[In this Gamasutra opinion piece with bonus video, designer and Divide By Zero founder James Portnow highlights why most game choices are really problems, and why knowing the difference is key.]

All the time in our media we hear people railing about what it will take for our medium to become an art form. I should know: I’m particularly guilty of shouting from the rooftops.

The problem is that we want to race ahead to becoming an art before we’ve done the groundwork that will allow us to develop a unified art form.

This leads to pieces of art emerging out of the milieu of ‘games’ but keeps us from becoming a coherent art.

Today I’d like to offer up one of those groundwork definitions that may help us move a little further down the road towards becoming an art. I’m open to criticism and correction. At the bottom of this piece you’ll find contact information – please send me your thoughts:

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Animator Daniel Floyd has also provided a v.entertaining video version of this opinion piece, available on YouTube - go check it out!]

The Problem of Choice

Game design is about designing decisions. It’s the first thing we learn when we embark down the path of becoming a game designer. The problem is that we are rarely taught that decisions come in two forms: problems and choices.

We often muddle these two ideas. We use them loosely. Even the most experienced game designers will haphazardly apply these terms, often referring to everything as a "choice."

As pretentious as it sounds, and as a much as I hate to say it, this linguistic confusion is holding back our medium. Why? Because at the core of our craft as game designers there are two very distinct and very different ideas that we’ve conflated and now try and address as one. Until we unravel that distinction we’ll still be lumbering in the dark.

So, without further ado, let’s define the types of decisions found in games.

Problems:

Any decision that has a definitive best answer is a problem and not a choice. Anything with a ‘solution’ is a problem and not a choice. Anything that is a calculation is a problem and not a choice.

The easiest place to identify problems is in the math problems that many games are riddled with. For example: in World of Warcraft deciding what gear to wear is a problem and not a choice. Why? Because for any given objective in World of Warcraft there is a set of gear that will best facilitate accomplishing that objective.

Or, more simply put: if you want to kill a monster in WoW there is an optimal set of gear for doing so.

Gear in World of Warcraft is a puzzle. It is an interesting and complicated puzzle, one whose solution may not be immediately obvious, but it is a puzzle.
The dexterity challenges in first person shooters are also problems.

There is very little “free will” involved in these types of problems, for the most part you know what you are trying to execute (moving your reticle over your opponent without letting them move theirs over you) and the challenge is in the execution.

Anytime where you present the player with a clearly defined goal and the “fun” or challenge is in the execution of that goal you have presented them with a problem.

Choice:

Choice appears when you are asked to decide between two things of equivalent or incomparable value.

Choosing between an apple and an orange is a choice. Choosing between friends or lovers, choosing between roses and lilies, choosing between anything that’s six to one half dozen -- these are choices.

Choice appears in games less frequently then problems do, but that does not make it less important to the game designer. The easiest way to identify choice in games is to find decision points that aren’t problems (yes, it’s as simple as that). These usually come when the player is offered multiple, exclusive options that can’t be weighed against each other.

Choices tend to be much harder to design than problems because they don’t have a clear right answer. They also tend to be much harder to fit into games because their divergent nature tends to broaden the scope of games.

Problems direct the player towards a goal; choices let the player choose their goal.

Are problems a problem?

Are problems bad? No, absolutely not. In fact, most games are, and should be, built around problem-solving. To date few games have been made without problems (Facade and a handful of indie games being the only things that come to mind), but many great games have been made without choice.

Problems are at the heart of what we consider gaming today, and there’s nothing wrong with them. It’s just important that we distinguish them from choices.

So why is this such a big deal?

Because without making this distinction we tend to reduce problems to choices.

How many times in a game have you been presented with something that should be a choice but instead was simply a problem with a clear right answer. Bioshock and Mass Effect are two recent examples of this. In both of these games what should have been ambiguous moral choices were reduced to elements of larger game problems.

How? By making them commensurate with other gameplay mechanics.

What does that mean?

Let’s return to our apples and oranges example. Deciding between an apple and an orange is a choice, but if you become informed that an apple is worth five dollars and an orange is worth ten dollars, and you know the goal is to get the most dollars, deciding between an apple and an orange suddenly becomes a problem rather than a choice.

This is the issue we often run into with faux choices in games. Many games attach rewards that effect gameplay problems to choices, thus reducing the choice to a simple equation.

For example: how many times have you been offered a choice to be nice to an old man or to ignore him and had the reward for being nice to him be X experience (or ammo or money) and the reward for ignoring him be Y experience (where Y is less then X, and often zero)?

This decision is a problem and it’s pretty automatic, you simply ask yourself “Do I want that experience, or would I rather spend my time doing other things?" Helping the old man never even enters into the equation.

For many of us in our mental state, we place the tangible benefit of solving problems over the more nebulous (and work-intensive) satisfaction of making a choice. This does not mean we get more pleasure out of solving problems or that problem solving is a more “fun” activity, it simply means that reducing choices to problems is one of the easiest ways to approach them, and thus what a player will do if given the option.

So what was this hoopla about art?

In order to become an art we have to be able to address “the human experience”. There are a whole range of human experiences that are better expressed through choices then through problems. If we want to move this medium forward we have to be able to distinguish between the two and choose the one that is appropriate for the experience we are trying to craft.

Conclusion:

We face today a problem – a problem of choice.
As an industry we are trying to learn how to make our games more compelling. As an art we are trying to learn how to make our games more expressive. These challenges will not be overcome without utilizing all the tools we have before us.

The first step to doing so is to understand exactly what our tools are. Choices and problems are both vital to crafting compelling gameplay. Both are vital to expressing the human experience. Not every game needs to include both, but better understanding the distinction is essential to creating the best products we can.

[James Portnow can be reached at jportnow@gmail.com.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Fuel Industries, Infinity Ward, THQ and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Gamasutra.com - Game Industry Jobs

Fuel Industries: Game Designer
"Game Developers work with the creative team to develop casual and branded games for Fuel Industries and its clients. Together, we adapt new technologies, break new ground, and think down new paths on a daily basis. Fuel Games is more than a typical gaming company - we're a gaming studio and an entertainment studio staffed by the best from around the world."

Infinity Ward: Game Designer
"Since our creation we have doubled in size twice in an ever growing expansion of our studio. We now house over 100 amazingly talented and dedicated members on the Infinity Ward team, and are currently developing for all next-gen gaming consoles and PC platform. We will continue to release high quality games which not only exceed the standard in game development, but define it."

THQ, Kaos Studios: AI Programmer
"Kaos Studios is located in the heart of New York City and is mere blocks from the Empire State Building and the thrill of Midtown Manhattan. Along with the opportunity to live in one of the most exciting cities in the world, we also just finished up one of the most exciting FPS titles to date. Frontlines: Fuel of War (PC/XBOX360) is already receiving great press and that’s just the beginning!"

Insomniac Games: Tools Programmer
"Are you the type of person who says “I know I can make it better”… or someone who believes that there is always a way to build a better mousetrap? Or the person who in their spare time is tinkering with the way that their computer runs – because, it needs to run faster, better or just more efficiently? Well that is what we are looking for."

WorldsInMotion - Online Games

THQ: Project Manager, Online Games
"The Project Manager will be responsible for managing the development and online release of our WWE Online game currently under development in Korea. The position will report to the Director of Project Management for WWE games. The key responsibility will be guiding the THQ Korea team and external developer to deliver an engaging, high quality game that represents the WWE brand and game experience appropriately for success in the Asian Online PC game market. The position will be based in THQ’s Agoura Hills, CA, office, with frequent travel to Korea."

GANZ/Webkinz: Flash Designer
"Ganz' Webkinz has revolutionized the toy industry with its innovative and engaging combination of online and offline play. A true popular cultural icon, Webkinz has been featured on every major television network and was ranked number 2 on Google's 2007 Zeitgeist list of most popular searches. Now is your chance to join the creative team that has brought this vibrant world to life. Ganz is seeking a talented and motivated person with a proven love of online entertainment for this position."

SeriousGamesSource - Serious Games

Blue Duck Education Ltd.: Actionscript senior games developer for Mangahigh.com
"MangaHigh.com is the hot new start-up changing the way kids around the world learn and build core academic skills. Founded by Toby Rowland, Co-Founder / Co-CEO King.com, one of the largest casual games businesses in the world, MangaHigh will launch in early 2009. Further details disclosed at face-to-face meetings."

To browse hundreds of similar jobs, and for more information on searching, responding to, or posting game industry-relevant jobs to the top source for jobs in the business, please visit Gamasutra's job board now.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

['Homer in Silicon' is a biweekly GameSetWatch-exclusive column by Emily Short. It looks at storytelling and narrative in games of all flavors, including the casual, indie, and obscurely hobbyist. This week she looks at real-estate themed time management games.]

There is something utterly surreal about house development games such as Build-a-Lot and its sequels, or Be Rich.

There always was, I suppose. The game mechanic assumes that if one mansion is good, ten are better; that it will never be hard to find a millionaire to buy your latest 20-bedroom palace with built-in climbing wall; that there is no need for low-income housing balance in a neighborhood, and no prospect of trouble if you crowd it out.

It is an assumption built into the core of the game that real estate prices never fall, that housing credit is never difficult to obtain, and that continuous upgrades are always desirable. The only significant constraint is the amount of viable land.

At some points (I noticed this especially with Build-a-Lot 2: Town of the Year), there is even what one might call a bit of procedural satire.

You're given level goals to meet that require certain environmental outcomes, such as the presence of a recycling center, some number of empty lots. What you do on the way to achieving those goals, on the other hand, is completely unregulated, and may include all sorts of environmentally disruptive behavior, such as building and renting out a dozen McMansions in order to reach the revenue goals for the level... only to tear them all down again.

Those temporarily-built-over patches may end the game as empty lots, but they're certainly no longer pristine woodland, if that was the aim. Playing through those segments made it hard not to sneer a bit at the mayor making these demands, who, I must say, comes out of the process looking either very naive or very, very cynical.

Be Rich is mechanically almost the same game as the Build-a-Lot games but with the additional zinger that, though it is explicitly set in the United States, its characters speak unidiomatic, translated English. I assume that this was an unintentional effect of localization, not something that the authors set out to do, but it invites a little reflection about the way the US tries to export the vision of an ideal lifestyle.

(Personally I find even the game's title a little odd, since the game is plainly not about being rich, but about becoming so; the key being that one doesn't have time to enjoy one's wealthy but is more interested in the relentless upward struggle.)

In fact Be Rich has a more diverse set of level designs than the games in the Build-a-Lot series, hinting at a less uniform notion of the composition of the ideal community -- something I welcomed. At the end of the day, though, it is still entirely about making as many buckets of money as possible by aggressively developing (and overdeveloping) a limited parcel of land.

Eighteen months ago these sorts of games were simply fantasy, but there is something really extraordinary about playing them under the present economic conditions.

I write a lot about how games succeed or fail at telling interesting stories, how they achieve plausibility or fail to do so, and generally I skip analyzing games where the story line boils down to "you become more successful, and then more successful, and then more successful again, until one day you are so obscenely successful that we can't think of anything more for you to do, so the game is over".

That monotonic progression from few to many resources doesn't come with most of the things I associate with a compelling story: no plot hook, personal motivation, setback, recovery, character interaction, change, or discovery. I've argued before that these barely count as narrative, that they are rather fictive dressing for the scoreboard.

But that doesn't mean that the fiction has no persuasive power. The complex procedural message of these games is that optimizing the developer's financial wellbeing is an acceptable goal, that there are few or no conflicts between that pursuit and other desirable goals (such as community well-being), and, in some cases, that regulatory protections are designed by idiots and can easily be circumvented. That makes for a fun game.

These pieces would be considerably more dour, and appeal to a different market entirely, if they tried to be sophisticated simulations of urban planning issues, complete with homelessness, zoning laws, mass transit squabbles, and a bumbling or venal city council. Part of the implicit contract of casual games is that they will not explore anything that will cause the player emotional or moral discomfort.

The simpler procedural message, underlying all this, and held in common with most other casual level-based games, is that success looks like a straight climb to greatness. Things are good, and then they get better, and then they get better again.

People give you stars and trophies and shiny objects in appreciation of your astounding unprecedented success, even when you haven't done anything more than moronically click through the tutorial mode. (I sometimes find that college freshmen have exactly this expectation -- I should give them precise instructions about what to do, they should be able to follow these instructions without intellectual effort, and the result should be an A.)

As for one's career and financial status, it is not adequate merely to hold steady, or to accomplish some specific life goals; stability is not enough. Only growth will do. Moreover, growth should be easy! Wealth can be built -- simply, easily, without risk or conflict -- out of nothing at all.

Computer games can leave the player with a lot of leverage to challenge the designer's goals and assumptions. These games in particular do not. Though in some ways casual building games superficially resemble SimCity and other great simulation games, they dictate precise and simplistic win conditions.

That makes them easier to play in a casual fashion, providing the framework of levels that can be worked through to a determined success state within ten or fifteen minutes -- just the kind of bite-sized engagement the casual game consumer wants. But strategy more or less vanishes. Even tactical considerations tend to be a bit simplified, since on many of the harder levels (especially of Be Rich) there aren't many alternate ways of solving a level; the resources and land are too constrained. The resolution becomes a matter of working out a puzzle.

I don't mean to suggest that people playing such games are brainwashed by them into thinking life works this way. I suppose that most are fully aware of indulging in a fantasy simulacrum of life from which many practical and ethical concerns have been simplified away. They enjoy building and painting the cute little houses, and why shouldn't they? I do too.

Nonetheless, in the present circumstances, I find myself thinking that these games reflect the myth that has gotten us into such a mess in the first place: the one that says the measure of a person is whether he has managed to make himself substantially richer over the course of a lifetime, or (failing that) managed to consume as though he had.

[Emily Short is an interactive fiction author and part of the team behind Inform 7, a language for IF creation. She also maintains a blog on interactive fiction and related topics. She can be reached at emshort AT mindspring DOT com.]

Posted by Emily Short at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days, as well as any notable features on his sister 'state of indie' weblog.]

This week on 'Best Of Indie Games', we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week.

The goodies in this edition include a couple of entries from TIGSource's Cockpit compo, a student project from the Danish Institute for Digital Interactive Entertainment (DADIU), a Tanks-style browser combat game, plus a new release from the developer of Rara Racer and Opera Omnia.

Game Pick: 'Puzzle Bloom' (DADIU, browser)
"A 3D puzzle game created by a group of DADIU students, where players get to assist a kind tree spirit named Canotila restore life to a cluster of islands which have lost all of their greenery in the name of development and industrialization. This basically involves floating from the back of one creature to another, as she subtly persuades the inhabitants to carry out tasks that her frail body could not do."

Game Pick: 'Fox Fyre' (Joey Betz and John Cooney, browser)
"The latest collab from John and Joey over at Armor Games, Fox Fyre is a Tanks-style gameplay minus the turn-based play and with tons of different options to choose from. Set atop the Northern Lights, the key is to build up the cash by aiming well and firing lots, then buy more powerful cannons and shields to take out further, more difficult enemies."

Game Pick: 'triptych' (increpare, freeware)
"Created for the Dundee Game Jam, triptych is a simple text-based game in which you simply choose options with the space bar. Everything seems normal until a couple of options in, the narrative begins to take a rather odd turn. The first few goes yield gibberish, but then now and again the crazy talk keeps back for just a little bit longer and you can actually try to work out what is going on.."

Game Pick: 'Enviro-Bear 2000: Operation: Hibernation' (Justin Smith, freeware)
"Suffering from a case of too many punctuations, Enviro-Bear 2000: Operation: Hibernation is a physics-based driving simulator where the objective is to assist a bear eat just enough food before going into a long hibernation sleep. Being drowsy and all, the bear's mobility is limited to just one paw, hence the wheel, gear shift and pedals can only be operated one at a time. Once you've eaten enough, then it's off to one of the caves to sleep for an entire year."

Game Pick: 'okkuplektor' (0rel, freeware)
"A new game by the developer of the Everyday Shooter remake, okkuplektor is a stylish 3D shooter in which the objective is to search for a yellow box hidden somewhere in each stage, usually placed inside castles which are to be destroyed before revealing their prizes. Weapons and ammunition have to be collected before you can attack any enemy ships, indicated by the buttons and counter at the bottom left of your head-up display."

Posted by timw at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After the success of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, another company intended to release an NES 'spiritual' sequel with the help of Beam Software, now Krome Studios Melbourne.

Unlike the series' other entries, this follow-up was slated to star Tyson, and not Little Mac as the protagonist. Familiar trainer Jerome "Doc" Louis was also replaced with Don King's outrageous hair.

The former heavyweight champion started to have public marital and personal problems, and was eventually arrested and brought to court for rape charges in 1991. Some time before this, Nintendo's original NES Punch-Out!!! was re-released -- removing Tyson's presence -- as Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream, though it's unclear exactly what prompted this.

What is known, though, is that Beam's Mike Tyson’s Intergalactic Power Punch (we'll get into the odd title in a bit) never got released, apparently due to both licensing and quality issues.

So the developer and its new publisher removed Tyson from the sequel, switching him out for a generic fictional boxer named “Tough Guy” Mark Tyler, and American Softworks eventually published a modified version of the title as Power Punch II in 1992, despite the non-existence of a Power Punch I.

17 years later, a playable version of Mike Tyson’s Intergalactic Power Punch has been made available for anyone to download and play, presumably with an NES emulator.

The story behind the ROM's release began three weeks ago when Jason "DreamTR" Wilson -- known by many in video game collecting circles for his stockpile of rarities and prototypes -- notified the NintendoAge community that he would be willing to dump the data from his prototype cart of Mike Tyson’s Intergalactic Power Punch for $2000.

Before you castigate Wilson for holding the ROM hostage, one should note three things:

1. He has dumped and released many rare ROMs for others in the past
2. Releasing the ROM to the public devalues his actual cart
3. He eventually lowered the asking price to $1500

Over 50 of NintendoAge.com's forum members raised that $1500, with a couple donating $100 or more, and others even selling games from their own collections to scrounge up contribution money.

The ROM is now available for anyone to download, and RetroZone is selling reproduction carts for the game, priced at $30. NintendoAge even featured the artwork from the game in its monthly e-zine, also listing members who contributed to the ROM's purchase.

Unfortunately, Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch, like Power Punch II, is terrible. You can see footage of it here, recorded by NESguide:

After Don King brags that there isn't a man walking this earth that stands a chance against Tyson, the Intergalactic Boxing Federation challenges the boxer to fight its ridiculous lineup of alien pugilists (some even use vehicles during the fights). Also, instead of ring girls or Mario bookending each round, the game uses ring slugs.

The alien fighters are much too strong, and Punch-Out!!'s dodging and counter-attacking element has been left out. Playing the game is awful, regardless if you're “Tough Guy” Mark Tyler or Mike Tyson. But at least it's gratis to check out (if you don't count the cash donated by other more charitable people), so I guess I shouldn't complain much!

[UPDATE 2: Fixed some of the confusing chronology around the release of the Tyson-less Punch-Out!!, and clarified that Nintendo was never backing the sequel, most likely - it was ASC who got the Tyson license and then removed it. Thanks to Lost Levels's Frank Cifaldi who tipped us to the ROM's release.]

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

[Crossposting this handy Chris Remo-authored guide from big sister site Gamasutra, given that people are really starting to blast up some good blogs recently - hope you're RSS-ed up to enjoy the ride.]

In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra.

Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the invitation-only Expert Blogs are written by development professionals with a wealth of experience to share.

We hope that both sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information about the blogs, check out the official posting guidelines.

This Week's Standout Expert Blogs

Beyond Spore: Ideas for Connective Games (Part 1)
(Neil Sorens)

Maxis' Spore arguably hit some of its goals and missed some of its others, but its "massively single-player" structure has a lot for game developers to be excited about. Design consultant Neil Sorens explains why.

The Mistakes of the Past
(Armando Marini)

They say hindsight is 20/20, but is that actually true in the games industry? Creative director Armando Marini argues that the industry has a problem with actually learning meaningful lessons from its past experiences.

Games, Adolescence and Culture, Oh My!
(Matthew Allmer)

Heather Chaplin's GDC rant about "intellectually impotent male game developers" unsurprisingly stirred the pot a bit. Here, designer and writer Matthew Allred adds his own response, from the angle of working out what exactly a "game" is.

Games Shouldn't Be Anything
(Chris Pasley)

...and continuing on that theme, in this post designer and writer Chris Pasley suggests that maybe we should just stop worrying about what a game is supposed to be, and just make them.

Square 2: Is [Not] A Shmup
(Michael Molinari)

...but when is a game a shoot-em-up? Michael Molinari's in-depth series on one of the most insular genres around continues, this time working out the nuances of taxonomy, particularly as it relates to the unorthodox Squares 2.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This playful painting of Blanka and Chun Li by Martin Hsu will be featured at Jab Strong Fierce, an upcoming Street Fighter tribute art exhibition that will be held at the Nucleus gallery in Alhambra, California from April 25 to May 11.

Sponsored by Capcom, i am 8-bit, Udon Entertainment, and several others, the free show already has 46 artists slated to participate. During the exhibit's opening night, Nucleus will host a cosplay competition (people who show up in costume will also receive a 15 percent discount on store items), a Street Fighter IV tournament, raffle giveaways, and more. Mark your calendars!

Posted by Eric Caoili at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

[Just wanted to point this out to GSW-ers, in case you'd like to see presenter Tim Schafer -- plus honorees Hideo Kojima, the Harmonix guys, and so on -- LIVE ON YOUR TELEVISION, in G4's Choice Awards highlight show tonight.]

Video game-oriented television network G4 will exclusively broadcast Game Developers Choice Awards highlights on U.S. television tonight at 6:30 and 8:00 PM ET.

The awards (created by GSW parent company Think Services) originally took place Wednesday, March 25 during Game Developers Conference 2009 in San Francisco.

G4's program X-Play, featuring host Adam Sessler -- and billed as "the most watched video game series on television" -- will air a half-hour highlights show of the proceedings beginning this evening.

The Game Developers Choice Awards, which G4 also showed highlights from in 2008, will repeat its TV airing on this special X-Play episode on Monday, April 13 at 1:00 PM ET, and on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 8.00pm ET.

The awards production features Double Fine Productions founder and veteran game designer Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts) presiding over the evening once again - he previously hosted the 2007 Choice Awards.

More information on scheduling for upcoming episodes of the show is available at G4's TV schedule page.

[UPDATE: All times for the show are ET only, not ET/PT - in addition, G4's video page has footage from the episode now available.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in 1984, Tim McVey (not to be confused with the similarly named terrorist) was the first to officially reach one billion points in Nibbler at the original Twin Galaxies arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa.

His 1,000,042,270 score stood as the game's record high for 25 years until February 22nd, 2009, when Dwayne Richards passed the 1.04 billion point mark after playing for over 36 hours straight without any breaks or bathroom stops.

McVey has been waiting since for the Easter holiday weekend to reclaim that record, and you can watch his attempt streaming live, courtesy of a webcam pointed at an original Nibbler machine in his home. He started playing early this morning and hopes to push through the marathon Nibbler session until tomorrow afternoon.

If the idea of watching someone play an arcade game for several dozens of hours straight sounds boring to you, there will at least be several of McVey's friends and family, including Electronic Gaming Monthly's former writer "Trickman" Terry, to keep him and viewers company.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Frustrated with the PSP hardware's inability to drive local software sales, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe hopes that maybe it will be able to one day remotely drive a toy car, according to a patent uncovered by Siliconera.

The proposed setup would enable a PSP system to wirelessly control a model car and to even receive video from a mounted camera on the toy. An attached speaker (and/or microphone) is outlined in the patent, too, which could potentially be used to play engine noises or maybe a trunk-rattling track like 69 Boyz' "Daisy Dukes", when cruising down the strip past a line of libertine Barbie dolls.

The patent also mentioned theoretically using the car for a racing game within "augmented reality zones", race tracks that players physically build with virtual markers. Objects in the areas captured with the mounted camera could be represented with computer-generated images, with say a sofa replaced by an alien mother ship (Siliconera's example).

Here are a couple pages scanned from the patent document:

Posted by Eric Caoili at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[If any GSW readers are in danger of being Canadian, or even close to Canadian, we've just announced the BioWare Doctors - quite famous Canadians! - will be keynoting GDC Canada in a few weeks - we also added a bunch of other lectures recently, and the other keynote is from Canadian game industry don, uh, Don Mattrick. Fun times.]

The founding doctors of BioWare have been confirmed to deliver a keynote speech at the first Game Developers Conference Canada in Vancouver this may.

Dr. Gregory P. Zeschuk, BMSc, MD, MBA, Vice President, Entertainment and Miscellaneous, BioWare and Vice President, Electronic Arts, and Dr. Raymond A. Muzyka, BMSc, MD, CCFP, MBA, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, Electronic Arts, have titled their address "Emotionally Engaging Narrative: Gaming's New Frontier."

The talk will take place on the second day of GDC Canada, which runs May 12-13, 2009.

Edmonton, Canada-headquartered BioWare is known for its story-centered games; currently, it is known to be developing the single-player RPGs Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, and the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Dres. Zeschuk and Muzyka founded BioWare in 1995 after completing medical school, with the intention to develop medical software, but quickly changed focus to computer roleplaying games. The company is now owned by Electronic Arts.

"We couldn't have found two more appropriate speakers for the inaugural GDC Canada, as Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk are two of the most esteemed members of the game development community worldwide, and certainly leaders amongst the Canadian game development community," said Izora de Lillard of Think Services Game Group (also GSW's parent company.

"Both are also pioneers of the move towards making games that tell rich stories and affect players on a deep emotional level; we look forward to hearing how they inspire the attendees of GDC Canada to push their games into what they are rightfully calling gaming’s 'new frontier.'"

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the above two shirts designs from illustrator Omnitarian will be sold through Fangamer, the Earthbound (or Mother, as it's known in Japan) merchandise shop run by the same people behind the dedicated Starmen.net community.

The piece on the right depicts a friendly salutation between Carbon Dog and Diamond Dog, the two forms for the guardian of Earthbound's Fire Spring. The Diamond Dog is considered one of the most difficult bosses in the game, due to his ability to "diamondize" party members with a single bite.

The other shirt, "Pandora's Happy Box", has a mob of enemies from Mother 3 (Earthbound's sequel), like the Cattlesnake and Zombie Dog, spilling out of a television.

The Fangamer forum is currently voting for which shirt will be printed and sold, and the two are pretty even at the time of this posting. Here are larger images of the artwork, each with two color variations:

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, links, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

As we roll inexorably into the weekend, we're back onto the RSS feeds for the GameSetLinks again, and this set is headed by yet more (interesting) discussion of the Quality Of Life issue in the game biz, as sparked by various IGDA controversies.

Also in here - Soren Johnson on some interesting side effects of OnLive, Troy Goodfellow on game archiving, plus weird IGF games, an excellent Dyson interview, and plenty more.

Bloop bleep:

T=Machine » What I believe in, for Quality of Life
The saga continues - some particularly interesting comments here - by Erin Hoffman and Eric Bethke, among others.

1UP's iPhone and Apple Gaming Blog : KarmaStar Developer Interview: Part One
Harvey Smith's surprisingly low-profile iPhone game, discussed with... him!

Crispy Gamer - Feature: Saved Games: Preserving the New TV
Good Troy Goodfellow piece: 'Ironically, it is the digital achievements that have had the least institutional structure for preservation.'

DESIGNER NOTES » Blog Archive » The Hidden Benefit of OnLive
'While [other] advantages are huge, of course, what really interests me is that making a game multi-player is now, essentially, trivial.'

Davide "m3xican" Coppola's Homepage - Top 10 Weirdest IGF Games
I'm not really sure when this was posted, but didn't see it before, and I will note that it includes my #1 weirdest IGF game of last year, 'Anigraphical Etude 9'.

The Independent Gaming Source - Alex May (Dyson) Interview
A really nice chat to the IGF finalist about indie and suchlike.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just as creating "demakes" of contemporary video games was in vogue toward the end of 2008, recreating packaging art for popular titles has become the new dance taking over the nation, as seen with Olly Moss's Video Game Classics series and Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday for classy game covers.

The NeoGAF community has joined the fray and come up with its own line of remade boxarts for The GAF collection, "a theoretical series of video game releases for the more serious collectors," similar to the film industry's Criterion Collection.

Many of the fan-made covers are predictable (and I agree with 61 Frames Per Second that the ones using actual game assets are kind of cheating), but there are several that stand out, such as the Gran Turismo packaging above and the six other pieces we've picked out here:

They all look great, but I adore the one on the bottom left for PSP's Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?. So many Prinnies!

Posted by Eric Caoili at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Future Stack has a created a collection of winsome desktop backgrounds taken from scenes of tiny black and white Mac games, as pointed out to us by Tiff Chow.

The wallpapers, most of which are available in several high resolution formats, come from a number of classics, from Information Access Technologies Armor Alley (pictured) to one of my favorites, Duane Blehm's Stunt Copter. There are also non-copter-based games featured, such as Lemmings and The Fool’s Errand.

Unfortunately, there isn't yet a background for the preferred late 80s/early 90s game of every bored student stuck in their school's computer lab and trawling AppleTalk, Bolo.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

[Continuing with unconventional slices of gaming life courtesy of GameSetWatch interviewer Todd Ciolek, we chat to Rhys Paul Hovey about his very odd, rather inspiring abstract game SYNTH.]

Rhys Paul Hovey’s SYNTH is an experimental game in many ways. It introduces itself as an strategic action title wherein players hunt for an exit, but that goal is hidden in levels full of elevators, trees, multiple pathways, teleporting altars, and fences that need specific color-coded power-ups before they’ll move aside.

Amid all of this, the player gets a laser, bombs, and a device that can serve as a vacuum or a blower. SYNTH also looks a bit different from the typical modern independent game, as its visual style is rooted in the less familiar territory of mathematics.

The soundtrack also follows unorthodox rules; like Rez and some other music games, SYNTH changes its background beats with each keystroke a player makes. Even the game’s stages can be generated by what the player types.

SYNTH remains a work in progress, though a demo is available now. We decided to get some additional insight into this offbeat game by tracking down its creator:

GameSetWatch: You've emphasized that SYNTH was programmed and runs "entirely with math." How did that differ from the usual methods of programming a game? How does the mathematics angle make SYNTH feel different?

Rhys Paul Hovey: Well, usually with 3-D games, the graphics are made by artists, with modeling software and touchpads and touch screens. With SYNTH all of the graphics have a mathematical language formulation. In the end, it looks very different, as where human artists tend to mimic reality, math looks very abstract.

How would you describe SYNTH's gameplay in terms of other genres? Is it influenced by games like Rez or Vib Ribbon?

Honestly, I feel that SYNTH's gameplay, once you figure it out, is sort of an RTS-arcade game mixed together. I add RTS in there because in SYNTH, unlike most other arcade games, there is not always an "immediate danger," so it becomes more about the resource management strategy associated with the game’s "powers," being Red, Green, and Blue, which stand for Bomb,Life, and Wind.

Part of SYNTH was supposed to be figuring it out; some people like this, some don't. I must honestly say that I've never played Rez or Vib Ribbon. I did most of my playing of games on older machines. I'm a C-64/Amiga gamer, although I have worked professionally in games at EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar, Climax and some others.

How does the gameplay in it compare to the typical RTS title?

Like I said, SYNTH is barely an RTS, but if you actually try to get to the 40th or 50th level on SYNTH, then it does become very strategic, because in SYNTH it is very easy to waste your power.

Basically what happens in SYNTH is the "utility/usefulness" of the power ups decreases as your level increases, so to actually get really far in the game, you need to be strategic with your resources, and spend time “mining” for life, and “feeding” for wind, and knowing when and where to feed properly. But, yeah, it is pretty hard to compare SYNTH to Command and Conquer or Populous II. It's definitely not your typical RTS.

So does the gameplay work more like a shooter than an RTS? Could you go into more detail about how the scoring system in SYNTH works?

The scoring system in SYNTH needs a little work. It basically scores more like a shooter, but some of the things that you would think may score high, don't score at all. Score may be a bit deceptive, and if you go for score, you may end up dying faster.

It's funny because my marketing strategy for SYNTH is "built on sin" because the word "sin" (from trigonometry) appeared so many times in the code (over 800), so Satan did make his way into the numbers on this game. So he's up to his old tricks, and the scoring will be sort of like that, it needs more work though.

Were there any old C-64 or Amiga games that inspired SYNTH's gameplay?

There are some elements of some of the top-down shooters from that time period, but due to the fact that SYNTH is 3-D, and requires 2GB of RAM, and a nice GPU/CPU, it really does not share that much with too many older games. I think graphically, though, I tried to aim for some of the cool-looking stuff that was coming out of Europe during the Amiga time period, Psygnosis was into Roger Dean, and Roger Dean's artwork was a big influence on this game.

On the other hand, though, SYNTH is a vector-hybrid game, and has some vector graphics, but it has so much vector graphics that this could have never been done on those old machines. For example, check out the "carpet" on level 2.

Is there an overall goal to SYNTH, in the traditional beat-the-boss sense?

Nope, there is no overall goal to SYNTH, other than to get to the highest level possible. For debugging purposes I've had it over level 100.

You've described SYNTH as "the weirdest video game ever created." Why do you think it earns that title?

Well, that's my ego talking mostly, but I really did try really hard at every step in the process to ensure maximum weirdness. Blunted, shameless self-promotion, as they say. That's really up to the user to decide. I made sure to pick a subjective word like "weird"

Does SYNTH generate levels based on any sounds? You mentioned that it can generate graphics from swear words.

SYNTH is set up to generate its levels from four-letter words, you can see the name of the level in the upper left hand corner. I plan to give people the ability to type them in on the final version. "BGNI" is the first level.

How is the music generated? How does the game create it to match the player's input?

The music in SYNTH is dynamically remixed through SYNTH's build in loop-sequence remixer. The sounds that went into it were pre-composed by me. I have about 15 years experience with synthesizers. SYNTH has a really strange algorithm that "remixes" the loop sequence based on your keystrokes and on a preset algorithm. SYNTH is actually more like a beat box than it is like guitar hero or something. Basically the keys themselves change the music; the music is not really part of the gameplay.

You've cited Pink Floyd as an influence for SYNTH. Any other music references players should watch for?

Actually, Pink Floyd was more of a visual influence, and a band that I listened to a lot while programming. The current set of sounds is much more of a tek-house, sort of drum and bass mixture. Sometimes it sounds like some of the weirder stuff that DJ Sasha or DJ Dan would do. I've spent a fair amount of time in big nightclubs, as well as producing my own electronica.

Is Synth finalized? What are your plans once it's finished?

SYNTH is not done yet. It will need at least a few more months to reach version 1.0, and then I am hoping to get some kind of digital distribution deal. I'm not looking for very much for SYNTH; even $5 bucks would be nice. There will always be the freeware version, though.

I understand that by setting the computer specs so high with SYNTH that I am automatically dealing with a niche market, but it's a niche market that I like, and a market that I am part of as well. I think for any SYNTH fans (if they ever exist) the ability to type in a four-letter word and get a level from it will be attractive.

Right now you see SYNTH from 1 level "stream" starting at "BGNI." SYNTH in the final version will have more preset level streams and a "choose your own" mode.

Posted by Todd Ciolek at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

For most of us who don't live in California, New York City, Austin, or any other location of significance, this video is sort of an "Oh, so that's what a live chiptune show looks and sounds like" revelation.

Minusbaby put on this performance of São Roque -- a song written in and dedicated to a small city in São Paulo, Brasil, which he calls "one of the most beautiful places" he's ever lived in -- at a Liberty Lands Park, Philadelphia show held on August 8th, 2008.

The 08.08.08 edition of São Roque is available for download and streaming from 8bitcollective, but you can also grab the original song along with other four tracks from Minusbaby's Saudade for Beginners album for free at 8bitpeoples.

The album is described as aiming to "express life after the experience of saudade [a feeling of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one was fond of and which is lost], a term often discussed pedantically by the academe, but best left to music and poetry as in bossa nova and samba."

Posted by Eric Caoili at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[Every week, sister site GamerBytes' editor Ryan Langley passes along the top console digital download news tidbits from the past 7 days, including brand new game announcements and scoops through the world of Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare.]

As always, there's plenty of new titles coming out on console digital download platforms. This week on the Xbox Live Arcade we've got the long awaited Flock! and Puzzle Quest Galactrix debuting, as well as Penny Arcade Adventures now available for half the price for the rest of the week.

The PlayStation Store in North America got Comet Crash last week, and this week they'll be grabbing Rag Doll Kung Fu as well as Flock!. Finally, Wii owners in North America can now buy Equilibrio, a ball rolling puzzle game, and those in Europe can now buy Zelda: Majoras Mask.

Here's the highlights of this week's debuts, announcements and stories:

GamerBytes Originals

GamerBytes Analysis: XNACG Regional Sales And Conversion Rates
We see how XNA Community Games are selling in all regions.

Xbox Live Arcade

Flock, Puzzle Quest Galactrix, Cheap Penny Arcade Now Available On XBLA
Herd sheep and match three with the Xbox Live Arcade this week.

Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves XBLA Bound?
Classic arcade and Dreamcast fighting game on its way to the XBLA?

Twisted Pixel Announce 'Splode Man For XBLA
A man made of fission is coming, courtesy of the people who brought you The Maw.

Amazon.com Now Selling Xbox Live Arcade Games
U.S. residents can now buy XBLA codes through Amazon - with dollar prices.

PlayStation Network

Zombie Apocalypse Brings More Zombies To XBLA / PSN
Left 4 Dead meets Burn Zombie Burn in this twin stick Zombie shooter.

NA PSN Store Update - Tower Defense With Comet Crash
Haven't got enough of Tower Defense yet?

EU PSN Store Update - Have You Got Enough PAIN Characters Yet? Have Some More!
Just how many more characters are going to be available for PAIN?

WiiWare

Defend Against Beavers In Robocalypse: Beaver Defense
More Tower Defense, this time on the Wii and against beavers.

Furry Legends Rolling Your Way
Physics-based ball platformer on its way.

Squibs Arcade Brings LCD Games To WiiWare
Ever feel like going back to the old Tiger handheld games? This game lets you do that, complete with parodies of new titles.

EU WiiWare Update - Zelda: Majora's Mask On Virtual Console
All Zelda games now available on the Virtual Console.

NA WiiWare Update - Equilibrio
This ball rolling title now available on both iPhone and WiiWare.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Easily the oddest game title in recent memory, Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? will be a localized version of Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida, Acquire's curious build-a-dungeon ant farm (in which the ants are monsters that protect your underground base from invading heroes taken from conventional RPGs) for the PSP.

The original Japanese title has several translations, from "For a warrior, you’re pretty impudent" to "They’re uppity even for heroes". According to Hardcore Gaming 101, which has a fantastic in-depth article on the series, the title comes from a phrase used by Nobita Nobi from the Doraemon manga/anime: "Nobita no kuse ni namaikida." Acquire's approach to picking that name is fitting, as the game is steeped in Japanese pop culture and RPG in-jokes.

Seeing as Doraemon's blue robotic cat hasn't caught on outside of Japan, the title doesn't have as much appeal in the U.S. Still, where does one get HIOPBWDIDTDT from that? Haphazard focus group testing? Repeated machine translations of the original Japanese text through dozens of languages (e.g. Japanese to Polish to Finnish to Khoisian to English)?

Nippon Ichi Software America's departing script editor Phoenix Spaulding says the process was much less involved than that: "Our editor came up with the "Holy _______, Batman!" motif idea, and I filled in the blank, threw in Badman, and spewed out the subtitle on a whim."

Marketing coordinator Nao Zook adds, "The Japanese title for this game was awesome. I really liked it. But we wanted to make it more for the gamers in the U.S. So, we decided to change the tile, which NA gamers can relate to and get the joke. I think the US version of [Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida's] title is as awesome as the JP version."

That seems as good an explanation as any. Judging by the screenshot below from the English version, NIS America is having no trouble localizing Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida's humor and parody.

Hopefully, the preorder-unfriendly title won't stifle sales to the point where NIS America decides not to bring its polished sequel stateside afterwards. I suppose that game would be Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This Again?

Posted by Eric Caoili at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

GameSetWatch's neato sister educational site GameCareerGuide has posted the results of its 'Fresh Horror' game design challenge.

In it, readers conceptualized alternative approaches to the horror game genre, from "a game in which the environment itself is the antagonist" to a title that "forces players to form an uneasy alliance with a creature that serves as both savior and executioner."

As the introduction to the article, which includes a total of ten winning game design explanations, outlines:

"GameCareerGuide challenged its readers to come up with a game design concept that explored horror in a fresh way. Though the proposed game could feature many of the same elements that made the genre successful, entrants were encouraged to avoid the more cliched concepts.

Many of the entries focused on creating an experience themed around a tried-and-true nemesis: the zombie. While the undead have been featured in numerous titles, a few entries remained fresh enough to be compelling despite the zombie's recurring presence in modern horror games.

What follows are the best and most original entries we received."

Interested readers can now read the full GameCareerGuide.com story revealing the winners - and the site has also just set a new Game Design Challenge, about conceptualizing a DSiWare game.

GCG's editors would like you to come up with a game that takes advantage of the platform and could reasonably be expected to be delivered over the Nintendo DSiWare network.

Entries may be rewarded for paying special attention to the DSi's unique capabilities, but the bite-sized software prices (as low as $2) also mean unique but tiny experiences can be created -- more information is available via a GameCareerGuide.com article.

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With everything Backbone Entertainment is adding to the XBLA port of Space Invaders Extreme, this console version should be the definitive release. Compared to the DS and PSP games release last year -- which we held up as the top portable releases of 2008 -- this update adds four-player online multiplayer, four-player local co-op in Arcade Mode, new stages, and revamped graphics.

The upcoming Xbox 360 version also features new "synthetically organic visualizer backgrounds" created by Llamasoft's Jeff Minter, which are designed to synchronize with the music and gameplay, increasing in intensity and saturation according to the invaders' speed and formation changes. Here's a clip showing off the new visualizers:

Perhaps it's my portable bias, but as crisp and appealing as this port looks, something about the XBLA trailer seems less exciting, less hectic than its portable counterparts. Or maybe it's all the extra space with the game displayed on a bigger screen? Also, it's a shame that there isn't an Xbox 360 paddle controller.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, links, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

Continuing with the GameSetLinks goodness, here's a selection of wordy but worthy of a response, starting out with the awesomeness of German board games, thanks to Wired.

Also in here - some more discussion on the Game Critics Rant, Ben Heckendorn (pictured!) showing off some of his awesome, crazed modded machines, some more good retrospectives, and a few more besides.

Go go go:

Wired: 'Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game Redefines Genre'
An excellent piece on stern academic German game design genius.

GAMBIT: Updates: Games' Social History
'As more games outside of the MUD-MMO genealogy remember to incorporate social play into the designs, the unpredictability of dynamics might be entering earlier and earlier.How could we archive a game mechanic?'

The Making Of: Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy | NowGamer
Another super-good Retro Gamer profile on Imagine's new megasite - were these online before?

The Plush Apocalypse » Blog Archive » Game Critics Rant - thoughts
Borut goes into some interesting reactions on, uh, reactions, particularly piquant is: 'While a game like Noby Noby Boy is certainly not power fantasy, eating my own ass isn’t exactly pushing the medium any further.' Hee.

The Wizard of Mod | OXM ONLINE
Ben Heck exposed!

Attribution and Affiliation on All Things Digital - Waxy.org
Interesting discussion on reblogging, which is relevant to games (we've been linked twice on Gama), getting more and more prevalent, and was high-profile weird in this case.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaking recently on the importance of working with developers to grow WiiWare, Nintendo's senior director of product development Tom Prata pointed out that marketing titles for its downloadable platform has been difficult. “I think there’s more that Nintendo can do for support,” he said. “This year, Nintendo will increase resources for development and support.”

One way Nintendo is calling attention to WiiWare releases from small and independent studios -- and has been since the service's launch -- is by putting out "Developer's Voice" videos that share in-game footage and insight from the team who worked on the title. The clips, usually several minutes long, are primarily available through Wii's Nintendo Channel, but are also posted on game video sites.

Some of the WiiWare games previously featured on the Developer's Voice series include Frontier Developments's LostWinds, 2D Boy's World of Goo, Gaijin Games' Bit.Trip:Beat, and WayForward's Lit. There's even one for Big Fish Games' hidden object DS title Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir.

Edmund McMillen mentioned that he recorded one while at GDC for Super Meat Boy, and it's likely that video interviews are also forthcoming for Nicalis' Night Game and Cave Story. The most recently uploaded Developer's Voice video was for Zoonami's Bonsai Barber:

While this does show effort on Nintendo's part to call attention to independently developed WiiWare games, I imagine that the number of people who actually watch videos on the Nintendo Channel is a tiny fraction of Wii's core audience, much less of the console's total install base.

And it seems as if the only way most gamers will come across the Developer's Voice clips is if they already know about the titles and are seeking more information on them; it would be difficult for an average gamer to find the videos while casually browsing their usual online haunts.

Perhaps more aggressive promotion is needed to draw gamers' attention to the clips (alongside promotion for the actual games) -- email blasts, press releases, banner ads, or even real-world advertisements. Nintendo's railway station signs in Japan publicizing individual Virtual Console releases for example, like this Gradius piece, were fantastic to see:

I would love to see a giant billboard for Cave Story.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[It happens to be the MI6 Conference in SF today, and Gamasutra and GSW's own Chris Remo is there, reporting on some of the notable panels and lectures. And this write-up, since it's about blogs and game PR, seems particularly GSW-worthy.]

During a panel held at the MI6 game marketing conference in San Francisco, game industry PR notables discussed talked public relations via user communities and user expression -- and how the shift away from print media toward the "wild west" of game blogs is affecting their field.

The panel was moderated by Jonathan Simpson-Bint, president of Future US, and featured EA Games PR senior director Tammy Schachter, Bethesda marketing and PR VP Pete Hines, Bohle Company president Sue Bohle, and IGN Entertainment Game Sales VP Kym Nelson.

If PR empowers users, said Nelson, “They can turn around and create sort of an evangelist community for you. ...Even though we think that's new media, it's actually an age-old principle that can be very successful.”

Bohle agreed. "If they don't create excitement about the game before the game launches, the game will not be successful," she said -- and this is particularly true for hardcore games.

Hines expanded on the move towards community-based PR, but offered a word of caution in the age of news sites and blogs that can report on even minor stories nearly instantaneously.

"I see a lot of companies now taking advantage of the community aspect,", he said. "But one of the things we've seen over the years...there is still a lack of understanding from my perspective” about how to communicate with the game community.

"Never tell the customer that they're wrong. Don't ever get in an argument with everybody. Assume that anything you post will...show up on a Kotaku, on IGN, on GameSpot. I see a lot folks...trying to be interactive and work with the community and foster the idea that it's just us having a chat, but we're never just having a chat. It always has the possibility to go wider. ...You can't take it back."

Nelson said that game PR is becoming less about controlling the message and becoming more about a role of overseeing communities rather than dominating the message.

"Rather than look as it as a way to control the users, its our responsibility as experts to parent the community, and give them the tools to proliferate their messages, and be a guiding force," she said.

She described how at IGN, the company recruits specific individuals, calls them community managers, and they take the role of doing that parenting around IGN's own gamer communities around specific games.

"That idea of parenting rather than controlling...just shifts what our role is," she added.

Simpson-Bint asked if any of the panelists had any stories of particularly challenging or successful PR campaigns.

"We had both the privilege and the curse of picking up this established franchise,” Hines answered, recalling the intense early outcry among much of the Fallout fan community that Bethesda should not have been touching the series.

"We weren't even going to attempt to control anything. As a father of a young boy, I can barely even control my five-year-old. ...We're going to interact with the folks who are willing to listen to what we want to do, and for the folks who just weren't going to listen, we weren't going to try."

However, Bohle argued that the games industry is behind the film industry when it comes to creatively branching out beyond those tight, insular communities – for example, the ad campaign for The Dark Knight that positioned the character Harvey Dent as a real-life political candidate. Marketing out in unusual places and ways can bring in new people who may not already be invested in the property.

"The guy who's doing it the best is Shaq," said Hines. "He has a ludicrous number of Twitter subscribers." He pointed to an article describing a fan who was able to have lunch with Shaquille O'Neal because he happened to be in the same restaurant as the basketball star when he sent out a Twitter message. That kind of thing isn't just meaningless messaging, said Hines – it builds O'Neal's reputation and notability.

Schachter reflected on how much the game media is changing, particularly with "print shrinking" -- to which Simpson-Bint looked pained and interjected, "Steady, steady."

The EA exec continued with the train of thought, adding that the decreasing influence of print is dangerous, because print outlets still tend to do considerably more extensive fact-checking and in-depth reporting. While some online sites do this, it is much more rare, she pointed out.

"It's unfortunate that we're seeing a shrinking of print, because it's eating at the integrity of our journalism,” she said. "Where are our journalists going to come from?"

Hines then told a story where a blog declared he had stated the next Elder Scrolls game would be an MMO, when he never said anything of the sort.

Upon confronting the writer for the blog about the misquote, the writer simply responded that blogs have the leeway to write speculative or extrapolated stories, even though the story was not characterized that way.

"The bigger issue isn't individual outlets, but the overall trend," Schachter said. "For outlets that don't have the legacy of print, it's a little more Wild West."

Bohle said her firm actually frequently tells its clients not to respond to inaccurate stories or probing questions, particularly because the story can potentially always be framed in a way that will cause the community to lash out against the company.

"You don't ever have to respond to somebody's questions," Hines noted. "They can ask a question in a way that there's absolutely no way you can answer" without coming off poorly, he said.

"If somebody asks, 'A lot of people say you sucked and your game sucked,' there's no way to answer that without sounding defensive. ...Just wait them out and move on."

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A mobile version of Gish, Cryptic Sea's 2005 IGF Grand Prize-winning physics platformer for PC, has been released on several mobile operators' portals, courtesy of Czech-based publisher Pixalon Studios. Interestingly, Cryptic's Edmund McMillen (Super Meat Boy, Coil) himself didn't work on the project, as the port was handled by freelance developer Hardwire and Sweden's Erphenic Studios.

The game, which you can see a video for after the break, stars the eponymous 12-pound tar ball and features 50+ single-player levels, 25+ multiplayer levels, deathmatches and race levels, three environments, and support for Zeemote's mobile joystick controllers.

There are no plans yet for an iPhone or iPod Touch version of Gish: The Mobile Game, but Hardwire says he would like to work on a release for Android, as the platform supports Java.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over 25 years since Atari first debuted Major Havoc, someone has created a level editor for the Owen Rubin-designed 1983 vector-based arcade game.

Jess Askey -- whose zeal for the title has driven him to add new stages, speech support, and other hacks to Major Havoc in the past eight years -- released a free Beta version of the editor last month.

According to comments from Askey following its initial release, he hopes to to update it with a run/preview function and the ability to dump the levels to a ROM in the future.

The maze editor already has a lot going for it, though, as it features an easy drag and drop graphical interface for every possible element -- "walls, enemies, boots, cannons, [and] clocks."

You can download the Beta Major Havoc Level Editor here (.NET Framework 3.5 required).

Posted by Eric Caoili at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every year, Japan receives dozens of new mahjong video games (a slight exaggeration), based on China's centuries-old board game. They come in many varieties -- four-player classic mahjong, single-player versions, anime-themed (Gundam, Evangelion) releases, hentai mahjong, etc. The Shenmue and Yakuza series even have mahjong games available as distractions.

The variants can be confusing for those unfamiliar with the classic Chinese game, though, especially when they're in a foreign language, which is why import shop Rising Stuff has put up a condensed guide titled "Mahjong for the Japanese Impaired".

Providing game tiles for reference, the guide offers details on how to quickly identify pieces, sets, and winning hands. You'll be defeating chibi versions of rival Gundam pilots and disrobing anime women with your mahjong mastery in no time!

Posted by Eric Caoili at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Continuing his series of GameSetWatch-exclusive 'Sound Current' audio interviews, Jeriaska catches up with Super Smash Bros' Masahiro Sakurai and veteran Square Enix composer Kenji Ito to discuss a recent Japanese game music concert.]

Taking place at the Uchisaiwaicho Hall in Chiyoda, Tokyo on February 21st, the "gentle echo meeting" was a special celebration of the music of Kenji Ito, organized by promotional studio and event coordinator Harmonics International. The mix of live performance and discussion brought together five musicians to play eight pieces from the composer's repertoire, largely belonging to epic role-playing games of various console eras.

Kenji Ito is a central figure associated with Square Enix's 20th anniversary of the SaGa series this year, and is currently arranging his songs for the Nintendo DS remake of SaGa 2, released in English language regions as Final Fantasy Legend II in 1991.

Revisiting classics has been a returning motif of his career, as Sword of Mana for the Game Boy Advance and Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song for the Playstation 2 both contained revised arrangements from earlier titles. Pieces from both remakes were featured at the gentle echo meeting, along with selections from Culdcept Saga, Pop'n Music, and other console videogames.

Between songs the composer performed on the guitar and piano, he discussed his music with Super Smash Bros. series director Masahiro Sakurai. In Japan Sakurai is a familiar emcee, having presided over the Press Start Symphony of Games orchestral concert series.

In this interview, Sakurai speaks about his dual role as game designer and commentator. In addition, we hear from Koji Suga of Harmonics International on planning Harmonics events like the gentle echo meeting. Finally, Kenji Ito shares his impressions of the event and details regarding his upcoming soundtrack to SaGa 2 for the Nintendo DS.

This overview provides some unique insights into how one of the most experienced creators of videogame music chose to connect with his listeners through a unique live performance.

GSW: Sakurai-san, thank you for joining us for this discussion on the subject of the gentle echo meeting. You have been closely involved in organizing the Press Start concert series since its inception. What led to your working closely with videogame musicians in Japan?

Sakurai: As far as Press Start is concerned, it came about as the result of five friends having a drink together. We were saying, "You know, game music... it's so good. Don't you think we should spread the word?" And the answer was, "Yes, we should." We were just thinking aloud, but we suddenly realized looking around the table that the five of us assembled there could actually make it happen. To put it another way, if we weren't the ones to make this concept a reality, perhaps no one could.

You might call me an amateur when it comes to music, but in terms of game music I know quite a lot, about the classics in particular. This knowledge came in handy in determining which songs were included in the Press Start concert. As a game designer, it aided my direction of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

GSW: Was there any difference in your experience between presenting at industry events such as the Game Developers Conference, and on the other hand leading this discussion in Chiyoda?

Sakurai: It does not make too much of a difference to me, being in front of people. The important thing is to feel that the audience is supportive of the message. In that sense, both speaking at GDC and the gentle echo meeting has gone smoothly.

GSW: How did you become familiar with Kenji Ito's music?

Sakurai: Speaking now of Ito-san's music, you could say that the Romancing SaGa battle themes have left an impression on me. They have a vivid beauty to them. That being said, his feeling was that for the gentle echo meeting it would be more appropriate to feature songs that were less aggressive, with a subtler mood to them. I definitely have an appreciation for both these varieties of songs.

GSW: Were there any aspects of the discussion that you found surprising?

Sakurai: Yes, that Ito-san had applied to work at HAL Laboratory. He could easily have joined the company and ended up writing music for the Kirby games.

GSW: How did preparation for the event go?

Sakurai: Very well. When we met, the conversation always seemed to flow naturally. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I heard that Nintendo had granted us permission to include music from Super Smash Bros Brawl.

GSW: At the end of the meeting you made a special announcement confirming that the 2009 Press Start Symphony of Games will take place in August. How might those that are interested in the concert find out about details as they unfold?

Sakurai: By bookmarking the following address:

http://fami-web.jp/pressstart/

This is where you will find the latest news on the concert series, so long as you don't mind that it's all in Japanese.

GSW: Suga-san, thank you for joining us. Can you tell us a little about the recent events Harmonics has been involved in organizing in Japan?

Suga: As far as our activities locally, we have regularly been organizing recordings of orchestral game music. Recently we held an official event for music enthusiasts and fans of the Korg DS-10 software. As far as full orchestra performances go, we have been involved in events such as the 5th Anniversary Monster Hunter Concert and Music Festival.

My feeling is that the experience of listening to videogame music in a live venue is very special. For one, it offers a new environment for game players to socialize with one another and strike up conversations. From a developer's perspective, it is valuable to have the opportunity to see your audience with your own eyes in such a context. Organizing this kind of event is important because it can be an emotionally moving experience for listeners and motivational for creators as well.

GSW: What were some of the primary intentions behind organizing the Chiyoda gathering?

Suga: The strongest impetus was Ito-san's wish to put together his own musical event. Originally only a discussion was planned. However, when we found out that the director of the music space was an old high school classmate of Ito-san's, it became a discussion and live music performance at his insistence. The objective was to make Ito-san's first experience as the host of a musical event something that would inform the audience and add to their appreciation of the music.

GSW: In terms of the international focus of Harmonics, what are your objectives outside of Japan?

Suga: One development that is hard not to notice is that in recent years the number of people that are interested in videogame music has increased, both within Japan and abroad. However, listeners in Japan are not familiar with musicians from other language regions, and international music fans are not so knowledgeable on the whole about Japanese composers.

We are investigating both here and abroad into organizing musical events that break the mold. We hope to be in a position to bridge the cultural gaps to bring together great music with listeners around the world.

GSW: In your view, what aspects of the videogame music industry do you feel are deserving of more attention?

Suga: The resources available to videogame composers today is coming closer to what is seen in the film industry, as game hardware becomes increasingly sophisticated. What might be deserving of increased attention is the role that videogame music is playing in expanding the appreciation of music at large, for any number of musical genres.

GSW: What were some of the challenges you encountered as an organizer of the gentle echo meeting?

Suga: The performers and other participants were incredibly supportive of Ito-san's music, so there were no major difficulties that we encountered. We had planned on playing background music from Smash Bros. and SaGa 2 during the discussion. Receiving permission from Nintendo and Square Enix was therefore the greatest challenge in putting the event together.

GSW: What can you tell us about the performers, credited as violinist Aya Yoda, guitarist Wanogen, bass player Hiroki Ohno and Beklee College of Music graduate, drummer Kiyotaka Takiyama?

Suga: The participants for this performance were invited by Ito-san. It was my first time working with them and I think they all were very enthusiastic in their support of the composer. I hope to have the chance to work with them again.

GSW: Ito-san, thank you for offering your time to this conversation about the gentle echo meeting. When did you first become aware of Harmonics International and how has the company been instructive in coordinating this live event?

Kenji Ito: We have had the chance to work together going all the way back to the Squaresoft days, so it has been fun to collaborate as this team has become more independent in their work projects. Moreover, the venue for this event has a long history of association with Harmonics International. When I was looking into working with the managers of the concert hall in 2008, I was surprised to discover upon meeting the director that we went to school together. It was a miraculous discovery that would not have occurred without the participation of Harmonics International.

GSW: What personal experiences working with Sakurai-san did you bring to this collaboration on the gentle echo meeting?

Kenji Ito: Previously we have worked together, behind the scenes on game design, and first met at Press Start in 2006. There I appeared on stage and performed on the piano. Just an hour after the event, we were talking and I remember he casually mentioned, "You know, I'm just beginning a new project and it could really benefit from the participation of Ito-Ken. What do you think?" (laughs)

GSW: The famous "Opening" from Romancing SaGa made an appearance at the gentle echo meeting, which is a melody that has tied together the installments of the series for the 16-bit Super Famicom. How has this song evolved over time?

Kenji Ito: During the days when I was writing music for the Super Nintendo, we were restricted on the number of simultaneous audio channels, which made certain choices for orchestration impossible. Often I would wish for the chance to hear the song performed by a full orchestra. That became a reality, both with the production of the Playstation 2 remake and Press Start 2006, which for me was a stirring experience. This time I made a conscious decision to present the audience with a new interpretation, one involving a chamber music arrangement and solo piano performance.

GSW: Departing from role-playing territory, "Dance to Blue" represents a selection from Pop'n Music 16. Does the gameplay of a rhythm action title require a different process of composing?

Kenji Ito: When it comes to composing for music games, the developers are aware that game players often request songs that ask you to tap the gamepad really aggressively. That consideration seems to cause me the most difficulty.

GSW: This event was of course focused on instrumental arrangements of your music. In the past you are also known to have created a number of distinctive vocal tracks. Can you tell us a little about writing these songs for such games as Culdcept Saga and the Romancing SaGa remake?

Kenji Ito: On these tracks, I worked on writing the vocal part and the instrumental arrangement together from the start. Above all, the song "Passionate Rhythm" has received the most positive feedback. For many listeners, a strong impression has been left by this song, which is largely attributable to the work of Kyoko Kishikawa as vocalist.

GSW: Was performing at the EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event in 2007 very different in its feel from the meeting at Uchisaiwaicho Hall?

Kenji Ito: The 2007 EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event was huge in scope and the response from the crowd was overwhelming. By contrast, here the emphasis was on the "meeting" of "gentle echo meeting."

GSW: A blog post on the topic of the gentle echo meeting appeared on the developers' website of the SaGa 2 remake. Like this meeting, the title promises to bring together nostalgic melodies with contemporary arrangements. Has the experience of working on remakes previously given you a better idea of what audio techniques to employ on SaGa 2?

Kenji Ito: For this remake I will be arranging Nobuo Uematsu's compositions as well as my own. To tell you the truth, it reminds me of my time working on Chocobo Racing at Square. That title included remixes of themes from various Final Fantasy series installments. In that sense, the experience is similar to arranging the soundtrack to Chocobo Racing.

GSW: In closing, for those who live outside of Japan that have enjoyed your music over the years, is there a message you might wish to share to extend this discussion of videogame music to an overseas audience?

Kenji Ito: The title "gentle echo" reflects my wish to create songs that you can listen to while you relax. I really appreciate the record label Windham Hill for this reason. I am sure I will be working on more videogame music as time goes by, but I am also interested in expanding into different forms, such as ballads. I hope you will look forward to it.

[Interview conducted by Jeriaska. Translation by Ryojiro Sato. This article is available in Japanese on Game Design Current, in French on Squaremusic, in Italian at Gamesource.it and in Russian at Game-OST. Images courtesy of Square Enix. Photos by YOKO Tanaka.]

Posted by jeriaska at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell showed off a fetching painting from the 2006 i am 8-bit show on his blog, reimagining his "all-time favorite arcade game character" Sinistar with Max's head -- the outer space villain seems a lot less intimidating with bunny ears!

See the full piece after the break, along with another bonus Sinistar painting from Purcell that debuted at the first i am 8-bit show in 2005.

"RUN COWARD! RUN! RUN! RUN!"

"I Hunger"

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, links, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

Clonking on with the GameSetLinks RSS goodness, in between the fluffed-out marvels of Eric Caoili's daily posts (now _this_ is what I thought GSW would be, before I got too damn busy), this one is headlined by a Segalicious NowGamer, the new UK site that aggregates good writing from GamesTM and RetroGamer, among others.

Also in here - text adventures in multifarious shapes and sizes, as well as the Preservation SIG's whitepaper and Tim Schafer in ever ebullient form, huzzah.

Up for the...:

The Making of NiGHTS | NowGamer
The brand new NowGamer has a bunch of neat making-of articles up now from GamesTM and RetroGamer, among other mags.

The Reticule: What is ‘Indie’, Anyway?
Another interesting indie discussion, if ever confusing - but that's the fun of it.

Gelf Magazine: 'Blogging Journalism's Downfall'
In the future: 'A lot of people will be demi-journalists.'

selectbutton :: View topic - The Magic Word: A Definitive Interactive Fiction Compilation
Wow, an extremely impressive compilation: 'Now that I've revised it, this package is everything IF-related that anyone could possibly want, covering from 1966 through 2008.'

Wonderland: x48 gamecamp games - now playable
The Channel 4/Alice sponsored 48-hour XNA jam in the UK, on Darwin - v.cool stuff.

Tim Schafer Profile from 1UP.com
'If someone made a Saturday morning cartoon version of Schafer, and fused it with a cartoon version of Jack Black, it would be Riggs.'

Game Preservation SIG/White Paper/Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper - IGDAwiki
Newly debuted: '2008 White Paper answering the "Why should we preserve videogames?" for developers / studios, containing information on the "Why" as well as a little practical advice on "How" at the end.'

XYZZY Awards 2008 - IFWiki
The very best text adventures of the year.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Germany-based studio Reakktor Media pulled the curtain back on its space action MMO Black Prophecy -- which I presume is significantly less pleasant than prophecies of the peach or turquoise variety -- with an earnest cinematic trailer promising stellar battles, an abundance of explosions, and menacing spacecrafts modeled after giant Klingon bat'leths.

The real highlight of the video, however, is the voice actor narrarating the clip. Perhaps someone should have pointed out to him that the trailer isn't meant to be that epic, calling for another, less enthusiastic take. "One more time, with less feeling." Actually, I secretly hope that when Black Prophecy enters its open beta phase later this year, it will be teeming with audio bites like this.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Word reaches us, via an official press release, woo, that SpikeTV has picked up MoCap, LLC, an originally Internet-distributed comedy centered around a fictional motion capture studio, for six half-hour episodes airing at a late-night slot (12:00-12:30am ET/PT) starting April 24th on the U.S. cable network.

Based on Worldwide Biggies' "popular web series", MoCap, LLC is presented as a fake documentary -- think The Office -- following a low-rent motion capture studio in the video game industry taking any work that comes its way. Here's a clip from the web version of MoCap, LLC that will give you an idea of what to expect -- hurray for vulgarity!

To promote the web version of show, Worldwide Biggies has previously put out a sadistic Flash game in which you beat a guy who looks like Jack Black one of MoCap, LLC's stars to near death, attacking him with hammers, baseball bats, jackhammers, and more. I have no idea why Spike TV and Worldwide Biggies wants everyone to injure this poor man.

Still, some people seem to like the show, with NewTeeVee's Chris Albrecht noting of earlier online incarnations of the series that its "cheeky geek humor will definitely entertain". Would it be bad to suggest that the show might be 2009's Code Monkeys? YMMV!

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[In this new opinion piece, Gamasutra news director Leigh Alexander refutes Heather Chaplin's much-discussed GDC rant on maturity and "guy culture" in games.]

If games can't "grow up," is it because their creators can't?

A couple weeks ago, on the last day of GDC, the IGDA's popular annual "rant" session convened a panel of game critics including MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo, X-Play host Adam Sessler, the Wall Street Journal's Jamin Brophy-Warren, Smartbomb co-author Heather Chaplin, former Newsweek writer and new-minted creative consultant N'Gai Croal and me.

It was our chance to vent our spleen individually -- Totilo urged other writers to improve their craft, Brophy-Warren made a passionate plea for more character diversity in games, Croal noted the uselessness of the old "hardcore" and "casual" labels, Sessler took up arms against Metacritic, and I decried the negativity in the ecosystem among developers, journalists and the audience we both share.

But the most-discussed rant after the fact was Chaplin's, excellently-delivered and direct. She asserted that the familiar defense that games themselves are an adolescent medium -- one I'll cop to trotting out myself fairly often -- is a straw man.

We frequently cite the young age of video games, she says, but when film was this age, it was about to birth Citizen Kane. When popular music was this age, Chaplin said, it had its Beatles already.

She argued that games' age is not the correct source of blame for the often insultingly juvenile nature of games, the tiresome prevalence of space marines, bikini girls and typified young male power fantasies. Her point: Games aren't adolescent. It's game developers who are a bunch of, in her words, "fucking adolescents."

If you were at that panel, then you probably saw my jaw on the floor at that. My first reaction was that I was simply so impressed that she had the stones to get up and say that to a room full of male developers. Agree or disagree, you had to applaud her -- and nearly everyone did.

After all, who isn't a bit sick by now of seeing Lord of the Rings and Star Wars treated as if they are the absolute only two extant cultural sources for non-realistic narratives?

The games that we hold up as groundbreaking in terms of story, immersion, emotion here in the West, are what -- Oblivion? Mass Effect? Half-Life? Let me be enormously clear, here: Those are great games any way you slice it, and I have the highest genuine respect for the teams behind them and the way in which they try to further human interaction in their very high-quality work.

But plainly: That's nerd stuff.

And hey. I'm a nerd. Just to be clear I'm not holier-than-thou here, I run a video game blog in my spare time. But every time I hear a game designer talk about how they hope video games can be "sophisticated" and "reach broader audiences" the way that comic books can, I die a little inside. Comic books are cool and all, but if I thought video games would stay stuck in that niche, I'd quit writing.

I agree with Chaplin: Boob-heavy big gun fantasies aimed at young men are not mature at all, and I want developers to do better.

Although to be fair I'm largely paraphrasing her argument here, Chaplin essentially maintained that this adolescent "guy culture" and the games it produces prevents development from diversifying -- it repels women who might bring alternate perspectives to the table, it repels, basically, everyone who isn't part of it, which means that games are in danger of staying stuck in this self-perpetuating rut.

The rut's real. She's right about that. And there may be some small holes in her argument: Music went through centuries of widespread cultural permeation before it could birth rock. By then, it was already a reflection of the human condition, a sign of the times. Film was much more widely respected as an entertainment medium right from its inception. And while on the timeline games should chronologically be ready to produce a Citizen Kane, the concept of game-as-art, as something other-than-toy, is much younger than the medium's overall age. Many of these possibilities are still new to us.

But those are technicalities. Where I take a sharp detour from her argument is where she accuses developers of arrested development. She says that true sophistication in games requires "responsibility, introspection, intimacy, and intellectual discovery," traits she says "frighten men."

She even raised (and educated me in) the biology concept of neoteny, whereby new species begin to resemble the embryos of the animals from whence they evolved -- Chihuahuas, for example, look like fetal wolves.

The takeaway: Game developers are men who are so backward they're more like babies than adults. She asked the audience pointedly: "Do you want to be a Chihuahua or a wolf?"

According to Chaplin, these baby-dog developers are so childish the only material they're capable of manifesting creatively is the "adolescent male power fantasies" they can't actualize in reality. Translated plain, she's calling them impotent.

Hold up. Chaplin wants more emotional maturity, more sophistication, and less adolescence for games -- and that's a hard wish to argue. Seriously, let's all maybe read a few more books, guys, let's maybe watch a few more films, let's try to gain some further cultural sophistication. Let's try for real sexuality instead of just half-dressed celluloid constructs.

Let's try for conflict that goes beyond the splattering headshot. Let's look at some more advanced examples of maturity in art than, say Watchmen, which is fine and all, but it ain't literature. Sorry.

But a dearth of cultural maturity -- and the social maturity that tends to go with that -- is a long, long way away from a lack of manhood. Okay, many game developers may be culturally unsophisticated, but challenging their human adulthood and masculinity is a really low blow. And blaming men's fabled "fear of intimacy" for just about everything is a chestnut as old as, well, Lord of the Rings.

I get comments, emails and correspondence with innumerable designers, writers, programmers, artists, producers, marketing folks, whatever you can name -- and to tell you the honest truth, I do not know anyone like the beastly children she described. Certainly, not a one of them would ever look me in the face and call me a "little girl." I'd sock 'em for that.

Why do power fantasies need to be childish -- what human being at any age dreams of being less powerful? And what does maturity have to do with gender, anyway?

Despite ever-increasing progressiveness, I'd never be so naive as to claim there's absolutely no "guy culture" in games. There's "guy culture" everywhere. And yes, we want diversity on game teams. We want the traditional development base to become more open to new perspectives. We want more women on board.

As a woman, though, I never felt that emasculating men was the right way to get them to accept me.

More and more women are showing up at GDC every year. More and more of them are speaking at GDC. I hope next year they bring better ideas than kicking the boys in the nuts. That's neither constructive, relevant, healthy nor necessary, and I'd hate for that to be the industry's introduction to "girl culture."

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Nintendo is now accepting applications for its annual Game Seminar in Japan, its ten-month development program taking up to 40 participants through courses on game programming, direction, design, and sound. The students are eventually split into four teams to develop original and small DS games, which are typically released a year later in Japan for a limited time through DS Station kiosks and most recently through Wii's Nintendo Channel.

Some of the previous titles that've come out of the program include Nekosogi Tornado, a Katamari-esque shoot’em up in which players grab pieces from the scrolling stage and fling them at top-screen enemies; and Kiki Master (Crisis Master), a reflex-based game that has players building confidence in a boy so he can complete different challenges, like talking to a girl.

Unfortunately, to join the seminar, one must be in a college or trade school in the Tokyo area, according to a translation of the announcement by Andria Sang. Submissions will be accepted until May 6th, and the program will run from June 2009 to March 2010.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Every week, Gamasutra sums up sister iPhone site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's nascent -- and increasingly exciting -- portable games platform, as written by guest editor Danny Cowan.]

This week's notable items in the iPhone gaming space, as covered by FingerGaming, include a series of planned ports for the Submachine series, the premiere of the Flashpoint faculty-developed BLiP Bloink, and free trial releases for iDracula and Ancient Frog.

The top stories for the week are as follows:

- Nintendo Issues Cease and Desist Order to Maker of iPhone Game & Watch Clones
"Mobile 1UP, the makers of iPhone Game & Watch clones such as GW Octopus, GW Helmet, GW Fire, and GW Chef, have received a cease and desist order from Nintendo of America. The developer has been ordered to discontinue the sale of its Game & Watch clones."

- Apex Designs Reveals App Store Sales Data for Payback
"James Daniels at developer Apex Designs has posted App Store sales data recorded over Payback's first two months of release, revealing that the title has sold 65,000 copies so far for a revenue total of $400,000."

- Pastel Games Ports Submachine Point-and-Click Series to iPhone
"Karol Konwerski and Mateusz Skutnik at Pastel Games bring word that their company's popular point-and-click Flash series Submachine is being ported to the iPhone. The first episode, Submachine 1: The Basement, is now available for download from the App Store."

- Top Free Game App Downloads for the Week
"After recently becoming free-to-play, Zynga's popular Facebook-linked application Word Scramble finishes at the top of today's App Store sales chart, as the multi-week chart leader 3D Brick Breaker Revolution falls to second place."

- Flashpoint Academy Professor Releases BLiP Bloink
"Flashpoint Academy’s Chair of Game Development, Simeon Peebler, has released his first iPhone title — the puzzler BLiP Bloink. Peebler teaches game programming and design at the Chicago-based private college, and believes that the experience of developing an iPhone title will provide valuable material for future classroom lectures."

- Free Game App Roundup, March 28th - April 3rd Edition
"This week’s free releases include demo editions of iDracula and Ancient Frog, along with free full versions of EGGY and Cat Game."

- Sony Announces Ghostbusters, James Bond Titles for iPhone
"Sony has revealed little information about either title, though it's currently known that James Bond: Top Agent will feature a multiplayer mode and a collection of well-known villains from the film series."

- Top-Selling Paid Game Apps for the Week
"Firemint's air traffic control simulator Flight Control sees a sharp rise in popularity this week, likely due to the positive buzz surrounding the upcoming release of Firemint Real Racing. Zombieville USA finishes second in this week's results, while id Software's port of Wolfenstein 3D takes third."

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CO-OP, the new and much talked about program from the creators of The 1UP Show, dedicated its latest episode to independent games with segments on the Independent Games Festival and the Game Over/Continue? art show, which opened in San Francisco on the last night of the Game Developers Conference.

The show's first half shares footage of several IGF finalists and winners, such as Feist and Blueberry Garden, cut with the CO-OP group's discussion on the titles and interviews with the developers from the expo floor.

The four-student DigiPen team behind Tag: The Power of Paint, specifically, have an interesting conversation about their first-person puzzle platformer's limited color palette and their aggressive play-testing method - video after the break:

At around the 27 minute mark, the CO-OP crew recounts Game Over/Continue?'s opening night, talking about the video game-inspired art on display at Giant Robot San Francisco's gallery. The show has received hardly any press outside of a few niche outlets, which is especially unfortunate when you consider the amount of attention paid to similar exhibits like i am 8-bit.

Game Over/Continue? is running until April 15th, though, so you can still visit and see work from "top artists in the fields of illustration, painting, sewing, and indie comics," including the Mario vs. Ryu painting and the disturbing Q*bert piece mentioned by CO-OP.

What won't be at the show are the four fantastic ARTXGAME titles that were created as collaborations between artists and independent game makers. They were available for just that opening night, but curator Adam Robezzoli says there are plans to possibly make them playable again soon.

The ARTXGAME pieces included Octopounce, a gorgeous four-player title from Saelee Oh and Anna Anthropy (Calamity Annie); a surreal River City Ransom-esque brawler from Hellen Jo and Derek Yu (Aquaria); a competitive game in which players picked up, stole, and returned nuts to their bases from Souther Salazar and Petri Purho (Crayon Physics); and a grungey piece with laser-shooting cats collecting rabbits from Deth P Sun and Jonatan 'Cactus' Söderström (Mondo Agency).

You can read additional impressions of the games from Gamasutra alumni Brandon Boyer, and see more photos of the art and Game Over/Continue?'s opening night on GRSF's Flickr set. Unsold pieces from the show are also now available for purchase online.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[In an interesting mash-up, the latest instalment of Mister Raroo's regular GameSetWatch column uses one of his wife’s blog posts as the backbone for this article, discussing the trials and tribulations of parenthood -- specifically about how being a dad has changed his gaming tastes.]

From Akemi Monster to Car Monster

Not too long ago my wife Akemi wrote an entry called "Taking After Our Child" on her blog that discusses how becoming a mother has led to her taking up interests should would normally have no taste for simply because our son loves them. One of the key examples she gives is how even though she’s never had any inclination to think twice about cars, our car-obsessed toddler has given her a new appreciation for them.

Akemi remembers, “When I was pregnant with our son, my husband and I decided that we wanted to keep the baby's gender a surprise. We not only liked the idea that the birth would be like getting to open the biggest surprise gift ever, but we also wanted to avoid the trap of receiving piles of gender specific shower gifts. The thought of ending up with a collection of ‘My Little Slugger’ or ‘Our Princess’ apparel truly appalled us. We were determined to raise our child in as gender neutral a way as possible. And then...our son was born.”

Indeed, though we didn’t intentionally steer Kaz toward “boy” interests, those seemed to be what he just naturally gravitated towards. For example, from before the time he was a year old, he loved playing with balls, usually in the form of throwing them directly at my head (often when I wasn’t expecting it). He seriously possesses an amazingly good arm for such a little guy! But it was in past few months that he found his true love: cars.

Little Motor Head

Akemi gives a wonderful account of just how infatuated with cars Kaz truly is. “He still has a very limited vocabulary and so most of our conversations with him are spoken in ‘car.’ I'd say that at least 90% of the words that come out of his mouth during the day include the following: car, truck, train, vrrrrrrroooom, choo-choo, beep-beep, and OH!-AHHH! (sound effects of cars crashing). We have even witnessed him mutter the word ‘car’ in his sleep and as the first word when waking up.”

Growing up, most of my “cars” I had as toys were actually in the form of Transformers or M.A.S.K. toys. I had a small collection of die-cast cars, but for the most part they saw little play. It’s not that I didn’t like cars, it’s just that other toys seemed more exciting, and I certainly wasn’t going out of my way to give Kazuo such an obsession with cars.

Akemi says, “You always hear about parents who want their children to follow in their footsteps, but as my husband and I have never had any real interest in cars, I can assure you that his interest in cars has nothing to do with him taking after us. In fact, rather than us pushing him to be just like us, I have found that we are being inspired by his passions and so in some ways we are taking after him.”

The interesting thing about Kaz’s current car phase is that, in some ways, it’s led to a shift in our interests, too. As Akemi says, “While my husband and I continually try to expose him to a wide variety of learning opportunities around our community, we also realize that the best way to connect with him is by supporting what he loves most. Right now, that just so happens to be cars. So, this has translated into my videogaming husband spending more time playing racing games than I have ever seen him want to.”

Racing Down the Road

I have never been a huge fan of racing games. There are a few exceptions to that rule, though, because I enjoy the more arcade-like racers including Mario Kart, OutRun, Excite Truck, Splashdown, and Ridge Racer. Even then, though, I more often than not play video games from other genres. I also never directly made an attempt to get my son excited about gaming, and in fact he still isn’t very interested in video games. That is, unless I happen to be playing a racing game, in which case he’ll run over and plop himself down into my lap.

I love snuggling and playing games with my son, and if he’s awake, I’ll usually play a racing game just because I know he’ll get so excited about it. The neat thing is that by playing more racing games for his enjoyment I’ve actually come to better understand and appreciate the genre. In fact, I revisited some of the racing games in my collection that had sitting on a shelf collecting dust and it’s been like discovering lost gems I never knew existed. Of course, seeing Kaz pump his fist in the air while his cute little voice chants “Go! Go! Go!” helps make the experience all the more exciting.

What I’d never considered is that such a diversity of genres exist within the broader racing genre, and it wasn’t until recently that this fact stood out to me. RPG fans might enjoy a game like the Playstation 2’s Road Trip, which incorporates many role-playing elements such as traveling to different towns, speaking to (automotive) inhabitants, and leveling up one’s carcharacter. On the other hand, gamers who enjoy platformers might take a liking to Dashin’ Desperados on the Sega Genesis, which shares just as much in common with its Neo-Geo big brother SpinMaster as it does with other racers.

At this point, what interests my son is more or less my guide for what types of racing games I decide to try. Kaz doesn’t have much interest in futuristic or stylized racers like F-Zero or WipeOut, but instead would rather watch me play games with more recognizable cars such as those in Sega Rally Revo or colorful characters like Diddy Kong or Mario. Still, as I’m becoming more inclined to explore the depth of games that exist within the genre, I’m finding that I’m trying games that I’d never have given much attention in the past. It’s like a whole new world has opened to me.

The Next Lap

Even though Kaz is a car maniac now, I have a feeling his focus will change in the coming years and I’m curious to see what types of interests captivate his attention. Perhaps he’ll join a soccer team, take up the violin, or collect stamps. No matter what he ends up liking, chances are Akemi and I will somehow end up exploring his hobbies by proxy. I don’t expect Kaz to become a miniature version of me, and I hope I can keep this idea in mind as he grows older. My only true goal is to teach him to be a kind and responsible person.

I have a feeling that not only will Kaz prompt me to try new game experiences, but he’ll certainly expose me to new life experiences as well. Akemi obviously feels the same way. “While there are life lessons that we certainly hope to pass on to our son, I think that my husband and I are realizing that the learning path really goes two-ways. Whatever our son falls in love with next will surely guide us to discover more about the world that we never took the time to look at on our own.”

[Mister Raroo is a happy husband, proud father, full-time public library employee, and active gamer. He currently lives in El Cajon, CA with his family and many pets. In addition to writing for GameSetWatch, Mister Raroo irregularly writes content for his blog, Moments. You may reach Mister Raroo at mister.raroo@gmail.com.]

[Missus Raroo (Akemi) doesn't consider herself to be a "real" gamer, but between listening to her husband excitedly talk about games on a regular basis and trying her hand at a select few titles herself, she knows a thing or two about video games. She lives in El Cajon, CA with her husband, son, and pets. You may reach Missus Raroo at koopaboo@yahoo.com.]

Posted by Bill Sannwald at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ripped from a recently unearthed VHS tape, this 31-minute video offers a rare look at id Software's office in November 1993 just before Doom's release, as well as over 20 minutes of a not-quite-complete build of the seminal first-person-shooter, featuring sound effects cribbed from the SNES version of Wolfenstein 3D.

You can get a sense of how new Doom's elements seemed at the time when John Romero pulls out a chainsaw in the game and someone watching exclaims, "Geez, chainsaws! Unbelievable!" The clip is full of wonderful audio bits like that, bellows of amazement that I remember making myself when I first saw the game on my neighbor's top-of-the-line Packard Bell 486 machine.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, links, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

Well, we're really liking this expanded post stylee here at GameSetWatch, and trying to post some of the spicier, more visual things as standalone blogs, while keeping the denser things in these here linklogs - we'll see how that works out!

In any case, this set of links includes further publicity for art-game-ish chap Mark Essen, as well as Greg Costikyan's already much discussed Quality Of Life rant targeting the IGDA, and a kinda adorably hilarious ACG article on random adventure game puzzles, plus much more.

G'day, g'day, g'day:

1UP's Retro Gaming Blog : GDC: 13 Years Later, Atlantis Emerges from the Waves of Obscurity
'At a Game Developers Conference panel today, Nintendo DSi hardware overlord Masato Kuwahara briefly revealed the reality behind the rumors in a slide that showed a chunk piece of portable hardware entitled the "Game Boy Advance Predecessor, circa 1995."' Awesome (pictured above, blurrily) history.

Play This Thing! | Mothers, Don't Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Game Developers
Strong words here from Greg Costikyan, but interesting: 'The simple fact (as demonstrated in its research, available at the link above) is that most game developers burn out within 5 years of entering the industry, because of the absurd hours (for, incidentally, lower pay than programmers, artists, producers, and Q/A people can command in other software and media ventures).'

Game Espresso: Check out our new online trolling game
'GRAND MER will bring about the fantastic world of trolling; a highly energetic sport that requires speed and power, into 3D online game.' ROFL.

Adventure game puzzles we have known and hated - Feature - Adventure Classic Gaming
'Perhaps the most obvious and commonplace failure of adventure game puzzles is the failure to provide adequate information to the players.' Awesome.

Will Video Games Turn Mark Essen Into an Art-World Star? -- New York Magazine
More excellent crossover.

Full disclosure: Introversion publish confidential Darwinia+ docs, emails - Offworld
I'd heard about this but neglected to link, thanks to Boyer for an excellent round-up, and I hope Introversion will survive the apparent slowness in development of this project.

The RS 100: Agents of Change : Rolling Stone
Delighted to see game luminaries including Miyamoto, Rigopulos/Egozy, and Will Wright in this list - more respect for games.

Elder Game: MMO game development » Why We Play MMOs
'To suggest that learning alone is the core of fun is a really … well, arrogant … thing to do. It reeks of the forced-grouping hypothesis that held sway over the industry for half a decade — made popular by designers who got into the industry after playing lots of EverQuest.'

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hoping to take advantage of the momentum for games with an "old-school vibe" created by throwback games like Mega Man 9, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, and Retro Game Challenge, Rockin' Android wants to introduce a number of doujin games (titles created by hobbyist developers in Japan, like Fate/stay night and Cave Story for example) to the U.S.

The Los Angeles-based independent publisher has picked up the distribution rights for four PC 2D shoot'em up properties previously released in Japan, some several years ago, and plans to introduce them to U.S. audiences starting this summer as digital downloads and DVD-ROMs with English translations (though I doubt there's much reading in these bullet hell shooters!).

The upcoming releases include Suguri Perfect Edition, Gundemonium Collection, Flying Red Barrel: Diary of a Little Aviator, and Qualia, all of which look much too difficult and bullet-packed for me to even consider playing.

Orange_Juice's Suguri Perfect Edition

One of the first of the bunch slated for release, Suguri Perfect Edition's DVD-ROM is scheduled to debut on June 30th and will include not only the original Suguri game and its sequel Acceleration of Suguri, but also the Acceleration of Suguri X-Edition Expansion Pack and two soundtracks.

The games look a lot like a 2D version of Zone of the Enders' midair battles, and pair a target-locking control system with "hyper weapons" to give players a fighting chance against bosses with screen-filling, "deceptively distracting weapons."

Shindenken's Qualia

Also releasing June 30th, Qualia takes its inspiration from Geometry Wars but has players laying bombs and dodging bullet patterns from giant bosses. The fluid grid background shakes and ripples with each movement and explosion -- it's easy to get lost in it when you're supposed to be paying attention to incoming projectiles!

Orange_Juice's Flying Red Barrel: Diary of a Little Aviator

The next release, Flying Red Barrel: Diary of a Little Aviator, comes out on July 14th and is a colorful vertical shooter filled with explosions and floating bonus coins. The title is reminiscent of Milestone's Karous and Radilgy for Dreamcast (which were collected for Wii in Ultimate Shooting Collection!).

Platine Dispositif’s Gundemonium Collection

The Gundemonium Collection will release this August with three complete titles -- Gundemonium ReCollection, GundeadliGne, and Hitogata Hapa. The horizontal shooters resemble R-Type, except with a flying maid shooting at pumpkins and runaway locomotives, common enemies for skybound housecleaners.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[Compiling more of the statistics from XNA Community Games' initial data dumps, Gamasutra sister site GamerBytes' editor Ryan Langley takes an in-depth look at regional sales and sales over time for two notable Xbox 360-available XNACG games.]

Over the past week, we've looked at the sales data for tens of XNA games, but today we're specifically looking at two of the most popular ones -- Word Soup and ZP2K9.

A reminder -- as you'll see from our previous posts, Word Soup has had 46,405 trial downloads and 9,153 purchases (a 19.7 percent conversion ratio) for total revenue to the developer of $31,010, one of the most successful XNACG titles.

ZP2K9 (pictured above) has had 19,628 downloads and 3,386 purchases for a total revenue to developer of $5,735, and a 17 percent conversion ratio.

We look into the regional sales for both titles and discuss how each region has reacted to XNA Community Games, and which aren't paying attention to the XNA Community Game space.

We also look at what conversion rates from trials to sales are like at the later points in the life. Starting off, here's the regional breakdown for Word Soup:

Word Soup, while a version of a very popular pub game in Great Britain, still had its largest base in America. 66 percent of the overall sales were in the United States with the United Kingdom taking up 26 percent of sales, and Canada third with 6 percent. The final 3 regions -- France, Italy and Spain all did incredibly poorly, making up a total of 0.25 percent of the total sales. Less than a percent, a mere 22 copies in all.

At the same time ZP2K9 has has somewhat similar results. 77 percent of sales were from the United States, 15 percent in the United Kingdom and 6 percent in Canada. Again the collection of France, Italy and Spain made up very little -- a total of 2 percent of overall sales with 68 copies out of the 3386 copies the game sold.

Generally speaking the lower United Kingdom and Canada numbers are expected, as they've both had far lower sales than that of the United States.

While France, Italy and Spain have certainly not been that big in terms of Xbox sales, these statistics seem quite low. Currently, France stands at around a million systems while Spain sits probably near half a million at this point.

However, It appears that these regions may be a little confused about where exactly the XNA Community Games are currently available, and I can't blame them - with so few regions available many Xbox 360 owners in those three may just believe Europe as a whole do not have access to these games, or simply don't know they exist at all.

In addition, Word Soup may have some problems due to the English nature of the game - and lack of localized versions is definitely a potential problem -- but it still seems far too drastic of a drop. It's something that certainly has to be worked on by Xbox teams in those regions.

Both developers were kind enough to let us look at sales data for their games, to give us an understanding of the sales XNA games follow throughout their life. Both games had sudden surges during their life, so this data is not the best to analyze, but we'll do with what we have.

Despite the low sales, it is still worth releasing these games in all regions. Currently few games really have much text in them, so translating what is there is generally not as difficult as it may appear. It will also help further down the line when XNA Community Games are open to other regions, and a whole new resource for sales.

For ZP2K9 the title saw a great amount of trial games downloaded on its first day of release, but little further on. Its sudden spike was unfortunately short lived, but despite the appearance of low sales, the game has continued to be in Major Nelson's Top 10 lists every week, so in overall terms, it's been doing quite well.

When a game has gone off the newest releases list and out of the public eye, you will find that despite lower sales overall, the conversion rate increases. This is due to a couple of reasons, we believe. Firstly, more people are specifically looking for your game, and therefore more likely to buy it.

Secondly, it's likely that people who already downloaded the trial version some time beforehand (when download numbers were much bigger) have subsequently bought it some days later, thereby making the ratio of downloads that day to sales that day look much higher. ZP2K9 has experienced a 40 percent conversion rate to even 80% on some individual days, just looking at downloads versus sales.

The people behind Word Soup were kind enough to provide us with this graph showing their overall sales. Their huge peak was during the start of XNA Community Games being available, while peaks post launch were due to a bug in the system which causes updated games to be in the new releases list.

The game has been selling quite steady for several months now. We can also reveal that the daily 'downloads vs. sales' conversion rate for the last month of was quite high, usually around 50 percent.In fact, one day actually got a conversion rate of 108 percent, meaning more people bought the game than downloaded the demo. Certainly not the norm, but always nice to see such an anomaly.

Next week, we'll look at what both Microsoft and developers can do to help the XNA Community Games get more exposure.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The SpokePOV kit turns your road, mountain, or BMX bike's wheels into vibrant and customizable displays of wonder, potential works of art, even! You can also program the kit to show Pac-Man chasing a terrified Inky, if that's the creative route you want to take.

Adafruit is selling the SpokePOV with 60 red, yellow, green or blue LEDs -- 30 for each side of a single wheel. The kit includes electronic parts and a circuit board for one basic configuration with 4K of memory (for four animated images), but requires a magnet to trigger the animation and a separate dongle for uploading images.

A SpokePOV is a 'stick' of LEDs with a magnetic (hall effect) sensor on the outer end. When a magnet passes by, the microcontroller takes note. By counting how long it takes between magnet passes, SpokePOV can tell how fast its rotating and quickly blink the LEDS to present an image. Therefore, no matter how fast you are riding, the image will show up correctly!

SpokePOV owners have been creating amazing animations with on their bike wheels for years now, dozens of which have been posted to Flickr. The Mario and Rock'em Sock'em Spokebots animations are particularly impressive!

[Via Simon Parkin]

Posted by Eric Caoili at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With newspapers closing left and right, and gaming magazines limping along, the publication of a video game newspaper like The Idle Thumbs Journal of Games is a triumph, even if it is just a one-shot deal (I hope it isn't!).

The Idle Thumbs crew, which includes Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Remo, passed out this "mixed bag of video game truth, video game lies, and the expansive gray area in between" around Moscone's busy halls and escalators throughout GDC week, and have now posted a PDF of the paper for download. The group is also considering sending out hard copies for those with fingertips desperate for the feel of thin paper.

Laid out in broadsheet format, the paper includes original articles, like the Official Idle Thumbs GDC Session Drinking Game, as well as previously printed pieces from Idle Thumbs podcasters and friends, such as Marek Bronstring's "The Four Types Of Player/Creators". This was all made possible, of course, by the full-page ad taken out by UltraBoost, the energy drink of choice for hardcore gamers.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you're in the market for obscure virtual reality games, SkyRoads will be of interest to you, though its eBay seller warns that it needs a new joystick and buttons, and there are issues with loading the game.

The helmet, however, which you can wear whenever you want to pretend you're in the future, is in "very good condition". The setup, currently gathering dust in an Anaheim warehouse next to an Operation Thunderbolt cabinet, is still listed at the starting price of $299.00 with no bids.

It's difficult to find any information about a SkyRoads virtual game, though it's likely that this is actually Stellar Xpress, Bluemoon's 3D conversion of its SkyRoads first-person spacecraft platformer for PC. The "six-degrees-of-freedom 3D game demo" was sold to a Texas VR company before completion:

"Stellar Xpress got started as an attempt to convert SkyRoads into a 3D game. After developing it for about half a year, we managed to sell it to a VR gear manufacturer as a demo to be bundled with their hardware, and the original plans for SkyRoads conversion were abandoned as the original SkyRoads gameplay could not be reproduced in real 6 DOF 3D."

You can download and play PC demos for Stellar Xpress, SkyRoads, and the SkyRoads Xmas Special expansion from Bluemoon's online archives.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[In this opinion piece, originally published in the March 2009 issue of sister pub Game Developer magazine, EIC Brandon Sheffield warns against letting games becoming too ambitious at the expense of gameplay.]

In a number of recent columns, I've written about the potential of games to expand, and the need for the medium to evolve and mature. I've talked about how dialog and story should be more integrated into the development process, and how many lessons games could still learn from more traditional entertainment mediums.

I do believe in all of that -- but not at the expense of making good games. Before tackling any high-falutin' artistic ideals, games have to first be good at being games.

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet Point

Consider Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Genesis as a very simple example. There's no denying that it's "just" a game -- all you do is run, jump, and collect rings and powerups. And yet, this game affected a number of people. From the iconic music, to the slightly animated backgrounds, to the little birds you free when you defeat enemies, Sonic's world felt alive.

These little flourishes help the game to really reach the player, but only because they're laid on top of such a solid structure. If the action of running and jumping weren't so smooth and fun, the extra graphical touches and music wouldn't have carried it through (search YouTube for "Sonic 2 early prototype" if you don't believe me).

Then consider the modern Sonic games for current-gen consoles, which try to add combat, open worlds, sweeping story, and multiple characters, all in the name of filling bullet points, and turning Sonic into an "experience" rather than just a game.

A lot of modern games seem to want to be something they're not. A game shouldn't aspire to be a movie, or a novel, or a comic book; it should be a game, unless the aim is pure experimentation.

That we are still using cutscenes, and not letting the player tell the story as they play is very frustrating to me, as it takes away the interactivity, which is the ultimate potential of games. (I should note that almost every game I've worked on has done the same, so I'm not innocent -- it is very difficult to get out of the traditional structures in a time crunch.)

There is a lot that games can learn from movies in terms of lighting, pacing, and editing. But these lessons should be applied to making better games, not to making games more like movies. The recent Tomb Raider Underworld, for example, has some lovely moments in it, from impressive set pieces to clever puzzles.

But it also wrests control from the player at regular intervals, to tell a story (through cutscenes) that I couldn't begin to parse, and which I eventually tried to find ways to skip. As Cliff Bleszinski said when I interviewed him about the first Gears of War, "I'm of the mind that you play games because you want to play, not because you want to watch."

Unrealistic Expectations?

As the game industry grows, and is lauded as a multi-billion dollar entertainment powerhouse, it can be easy -- especially for publishers -- to try to make more of games than what they are.

At the core, are video games not meant to entertain interactively above all? Earth Defense Force 2017 is an example of a game that ignores any sort of pretension and goes straight for the gameplay. It won't win any awards for its story, lack of bugs, or its camera use, but if you want to just blow up some giant monsters, you couldn't do much better.

I like games that are fun to play above all else, and I don't think I'm alone in that. If a game can provide an engaging narrative or smooth, bug-free play on top of this, then that will pretty much knock me out, icing-on-the-cake-wise. My old standbys here are Portal and Call of Duty 4.

They get the gameplay right first and foremost, and add a compelling narrative into the mix. Without that precision and visceral fun of play, nobody but the academics would be talking about a game like Portal, Ico, Flower, or any other game with an unconventional narrative or play style.

When I mentioned the subject of my editorial to production editor Jeffrey Fleming, he said it sounded like the anti-"games as art" manifesto, but that's not quite my intention. I believe that games can have artistry and be enjoyable and entertaining both.

Subtractive design (see the article in the March 2009 edition of Game Developer magazine) may be one method of achieving this, and certainly iterative playtest cycles from an early stage have a tendency to polish games to a chrome finish.

My point is simply this: The enormous potential of games can only be fully realized when we are layering narrative, artistry, and thoughtful worldviews on top of games that are already fun without any of those things.

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ich Bin 8-Bit, Berlin's spin-off of the annual Los Angeles i am 8-bit video game art exhibition, just announced a ten-day extension for the show, so you still have time to see Jude Buffum's giant post-it installation at the Neurotitan gallery! That is, provided you're in Germany some time between now and April 14th.

If you don't have any plans to visit Germany in the next two weeks, though, you can still preview half of Buffum's four-wall installation, the centerpiece of the gallery, in this timelapse video:

You can also see more photos from the show -- including close-up shots of post-it doodles by Gabe Swarr, Jorge R. Gutierrez, and over 20 other talented artists -- on co-curator Love Ablan's Flickr set.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, links, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

Well, a week plus after the damn thing ended, I _finally_ got through all my RSS feeds, and here's the final set of Game Developers Conference 2009-related links for your delectation and delight, hurray.

Some of the neat things dug up in here - more indie podcasts from the 1UP folks, plus Twitter maps for each day at GDC from Jesper Juul, both UGO and GameTunnel weigh in on the best indie games at the show, and rants are rebuffed, fiery opinions put forth.

Go San Francisco Go:

David Hellman » Blog Archive » At 1UP Podcast: Jason Rohrer, Eskil Steenberg and Me
Hellman, Rohrer, Steenberg, together at one time. Live at Budokan! I like this re-incorporation of mavericks into video games.

Experience Points: Spreading the Spirit of GDC
A warm, happy GDC recap from a journalistic perspective - though it perhaps misses the 'previews during lectures' issue that Ray Padilla was mentioning, it's still, you know, heartening.

Game-Ism: 'Ranting Back at the GDC09 Game Critics Rant.'
The anonymous but smart Spitfire on the case: 'While I get that this was a podium for opinions to be thrown out there, I couldn’t help but wonder about a few of the positions, and rant back a little bit of my own on the matter.'

MTV Multiplayer » The Developers’ Deck of Cards [GDC 2009]
Oh, _just_ found this, they took a picture of my card (co-starring Rollo!)

The Ludologist » Blog Archive » Game Developers Conference 2009, as told through Twitter
Really nice Twitter word density maps of GDC per day...

IGF - Independent Games Festival 2009 by Game Tunnel
'In addition we decided to pick who WE thought should have won as well, so rather than hand out scores we're just listing the IGF winners and our picks.' Some interesting disagreement here!

davidjaffe.biz: Heather Chaplin's GDC Rant + GAME MAKING CAN BE DEPRESSING!
'Clearly, our foolish, childish products are appealing to someone. Should we just abandon that audience? An audience that we happen to consider ourselves a part of, by the way?'

GameDevBlog: What I learned on my GDC vacation
Oo, Torpex is pitching a new Richard Garfield-designed game to publishers. Officially excited.

The Brainy Gamer: The Curious Case of the Missing Fences
Interesting post on what makes GDC special, hopefully: 'Despite rapid growth... GDC has largely avoided erecting arbitrary barriers that choke off meaningful conversation among people with a variety of interests and expertise.'

Game Over/Continue? Was Rad << Attract Mode
All about the super-neat SF art show on the last day of GDC - sorry I couldn't make, I was crazy tired, post-GDC.

Tale of Tales» Blog » GDC Presentation Slides
This was pretty cute, and is almost playing to what you might 'expect' from the ToT duo. Which I like!

IGF at GDC 2009: Our Picks | UGO.com
Ah, a nice hands-on look at some of the neatest indie games at GDC.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Continuing a new column reprinting classic Game Developer magazine articles, following a Doom profile, this January 1997 postmortem by the late Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, available for the first time online, goes behind the scenes on early Nintendo 64 title Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire.]

Shadows of the Empire is an action game originally developed for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It formed part of a multimedia Star Wars event consisting of a novel, soundtrack, toy line, comic books, trading cards, and other related merchandising.

The Nintendo 64 version was released in December of 1996, and has proven to be very popular with over one million copies shipped to date. The IBM PC version was released in early September of 1997, and has enhanced cut scenes, Red Book audio (both music and voice), and high-resolution graphics. It requires the use of a 3D accelerator card.

Why Shadows?

Back in the summer of 1994, LucasArts was exploring the possibility of developing a new 3D title for one of the emerging “next-generation” platforms. After some discussion, the Nintendo 64 was decided upon as the platform of choice, even though there was no hardware available at the time.

Due to our close relationship with Lucasfilm, we were aware that Lucasfilm Licensing was planning the Shadows of the Empire event. Jon Knoles, the lead artist and designer on the Nintendo 64 game, took an active part in deciding the timeline of Shadows. He suggested that it take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

The Shadows story line deals mainly with the criminal underworld of the Galaxy, and the new period allowed us to explore some of the things that weren’t explained in Return of the Jedi. It also opened up some new characters that were not bound to the original story, which gave us more creative freedom than using established figures. A bonus was that it allowed us to make use of everyone’s favorite bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

Since we were developing one of the premier titles for an entirely new game machine, there was a conscious decision to attempt to stretch out and cover a number of different game-play styles. We wanted to ensure that the player would have as much variety as possible, yet still enjoy a satisfying experience.

A Reality Engine for $200?

By early September 1994, we had received our Silicon Graphics workstations and the core team was working. Initially the three programmers were using Indigo 2 Extremes, with 200mhz CPUs, 64MB of RAM, and 24-bit graphics. Eventually, we would have to change our programmers’ computers to INDYs (still powerful machines) to install the Nintendo 64 development systems.

In addition, we were fortunate that LucasArts allowed us to obtain a Silicon Graphics ONYX supercomputer. This impressive and somewhat expensive refrigerator-sized computer boasted Reality Engine 2 graphics hardware, four R4000 CPUs, and 256MB of RAM. It became an essential part of our development equipment, as it was the only hardware available that could possibly emulate how the final Nintendo 64 hardware would perform. Indeed, Nintendo and SGI supplied us with software that emulated most of the features that the real hardware would support.

In late September, the programmers took a trip down to Silicon Graphics to discuss the Nintendo 64 hardware design with its chief architect, Tim Van Hook. The SGI engineers were rightly proud of their design, and promised that they would deliver hardware matching the ambitious specifications. Nine months later, we learned that they had indeed met those specifications.

By Christmas of 1994, we had the basis of the first level of the game, The Battle of Hoth, running quite nicely on the ONYX—“quite nicely” being in high resolution (1280x1024), 32-bit color, and at 60 frames a second. By this point, we had also received a very early prototype of the Nintendo 64 controller. This consisted of a modified Super Nintendo controller with a primitive analogue joystick and Z trigger.

Due to our strict nondisclosure agreement, we were unable to discuss the hardware or the project with anyone outside the core team. Consequently, we would furtively hide the prototype controller in a cardboard box while we used it. In answer to the inevitable questions about what we were doing, we replied jokingly that it was a new type of controller—a bowl of liquid that absorbed your thoughts through your fingertips. Of course, you had to think in Japanese….

In July of 1995, we received our first actual hardware as a plug-in board for the INDY. This later became known as the Revision 1 board, but on inspection it was extremely “clean”—no wire wraps or other temporary items in sight. Within three days, technical lead Eric Johnston and second programmer Mark Blattel had ported the game to the actual hardware. It was an awe-inspiring moment when we first saw the Battle of Hoth running on the “real” machine.

The first revision of the hardware was very close to the original specifications supplied by SGI. Other than the RCP (Reality CoProcessor) not running at quite the final speed, and one of the special video “dither modes” not being available, it performed extremely well.
Over the next few weeks, we would receive an additional two boards, so that all the programmers were developing in a similar fashion. Three months later, we would receive Revision 2 boards, which brought the RCP up to full speed as well as fixing a few minor bugs. Another pleasant surprise was the doubling of the amount of RAM to 4MB.

A further development was the hardware “dither modes” that perform several different kinds of functions at the video back end—mostly to reduce the effect of Mach banding, which is common when using 16-bit color.

Technology

Since Eric Johnston and Mark Blattel had extensive experience with the SGI platform, we undertook to prototype the game using the Performer 3D API. This is an OpenGL-based system that is very flexible. Eventually, we would write our own subset of Performer’s functionality on the Nintendo 64. This allowed us to move the game from a $140,000 SGI ONYX to a $200 Nintendo 64 in a matter of just three days.

Level designers used the tool set from Dark Forces to construct the first-person levels for the game. This allowed a crude form of preview using the actual Dark Forces engine on an IBM PC. This worked fairly well, although later in the project we were able to have a single SGI for dedicated use by the level designers. The PC solution, however, was also useful because the level designers were already familiar with the processes involved. Unfortunately, since the game engine wasn’t running on the PC at that point, the development cycle was somewhat slow.

Additionally, the ONYX calculated the preculling visibility tree for each of these levels. The way it works is quite elegant, thanks to Eric and Mark. The world is subdivided into “sectors”—that is, polygonal regions defined by either geometry or some other criteria. These sectors control collision detection, have properties relating to game play, and perform several other related functions. The visibility program traverses the world rendering the scene from the center of every sector in a 360-degree arc as well as three elevations.

For every polygon to be rendered in the scene from a particular sector, an identifying 32-bit value, rather than texture information, fills the appropriate pixels in the frame buffer. It’s then a simple matter of reading the frame buffer to determine which sectors are visible from that location. This process became known as “pastelization” because the identifiers written into the frame buffer (effectively as RGBA values) caused the scene to appear as purely pastel colors.

Motion

In the spring of 1995, we decided to experiment with the use of motion capture to control the animations of the main character as well as enemies such as Stormtroopers. Fortunately for us, our sister company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), had a capture system available for use. It was a tethered system, using a magnetic field to determine the position of each of the sensors. The sensors were attached to the actor at 11 locations using a combination of a climbing harness, sports joint supports, bandages, and Velcro strips.

The nature of the system presented several problems. First, the actor had to perform on a raised wooden platform, since the metal construction supports in the concrete floor would affect the capture system. Secondly, since the actor was on a platform as well as tethered, we couldn’t obtain a “clean” run cycle. Some of our more ambitious motions also proved problematic.

On the positive side, once the system was calibrated, we were able to capture over 100 motions in a single day, each with two or three different “takes.” We viewed the motions in real time on a SGI Indigo 2 Extreme computer running Alias PowerAnimator. This allowed us to quickly ensure that every capture was “clean” before continuing with the next action.

Unfortunately, we were to discover that after analysis, the motion data proved to be unusable. This was mainly because the angle information for the joints wasn’t consistent on its representation of the direction around each axis. Consequently, all the animation for the characters was redone by hand, a somewhat time-consuming task.

MIDI Music

Our initial approach to music for the game was similar to that taken on some of our PC titles—namely, a MIDI-based solution.

However, the first problem that we came across was hardware incompatibilities between the MIDI keyboards used by our musicians and the Silicon Graphics computers used to develop the game. The theory was that the compositions could be previewed directly on the Nintendo 64 hardware as a musician played them on a keyboard.

Naturally, this would provide the best possible feedback to the musician. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason(s), note on/off pairs were lost, causing chords to sound as one note. Additionally, note releases were sometimes missed completely. Before long, other unwelcome behaviors surfaced. We worked around these mysteries by having the musicians capture the sample set and play it solely on their keyboards.

After some experimentation, though, we felt that the MIDI music was good, but didn’t capture the essence of the John Williams orchestral soundtrack that is so closely associated with Star Wars. Furthermore, each additional instrument channel would require more CPU time than we wanted to allocate.

At this point, we tried an experiment using uncompressed digital samples of the Star Wars main theme. The quality was extremely good, even after subsequent compression with the ADPCM encoder provided by Nintendo. After a little persuasion, Nintendo generously agreed to increase the amount of cartridge space from 8MB to 12MB.

This allowed us to include approximately 15 minutes of 16-bit, 11khz, mono music that sounded surprisingly good. Considering that most users would listen to the music through their televisions (rather than a sophisticated audio system), the results were close to that of an audio CD, thereby justifying the extra cartridge space required.

Art Path

A continuing problem throughout the development of Shadows was the inability to import and export data between the various 3D packages we were using. Eventually, we managed to circumvent these problems with a number of translation utilities as well as by using Alias Power Animator as our central “hub” format.

However, there were still issues with scale, model hierarchies, and animation data. It was sometimes difficult for the artists to see what their artwork really looked like until it had been through the hands of our polygon wrangler (thanks Tom!). Initially, it was difficult for our texture artist to visualize the restrictions on texture size required by the hardware, as well as color reduction issues.

New Hardware

There were a number of other issues that we had to deal with in developing the game, not the least of which was that for the first nine months of the project, we didn’t have any real hardware on which to run the game. This deficiency wasn’t insurmountable by any means, but it restricted our choices in certain ways, especially in level design. We were forced to make some assumptions, especially regarding to performance. Fortunately, this wasn’t quite the bugbear that we anticipated. Still, as is well known, those on the bleeding edge of technology are often sacrificed upon it.

Other Issues

There was considerable pressure to finish the game in time for the Christmas 1996 deadline. This reality meant many, many late nights, with some team members regularly working over 100 hours every week for the best part of a year. Hopefully, this sort of workload can be avoided in future projects.

Time pressure is, of course, a common thing in the computer games industry—and we were certainly no strangers to the phenomenon. However, since we had to release our game shortly after launch of the machine, we were under more pressure than might usually have been encountered. Game testing also became an issue because there were very few machines with which to actually test the game.

Game Play Variety

We were able to include a very wide variety of game play styles in Shadows. In retrospect, this meant that we couldn’t tune each type of game play as much as we would have liked. It also meant an almost Herculean programming task in trying to write and debug what amounted to five different game engines.

These consisted of low flight over terrain, gunnery action in space, first/third person on foot or with jet pack (including a moving train sequence), high-speed chases on a speeder bike, and full 360-degree space flight. Nonetheless, the result was that most players’ experiences with the game were always interesting, at the expense of displeasing some of the more hardcore game players. A variety of game play was important for a game that, for many players, would be one of their first experiences in a fully 3D environment.

Hardware Performance

As mentioned before, for the first nine months of Shadows, we had no real hardware with which to gauge the performance of the game—other than a rather nice Silicon Graphics ONYX. Nonetheless, when we finally received the real hardware, we were pleased to find that the performance estimates given to us by SGI proved to be very accurate. In fact, in large part due to the parallel nature of the graphics hardware, we were able to use floating-point mathematics throughout Shadows with no significant impact upon performance.

Additionally, Shadows was programmed entirely using the C language—it wasn’t necessary for us to use assembler (a first as far as I was concerned, and a pleasant surprise even though I’m a long-time hardcore assembler fan). Since our scene complexity was relatively high (usually kept to around 3,000 polygons or so, but variable according to the level type and design), the graphics task took longer to execute than the program code (that is, we were graphics-bound). Consequently, optimizations to the program code didn’t significantly improve overall performance.

NTSC to PAL Conversion

After completing the American and Japanese versions of the game, it was my task to convert the game so that it could run on the European PAL television standard. Being British, I had a vested interest in making sure that the conversion was a good one. This meant two things: first, that the game used the whole of the vertical resolution of the PAL display (625 lines vs. 525 lines of NTSC); second, I wanted to ensure that the speed of the PAL game was the same as the NTSC one, even though the PAL refresh rate is 50hz rather than 60hz.

Fortunately, when we started work on Shadows, we realized that one of the most important things to consider was that it had to be a time-based game, rather than a frame-based one. This would allow for update rates that could vary considerably depending upon scene complexity, as well as the simple fact that we didn’t have any real hardware from which to measure performance characteristics. Essentially, the program keeps track of the absolute time between each update of the game. This value, which we called delta time, became a multiplicand for any movement or other time-based quantity. By this method, the game runs independent of the video refresh rate, with all objects moving and responding at the correct frequency.

The other issue had to do with the “letterbox” effect that is common to many NTSC to PAL conversions. In most cases, there is no extra rendering or increase in the vertical frame buffer size, leaving unsightly black bands above and below the visible game area. Since the vertical resolution is now greater than the original NTSC display, the aspect ratio will also change, causing the graphics to appear stretched horizontally.

While I wasn’t willing to accept this, I had presumed that I couldn’t afford the extra CPU time necessary to render a larger frame buffer, even with the extra time available due to the 50hz video refresh rate. There was also a question of the additional RAM usage required by our triple buffering of the frame buffer. My first attempt, therefore, was simply to change both the field of view and aspect ratios of the 3D engine.

This simple fix solved the “stretching” problem quite nicely, although the display remained letter-boxed, of course. Unfortunately, it also meant that any 2D-overlay status information remained “stretched.” There was the potential that game play could be affected because the field of view, by definition, would affect the player’s perception of the 3D world.

Again, this just wasn’t good enough. What I needed was a solution that didn’t require extra rendering, yet would fix the aspect ratio problems. After a little bit of research, I realized that I had discovered earlier that it was possible to change the size of the final visible display area on the output stage of the display hardware. In reality, it’s possible to shrink or enlarge the display both horizontally and vertically. To compensate for the letterboxing, all I had to do was change the vertical display size by a factor of 625/525 or 1.19. Once I did this, I immediately had a full-screen PAL version. Or so I thought….

One of things about Shadows is that we had to compress everything in the game to fit it into the cartridge space available. This included the thin operating system that SGI provides as part of the development system. Therefore, upon machine reset, it’s necessary to decompress this OS to run the game. To perform this decompression, we wrote a small bootstrap program, which introduced a small amount of time between the hardware being initialized and the OS starting. This lag introduced a onetime glitch on the screen as the video hardware started. Not very noticeable, except to me. After many late nights, I discovered a way to remove the glitch by directly accessing the Nintendo 64 video hardware registers.

Bad Idea

We then discovered that because we had accessed the hardware directly, it caused an infrequent bug. Rarely (1 out of 50 times) the Nintendo 64 would crash if the reset button were pressed at a particular point in the game. Not only that, I couldn’t repeat the bug on my hardware (I hate it when that happens).

After a number of very late nights (over the Christmas holiday), with the help of Nintendo of America’s technical staff (thanks Mark and Jim), we finally resolved the problem: first, by removing the code that directly accessed the video registers, and second, by restoring the registers controlling the scaling of the output in the vertical axis upon reset. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best.

Support from SGI and Nintendo

We were very lucky to receive excellent support from both SGI and Nintendo during the production of the game. The SGI engineers (thanks in particular to “Acorn”) were very helpful and would normally have an answer to our questions within a day, sometimes within the hour. I would like to thank Nintendo for their assistance in the production of the game. Nintendo of America’s technical support and QA departments also proved invaluable. In addition, three of Nintendo of Japan’s staff spent some time working directly with us at our offices.

I was also fortunate enough to visit Nintendo’s head quarters in Kyoto, Japan, to discuss Shadows with Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario 64. His insights were both fascinating and extremely relevant. He is simply a genius with an instinctive understanding of video games.

Of Wampas and Men

When developing a project on the scale of Shadows, there will always be some things that didn’t progress as smoothly as they could have…

1) The motion capture process proved to be a red herring for us. While originally promising a much more realistic animation solution, in our case the data proved unusable. However, I still believe that it has great potential and deserves further investigation, even though we didn’t get to the point of dealing with the potential problems matching the motions to the character’s environment and so forth. Caveat emptor.

2) Attempting to use a MIDI-based music solution also proved incorrect for this game. While it promised to be an efficient solution in terms of memory (an important consideration for a cartridge-based game), it simply wasn’t suitable for an orchestral soundtrack such as Star Wars.

3) When we started work on Shadows, a major problem (that continued throughout the duration of the project) was the inability of various 3D packages to import and export data. Although we were able, for the most part, to write our own conversion utilities, it still proved to be a stumbling block and prevented us from having an efficient art path. Fortunately, the companies supplying these tools now recognize the need for importing and exporting data to other packages, and are taking steps to remedy the situation—VRML, for example, is proving to be a useful format.

4) Time was the biggest enemy of all in producing the game. This is nothing new, but was exacerbated by the fact that we were working on a non-existent machine for nine months. Nonetheless, even though this was, for the most part, out of our control, we were still able to produce a quality game.

5) With hindsight, probably the most important lesson to be learned from the game’s development is that of focus. Do one or two things and do them extremely well. Although our ambitions were well placed in trying to provide the player with as much variety as possible, we effectively had to write five different game engines. Additionally, we could have also used a fourth programmer dedicated to all aspects of the front-end of the game; that is, level selection, controller options, and so forth. This would have taken some of the pressure away from the main programmers towards the end of the project.

Out of the Shadows…

Thanks to the talent, dedication, and experience of the Shadows team, many things went well during the development process.

1) By using the powerful SGI computers (fairly uncommon in the games industry in 1994) to prototype, combined with our programmers’ knowledge of 3D technology, we were able to develop the game rapidly, yet remain flexible in terms of performance requirements.

2) Our ability to reuse tools from our earlier Dark Forces title saved us time and resources because we didn’t have to build all new tools, although a large number of data conversion utilities were necessary. In addition, by reusing familiar tools, our level designers could be more productive earlier in the project than otherwise might have been expected.

3) Our decision to use digitized music proved to be a crucial one. Because most users would listen to the music through their televisions, the quality approximated that of an audio CD as far as many customers were concerned. This alone justified the extra cartridge space required and surprised many players who didn’t expect that level of quality from a cartridge game.

4) The conversion of the game for the PAL television standard went extremely well and was much appreciated by customers in those countries. It would be fair to say that Shadows has set the standard in that it runs both full screen and full speed. There is no reason why all games from this point on shouldn’t run just as well on PAL systems as they do on NTSC.

5) Given that we were working on completely new hardware and for the most part had to discover everything that we needed to know by ourselves, the support from both SGI and Nintendo was invaluable to us throughout the project.

Varying Shadows

Even though we were not able to spend as much time as we would have liked tuning the game, Shadows does succeed in supplying the player with a variety of game-play styles. Its popularity is a testament to the creativity and talent of the team of which I was fortunate enough to be a part.

The Core Team

The core team developing Shadows from inception to completion consisted of mainly six people, although twenty people contributed to the game for varying lengths of time, and to varying degrees. Nonetheless, everyone played a vital role in the production of the game.

The full game credits list is as follows:

Game Designer/Lead Artist - Jon Knoles
Project Leader/Senior Programmer - Mark Haigh-Hutchinson
Technical Lead - Eric Johnston
Programmer/Lycanthrope - Mark Blattel
Polygon Wrangler - Tom Harper
Level Designer - Jim Current
Level Designers - Matthew Tateishi and Ingar Shu
3D Artists - Paul Zinnes, Andrew Holdun, and Garry M. Gaber
3D Animator - Eric Ingerson
Texture Artist - Chris Hockabout
3D/Background Artist - Bill Stoneham
Storyboard Artist - Paul Topolos
Music Editor - Peter McConnell
Sound Designers - Larry the O and Clint Bajakian
Lead Tester - Darren Johnson
Production Manager - Brett Tosti

Extra thanks go to Don James, Henry Sterchi, Hiro Yamada, Kensuke Tanabe, and Shigeru Miyamoto. Special thanks as always go to the staff at LucasArts, and particularly to George Lucas for his gift of the Star Wars universe.

[Mark Haigh-Hutchinson was a project leader and senior programmer at LucasArts at the time this article was written. He would later work on Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Star Wars: Episode I – Racer, and the Metroid Prime series. In January of 2008 he passed away at the age of 43.]

Posted by jfleming at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

[A little more weekend linking density, then, and our blogs section on big sister site Gamasutra is really getting interesting - here's a double dose of the best expert blog posts from during and after this year's GDC!]

In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra.

Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the invitation-only Expert Blogs are written by development professionals with a wealth of experience to share.

We hope that both sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information about the blogs, check out the official posting guidelines.

This Week's Standout Expert Blogs

(This week's entry actually includes posts spread over two weeks, due to a GDC break.)

The 8 Types of Social Game
(Tadhg Kelly)

Social games on Facebook and other online platforms are exploding in number, but are still relatively young and frequently described in ambiguous terms. Here, Simple Lifeforms CCO Tadhg Kelly lays out what he sees as the eight major genres, and adds his own thoughts on the space.

Failure and Learning
(Robert Hale)

The nature of rules and gameplay means failure is an integral part of nearly every game, but some handle it better than others. To try and determine how to make failure more engaging and useful to players, designer and programmer Robert Hale considers a number of approaches different games have taken to failure.

The Four Stages of Wii
(Don Daglow)

In an amusing and well-sourced piece, development veteran Don Daglow reviews the conventional game industry's reaction to Nintendo's phenomenally successful Wii, from early denial, to anger, to grief, and finally acceptance. Unsurprisingly, a massive, heated comment thread ensued.

Game Design in South Africa
(Joshua Dallman)

Following a six-month stint as a designer in South Africa, designer and producer Joshua Dallman has composed a piece examining the infrequently-covered South African game development community. Discussed topics include the rarity of game consoles compared to PCs, the overwhelming market domination of cell phones, and the surprising lack of internet penetration.

Games as a Service: Why I'm Skeptical of OnLive
(Dale Beermann)

OnLive, the newly-announced cloud processing-based gaming service, was easily one of the most-discussed topics at GDC, with plenty of optimism, skepticism, and concern. Sharendipity co-founder Dale Beermann takes a considered look at the potential pitfalls of the service from a primarily logistical point of view.

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

['Game Mag Weaseling' is a weekly column by Kevin Gifford which documents the history of video game magazines, from their birth in the early '80s to the current day.]

It's kind of a tiny installment for Mag Roundup (only two issues), so how about a little light reading to occupy your time? There's no web page for it, but have a look at this directory for a couple tantalizing peeks at "Arcade Alley," the column written by Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz that ran in Video magazine (a monthly devoted to VCRs and such) from 1978 and provided the first mainstream print coverage of console games in the US.

The column directly led to the 1981 launch of Electronic Games, the most well-known and celebrated of titles that ran during the pre-crash era. In this directory there's a column about the Intellivision from 1979 and a video buyer's guide from 1981 that includes all kinds of obscure computer platforms. Superbly interesting stuff.

Anyway, click on to find out about the two mags that arrived on shelves in the past two weeks.

Tips & Tricks Codebook May/June 2009

Cover: Street Fighter IV

Tips & Tricks keeps on rollin'. There are only two guides this issue (SFIV and Killzone 2), but considering the SFIV strategy's a good 28 pages, I forgive them. This is especially true 'cos there's a page within devoted to the previous 11 Street Fighter covers T&T and its predecessor, VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, printed. Wow, has it really been eight and a half years since the last T&T SF cover?

I must admit that devoting an entire coverline to "never-before-seen Game Gear codes" is nothing short of amazing. In fact, it's downright charming! Just what I'd hope from T&T. I can't tell which of these cheats are the new ones, but there are a few neat ones I'll try out the next time I have the emulator up.

Beckett Massive Online Gamer May/June 2009

Cover: EverQuest 10th anniversary issue

I just realized that I haven't seen many run-on sentences and screenshots with big JPEG artifacts on them in print mags lately. Beckett MOG to the rescue!

The cover feature would have been neat if a real magazine was tackling the subject, interviewing SOE higher-ups and giving a smart overview of the MMO business and what it takes to survive.

But no, it's just Beckett Massive Online Gamer, and so it's a 4-page text-heavy interview with the assistant lead designer, "tradeskill lead" (huh?), and "a general content designer" who's "also in charge of patches" for...some game, presumably EQ, though they never specify it in the article. And one of the interview questions is -- you better be sitting down for this one, it's a laugh riot -- "Ninjas or pirates?".

I pity the poor tree who gave part of its body for the paper this is printed on.

[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site for collectors and fans of old video-game and computer magazines. In his spare time he does writing and translation for lots and lots of publishers and game companies.]

Posted by Kevin Gifford at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)