Special Effects
I'm pretty much all about the gameplay, but I can't deny that it's all that matters in a game. There are many more aspects of a game that needs to be done right for a great gaming experience. Graphics, Audio, etc.
After all, what a game is, isn't a box of gameplay, but an experience to be had.
I played the Bayonetta demo yesterday. I had absolutely no expecations for it, but I must admit that I loved it. It's over the top in every way, estetic, extreme effects, blood, gore, extreme violence and japanese soft porn, all at once!
When I was checking up on the game earlier today online, I found a really interesting blog post from their effect designer; Kudo.
He makes a really good point on how important effects are for a game.
Bayonetta’s weapons, the impact of the hits, the enemy attacks, the smoke flowing out in the background, etc… When you have effects on, I think you can see that things seem more exhilarating, enemy attacks are easier to understand, and the atmosphere is played up more, amongst other things.
- Kudo, PlatinumGames
He also presents two videos with basically the same content, expect that one is with effects and one is without.
I'll embedd them here. The first one is without effects, the second one is with the effects included.
One cannot look at both videos and deny that there's more to a game than just gameplay. In fact, in the case with Bayonetta, I'd say the effect design is a huge part of the game. More so than in many other games.
If you want to read the original post, head over here:
http://blogs.ign.com/SEGA_Bayonetta/2009/12/15/134195/ (20/12/2009)
Heck, before playing the game I wasn't a fan of the character (visual) design at all, but after playing it, I even like that. It all fits together and the way she's extreme in everyway is just right. It all adds up to a gaming experience!
Girls are scary.
Bob Comes In Pieces
Today is a good day for Ludosity Interactive (http://ludosity.com/, 10/12/2009). Ludosity is a game company founded by a bunch of my friends back from the University and they've made some small games. Both "gaming games" and "serious games".
For a long time I've been visiting them about once every two weeks to check up on them and see how far along their awesome game "Bob Came In Pieces" was. It's been a joy to see it develop and it's been great fun to be able to give some feedback along the way.
http://ludosity.com/games/bob/
They've just released a trailer and the response has been great and they're popping up all over the Internet! Not bad for a little indie game.
International Media:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-bob-came-in/59801
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/12/10/ship-building-bob-came-in-pieces/
http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2009/12/preview_bob_came_in_pieces_lud.html
Swedish Media:
http://www.fz.se/nyhetsarkiv/?id=35835
http://spel.feber.se/art/170315/trailer_fr_bob_came_in_pieces/
(All URL worked 10/12/2009)
It's a physics based puzzle game and I really enjoy playing it! You should definately have a go at it when you get the chance.
And btw, it's made using Unity3D which I've been writing about every now and then.
So here's a shout out for my friends over at Ludosity Interactive! Fun game and good luck!
We need a Spotify of games
If you haven't heard about Spotify already, it's a client in which you stream music from a huuuuuuuuuge library and it's available for a bunch of platforms, including Windows and iPhone. The biggest change for me after starting to use Spotify way back when, isn't that I seldom downl...erm... buy music nowadays. It is that I'm listening to stuff I never would have if it wasn't for the easy access to share playlists and link to songs.
http://www.spotify.com/en/ (1/12/2009)
With simple drag 'n drop actions from the Spotify Client to the Instant Messaging Client of your choice, you can send links to songs, albums, artists and playlists.
When I find something good I often send it to some friends, after which they click the link and starts listening within seconds. People around me do this all the time as well, They post it via IM, Twitter and Facebook.
Nowadays I'm a fan of over 30 bands I'd never heard about before. The reason I listened to them the first time around was because it was so incredibly accessible!
We need something like this for games!
A way to share gaming experiences within seconds with friends and other people! No download required and it'll "just work". It doesn't have to be complete games. Let's say I have the complete Modern Warfare 2 and want to make a friend test it, then I'd just send him the link and if he doesn't already own it, a demo will start.
Please, give me Google Games.
It's somewhat possible with flash games at Flash portals like Newgrounds and Kongregate and that's great. But that's only for Flash games, I'm talking about "real" games (I hate myself for using that term right now).
Maybe GaiKai and OnLive is getting there. At least a bit. I hope so.
There are so many games I just want to try, but even more so, I want to play the games I don't know about or just won't go through the hassle to try them out.
How fast do you lose your worth?
As in any business you gotta keep working to stay attractive in the game development industry. It doesn't matter if you did what was considered awesome graphics back in '95, if you can't work with today's tools and standards, just like you have to show your passion for what you do.
About a year ago Avalanche Studios had a massive layoff and earlier this year GRIN shut down, together resulting in hundreds of people in little Sweden to be without a job in the biz.
People get laid off and there's nothing strange with that. There are other companies out there that gladly would employ you instead as long as their budget allows it.
But here's the thing that's bothering. Not everyone looked for a new job.
If you look for a job but have the bad luck of not getting any, that's fine. But a lot of people aren't searching and I just can't wrap my head around it. Especially if you're still new to the biz like me (1.5 years of working and 3 years of game development studies). Unless you have a really good reason for not being able to relocate, that is. Or some other extremely good excuse (which people don't have).
"I'm gonna wait until the financial crisis is over."
"I don't feel like moving right now."
"I'll just wait 'till the gaming industry has stabilized."
Fuck that!
Every day people aren't trying, they lose their worth and become less attractive for companies to hire. The people that aren't looking for a new related job nor does any spare time projects or something similar, how long does it take before they're back to zero? Once again, especially newcomers.
If you're a veteran and well known amongst the companies you might be worth that break a year or two. Nobody will care or blame you for it. Go right ahead. If you're not, you'd damn better keep trying!
I guess, the "bigger" you are, the slower you lose you worth, but I'm wondering, how long does it take?
If me, a junior developer, where to just stop with all my projects and just say; "I'll get back to it later.", I wonder how long it would take before I'd be back to where I was when I'd just finished the University in the eyes of the employing companies.
My intention is not to step on any toes now, and I'm sorry if I do. But as mentioned, I just can't wrap my head around why some people aren't even trying. Didn't we all get into the industry because of our love and passion for what we do?
Well, aren’t we touchy?
The following is a re-post of my post from About Game Design, posted November 1st:
http://aboutgamedesign.com/2009/11/01/well-arent-we-touchy/ (11/11/09)
---------------------------------------------------
I realize there will be a ton of people disagreeing with me here, but I think people overall are way too touchy when it comes to politics, religion and violence in games.
And I don't think video game makers should have to be more careful than movie makers. If it's okay to have in a movie, it's okay to have it become gameplay.
There IS a big difference between movies and games. Movies are passive, all you do is receiving while games are active and you're performing actions within a magic circle.
However, they're both crafts and products created most often as entertainment creating fiction.
Of course, everyone has to be considerate of our cultural rules and the law, even if they differ around the world. But aside from that, I think it IS okay to have a game where you take the role of a sadist out to torture civilians. It might not be for everyone, and it shouldn't be sold to just anyone, but I don't think the developers would be doing anything wrong by creating that game.
Developers should also be able to express strong religious opinions in games, but if the game isn't of that particular culture's favorite flavor, it would never see the light of day. I'm not saying I'm a big fan of Jihad or whatever, but I wouldn't be upset if there was a game about it in the shelf of the retailer.
As I experience it, it seems movies can get away with more stuff than games. Maybe because it's been around longer or maybe because it's often executed with more skill than games.
I'm not saying I find a lot of pro-Jihad movies on the shelves here either.
Right now there are articles online about how horrible it is that you can kill civilians while trying to infiltrate a terrorist group in Modern Warfare 2. The journalist describe this act as very brutal and awful.
But tell me, why is it more brutal to kill a civilian than a soldier?
Not the mentioned scene.
Anyway, there would be absolutely no problem with having that scenario in a movie. It could even be called a strong and effective scene. Why should game developers have other social responsibilities?
There's a poll on Aftonbladet.se, a large Swedish news paper where the question is:
- Should video games be able show terrorist deeds against civilians?
66.4% out of 22557 people voted "Yes, of course". Another 12.9% said "Yes, if there's a good reason" while the rest said no.
I'm glad about 80% said Yes and I hope the attitude will spread.
I think game designers have the same social responsibilities as any other person and no stricter "rules" due to the media of gaming. And I think it's about time people loosened up!
Ego Boost
In the last few months I don't know how many discussions I've had with people feeling really nervous when they're about to go to a work interview, or just prepare for a phone interview.
This is no way restricted and limited to the game development industry, those are just the jobs people in my social network applies for.
Anyway, the night before an interview people (me included) feel really, really nervous and tries to figure out, prepare and account of every situation but in a way, it's a great night.
Because really, what you do before an interview is try and think of and remember everything good about yourself. It's a great feeling when all that circles in your mind are awesome things about yourself. You (hopefully) start to think, I'm actually good at some stuff.
It's therapy really.
Everyone should do that every now and then. Dedicate some time for just thinking about how awesome you are.
Unity3D is now free!
These are the best news ever for indies!
The really AWESOME game engine Unity3D, previously priced at (very) reasonable $200 for an Indie-licence is now FREE!
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25840 (28/10/2009)
The project I've been posting about, "Iskall" is using Unity. I've been using Unity for some of my own projects. I personally recommend it.
I really think they're right with the following statement:
For the pros, the difference between a $2000 fee and a $0 fee is almost nothing, except that individual developers can just try it out for free and fall in love with it. We think it's really exciting. The [Unite] conference is already underway, and we already had a couple hundred people do classroom sessions.
- Unity People
Now, go get it at: http://unity3d.com/ (28/10/2009)
Knowingly limit the amount of consumers
Is it allright to make a whole lot less players able to play a game if it means you can make a little bit better?
In the end, I suppose it comes down to commercial thinking where the dollar signs are what matters. But I don't want to discuss that part all too much, instead I want to focus on the developers "feelings".
For example, I have an idea for a great (of course) strategy game that would be absolutely fantastic using the Project Natal for the 360. However, it could also be adapted to be played using a "normal" controller, but it wouldn't be at the same amazing greatness level, but in return every 360 and PS3-owner could play it. The people who are getting Project Natal will probably be very limited.
Now, I don't have any way to develop games for Natal. Nor do I have a way of doing 360/PS3-games on a personal level, so it's all a hypothetical problem. But I'm not sure what I'd prefer doing.
Of course, I want to make the best games possible! But at the same time, I want as many people as possible to play them. It's like making a painting. Is there any point in doing the best painting of your entire life if nobody will ever see it?
From a selling stand point, I suppose there should go alot of research into this. Maybe more people would buy it even if it's for the Natal because:
- It's a better game.
- It doesn't have as much competition amonst the Natal games.
- New Natal owners will want to buy Natal games.
Either way, the bussiness side of it is boring.
I guess it differs from person to person and it would be fun to know which one people overall prefer doing. I for one, I'm not 100% sure, but I think I'd prefer making the Natal-version and actually make the better game.
What would you chose? An excellent product or an almost as great product but which is used by many more people?
A greater Natal game or a game played by the masses?
Where does the money go?
I friend asked me a question and my brain just froze, because I have no idea what the right answer is. (That never happens to me!)
- Now what GRIN has shut down, where does GRIN's money from sold Bionic Commando, Wanted and Terminator: Salvation go?
I have no idea! Now, the foot soldiers at GRIN never got to know much about the bussiness aspects of GRIN, but I assume that GRIN got some royalties from each sold copy of their games. But now when GRIN is gone, where does that money go? I suppose that the most likely answer is that the publishers just keep it for themself.
Does anyone know how things like these work?
How it all started for Tim Schafer
Tim Schafer, the guy behind Grim Fandango and one of the key persons for Monkey Island. He's written a funny post about how he got into the industry 20 years ago.
I really recommend it: http://www.doublefine.com/site/comments/twenty_years_only_a_few_tears/ (8/10/2009)
What amazes me the most is that he actually got rejection mail on paper! Paper, that's high quality stuff! All we get nowadays are e-mails.
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