movements of the player. The sound effects for the wind as well as the dynamic field of view changes based on the petal stream’s velocity – the experience made it seem like I was a part of that stream. When immobile, the game’s sound effects and ambient background decrease in volume and filter out to a muffled tone. The camera also focuses on the leading petal resulting in a limited field of view – everything else becomes blurry. Such effects personify the petals, leading the player to believe it is resting, taking its time, or traveling in a desperate hurry. The music and weather are in synch when generating the appropriate mood for each of the game’s levels.

The camera places emphasis in respect to travelling velocity

Majority of gameplay takes place in open fields, and when playing I wonder, “What can one small petal do?” Guiding petals to flourish throughout these fields eventually became a consistent theme. Eventually, after colliding and collecting a certain amount of petals from other flowers in the fields, the game would spawn a classic go-to area for the player. Upon reaching the checkpoint, a large area surrounding the petals would flourish and the audible and visual assets would respond with dramatic feedback through sharp gusts of wind and cinematic camera angles. This is basically the event-driven experience a player would undergo when playing Flower. There are six levels, each with a gradual increase in dramatic feedback than preceding levels.

There are story queues in Flower similar to Cloud as well. There is a visual montage preceding gameplay usually depicting scenes of mild chaos and pollution within urban environments. By the end of gameplay, the flourishing fields amass into an ‘army’ of flowers as though to combat the spread of malignant urban structures. There is no explicit goal as the game relies heavily on the player experience to interpret the story for Flower. Some say it is beautiful, others say it’s soothing and relaxing, and I can bet there are others who are stoic to the experience.

All things considered, the experience of Flower is its emotional impact on the player. Subtle on-screen tutorials aside, there are absolutely no words in the game: spoken or written. All there is for the player to take from Flower are what is seen, heard, and controlled. Progressing through the game would brew up a story as interpreted by the player and no one else. Post-finale, the game does well in captivating its audience with a mere feeling. There are no morals, plot, complex characters, or gratuitous violence.

Like Cloud, Flower is somewhat of a work of game art based on this un-formulaic design: taking player-controlled tasks and then providing large-scale feedback is the core formula. To me personally, this must be a universally-acceptable approach. I’m certain Flower can be enjoyed by anyone capable of trying. It’s just as much fun watching (especially if the player is skilled) as it is to play. Onlookers and I enjoyed Flower in its entirety and took in the whole experience.

Catmull-Rom Maze

2010-04-16T17:33:00.001-04:00

Learning linear algebra concepts through games: by far the greatest idea yet. I highly endorse such gaming experiences within classrooms. What better way to learn about something for games than to play a game about it? I’ll humour this idea with my Catmull-Rom maze.

Linear Interpolation sounds like a confusing mouthful when heard for the first time. When observed, it’s pretty simple. When implementing for the first time, it’s a headache. Once implemented, all other scenarios become trivial since it has been well-learned by that point. To speed up this entire process, a game could be used.

Imagine a maze wherein to get from point[home] to point[end] – you need to insert a limited amount of points for a line to connect the two points. The line will connect to each point using Catmull-Rom interpolation, and if the line crashes into a barrier – it will not connect. Gameplay would be very simple, but will teach the lesson visually with an interactive twist. Here is a sample maze:

Now, the player needs to connect the dots by inserting other dots. Each time a dot is inserted, a line connects them. The more dots connected, the greater the effect produced by the Catmull-Rom matrix.

There you have it! Maze solving with a linear algebra twist. The fun is in the accomplishment using a simple point and click. I plan on producing a serious game out of this in upcoming months.

Business Card Game

2010-04-16T17:30:00.004-04:00

This is a social interaction for business people. Serious playtime brings serious success in a little game called “Your Card.” In order to play, you will need a business meeting and lots of people. I will explain the rules by providing a complete scenario.

Everyone has to get up, walk around, and ask one other person, “May I see your card?” Once the obligatory “Yes” has occurred, you exchange each other’s card and observe them. Next, each participant must find something either in their card or in their memory SOMETHING that relates to the other person’s card. For example, if I grab John Doe’s card and it is green – then I would say “My card has green in it also!” Or, “Your last name ends in an ‘E’ – my FIRST NAME starts with an ‘E’!” And then you finally have something in common. As a group, the two of you must now find one other person and their business card. From there, the three (or four, or however many people you find) of you must have cards with something in common, if you cannot accommodate the extra people – then their entire group cannot join yours. The objective is to have the largest group in 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, the group with the most people wins. The moral of this game is to try and get to know someone, using the zaniest methods if one must do so. The core mechanism is communication and creativity to link together similarities between the cards or individuals. It is not governed, so it doesn’t complete limit the players, however one constant rule of ‘finding people’ remains.

Luigi’s Mansion: As though it were a board game

2010-04-16T17:29:00.002-04:00

Imagine that. Who gets to play as Luigi? I’ll tell you straight-up: nobody does! In Luigi’s Mansion [the board game], the players are the ghosts. Here is a visual:

Click to expand

Now, with this board game mapped and labelled, I can better explain how one would play Luigi’s Mansion: the board game.

Summary: board game targeted to players aged 7 and up. Up to four players can play as ghosts to impede on Luigi’s quest to find Mario in Luigi’s Mansion.

Objective: team up with up to four players and scare Luigi out of the mansion.

Rules: only one action per turn, per player. Players take their turns in a single rotation. At the end of rotation, Luigi performs an action determined by the outcome of the Spin (see image above).

Scoring: players can work as a team to scare Luigi out of the mansion or compete against each other.

It’s Luigi versus the players. Each player assumes the role of a ghost with the same abilities. Refer to the image above as I use key words.

Luigi: he has 20 ‘scare points’ (representative for ‘health’). Every player attack can inflict one scare point upon Luigi, decrementing his scare points by one. When Luigi’s scare points reach zero, he runs out of the mansion scared. After every player rotation, Luigi can make a move using the spin. Any player can use the spin, especially those who are watching or unable to play as the ghosts.

Ghosts: each player is a ghost. They each have three lives and can perform a single action on their turn per rotation. Their basic action is spawn. If they do not have a ghost on the game board or have been defeated, they must spawn anywhere on the ceiling directly above a space on the game board. The next basic action is move. A player can move their ghost anywhere on the ceiling as long as they are placed directly above a space. And now for a great big scare. If a ghost is positioned directly above Luigi, they may perform scare and inflict an entire scare point against Luigi. Lastly, there is the lay trap ability. A player may lay a trap on the space directly below them. If Luigi happens to be on that space and performs his observation action (read on for a description), he will lose an entire scare point.

Spin: the spin determines Luigi’s fate. It has several outcomes:

Spin it! Let’s begin it!

The spaces signified by the running man are movement outcomes. Whatever number the arrow lands upon is a movement indicator for Luigi. For instance, if the Spin lands on 1, Luigi progresses by one space. The small space containing the “M” is the Mario space. When the spinner lands there, every player yells out “Mario!” as homage to Luigi’s useless video game ability; Luigi loses a turn if the Spin lands here. The “?” is an observation action. Since the ghosts have the ability to lay traps on spaces, the traps decrease Luigi’s scare points only when he observes the traps with this action. On the bottom-left, you have the flashlight. This action involves Luigi shining his flashlight on the ceiling. If there are any ghosts directly above Luigi or to the first left or right space of the space directly above Luigi, they vaporize.

Setup/First turn: Luigi enters the mansion and arrives on the first space. The first player rotation begins. If the players cannot decide among themselves the ordering of players then the order will be youngest player to oldest player.

Game Play: If playing competitively, any player that inflicts a scare point upon Luigi earns a single point. However, if Luigi flashlight-attacks a ghost, they lose a point. The player with the most points win. During each rotation, the players perform one action each and then Luigi performs a single action based on the spin. This process repeats until Luigi loses all scare points, all the players run out of lives, or if Luigi reaches Mario. After that, the game ends.

Playtest time! I happen to be in the vicinity of Giancarlo and Craig. And so we played. The one thing that stood out the most was the lack of traps being triggered by Luigi. And thus my modification has been made:

A new spin on things

‘Observe’ (the O indicator) has increased in probability per spin. Everything else has been sliced up such that the arrow would land on different things with greater chance than before. ‘F’ is for flashlight, ‘M’ is for Mario, and the person is to move. With this, Luigi’s Mansion is nearly ready for release. All that remains are months of research, control-group play testing, balancing, artwork, legal stuff, and perseverance all the way through.

Video games are a new social

2010-03-24T19:17:00.000-04:00

Open your eyes, game developers. Evidenced by recent news, ~~the big bucks~~ great gaming is to be had in social networking. If the right people take the right initiatives, they can revolutionize the way people interact. If they take that a step further, they can revolutionize the way we live.

OH MAN

That's right. Now, to build this idea of social networking disguised as a game - I will account for three things:

The players' physical location
Content customization
The use of breaking immersion to increase mood

Physical location. The first thing that comes to mind is "how do I stalk players?" Privacy is an immediate concern for me. Here is a concept: massively multiplayer science fiction dream game wherein its players can interact through small games and dungeon crawling analogous to this game. So I have this game, but I want to establish physical location as an add-on mechanic for the social portions. To be simple, if the player were on a 3G-enabled gaming platform (I hope you're reading, Nintendo), the game could triangulate a player's real-world position and take them to appropriate server spaces within the game's network. Meet locals! Share interests! Get a good ping! Now it's starting to sound exciting. This should make all players reclusive to stalkers since geo-data won't be shared in any way.

What about hosted events? In the game, administrators can post their geographical location in a place somewhere in the world where they know lots of their gamers mingle - such as the middle of a city block, or park. And let's say there's a giant monster that everyone must defeat, so all local gamers must jump in their shoes and jackets and head outside to that location near them (planned weeks ahead of time, of course - the game company has to be tight with their community). So now you have dozens of gamers outside at a local park playing this online game. There's giant TV screen for the public to view as these gamers work together as a team to defeat the monster. Advertising, meeting new people, and fun times a-plenty!

Content customization. Each player that plays this game will be ~~given a puppy~~ obligated to create their own avatar; it's pretty much standard procedure for most online games. What else? Well, what if I utilized the player's physical location to designate actual game space to create their own virtual home? Easy. Architectural tools will be granted, with lots of customization - and some bonus stuff (who wants a gold fern?) for a nominal fee. Your first home is free, if you want another - it's gonna cost you lots of wild-brute-whacking dollars.

If you zoom out a bit, this has all been done before. HOWEVER, I did mention how the world in which the players reside is a complete one - with houses and travelling. So, why not leave your mark on the path you walk? Graffiti comes to mind. How about designing major landmarks? Community interaction, whether in game on a website, can lead to massive collaboration with the game creators for major landmark creation and architecture. Nothing says legacy like a person's name on a piece of stone (no grim implications intended).

Breaking immersion.

Sure it's fun when you're in the game, but once in a while you gotta drop a nice save. I have a little concept, here's how it goes. This game can be a part of your daily life: the handheld system always turned on - like a cell phone. Wi-Fi features would allow for local connectivity to others playing or in stand-by as well. For instance, you're playing the game, and then you go on stand-by and leave your house. After a train ride, you turn on the game and it'll notify you other passers-by that you have met and will offer you to interact with them using in-game activities. I have completely singled-out any single-player mode. You will be making friends CONSTANTLY. Social will be your middle name. It breaks immersion only slightly, however. The fact that real-world people passed you buy who happen to be in-game players will make one look at people differently. Down a sidewalk, you glance at others and think, "Do they play?" There's no telling for sure, yet you can always ask!

Also, since I'm going with this 'always on' concept, how about informing the game about personal upcoming events? Although optional, imagine you're playing and then a pop-up notification tells you that you have an exam in one week to study for. In all likelihood, having a game tell you to study is probably a huge drag - but not for me! I'd do it. Only me? Geez. Okay, how about breaking the fourth wall? Classic. Of course, this is entirely game-centric so I'll only go as far as suggesting the game whisper in your ear things like "You're dying" or "No regrets" or "I will protect you." Everyone likes those.

I suppose only smartphones would be able to utilize this sort of game. Since everyone has a smartphone with a data plan, Facebooking all the time - why can't they touch that screen and fire up The World Where Angels Play. Oh my.

Umbra Update: Puzzle Ideas

2010-03-24T15:46:00.001-04:00

The progression of this project is suffering some ridiculous time-related turbulence. However, I will optimistically mask this dilemma and call it the "Waterfall Method."

Things are going smoothly with project Umbra. I shall present to you my team's current puzzle ideas. Be warned, they are plump with detail and artistic merit.

BEHOLD.

This puzzle is lovingly titled "Icebreaker" and will be the first puzzle of the game. The two characters are faced with an obstacle, and it's up to the bottom-screen character to take care of the obstacle. Using telekinesis - the bottom-screen character may guide the small rock (4) and scape it along the large rock to produce sparks. If the sparks land on the torch (3), it will light up. The bottom-screen player(s) use the mouse on their PC to utilize telekinesis.

"The Big Wheel" (not to scale)

There are platforms on that wheel (1). The top-screen character can jump and move - and those platforms look fairly jump-on-able to me. Jumping on any platform will cause the wheel to rotate and that will effect how many spikes (2) appear in the lower-screen environment. Quite simply, rotating that wheel to a certain position will allow for progress in the game. Also to be noted is that squiggly line on the right-hand side, that's a barrier that prevents the characters to make progress. Solving the puzzle will cause the barrier to disappear in an exciting manner.

"The Straws of Respectability"

Now there should be an apparently sign of progression in the game's difficulty. We went from a bottom-character puzzle to a top-character puzzle. And now, both characters must put forth their efforts to solve this puzzle. The top screen player can latch on to the tree branches (1) that will cause the vines (3) to move in a vertical fashion. When the green indicators are lined up, the bottom-screen character may use his telekinesis to move the saw blade (2) across and tear into the blue electrical stream on the right-hand side. This stream will cause the stone (4) to explode thus allowing for progression.

And that's it for now! I realize why the waterfall method is highly frowned-upon: you don't know if there's sharp rocks at the bottom until you fall.

Introducing Project Umbra

2010-03-10T18:32:00.000-05:00

This is a work-in-progress video game by me and my dedicated partner Brad. So far, we're off to a good start! The main narrative and game flow is ironed out in our minds and we may successfully have a working prototype by the end of our school semester!

Now feast your eyes upon this gloriously-woven product.

...just kidding!

At least you know how it's being made. Now, what's being made is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform game for the PC. The core game mechanic is utilizing two separated characters in separate screens. For any shackles-free game developer reading this and feel the need to make a game based on this mechanic: be a man/woman and give me credit for publishing it on the Internet!

For the rest of you information consumers, I am proud to reveal the digital prototype for Project Umbra.

"Oh look, there's the game title." You THINK! I guess I can say that I enjoy giving project names to works that already have an agreed-upon title. As a final hint, consider 'Umbra' as an implication to the game's unseen characteristics that may require some cross-dimensional gameplay. :O

Playtesting a Marble Game

2010-03-05T10:09:00.001-05:00

I was given the opportunity to play-test this marble game. I must say, I loved Marble Madness back in the 90s - it was grand. A 3D marble game, to me, is an exciting pursuit and my expectations for this demo were unfairly high.

Looking for bugs and stuff, I didn't reality find any. The single-player mode works fine: I instinctively equipped the arrow-keys and rolled around like a mad marble. The game-play is rather bland since there isn't enough player feedback, I find. I wanted to hear the whimsical sounds of a marble rolling across tile surfaces, the clang of a glass ball hitting metal walls, and possible the sound of a bomb dropped when I fall off and into the outer atmosphere of PLANET EARTH ITSELF. I really dig the outer-space setting, it has a non-distracting-yet-profound background.

If you've noticed in the image above, there are these yellow arrows scattered about. When I touch them, nothing happens - or so I thought. The entire level seems to topple to a permanent angle depending on which arrow you touch, but this only became evident when idle movements became out-of-controls rolls.

There is a multi-player mode, but it's really broken. I have little experience with hosting games via IP, but I tried and was unsuccessful. I wonder if I'll be given a chance to play a more updated version of this game soon; I want to be a fun marble! To see my complete bug report, go here.

Eiji Aonuma and his influence on the Zelda franchise

2010-02-24T00:12:00.001-05:00

It would be cynical to claim that all games in the Legend of Zelda series can be described as tech demos disguised as brilliant video game masterpieces. Would this be a compliment or insult? Either way, this is how I see the games that Eiji Aonuma has directed. All console and DS Zelda games following (inclusively) Ocarina of Time are those that Mr. Aonuma had a hand in for design.

The usual case for a first-party Nintendo game is that of a well-known franchises and polished quality. The true pinnacle of that quality can be seen in these Zelda games. Aonuma’s first role in the franchise was the designer of the dungeons in Ocarina of Time, but was later promoted to director for subsequent Zelda titles. Ocarina of Time, in some ways, was ahead of its time for game design. It seemed to have been the holder of high-calibre game play that other titles could barely live up to. If this holds any merit to Aonuma’s hard work, the classic mechanisms fostered in this franchise are a reflection of his direction.

Nearly 12 years ago, when Ocarina of Time was released on the N64, it boasted some of the most impressive 3D visuals, immersive gameplay, and tight controls of its time. Most of the mechanisms in Ocarina of Time were recycled in Majora’s Mask while managing to provide a segregated experience. The mechanisms were practically re-done in 2003 for Wind Waker and from there; the mechanisms in Twilight Princess were almost completely re-done again.

Aonuma has a personal goal, to “Make a Zelda game better than Ocarina of Time” an honourable feat.

The targeting system in Ocarina of Time (left) features a super-accurate circular target reticule whereas the modern arrow-targeting system is more simplified.

Back in the day, Ocarina of Time had a hard-core target audience. Nowadays, it is ideal for a game to be easier to play for in order to capture a wider audience. Could this change be one of the reasons Aonuma may not be able to best his own challenge?

Each game in the Zelda franchise arguably represents the best technical standing on their respective console. Twilight Princes for the Wii, as an example, makes effective use of Nintendo’s Wii controller. Its GameCube counterpart features nearly-flawless graphical prowess for its respective console (most developers strive for a consistent frame-rate while rendering advanced graphical effects). Aonuma has been, at least for Nintendo, at the technical forefront of game design.

Relevance of the special effects seen in Batman: Arkham Asylum

2010-02-24T00:10:00.001-05:00

When playing the Batman: Arkham Asylum Demo, I listed off the major special effects in order of appearance and attempted to categorize them as well as match their context within the game.

Mist: from the moment the game opens up, there is a dense fog below the batman himself. This must be relevant to the theme: YOU ARE BATMAN, the dark knight himself. Is it dark? Yes. There is a moon to prove it. The mist is very eerie mist is practically symbolic for everyone’s fears that dwell in the night – the same night wherein Batman reigns.

Thick, heavy rain: not your everyday particle effect, this time it’s personal. The rain is actually dripping down the buildings, they collide with every surface and drip down every orifice. Something is haunting Gotham City; and rain is just the beginning.

Bat silhouette in the sky: the light shines in this dreary sky. Don’t Panic! Batman is here. Melodrama aside, this lighting effect is utilized well to include the genuine batman experience – any fan would understand its necessity.

Reflective textures: those within the asylum provide a realistic metallic appearance. It’s like a constant reminder that Batman is traversing through a heavy-duty prison cell, which he is.

Old-style television: this nostalgic filter can be seen during a cut scene with Batman and Harley Quinn. The televisions yield a poor-quality view of whoever appears on the opposite end. This prison sure has low-grade television sets. Then again, is such a luxury really necessary considering who inhabits the building?

Detective Mode: an alternative reality. This masking filter on the game’s viewport highlights important hints for the player. It’s basically a ‘help’ screen that allows players of all types to progress through the game’s levels. Batman himself is certainly a skilled problem-solver, so not only is this relevant to the context of the game’s challenges, but also adds to the world of Batman in terms of thematic embellishment.

Bending Metal: Did he just do that? Key-framed or not, that is some brute force that wasn’t meant to be missed! Depending on how sneaky he feels, Batman can either tear off a ventilation grate or carefully push it open with his feet. Batman is a strong fellow, and bending metal proves it. This is undoubtedly a special effect that served its place within the gameplay of Arkham Asylum.

Adapting Rock Band for a younger demographic

2010-02-24T00:04:00.001-05:00

ROCK BAND is a popular video game played by teens and adults in all major gaming settings of the world. Many have mastered the quick fret-movements, the rhythmic drum patterns, the swooping lyrical content, and some can even perform two of the three simultaneously. Take away the teen-adult target audience; change that to an aged 3-8 demographic and ROCK BAND may not be the same.

So you’re 3 years old, and you want to play ROCK BAND with your older brother. You hardly have the fine-motor skills to hold a spoon, so how are you supposed to hold a guitar? NOT TO WORRY! You can hold a stick and beat things with it, right? This may involve an extra difficulty setting, “Kid Mode." This will add an extra mechanic to the game: anyone that selects ‘Kid Mode’ will not be allowed to lose (Rock Band’s existing no-fail mode will be enabled for this feature). When playing in ‘Kid Mode’ – there will only be 2 frets on a guitar to hit, and they will be spaced out much further than the other difficulties’ note placement. When playing on drums, kid mode only requires ONE DRUM. The big red one! Can you hit it? Can you hit it many times, even when you’re supposed to? We sure hope so. Like the easier guitar-setting, the necessary drumming moments will arrive slowly and predictably, allowing plenty of coordination for the youngster. As for the lyrical stuff, there won’t be tone-management. Just say the word at the right time and you will get by without a sweat.

Then again, those instruments sure look big on you, eh? Not to worry, with every kid-friendly Rock Band, there are the respective miniature models for those little hands and diminutive stature. Once those hands slip into those instruments like a glove, you’re in control. It’s time to navigate the menu. What’s that? There’s a miniature instrument plugged in? I gotcha – there’s a kid playing Rock Band! Don’t mind if I CHANGE THE MENU SCREEN ACCORDINGLY. And bam! The menu items are larger, easier to read, and less gloomy! Now you won’t feel like a terrible monster is going to be underneath your bed tonight because you’re playing ROCK BAND with PRETTY COLOURS and a fun-sized instrument.

The aesthetic change is no sweat! Take away the chains, the facial piercings, the humans, the flashy lights (most of them, at least) the inner-city settings, and what to you get?

SESAME STREET Rock Band!

Noteworthy from the image above: those characters are named Little Chrissy & The Alphabeats on an episode named Rock and Roll Readers. Now there’s a band name for the kiddies!

So how’s that for a party game? Does it sound fun? Well it should! Now you can play with everyone, all your friends, and it’s fun for the whole family! Your older brother won’t be able to play Sanitarium by Metallica, but at least he can jam along to that ‘yip yip’ song that everybody knows.

DEFCON imagined as a board game

2010-02-09T20:19:00.001-05:00

DEFCON is a real-time strategy video game by Introversion Software, released in September 2006. wherein players build massive armies to defend their factions from destruction once the namesake timer counts down to Defcon 1.

My board game concept "Defcon" is based on this PC-game, and...

It's going to look something like this.

That's right, a gigantic game board accompanied by its very own table. Defcon requires four teams to set up their armies based on specific predetermined territories on the planet. The game is very long, longer than RISK by far. The game takes place during the following five phases (taken from the Defcon video game's instructions manual):

Defcon 5 No hostile actions. Can move naval units within international waters
Defcon 4 Radar coverage will provide information on enemy units within range
Defcon 3 Can no longer place units. Can engage enemy units in naval and airborne combat
Defcon 2 Continued and more aggressive hostile actions
Defcon 1 Nuclear attacks allowed

This is a blatant asset in the game that puts the REAL TIME in REAL TIME STRATEGY. This countdown is omnipresent during any game of Defcon, and the board game iteration should have no exceptions. From the list above, you can see what this countdown will be used for. All four team will be placing and moving units in real time (I'll explain how later), and this countdown will roll over each phase in a matter of 10 minutes each. Henceforth, the countdown to Defcon gadget will be included in every game set of Defcon.

And so, with this countdown implemented - my board game is officially in real time! What about the strategy? Well...

I must somehow simulate this

Go me. I'll have to face the music and realize that this entire video game is heavily command-and-wait-based. When a player has built a fleet of ships, for example, and commands them to travel to Africa from America in full steam - it'll take them a while since Defcon simulates actual world movement. This is why all four teams have the option to speed up the countdown: a single game could take days to complete. I will now run through a step-by-step description of how one would play DEFCON THE BOARD GAME.

Setup
Select a faction. You can have up to four, but require a minimum of two. That also means there must be a minimum of two players, but can theoretically have a limitless amount of players per team. Once all four teams have been decided, it is now time to play.

Defcon 5

Start the timer, it is time to play. Each team has 10 minutes to set up their units and plan their attacks. There will be no movement during this time. Depending on their faction, they can only deploy units in four specific regions on the planet. These regions will be divided as follows:

One thing that I cannot easily represent is the set of grid-lines. When placing units, players will be able to place units within the bounds of small squares within their region's boundaries. Units will be represented symbolically as square tiles. The units available to each faction are Unlike the Defcon video game - these units can be flipped over and transformed into Nukes (only usable during Defcon 1). The units that can be constructed at this time are 10 naval units (can only move in the water), 10 aircraft units (can move anywhere), and 10 land units (stationary). By the time 10 minutes conclude, the timer will yell out:

Defcon 4
Ready or not, it's time to roll out. Each team must plan carefully where they will move their pieces. Every 20 seconds, the timer will beep and each team will be allowed to move a single piece one space either vertically or horizontally. If a team does not move a piece within 5 seconds after the timer beeps, they miss their turn. This is a heavy adaptation to the video game since all pieces can be micro-managed, but this factor is too challenging to track and even more challenging to moderate; and thus my simplified movement rules have been implemented. No attacking is permitted at this stage and teams can only move naval units internationally; aircraft units must remain within their faction's boundaries.

Defcon 3
The same amount of movements are permitted during this 10-minute period. Teams can now move aircraft units internationally and all units are subject to giving and receiving attacks. Teams will continue to move one piece at a time every 20 seconds, however - now that the state of alertness is Defcon 3, pieces can now attack each other. When moving pieces around, they automatically attack when within two adjacent squares of range. After a hit, a flat token is placed on the affected unit to represent life taken away. One unit only deals one increment of damage to one other unit. If a single unit is surrounded by three units - they perish and only inflict one increment of damage to a single selected opponent unit. Aircraft and naval units can attack any unit, but land units cannot attack.

Also, alliances can be formed during Defcon 3 and 2. Any time two factions form alliances, they cannot be broken. If your team does not want to give another faction the satisfaction of winning, then by all means single yourself out.

Defcon 2
Same rules as Defcon 3, this is a 10-minute extension.

Defcon 1
The timer stops and all unit tokens are flipped upside-down and converted into nuclear bombs. Depending on the placement of surviving units, they will nuke the faction whose area they inhabit, even if it's a friendly team. All surviving land units are converted into nukes as well and they will attack any opposing faction that the player selects. All players will be sure to count how many hits their faction receives. The faction that received the least number of hits wins.

And there goes the battle!
I managed to really tare out most of the features of the DEFCON video game while constructing this board game. It had to be done, no person is capable of managing dozens of units in real-time for a long period of time. The whole real-time board game idea is a road block in itself, and hopefully the timer makes up for that.

***
Disclaimer: my own inadequate knowledge for real-time strategy games have been detrimental to the creativity of this writing. Please excuse any inconsistencies or acts of unfaithfulness. Have fun, and remember: everybody dies.

Shattered Horizon Review

2010-01-23T15:53:00.039-05:00

Shattered Horizon is a competitive Online Multi-player First-Person Shooter developed and published by Futuremark Games Studio. It was released on November 4, 2009 and distributed digitally via Steam. [link].

It's Counter-Strike - IN SPACE! From the outside, this game contains astronauts wielding assault rifles. The setting is in outer space wherein two factions of these gun-wielding astronauts battle to secure specific objectives.

The core of Shattered Horizon immediately separates it from other multi-player shooters because of its zero-gravity setting. Players have omnidirectional control over their characters and can freely move around using the astronaut's jet-pack. At the time of this writing, the entirety of Shattered Horizon's gameplay resides in these three in-game modes:

Battle: several control points are spread around the map. Teams must defend their control points while attacking the enemy's.
Assault: team A must defend their control points from team B's assault. When a round ends, both teams swap roles.
Skirmish: team deathmatch; the team with the most points by the end of the time limit wins.

In a single round, all players must make full use of their weapons and locomotive abilities in order to complete their objectives. For instance, when a round begins your character is floating forward with his teammates and the player assumes control. If the match happens to be "Skirmish," the player must make use of their heads-up display to locate enemy players and to have a keen eye for their glowing jet-packs. If you are bested by your opponent, it will only be for a few seconds until your astronaut re-spawns by zooming rapidly from distant space and into the fray! Being a multi-player game, it should be noted that there are no uses of artificial intelligence in-game and is intended for human-to-human interactions.

Screenshot depicting in-game action; two MMC (yellow) soldiers teaming up and having bested opposing ISA (blue) opponents (click to enlarge). The HUD radar (middle-bottom of screen) interprets the position of adjacent players symbolically.

Using trickery such as rotating one's character or powering off their suit, players may become difficult targets to hit. Players are also given physical boundaries within the open-world maps: straying away from the fray too far leads to incremental damage against the player. Although players are given the opportunity to communicate via text, it is a serious loss not having voice-chat support in Shattered Horizon. Controlling an astronaut in space is a bit more involved than typical circumstances in a first-person shooter: there is no time to type a message to your teammates, you need those fingers to live!

It would seem paradoxical that the players of Shattered Horizon cannot communicate by voice yet there are sequences of in-game voice acting produced by the characters that interact with each other. Science-fiction although the setting may be, it seems to be rather accurate based on the back-story provided in the game's manual. One cannot hear anything in space: there are no particles to support sound waves. The astronauts' suits, however, have a sophisticated virtual sound environment that produces a realistic perception of adjacent sounds such as gunshots and jet-pack whirring. The in-game sounds are sparse, but there isn't enough going on to require much more. The game produces high-quality sounds that work well with stereo headphones and speaker systems to allow players to locate enemies based on audio cues.

Music: The composer of the game's soundtrack, Markus Kaarlonen, welcomes its style as "space opera." The video above showcases the game's visuals and music synchronously.

The user interface in Shattered Horizon is simple, but ideal. With headphones on, players can immerse themselves into the character's space suit. When selecting a server, the main menu navigator is more than adequate for providing simple navigation. In-game, the heads-up display clearly resembles a virtual screen linked to the character's spherical visor. This game plays similarly to all other keyboard-and-mouse first-person shooters; you strafe with the keyboard, you aim and shoot with the mouse, and you perform various secondary actions with the keyboard as well.

The aesthetics in the game are wholly well-done. If playing on a gaming machine, the visuals are smooth and amusing when in the fray while also succeeding at being fantastic outside of the gaming maps. The backdrops, specifically, are an outstanding arrangement of earth's moon during fictitious circumstances. According to the game's story (an optional read for the player, provided in the game's manual), there has been a mining accident on the moon causing it to break into debris that ended up orbiting around earth. It has been named "The Arc" based on the shape it produced. I suppose that explains the interesting vistas I mentioned earlier; observe this image as an example.

Where did we get these guns? Who cares?

The story is not essential to the game-play since the players have enough to occupy themselves with exclusively multi-player modes at their disposal. However, it does provide reason to those who would like to play with a predetermined premise in mind. Given the overall atmosphere provided by the in-game music and character voices, it should appear evident that there are space soldiers fighting in space. It does not directly affect gameplay: that part is maintained by the players themselves.

Shattered Horizon is a very fine game, albeit the first of its kind. Being a game linked to Steamworks, I am certain the people of Futuremark Games Studio are aware of the possibilities there are for improving upon the experience. Lack of in-game voice chat support does hamper teamwork, and a single-player campaign is somewhat missed - at least for me personally. Let it also be known that the game was developed for DirectX 10 - used exclusively (so far) on the Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. Without that component, your PC will not be able to run Shattered Horizon - this is definitely unfortunate for the still-running Windows XP gamers out there. Still, the future is now and eventually more modern games will be developed on Direct X 10 (or even 11), upgrading is inevitable - sorry for going off on a tangent.

I must congratulate Futuremark Games Studio for their website. It provides excellent support for an online community that features a help forum, online player statistics, and all the standard online venues for following their updates. Feedback is important for a lot of things, and it is evidently recognized by their website. Culturally, however, it would appear that their target demographic are English-speaking people that play other competitive online first-person shooters (such as Counter-Strike) possibly in any age range since the thematic elements of Shattered Horizon are fairly accessible. I should also mention that there appears to be a dominant exposition of male characteristic to the astronaut's vocal dialogue. The space suits' high-tech computer, however, sounds female. Although a bit clichéd, it provides balance for the characters' sexual identities; this may be important to some.

The Verdict

I do recommend you give Shattered Horizon a try just because of it's interesting new twist to the FPS genre - it may click with you, it may not.

***EDIT***
After the time of this writing, Futuremark Games recently released 4 new maps, voice support, and a tutorial - all for free. This certainly shows how they listened to their players and delivered their demands.

City of Heroes is all kinds of dread

2010-01-14T17:45:00.015-05:00

EDIT: I am talking about CITY OF HEROES and NOT CITY OF VILLAINS.

Just to clarify.

I would much rather stare at a wall than play this game. Wall-staring happens to be a preferred pass-time, so more for me! Anyway, City of Heroes is the sort of game I would only play due to peer pressure. Like several massively-multi-player online (MMO) games, those who play it often obviously enjoy the experience. Those who are unable to get by the game's tutorial - myself being one of them - must realize instantly that it just isn't for them.

When it comes to multi-player, the largest mass of gamers I mingle with are within 32-player skirmish matches in Shattered Horizon: try to defeat more opponents than them defeating you and earn your team the most points before the time runs out. Short-spurt game play, I like that. City of Heroes however requires commitment, patience, and in my case: tolerance. Sure, a friend told me "You don't have to play for hours at a time," yet it was no secret when I observed that it takes hours of accumulative game-play for the game to "eventually be fun." Why must I work to attain the fun moments of a game? It should be fun from start to end!

This leads to my first complaint in regards to the game-play: it's a role-playing game. From the outside it does not seem so bad, yet knowing that I have to "level-up" my character to level 40 (or something) to enjoy more attacks, locomotive abilities, or whatever do-dads that makes this game so appealing to the rest of the world is just not my cup of tea. I have interviewed gamers of City of heroes in the past, and they seemed to enjoy aspects of the game I just didn't care for. For instance: when you create a character, the game detects the places you've visited and writes a story about you. I mean that literally because my interviewee demonstrated for me his "character profile" that displays his avatar's personality, favourite skills, and of course background story - like an actual comic book hero. If I wanted to write a story about a made-up character, I wouldn't have a game do it for me.

The game design seems to suit many, but it just steers me away. Secondly is the sound in City of Heroes. It's not all bad, really - however it is used repetitively. There are hundreds (if not more) sorts of attacks/actions in the game that could possibly produce a unique sound, yet I find that the same handful of sound effects are recycled and reused within these occurrences. I'm assuming that majority of the creativity was focused on giving names and parameters to the hundreds of attacks instead of their sound effects.

I think I have already mentioned the game flow: slow, and slow in progression. I should not have to be this tall to ride the ride, especially when the ride is not fun. Most of the abilities found in this game must be earned after hours of leveling up; and these are abilities I take for granted in most other games from the moment I grab the controller. The level design belittles this feeling even further: tall skyscrapers whose tops I cannot fly to without earning my wings. Even though the highest level in the game earns you abilities that are just moderately impressive, the abilities given to a player that is just starting in relativity makes them feel like a useless mouse. The most heroic thing I was able to accomplish is stabbing grunts in the shins with my two pointed sticks; I suppose all heroes have to start somewhere.

Speaking of accomplishment, I also mentioned earlier that I could not pass the tutorial. The interface was a confusing mess to say the least. There are less buttons on my Windows desktop. It would have helped immensely if the tutorial produced a GIGANTIC RED ARROW that pointed at the function I needed to click on in order to progress.

(click to view larger)

If this does not overwhelm you...

But no, that would have been too helpful - they did not want to offend my intellect or patronize my technical prowess, so the tutorial designer saw it fit to just tell me what button to press and let me figure it out. I actually had to ask a human entity for assistance in this matter. It was an embarrassment, but so is the tutorial in City of Heroes.

And so, given up I dismissed this title as unplayable and irritating.

Team Fortress 2 - a fun game

2010-01-14T17:17:00.011-05:00

It really is.

It's getting a bit old now, but I still cannot tell. Although Team Fortress 2 (TF2) was released in 2007, and although I started playing it in September 2008; it's a package that can last a decade if Valve keeps it rolling. The name Valve has enough notoriety in the gaming world, and all things good can be taken for granted in this multi-player first-person shooter.

First off, there are many first-person shooters like TF2, but I promise you that none of them are akin to its charm. Certainly there are lots of technically mature aspects such as characters deaths, blood, and ultra-violence, but that does not make a deep impact on the player since it is all treated in a reasonably light-hearted fashion. For instance, an explosion that causes an opponent death may animate as a bizarre and unrealistically-shooting rag-doll toss.

As far as deaths are concerned, it isn't even an official game-play objective! Unlike 'similar' titles (Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament) that feature skirmish game-play, TF2 places emphases on objective-based game-play. Such in-game modes (such as 'capture the flag') were created in a manner that is fresh to the gamer thanks to the 9 classes. Possibly the forefront of TF2's caliber in fun lies in these 9 playable characters; all of which are unique with their own set of tools, play styles, and of course their personalities - but more on that later.

The 9 classes

Offensive: Scout, Soldier, Pyro

Defensive: Demolition Man, Heavy Weapons Guy (pictured above), Engineer

Support: Medic, Sniper, Spy

During a regular match, the ideal teammate would use voice, text, or both forms of communication to collaborate with friendlies and adapt to the constantly-changing game-play. From the numerous game-changing factors, some examples would be changing class to belittle opposing players, rushing for health after a surprise-attack (there are ammo and health pickups), and gaining an attack or health boost from a friendly medic. The three class types (above) speak for themselves, although each individual character possess deep, complex, and absolutely different uses.

This should not go without saying that each map/level are supplementary to the abilities of all 9 classes. The level designs are fascinating works of video game architecture: specifically because they each effectively accommodate all 9 classes equally. Vantage points for snipers, crevices for sentry-guns, corners for cover, doorways to set up sticky-bomb traps, the whole package. At the same time, each level compliments the graphical style of TF2 - it is always a sight to behold. Some of the designs remind me of landscapes and objects from the Road Runner show.

This could work...

Totally. I should add that players may navigate through these maps in different ways, which makes game-play different each time you play against new strangers.

Also while playing, you can hear the hilarious jeers of each character as well as footsteps of enemies approaching you from behind thanks to the virtual surround sound atmosphere (even with stereo headphones). Speaking of technical stuff, I must congratulate Valve on making this game so graphically pleasing while maintaining compatibility with DirectX 8 users as well as being incredibly optimized to have air-tight performance across all kinds of systems. Believe me, I've played less-pretty games that couldn't perform better than TF2 has in the stability front.

Back on topic, I will finally emphasize the character personalities and why it makes TF2 an especially fun game to me. Each character, from the Brooklynese Scout to the black Scottish Cyclops Demo, has a rich and wonderful configuration. Every time the Scout calls the Heavy a 'fatty' for no particular reason, or when the Spy makes idle threats for what it's worth just tugs at my comedic nerves every time. And after all this, what do you have? A first-person shooter with 9 zany characters, all of which the player can master, along with fair and fun objective-based game-play in which the violence can be overlooked by the trained eye as well as an optional story. That's right, it has a story - however fragmented it may be. If you fancy yourself an interesting read, be my guest and you'll see what ties these characters together.

Lastly, a contributing factor to the life of TF2 and how Valve makes the game consistently more fresh to its gamers can be seen in its updates. The latest 'War Update' for example, features comics that readers can follow up on a daily basis prior to each major TF2 update. Updates usually include new weapons for specific classes, new levels, sometimes new modes and other special features that make the game seem entirely new! Recently, Valve released 'bots' to test out an A.I. system for TF2. Evidently, they're always willing to experiment and make the most of their games. For the uninitiated, I highly recommend giving TF2 a run for its money. It even goes on sale periodically on its official page on the PC game distributor Steam.

Disclaimer

As usual, the images used in this blog are not owned by me. They belong to either Valve, Warner Brothers, or the Mafia.

Today I played VVVVVV

2010-01-13T20:55:00.018-05:00

10 Minute Play-Through REVIEW

Game Source: http://www.kongregate.com/games/TerryCavanagh/vvvvvv-demo

The other day, I ran straight into a wall on the Internet that happened to be a blog on Destructoid regarding this newly-completed indie game known as VVVVVV. Just remember 6 x V. Aren't flash games just great? It's like navigating to a web page, and there's a game in there! Too easy, 10 minutes of my time were to be had with this title.

My first obstacle was text that read "Press the Action Button to continue." Little did I know that this was a tutorial disguised as a menu, and little did I know that this tutorial taught me the one action button I that I would use extensively for the obstacles afterward.

I went with the Z key since V would just make too much sense. And there they were! Six happy little dudes in their bit-by-pixel glory. Things were just dandy until the danger buzzer shouted warnings that caused the six technicolour critters to sprint and teleport themselves to someplace magical where danger buzzers were extinct. After the cut scene, the leader of the bunch transfers out from the teleporter only to find himself crew-less and that's just...

NOT GOOD.

Nor was it good for my self-esteem: this little guy was CHEERFUL that he escaped just moments ago! I knew something had to be done, so I equipped the arrow keys and traveled right to whatever treachery awaited me. Surely, the Z button could do more than proceed through dialogue, so I gave it a whirl and then I was walking on the ceiling. I brushed it off nonchalantly: I am an astronaut, in space - things are A-OK, captain.

One of my most treasured moments in any game occurred at this point as the beat of the BGM kicked in. Not just any beat, it's the sort of super-heroic feel-good stadium-pounding chiptune you've never heard by the composer of Big Bad Beetleborgs - Tom Scholz!

I wish

Whoever the composer was, they nailed something that only sweet and sour sauce could: pure old-fashioned greatness. My 10 minutes were almost up, so I had to act fast. Spikes! Lots of them! Obviously I'll die if I touch them; Megaman taught me that! And so I cleverly used my favourite Z button to navigate from platform-to-platform and NOT on the spikes. For the most part it worked, if it was my intention to touch the spikes. I must have gotten what could have been 25 game-overs. Luckily, each time a spike is hit - I continue again right were I touched the last cloning machine check-point. The game is forgiving, I like that. It's also very challenging within these bounds, nice touch. The music nullifies most of my frustration since it's so great - FANTASTIC. If you happen to have ears and an uncanny tolerance to QuickTime player, here is a sample from the official composer's website.

For ten more minutes, or dollars, I could enjoy this game further without hesitation. Why? Because it is FUN, and I think it's one of those games where I could earn more bragging rights as an platform-gamer.

EDIT

You can find the game's soundtrack and composer here.

Disclaimer

The media mentioned in this article: Tom Sholz, Boston, Big Bad Beetleborgs, VVVVVV and its music are all separate entities that I do not own. I just had to say that before I run into another death spike.

Up and Running

2009-06-21T10:29:00.002-04:00

Now if I can just make it shinier: Here's my website

Under Construction

2009-06-11T18:35:00.001-04:00

It'll be here soon, you'll see. YOU'LL ALL SEE!