Figments and Pigments

Badcat Wants Salty Bacon update 2

2012-01-28T13:55:00.003Z

MAJOR UPDATE: THE GAME NOW HAS GRAPHICS

Play it in the same place as before: here.

Coming next: stuff to do with scores and front end stuff

Badcat Wants Salty Bacon

2012-01-28T12:37:00.002Z

I've often wanted to participate in a 48-hour game jam but have always been to sleep-deprived or busy to actually do it. Yesterday, a friend at work challenged me to make a game in 10 minutes. This is a far more reasonable amount of time to allocate to game development so I accepted the challenge and set myself the following guidelines:

The game must be a game in a vague sense; it must have a clear goal which can be attained. This was one area where my previous game jam fell down.
The game must be feature-complete; all the gameplay elements I plan to include must be included in the first pass.
Graphics and sound are low priority and can be added later. They just need to be at a functional level so you can tell what's going on.

As it turns out, 10 minutes is an unreasonable amount of time in which to make a full game so it spilled over to the 30 minute mark. Still, I met my goals, and the game is winnable with a vague sense that you could have done better if you tried a bit harder next time.

The first pass of Badcat Wants Salty Bacon is playable in your browser here (I accept no responsibility for any keyboard damage incurred).

Coming next: GRAPHICS.

Hero Core: Observations

2011-12-16T17:35:00.003Z

Hero Core, sequel to Hero, is a little action/adventure/shooter game available for free on author Daniel Remar's website. It blends elements of Metroidvania (world exploration) and side-scrolling shmups (spacially-restrictive combat).

I finished the main quest (100%) in 2 hours 19 minutes which is more time than I've been willing to give a lot of full-price AAA games. I didn't tackle the bonus modes (harder difficulties, boss speed runs, etc.) as they're not my cup of tea, but the 'story mode' was a blast. If you haven't played it yet I highly recommend that you stop reading now and do so.

In this piece I will identify some of the design decisions Remar made and what I thought of the experience as a whole (short version: I loved it!).

Move and shoot, move and shoot! Player movement is mapped to your standard Up/Down/Left/Right buttons, while shooting is mapped to Shoot Left and Shoot Right. Splitting the shoot direction into two buttons was a smart move which allows a lot of flexibility in player manoeuvres. Often in games you have to change the direction you are facing to shoot in that direction, but here you can move in a smooth arc while alternately shooting enemies on either side. When enemies close in from all angles this is a useful ability.
Compressing vertical space. You can only shoot along a horizontal plane, (not up and down or even diagonally) so you are forced to close the height gap between yourself and your target. For several of the enemy types this means putting yourself directly in their line of fire.
Compressing horizontal space. In addition to the vertical space restriction mentioned above, there is an interesting effect which comes as a result of only allowing 6 of the player's bullets to be on-screen at any one time. If you position yourself far away from your target you must wait for your bullets to travel and hit something before you can fire another shot. This encourages you to get close to your target so that this delay is reduced. But of course getting close means giving yourself a shorter time to react when the enemy shoots back. This classic example of risk and reward allows skilled players to get right up in their enemies' faces and hammer away without any enforced delay, while giving less-skilled players a fighting chance at the cost of time. Time is obviously an important element if you are trying to speed run the game.
Excellent boss battles. There's not a lot I can say about these without going into specific detail about each one, but they were all great fun to fight and stood out as intense, climactic moments. Most of them explored unique ways of compressing space and promoting different move-and-shoot patterns on the part of the player. My favourite was Liquid Metal Processor (pictured above), whose weak points were on the inside, forcing you to get in, quickly deal damage and get back out before it crushes you. Another interesting boss was the Eliminator: a relentless hunter who can randomly appear almost anywhere in the game whenever you enter a new room. He retreats after taking some damage, so defeating him is tough until you have upgraded your gun. It was a joyous occasion when I was finally able to take him down (about 4/5 of the way through the game).
Unhindered exploration. Several elements combine to make exploration as hassle-free as possible, the most significant of which is the liberal use of save points. Touching a save point restores all of your health and you can teleport to any save point you have touched from anywhere in the game at any time. This massively reduces time spent back-tracking to get into that one little room you now have the right abilities to access. As well as this, you never have to unlock gates and doors more than once. Many rooms have their exit locked until you have defeated all the enemies in there. While enemies respawn upon re-entering any room, any unlocked doors stay unlocked permanently, even if you die before reaching a save point. When you pass through these rooms again later on you can skim past all the enemies if you wish.
Free-form exploration. The game world has been designed in such a way that you have a lot of choice in how to explore and in what order. Bypassing many of the obstacles requires certain abilities and upgrades, which are unlocked by defeating bosses. You can take on the bosses in pretty much any order and each boss will increase your level by 1. As far as I am aware, your suit abilities are upgraded with your level in a pre-determined order so you don't have to defeat a specific boss to gain a specific ability. This means you can, for the most part, branch out quite early in the game and choose your own route through the world as long as you make an effort to defeat a few bosses along the way. Your final goal lies at the centre of the world map so you will most likely spiral around it a few times as you search for rooms that have been made accessible by your new abilities.
The final boss is waiting for you. As soon as you can find the entrance to his domain and feel ready to take him on you can do so. This gives skilled players a significant upper hand in speed runs. Less skilled players (like myself) can continue to explore the surrounding world and build up their suit abilities to make the fight easier.
Story snippets. I wouldn't be able to deconstruct a game without mentioning story somewhere. Hero Core takes what I call the 'book end' format: a short introduction sets up the premise and the overarching goal, and an ending sequence closes the arc when that goal is met. Everything in-between is player-driven action. There are two noteworthy methods used to give snippets of backstory along the way. Firstly, the player will gradually find 10 computer terminals which download data in a sequential order, causing their character to reflect on his mission. The order seems to be fixed regardless of which order you find the terminals. Secondly, the layout and appearance of the scenery hints at its purpose and therefore the story behind it. You progress from uneven rocky asteroid caverns through to the harsh orthogonal structures of the machine factories. Numerous 'sleeping' enemies can be seen locked inside parts of the level geometry, hinting at massive production lines and giving a terrifying sense that you are outnumbered by something vast and unending. This gives an elegant, unobtrusive impression of the game world without ever stopping the player to burden them with exposition.

If you haven't played Hero Core, do it now! If you have, what did you think?

Nuggets of Wisdom: Portraits Not Stories

2011-12-08T21:47:00.001Z

I've noticed Tadhg Kelly's comments on Gamasutra draw a fair number of negative responses, particularly when he declares that games are undebatably ill-equipped to tell stories. This week I took the time to read through several of his blog posts and was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of correlation with my own game narrative philosophies, particularly the importance of brevity and the argument against heavy-handed, one-way gushes of tedious exposition. I'm sure this is something many writers and designers would agree with, but few seem willing to take an axe to quite so much of their painstakingly crafted 'content', whatever that's worth.

I think this excerpt sums it up nicely (the emphasis is my own), but I urge you to read the full article when you have time.

Storysensing is not storytelling. In a dramatic arc, the structure, pace and timing matter a great deal for delivering impact, but storysensing is better when focused on enhancing the portrait of the game world. Unlike storytelling, storysensing does not need to be dramatic. It can afford to be loose around the edges as long as those edges are not too apparent to the point that the player is seeing the frame.

Left 4 Dead creates a zombie-infested world and places guns in the player’s hand. Through a combination of co-operative dependent loops, and a game dynamic that deliberately paces out the encounters and objects, the game conveys a world in motion. Add a layer of snappy character dialogue and numina such as posters on walls and other touches, and Left 4 Dead draws the player into its world so completely that he wants to play it again and again.

Storysensing is best when deft rather than deep. Roleplaying and adventure games have tried for decades to use mechanisms like branching dialogue to storytell to the player, but in practise these mechanisms are heavy handed. Mass Effect in particular is an example of a game whose rush to storytell is so replete with redundant detail and branched dialogue that it just becomes tedious. It actively works against the sense of story because it reminds players too often that they are watching a mechanical game system simply go through motions.

Source: Video Game Writing and the Sense of Story

Incidentally, the idea of 'painting a portrait' rather than 'telling a story' is a technique I have been experimenting with for Luminesca.

Super Mario 3D Land: Observations

2011-12-08T20:47:00.001Z

This post is a list of observations I made while playing through Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS. It's part opinion, part design analysis, and all waffle.

It is short and easy, but with reasons to come back. Completing the 8 worlds is not particularly difficult if you're vaguely familiar with Mario games. There is an abundance of 1-Ups if you take the time to search the nooks and crannies as well as a generous, widespread distribution of coins which seem to reward a vast array of actions in a way that is reminiscent of certain online FPSes. By the end of the game I had over 130 lives. But then you have the Star Coins to find (three giant coins hidden in each level, which usually require extra poking around) and completing the game unlocks a large number of 'special' levels. I have only played a couple of these so far, but they seem to mix up the standard formula with special twists to the usual rules like a 'Dark Mario' who chases you round and prevents you standing still.
It shows off the 3DS' capabilities. There are few cases where stereoscopic 3D actually brings something worthwhile to the table (mainly depth perception which greatly helps with judging your position mid-jump). But beyond this, SM3DL is packed full of little moments that would simply not look/feel as cool in 2D. Some memorable highlights were the giant screws on the airship levels that come hurtling towards the camera in synchronised aggression, seeing Mario bounce up into your face in the top-down perspective levels, and the Piranha Plants that spit inky goo on to the screen.
Mario loses his hat when he's small. Did this happen in other 3D (not stereoscopic) Mario games? I suspect it is because you no longer have the consistent sense of scale that you get in 2D ones, so this change was probably made to provide additional visual feedback.
The Tanooki suit makes jumping easier. You just need to hold the jump button after lift-off and Mario will slowly glide back to the ground. This makes long-distance or precise jumps much easier to execute. I suspect this may be a response to both the inherent flaws of distance-gauging in 3D (although the 3DS should alleviate this) and an attempt to make the game 'more accessible'.
The boss battles were repetitive. There were only 3 types of boss battle in the game, although each one changed the arena layout and added threats like fire pits in the floor. Figuring out and exploiting the attack patterns of the bosses is one of the things that makes them so rewarding to beat, so it was a shame to diminish this by making you fight the same boss with the same patterns several times (although the game pretty much redeems itself with the exhilarating final boss battle).
The contraptions make you look before you leap. There are these platforms that flip between red and blue every time you jump, leaving a drop into oblivion wherever the other side of the platform was. It's very easy to jump about wildly when you play Mario games, but these really make you stop and think one step ahead to anticipate where the platforms will move to. They can, however, be somewhat undermined by the Tanooki suit as seen in the linked video.

Next stop on the 3DS Express: the special worlds, then Mario Kart 7!

Nuggets of Wisdom: Power vs Curiosity

2011-11-17T23:17:00.001Z

The combined power of the nifty iPad app Instapaper and an hour-long commute has helped me catch up on some bookmarked game design articles I had been intending to read for a while.

As I consume them I tend to pick out little nuggets of wisdom which I feel compelled to share. This may or may not become a regular feature, who knows?

I'll let the nuggets speak for themselves (except my bold highlights) and simply provide a link to the full article for those interested in further reading.

The intrinsic motivators of power and curiosity are at odds with each other. The more you are motivated by curiosity, the stronger the desire to test your new understanding becomes. And against increasingly difficult challenges, the more you fail, the more motivated you become to switch over to an learning playstyle to build your skills up. As this pendulum of motivation swings back and forth, it can be very stressful and dangerous to fun if the user is significantly restricted from freely moving between these motivations. Being forced to learn when one expects to flex or being prevented from learning when one desires to understand can cause players to lose motivation and therefore lose play and fun.

Source: Critical-Gaming Network: The Zero-Sum Funomaly pt. 7
Part 1 in the Zero-Sum Funomaly series is here.

Nuggets of Wisdom: Game Development in a Bubble

2011-11-16T22:57:00.001Z

An argument for why the industry needs to encourage fresh perspectives on the games we make:

I'm just saying my misunderstanding of the games industry, as a non-gamer, coming in making games -- I was taking the subject matter and the content in the cutscenes seriously. I was honestly looking for the stories that are on the back of the box, or the media, the propaganda, that they put out about the game.

I was thinking, "Oh, all this content is in there somewhere, and I just have to find it and I'm missing it," whatever. When in actuality, no, they really want to make another fucking first-person shooter. That's amazing to me. Still, to this day, I'm amazed by that.

Auriea Harvey (Tale Of Tales)

Full interview with Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn can be found on Gamasutra.

Cold Relief: a game made in 0 hours

2011-10-30T09:59:00.000Z

As I was up late I decided to take part in the 0-hour game jam: a challenge to make a game in the hour gained when the clocks go back.

It was impromptu and entirely unplanned so the final game is a result of listening to Lustmord at 1:00am, combined with some floaty uncontrollability inspired by a dream I had. The original goal was to have an Antarctic environment based on the trek in At The Mountains of Madness, but this soon shifted to a more abstract dream world when it dawned on me just how quickly an hour passes.

I spent another half an hour or so polishing it off and fixing up the code a bit.

Play Cold Relief in Unity Webplayer ~ 22 MB

The audio was sourced from Freesound.org: here and here. The first-person character controller is the Unity prefab with tweaked jump and movement parameters.

Resurrected Post: Luminesca Evolved

2011-10-24T22:34:00.000+01:00

I removed this post last year, and decided to re-post it for the sake of completeness. It has a new date stamp now, but you can see from the comments' date stamps that it's quite old! Ahh, those were the days.

Luminesca is now, of course, a fully-fledged project in development.

Original post:

I've been toying with the idea of an updated Luminesca game, and came up with this mock-up screenshot. All comments and criticism are more than welcome!

The Binding of Isaac (demo deconstruction)

2011-10-15T00:39:00.000+01:00

This small yet cloying sample of The Binding of Isaac is an admittedly incomplete experience of the game, but due to its procedurally-generated nature there is no such thing as a complete picture; only random cross sections cut at unpredictably obscure angles.

The game is reminiscent of the 8- and 16-bit Zeldas in its mechanics, enemy design and level design, although dungeons are made up of never-the-same-twice rooms and the whole thing is draped in a nightmarish basement aesthetic loosely inspired by an ancient story about child sacrifice.

The Binding of Isaac almost overcomes its lack of melee combat by compressing the ranged attacks to just the four cardinal directions, placing additional importance on aligning yourself with your targets either horizontally or vertically, and complicating this process using various static obstacles (such as piles of degrading faecal matter). When enemies close in on you it is possible to move and shoot in different directions, but I did encounter the odd occasion where the available space was too confined, the enemies advanced too quickly and my fire rate was simply too slow. Randomisation has its drawbacks.

Its fictional premise is unique compared to most games and the intro cinematic was certainly entertaining, if a little overt in its Biblical themes, but I sense that it takes the Shadow of the Colossus / Metroid approach of using cinematic sequences to merely bookend the lengthy action part of the story. That is to say it opens with a 'premise cinematic', lets you spend a very long time doing stuff in response to that premise and closes, when you reach your goal, with a 'job done cinematic'. I may well be wrong (please correct me if I am), but that's how it appears from the demo. It's an effective enough structure (and has been touched upon here) but does leave the bookends feeling like exposition overkill when the rest of the game's narrative is delivered so sparingly.

For all its flaws (which I tend to dwell on when I deconstruct a game) Isaac is a shining example of a top-end indie game which demonstrates a strong understanding of the challenges presented by overhead camera angles in 2D games.

It's dirt-cheap on Steam (with soundtrack available too) and the free demo is playable in your browser on Newgrounds.

Rocket Knight - Folded Level Design

2011-06-13T19:09:00.007+01:00

I've been intending to play Rocket Knight for a long time and finally got round to it today. It's a solid game which knows what it's about. It clearly understands what makes a good 2D platformer and has some interesting level design in certain sections.

The Cyberswine Labs level provides a great example of folded level design. A 'fold' in the level occurs when the player has to backtrack through areas they have already visited. While backtracking can easily become tiresome if those areas are now empty and devoid of challenge, a folded level can retain interest by changing the way the player interacts with the environment the second time through and providing challenge variation. A folded level can be broken down into "the way there" and "the way back". The way back often provides the more difficult or complex gameplay.

In the example in the video above Rocket Knight has to ride the moving platforms down through a maze of dangerous energy beams. As the platforms lower the player must Rocket Burst between them to avoid the beams. On the way down gravity is on the player's side so they can simply fall down on to the next platform as they drop below.

The Rocket Burst ability forces the player to commit to moving in a fixed direction and is restricted by their fuel supply (which is limited in the ice level). But it doubles as a fast attack and is the strongest tool the player has to defy the platform game's most persistent obstacle: gravity.

However, when the level folds (when the player hits the switch at the bottom and reverses the direction in which the platforms move) the player has a new layer of difficulty added to the challenge. Because the platforms are now moving up, the player has to fight against gravity to keep up with them by jumping as well as Rocket Bursting in a test of precision timing at a fixed pace.

A second overarching fold occurs in full glory during the dramatic escape sequence at the end of the level. Rocket Knight destroys the laboratory core, setting off a massive explosion which constantly swells in size. The player must now backtrack through the entire level with the explosion hot on their tail (literally -- Rocket Knight is an opossum). So the way there features all the standard level design features and challenges the player is used to in the game, while the way back entails a test of speed and precision timing, as well as a slightly modified path to allow short-cuts and less stilted movement through the level. The whole thing now mostly takes place above a bottomless pit, meaning the constant force of gravity is always working against the player.

After the second fold, most players will probably race back through the aforementioned 'moving platform energy beam room' so quickly that they won't even realise they've passed through it twice before. Thankfully, the beams and platforms have now deactivated so Rocket Knight can burst freely and bounce off its walls at great speed.

Through this smart level design, Rocket Knight gets extra mileage out of its restricted space (as nearly all game spaces are restricted) without ever becoming repetitive or tedious.

What I've been doing

2011-05-18T12:36:00.003+01:00

It's time for an update, seeing as I haven't done a proper one in over a year. I've been very busy since then with all this stuff...

I graduated from UEL last year and got a First for my efforts. Hooray! This was largely thanks to my dissertation which you may remember I talked about on this very blog at the time. That dissertation is now freely available for you to read in my portfolio (mglanville.co.uk). Hopefully it will help out anyone who is writing their own dissertation and maybe even interest people generally interested in level design.

After I finished university I landed a job at EA Bright Light where I worked on Create and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. My first job in the industry was an awesome experience and it has equipped me with a good understanding of game development to take forward into future projects.

Now my contract has ended at Bright Light and I am spending my time working on Luminesca (which you might also remember me mentioning on this blog). I'm trying to gain crowd funding for the project through IndieGoGo, so head on over and take a look, and if you like it please consider donating (any amount)!

As well as all this I've tried to squeeze in some gaming time here and there. Highlights that spring to mind from the past year have been:

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (big multiplayer battles, but not too big)
ilomilo (I love games that play with space in simple yet profound ways)
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (best co-op since Left 4 Dead)
Machinarium (charming little adventure and a perfect length)
Portal 2 (sublime writing)
Talesworth Adventure Episode 1 (solid little adventure with no frills)

Finally I should mention an excellent game design blog I stumbled across earlier this year called Critical-Gaming Network. There's a lot to read, but it's well worth it, so get started now! Start with the Courses 101-6.

Luminesca is really real

2011-03-23T19:26:00.000Z

New blog for my new game! Here.

Klondike Mountains

2010-04-29T15:13:00.010+01:00

Making progress on the wolf game for the university group project! I got my rock and cliff models up and running in Unity and implemented them into the terrain I made, using Habboi's style guide and player model. I'm pleased with the models I created and they seem to be pretty versatile; I was able to rotate and scale them to create lots of different variations so there isn't too much repetition in this natural environment.

Rock environment models

2010-04-09T22:39:00.003+01:00

Been working on some environment models of rocks for the wolf game coursework. There are three models in this image, each one working under a budget of 500 polygons.

Survey for my dissertation

2010-03-31T20:15:00.002+01:00

I'm doing some research for my dissertation project on spatial navigation in computer game environments. As part of this research I need as many people as possible to complete this online questionnaire. I need a broad sample as well so it doesn't matter whether you play computer games or not (i.e. get your family and friends to do it too!).

~~http://tinyurl.com/uelsurvey~~ (no longer available)

It takes about 5-10 minutes and involves some multiple choice questions based on pictures of 3D environments.

If you can spare a little time to fill it in I'd be very grateful.

There may be some issues viewing it on lower resolutions monitors, so please use your highest resolution possible.

Portfolio update

2010-03-23T23:31:00.002Z

I got round to updating my level design and writing portfolio: www.mglanville.co.uk

Included some new environment screenshots, level layout plans and a dialogue script for Union that I never got time to implement.

Campaign alpha released!

2010-02-10T23:01:00.002Z

Do this:

1. Go to my campaign's (working title There and Back) profile at L4DMaps.com.

2. Download the first alpha which contains the first 2 maps in a VPK add-on file.

3. Play it.

4. Give me feedback.

5. Make me happy.

6. Please.

Naming the Campaign

2010-02-05T12:27:00.005Z

I always get stumped at this stage. When I built Union I had plenty of time to come up with a title as I didn't announce it until shortly before its release. However, I've decided to work differently with my Left 4 Dead levels as I'm having to look to the multiplayer community for testing much earlier on in the development process. So I need a name.

Last time I looked to the Interlopers community for help with naming Corn of the Dead (which I'm very happy with). Now I need something for my new L4D2 campaign, which currently has the working title 'There and Back'. It focuses on the survivors being dropped off by helicopter at a CEDA Evacuation Center, only to find it overrun by infected. The survivors must reach the military base nearby and use its facilities to call the helicopter back, before making a mad dash back to the heli-pad at the start for extraction.

Any suggestions?

Bunk beds

2010-02-03T14:20:00.002Z

Just testing a new bunk bed prop created by Chris Rose for the barracks area. Still work in progress, but coming along nicely! At least the survivors seem to think so...

Don't be afraid to cut content

2010-01-30T16:44:00.035Z

Great progress has been made! After Wednesday night's epiphany I got stuck in and tore my map apart (well, one section of it at least). I now have something I'm much happier with. The main change I made was removing the warehouse and the gas station and building a larger warehouse where they stood. This is visible from far away and I'm going to work on illuminating it a bit to make it eye-catching. This taller building is also great for occluding objects behind it, helping to greatly optimise the level's performance.

Here are some before and after shots (left and right respectively):

The interior of the warehouse now has more nooks and crannies for infected to pop out from, as well as a raised catwalk that the survivors will have to traverse. The high windows at the far end also give a sneak preview of the barracks, foreshadowing one of the main locations of the campaign.

Finally, I managed to retain the gas station's shop in all its glory! Very pleased with this for reasons mentioned in the previous post. Admittedly it's no longer a gas station as the pumps were removed altogether, but the store itself is the same except for having a flat roof instead of a sloped one.

So all in all the changes I made over the last two days have achieved the following things:

1. The placement of buildings makes more sense from a logical perspective (they're not too close together and impractical).

2. The taller buildings help occlude more objects from the player's view, helping to keep frame rates nice and low.

3. The survivor's path is now a bit longer and more winding, helping to pad out the length of this level.

Lessons learned: Don't be afraid to cut content if it's not working! If possible, try to retain the elements that do work but not if they compromise the bigger picture.

Taking breaks is healthy for your design

2010-01-28T17:25:00.031Z

I've slightly neglected my Left 4 Dead 2 campaign this week as I've been tinkering with Multimedia Fusion 2. As it turns out, this has actually helped the design. I fired up the Authoring Tools last night and made some minor changes. A new skybox here, some tweaked lighting values there... But I had also taken a long enough break to spot some rather large design flaws in my layout. They're not necessarily anything that hugely affect gameplay but more like errors in layout logic.

It's mainly to do with the gas station in Map #2. The gas station's tall, white sign is actually visible from the highway bridge in Map #1 and it can also be seen peeking over the top of a high wall soon after the players exit the first safe room. It acts as an eye-catching landmark which is why I was so keen to put it in there in the first place. Unfortunately, what I didn't really consider at the time was how the gas station's cosy placement is somewhat illogical and highly impractical for the military transport vehicles and 25-foot cargo lorries that supposedly use its facilities.

That's is what I lay in bed worrying about last night.

As it turns out, my ideas for fixing this problem will hopefully solve some of my other concerns about the nearby warehouse that I felt was too small. But there is also another location that I am not going to change and that's the gas station store itself. It's a nice little set piece that I'm really proud of as it features some interesting gameplay decisions for the Survivor team, and some excellent attack opportunities for the Infected team. I'll be relocating the store as it's just too good to sacrifice in this rearrangement.

The only challenge now is replacing that glowing landmark, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

I will post updates here when I've made the changes, so be sure to check back. Better still, sign up with Blogger (you can use a Google account) and click the Follow link at the top of this page to receive automatic updates! Or follow me on Twitter.

Progress on L4D2 campaign

2010-01-25T10:29:00.005Z

Work is well under way and I've almost finished an alpha version of the whole campaign, start to finish. For that reason I'm holding off releasing the add-on VPK of the first two maps so that people can first experience the campaign in a more complete form.

One of the trickiest areas of mapping with an open, outdoor environment like this is optimisation. Traditionally with the Source engine you would use the tops of buildings to create invisible skybox walls that restrict visibility to other parts of the level, but in Left 4 Dead this can severely hamper the Infected team's ability to find advantageous points to attack from. Hunters in particular rely on high rooftops to pull off heavier attacks. I've tried to bear this in mind when designing the levels and find a happy medium but I certainly now appreciate why Valve had to block off so many areas in their official maps, much to the frustration of the forum users.

I'm finding that I'm using a slightly unusual system of developing the maps in this campaign. Maps 1 and 2 are right next to each other and in one area there is clear visibility between them, plus of course they share a safe room as the level transition area. Map 3 involves taking a shorter route through both previous maps to get back to the start. Because of this, I've been creating the entire campaign in one single VMF file and compiling it as separate BSPs. When the whole alpha's finished I'll delete the irrelevant parts out of the maps that they're not needed in and add detail to the bits that require it.

In retrospect, there are probably more efficient ways of doing it. After starting this campaign I learned of the usefulness of Valve's new instancing system, allowing you to reference other maps within the editor. The system seems ideal for creating areas that are shared by two or more maps, such as safe rooms or weather settings (something that my campaign features quite a lot). If I knew more about that when I started I would have probably taken full advantage of it, but it seems too late now and it would probably take a lot more work than it's worth to re-organise my maps, so onwards it is.

There & Back

2010-01-14T13:53:00.014Z

Now that my uni work is out of the way I've been working feverishly on getting a beta ready for my L4D2 campaign. My plan is to block out all 3 maps and have them playable from start to finish, albeit in a low-detailed form. I'm using textures, props and lighting where necessary to convey the setting and mood but not going overboard in case I have to change a lot after testing.

The first two maps are nearly finished in this simple beta form. You can play the first one here or here or wait for both of them in a VPK addon file which I should have ready in the next few days.

Screenshots

Level Diagrams

You can see some changes I made to the route of Map 2. The route is longer and will take the survivors through more of the run-down exterior areas, partially revealing what happened at the evacuation centre. The barracks are now at the top right near the bunker and they will act as the last main location the survivors visit before the finale.

I'm focusing on the barracks to try and make it a memorable location with some interesting gameplay. An example of this is the panic room crescendo. Survivors drop down into a room and must hold off the infected attack while the door slowly opens. I've cunningly placed a defibrillator in this room, meaning that if survivors want to bring back a dead companion they will have to weigh it up against wading through the hordes of zombies and delaying their escape to the panic room (safe room).

Let me know what you think!

Super-size Shadow Monster

2010-01-08T19:05:00.003Z

By popular demand: a SUPER-SIZE Shadow Monster!

Out with the old...

2010-01-06T23:23:00.015Z

Well, for several reasons the aforementioned Miami campaign for Left 4 Dead 2 has been cancelled, but has made way for a new campaign which should be more manageable. I'm aiming to try and recapture the dark, atmospheric tone of the first game rather than the sequel's light-heartedness in a short "there and back" campaign along the lines of Hard Rain. This doesn't mean you'll be playing the same maps again only backwards, but rather taking a more efficient route back to the start as you have a ton of zombies on your tail. I'll also be trying to work a bit of story into it and suggesting what might have happened in one of the CEDA evacuation centres.

The campaign will aim to be a short but challenging experience for Campaign mode, but its real focus is Versus mode so it will feature lots of good spots for the Special Infected to make use of their abilities, as well as doing away with those overly-abundant first aid kits! I'll also try and get a Scavenge and Survival map out of it if I get the time.

Below is an overview of the whole campaign with the coloured lines indicating the different chapters. I've got the first map blocked out and semi-textured, but have some university work to finish before I can continue.

What would you prefer? A campaign that plays well and is finished, but looks a bit ropey round the edges, or one that takes ages to be released and looks very polished?

What size do you like your monster?

2009-12-15T00:08:00.009Z

I've been playing around with Unity for some coursework and I'm making a short game (more of a tech demo actually). It's inspired by the finale of Shadow of the Colossus; skip to 6:40 in this video to see what I'm talking about, but watch out if you're spoiler-sensitive!

Anyway, I've been trying to decide on a size for the monster/player character. What are your thoughts?

Regular?
Large?
Or super-size?

L4D2: Miami Campaign

2009-11-22T16:04:00.009Z

I recently started the early planning stages for a new campaign for Left 4 Dead 2. I'm working on it with Kosire and it's set in down town Miami and its surrounding areas. I've decided to use this blog to document its progress, so I aim to be showing the maps in their early stages right through to the final playable versions. For now, here's some initial level plans with concept images and the rough block layout in Hammer.

Very early stuff as you can see! More coming soon.

Eurogamer Expo 2009

2009-10-31T11:30:00.010Z

Yesterday was the first day of two days that Eurogamer Expo took place in London, and of course I attended. I played a good selection of games there but I'm just going to talk about the ones that really grabbed my attention.

First and foremost, I'm a huge Left 4 Dead fan and so I was excited by the prospect of playing the sequel's Scavenge mode at the expo. The new mode sees the Survivor team racing against a countdown timer to collect gas cans, which they must empty into their tank to earn points and precious extra time. Meanwhile a team of Infected players will be trying to make their task harder, before switching sides to try and beat their score. It was an interesting new twist on the regular L4D gameplay which forced survivors to make some quick decisions; do you save your team mate who has been carried to the other side of the map by a Jockey, or do you grab that nearby can and just score a quick point while you have the chance?

That brings me on to the new Special Infected that players can control. This was one of the highlights of the game for me as I've been itching to see how they handle since they were first announced. The Jockey was a lot of fun as you can cause some real chaos for the survivors if you grab someone at the right moment. He would probably be more useful in a map with some inconvenient height drops, which this map unfortunately lacked. The Charger was also a thrill to use as he dashes in and scatters his targets. My only complaint was that his health seemed a bit too low considering how massive he looks. My personal favourite was the Spitter, a support class she-beast whose toxic spit can cause location-based hazards for the other team. I had a lot of fun spitting on incapacitated survivors, bringing a quick death by preventing their team mates from reviving them.

All in all, Scavenge mode seems more solid and less chaotic than Survival and the new Special Infected are a blast to play. They're a very welcome addition to the existing three classes and I can't wait to see some of the devious tactics people will come up with in Versus mode.

Other highlights of the expo for me included God of War 3, the game that needs no introduction. To be honest there's not really a lot to say other than it's more of the same winning formula that was perfected throughout its first two iterations, not that that's a bad thing by any means. Kratos' moveset is pretty much the same except he now has some large lion-head gauntlets that he can pummel enemies with. The new lighting engine is particularly noteworthy, beautifully demonstrated by the illuminating light emitted from Helios' severed head. Good old God of War.

Heavy Rain was another game that I've been anticipating for a long time and it was great to finally see it in the flesh so to speak. The two scenarios on show were ones that I'd already seen in previews (the scrap yard and the grocery store) but it was interesting to see how different players progressed through the branching events. Seriously, anyone who has any interest in games as a storytelling device must check out this game.

Finally I have to say a bit about the indie games section. There were some great games on show this year, highlights for me being Joe Danger and Cletus Clay. The former is a deceptively complex alternative to Trials HD, offering more emphasis on stunts and showing off with dangerous tricks and a clean, almost Pixar-esque look to it. The latter is an amusing 2D platform game with graphics made almost entirely with stop-motion animation. It definitely looked far nicer in motion than it did in screenshots so I'd urge you to check it out if and when you get the chance. It was a pleasure talking to some of the indie developers and I wish them all luck in releasing their games.

Making Shadow Complex: Donald Mustard Speaks

2009-08-30T00:48:00.005+01:00

Excellent Gamasutra interview with Donald Mustard, creative director of Chair who recently released the highly-praised Shadow Complex on Xbox Live Arcade. It's a great read with some very useful tips for the whole game design process.

I'm currently working my way through Shadow Complex and have enjoyed it very much so far. I intend to do a big write-up soon!

Corn of the Dead (beta)

2009-08-05T12:54:00.010+01:00

The first beta version of my Left 4 Dead survival map Corn of the Dead is now available to play. Find it along with screenshots and installation instructions at l4dmaps.com. Servers should be active soon, or please let me know if you can provide a server.

As always, comments, questions and criticism are encouraged no matter how positive or negative. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks to Text_Fish for the name suggestion and Adam "Supernorn" Riches for the poster template.

L4D: Barn Survival [WIP]

2009-07-20T00:27:00.006+01:00

Here are a couple of screenshots from a work-in-progress version of my new Survival map. The survivors find themselves stranded in a tall barn on a farm that has suffered the infection in solitude. With wide cornfields in all directions, they have no option but to take up defensive positions in the barn and hold out as long as possible.

This map features a three-tiered building, each level having its own strengths and weaknesses in defending against the horde. The main layout is pretty much done and all that's left is adding detail and play-testing (resulting in tweaks). Playable beta should be available this week! :D

Oh yeah, and I need to come up with a good name. Any suggestions?

Update: new screen

Review: Heavenly Sword

2009-07-08T01:39:00.019+01:00

I recently had the chance to play Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword, one of the PS3's proud exclusives in its early days. It was a short affair (I managed to finish the entire game in just two afternoons) but one that certainly did not feel short thanks to its grandiose scale. Comparisons will automatically be made with God of War and as the combat follows many of the same patterns, the main difference being the lack of a block button. I found this decision to be quite frustrating, as to block enemies' attacks you have to be not attacking.

Call me crazy, but when you're surrounded by a mob of highly trained, blade-wielding fanatics, all gagging at the chance to put your head on a satay skewer, asking the player not to press the attack button is somewhat short-sighted. You are given a brief coloured flash to indicate what kind of attack the enemy is about to perform, but I found it was often too late and I was already locked into an attack combo, leaving me no choice but to take damage. The dodge ability ended up being far more useful, but unfortunately did not allow me to witness the game's pleasing counter-attacks. Speaking of which, the combat animation is all superbly polished to the point where you can sometimes forget that it's you that's pressing the buttons. I guess you could call it a button-masher in that respect.

The game's strongest point is easily is cinematic presentation. Andy Serkis (also known as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings movies) played a heavy role in the story side of things, acting as writer, motion capture director, and of course voicing the gloriously grotesque King Bohan, the game's main antagonist. The professional edge really shows. I am usually not one to advocate the use of cut scenes as I feel they betray the core essence of what makes games -- well -- games, but these performances were so brilliantly displayed that I could not help but enjoy every minute of them. Some other outstanding performances came from Anna Torv as the feisty heroine Nariko, and Lydia Baksh as the childish-yet-determined Kai. These interesting and often hideous characters all interact in ways that set the scene instantly, aided by some truly groundbreaking facial animation despite the game being nearly 2 years old now. This is something all story-based games can learn from.

Eventually I found that Heavenly Sword became somewhat repetitive. The dramatic archery and cannonball-guiding sections were used too many times and with too little variation, and combat was reduced to mashing the same buttons over and over again. I actually managed to beat the end boss by using little more than the triangle button, and the finale was a little anti-climactic as a result. With this in mind, the game's short length probably acted in its favour as much more would have left me growing weary.

All in all it's a fairly standard by-the-numbers affair, but it is executed with such style and finnesse that its flaws can be overlooked for a short while; just long enough to see it through till the end.

Twitter bug

2009-06-14T23:46:00.004+01:00

Yeah I had to go and do it didn't I? Just how many personal pages do I need? I'll probably Tweet more than I update this, and reserve the blog for long rants, reviews and debates.

Oh yeah, I'm also working on updating Union with voice acting and more. See the ModDB page.

2 Down, 1 To Go

2009-05-23T14:11:00.003+01:00

Second year of university is over. So much free time now. :D

I've got a few projects in the pipeline. Not sure which one's I'll focus on first, but watch this space.

This post is so short it could almost be on Twitter.

Dear game story writers...

2009-05-20T00:57:00.002+01:00

Please stop using revenge as a primary motivation for your protagonist as it has become somewhat overused. It is also something I cannot identify with as the death of my family/loved one/dog would not cause me to stock up on weapons and go on a killing spree. I would probably just become a gibbering wreck instead, cowering in my room and crying myself to sleep at night.

On seconds thoughts, that wouldn't make a very entertaining game.

Stick with revenge.

Persistent Timescale

2009-03-26T01:35:00.031Z

I'm going to explore a concept I will call Persistent Timescale. This is not for any particular game design but more just a design concept in general. I'm really just looking to bounce ideas of people, get a bit of a discussion going and see what people think about this topic.

I was watching some videos of a play-through of Resident Evil 2 and began thinking of the idea of time scale in games, that is to say whether or not the game events occur entirely in real-time or whether they include cuts ahead (or even back). Here are some FPS examples: you can play through Half-Life from start to finish and will never miss a thing that Gordon Freeman personally witnessed. You are present in every single moment of his life (save for a few instances where he loses consciousness for a while). Compare this to a Call of Duty game in which, between levels, the player is taken out of their character's shoes and returned in a new situation, probably on a different day, in a different place. This is the difference between a game with Persistent Timescale (HL) and one without (COD).

My main interest here is how it can affect the player's perception of the game world. As I watched the events unfold in Resident Evil 2 I felt as if I was observing someone in real time on CCTV, following their every move in a constant, real situation. Of course, this might have been a fairly different response if I had actually been playing the game but I think the idea still remains.

I think the whole issue relates to the player's concept of space and location as they are able to see the transitions between different places, rather than just jumping to somewhere else. I often find that when that new level loads on Call of Duty I have to spend a moment getting my bearings before I can press on. Is that one moment crucial for the extent to which the player remains immersed in the game world?

Not only this, but I think Persistent Timescale allows the player to experience a greater sense of achievement as they progress through the game. Every yard they advance is directly linked to the next, allowing them to constantly be touching new ground and making progress. When I look back over the journey I have taken in Half-Life I can remember that I have walked 10km (for example) and I can see exactly where it has got me and what I faced along the way. In Call of Duty, well, I walked about 2km and then there was that bit where apparently I was in a helicopter for a while, but I didn't see any of that. Then I walked a bit more, and then I was controlling someone else in Russia!

I find it very jarring and for a short while it really takes me out of the game. Thankfully it is only a short while, but I wonder how damaging it can sometimes be for the player's experience. How do you feel?

I am also posting this on GameDev.net forums.

OnLive: the future of gaming?

2009-03-25T00:16:00.017Z

Just announced at GDC '09 is OnLive, a brand new technology used for gaming which basically allows you to play high-quality games through any PC or even a TV. As far as the user is concerned, it works in a similar way to television streaming systems like 4OD and BBC iPlayer. What actually goes on behind the scenes is that your input is sent to a central bank of high-spec PCs which will essentially process and run the game for you, then stream back to you a video output of your game session. The quality and resolution of the visuals is directly proportionate to the speed of your internet connection.

Of course this technology is very new and I'm sure it will be riddled with bugs and latency issues to begin with, but after a little while I can see this seriously catching on and becoming the 'next big thing' as far as gaming platforms are concerned. The next Steam? It could be! They've already got 9 major companies signed up and it looks like games such as Crysis and Mirror's Edge could be part of the initial library available.

But what does this mean for indie game developers and modders? Obviously existing methods of gaming will still remain and OnLive Inc have fully acknowledged this, but will mods be available on this system? If so, can we play any old mod or only the ones they give the green light to? Also, with this technology there may be a significant drop in sales of high end PCs as people will no longer need them to play their games on top settings. That means that hardware prices are likely to go up and this will have a knock-on effect for people like me who need those powerful systems to make maps and 3D models. But then what if OnLive is extended to incorporate game development as well? What if we eventually just have the most basic systems in our homes and everything is handled in vast processor farms in some big factory?

This could be big news, so I'll be keeping an eye on it. Meanwhile you can watch GameTrailers' interview with Steve Perlman (head of OnLive Inc) right here.

Ivan's Secrets: new forum

2009-03-22T01:27:00.001Z

Go forth and post.

Killzone 2 impressions

2009-03-11T22:59:00.053Z

Killzone 2 is a game I've been highly anticipating since that early 'target render' trailer and is even a game that I considered buying a PlayStation 3 for. It seems to have subscribed to the ever-increasing list of games that will finally elevate the PS3 into the #1 spot in the console wars.

Well anyway, I finally got the chance to play it with my girlfriend at the weekend. Please take this with a pinch of salt as admittedly we only played a couple of levels, but it seemed enough to form a fairly valid opinion. That opinion is that Killzone 2 follows firmly in the footsteps of its predecessor in being thoroughly mediocre. Yes, the visuals are jaw-dropping, blah blah blah. We all know that's not enough for a game to stand the test of time as visuals will inevitably become outdated. What doesn't deteriorate with age is a memorable experience and that's something that Killzone 2 failed to provide for me. The backdrop of the epic battle of Helghan seemed perfect for an intense rollercoaster ride through war-torn streets and bombed out buildings, but it almost feels as it the game was shipped before they finished scripting the events. We played the game on a 32" HD TV and yet every experience felt sub-par, like Call of Duty 4 had already done it better with bigger fireworks and more emotional engagement. I've heard many others say the same thing, but Killzone 2's characters appear to be little more than your typical meat-head US marine type. CoD4 had those characters, but it also had characters you genuinely cared about (who, incidentally, were all British!).

Moving more on to the gameplay side of things, Killzone 2 lacks substance in its combat. Sure you have the odd 'down the helicopter' scenario, the regular 'turn the crank', you even get to drive a tank around, but these are all things we have seen countless times before in a FPS. For me the game failed to provide either fresh new mechanics or interesting twists on old ones, so it all felt somewhat redundant. On top of this the weapons felt a little weak which was partly due to the sound effects and partly the often unclear visual responses given when hitting enemies.

All in all I felt that Killzone 2 brought very little new material to the table that is first-person shooters, and certainly not much more than the first game in the series did. I would definitely play it again to form a more fair opinion, and it's a solid game which is worth a try but don't go expecting the killer app Sony was hoping for as you may be disappointed.

Portfolio is live!

2009-02-22T12:21:00.004Z

Yesterday I bought my first domain name; how exciting! So far I'm actually hosting my portfolio on the free Yahoo! Geocities, but that's just temporary until I set up my homepage space with the university. So expect to see that ad bar disappear shortly.

Anyway, it's located here:

www.mglanville.co.uk

Game Concept: The Evacuee

2009-02-22T00:28:00.068Z

Here's a concept for a game I've been mulling over for a while. It's yet another World War II game, but this time with a twist!

The player assumes the role of a 10-year-old boy who I'll name Michael for the sake of this article. Michael lives in a fairly built up town in the south of England, 1940, which happens to be the site of several important military factories. Because of this fact, his town is set to be the target of a German aerial bombing.

We begin the game during Michael's relatively undisturbed life with his mother (Dorothy) and father (James), who is unable to fight in the war due to physical injuries. One night the air raid siren begins to howl and the family rush to the local shelter. Michael and Dorothy make it safely inside, but James doesn't make it because of his injury. Hours pass (not real-time) before the bombing run actually occurs and the people emerge later to find their town severely damaged. Michael, assuming his father to be dead, begins to wander aimlessly through the ruins.

Eventually he comes across a group of German soldiers hiding in a protected building, who are talking to none other than Michael's father! Michael suddenly discovers the shocking truth that his father has been a spy for the Germans all along, and must come to terms with this betrayal whilst on the run from the enemy soldiers.

In contrast to every other WW2 game on the market, this game would involve a minimal amount of weapon usage and combat. Instead the player would have to rely on Michael's skills in hiding and finding small gaps to squeeze through, using the environment to sneak past, distract or knock out soldiers, and eventually find his way to the countryside. Certain sections could be played in cooperation with Dorothy who could provide logical solutions to problems that only mothers can fix!

I envisage the game to be fairly short and probably only set in the one town and its surrounding areas. It would probably be a good length for a mod, but unfortunately I don't have time to work on it at the moment so I'll leave it for a rainy day.

On a completely unrelated note, Gamasutra recently announced their personal Top 20 Game Writers. It's a good read for anyone interested in the field.

Portfolio preview

2009-02-21T22:08:00.002Z

As I'm planning to try and get some work experience this summer, it's about time I did something about it! So I've been working on a new portfolio to showcase all my work. Here's a sneak preview:

Left 4 Dead: "Survival Mode" hopes

2009-02-15T23:07:00.120Z

Valve recently announced that they would be releasing downloadable content for Left 4 Dead this Spring. One of the new arrivals in the update will be the much-awaited L4D support in the Source SDK, whilst another is the interesting mention of a Survival game mode, "where up to 4 players set records for the longest time surviving hordes of Zombies on over 12 maps". This got me thinking of the possible gameplay changes that could take place for this mode, so here are some of the ones I hope Valve will make (and the ones I'd like to mod in if they don't).

Non-linear, dynamic maps
Rather than getting from A to B like in conventional L4D maps, we will only have the sole primary objective of defending ourselves. This means we are going to be spending a lot of time in a single well-fortified location as this is the best defensive strategy. To prevent this 'fort' from becoming too familiar and stale, it should gradually deteriorate as the hordes attack (blocked exits being broken through, lights diminishing, doors being smashed in, etc.), forcing the survivors to find somewhere safer. This should be based around an element of choice, with multiple escape routes from each area leading into various other 'forts' that the survivors can hold up in.
Maps should allow the players to move find their own way around a large playing field such as a city block or woodland area. Starting positions could be random to force players into decision-making and forming strategies from the very start. This ongoing changing of the maps would help keep them seem more varied and different each time they are played.

Helicopter item drops
I envisage a 'No Mercy' situation where a helicopter pilot is circling nearby but is unable to land to rescue the survivors. The crew could have a supply of items (ammo, first aid kits, pain pills) which they could drop in crates for the survivors to grab (in exposed, open areas of course). The items would become increasingly more valuable as the well-being of the survivors gradually dwindles.
For an extra layer of complexity, the crate might take a short time to open (something like diffusing the bomb in Counter-Strike) so the survivors may prefer to drag it to a safe location before doing so.

Flares
If the above helicopter system was implemented, what might determine when and where it performs a drop? A simple timer/random system might suffice which could be controlled entirely by the AI Director, and/or it could be determined by the actions of the survivors. Scavenging empty buildings might result in finding the odd flare which could be used to request supplies, perhaps by launching them from mounted flare guns at pre-determined locations (which could again be randomized by the Director to keep the survivors on their toes).

Wave count
The infected hordes could attack in large waves which could be counted and available for the players to see. This would give a sense of progress and would surely also determine the difficulty.

I may add to this list in the future. Let me know what you think!

...Especially if you work at Valve.

New God of War III trailer and SCEA interviews

2009-02-14T18:07:00.021Z

Oh, yes please.

View trailer in HD / SD

SCEA Interviews
Stig Asmussen [Director]
Steve Caterson [Producer]
Todd Pappy [Design Director]

Left 4 Dead, Chet Faliszek Interview

2009-01-15T00:31:00.027Z

L4DMods.com have released this interview with Chet Faliszek, one of the writers behind the game (and also The Orange Box), which is heavily focused on the subtly-told story behind it and how it was developed. Watch the video interview here.

I got Left 4 Dead for Christmas but for various reasons had been unable to really sit down and properly play it until yesterday. It's a great game and deserves all the praise it gets and I can't wait to see more from this talented team. I'm really hoping for a little bit more plot revelation in future updates and possibly some variations on the objectives. All four campaigns centre around the same 'get to the evacuation zone to be picked up' goal, but there is really so much more that can be done with the setting. Some of the developer commentary (great feature, by the way) states how players quickly get sick of the same cut scenes over and over again, but what about radio messages that we can choose to ignore if we're not interested? What about story told through actions and goals? Even just clues to more back story. How about replacing one of the 'escape this location alive' missions with a 'find a lost survivor' mission? The gameplay would be exactly the same, you could easily do it with hardly any extra dialogue, yet the objective and purpose would be different and certainly more meaningful. What makes this individual so important that four others risk their lives for him/her? How have they survived this long on their own? How did they come to be separated from everyone else? There are many, many possibilites and they don't have to be relegated to cutscenes which is what people seem to automatically assume when they hear the word 'story'.

Actually I've got so many ideas waiting to burst out. Now I just can't wait for Valve to update the Source SDK so we can start creating maps for Left 4 Dead.

What are the Odds?

2008-12-22T17:43:00.008Z

It's always frustrating when a game's design and concept hits the mark with me so perfectly, yet in practice I just don't get on with it. Such was the case with Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997). Abe was such a loveable character, the visual style was beautifully realised, the story and world were creative and unique, yet I suck at playing it. In fact, I suck at pretty much all stealth games, so let's just leave it at that. I'm digressing.

It's refreshing to know that, after a 3-year period of not releasing any games, Oddworld Inhabitants are still active and are in fact working on a new Oddworld title, as well as a CGI film called Citizen Siege. Details are all still very shady at this stage and it is in fact a new IP (not set in Oddworld) but it's enough to keep me going. It will be nice to watch someone else suck at being stealthy for a change.

Check out these interviews for more information:

World of Warcraft sequel: World of World of Warcraft

2008-12-19T23:49:00.007Z

Warcraft sequel lets you play a character playing Warcraft.

I like The Onion. It seems to be one of the few American comedies that can successfully do satire.

Modding Busybody

2008-11-11T18:13:00.039Z

Just a quick update today to announce that I have joined not one, but two mod teams in the past week.

The first is Human Error, which is part of the Half-Life 2: Short Stories project. In this mod the player will assume the role of one of the Metrocops seen in Half-Life 2 and combat some old adversaries. Most of the level design is done at this stage, so I'll be working on detailing the environments and making them look pretty.

The second mod is Ivan's Secrets, a new story which takes place in Russia's Caucasus Mountains. It will feature some breathtaking open environments and realistic new weapons. For Ivan's Secrets I am working as a full-on level designer so I get to create entire areas from scratch. The work you see here is by JLea who is an extremely talented mapper despite being almost a decade younger than me... Not that I'm jealous or anything...

Check for updates on their respective pages, and I'll keep you posted here too!

Far Cry 2: The Problem with Sandbox Games

2008-11-04T12:08:00.052Z

I never really could get my head around sandbox games - that is open-world, non-linear, free-roaming affairs. I enjoyed the odd Grand Theft Auto game here and there but never managed to see one through to the end. It usually trailed off once I'd explored all the new environments. When I played Far Cry 2 I wasn't expecting something along these lines. The first game in the series featured wide, expansive environments but it was essentially linear. You had to progress from point A to point B and so on, but how you got there was largely up to you. This time around you are dropped into the heart of an unnamed African country and are pretty much left to your own devices, being able to explore in all four directions of the compass.

The problem, for me, lies therein. What am I doing? Where do I begin? According to the text displayed at the bottom of the loading screen I'm here to kill an elusive arms dealer known as 'The Jackal', who also happened to pay me a threatening visit whilst I was bedridden with malaria. I am released into the jungle in search of medicine to calm my intense migraines, but apart from these two loose goals I have no clear objectives. How do you track down a man and a pill in Africa? Where do I begin? Far Cry 2 points you in the right direction to an extent but I often found that I was wandering aimlessly until I uncovered a new side mission in which I had to assassinate an unknown figure for an unknown employer.

A vital ingredient for a great game is purpose. In other words, having objectives and feeling the sense that you are working towards reaching them. I do not particularly get that feeling in Far Cry 2, instead I feel that I am like some sort of nomad who knows nothing but violence and survival.

Ubisoft had a great opportunity to portray some fascinating characters: refugees made homeless by the conflict, thieves forced into crime to survive, etc. But instead the downtrodden natives are shown to be leaving the country in the introductory car ride and the only people you meet are warlords, henchmen and people trying to make profit from the situation. Character interaction is wooden and uninspiring, with NPCs doing little more than standing and staring at you while they quickly recite their lines. There is very little hint of emotion. Perhaps I've just been spoiled by playing too much Half-Life 2...

On the plus side, it's not all bad. The scenery is breathtaking, the AI is pretty impressive, the shoot-outs are challenging and intense, the music fits perfectly and the weapons are satisfying to use. But these are all things we have come to expect. After all, we've been honing those skills for years. Why can't we get the other things right?

Finally, I feel I should comment on the level editor that comes bundled with Far Cry 2 on all versions (PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360). The very fact that this software is available on the console versions probably tells you a lot about it; it's a stripped-down piece of software which makes large-scale terrain morphing to be performing quickly and very easily. Constructing buildings is as simple as selecting one from a list and clicking where you want it (also allowing you to manipulate its orientation at any point). The image above is a map I whipped up in less than an hour. This kind of ease does, of course, come at the cost of freedom. You are unable to create your own buildings or walls as you are completely restricted to Ubisoft's premade assets and currently you can only create multiplayer maps (no AI NPC options available, although enough pestering on Ubisoft's forums might hopefully change that). The editor is certainly a good starting point for anyone interested in level design, or even anyone who just wants to mess around and create some great-looking maps with ease, but don't expect it to teach you all the skills you need to move on to more complex editors like Hammer and UnrealEd.

Eurogamer Expo 2008

2008-10-30T11:54:00.088Z

What a day! It's difficult to know where to begin when describing my visit to Eurogamer Expo (part of London Games Festival). First I'll give you a run-down of all the games I managed to play...

Fallout 3

Probably the game I was looking forward to the most. In actual fact I think it was somewhere near the bottom compared to the other games I played. This may be partly because I was playing on PlayStation 3 (I really can't stand those analogue sticks for first-person mode) and also because I was sat very close to the massive TV so it looked quite grainy. I only played a small part and - considering the game is meant to be somewhat on the large side - I probably didn't get a real feel for its magnitude. The dialogue system seemed to be pretty in-depth and commendable and the locations were, as you probably know, jaw-dropping.

Mirror's Edge

Certainly one of the highlights of the show for me and my gaming companion. The game's focus on parkour, agility and mobility was helped a great deal by its simple control system and sleek, HUD-less interface. The lack of varied colours was surprisingly both beautiful and functional as it allowed you to single out the important elements of the area and head straight for them. My only criticism was that gauging the jumps was sometimes a little tricky, although this may well become easier with practice.

Killzone 2

Without a doubt the best-looking game at the show and second only to Crysis and NBA 2K9. The gameplay was certainly a step up from the original as it seemed to be more varied than simply run and gun. The demo I played featured a battle through a war-torn city with long and short range combat round every corner. It culminated in a face-off between ISA and Helghast tanks in a damaged street (or possibly dried canal) whilst I protected an allied convoy. Movement was slightly clunky but I always feel that way about FPS games on consoles. I'm really annoyed that this won't be released on PC...

Little Big Planet

Another great title for the PS3 which I can only describe as pure fun. Within minutes of playing we were laughing and joking with complete strangers as the little Sackboys frantically chased a runaway skateboard down a steep slope. It was charming, simple and innovative and I can now see why it's been so highly praised. A nifty checkpoint system kept the game moving quickly and prevented it from becoming stale or frustrating.

Call of Duty: World at War

What can I say? It's Call of Duty. Treyarch's return to the World War II era may have received mixed reactions but at the end of the day you can't beat the series' intensity. I played a short segment in which I stormed a German encampment with machine guns and a rocket launcher. It was pretty standard stuff, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it. Quite the contrary. This is a game I will definitely be getting and I'm happy to see it sticking to its solid roots.

Left 4 Dead

Once again, Valve deliver the goods. I was slightly sceptical as multiplayer is not really my forte but one round on this changed all that. It was an intense zombie-fest through abandoned subway tunnels which somehow managed to draw four people (two of whom I'd never met before) into a tight-knit team of action heroes. The Infected hordes were truly terrifying, the co-operative features such as healing were flawlessly implemented and the locations were deliciously creepy. Another game I'll surely be purchasing.

Prince of Persia
This latest addition to the series features a unique new look. The combat mechanics were interesting as it seemed to be more of an 'overpower your opponent' affair than 'reduce their health to zero'. The movement was slightly too responsive at times and we encountered two major bugs in the demo that prevented us from advancing any further. Hopefully these will be addressed in the final version. It looked great but I couldn't play enough to get a real feel for it's main mechanics.

Legendary
I only played this very briefly but nothing struck me as being particularly awesome. The graphics were mediocre, especially in comparison to all the other top titles on display. The gameplay featured nothing I hadn't seen before but, again, I didn't play much so I can't give a fair criticism.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Just like the old game but with a gorgeous HD visual update! But I'm not really a fan of fighting games...

As well as this I also managed to watch people play Resident Evil 5, Gears of War 2, Street Fighter IV, Far Cry 2 and Resistance 2, all of which were pretty impressive. Of course RE5 took the prize from this bunch with a terrifying new axe-wielding enemy akin to the Nemesis and Mr X.

Oh and guess what, there were several white zombies in there too.

As well as all this there were some sports game which don't interest me in the slightest, and a whole wall of Nintendo Wii and DS games that were largely ignored. It was a pretty poor show on their part and it makes me wonder if they've got what it takes to keep their momentum up enough to compete with the big boys.

Finally, I recorded a couple of videos (albeit with a shoddy camera phone so they are low quality). You can view them here:
Killzone 2
Resident Evil 5

Back again with Union videos

2008-10-28T14:50:00.010Z

After a critical problem with our family computer and then moving into a new house with no internet access, I am finally able to post again. Which is nice. I'll post some new reviews and articles and whatnot in the near future, but until then here are some videos which show the entirety of Union. Obviously they contain every spoiler possible so avoid watching them unless you've played it (or don't intend to play it). You can use them as a sort of video walkthrough as well if you want.

Meanwhile I'm preparing for an awesome winter of gaming: Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Little Big Planet, Gears of War 2, the list seems endless. Where were all these games during the summer drought?

Emily isn't real

2008-08-19T12:17:00.002+01:00

This article shows off new technology which allows for extremely realistic facial animation, and I would recommend giving it a look.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4557935.ece

The video made me realise that the most realistic animation is achieved when it is captured with the person providing the voice acting. When it is applied afterwards it must be extremely difficult to match up the audio with the visual as they may not be perfectly in sync. I hope that more game developers start using this technique.

Sorry this isn't more in-depth but I'm pressed for time today!

Curse of the Impatient Gamer

2008-08-06T14:06:00.107+01:00

I have memories of being in a computer shop in my early teens. My dad was handing over his credit card to pay for our brand new, top of the range PC with Windows 95. My eyes were wandering across the shelves of bulky game boxes when they stopped on Fallout, a enticing marvel to behold if ever I did see one. It turns out I couldn't afford the game on my measly pocket money and, for one reason or another, lost interest and stopped pursuing it. Yesterday, inspired by the recent previews of Fallout 3, I decided to finally try it out.

To be honest I'm not entirely sure what I expected but it certainly wasn't what I experienced. My first gripe was with the interface. Granted, I probably should have read the manual (you have to be prepared for this kind of thing when you dig out '90s PC games) but for the first 15 minutes I found myself awkwardly fumbling around with menus and icons and wondering why the game wouldn't just let me perform a straight-up left click. I also found the combat to be extremely jarring as it was constantly forcing me to halt my exploration and shift into a skill points/turn-based system, making me wait while enemies slowly shuffled towards me. My patience was finally tested when I accidentally clicked on my ally with the attack command (because he was standing right in front of an enemy and obscuring most of it). He proceeded to shoot me dead within 2 turns, not enough for me to escape or even try to tell him that I wasn't really out to get him, and that I just had a brief case of spaz-hand.

Fallout (1997)

So, about 30 minutes into the game and I had already admitted defeat. It had irritated me too much and I couldn't be bothered to work with it any more. The whole thing got me thinking: would I have kept trying if I had played the game 10 years ago? Back then playing a new game was a rare treat, not a weekly tradition. I didn't have the money to try all the new big titles, just the select few I could afford and I can assure you, I would squeeze every last penny's worth of enjoyment out of those games (with the exception of 7th Legion, that was just guff).

Of course there are myriad factors involved (time, money, the cynicism I have developed as I've grown older, etc.) but one of the major ones, in my opinion, is the techniques games use to introduce the player to its mechanics. These days (most) games seem to have it nailed. Half-Life 2 springs to mind as it's probably the game that first got me thinking about this concept. Whenever the game introduces a new mechanic or vital skill that the player will need to rely on, it makes sure that we have a firm understanding of how it works and how to use it (usuaully in a safe, stress-free situation) before we are thrown into the deep end. The result is an experience which never feels frustrating or cheap. There is never a moment where the player is unsure why they met their demise or failed to complete their objective.

Half-Life 2 (2004)

Compare this to games from 15+ years ago, sometimes even more recent, when the player would be laughed at for not considering to read the manual. Lists of controls would be printed - sometimes on double-page spreads - and we would be expected to learn them before popping the disk in as if the game was some sort of exam to see how well we can memorise 30 different key functions. I have the same problem with the recent surge of mobile phone games; they often give you a screen showing you the controls and then just chuck you into the action and expect you to be a master.

Nowadays people talk about the 'dumbing down' of games, made easy for the casual masses. HUDs become less obtrusive but make way for on-screen button prompts. Personally, I can't argue with this new method of player training. When I play a game I want to become totally immersed in its world, I don't want to be constantly taking my eyes off the screen to read an inch-thick instruction book. If the game needs to help me along a little bit while I'm playing, that's fine; not all of us are geniuses.

P.S. I love Fallout's setting and universe, so I still want to give it a chance. I'll probably try again soon. This comment was included so that I don't piss off any Fallout fans as apparently the game is quite good.

David Cage: Gamasutra Interview

2008-07-27T21:54:00.017+01:00

I know it's a few days old, but I just got round to reading this interview over at Gamasutra and I have to say it's one of the most interesting I've read. David Cage is the founder of Quantic Dream, the development studio that brought us Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit in Europe) and is soon to deliver the much-anticipated Heavy Rain on the PlayStation 3.

Dreaming of a New Day: Heavy Rain's David Cage

Cage talks about narrative in games, the difference between how it applies to linear and sandbox games, links between cinema and games as media and that one particularly hot potato: censorship. All these topics are open to a lot of debate and are areas I'm very interested in. I'd love to hear your views too!

One last note: I'm finally downloading Façade as I write, a game I've been intending to play for a long time. For those who don't know, it's an experiment into artificial intelligence and character interaction and it can be downloaded for free at www.interactivestory.net.

Half-Life 2 Mapping For Beginners

2008-07-20T20:32:00.006+01:00

I just came across this on ModDB, so if anyone is reading and wants to get started with map editing for Half-Life 2 or any of the other games that use the Source engine (Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Portal, etc.) then you should check it out! It's a pretty straight-forward introduction with video tutorials too.

http://www.moddb.com/games/half-life-2/tutorials/half-life-2-mapping-tutorials-for-beginners

Review: STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl

2008-07-15T17:26:00.054+01:00

Deciding whether or not to try out STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl was - as I imagine - much like one of the game's eponymous scavengers debating whether or not to travel into the confines of the Zone. I had heard... stories... about that game. Bad things can happen when you play it, but is that enough to deter you? The rewards may be ripe and plentiful. With reports of high rates of crashes, numerous bugs and glitches around every corner, I would have to get quicksave-friendly or pay the price. In the end I took the plunge and entered the Zone...

As you have probably guessed already STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl is set in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in a region of 30km square that has been ravaged by bizarre environmental phenomena. This area (now known as "the Zone") is populated by mutated abominations and groups of stalkers; the men who risk their lives to retrieve priceless artifacts which defy known science. The player begins the game as one of these stalkers who has lost his memory, his only hint at a past life is a PDA message which instructs him to "kill Strelok". It is with this fascinating backdrop in mind that I set out into the Zone to see what it held in store for me. I'm still deciding whether or not I liked what I found.

The game boasts an atmosphere like no other, and this is clearly due to a number of contributing factors. Firstly the game loosely borrows its setting from the movie Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979) and the novel Roadside Picnic (Strugatsky brothers, 1972) which has a direct impact on the thick, foreboding ambience of the irradiated fields and woods. Secondly, the development team have clearly done a lot of research into the real-life Chernobyl and have brought it to the game very realistically. Certain buildings and vistas are recognisable from famous photos such as the ferris wheel and the nuclear power plant itself. The sounds especially contribute to the mood of STALKER as you hear tides of wind rippling through the trees, dogs barking in the distance and unexplained knocking and banging in the dank corridors of the underground research facilities. It all sent shivers up my spine and left me hungry to explore more of this tragic, beautiful landscape.

Unfortunately for me, I found that STALKER fell at some of the first hurdles as far as gameplay is concerned. A cluttered, awkward interface kept my engagement teetering on the edge of immersion, never quite moving aside so I could concern myself with the actions I was trying to perform rather than what buttons to press. My main gripe is with the inventory menu which requires so many clicks and drags of the mouse that I often died during combat because I was merely trying to pull out a different weapon. I also found that mouse buttons were downright unresponsive at times, forcing me to click them several times before they registered I had done anything at all.

Another problem I found was that, although STALKER has a wonderfully intriguing backstory, it does very little to further that story while you're playing it. I'm actually just about to start the final section of the game and I still feel that I haven't learned much about the Zone and I haven't really had any effect on it either. The characters I meet are very obviously not real, which is exacerbated (yeah, I just said exacerbated) by the fact that they repeat each others' dialogue, all look remarkably similar and do very little to acknowledge the fact that I am a person and that they too are people. As I mentioned dialogue I will elaborate on that too. It is poorly-written at best and did very little to further my interest in the Zone. There was next to no evidence of characterisation with all people speaking in a bland, factual manor. Maybe these people have been changed by the Zone and that's why they're all dullards, but then again maybe the game should have made this fact more obvious.

As I mentioned, I'm really in two minds about STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. On one hand it draws me in with the feeling of a real environment, something that many games can learn from, but on the other it slaps me back with poor mechanics and frustrating challenges. Well, I have persevered with it so it must have done something right but the whole time I was playing I couldn't help but think that it could have been so much better.

First Year Coursework: Luminesca

2008-07-02T13:05:00.006+01:00

I got my results back for my first year of university today (I passed comfortably) so I thought I'd share my coursework with you. I mentioned it here a few months back with the intention of making a fully-fledged game. That goal may see more work in the future but until then it exists as a simple 2D platform/collectables quest.

You can play it here.

Luminesca was created using Macromedia Director.

Review: Alone In The Dark

2008-06-23T12:03:00.083+01:00

The early tech demo trailers of Alone In The Dark had me waiting with high anticipation. It boasted a strong focus on 'real world rules' whereby answers to puzzles were grounded in reality. Locked door blocking your way from a burning room? Bash it down with a heavy object. I enjoy this sort of logical thinking as opposed to perhaps more abstract solutions seen in the older Resident Evil games, which involved conveniently shaped gem stones scattered around old police stations fitting into conveniently shaped eye sockets on ancient statues, a mechanism which eventually opens the door. Did no one use keys 100 years ago?

Anyway, the opening moments of Alone In The Dark are promising. It has a professional cinematic style which is enhanced by the gorgeous lighting engine and physics effects. The set pieces and environments all look fantastic and they really help to add to the atmosphere. The first stage sees you (the unintroduced hero Edward Carnby) escape from a New York skyscraper which is literally being torn apart by a strange creature that seems to permeate the very walls of the building. It's an absolute joy to observe (I was watching friends play at this point) but the problems finally arose when the controller was handed to me.

I have two main gripes with this game. Firstly, its control scheme is shockingly difficult to get to grips with and we ended up spending the first two stages finding the buttons more of a problem than the actual on-screen obstacles. AITD essentially suffers from Trespasser Syndrome, as it uses the right analogue stick to control the hands of Edward. For example, if you are holding a chair you can tilt the stick to the right and he will hold the chair towards the same direction. Quickly pushing the stick across to the left makes Edward swing it with force so you can hit enemies or objects. This high level of control reminds me of Trespasser in that the system is great in concept, but falls down in its overly-complex execution as you clumsily twist and twirl the item you're holding. The game also suffers by utilising a single button for several important actions. You use A to run, pick up items, turn your flashlight on and off (assuming you have taken it out with LB first) and operate various objects within the world like switches. Its an awkward method that sees you constantly trying to remember what order you should press buttons in to perform the most menial tasks. Oh and by the way, I hope you don't seriously think you can open a door whilst holding a broom at the same time do you? Good, because the game will take the liberty of forcing you to drop it first.

The second case in which Alone In The Dark falls short is its unforgiving difficulty and insistence on repeating sections over and over. There are a large number of quick reaction-based events that require you to pre-empt the challenges the game is about to throw at you. If you fail, you die. Instantly. Thankfully there are a lot of checkpoints so you rarely have to repeat much, but we still found it occurring with frustrating frequency. It's as if AITD hasn't evolved since the 1980s style of punishing gameplay. The game also features a strange and unique feature which allows you to skip entire sections in the same way you would with DVD chapters. Exactly why Infogrames decided to include this feature is beyond me, but it's almost as if they had finished the game and realised that no one would have the patience to sit through each segment time and time again so they built in a level skip cheat. Only it's not a cheat.

I realise at this point that I haven't said much about the plot which is usually my main focus of a game. That's because it was so obscured with awkward gameplay that I didn't really pay much attention to it. It revolves around a dark secret beneath the facade of New York City which has been kept by some sort of cult for many years. I haven't played any of the other games in this franchise so I don't know if I was supposed to understand what was going on or not, but the game didn't exactly help me out when it came to setting the scene and forming any sort of idea as to what was going on. The story is revealed by cutscenes filled with contrived dialogue, lacklustre voice acting and an unnecessary amount of expletives (presumably because it makes the game more 'adult').

All in all, Alone In The Dark is a promising game with a lot of potential and it's almost breath-taking to watch. Unfortunately, it's fundamentally flawed in a number of critical areas and in ways that games really shouldn't be flawed after so many years of learning from past mistakes. Rent it or watch someone play it.

P.S. Your female companion is extremely irritating, utterly useless and will not cease her incessant pestering and complaining. I wish the 'real world rules' applied to a fire extinguisher to the head.

P.S.2. Clicking the right analogue stick to blink for the first 10 minutes of the game gets old very quickly.

Interviewed by PlanetPhillip

2008-06-14T18:06:00.005+01:00

I was recently interviewed by Phillip of PlanetPhillip.com about my mod Union. Head on over to read it!

http://www.planetphillip.com/posts/interview-with-matt-glanville/

Review: Audiosurf

2008-06-01T16:57:00.007+01:00

It's been a big year or two for games recently, with huge blockbuster titles coming out left, right and centre. How surprising it is that one of my favourite new games of recent months has been a relatively unknown game -- Audiosurf -- from indie developers Invisible Handlebar.

Audiosurf is a rhythm-based game in which you control a futuristic jet vehicle thing at the bottom of the screen as it races forwards along a multi-coloured track with 3 lanes. The thing that makes this game so great is that you can import any of your own songs or sound files into it, which not only provides the soundtrack but also determines the way the track is formed. Your speed is affected by the incline of the road, which is in turn affected by the tempo and volume of the song.

Making your objective more difficult is the task of collecting coloured blocks which are littered across the track. Your vehicle will pass these squares as they appear in time to the music and, depending on your chosen playing style, you will have to collect them, avoid them or sort them into groups.

The game is beautifully simplistic and works amazingly with most songs I've tried, breathing life into music I thought I'd grown tired of in an innovative new way. This is the type of game I can see appealing to anyone providing you have at least a little bit of love for some sort of music. It's further enhanced by its online scoreboard which lets you see how well you fared against every other user in the world (based on skill level). The game is only about £5 and is available on Steam, or you can download a demo for free. Why haven't you bought it yet?!

Toxic Gauntlet, Patapon again

2008-05-18T19:26:00.006+01:00

Just a quick update today. As I've now finished university for the summer I decided to mess around with Hammer some more and I've come up with this environment that I'm very pleased with. I'm still not 100% sure whether or not I'm going to continue Union, or what it would be like if I did, but this is one of the possibilities for an area in the second chapter.

As you might be able to tell, I've been experimenting with the color_correction entity and trying to give the area a unique flavour and atmosphere that I hope will make it easy recognisable amongst the hundreds of other mods out there.

P.S. I finally got to have a good go on Patapon and it's had me hooked for hours. The only problem is that when I stop playing the game I feel like I have to keep doing everything in rhythm.

Review: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

2008-05-06T03:42:00.048+01:00

Final Fantasy VII was one of my all-time favourite games. It opened up my eyes to the world of storytelling through games, showed me what a compelling cast and atmosphere can do for the experience, and highlighted the importance of scope and mood through audio and visuals. It is one of the few RPGs I have played through several times.

What a disappointment, then, when I got my hands on its little brother: Crisis Core. I wanted to enjoy Crisis Core -- I really did -- but I really should have known better. You see, Final Fantasy has always been at the pinnacle of design, technology and art but as the years go on I sense that they seem to have forgotten about design in an attempt to blow the competition out of the water in the other two areas.

Crisis Core really is a visually stunning game considering the hardware limitations of the PSP, and this is evident in cutscenes and in-game sections alike, but all that goes out the window when the game is absolute dog shit to play. I'll explain why.

The battle system is a repetitive process of hammering attack buttons (occasionally interspersed with healing if the retarded DMW system didn't happen to give you free health, see below). Each battle is started and ended with an extremely irritating voice-over which becomes mind-numbing after the first few tries.

At random intervals in the battles, your button mashing is interrupted because a constantly-spinning slot reel (the DMW) happened to match up two pictures. Cue a time-based action to try and match a third picture so that you are allowed to use your special moves. On the spot. That's right, the timing of your special moves is selected randomly, thereby eliminating ALL strategy in using them. At one point the game decided I should try and match Aerith's picture so I could have a free healing spell. 'No thanks', I thought, 'My health is actually double my maximum health at the moment' (?!) So I decided to be cunning and stop the slot reel on a different picture, therefore avoiding watching the jarringly-long spell animation. 'No', replied the game, 'I think you should have a healing spell now' and forced me on to the matching picture anyway. I wouldn't mind this kind of crap if it was occasional, but I found this to be happening with incredible frequency. Strong attack moves would kick in when I was just about to deliver my finishing blow to a long line of enemies. If there was any sort of pattern to this feature then the game wasn't explaining it to me well enough.

Occasionally you also be forced to sit through a cutscene or flashback to a previous interaction with a main character. DURING THE BATTLE.

Oh, did I mention that your character only levels up when you get 777 on the DMW? Yeah, it's not based on experience or skill in any way.

If I start to sound like Yahtzee it's probably because I'm starting to feel like him.

The battle system would probably be bearable if it weren't so prominent, but it's pretty much the meat of the game. Any outside quests are handled by either wandering round an empty-as-sin town area, reading pages of uninspiring text in your e-mails list, or participating in the hundreds of additional missions.

Don't get me started on the missions! Well, I've already started actually, so I'll finish. The optional missions (I'm so relieved they're optional) consist of running around a bland, repetitive 'dungeon' area with a high frequency of random encounters until you find your target enemy. This is one enemy that is exactly the same as the rest, except it is visible before you enter the battle instead of appearing out of nowhere. Once you kill it, you succeed the mission. That's it. I've completed 20% of the missions (that's at least 30 missions I think) and every single one has followed this exact same formula. Any story given to you in the briefing is a shallow excuse to slog through one more gruelling grind.

It's not all bad. The graphics are superb as I mentioned before, and the many references to the original Final Fantasy VII are plentiful and accurate. But as I have come to expect from Square-Enix in recent years, the good parts are not enough to outweigh the bad. I found this game incredibly infuriating and it tried my patience far too much. I would recommend it if you were a fan of its predecessor but beyond that it really isn't enjoyable enough to endure its broken mechanics.

I've managed to play a decent amount of a few other new games lately; namely Call of Duty 4, Crysis, Bioshock and Assassin's Creed. Expect some opinions on those games soon.

Review: God of War: Chains of Olympus

2008-04-11T16:09:00.004+01:00

I just completed this game yesterday and I have to say it's definitely the best PSP game I've played so far. It's actually the only PSP game I've ever completed too; the rest only held my interest for so long.

God of War's strength lies in the way it manages to mimic its PS2 bigger brothers almost flawlessly. With the exception of using the right analogue stick to dodge (you now have to hold L and R and use the left stick) the controls are exactly the same, both button-wise and also with the moves Kratos is able to pull off. Magic is handled slightly differently too but it works fine.

The story was probably the weakest part of the game for me, especially in comparison to the previous instalments. Anyone who has played the first God of War will know all about the twist in Kratos' dark past, and given that this game is a prequel I was expecting it to focus on that some more. I was a little disappointed to find what is essentially a completely unrelated 'mission' given by the gods. The Elysian Fields scene near the end was very touching but this is the only point in the game where the story has an relevance to Kratos as a person.

But in all fairness, while God of War's narrative has always been above average it's really not the reason I play the games (and I'm sure many others would agree). The gameplay is spot on with responsive controls and superb animation, sound and level design. If you own a PSP and are remotely interested in action games I couldn't recommend God of War: Chains of Olympus more.

Union post-mortem (Part 1)

2008-02-29T20:45:00.014Z

Well, I have been absolutely amazed by the great feedback I've received for Union. It seems a lot of people really enjoyed it and, despite a few minor problems, it has achieved pleasing results. So to all the people who left kind comments: thank you! You make the hours of hard work worth while! I really couldn't have asked for a better response.

Now what I would like to do is share some of the decisions I made while I was making Union and explain how it came to be what it is. This is sort of my equivalent of the commentaries for the Orange Box games, only using text and pictures rather than in-game audio. I will also show some screenshots of the maps during production so you can see how they changed.

WARNING: It goes without saying that this will be full of SPOILERS! If you have not yet played Union I would urge you to do so first or you may spoil the effect.

So, let's start with the first room. When I first started designing Union, there were only two parts I had solidified in my head: the start and the end. I knew that the player would start out by recovering from unconsciousness. However, it took me a while to decide whether the player would witness the fall of Nova Prospekt or whether they would simply wake up with everyone dead. In the end I chose the latter, as it created a much creepier atmosphere and got the player wondering. It also means that I now have flexibility with the timeframe of the events.

The first room is designed to immediately give the player a sense that something terrible has happened and to make them feel trapped and even slightly disorientated. By locking the door and using the burrow as an entrance/exit route we can also see that the antlions were cunning and must have easily overpowered the Combine forces.

The first antlion we catch a glimpse of makes the player cautious and (hopefully) frightened of advancing. In early designs, the player would pick up the crowbar in this corridor and use it to smash some boards covering the far exit. This was removed to increase the intensity and danger when we finally come face-to-face with the antlion, also adding to the sense that the vortigaunt is a worthwhile companion and useful aide. In addition, the door to the vortigaunt's room was originally open but this didn't really make much sense in retrospect. If the vortigaunt was free to walk around, why hadn't he done so? I added the padlock to imply that he had been imprisoned hastily by the Combine during the battle.

The Combine gates were something I had envisioned right from the start, and I feel they are one of the most important elements of Union's gameplay (especially considering they are integral to the dramatic ending). Through using these gates, the player realises that they must work together with the vortigaunt in order to escape. One cannot proceed without the other. This area has the gate, the activation 'pod' and the terminal all in close proximity so the player can quickly understand that they are directly connected.

I actually learned to use lightmaps whilst making Union. I had never really tried them out before. This corridor's lighting is a credit to Valve and their fantastic engine. Originally this whole corridor, and indeed many other areas of Union, had different textures and were lower in detail. The texture seen in the previous screenshot was the same used in the 'Entanglement' areas of Half-Life 2 which was going to be the setting for Union. As things developed it became apparent that the areas from the 'Nova Prospekt' chapter were more appropriate both visually and from a setting stand-point. Similarly, the large room used to fight antlions was previously a cell block but later a laundry room became more appropriate and allowed for more interesting use of textures and props.

Originally, this small room full of goodies was the way the player would enter the laundry room (by blowing the window open with grenades). I later decided that it would be better to add in some more walking and combat so that the following battle was not too close (time-wise) to the start of the level. The antlion burrows were a logical solution, and allowed the goodies room to become a secret bonus area. Unfortunately, the exit proved extremely troublesome given the small space and in playtests I noticed a lot of players simply gave up trying to climb up. This small piece of navigation is, in my opinion, the weakest part of Union but I really couldn't find a way to work around it. I guess it made the goodies that bit more rewarding!

In the antlion burrows we see the worker drones for the first time, preparing the player for fighting them in the laundry room battle.

As the player exits the burrows they can see the vortigaunt waiting for them dead ahead. In earlier versions, the switch to open this gate was right beside it. However, this encouraged players to trigger the large battle before they really had a chance to get their bearings. This often lead to confusion and frustration when, in the heat of battle, players had no idea there were ammo crates lying around. I simply moved the switch so that players would almost certainly notice the shotgun and ammo when they went to throw it.

The laundry room probably took up the majority of my time making Union. I don't mean literally making it; the layout is fairly straight-forward. What took so long was tweaking the timing and flow of antlions, item placement, cues from the vortigaunt and other such fine-tuning. In such a chaotic situation it is difficult to know what the player will be doing at any given time, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out. The room's open design (using fences and height differences to limit movement but retain visibility) allows for some spectacular acrobatics on the antlions' part. The catwalks give the player some different areas to explore and shoot from, but they will eventually have to come back to the thick of the battle when their ammunition runs out. The hole in the ceiling was added near the end of development to give the sense that the antlions are attacking from all directions.

After the timed battle with the antlions swarm is over, I am faced with two challenges: how do I remind the player of their goal and lure them back to the Combine gate, and how do I provide a new way of leaving the previously-locked arena? I solved this problem by introducing zombies into the area. As the vortigaunt powers up the gate, a zombine staggers out. When the player is near the doors (or if the player waits too long), the zombine pulls a grenade and blows them open. This draws the player's attention to this area and provides a new exit to the laundry room.

The 'zombie corridor' contains the terminal to keep the Combine gate open. Several playtesters missed this terminal on the way through and, as a result, left the vortigaunt behind and got stuck in the boiler room. Considering that there is a drop shortly after that cannot be climbed back up, I will probably modify this part for future versions. Leaving the vortigaunt behind can essentially break the game and cause the player to become completely stuck, and reminding them to open up a path for him can be quite tricky without use of custom voice acting. Perhaps this is something I will consider for the future too.

Anyone who has listened to The Orange Box's commentaries may have realised by now that I have learned a lot from Valve's design techniques. In my opinion they are the best game developers out there and I admire their approach to design hugely. I have seen how it pays off, and I have tried to use that approach to my own mapping. I guess it's up to you whether or not it paid off.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this and I hope it's been insightful. Look out for Part 2 coming soon. As always; let me know what you think, I love to hear feedback whether it's good or bad.

Union released!

2008-02-26T23:42:00.005Z

It's finally finished!
You can download it now from PlanetPhillip. You can also find screenshots and information there.

It will also be available from ModDB on Saturday 1st March 2008.

And also it will be featured on the cover DVD of PC Action magazine in Germany at the end of March.

Preview: Killzone 2

2008-02-09T14:58:00.002Z

I just watched this video showcasing some of the new gameplay and technology in Killzone 2. I have to say I was impressed, as I have been with every trailer they've released, but it occurred to me that I was impressed with the original Killzone when I first saw it but the game simply didn't deliver what it promised. It's lacklustre, repetitive shooting gameplay was drawn out for far too long and even the visuals were not as good as previews suggested, not to mention that it was riddled with glitches. Having said that, I did play the game from start to finish but I'm really not entirely sure why, or what I really enjoyed about it. Despite the technological flaws in the visuals, I liked them from an artistic point of view. The war-torn streets and desolate wastelands were beautifully realised and gave the game's world a bleak, downbeat atmosphere which is perfect for this sort of setting. Perhaps that's what kept me playing.

To be honest, looking at the aforementioned video, I can't see the sequel breaking the mould that Killzone set. It seems that skirmishes can be won by simply running at your enemy whilst holding the fire button which immediately eliminates any of the tactical style gameplay we saw in games like Gears of War, something that I feel Killzone 2 could really benefit from. I understand that it's a game about war, but please, can't we have something other than just shooting? I felt that the first game had potential for some great story and character development but it was all packed into cutscenes while the gameplay was starved of dialogue. I think Guerilla need to take some hints from Valve's use of Alyx in Half-Life 2: Episode One and start implementing characters we can truly care for. In fact, I would extend that statement to pretty much all war shooters. I want to be upset when my companions are killed. I don't want to just be inconvenienced.

Union update

2008-02-04T01:16:00.001Z

After some valuable feedback Union is undergoing some bug fixing and a facelift. A number of areas have been re-textured, had various props added and improved lighting. It's looking much nicer than the beta version.

Still on schedule for a March 1st release, perhaps even sooner. I've just started my second semester at university so the mod will take a back seat, but it's so close to being finished that I can't see it being much later.

Here's a couple of new screenshots:

Union is in beta stage

2008-01-29T16:03:00.001Z

Hooray!

My map pack Union has entered beta testing stages! Expect a release within the next few weeks.

Union, Luminesca

2008-01-23T22:16:00.002Z

Well there is some good news and some bad today.

The good news is that my mod now has a name: Union. It is also pretty much complete gameplay-wise. I just need to tweak a few things, add some detail and but it through some playtesting sessions.

The bad news is that in splitting the one large map into two more easy-to-handle-for-low-spec-computers I have created an invisible wall which prevents the player progressing... and I can't figure out why. In Hammer there is nothing there. It's infuriating to say the least.

Hopefully it should be fixed this week, testing will take place over the next few weeks and Union should be released before March. Not a promise, but a realistic target.

Side note: I submitted it to ModDB but I haven't heard anything since... Hmm...

In other news, my uncontrollable imagination came up with this delightful little creature the other day. I called him Luminesca. One day he will be the star of a weird and wonderful game which involves luring harmless creatures into your fat gob.

This image can be used as a PSP wallpaper. Click it to go to the right size version. Enjoy, but not too much.

P.S. I also stumbled across this interesting post-mortem of the original Half-Life. It provides some interesting insight into the development process, in particular the Cabal system that Valve implemented which turned the game from a dull, generic heap which was no fun to play into the winner of over 50 Game of the Year awards. Worth a read if you're into that sort of thing.

Preview: Soul Calibur IV, Patapon

2008-01-10T19:53:00.003Z

Those crazy cats at Namco have announced a new twist on Soul Calibur IV: it is set to include characters from the Star Wars franchise. Now, borrowing characters from other IPs is nothing new as Soul Calibur II featured exclusive characters depending on which console you were playing on (Heihachi, Link and Spawn for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox respectively), but come on, how are you supposed to stand a chance against a lightsabre?! This trailer features Vader and Mitsurugi locking swords together... I just don't think it's plausible.

Oh well, I suppose the series isn't exactly designed to be super-realistic is it?

Anyway, enough cynicism. I also just set eyes on this little gem for the first time. It's called Patapon and it's a new title being released for the PSP. The trailer doesn't really explain how the game is played too well but it's a rhythm-based game mixed with some other elements. I'm not a huge fan of rhythm games (because I ain't got rhythm), but what drew me to this was the art style. I love the silhouetted characters - there's something so clean and attractive about it - and the backgrounds are just beautiful in their simplicity. I think the style suits the PSP's crisp, small screen as well.

It makes me wish that Limbo would be released.

Screenshots of my map

2008-01-06T22:44:00.002Z

I got round to taking some screenshots in all their HDR glory. Remember that this is still work in progress and they will probably look better in the final version. So here is a sneak preview of my currently untitled prison break map for Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

Edit: the map pack is now titled Union.

Click the thumbnails for a larger screenshot.

New Blog

2008-01-06T22:41:00.002Z

Well, I decided to come back to this old LiveJournal thing and revive my old account. Only instead of using it as a personal journal, it's going to be my new game development blog. It's partly a replacement for my Figments and Pigments site which I've now lost hosting for and partly a completely new project so we'll see how it goes.

I thought I'd start by talking about my add-on map for Half-Life 2: Episode Two which I've been working on over the Christmas period. It's set in Nova Prospekt and basically involves finding a way to escape after it's been overrun by Antlions. The player must team up with a stranded Vortigaunt who will help out in tricky situations. The map is nearly finished and I'm quite nervous as it's the first map I will have ever released despite building levels since the days of the first Half-Life. Unfortunately it's all on my other computer so I don't have any screenshots right now, but I'll get some added soon.

I'm still unsure whether designing maps set in the Half-Life canon universe is easier than creating a new world or not. On one hand you have a set of established conventions and visual rules (for example, the big blue plugs used for Combine machinery puzzles) which the player will instantly recognise if they've already played Half-Life 2, so you don't need to do much tutorial work. On the other hand you are somewhat restricted to those same rules and it cuts down your freedom a fair bit. You have to constantly ask yourself: Would this look out of place in the Half-Life world? On the whole I tend to avoid completely new worlds as it means I don't have to create all the art assets like textures and models, I can just use Valve's own material. I'm far more interested in the layout of the level and writing its story than creating pretty new grass textures.

I consider Adam Foster's Minerva: Metastasis to be the finest single-player Half-Life 2 mod released so far and it barely has any new content. It just goes to show that you can create something hugely enjoyable just with clever level design and challenging gameplay. These are things I have been considering for my standalone map.

For anyone who's interested, I use the following PC to build my maps:

19" Widescreen LCD Monitor
ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB
2GB RAM
Quad-core 2.6 GHz processor
Windows Vista 32-bit
Sexy blue neon strip down the front of the chassis

Finally, here's a little video I found on YouTube showcasing some phenomenal CG facial animation.