Dear GTA:4,
Good Luck!
best,
e
p.s. I almost forgot about you RE5, extra good luck to you sirs!
p.p.s. I feel this is still true, sadly!
January 22, 2008
Fight IV Your Right...
Dear GTA:4,
Good Luck!
best,
e
p.s. I almost forgot about you RE5, extra good luck to you sirs!
p.p.s. I feel this is still true, sadly!
January 17, 2008
Combat Cancelled
Normally I would not write this kind of article but since it is a new year and was sort of prompted by some God of War questions in the past and recently on Derek’s blog here I am. A lot of questions have always swirled around some of the attacks Kratos has in his arsenal, namely the L1+ Button special moves. The questions usually stem from the inability to “Cancel” these moves thus rendering them useless so to speak. Instead of just defending those moves I am going to examine the entire concept of move cancelling from its early days in fighting games to its cross pollination with action adventure games.
Let’s start with the grand daddy of them all Street Fighter 2: World Warrior. There is a legend that one day during early tests of this game out in California a guy named Tomo Ohira was destroying people in the game with some crazy technique where he could link certain moves together that normally could not be linked together, thus creating a combo by canceling! Ok so I was a kid in Ohio when I heard this so of course I believed it because Tomo Ohira was the best American Street Fighter player at the time. However, later I learned that this was a “bug” in the game and known by the development team in Japan but they thought it was too hard to execute to be useful so they left it in the game. Well it happens that the “bug” was the birth of the Cancel and Combo! The best example is roundhouse sweep cancel to fireball with Ryu, which I view as the catalyst for many other Street Fighter cornerstones such as zoning and footsies. So you get the point Street Fighter started it all and I just wanted to share some history so now onto how this affects action adventure games.
First let’s define a cancel just so we are all clear; a cancel is the ability to end one animation early by beginning another animation when the user manipulates of a series of branches in an animation tree through inputs on the controller, talk about clinical. Without diving into all the nuts and bolts of a combat system I am going to breakdown cancels by type and method. Cancel types fall into 2 core groups; “Partial Cancel” and “Complete Cancel”.
A “Partial Cancel” allows an animation to be canceled at specific windows during the animation. The two most common conditions for a “Partial Cancel” are pre-hit frame (the animation can be cancelled any time before the first frame of the hit) and post-hit frame (the animation can be cancelled any time after the last frame of the hit).
A “Complete Cancel” allows an animation to be cancelled at anytime during the animation. Of course I am generalizing and there are special nuances that exist in certain games but for the most part these conditions are used 99% of the time.
The methods I am going to cover are the ones that account for the bulk of all games and they are "Buffer" and "Instant".
The "Buffer" method stores and executes the user’s command when the cancel window is valid. The "Buffer" method in a well-designed game can be cancelled itself with other commands before the cancel window is valid to ensure the highest quality of responsiveness.
The "Instant" method accepts and executes the user’s command on the frame of input when the cancel window is valid. The "Instant" method allows the player to delay the timing which adds to the overall responsiveness of the game.
Now for an example: We have an animation called “Square01” that is played when we press the Square button, the animation is 60 frames long and has a hit frame window from frame 15 to frame 20. (see the pseudo combat scripting below)
//60 frames
Animation = Square01
//hit frames
On = 15;
Off = 20;
//attack cancel
Anim = Square02; Button = Square; On = 0; Off = 21; Method = Buffer;
Anim = Square02; Button = Square; On = 21; Off = 60; Method = Instant;
//block cancel
Anim = Block; Button = L1; On = 0; Off = 60; Method = Instant;
What does all that mean you might be asking yourself? Notice the On/Off parameters, these are frame values and determine the range of the cancel window. The method parameter assigns the type of cancel, see the definitions above if you have forgotten already. We can now determine that “Square01” can never be cancelled Pre-hit frame with the square button since the frame range is 0-21, instead the square button can be buffered until Post-hit frame 21. We can also determine that “Square01” can be instantly cancelled at anytime Post-hit frame since the frame range is 21-60. It also says that the L1 button can cancel “Square01” instantly at anytime thus making it a Complete Cancel since the frame range is 0-60. If this made any sense at all, now imagine doing this for every possible animation a character has in their arsenal and how they relate to gameplay systems such as parry, block, counter, walk, run, jump, double jump, magic, throw, reactions, etc… To give you a little perspective, Kratos had roughly 4000 cancel branches in God of War 2 with many more parameters to be tweaked per cancel branch.
Bored yet? I promise to stop being technical right now!
What can a well-implemented cancel system add to a game? First off it usually determines if a game has that lagged out feel or is crisp and super responsive. From a defensive point of view it creates that feeling of a best offense is a great defense. The player can just bang with the enemies but guard cancel to generate new holes in the enemy’s game. Guard canceling in Soul Calibur is super fun because it has Pre-hit frame canceling only which allows the player to fake attacks creating a whole new layer of mind games. Street Fighter 3 and Marvel Series make great use of super move cancels, which looks flashy in the traditional Capcom vein while promoting heavy offensive style gameplay. Also you might note that cancels are so good in some games that they actually require meter to perform like in the Guilty Gear series. It's almost impossible to factor all the changes one type of cancel system can have on a game, one such case is CvS2 and the infamous "Roll Cancel" where certain moves can become invincible based on a cancel bug, talk about an oops. Ultimately though it comes down to fun vs. abusiveness but mostly a great cancel system equals depth and allows the player to be super creative which helps increase the fun and sense of achievement.
Here some thoughts on the top three games in the action adventure genre, in no particular order Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and God of War. Placing the game I worked on for nearly 4 years in the top three will surely drum up some interesting comments, can’t wait… this is why I do not write about the games I work on if at all possible.
Ninja Gaiden is very strict when it comes to canceling so strict in fact that not a single animation that I am aware of can be canceled Pre-hit frame. I feel this is a great rule when trying to build a solid foundation for the combat gameplay but also adds to the difficulty. The player knows when they press a button to attack it must complete its hit frame before another animation can take place. Here is a funny thing about that rule, it is so true that the player cannot even pause the game because they could swap weapons and cancel before the hit, don’t believe me try it out. The game is made to be hardcore and for the hardcore so they use rules that help establish a fair play field if the player is willing to learn the system to the point of flawless execution. I applaud Itagaki and Team Ninja for their effort and contribution to the genre!
Devil May Cry follows many of the same rules that Ninja Gaiden does but in true Capcom fashion they have to drop the style bomb all over rules and add in some broken stuff just for fun! The main cancel system that drives DMC is the alteration between Melee and Projectile attacks. I believe that all Melee attacks are all Post-hit frame cancels and the Projectile attacks are governed by the rate of fire. Since there are between 5-6 Melee and Projectile weapons the combinations create for quite the learning curve and when you add in the styles the possibilities are staggering. Depth is the result but in a much more chaotic and flashy manner then the technical presentation found in Ninja Gaiden. Nevertheless there is no doubt that DMC is an acquired taste from the dark moody art to wise cracking cocky Dante himself but when you get it, you get it and the rabid fans for this series will always let you know they get it!
God of War unlike the other two games allows for many Pre-hit frame cancels and incorporates several of the methods found in the other two games. The main difference is that it is not trying to be a hardcore game from neither a technical nor flashy point of view. It’s just smash and kill fun with some goodies tossed in under the hood for the fans of the other games that gave us a shot while they waited for the next installment of Ryu’s or Dante’s saga. The rules for canceling are all over the place but for good reason, our intended audience does not want to learn the techniques, they just want the game to play the way they think it should because combat is not the only focus unlike the other two games.
So what about the L1+Button specials and why they cannot be cancelled? The moves in question are by far the strongest damage inflicting attacks Kratos has that stem from a simple button command, they hit many creatures at once in most cases, leave the creature in a vulnerable state, or in some cases both. The moves also serve as a little flash and make beginners feel really powerful when they see the blades spinning all over the place. Like I said before the other games only have Post-hit frame canceling and use this to teach the player, watch before you attack. God of War allows almost all of the basic attacks be cancelled anywhere including Pre-hit frame to make life easier on the player. The L1+Button specials possess enormous damage potential in certain situations and thus are not able to be cancelled until Post-hit frame for balance reasons (infinite lock down loops mostly). Moreover for novice players they are used to teach the concept of risk vs. reward without placing this burden on the basic combat which would make the game much harder for the average player. I know this can be argued from many different angles with regards to balancing but trust me I have heard them all and this was the decision we made but feel free to tell me how foolish we were anyhow.
At the end of the day you have to look at your intended audience and I think we captured our audience the best we could. To those that were left upset and disappointed because of 4 little moves in the game that cannot be cancelled earlier then I am sorry you missed a much greater experience.
It’s easy to say God of War is flawed and this that and the other but the fact remains that it is the only American action adventure game to ever get the attention of the Japanese. I grew up playing their games and wanted to make a game that felt like a Japanese game but played balls out like an American movie and God of War allowed me to do that. It is not perfect but it spoke to some people and that is all we can hope for as game developers.
I know one thing for sure increasing the amount of canceling in a game decreases the possibility of the game being cancelled!
Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I will try to answer promptly!
Thanks!
p.s. God of War has some serious fun with cancels, press square once then try any of the following if you don’t believe me.
Walk (Navigation) = Post-hit frame
Jump = Pre-hit frame
Roll (Evade) = Pre-hit frame
Magic = Pre-hit frame
Throw = Pre-hit frame
Guard (Parry / Block) = Pre-hit frame
Weapon Swap = Post-hit frame
Let’s start with the grand daddy of them all Street Fighter 2: World Warrior. There is a legend that one day during early tests of this game out in California a guy named Tomo Ohira was destroying people in the game with some crazy technique where he could link certain moves together that normally could not be linked together, thus creating a combo by canceling! Ok so I was a kid in Ohio when I heard this so of course I believed it because Tomo Ohira was the best American Street Fighter player at the time. However, later I learned that this was a “bug” in the game and known by the development team in Japan but they thought it was too hard to execute to be useful so they left it in the game. Well it happens that the “bug” was the birth of the Cancel and Combo! The best example is roundhouse sweep cancel to fireball with Ryu, which I view as the catalyst for many other Street Fighter cornerstones such as zoning and footsies. So you get the point Street Fighter started it all and I just wanted to share some history so now onto how this affects action adventure games.
First let’s define a cancel just so we are all clear; a cancel is the ability to end one animation early by beginning another animation when the user manipulates of a series of branches in an animation tree through inputs on the controller, talk about clinical. Without diving into all the nuts and bolts of a combat system I am going to breakdown cancels by type and method. Cancel types fall into 2 core groups; “Partial Cancel” and “Complete Cancel”.
A “Partial Cancel” allows an animation to be canceled at specific windows during the animation. The two most common conditions for a “Partial Cancel” are pre-hit frame (the animation can be cancelled any time before the first frame of the hit) and post-hit frame (the animation can be cancelled any time after the last frame of the hit).
A “Complete Cancel” allows an animation to be cancelled at anytime during the animation. Of course I am generalizing and there are special nuances that exist in certain games but for the most part these conditions are used 99% of the time.
The methods I am going to cover are the ones that account for the bulk of all games and they are "Buffer" and "Instant".
The "Buffer" method stores and executes the user’s command when the cancel window is valid. The "Buffer" method in a well-designed game can be cancelled itself with other commands before the cancel window is valid to ensure the highest quality of responsiveness.
The "Instant" method accepts and executes the user’s command on the frame of input when the cancel window is valid. The "Instant" method allows the player to delay the timing which adds to the overall responsiveness of the game.
Now for an example: We have an animation called “Square01” that is played when we press the Square button, the animation is 60 frames long and has a hit frame window from frame 15 to frame 20. (see the pseudo combat scripting below)
//60 frames
Animation = Square01
//hit frames
On = 15;
Off = 20;
//attack cancel
Anim = Square02; Button = Square; On = 0; Off = 21; Method = Buffer;
Anim = Square02; Button = Square; On = 21; Off = 60; Method = Instant;
//block cancel
Anim = Block; Button = L1; On = 0; Off = 60; Method = Instant;
What does all that mean you might be asking yourself? Notice the On/Off parameters, these are frame values and determine the range of the cancel window. The method parameter assigns the type of cancel, see the definitions above if you have forgotten already. We can now determine that “Square01” can never be cancelled Pre-hit frame with the square button since the frame range is 0-21, instead the square button can be buffered until Post-hit frame 21. We can also determine that “Square01” can be instantly cancelled at anytime Post-hit frame since the frame range is 21-60. It also says that the L1 button can cancel “Square01” instantly at anytime thus making it a Complete Cancel since the frame range is 0-60. If this made any sense at all, now imagine doing this for every possible animation a character has in their arsenal and how they relate to gameplay systems such as parry, block, counter, walk, run, jump, double jump, magic, throw, reactions, etc… To give you a little perspective, Kratos had roughly 4000 cancel branches in God of War 2 with many more parameters to be tweaked per cancel branch.
Bored yet? I promise to stop being technical right now!
What can a well-implemented cancel system add to a game? First off it usually determines if a game has that lagged out feel or is crisp and super responsive. From a defensive point of view it creates that feeling of a best offense is a great defense. The player can just bang with the enemies but guard cancel to generate new holes in the enemy’s game. Guard canceling in Soul Calibur is super fun because it has Pre-hit frame canceling only which allows the player to fake attacks creating a whole new layer of mind games. Street Fighter 3 and Marvel Series make great use of super move cancels, which looks flashy in the traditional Capcom vein while promoting heavy offensive style gameplay. Also you might note that cancels are so good in some games that they actually require meter to perform like in the Guilty Gear series. It's almost impossible to factor all the changes one type of cancel system can have on a game, one such case is CvS2 and the infamous "Roll Cancel" where certain moves can become invincible based on a cancel bug, talk about an oops. Ultimately though it comes down to fun vs. abusiveness but mostly a great cancel system equals depth and allows the player to be super creative which helps increase the fun and sense of achievement.
Here some thoughts on the top three games in the action adventure genre, in no particular order Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and God of War. Placing the game I worked on for nearly 4 years in the top three will surely drum up some interesting comments, can’t wait… this is why I do not write about the games I work on if at all possible.
Ninja Gaiden is very strict when it comes to canceling so strict in fact that not a single animation that I am aware of can be canceled Pre-hit frame. I feel this is a great rule when trying to build a solid foundation for the combat gameplay but also adds to the difficulty. The player knows when they press a button to attack it must complete its hit frame before another animation can take place. Here is a funny thing about that rule, it is so true that the player cannot even pause the game because they could swap weapons and cancel before the hit, don’t believe me try it out. The game is made to be hardcore and for the hardcore so they use rules that help establish a fair play field if the player is willing to learn the system to the point of flawless execution. I applaud Itagaki and Team Ninja for their effort and contribution to the genre!
Devil May Cry follows many of the same rules that Ninja Gaiden does but in true Capcom fashion they have to drop the style bomb all over rules and add in some broken stuff just for fun! The main cancel system that drives DMC is the alteration between Melee and Projectile attacks. I believe that all Melee attacks are all Post-hit frame cancels and the Projectile attacks are governed by the rate of fire. Since there are between 5-6 Melee and Projectile weapons the combinations create for quite the learning curve and when you add in the styles the possibilities are staggering. Depth is the result but in a much more chaotic and flashy manner then the technical presentation found in Ninja Gaiden. Nevertheless there is no doubt that DMC is an acquired taste from the dark moody art to wise cracking cocky Dante himself but when you get it, you get it and the rabid fans for this series will always let you know they get it!
God of War unlike the other two games allows for many Pre-hit frame cancels and incorporates several of the methods found in the other two games. The main difference is that it is not trying to be a hardcore game from neither a technical nor flashy point of view. It’s just smash and kill fun with some goodies tossed in under the hood for the fans of the other games that gave us a shot while they waited for the next installment of Ryu’s or Dante’s saga. The rules for canceling are all over the place but for good reason, our intended audience does not want to learn the techniques, they just want the game to play the way they think it should because combat is not the only focus unlike the other two games.
So what about the L1+Button specials and why they cannot be cancelled? The moves in question are by far the strongest damage inflicting attacks Kratos has that stem from a simple button command, they hit many creatures at once in most cases, leave the creature in a vulnerable state, or in some cases both. The moves also serve as a little flash and make beginners feel really powerful when they see the blades spinning all over the place. Like I said before the other games only have Post-hit frame canceling and use this to teach the player, watch before you attack. God of War allows almost all of the basic attacks be cancelled anywhere including Pre-hit frame to make life easier on the player. The L1+Button specials possess enormous damage potential in certain situations and thus are not able to be cancelled until Post-hit frame for balance reasons (infinite lock down loops mostly). Moreover for novice players they are used to teach the concept of risk vs. reward without placing this burden on the basic combat which would make the game much harder for the average player. I know this can be argued from many different angles with regards to balancing but trust me I have heard them all and this was the decision we made but feel free to tell me how foolish we were anyhow.
At the end of the day you have to look at your intended audience and I think we captured our audience the best we could. To those that were left upset and disappointed because of 4 little moves in the game that cannot be cancelled earlier then I am sorry you missed a much greater experience.
It’s easy to say God of War is flawed and this that and the other but the fact remains that it is the only American action adventure game to ever get the attention of the Japanese. I grew up playing their games and wanted to make a game that felt like a Japanese game but played balls out like an American movie and God of War allowed me to do that. It is not perfect but it spoke to some people and that is all we can hope for as game developers.
I know one thing for sure increasing the amount of canceling in a game decreases the possibility of the game being cancelled!
Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I will try to answer promptly!
Thanks!
p.s. God of War has some serious fun with cancels, press square once then try any of the following if you don’t believe me.
Walk (Navigation) = Post-hit frame
Jump = Pre-hit frame
Roll (Evade) = Pre-hit frame
Magic = Pre-hit frame
Throw = Pre-hit frame
Guard (Parry / Block) = Pre-hit frame
Weapon Swap = Post-hit frame
November 9, 2007
For the Record!!!
Since the news of Cory Barlog leaving Sony has spread a lot of speculation has been going around, mostly about Cory. Yet somehow a rumor has started that I have completely quit the gaming industry. I have received quite a few emails, IM’s and even a few phone calls about this but I can assure you this is FALSE.
What is true is that I left SCEA Santa Monica Studios on Oct.1st 2007. Perhaps this is where the confusion occurred. Maybe I should have been more vocal about my departure to avoid such confusion but the people that needed to know, knew and that was good enough for me.
My time at Sony allowed me the chance to work on something truly great with an amazing team comprised of talented individuals. The best thing about it was we struck gold not once but twice so I have no doubts that they will continue to succeed in the future! It was an honor to design and build Kratos for the last 4 years but I passed the blades onto a more than capable designer. His name is Jason McDonald and he will be surrounded by one of the best animation teams in the biz along with the programming might of Magnus Danielsson and Fabrice Odero. Have no fear, Kratos will return with a vengeance that has never been seen before! The rest of the team will kick ass as only they can, best of luck to you all and end it with a bang!
A new career path is in sight and it can only be described as “The smartest thing I ever do or the dumbest thing I ever do” which was the same thing I said when I moved to California to start my career in video games instead of finishing college. Now that I think about it that is so cliché. I mean all choices could be summed up as such but I like the sound of it and since history sometimes repeats itself, here’s to hoping lightning strikes twice else there is that flower shop I always dreamt about.
They say Kratos was sad “that day” but I was just as sad, here’s to you old friend…
November 4, 2007
Flash Game of the Month: October
The flash game of the month is called Yin Yang from MTV games, WTF?!? I guess they have turned to games since Britney keeps letting them down or something like that…
Anyhow the game is kind of like Lost Vikings gameplay meets Spy vs. Spy art style creating quite the enjoyable experience. The game is pretty simple at face value since the goal is to get each character to his checkered flag by switching back and forth between them to open the path to the flag. Seems simple enough until the screen starts rotating around as you keep track of the frame of reference which is based on either black or white. It was fun to discover how the two colors change the way the characters interact thereafter so give is a try but be prepared for a little frustration and some excellent “V8 moments”!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
Anyhow the game is kind of like Lost Vikings gameplay meets Spy vs. Spy art style creating quite the enjoyable experience. The game is pretty simple at face value since the goal is to get each character to his checkered flag by switching back and forth between them to open the path to the flag. Seems simple enough until the screen starts rotating around as you keep track of the frame of reference which is based on either black or white. It was fun to discover how the two colors change the way the characters interact thereafter so give is a try but be prepared for a little frustration and some excellent “V8 moments”!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
October 29, 2007
BAFTA Props!
Cory Barlog, David Jaffe, and Marianne Krawczyk brought home Best Story and Character while Tim Moss and Christer Ericson brought home Best Technical Achievement. It was an honor to work in the trenches with these stars and the rest of the peeps over at Santa Monica Studios, best of luck in the future to all of you!
If you want to see the rest of the nominees and winners click the link “BAFTA”
I was a little disappointed that we were not up for Best Gameplay being a gameplay designer but I guess there is only so much room for the God of War, maybe next time… shrug. Wii Tennis is the business according to my girlfriend and her damn super serve, the Brits agreed!
October 5, 2007
October 4, 2007
Flash Game of the Month: September
The flash game of the month is the latest in the Grow Series entitled Grow Island!
I hesitate to call this a game because it does not seem to have any real logic.Perhaps I am missing something here and there is a way to look at the elements of the system and logically deduce the order but in all honesty I believe that to be false. The game should be called "Blind Decision Tree". So why play, I mean interact with this thing at all? Well think of it as a visual reward based on trial and error, maybe you are one of those "I need to know what happens" types, or better yet it might just be a time waster... shrug. At any rate I love these little “experiences” they remind me that the journey is sometimes more important than the destination. Ok I did just say that straight faced but I had to justify my time spent on this somehow, right?
The positives are pretty simple here; the animations are terrific, clever and at times funny. The wonder of how all the elements in the system relate and react to each other have you saying “just one more try”. It is a one-button design accessible to all users which seems to be a trend these days hence me bringing it up at all. The only negatives I can see are sometimes it takes a long time for all the level up reactions to take place thus dragging out the experience. Oh yeah, I did mention the game is based on trial and error so no bitching and moaning in the comments section. As if anyone other than Christer will comment.
spoiler alert: (there are 2 correct paths)
For more Grow Games check out this amazing Wikipedia – Grow Games page for links to the past entries in this series. My personal favorite is the RPG!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
I hesitate to call this a game because it does not seem to have any real logic.Perhaps I am missing something here and there is a way to look at the elements of the system and logically deduce the order but in all honesty I believe that to be false. The game should be called "Blind Decision Tree". So why play, I mean interact with this thing at all? Well think of it as a visual reward based on trial and error, maybe you are one of those "I need to know what happens" types, or better yet it might just be a time waster... shrug. At any rate I love these little “experiences” they remind me that the journey is sometimes more important than the destination. Ok I did just say that straight faced but I had to justify my time spent on this somehow, right?
The positives are pretty simple here; the animations are terrific, clever and at times funny. The wonder of how all the elements in the system relate and react to each other have you saying “just one more try”. It is a one-button design accessible to all users which seems to be a trend these days hence me bringing it up at all. The only negatives I can see are sometimes it takes a long time for all the level up reactions to take place thus dragging out the experience. Oh yeah, I did mention the game is based on trial and error so no bitching and moaning in the comments section. As if anyone other than Christer will comment.
spoiler alert: (there are 2 correct paths)
For more Grow Games check out this amazing Wikipedia – Grow Games page for links to the past entries in this series. My personal favorite is the RPG!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
September 5, 2007
Flash Game of the Month: August
The flash game of the month is Tactical Assassin: fun, Fun, FUN!
The first thing that stood out to me when playing this game is how good the presentation is overall. It feels like Metal Gear with the ambient sound and life like sniper rifle round discharge, hell I do not even know if that is the sound a sniper rifle makes for sure but it sounds incredible. The user interface and music also have a Metal Gear vibe, especially the music that is ripped directly from MGS, which I noticed in the credits later. The stolen presentation elements brings me to an important point about this game, by stealing those elements it probably allowed the creator to elevate the core game elements to another level… this is smart design, kudos for focusing efforts on the mission briefs and assassination scenarios and lifting the rest from games that got it right already.
I know I might be the only person out there that enjoyed word problems in math class or on silly standardized tests but I LOVE THE USE OF THEM IN THIS GAME! The mission briefs are so amazing because they explain to you slowly what you need to do while telling a bit of story and setting up the mood of the hit. The briefs get you thinking and out of that guns blazing mindset most players get into when they get a virtual gun in their hands. The creator penalizes this behavior even more be allowing the player to skip the brief and just shoot blindly which almost certainly results in failure. After failing the brief is read and read thoroughly ensuring that almost all players will have the same experience at some point. The brief has some other nice design touches such as multiple objectives so the player is again taken away from the single-track mindset, again very clever and maintains the theme of the game, good job! The change of location and weapon per chapter was a nice tough plus stick figure art is awesome too!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
The first thing that stood out to me when playing this game is how good the presentation is overall. It feels like Metal Gear with the ambient sound and life like sniper rifle round discharge, hell I do not even know if that is the sound a sniper rifle makes for sure but it sounds incredible. The user interface and music also have a Metal Gear vibe, especially the music that is ripped directly from MGS, which I noticed in the credits later. The stolen presentation elements brings me to an important point about this game, by stealing those elements it probably allowed the creator to elevate the core game elements to another level… this is smart design, kudos for focusing efforts on the mission briefs and assassination scenarios and lifting the rest from games that got it right already.
I know I might be the only person out there that enjoyed word problems in math class or on silly standardized tests but I LOVE THE USE OF THEM IN THIS GAME! The mission briefs are so amazing because they explain to you slowly what you need to do while telling a bit of story and setting up the mood of the hit. The briefs get you thinking and out of that guns blazing mindset most players get into when they get a virtual gun in their hands. The creator penalizes this behavior even more be allowing the player to skip the brief and just shoot blindly which almost certainly results in failure. After failing the brief is read and read thoroughly ensuring that almost all players will have the same experience at some point. The brief has some other nice design touches such as multiple objectives so the player is again taken away from the single-track mindset, again very clever and maintains the theme of the game, good job! The change of location and weapon per chapter was a nice tough plus stick figure art is awesome too!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
August 9, 2007
G-Phoria 2007 Results!!!
Ok, we lost and more importantly Kratos lost, infinitely even more importantly Sony lost and may have to kill another goat to satiate Kratos. Cliffy B and company over at Epic destroyed us; we did not win a single award, sad day. Perhaps we will come out of this much like Al Gore did when he lost to Bush, we can release games about mother earth and how she is not happy with what is happening to her, and then we will be Heroes unlike those warmongers that brought you Gears of War! In all seriousness though, congrats to Gears and the guys/gals that put that game together, hell congrats to all the winners and remember your youth!
In other political news, I was floored when I saw a video game designer on The Colbert Report tonight. Previously I've talked about this happening and it finally did, so one small step for Ian Bogost, one giant leap for the games industry! Are we in the wobbly stage between crawling and walking, if so will Conan and Leno catch us before we fall? Jaffe clean up your language because you and fruit cake lady might be sitting next to each other in the near future or one can dream a little dream.
Check out the interview below and watch carefully as Colbert nearly swoons when he gazes upon the power of the purple tie…
Also Mr. Bogost is quite the busy man on the “internets” and his work can be found here, here, and here.
In other political news, I was floored when I saw a video game designer on The Colbert Report tonight. Previously I've talked about this happening and it finally did, so one small step for Ian Bogost, one giant leap for the games industry! Are we in the wobbly stage between crawling and walking, if so will Conan and Leno catch us before we fall? Jaffe clean up your language because you and fruit cake lady might be sitting next to each other in the near future or one can dream a little dream.
Check out the interview below and watch carefully as Colbert nearly swoons when he gazes upon the power of the purple tie…
Also Mr. Bogost is quite the busy man on the “internets” and his work can be found here, here, and here.
July 31, 2007
Flash Game of the Month: July
The game of the month comes to us courtesy of a Casual Game Design Competition. The winner was Wouter Visser's Gimme Friction Baby!
The circles obey a specific growth factor which is quite ingenious and kept me playing for much longer than I should have. The game has a certain minimalist charm with its monochrome color scheme and blocky numerics. The music was very fitting and added to the overall feeling of the game's "thinking gameplay". At first the time it takes for a shot fired to stop was annoying but after time I actually enjoyed watching its movements until completion but for most I bet it will bore them to the point of quitting.
A great example of a game that is roughly built around Newton's Laws of Motion or you can think of it as a crazy cross between breakout and billiards... either way remember to watch the circle grow because how they grow is almost the entire game.
My best was 19!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
The circles obey a specific growth factor which is quite ingenious and kept me playing for much longer than I should have. The game has a certain minimalist charm with its monochrome color scheme and blocky numerics. The music was very fitting and added to the overall feeling of the game's "thinking gameplay". At first the time it takes for a shot fired to stop was annoying but after time I actually enjoyed watching its movements until completion but for most I bet it will bore them to the point of quitting.
A great example of a game that is roughly built around Newton's Laws of Motion or you can think of it as a crazy cross between breakout and billiards... either way remember to watch the circle grow because how they grow is almost the entire game.
My best was 19!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
July 16, 2007
G-Phoria 2007 Voting!!!
Ok here is the deal, God of War 2 is up for 4 Awards this year so cast some votes for Kratos and the crew that brought him home to you, please and thank you!
The voting links are here...
Game of the Year
Best Action Game
Best Voiceover
Best Soundtrack
Seriously go vote because last time we were there Johnny Hawkins was swimming in ladies and since he broke his leg during the making of God of War 2 it's the least the fans can do... I mean look at the smile on this kid's face. Cliffy B never came into work to with a broken leg to finish building and scripting levels so vote now and get Johnny Hawkins snuggling with porn stars again, you know it's the Right Thing To Do!
The voting links are here...
Game of the Year
Best Action Game
Best Voiceover
Best Soundtrack
Seriously go vote because last time we were there Johnny Hawkins was swimming in ladies and since he broke his leg during the making of God of War 2 it's the least the fans can do... I mean look at the smile on this kid's face. Cliffy B never came into work to with a broken leg to finish building and scripting levels so vote now and get Johnny Hawkins snuggling with porn stars again, you know it's the Right Thing To Do!
July 12, 2007
A Link to my childhood...
I loved the part in A Link to the Past when you have to blow a hole in the ceiling to let the light shine down so you could unveil the fake princess, Classic Zelda moment!
It's nice to know even the mighty creators of Zelda admit making video games is not easy, very comforting when feeling a little lost after finishing an epic game...
June 25, 2007
Coins Detected in Pocket
The film just took me back to a time where I was asking for some quarters everywhere I went, it did not matter if it was Zayer’s, Gold Circle, or Dairy Mart because any establishment of any salt had some kind of video game. I mean those were the days and I was only like 6 or 7 during the bulk of the time explored in the film but I remembered it all. But while I was just teething in gaming years these guys were out destroying games, setting insane high scores, getting t-shirts made, and having groupies, YES GROUPIES as evident by the hickey on Billy Mitchell’s neck, which lead to him to become “Video Game Player of the Century”. They even had contracts that addressed groupies, true rock stars of the moment. However like all good things it came to an end which one player said began with the ability to continue games by simply putting another quarter in the machine, that just shows how HARDCORE these guys were… they did not blame home gaming consoles they blame the ability to continue your game.
As for the film as a whole, I think it was pretty good as a whole but at times it made me feel like the line of showing people lives and making fun of them was crossed, in the films defense these guys are all a bit eccentric so it was inevitable. I think one of the best parts in the movie was a small reflections montage of the players watching video tape of themselves back in the early 1980’s and seeing there reactions, this was pure genius! It was pretty amazing that the film idea stemmed from one picture taken of all the players that Life Magazine ran, which was a major thread throughout the entire film. Again it was this little bit of history that could have been forgotten but instead triggered an entire movie that in the words of Walter Day himself “Might be the first real historical film about the video games”… It was a nostalgic night filled with great conversations before and after the movie with my gaming friends that I have known, made games with, and played games with for the last decade or even longer… so if the film gets anymore dates check it out!!!
It’s a shame this little gem never had a full release since it speaks to more of my arcade generation and a bunch of my friends are in the film or made the film. Perhaps in the wake of Chasing Ghosts and the upcoming The King of Kong enough interest will merit the release of Bang the Machine. Until then here is a little slice of that film for you to get behind and maybe it can finally find a home so we can all enjoy it!
May 22, 2007
Honda - When things just work...
I love this not only because it is a Rube Goldberg Machine but also is a great metaphor for game development sometimes. When you have this idea that is made of a million unknowns and then some how you string it altogether to create a boss battle or puzzle setup, the feeling is pretty much like the what you see in this ad. The part the player never gets to see is the failed attempt after failed attempt at trying to get these complex gameplay sequences working. Anyhow I found this neat and relative to what we do on so many levels I just had to put the video up… well ok I was testing to see how to put a video up but this was sort of relevant?!?
The story behind this ad is awesome so give it a read because it really brings home the trial and error experience of working on a game production. It sounds like they had a lot of “Show Stopper” bugs during the development of this commercial… I hate when a producer walks over to my desk with one of those bugs, HATE IT!
May 16, 2007
God of War on a Train!
So while I was on my vacation in Spain we were riding this train from one city to the next and this guy was reading a gaming magazine… Just as he opens past the inside over there is Kratos, I cannot seem to get away from him. It’s been three long years of working on Kratos day in and day out trying to get him feeling right and playing solid so seeing him on a train in a foreign country was sort of my personal reward for all the long hours. My deepest thanks go out to David Jaffe and Cory Barlog for trusting me to not fuck up the main character in their masterpieces!
The Flash Game of the Week was really fun but I have decided to only do once a month so that I do not become lazy and only update the blog with flash games every week. Here is the last one until June at which point I will begin the once a month Flash Game Update… Sorry this one is a little tough to figure out since it is in Japanese but I had fun with it all the same. If this game had more levels and a gentler learning curve I might play it for hours. Go play PLUPON now!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
The Flash Game of the Week was really fun but I have decided to only do once a month so that I do not become lazy and only update the blog with flash games every week. Here is the last one until June at which point I will begin the once a month Flash Game Update… Sorry this one is a little tough to figure out since it is in Japanese but I had fun with it all the same. If this game had more levels and a gentler learning curve I might play it for hours. Go play PLUPON now!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
April 30, 2007
Flash Game of the Week: 04/30/07
The game this week is The Last Stand! It’s a zombie survival game which is one of my favorite genres for both films and games. The game pits you (a lone survivor?) against the ensuing mob of undead; the only thing separating you from them is a shabby barrier and your trusty handgun with unlimited ammo. Are you lucky enough to make it through the night?
The game is fairly simple because all you can do is move around inside your barrier and shoot the zombies before they destroy your barrier and eat your brains shortly after. The Zombies come in the form of average zombies, fat zombies, running zombies, and dog zombie. The gun mechanics are pretty straight forward and create a spinning plate scenario where you are firing, moving to a new location under attack, and reloading the weapon. Once you make it through the night you get points to spend on one of three categories to prepare for the looming night: repair the barrier, search for weapons, and search for survivors. The weapon selection is pretty cool and changes the gameplay up and the survivors are great because they add to the overall defense of the barrier. Once all the weapons have been discovered it is just a race to see how long you can last without becoming a mindless zombie yourself from the repetitiveness…
Oh this game is a memory hog or at least it was for me, slowdown was creeping up around day 6 from all the zombies and bullets on screen. For the record my machine is really old so that was prolly the cause as a friend had no issues at all... so if you have an old machine beware!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
p.s. The blog is going on vacation for two weeks while I run around Spain with my girlfriend!
The game is fairly simple because all you can do is move around inside your barrier and shoot the zombies before they destroy your barrier and eat your brains shortly after. The Zombies come in the form of average zombies, fat zombies, running zombies, and dog zombie. The gun mechanics are pretty straight forward and create a spinning plate scenario where you are firing, moving to a new location under attack, and reloading the weapon. Once you make it through the night you get points to spend on one of three categories to prepare for the looming night: repair the barrier, search for weapons, and search for survivors. The weapon selection is pretty cool and changes the gameplay up and the survivors are great because they add to the overall defense of the barrier. Once all the weapons have been discovered it is just a race to see how long you can last without becoming a mindless zombie yourself from the repetitiveness…
Oh this game is a memory hog or at least it was for me, slowdown was creeping up around day 6 from all the zombies and bullets on screen. For the record my machine is really old so that was prolly the cause as a friend had no issues at all... so if you have an old machine beware!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
p.s. The blog is going on vacation for two weeks while I run around Spain with my girlfriend!
April 22, 2007
Flash Game of the Week: 04/23/07
The game this week is The Fancy Pants Adventures! It is a platformer with an awesome stick figure art style and speedy gameplay making it feel like a cross between Comic Zone and Sonic The Hedgehog. Mr. Fancy Pants can run, jump, and roll his way to some unknown goal in hopes of finding a new level to further test his platforming skills. The animation is top notch and the music really brought the whole thing together, this is a must for any old school gamer!
Like I said this is a platformer in the truest sense of the genre because all you do is run and jump through the level. What is great about the game is that the physics of the character are very fun; he gains momentum when running altering the jump, which can then be combined with hills and ramps to create super fun launching pads. The run also allows him to run along curved paths for that Sonic loop-de-loop feeling which can then be turned into a roll by pressing the down arrow key. Mr. Fancy Pants wields the holy grail platformer mechanic... the controllable jump! Both the horizontal and vertical control feel natural which is a huge accomplishment, other than the frame delay on jump activation and moments of slowdown the jump was spot on. The sense of scale to the levels was awesome and made me want to explore all around which actually landed me into a secret level where I got the Wall Jump ability. After that I was hooked and cannot wait for more levels to play.
Speaking of more levels, Level 2 Demo is available now! The game overall feels much smoother and responsive. It also includes some other adjustments to Mr. Fancy Pant’s abilities such as a Slide, Ledge Hang, Wall Jump, Hand over Hand Rope Climb, and a CANNON! Give it a shot and lets hope someone snatches this thing up and puts it out on Playstation Network with a level editor!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
p.s. Thanks to Omar for sending this my way!
Like I said this is a platformer in the truest sense of the genre because all you do is run and jump through the level. What is great about the game is that the physics of the character are very fun; he gains momentum when running altering the jump, which can then be combined with hills and ramps to create super fun launching pads. The run also allows him to run along curved paths for that Sonic loop-de-loop feeling which can then be turned into a roll by pressing the down arrow key. Mr. Fancy Pants wields the holy grail platformer mechanic... the controllable jump! Both the horizontal and vertical control feel natural which is a huge accomplishment, other than the frame delay on jump activation and moments of slowdown the jump was spot on. The sense of scale to the levels was awesome and made me want to explore all around which actually landed me into a secret level where I got the Wall Jump ability. After that I was hooked and cannot wait for more levels to play.
Speaking of more levels, Level 2 Demo is available now! The game overall feels much smoother and responsive. It also includes some other adjustments to Mr. Fancy Pant’s abilities such as a Slide, Ledge Hang, Wall Jump, Hand over Hand Rope Climb, and a CANNON! Give it a shot and lets hope someone snatches this thing up and puts it out on Playstation Network with a level editor!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
p.s. Thanks to Omar for sending this my way!
April 16, 2007
Flash Game of the Week: 04/16/07
Sometimes to a fault I am a creature of habit so I am starting a new habit, called Flash Game of the Week! From now on, Monday is going to start with me posting a link to my current favorite flash game. I hope you get as much fun out of them as I have!
The game this week is Indestructotank! It has juggling, explosions, and a combo counter people and that is all that really needs to be said but on top of that it has an EXP system to increase the probability of juggling. Basically you pilot this tank that is indestructible and crash into the enemy armaments to launch the tank into the air to smash into the enemies.
The design of the game hinges on the player’s ability to keep the tank floating in the air racking up as many enemy kills from one initial launch. The more combo hits and distance covered the more EXP gained. The EXP is then used to purchase a greater frequency in certain types of enemies; I think you are starting to see the vicious circle here! Like any addictive game there is a greed factor, the tank has a fuel gauge and when it runs out the tank explodes immediately. The trick is not to get so greedy that you keep a combo going on too long before banking the EXP, which only happens when the tank hits the ground. I was pissed the first time I had a 20+ combo and the tank blew up before I could land to hit the EXP plateau and refuel.
Personal Best:
Max Combo = 26
Max Combo Score = 1494
Max Height = 164
Max Experience = 1770
Good Luck and Have Fun!
The game this week is Indestructotank! It has juggling, explosions, and a combo counter people and that is all that really needs to be said but on top of that it has an EXP system to increase the probability of juggling. Basically you pilot this tank that is indestructible and crash into the enemy armaments to launch the tank into the air to smash into the enemies.
The design of the game hinges on the player’s ability to keep the tank floating in the air racking up as many enemy kills from one initial launch. The more combo hits and distance covered the more EXP gained. The EXP is then used to purchase a greater frequency in certain types of enemies; I think you are starting to see the vicious circle here! Like any addictive game there is a greed factor, the tank has a fuel gauge and when it runs out the tank explodes immediately. The trick is not to get so greedy that you keep a combo going on too long before banking the EXP, which only happens when the tank hits the ground. I was pissed the first time I had a 20+ combo and the tank blew up before I could land to hit the EXP plateau and refuel.
Personal Best:
Max Combo = 26
Max Combo Score = 1494
Max Height = 164
Max Experience = 1770
Good Luck and Have Fun!
April 5, 2007
HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPEDALIAN
The game sends Lex, a wisecracking bookworm, off on an adventure to save whom else but the princess. The princess is whisked away through the pages of three books, which are filled with mythological beasts, pirates, and monsters all standing between Lex and the princess. Each level is broken into a few fights with a climactic boss fight yielding a hidden treasure Lex can then use to boost his abilities. The hidden treasures range from damage upgrades to status boosts; one of my favorites was the Bow of XYZ that added extra damage to any word using one of those letters. In between levels there are mini-games, which can yield items and special tiles to aid Lex in his quest for the princess, which serve as a nice distraction.
The spelling gameplay is centered on a 4x4 grid of tiles, each containing a letter and colored dot. The colored dots serve determine the strength of the tile; there are bronze, silver, and gold dots and the strength increases in the same order. Length of word increases the amount of damage dealt per word spelled so when coupled with the dot system it creates a simple relationship for dealing damage. Sounds easy enough right, well now come the RPG elements; the creatures can cast spells and use special moves to change the status of with the tiles and Lex himself. Most of the status changes are variations on damage over time, wait X turn, and lose a turn. Now to be fair the designers also included almost all of the same abilities for Lex to use against his foes by allowing his tiles to care special properties. All of these systems work together to make the player create strategies for spelling based on the potential of their own tiles and the abilities of the creature. It may sound like a lot to take in but the game is paced to introduce these systems in such a way that once you think you have the hang of one element a new one comes into play and the learning starts all over again. Without this the game would have gotten quite stale and boring within the first 15 minutes, so kudos to the designers for keeping it fresh!
Now I am going to ramble a bit about all the little touches that made this game so endearing. First the dialogue is pretty funny Lex and the creatures all have personality and make you want to actually read the text bubbles. The sound effects, character models, and animations further the personality of the creatures to something rarely found in games these days. Mouse clicking on Lex himself makes him perform funny little animations that feel like taunts, silly and fun for no reason at all. Oh yeah Lex can level up as well with the traditional EXP gained from each creature he defeats yet another nice nod to RPG genre. If you actually die all of the mini-game re-spawn to help you build up potions and special tiles for the next fight, the system can be abused by just dying time and time again to buff up for the later fights. I am glad this is in there for the people that might be great a spelling but suck at the strategy aspect. Overall I loved this game even though I suck at spelling. Give it a shot if you have time… demo found at Pop Cap!
p.s. Here is a much more colorful and well written review!
March 19, 2007
Back to School
The one thing that is certain is that the best cure for a block in creativity is to become bored and honestly for me this is totally true! I have had more ideas for random things that I would like to either make or get involved in during my break than anytime in recent memory. Also not having to be anywhere lets me indulge in my favorite creative activity which I have dubbed "The Archimedes Shower". I know this may sound a littel weird but I do a lot of thinking in the shower and usually come up with many of the ideas for God of War gameplay mechanics while I am showering. I cannot count the number of times I would go home during crunch on God of War 2 baffled by some logic issue with a boss fight or broken system within Kratos himself not knowing how I was going to fix it but in the morning after a little bit of sleep it would always dawn on me during my shower how I might go about fixing these problems. I hope by coming "clean" about my secret muse I do not jinx it!
One of my favorite things to do during my vacation was to go back through all the old designs I have worked on and see if there were any seeds that could be nurtured for future projects. I kind of forgot how many games I worked on that were cancelled during my first few years as a designer. If you scroll down you can see the games, which I have been credited on during my 7 years in the business. So I have shipped 6 games in 7 years which is a super good ratio if you ask anyone in the industry but check this out I have also work on 3 games which were in development for at least 3 months and another 3 games which never made it past the proof of concept phase. Looking back at those numbers after completing a monster game like God of War 2, I wonder how many games I will actually ship before I turn 35… my guess is two if I am lucky with the scope and scale that next generation is demanding.
At first I was really bummed out by this realization, but then I thought about it: no matter what game I was working on I always worked just as hard no matter if it was good or not. So what keeps us coming back for more, is it money, fame, love for the craft, a sense of completion or some ill proportioned mix of those things? For me it’s the thought of not doing it that brings me back. I know I could do something else that pays more with normal hours I would be bored out of my mind and miss it more than words.
So I am going to walk into work tomorrow like a bright-eyed freshman on his first day of high school, we’ll see if I get to take the girl of my dreams to the senior prom! Sucks to know I will be shoved into a locker many times before the prom.
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