I know it's not a competition, but man does he work fast.
In other news, nothing... I've been bummed since the move and haven't been working on anything.
Projects
Designcraft only, no actual work
Gaming
I bought a few games, but haven't really played them. Trying to enjoy Starcraft 2, but I don't like multiplayer games where I can't be anonymous.
Other
They sent me the wrong Bowflex. Instead of a PR3000 I got an Xtreme 2SE... I guess I got the better end of that deal, but meh.
Need Input, Lok
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Playing With the Graphics (on paper)
I'm trying to come up with a nice UI for the main game. So far I don't have an MP/magic system even though I might want one, but I can't think of a logical way to add it to the game play since my game stands on its combat alone.
The combat engine got tweaked a lot. While at heart it still plays similar to Zelda 2, I wanted the combat to be a little faster and to rely less on blocking bullets (thrown swords). So, I thought I'd throw some Double Dragon into the mix and have two attack buttons. Since you can duck for low attacks, this makes a total of 4 instant attacks from a standing position. I made a flow chart (on paper) of possible animation transitions between each of the attack positions (including repeats for combos) and it looks good (on paper).
Using the 360 controller as a reference, this would have A button as jump, X button as attack left, B button as attack right and Y button for context sensitive action. Since I know there's gunna be people who have problems with this type of control scheme I'll add an alternate option for X as attack forward and B as attack backward relative to facing direction. Also, this is not a fighting game/beat 'em up, the combos are purely graphical - the per hit damage and speed should be standard across all attacks (like Zelda 2) so a player doesn't "have" to ever use one attack button or the other, it's purely a comfort thing.
I've decided to use my cartoons as a character basis since they're easy to pose and quite emotive. If I were to hire an animator I could just show them my model movement chart and they could probably go to town on it. Because of the character's stubby little legs it might be tricky converting to a more accurate human analogue for models, but that shouldn't come up.
The next part up would be to decide between sprites or vectors. Sprites are easy to work with, but vectors look nicer and can have smoother movements. Since my model design has very few parts (2 arms, 2 legs, the body section, the head section and the eyes) I could model them separately and just "pin" them together for animations as opposed to drawing full characters.
Just not sure yet
Projects
All paper work since I've been playing other games
Gaming
Bought Starcraft 2... ya, for $59.99 USD... as a Digital Download. I feel ripped off, but only because I've been so spoiled by the comfort of Steam sales.
Been mostly playing Just Cause 2 - The story is completely ignorable, it's all about the base raid action. There's a lot to destroy and the game world is huge, probably the largest hand crafted game world available. Hijacking helicopters doesn't get old and the enemy mix is just annoying enough to kill you some of the time while still keeping you aggressive against them.
Also, looks like Ys titles are coming to Steam... so, yeah. I might get stuck on those for a while. The 3D games are good action, but I liked the edge ramming of the original titles.
Other
Spent my entire design budget on a Bowflex PR3000... Ya, I'm irresponsible. I need a wife to keep me in check.
Or something, Lok
The combat engine got tweaked a lot. While at heart it still plays similar to Zelda 2, I wanted the combat to be a little faster and to rely less on blocking bullets (thrown swords). So, I thought I'd throw some Double Dragon into the mix and have two attack buttons. Since you can duck for low attacks, this makes a total of 4 instant attacks from a standing position. I made a flow chart (on paper) of possible animation transitions between each of the attack positions (including repeats for combos) and it looks good (on paper).
Using the 360 controller as a reference, this would have A button as jump, X button as attack left, B button as attack right and Y button for context sensitive action. Since I know there's gunna be people who have problems with this type of control scheme I'll add an alternate option for X as attack forward and B as attack backward relative to facing direction. Also, this is not a fighting game/beat 'em up, the combos are purely graphical - the per hit damage and speed should be standard across all attacks (like Zelda 2) so a player doesn't "have" to ever use one attack button or the other, it's purely a comfort thing.
I've decided to use my cartoons as a character basis since they're easy to pose and quite emotive. If I were to hire an animator I could just show them my model movement chart and they could probably go to town on it. Because of the character's stubby little legs it might be tricky converting to a more accurate human analogue for models, but that shouldn't come up.
The next part up would be to decide between sprites or vectors. Sprites are easy to work with, but vectors look nicer and can have smoother movements. Since my model design has very few parts (2 arms, 2 legs, the body section, the head section and the eyes) I could model them separately and just "pin" them together for animations as opposed to drawing full characters.
Just not sure yet
Projects
All paper work since I've been playing other games
Gaming
Bought Starcraft 2... ya, for $59.99 USD... as a Digital Download. I feel ripped off, but only because I've been so spoiled by the comfort of Steam sales.
Been mostly playing Just Cause 2 - The story is completely ignorable, it's all about the base raid action. There's a lot to destroy and the game world is huge, probably the largest hand crafted game world available. Hijacking helicopters doesn't get old and the enemy mix is just annoying enough to kill you some of the time while still keeping you aggressive against them.
Also, looks like Ys titles are coming to Steam... so, yeah. I might get stuck on those for a while. The 3D games are good action, but I liked the edge ramming of the original titles.
Other
Spent my entire design budget on a Bowflex PR3000... Ya, I'm irresponsible. I need a wife to keep me in check.
Or something, Lok
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
What Manner of Game is Clone?
I was asked what I meant by Zelda 2 clone. So, I had to think about it for a second. There's other games that use the Zelda 2 basic elements such as Battle of Olympus and Rambo, but Zelda is the one I mostly care about... why?
A game is made up of repetitions of essential skills. Things like running and jumping. Games typically mix as few core elements as possible together for the base gameplay with a few extras for special elements. For example, Super Mario Bros. primary has running and jumping as primary skills, but also has attacking as a secondary skill - fire flowers, star power as well as kicking enemies when they're down.
So, what are the essential skills of Zelda 2? You can't run, so jumping. There's also blocking and attacking. But what is the CORE element - why to *I* want to use this as a baseline and not some other games. The answer is the "downward thrust". This is by far my favourite part of the combat in Zelda 2. It opens up a new dimension to the combat while also opening new hazards (many a death in Island Palace because a downward thrust resulted in destroying the floor I was on). In addition, while thrusting you can no longer control your horizontal momentum or block.
My entire design philosophy has been around creative use of the downward thrust ability. Even if I completely change engines, that's still the basis. That's the essential skill (along side movement and jumping of course).
So, how else can I use downward thrust?
Moreover... how can I implement this without using a sword/shield character? The protagonist will most likely have to use a sword/shield simply due to the constraints of the combat engine, but I always need to think of options.
Projects
I really need a new way to organize my design notes.
Anyways: Downward thrust has been fun to design around combat wise, but a game can't be all combat. I've been working on adding a few mini-games to the mix. Things like mining and fishing, all relying on the downward thrust to do all the work. Sky diving even, hitting targets before hitting the ground and so on. Basically all of the last month has been jotting down ideas like this.
Of course, almost all my paper work is meaningless without some art work. It would be improper to rip off other people's sprite sheets even as placeholders, but I'm simply no artist.... well, ok, if you want stills or backgrounds I'm your guy, but characters are right out.
Gaming
Bro quit MapleStory so I guess I will too. Now I'm on Realm of the Mad God. The in game currency model is laughable. I pretty much only play 'cuz it's 2D.
Been trying to get people together for some Team Fortress 2, but I just can't find anyone to play with the way I want to... y'know... without mods.
Other
Started a zinc supplement. Will continue to monitor heath.
Alien Ent Farm would make a lousy gag, Lok
A game is made up of repetitions of essential skills. Things like running and jumping. Games typically mix as few core elements as possible together for the base gameplay with a few extras for special elements. For example, Super Mario Bros. primary has running and jumping as primary skills, but also has attacking as a secondary skill - fire flowers, star power as well as kicking enemies when they're down.
So, what are the essential skills of Zelda 2? You can't run, so jumping. There's also blocking and attacking. But what is the CORE element - why to *I* want to use this as a baseline and not some other games. The answer is the "downward thrust". This is by far my favourite part of the combat in Zelda 2. It opens up a new dimension to the combat while also opening new hazards (many a death in Island Palace because a downward thrust resulted in destroying the floor I was on). In addition, while thrusting you can no longer control your horizontal momentum or block.
My entire design philosophy has been around creative use of the downward thrust ability. Even if I completely change engines, that's still the basis. That's the essential skill (along side movement and jumping of course).
So, how else can I use downward thrust?
Moreover... how can I implement this without using a sword/shield character? The protagonist will most likely have to use a sword/shield simply due to the constraints of the combat engine, but I always need to think of options.
Projects
I really need a new way to organize my design notes.
Anyways: Downward thrust has been fun to design around combat wise, but a game can't be all combat. I've been working on adding a few mini-games to the mix. Things like mining and fishing, all relying on the downward thrust to do all the work. Sky diving even, hitting targets before hitting the ground and so on. Basically all of the last month has been jotting down ideas like this.
Of course, almost all my paper work is meaningless without some art work. It would be improper to rip off other people's sprite sheets even as placeholders, but I'm simply no artist.... well, ok, if you want stills or backgrounds I'm your guy, but characters are right out.
Gaming
Bro quit MapleStory so I guess I will too. Now I'm on Realm of the Mad God. The in game currency model is laughable. I pretty much only play 'cuz it's 2D.
Been trying to get people together for some Team Fortress 2, but I just can't find anyone to play with the way I want to... y'know... without mods.
Other
Started a zinc supplement. Will continue to monitor heath.
Alien Ent Farm would make a lousy gag, Lok
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Nothing of Note
I've said it before, game making for me is about expressing a need to fill a gap that doesn't exist in the current gaming environment. Since that gap is currently being filled (giggity) I don't have the need to create.
Still, I'm always taking notes.
One of the main things is I wrote several articles on various game concepts on GameFAQs, but they were deleted due to inactivity. Only one person was even reading them.
Projects
Sated.
Gaming
Non-stop Spiral Knights and MapleStory. Just goes to show the drastic differences in economy. In Spiral Knights you can basically max out your character for only $5, but in MapleStory that can get you one or two pieces of costume gear or a teleport rock... for only 90 days.
Funny thing is, as part of a trial I did spend a fixed amount of money on various free MMO's. The before mentioned two: While I was able to max out in Spiral Knights - there really was no where else to go after that. Got a single Sanctuary clear and didn't feel like continuing. However, in MapleStory even a single teleport rock is a huge asset and I "probably" would buy costume gear (since I like a lot of the artwork in the game) if it weren't for that 90 day limit.
Other
Healthy-ish. Still concerned about the family... basic regular stuff.
And yes, you are reading my sig, Lok.
Still, I'm always taking notes.
One of the main things is I wrote several articles on various game concepts on GameFAQs, but they were deleted due to inactivity. Only one person was even reading them.
Projects
Sated.
Gaming
Non-stop Spiral Knights and MapleStory. Just goes to show the drastic differences in economy. In Spiral Knights you can basically max out your character for only $5, but in MapleStory that can get you one or two pieces of costume gear or a teleport rock... for only 90 days.
Funny thing is, as part of a trial I did spend a fixed amount of money on various free MMO's. The before mentioned two: While I was able to max out in Spiral Knights - there really was no where else to go after that. Got a single Sanctuary clear and didn't feel like continuing. However, in MapleStory even a single teleport rock is a huge asset and I "probably" would buy costume gear (since I like a lot of the artwork in the game) if it weren't for that 90 day limit.
Other
Healthy-ish. Still concerned about the family... basic regular stuff.
And yes, you are reading my sig, Lok.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
It's Ready!
Nope, not the game... the Story for the game.
It took several months of linguistic dickery, but it's finally (mostly) done. Certainly done enough that I can finally script game events around it. Not only that, but I managed to kill two (12) birds with one (3) stone by finding out a way to unify a LOT of my game plots together, forming a coherent universe.
I've been complaining on the forums recently about the split in game design between Eastern and Western developers. Not just in terms of gameplay (since both derive heavily from the other), but in terms of social expectations. Westerners need bulky muscloid gun toting rapid monster men kicking space aliens in their genitalia (hint: their knees) while Easterners need fluffy tsundere moe-moe drama-mush gooey goo... Well, that's about as asinine of a generalization I can make, but it got me really thinking. Both companies are developing with escapism in mind and both design philosophies reflect their home culture's expectations of fantasy. But I don't play games for escapism so I get confused at the stereotypes presented by both sides.
I wrote a short story a while ago about the coming of age of the Dwarf culture (inspired by Dwarf Fortress). How the Dwarves are no longer monsters that spawn in to existence, but people who have to breed, eat and live to exist. It also dealt with the modernization of a fantasy world (such as military presence where monsters spawn) and the despeciesaztion (I need a better word for this) of the Human race. It opened with a military helicopter shooting up a spawn of bandits... ya, old fashioned highwaymen, because they were a monster spawn... of humans. There's a contrast in development philosophy when it comes to human enemies. Some games just don't care and it's expected that you kill a few enemy soldiers, other games will slaughter monsters en masse and then come to a full stop when any "real" person is actually hurt. I didn't really finish this story because of the game project.
I also wrote another story of the responsibility of science to the people... and by wrote I mean I scribbled ideas for about 10 minutes and then quit. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", but I posited that "Any sufficiently researched magic is indistinguishable from science"... to cross the cap between science fiction and fantasy. I wanted to talk about the end of the magic age. I'm sure some other literature has done the same - I don't know because I don't read much.
So, I combined them. Both stories as well as the motivations behind the characters of the games I do like. I joked earlier that is would be silly to have a protagonist worry about not getting into college, but that's real... I don't play for escapism, so I want to make the characters as grounded as possible. They should be worried about their jobs, their kids, the geopolitical climate... global warming, the drug trade - while taking place in an era where the youth culture is facing a renaissance of both progressive and reactionary ideals (to mirror how I feel about gaming - the tight grip I have on the great games of the past while most people I know only like the newest technology). Set around the Cold War escalation of Magic and Science together. The exact moment the barrier between "what is magic?" and "what is science?" is crossed... and in one instant a hole is cut out of our home continent.
But - and this is important - I want the story to mainly be about the protagonist saving HIS world from destruction. He is aware of the problems other people have such as unemployment, education, the war, social pressures... but these are their problems, not mine (his). HIS world is just his love of the past, of swords and magic... he doesn't want to cross in to the modern. But when the world faces a disaster of never before seen consequences he has to leave his little fantasy bubble and join the new world - or ignore it.... but it's hard to ignore the world changing when people won't stop talking about it EVERY TWO SECONDS FOR TEN FUCKING YEARS.
So, that's how I got the idea for how to unify the story to my game. It's still going to play like a Zelda 2 game though.
Current Projects
I'm having a REAL hard time deciding if I want to have wall grappling. Lots of games do it (Iji, Spelunky), but I don't really have to have it. Wall kicks would still be fun, but I don't need grappling.
Gaming
Mostly some AI: War and Sonic Generations. Some Doom 2. I really wish I was better at deciding things.
Other
My health is ok. I lost weight last year, but this year I seem to be very stable. I still want to lose more, but I can't do any more/less. I'm already at my personal limits...
Old Games > New Games, Lok
It took several months of linguistic dickery, but it's finally (mostly) done. Certainly done enough that I can finally script game events around it. Not only that, but I managed to kill two (12) birds with one (3) stone by finding out a way to unify a LOT of my game plots together, forming a coherent universe.
I've been complaining on the forums recently about the split in game design between Eastern and Western developers. Not just in terms of gameplay (since both derive heavily from the other), but in terms of social expectations. Westerners need bulky muscloid gun toting rapid monster men kicking space aliens in their genitalia (hint: their knees) while Easterners need fluffy tsundere moe-moe drama-mush gooey goo... Well, that's about as asinine of a generalization I can make, but it got me really thinking. Both companies are developing with escapism in mind and both design philosophies reflect their home culture's expectations of fantasy. But I don't play games for escapism so I get confused at the stereotypes presented by both sides.
I wrote a short story a while ago about the coming of age of the Dwarf culture (inspired by Dwarf Fortress). How the Dwarves are no longer monsters that spawn in to existence, but people who have to breed, eat and live to exist. It also dealt with the modernization of a fantasy world (such as military presence where monsters spawn) and the despeciesaztion (I need a better word for this) of the Human race. It opened with a military helicopter shooting up a spawn of bandits... ya, old fashioned highwaymen, because they were a monster spawn... of humans. There's a contrast in development philosophy when it comes to human enemies. Some games just don't care and it's expected that you kill a few enemy soldiers, other games will slaughter monsters en masse and then come to a full stop when any "real" person is actually hurt. I didn't really finish this story because of the game project.
I also wrote another story of the responsibility of science to the people... and by wrote I mean I scribbled ideas for about 10 minutes and then quit. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", but I posited that "Any sufficiently researched magic is indistinguishable from science"... to cross the cap between science fiction and fantasy. I wanted to talk about the end of the magic age. I'm sure some other literature has done the same - I don't know because I don't read much.
So, I combined them. Both stories as well as the motivations behind the characters of the games I do like. I joked earlier that is would be silly to have a protagonist worry about not getting into college, but that's real... I don't play for escapism, so I want to make the characters as grounded as possible. They should be worried about their jobs, their kids, the geopolitical climate... global warming, the drug trade - while taking place in an era where the youth culture is facing a renaissance of both progressive and reactionary ideals (to mirror how I feel about gaming - the tight grip I have on the great games of the past while most people I know only like the newest technology). Set around the Cold War escalation of Magic and Science together. The exact moment the barrier between "what is magic?" and "what is science?" is crossed... and in one instant a hole is cut out of our home continent.
But - and this is important - I want the story to mainly be about the protagonist saving HIS world from destruction. He is aware of the problems other people have such as unemployment, education, the war, social pressures... but these are their problems, not mine (his). HIS world is just his love of the past, of swords and magic... he doesn't want to cross in to the modern. But when the world faces a disaster of never before seen consequences he has to leave his little fantasy bubble and join the new world - or ignore it.... but it's hard to ignore the world changing when people won't stop talking about it EVERY TWO SECONDS FOR TEN FUCKING YEARS.
So, that's how I got the idea for how to unify the story to my game. It's still going to play like a Zelda 2 game though.
Current Projects
I'm having a REAL hard time deciding if I want to have wall grappling. Lots of games do it (Iji, Spelunky), but I don't really have to have it. Wall kicks would still be fun, but I don't need grappling.
Gaming
Mostly some AI: War and Sonic Generations. Some Doom 2. I really wish I was better at deciding things.
Other
My health is ok. I lost weight last year, but this year I seem to be very stable. I still want to lose more, but I can't do any more/less. I'm already at my personal limits...
Old Games > New Games, Lok
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Steam Backlog is Finished
Took only about 2 and a half weeks.
I learned a lot about what makes a game not fun. Take the critically acclaimed adventure game Gemini Rue for example. It didn't even work on my computer so it felt bad. This is not the developers fault - it is a failing with Adventure Game Studio and certain drivers. However, the problem is relatively rare. So I learned that troubleshooting is NEVER truly over. There is always someone who the game won't work for.
I also learned that novelty goes a long way, even in a critically poor game. This time I'm talking about E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy, which has a Metacritic score of only 60, but I really like it. It's hard, fast, you get plenty of unique abilities which aren't often used in FPS and the sound quality is very good - good as in it correctly works on my 9.1 surround system, something even Battlefield 3 doesn't do. The translation is quite schizo though, with the characters randomly jumping from perfect politeness to gutteral cussmonger every other line. A fan translation project is underway, which just goes to show that sometimes you just need to hook a niche of loyal followers.
Lastly, I also learned that not everyone will like a game even if it is very highly rated. In this case, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which I really just don't care for. Sure, it's an improvement over Oblivion, which is an improvement over Morrowind, but I didn't like either of those in the first place. Well, ok, I liked Oblivion somewhat - hunting for nirnroot and crawling through the tall grass. Did they just miss me as a demographic? Nope, because lots of people I know like the game... a lot, they Game of the Year'd it. Basically, I learned you can't please everyone no matter how hard you try.
Projects
Lately I've been thinking what kind of palette/colour scheme I want. My main project is a homage to Zelda 2, so maybe I should do a Blue/Orange/Red triangle.
I still don't have any staff so I have to learn everything from scratch every time I move to a new concept (like audio/visual dynamics)... which is annoying since there's no schools around here who teach anything remotely like this.
Gaming
I'm burned out from 3 weeks of Steam. But mostly I'm playing AI War: Fleet Command and E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy.
Other
I've recently been struck with paranoia about the safety of my family, even though they're near by and I can check on them any time. Maybe related to not sleeping.
Sleeping, Lok
I learned a lot about what makes a game not fun. Take the critically acclaimed adventure game Gemini Rue for example. It didn't even work on my computer so it felt bad. This is not the developers fault - it is a failing with Adventure Game Studio and certain drivers. However, the problem is relatively rare. So I learned that troubleshooting is NEVER truly over. There is always someone who the game won't work for.
I also learned that novelty goes a long way, even in a critically poor game. This time I'm talking about E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy, which has a Metacritic score of only 60, but I really like it. It's hard, fast, you get plenty of unique abilities which aren't often used in FPS and the sound quality is very good - good as in it correctly works on my 9.1 surround system, something even Battlefield 3 doesn't do. The translation is quite schizo though, with the characters randomly jumping from perfect politeness to gutteral cussmonger every other line. A fan translation project is underway, which just goes to show that sometimes you just need to hook a niche of loyal followers.
Lastly, I also learned that not everyone will like a game even if it is very highly rated. In this case, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which I really just don't care for. Sure, it's an improvement over Oblivion, which is an improvement over Morrowind, but I didn't like either of those in the first place. Well, ok, I liked Oblivion somewhat - hunting for nirnroot and crawling through the tall grass. Did they just miss me as a demographic? Nope, because lots of people I know like the game... a lot, they Game of the Year'd it. Basically, I learned you can't please everyone no matter how hard you try.
Projects
Lately I've been thinking what kind of palette/colour scheme I want. My main project is a homage to Zelda 2, so maybe I should do a Blue/Orange/Red triangle.
I still don't have any staff so I have to learn everything from scratch every time I move to a new concept (like audio/visual dynamics)... which is annoying since there's no schools around here who teach anything remotely like this.
Gaming
I'm burned out from 3 weeks of Steam. But mostly I'm playing AI War: Fleet Command and E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy.
Other
I've recently been struck with paranoia about the safety of my family, even though they're near by and I can check on them any time. Maybe related to not sleeping.
Sleeping, Lok
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