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Archive for August, 2007
31 August, 2007 | No comments
Jay Is Games: Link Dump Friday
I have this lamp in my room with a lampshade from which I hang all sorts of stuff. The top and bottom of this lamp is littered with clothespins to hold things in place. Yes, it's all a huge fire hazard waiting to happen, and a lot of random, all in one place; but it also reminds me of LINK DUMP FRIDAY!!!31 August, 2007 | No comments
Game Producer: 1000 People Have Got the Free Game Production Ebook
Today the number of newsletter subscribers passed 1000. I don’t know how many of the subscribers actually read the ebook, but hopefully it has been helpful to some of you.
If you haven’t already got the free ebook, then simply and you’ll get information on how to get the ebook via email. I send newsletters “now and then”, and they contain some special information that’s not available elsewhere. You also get informed when new sales stats (and other juicy stuff) is available at the gameproducer.net website.
You can unsubscribe by clicking a link on any email you get from me. Your privacy is guaranteed: as much as you. I won’t share your details with anyone - period.
If you liked this entry, feel free to to read more similar articles.31 August, 2007 | No comments
GameZebo: Safecracker Review
Duncan W. Adams is an eccentric millionaire petrol tycoon with a collection of combination safes and arcane locking devices. After he disappears and is presumed dead, his relatives hire you, an accomplished safecracker and locksmith, to search through Adams' mansion for his will to see who he has left his fortune to. But it won't be easy - Adams has left an elaborate series of puzzles to make whoever wants his will to work for it. That's the premise behind Safecracker.
31 August, 2007 | No comments
GameZebo: Friday Casual Games Weekly News Roundup
Today's the day we bring you casual game news from around the Web. Many of this week's articles revolved around the results of a recent survey by PopCap saying that casual games bring families together. Awww.
31 August, 2007 | No comments
Free Game News: Flash Back: Kawa
Kawa is an… odd game created by of China. “It might be an exit, it might be a trap, it might be just a dream…”
Kawa is fun and entertaining, but it also might drive you crazy!
Oh, and there is at least one scene that that might not really be suitable for a young audience: you’ve been forewarned!
Update: Kawa walkthrough in comment #13 (thanks Ben!)
31 August, 2007 | No comments
Magic Stones Postmortem
Last year was contacted by a person from idevgames to write a postmortem about my game Magic Stones. Since over 1 year has passed already and he didn’t post anything in , I thought to post the postmortem in my blog, so at least I didn’t waste my time writing it and maybe someone could find it interesting, who knows.
Here it goes - enjoy it!
Overview
I always liked the idea of making a fantasy-card game, so I started to outline the basic idea on a piece of paper. Yes planning was essential in this kind of game, I knew it from the start (and luckily I did it).
I decided to base everything on celtic mythology, so I first started to do some research both in local library and also on the net. Found the celtic runes and thought to assign to each one of them a spell or a summoned avatar in the game. I divided the runes into 4 elements (the classic air, water, fire and earth) even if their original meaning is a bit different (but hey is just a game!).
So after sketching out the general features, statistics, skills, creatures, background story, etc of the game, I put all those numbers together in a spreadsheet page.
Then had to solve a big problem, to make the graphic of such a game, and found in Poser a very good solution. Bought several ready-made 3d models, and after several weeks spent on various renderings, I had the basic 48 avatars ready (20 avatars for the 4 elements plus many neutral/evil ones).
I added a roleplaying element to the game, so that in addition to your “deck of card” you had also an in-game alter-ego, with an inventory of items that could affect your power and a set of basic skills that would influence the game in general.
Tools used
I used xCode and a very simple but really powerful 2d programming API called PTK (website ) that I had already used in all my previous games with great success.
As I already said, for graphics I used mostly Poser 5/6 for the monsters, characters, etc and photoshop to design the interface of the game.
For the music I just bought royalty-free music from one of the many online stores.
What went right
The game had since its launch a good group of loyal followers. This maybe also because I decided, shortly after I released version 1.0, to add “bonus pack” or “expansion packs” with new game features and new avatars/quests, completely free for registered users. This was both a hard move (once I had announced it, I couldn’t change my mind) but also a winning one because it helped greatly to improve customers loyalty and is keeping my game always “on the news” thanks to those frequent updates (about every 2-3 months usually).
What went wrong
Despite I had planned everything, as always happens in this sort of games, you’ll need to TEST TEST and TEST. When you make a simple match3 game, is hard to have bugs after hours of playing (because game mechanic is always the same). With this kind of game instead, I had many bugs in the initial version 1.0 because I didn’t took the time to test it properly since was too eager to release it (a mistake I will never repeat in any future games!).
Conclusion
I can say that it was both a very rewarding experience (got so many enthusiast email feedbacks!) but also very stressing. The day after release was working 10hours a day to fix all the bug and I had also a tight deadline to deliver the first expansion “The Bone Lord” in time for Christmas 2005. Keeping the game updated also is not so simple, since need to add more content like new art/sounds, and new gameplay elements. But overall I like this kind of games so in this case the passion plays an important role.
31 August, 2007 | No comments
GameDevBlog: TDD: etc
"I'm curious by what metric you consider your code to be "worse" than before TDD," asks. (Cool new logo, btw!)
I said the quality was worse but that was actually a horrible word-choice. I'll go back and fix that post right now, and nobody will ever know. What I meant was that my architecture, design, and style are worse.
I expose things I wouldn't ordinarily expose so they can be visible to the test suites. This could be seen as a problem with C# - there is no 'friend' function, and it's nontrivial to control access to a unit test suite. On the other hand, with C#, I've been using public a lot more often than I would with C++, because C# supports properties - if I decide that thing I made public shouldn't be exposed, I can turn it into a property that wraps the thing I want to hide.
On the other extreme, TDD is making me wrap and/or abstract things I wouldn't ordinarily wrap and abstract! Noel would say this is a good thing, because now I'm getting away from my blob-style code. But I'm a big 'speculative generality is bad', 'premature abstraction is bad' guy, and putting in these abstractions before I actually need them, in my mind, just adds these annoying levels of indirection to the code.
At some point those wrappers will be useful, when we port to other platforms, but I'd rather wait until I'm actually doing the port, and then refactor.
And I guess this is something Noel and I disagree on. For me, TDD is all about:
- Stopping bugs early when they're cheapest to fix. Code quality, here, for me, means fewer bugs.
- The euphoria that comes from writing code that does exactly what it's supposed to. (Chuck Tolman, at Treyarch, writes code so solid that once he's finished it, he usually doesn't ever have to come back to it again, unless somebody wants a new feature. I called it "Chuckian code". The ability to do this just comes to him naturally. I need the test suite.)
- Putting scaffolds in that run quickly so I can iterate on the function I'm working on rapidly.
- Improved understanding of the code in general.
- Having the courage to make fairly scary changes even when deliverables are due.
Bobo wants to know what XNA stuff we mock or fake:
We have a very light wrapper around some of GraphicsDevice. We wrap SoundDevice. We wrap the controller, and I'd do that even if we weren't using TDD, because the XNAGS controller class doesn't quite behave the way I'd like. We wrap the certification and network library. Most of this is "faking" rather than "mocking", and it's there to prevent the XNAGS stuff from doing, well, any XNAGS stuff in our test suite. We want to test our code, and so we just want XNAGS to not be there at that time.
Arne mentions how problematic it is to get network games under a test suite. I haven't done it either, but I do know a guy who works on an online game, and he's the test engineer for the network code. So he has a master server that runs test scripts on the dev kits to make sure they can host, connect, and play - automated testing, boom.
31 August, 2007 | No comments
EA Sports NBA LIVE 08: Five Changes That I Hope to See
I’ve been playing the EA Sports NBA Live series for over ten years now; my first game being NBA Live 97 with Mitch Richmond on the cover. I remember spending hours fuming about Michael Jordan being listed as “Roster Guard”; I remember the year the PC version would display a cheerleader picture when exiting saying: “are you sure you want to exit the game” (I would say “no” and try it again until I saw the T-Wolves hottie); and I also remember the thousands of glitches along the way. However, I have remained true to the Live series, never once trying my hand at NBA 2Kwhatever. I’ve heard great things about that game, but I’m simply too loyal (or stubborn) to EA Sports to switch.
Nonetheless, I do expect improvement from year to year and, for the most part, EA Sports has provided this. There have been a couple times when I’ve wondered if all they did was change the rosters. Sometimes it seemed that way, but there would end up being slight adjustments that would keep me coming back for more, year after year.
I am getting older though. I think the older you get the more money seems to matter. At least at 22, it seems to matter quite a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind spending money; but I don’t like spending money on something that holds no value. The March Madness series, for example, holds no value.
Throughout the year I’ve kept note of things that I wanted to see change before buying NBA Live 08. If there weren’t significant changes, then I wouldn’t buy the product. It's got to the point where the other option (NBA 2K) is cheaper while also gathering great reviews. If EA Sports wants me to stay loyal, they'll need to step it up with NBA Live 2008. Gilbert Arenas on the cover is a nice touch, but I still want more.
Here are the five main things that I hope to see changed, as well as the early indications on what EA Sports has done to solve them:
1. Artificial Intelligence
The AI was pretty good in a number of ways, but there were also major errors in the programming. When Rafer Alston takes 18 shots for the computer, you know there’s a problem – especially when Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady both finish the game with less than 12 shots combined.
The AI in NBA Live 07 tends to favor the point guards, taking a number of threes as well as making contested layups over shot-blocking big men. Sure, they can be blocked quite easily a number of times, but they should be blocked nearly every time if you’re squared up waiting for them.
So what has EA Sports done about this? According to the :
“The first thing to consider is that we want our AI on both the team level and the individual player level to be realistic...Basketball games have always had issues with the point guard being too dominant in the offense and taking too many shots due to the fact that they are typically the primary ball handler. We have taken a unique approach to solving this issue in LIVE 08 with the implementation of what we are calling the ‘featured scorer.’
This logic is based on real player skills and tendencies: a player like Steve Nash is an excellent passer and known for passing first whereas Allen Iverson is a great scorer and known for being a shoot first player. Both players have prominent roles within their team’s offensive philosophy but in very different ways. As a result we assign a larger percentage of the offensive shot attempts to a player like Iverson vs. a player like Nash. You’re probably wondering what happens when you have multiple players on a team who are capable of being featured scorers which is the case for a team such as the San Antonio Spurs. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan are all capable of shouldering the load offensively. In this case each player is assigned a percentage of possessions where the offense is run through them. When the AI is evaluating the goal of a given possession they take this into consideration and run their offense accordingly.”
If they meet their goals, I don’t see why this should be much of a continued problem. It has never been a big deal; it just has made it feel more like an arcade than it needs to be. I’m looking forward to this improvement, mostly because I’m sick and tired of being owned by scrubs like Bobby Sura and Damon Stoudamire.
2. Glitches
Once in a blue moon, a computer-controlled player will be dribbling the ball in one spot and run out the entire shot clock. This has helped me get back into a few games here and there, but overall it is a nuisance. If they are aiming to be a realistic simulation, then they need to fix these kinds of issues. This isn’t an AI problem, it’s a glitch.
Another common glitch is the phantom steal. A pass is seemingly deflected, causing the ball to change direction and go out of bounds. However, while the path of the ball changed, it wasn’t “actually” deflected. The attempt causes the ball to move as though it was, but the other team gets the ball since there was no physical (metaphysical?) contact.
A few other problems I have noticed are: unrealistic dunks through the backboard, too much defensive rebounding (Earl Boykins over Dwight Howard), easy double-team steals on the inbounds, and excessive blocking with big men.
The game-play has supposedly been improved on quite a bit. I guess we’ll find out soon whether or not they addressed these specific issues.
3. No “Create-A-Team”
I, personally, enjoy creating teams of my own. I like making characters and putting them together to form a team like we would do in pick-up ball. NBA Live hasn’t had this option for quite a while. This year is no different. However, one cool addition to the game is the “Quick Pick Play.” This feature allows you to create your dream-team for single-game matches. If you only want to pick your starting five, then it has a built in “auto-fill” feature as well. Sounds like a great addition and one that I would have never thought of, but I’m still waiting for the “Create-A-Team” option to be introduced.
4. Lack of Variety
Every year I am impressed by the large selection of new phrases that the commentators use, the added dunks, and the variety of celebrations that are introduced. It’s too bad that I’m only impressed for the first week: the sayings soon grow old, the dunks seem limited, and the celebrations don’t seem all that unique anymore.
I don’t really expect this to change. Besides, what are they supposed to do? It’s crazy to think that they should have four facts about each player in the game. It would be nice, but it’s crazy nonetheless.
EA Sports has, however, added 15-20 new celebrations, a new “Signature Go To Moves” feature, and new commentating (as always). The celebrations and commentating are expected, but I am genuinely interested to see how the go-to-moves feature works out. :
“The important thing to know about them is that they don't require a special button presses or controller move to make happen- they are just shots that happen under the right contextual circumstances for certain players. For example, if you get Kevin Garnett in the post and shoot a fadeaway jumper you will get KG's fadeaway and not a generic one. This is really the evolution of the signature jump shots that we did last year, but this year you get full on signature moves instead of just jump shots.”
The signature jump shots were awesome last year, so this new go-to-move should be a lot of fun!
5. International Teams
One of my favorite features about the FIFA and NHL series’ is the International competition modes. I really enjoy playing the tournament mode. It’s not really a big thing; it’s just a nice alternative. Well, in FIFA it’s a big thing, in NHL it’s just an alternative. However, for some reason NBA Live has never incorporated this type of option. It probably has to do with contractual agreements with FIBA. Whatever the case...it has finally been taken care of.
This year the game has eight international teams and the option of playing with them in either “Play Now” mode or the new “FIBA World Championship” mode. I’m really looking forward to this new addition, my only disappointment is that it's only eight teams. The teams include: Argentina, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, and the United States. Those are all great teams, but what about Serbia & Montenegro, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Canada, Lithuania, Australia, Russia, New Zealand, Turkey, Angola, and numerous others? I can't wait to play international mode, but if you're going to add it then you should commit to adding the whole package.
Wish List
I know it’s not going to happen anytime soon. To be honest, I don’t expect it to ever happen. However, if NBA Live ever introduced a “Superstar Mode” like Madden has, it would be awesome. This mode allows you to begin your career as a specific rookie (or created one). You go through each season playing the role of that player: negotiating contracts, having interviews, etc. Unlike Madden, I would want to still be able to control all the players on the court. If they ever implemented this, I would be absolutely thrilled.
What are some of the things that you’re hoping for in this year’s game? What are some of your favorite things about NBA Live? How about least favorite things? How does it compare to the NBA 2K series in your mind?
31 August, 2007 | No comments
2D Side-Scrolling FPS?!
A simple flash minigame that is really just another mouse shooting gallery...but the twist is, it's a side view! You'd think - how hard is it to kill zombies if you can shoot at any angle, and they're all coming from one direction?
Well, it gets harder when there's a whole boatload of them shambling your way :) And it's got all the usual trappings - location sensitive damage, limited ammo and reload times...
One thing to remember is your avatar is shooting at your mouse position, so accuracy is much improved when you're actually clicking on the target you want to hit...