Status: 07-16-09

For me personally, this week has largely been all about staring at schedules and projections. I probably have another week's worth left, at least. I am itching to turn out some art and get some new stuff on screen!

On the software side, great progress is happening daily. We're really looking to blur the line between film and videogames with this project, and so far we are making great strides to that end; I am well pleased. Once we're a bit further along, I will go into more detail, but at the moment I am confident in saying that there are certainly no other coin op games out there that are doing what we are doing.

Regarding the new controller, the driver that interfaces the current working unit with the development system was revisited. We're getting much better performance out of the thing now, so that's all good. Tomorrow there's a meeting scheduled to look at progress on the first prototype of the device, so I am anxiously looking forward to that.

In addition to the weekly status updates, in the next week or so, I hope to write a little about how the project got started, so come on back!

Status: 07-10-09

Wow, the last two weeks have been pure rock and roll. Let's see...

As we are developing a brand new type of controller for the game, we need to begin development of the game itself while the device is still being designed. I did some looking around and found some hardware that I hoped might serve as a temporary stand in. The big unknown was if we could get it to run on our dev systems at all. Fortune smiled on us however as once it was in house we handed it off to Mr. Chris Brewer who just totally blew us all away by getting it hooked up and returning data within the space of a day.

Another day or two of clean up, and Chris handed it off to Tino Kalafatis, programmer on the project. A few hours later and POW! The device was integrated into the game. Stellar work.

This week, Chris went back and took another look at his work and found a was able to make significant improvements to his code. Again, he handed it off to Tino and within a day, it all automagically went in and worked.

I was happy to see substantial progress on the hardware front, because I personally have been up to my neck in projections and scheduling. It's not all bad, but just not as exciting and initially rewarding as seeing stuff happening on screen for the first time.

That is it for now. There's more progress brewing today that I cannot wait to share next week!

Project: Ground Rules.

Welcome!

Here's the deal: Over here at Incredible Technologies, I have recently kicked off development of a brand new game and I want to share the process with you, the reader. Why? Well, first and foremost, I am extremely excited about this project; more so than any other I have yet to work on. So much so in fact, that I feel compelled to share the experience with the everyone that cares to listen!

In addition, the current reality of coin op coverage in the regular gaming press these days is that coin op games do not get much love. I would like to see that change. Part of the reason for this situation is that coin op companies are not doing enough to engage the end user. So by effectively leveraging the power of blogs, social media networks, and so forth, the hope is that with regular updates of interesting content, this game might just help coin op grab a little more “ink,” as it were.

To those ends, the goal is to update the blog twice a week with behind the scenes information and commentary. I will talk about the process of building a game start to finish: from the original germ of the idea all the way to bringing the final product to market. Look for interviews and guest pieces from members of the team, discussions regarding the decisions concerning the game we are making and why, and maybe even a coin op history lesson or two along the way.

It should be noted however that here are a few things I will not be doing, at least not right away. The coin op industry is highly competitive and extremely fleet. Should the game be revealed too early, it is possible that it could be beaten to market. With that in mind, I will not be talking directly about the specifics of the game play or even the genre the game falls under for a period of time. Fortunately, development cycles for coin op games are markedly shorter than those typical of console titles, so please just hang in there and stay tuned.

Hopefully you too will be able to share my enthusiasm through this blog. So if you are a player, perhaps you will follow along in anticipation, eventually seeking the game out upon release in order to try it. Perhaps you are one of our customers and want to know all about that next great product for your locations. You might even be a member of the gaming press, tired of covering the upteenth console World War II shooter, looking for fresh gaming stories to liven up your site with.

Whatever the case, keep coming back, and I will try to keep it entertaining and insightful!

Project: Blog Redirection

When I started this blog, I originally imagined it would be primarily about CG artwork. I intended to post up my personal work, tackle technical art issues, share scripts and tools, and so forth...

...That didn't really happen. Over time I created less and less personal artwork. I grew bored of dealing with the bugs and workarounds involved with using 3d content creation apps.

I largely ended up writing about whatever game I happened to be playing at that time. Unfortunately, I never felt I was able to devote enough time to these reviews/critiques to really express all of the things I wanted to say about any given title. And even if I had, let's face it: nobody likes to be assaulted with a massive wall of text, so I wasn't sure that anyone would really be reading these mega posts of nitpicky detail anyway.

And so now with the previous announcement of my project just kicking off, I am going to shift gears a bit and refocus this space on the development of this new game.

So here's the plan: I will be shooting for at least two updates a week regarding the new game. To start, I am thinking that each week I will do a brief status update as to how things are going, followed with a post about the history of the project so far. There is a lot to catch up on!

Next article: Ground rules for the new blog direction.

Project: 1st Post!

Ok, I have been getting beat up for not posting more frequently, so here goes.

As alluded to previously, a number of things have happened careerwise over the past few months. The big deal is that I sucessfully pitched a new game and "won" the opportunity to develop it.

So, I am now Project Manager of my own game. For now, it's just a skeleton crew running in pre-preproduction mode for the last couple of months, but already major progress is being made. We are laying the groundwork now so that when the rest of the staff comes onboard in the fall, we will be running on all cylinders, so to speak.

Expect more detail shortly!

Project Trico Reveal.

As a fan of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, I have been eagerly awaiting news of Team Ico's next game. And here it is courtesy of Playstation Lifestyle...



Unbelievable. The motion and behavior of the griffon, (I assume it is a griffon,) is so natural and lifelike... I am totally, completely, utterly, blown away. I have never seen an in game character exhibit that level of beliveability before. It is shocking.

It is going to be hard not to watch more footage as it gets released, but I am going to attempt to abstain as I want the experience to be fresh and full of surprises when I eventually play.

If they can hit level of quality across the rest of the characters, this will be a landmark achievement in game development. Heck, it might just be on the griffon alone.

The Passage (PC)

Recently, a friend at work recommended a game related podcast called "A Life Well Wasted." (It's pretty good actually. Very slick production, though at times it got a bit too "new game journalism-y for my tastes. Check it out though.) The main subject of the show was some hippie/indie developer from upstate New York, apparently known for a game called "Passage."

Let's have a look at some of the buzz regarding Passage shall we?

"But "Passage," a downloadable PC game released in late November, shows that a videogame can be considered mature for its artful design and emotional payoff."

"I didn't know a game (and such a tiny one at that) could be so poignant."

"Poetic Passage Provokes Heavy Thoughts on Life, Death"

"...one of the most clever, meaningful, affecting, and memorable games ever made."

You get the idea... So what is it? [SPOILER ALERT]

Well, calling it a game is a stretch. There's no real goal to achieve. I would say Passage is more an activity or a toy. You walk from left to right across the 100x10 pixel scrolling playfield, oh, and ooooooh! You can go down and enter a mazelike area. Apparently this is a major, meaningful revelation to Passage fans. Though when a designer hasn't properly communicated a major game play feature to the tune of half of the players miss 80% of the game play I call it questionable, if not poor, design.

So you make your way right, encountering a female character who joins you. Along the way you might encounter treasure chests, which are apparently good things to find; I'm not sure though, I did not feel especially rewarded for running over them. Sooner or later, your wife will turn into a tombstone and you can continue until your own avatar turns into a gravestone as well. The End.

And that is it. At this point you, the player, is supposed to go read the developer's statement, which apparently says that the game is an art piece intended to provoke thought about one's own mortality or something or other.

Sorry, but I did not get that at all. Hardpressed to come up with any kind of meaning, the only thing I managed to put together is that the developer probably hates his wife, hates the thought of being married, or both.

At the start of the game, your character is young and free. He can move about and explore anywhere he feels. (Woohoo! Bachelorhood!) Upon encountering the wife character, she locks onto him in a fixed position, leading the way with your avatar forced to trail behind. Due to her implementation, she blocks the player from entering the more interesting areas of the playfield and obstructing him from a good number of treasure chests. Once she finally dies and you are free again, your avatar is too old to move at a reasonable pace, and you bite the dust yourself a short time later. These issues, coupled with the developer's statement on the podcast that he is at the point where he now has to choose between sticking by his moral commitment to continuing to lead a life free of excess versus selling out and taking a regular job in order to improve the health of his wife and extend her life, and all of a sudden I am not feeling too good about Mrs. IndieGameDeveloper's odds.

Score: 1

Red Ring of Death II: Part 3

My (or more likely, somebody else's,) 360 is back. I assume it is functional, but honestly, I can't be arsed to bother with hooking it up at this point. Besides, it will just crap out again I am sure.

Red Ring of Death II: Part 2

While out in the wilds of Mississippi this weekend, the packing materials for the 360 turned up.

The 360 is bagged, packed, boxed, taped, and labelled up to. Off to the Microsoft Service Center tomorrow!

ZBrush 4 Announced!

Pixologic just announced ZBrush 4, due this August, just in time for Siggraph!

ZBrush 4 announcement on ZBrush Central.

I cannot believe that this upgrade is free, again! If I recall, I bought into ZBrush right before version 2 was released. Since then, Pixologic has yet to charge for upgrades and new version. Amazing.

I wonder if they are actively engaging in a war of attrition with Mudbox, their primary competition. There is no way that Autodesk can keep up with that, considering the obligations to their stockholders that require increased sticker prices and annual subscription programs.

I am going to have to continue to back Pixologic and let my Mudbox license languish, expired.

Red Ring of Death II: Part 1

And so it happens again. My second Xbox 360 just bit it hard and is giving me the RROD.

Already it is a headache. Checking the Xbox support page reveals that my warranty is out of date. This is misleading however, as I am pretty sure Microsoft yet again extended the warranty on RRODs as they are so prevalent. So I submitted a ticket anyway to see what happens.

Again, issues. I picked the option that would have them send me a box and shipping label. I just received an email telling me that I have to supply packing materials. Ugh.

And so now what? I suppose I will see what happens, though I am not overly happy about the thought of receiving yet another refurbed piece of crap from an abusive home. I did see that Microsoft just announced a new 360 Elite bundle, packaged with Halo3 and Fable2. I already have three copies of Halo3 and a copy of Fable2... I do want a black 360 though. I suppose I could Ebay or trade in the games. But do I risk another $400 on Microsoft's shoddy product yet again?

Ninja Blade (360)

As many of my gamer friends might tell you, two of my favorite games of recent times were Otogi: Myth of Demons and Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors on the original Xbox. Developed by From Software, they featured solid 3rd person hack and slash action, increbible graphics, amazing sound, persistent destruction, and kick ass character designs, all done up in a mythological Japanese wrapper. Awesome. So when I heard that From Software was releasing a ninja themed 3rd person action title on the 360, I was all over it.

Sadly, From's newest game, Ninja Blade does not live up to the precedent set by the Otogis. In fact, it is so disappointing, I can not bring myself to finish it at the moment. On the bright side, in my time with the game I feel as if I learned a few valuable game design lessons, especially about Quick Time Events, (QTEs,) so all was not lost. And so, my list of criticisms:

The main character’s running animation is bad. Not believable at all. Very obviously keyframed. I found it distracting.

Once started, one move cannot be cancelled into another.

The camera is very far from the guy, making him and the action appear very small on screen.

Weapon switching should have been a cycle on the shoulder button, not D-pad.

The story telling is pretty bad. I have no issue with the plot; I can totally buy the premise of a super squad of ninja commandos that clean up biohazards, but as soon as the characters are introduced, there are complicated backstabbings and double crosses going on in the very next major cinema, before you know who is who, or what their relationships are. Note to fellow designers: The whole "WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON!?!" schtick never works.

Blocking feels broken due to being randomly effective against certain attacks and time limited, (worse: there is no indication as to when your guard will break.)

Shuriken controls are poor. See Dark Sector for great shuriken action.

Wall runnable surfaces should have distinct visual properties. If Vision Mode reveals all runnable surfaces anyway, why bother? Why not just convey the fact that they are runnable from the outset? And then, why not get rid of Vision Mode all together? It is useless and largely disadvantageous.

Sword effects need to be more distinct. A lot of the time, I can’t even see my slashes, unless I am using the big heavy weapon.

Why is wall breaking a separate event using the “A” button? Why isn’t it just a regular attack with the heavy weapon?

Checkpoints often set you pretty far back upon dying.

What’s with the snail projectiles that turn invisible after some amount of time?

Killing the last enemy often triggers a new QTE, not leaving opportunity to explore the current area.

QTEs really break up the flow of the world. I feel like I am going from isolated set piece to isolated set piece, not in some larger connected world. RE5 has this issue as well. God of War does a great job of integrating QTEs right into the core game play experience.

QTEs are extremely unforgiving. One wrong button press or direction, and it is a fail. RE5 did it better where there is a window in which to get it right, no matter if wrong inputs are submitted several times first, (assuming one is fast enough.) Big difference.

In QTEs, randomizing which button to press on each fail is super annoying.

In QTEs, divorcing the button press from their regular in game actions, even though the same classes of moves in the QTEs seems like a bad idea. If the QTE tells me to “Jump” I am expecting to press “A” like in the regular game play, not “X” all of a sudden.

In QTEs, button prompts cause the player to miss all of the madcap action playing out in the video. One idea would be to make the prompts way more vibrantly colored so they can be seen of the player's peripheral vision. They are so subdued that the eye is forced to focus on the lower area of the screen where they will appear. Resident Evil suffered from this as well. As an alternate solution, God of War puts the QTE prompts in the midst of the action, right where the game play is.

If QTEs rewind on failure, why doesn’t dying do the same? Why do I have to go through the slow assed menu system? Just give me an option to quit out on the “Retry?” screen.

$60 price tag.

So Ninja Blade is an unfortunate disappointment from a purely entertainment-for-dollar standpoint, though it ended up being highly educational from a game design position. Before Ninja Blade, I would have said that I generally despised QTEs. I still do not love them, but after playing Resident Evil 5 and then rolling right into Ninja Blade, I was able to compare the QTEs of each and realize that QTEs can be acceptable, perhaps even good, if done right. Too bad Ninja Blade is not one of those examples. So far I feel that the God of War games are probably the best implementation of QTEs to date, though when all is said and done, I would not be upset if I never encountered another QTE ever again.

Score: 1

Killzone 2: Behind the Bullet (PS3)

Just a quick post this evening about the Killzone2: Behind the Bullet Interactive Demo. If you own a PS3, are interested in graphics technology, are a Killzone fan, or some combination there of, go download Behind the Bullet from the Playstation Network.

Previously, Sony/Guerilla Games released this video, called Bullet:



Today they released the same sequence as a realtime demo. As you watch it, you can pan and rotate the camera, speed up or slow down the playback, toggle developer commentary, and coolest of all: view the contents of the various buffers that get composited together for the final result. Too cool. I spent forty five minutes going over it already.

More info here:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/04/02/killzone-2-behind-the-bullet-interactive-demo-available-today/