[In a new interview, Game Developer staffer Jeff Fleming sits down with Half-Life 2 mod Neotokyo's soundtrack composer, Ed Harrison, to discuss making the music for the impressive-looking game mod.]

Studio Radi-8’s recently released Neotokyo mod for Half-Life 2 is getting attention for its fresh spin on team-based shooters. Set in a near-future urban Japan whose streets are ground zero in a covert civil war, Neotokyo is rich in tech noir ambience and cyberpunk gadgetry.

In addition to its carefully tuned game play and sharp art direction, the world of Neotokyo is given further depth by Ed Harrison’s haunting soundtrack -- which seems to oscillate between furtive dubstep and soaring elegy.

Based in Australia, Harrison spoke with us about creating Neotokyo’s unique music:

How far along was the Neotokyo project when you came on board?

It was in the very early stages. I read a post on a forum scouting for talent to work on an anime inspired mod, and my interest was perked. I was just starting to explore anime and thought it would be really interesting to write some music for a project like that. Neotokyo is not the kind of game that really relies on a soundtrack, but the level of creativity the team have put into it has made it an inspiring project to explore musically.

Did you do any sound design work for the game in addition to the soundtrack?

I did a lot of sound design for the original proof-of-concept version of Neotokyo, and bits and pieces for the final release (such as the ghost sounds). The final push to finish such a large soundtrack and release it was daunting enough that, at the time, my focus fell away from sound design and settled squarely on the music.

Sound design is something I love and want to do more of, though. I'm also currently wrapping my head around C++ so that I can explore the implementation of sound and music in games too.

Were the visuals and environments largely set or did they evolve as the music evolved?

The visuals have evolved a lot over the course of development, and I was trying things out early enough in the project for there to be a definite co-evolution.

I’m curious about how small, individually remote development teams are organized. What was the primary way for everyone to stay connected? How was progress tracked?

I'm sure every team self-organizes in its own unique way. In this case, the foundation was an IRC channel on which the developers would talk and otherwise idle. Being a hobby-project, the team generally took a "when it's done" approach to schedules, and the only thing keeping any of the team members in line was their own desire to be there. I think the project has succeeded solely because the people working on it are passionate about it.

“Departure” is a particularly evocative track from Neotokyo. How was that piece composed and recorded?

That was an interesting one. It was composed specifically for the mod's trailer, while the trailer was being created. By that stage the soundtrack was already very developed so I knew what musical vocabulary I wanted to use. It's one of the more directly evocative tracks because the trailer was obviously intended to make a quick impression, and convey some of the energy behind Neotokyo in a short space of time.

I didn't have specific trailer visuals to score to when I started, so I came up with the general idea and climactic section as a starting point. As I didn't have a chance to record new strings for the track, I chopped up layered violins I'd recorded for another Neotokyo track and constructed the string section over the climax by editing and placing the audio. I also used some other source material from Neotokyo tracks such as vocal samples and viola.

The lone viola line early in the track is actually one of the parts recorded for “Footprint.” I thought it would be nice to bring some familiar elements of other tracks into the trailer music. The intro and outro ambiances are made of sounds I originally created for “Out” and “Carapace.” Otherwise the process was the same as most other tracks—construct a first draft in Reason, mix and add live elements in Pro-Tools.

You’re releasing the Neotokyo soundtrack through CD Baby. Can you tell us how that has worked out for you? It seems like a really effective and under used way for game composers to raise awareness of their work. Has it been profitable?

CD Baby offer a great service by taking all the hassle out of selling music without handing away a ludicrous percentage of returns. Amazon Advantage, for instance, takes a 55 percent cut. I had to accumulate and spend a few thousand dollars initially on printing and packaging, and there have been a whole array of expenses I didn't foresee such as shipping boxes of CDs internationally.

But amazingly, there's been enough interest that the project has paid for itself, and is actually bringing in some profit. It's not the sort of money I could live off, and I'll be out of CDs soon enough, but for a small-scale release it's been a great success.

The Neotokyo soundtrack was never about selling anything, and I mainly wanted to put the CD out for a sense of completion and to have a tangible representation of my work. That people have supported it as much as they have is a bonus that I'm both grateful for and surprised by.

What are you listening to at the moment? Are there any video game soundtracks or game composers that are particularly inspirational to you?

I've been influenced by a lot of game music since I've played a LOT of games over the years. The LucasArts point and click adventures had some great music which inspired and influenced me in the early days. Grim Fandango is one of the most musically remarkable games ever created.

Lately I've been listening to a wide array of music, from the broken hip-hop of Flying Lotus and Harmonic 313, to Joanna Newsom, to Shostakovich concertos and atmospheric electro-jazz like Triosk.

Posted by jfleming at 12:00 PM | 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 3D exploration game chock-full of puzzles, a 2D remake of Valve's Portal using ASCII characters, and a browser game that features a naked man on a bicycle.

Other highlights include a puzzle game about enlightenment through peaceful resolutions, a platform game where you play a the role of a treasure hunter, and a new release from the ever-prolific (and occasionally controversial) Edmund McMillen.

Mod Pick: 'Hazard - The Journey of Life' (Alexander Bruce, freeware)
"Hazard - The Journey of Life is a 3D exploration game that features a host of creative puzzles to solve, but contains no real danger or enemies in sight. The mod requires both Unreal Tournament 3 and the 2.0 patch installed before it can run properly, but it is definitely worth going through all the trouble just to play this one-of-a-kind experience. Alexander's creation was also recently selected as one of the ten finalists for the upcoming Sense of Wonder Night 2009 event."

Game Pick: 'ASCIIpOrtal' (Joe Larson, freeware)
"In ASCIIpOrtal (a 2D remake of Valve's Portal) you can fire up to two portals with your hand-held portal device, then enter through one before coming out of the other for some mind-bending teleportation effect. Some of the puzzles include manipulating switches using blocks, placing portals on the other side of chain links, dodging boulders before they crush you, and avoiding laser fields that will burn your flesh instantly on contact."

Game Pick: 'Icycle' (Damp Gnat, browser)
"The story of Icycle is set in a time when the entire world has been frozen solid, save for a man who was cryogenically preserved together with a bicycle and an unknown companion that flees the scene just before the game starts. The protagonist can only cycle forward and never move back, but he is still able to control his travel speed and time his jumps to avoid some of the dangers he will face during his adventure."

Game Pick: 'A Mazing Monk' (DADIU, browser)
"A Mazing Monk is a rotating puzzle game created by a team of students at DADIU. A monk is on the path to becoming a Buddha and it's your job to help him collect all the karma he needs while dodging the evil soldiers. It's a nice idea and really good fun, but is a little on the short side with only three levels to play."

Game Pick: 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' (Dot Zo Games, freeware)
"Journey to the Center of the Earth is an exploration platform game in which you play the role of a treasure hunter, out to retrieve forty pieces of relics from the ruins of an ancient civilization. There is no progress save feature, so you will have to spend about half an hour or more to complete the entire adventure in one go."

Game Pick: 'Time Fcuk' (Edmund McMillen and William Good, browser)
"Time Fcuk is a platformer that warns about the dangers of time travel, featuring puzzles centered around your character's ability to switch between layers in a level. The game comes with a comprehensive level editor that allows users to design and share their own obstacle courses with other players."

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

It's kind of unfortunate that Konami attached the Road Fighter name to this new arcade game; from what I remember of the original mid-80s arcade/MSX/NES game, the first Road Fighter was terrible! Even as a kid, I didn't appreciate the racer's boring tracks and simple mechanics. Now Bump N Jump, that was a fantastic top-down arcade and 8-bit driving game.

Anyway, this upcoming Road Fighters (with an added "s") arcade game differs much from the original, presenting the racer with 3D graphics and much more interesting courses and vehicles. As with the first game, though, you have to get to the head of the pack without running into others and damaging your own car too much.

Konami R&D brought a 30% complete version of the game out for a location test in Japan last week week, according to a report from Arcade Heroes. Road Fighters is slated to support online multiplayer, just like Taito's own upcoming arcade racer Top Speed. I wonder if the music in the above video is from the game's soundtrack? Probably not, but I hope so -- that song is sweet.

You can watch a video of the original Road Fighters's NES version below:

Posted by Eric Caoili at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In advance of next week's bookstore release for Isis, horror author Douglas Clegg's latest novel from his Harrow haunted mansion saga, Vanguard Press and FlashGameLicense.com put out promotional Flash game that has so far attracted more than 1.4 million plays from 1.3 million unique players.

Distributed through "major arcade portals and hundreds of other smaller gaming sites", the simple spot-the-difference game highlights colorized versions of the book's pen-and-ink illustrations from Glen Chadbourne, who also recently contributed artwork to Stephen King's graphic short story The Secretary of Dreams.

The game's success caught FlashGameLicense.com completely by surprise -- the company expected it to attract a million plays in the first two months, not after just ten days since it was posted online. The release is also doing its job of generating interest for the book, directing some 10 percent of players to Isis's site.

In fact, publisher Vanguard it so pleased with the game, it plans to put out an iPhone/iPod Touch-specific version this fall with the hope of attracting both more players and more Isis readers. This really is a multimedia production! There's even an Isis trailer -- it's not very informative, and you might want to turn down your volume for it, but it shows off some of Chadbourne's art:

"I’m excited to be part of a very different kind of book promotion that hasn't been done in quite this way before -- where the outreach is viral within the game community itself and has a life beyond the usual time period for getting word out about a book," says Isis's author David Clegg.

You can play the game and read an excerpt for the book at Isis's official site.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 2:00 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 challenge as a story-telling device in general, and some specific issues raised by Jonathan Blow in his presentation on conflicts in game design.]

Jonathan Blow's November presentation on conflicts in game design raises a fundamental problem:

"For a story to occur, it has to keep proceeding... challenge is about preventing you from continuing in the game... Story and challenge work against each other. No matter how hard you work on a game, if you've got a story in the traditional way, and you've got challenge elements like we traditionally use them, they work against each other. -- Jonathan Blow"

Accepting the main theses of Blow's presentation -- that challenge is essential to the nature of games, and that challenge does not work with story -- might be enough to make me give up this column. And, unfortunately for me, there's a lot of what Blow says that I agree with, about the difficulty of designing dynamic stories, providing solid pacing, and giving a sense of importance to a constructed non-linear tale.

So here's the question: Can the challenge be part of the story instead? Can it lend value to the storytelling? How and where?

Challenge directly presents a quest or hero's journey. This is the commonest use, so universal that it hardly seems to need articulation. The player's problem and the protagonist's problem are one and the same. The player has to kill a dragon because the protagonist has to kill a dragon.

One difficulty is that this prevents us from putting any kind of problem into the story unless a) we relegate it to a cut-scene for the protagonist to handle alone or b) we can work out a direct game-play way of addressing the challenge.

Traditionally, this has meant that the challenges that can appear are limited to activities that can be easily be communicated physically, especially timing, jumping, and combat. Making such actions into the main meat of a story means that the story itself must be of a certain kind.

The invention of new control devices brings new things into the realm of challenge: Guitar Hero gives us a fake guitar, Wii an assortment of gestural analogies, the iPhone a device responsive to subtle tilting and shaking. But has this changed very much the nature of the stories told using these devices? The specifics of the challenge may be different -- now the hero's journey is a journey to become a great rock star, say -- but the story arc is unchanged.

Another problem with using challenge this way is that it is hard to have significant plot development within the arc of the challenge.

That is to say: in order to try to accomplish a goal, the player has to know what that goal is in advance, and the goal has to remain essentially stable as the player moves toward it. So this leads to dull challenge narratives: "Thog approached the dragon, climbed on its back, and drove the sword into the back of its head." That might be a delightful passage to play, and figuring out how to climb on the back might take a lot of work, but the story is not interesting.

It's possible to subvert this problem a little, with challenges that change their significance as the player works on them. Interactive fiction and adventure games often, and other genres sometimes, start the player working on one mission and then have that mission evolve into something quite different over the course of solution. (Consider the outcome of Myst, for instance, to choose an extremely obvious example.)

But this always raises the design difficulty: how do we make sure the player always has agency, always has something to work towards, even as we alter the point of the challenge?

All right: so what if the player's challenge and the protagonist's challenge are not the same thing? Or what if the function of the challenge is something other than doling out quantities of story? Is there a way in which challenge can make a story more powerful or more significant rather than less?

I think the answer is "yes", but that the way requires a) giving the player a way to find more content in the challenge, or b) putting some aspect of the challenge in tension, so that it shapes the player's emotional investment in some important way.

Mechanic as metaphor. This is what Blow talks about as "dynamical meaning", found in Braid as well as Passage and The Marriage: the thing that you are using as the basis of gameplay also represents some other conceptual or thematic aspect of the game world. In Braid, this may be the fickleness of memory, the association of specific places with specific times, the desire to be exactly perfect in a relationship and so never to need true forgiveness.

As Blow points out, the mechanic-as-metaphor approach usually works better as a meditation on some theme than as a means to story-telling exactly. Passage, if it tells a story, tells a very generic one; Braid, a slightly confusing one far less compelling than the play that accompanies it. Marriage arguably tells no story at all.

Challenge to measure devotion. The game is hard, saving the best story rewards -- or an explanation of what is truly going on -- for those who have shown their commitment to the game by persisting through its hardest levels. This is implicit in lots of games, but it needs a lot of framework to become interesting from a storytelling perspective.

Braid does a little bit of this, of course: the player's determination to finish all the levels and piece together all the puzzles is the equivalent of Tim's determination to pursue the princess and understand the universe's hints about what would make his life go right. The Mighty Jill-Off (as I understand, though I haven't tried it) frames its platform challenge as a way to express one's devotion to a sadistic mistress.

Or, as an alternative, the game is not so much difficult as it is dull or demanding -- as "The Path" demands large amounts of time, and allows the player to share the experience of the protagonists' boredom and frustration.

In this case the challenge or patience-requiring element may become a representation of the protagonist's passion -- both passion in the modern sense of intense desire, and in the original sense of suffering and endurance.

But it also asks, why will the player bother to demonstrate this passion? Why should we have to enact the suffering of the protagonist when we don't necessarily share her sources of misery (The Path) or his infatuations (Braid)?

In my experience this kind of structure works best when the protagonist is well-enough characterized that the player feels like he's playing some role. In The Path, it took me a long time to come around to a reading of why the game's infuriating slowness mattered. In the meantime, the game lost a lot of points with me because I felt as though it was boring me through simple carelessness or bad design. In Braid, on the contrary, I generally felt that my willingness to replay a sequence over and over did correspond to something in the character I was learning about.

Challenge to create complicity. Making something hard taps into the gamer's need to play and succeed, and this sometimes gets him to do things that he ordinarily wouldn't want to do, or wouldn't think was a good idea.

In this structure, the gamer's solution-desire comes to stand in for whatever other ambition the player character is supposed to have, the one that makes him ignore tell-tale signs that what he is attempting might be wrong. Make It Good and Varicella both use this technique to bring the player in on the side of characters who are at best morally dubious and who are undertaking extremely doubtful tasks.

Done well, this can produce a strong tension in the player -- especially in the case of "Make It Good", where the nature of the protagonist is not completely obvious at the outset.

Challenge as an opportunity to demonstrate many failure states as well as the success state. Sometimes the story -- especially horror -- only has its greatest strength if the player knows also what would have happened if things hadn't gone according to plan. Alternatively, the failures might have comedic value; think of all the training montages in movies where the hero makes a fool of himself a dozen ways before becoming an expert sword-fighter.

Making failure states numerous and interesting changes the nature of the challenge: now, instead of getting no new story until the player passes some test, he instead explores the nature of the protagonist's problem by running into many failure cases as well as the edge case.

This is an idea that has its place in more traditional media as well, of course -- many movies and books make use of side characters whose situation is similar to that of the main character but resolves differently due to some distinction in their choices or circumstances. Games simply allow the author to make all of these things happen to the same protagonist.

Related to this is the idea of forced failure, where there is no way to win except by dying at least once. (The stock example in interactive fiction is 9:05.) It's hard to pull this off without making the player feel a bit annoyed and manipulated; ideally there needs to be some payoff in the nature of the story, some reason why a failure is the beginning from which success is built.

Constraint can be framed as a challenge -- one that has been built in such a way as to be insoluble in fact. The player may try and try again to win, but he will always find that it is impossible; the illusion that it might not be impossible is what makes constraint powerful as an interactive storytelling device.

Then the point of gameplay becomes an exploration of this blockage; the protagonist experiences the frustration of discovering that the universe is arranged against him.

This is again a hard one to write well, especially because the player needs to come gradually but definitely to realize that success is impossible. If there is no clear point of realization, then there is the risk that the player will keep bashing his head against the game indefinitely, not understanding the point of the story but instead resenting the author for wasting his time.

Challenge wedded to choice. There are multiple ways of doing something, but the best way is also perhaps the hardest. Then the challenge stands in for whatever motive the protagonist might have to take the easier route.

This works only if the options -- one or more of them "gated" by challenges -- are clear to the player. Otherwise many players may choose the easier route because they don't even see that there is a difficult solution available. Moreover, the results will only have narrative significance if the challenge comprehensibly represents something that the protagonist would have to overcome -- addiction, sloth, social phobia, greed, anxiety -- to make the same choice.

As a variation: there are multiple strategies available for solving the challenge, and the different strategies represent choices that the player is making about the protagonist's personality. Do we choose a quick and dirty solution, or play a subtle long game? Are we violent or sneaky? Some RPGs have made use of these elements, though there is also an obvious temptation to add value judgments to the different strategic approaches.

So here are some possibilities, and I am sure that the list is not complete. One thing that is fairly consistent, though: most of these approaches work best if the protagonist is characterized in some concrete way and is not a generic analogue for the player.

Several of the approaches also require that we set aside some preconceptions about what a story in a game might look like. A game story does not have to be the narrative that emerges from playing once. It might come out of playing many times; it might come of incorporating knowledge of failure or branch states that are subsequently "undone" and removed from the protagonist's official experience.

Which is a fitting place to end an essay that started with Braid.

[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 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

While you won't see any in-game footage for Darius Burst in this Tokyo Game Show trailer until the 1:00 mark -- and those clips are brief -- this is the first new footage we've seen for not just the game but for the series in nearly a decade, and beggars can't be choosers. Where else are you going to get shoot'em up videos of a ship blasting away at giant mecha fish and space seahorses?

While there are still no announced plans for a U.S. release, Taito did recently set up a Japanese teaser site for Darius Burst. Again, there's not much there, but the music, composed by Zuntata, is aces.

[Via Shmups forum]

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

Monty Python alum Eric Idle took time this week to record a video response to (::shudder::) Youtube commenters who've left fatuous messages for and about him. As you'd expect from a comedian with his heritage, he rips apart his critics, breaking out the sort of wit many thought had long left the old man (according to Metafilter members, anyway).

And if you need help on activating Call of Duty: World at War's death cards, Idle has some words for you, too!

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

Developer Eskil Steenberg has brought Love, his procedurally-generated MMO with impressionist-style graphics, into the Alpha stage with a non-playable client. While you can't login and take control of the much anticipated game, you can preview how its engine will run on your machine.

"This will let me work out any compatibility issues," says Steenberg. "The client will contact my master server and send the name of your graphics card and if it supports the three OpenGL extensions I use (FBO, VBOs and GLSL), no other user data, ip addresses, or anything else is collected. This data will also let me count you in order to estimate how many servers I will need."

You can download the Alpha client from the programmer's site. He has also opened a new Twitter account that will dispense updates on future developments, perhaps also alerting Love fans when a playable build releases.

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

[We're in Tokyo this week for TGS and Sense Of Wonder Night, and you can find our coverage pretty easily on Gamasutra. But thought I'd reprint this high-level Japanese exec roundtable because it has some genuine, interesting insight from the top.]

Discussing the state of the game market at Tokyo Game Show, a panel of high-level Japanese executives concluded that the global recession has had little effect on their businesses, but that new business models are the key to understanding future growth.

The panel of notable execs comprised Haruhiro Tsujimoto - President of Capcom; Kazumi Kitaue - CEO of Konami; Shuhei Yoshida - President of SCE Worldwide Studios; Yoichi Wada - President of Square Enix; and Shin Unozawa - President of Namco Bandai.

Starting out by commenting on trends, Capcom's Tsujimoto suggested that "game lifestyles of users" have changed significantly in Japan, with the portable market (on PSP and DS) are particularly strong through the recession. Konami's Kitaue added that he felt that the recession was not that relevant to the market in Japan, and Square's Wada agreed, saying "people rarely borrow money to buy games", unlike buying houses.

However, Japanese game retailers are more conservative, and from Wada's perspective, "they want something that they are sure the customers will want". Nonetheless, Dragon Quest IX has been a major DS hit for Square Enix in the territory, and Wada said "on the whole, things have not changed that greatly".

Wada, ever a shrewd commentator, noted: "What's going to be important for the next 5 years is not the innovation in the specifications of the hardware or software, but rather the billing or the revenue model" for games, and how this can be "firmly rooted amongst the users".

Taking a cue from this, Shu Yoshida, head of Sony's Worldwide Studios, discussed a couple of key Western trends, noted that the rise of the iPhone App Store in the West was a major thing to watch out for. For these smaller games that people may not play for a long period of time, but that "people want to show their friends", iPhone is a vital trend.

Similarly, Yoshida referenced Facebook and MySpace social network games, commenting that although "very simple games are played there", they are becoming more sophisticated, and a "source of conversation amongst friends". Since "connections between people are being advanced by entertainment", this is an area to keep a close eye on.

The executives did recognize that the market for mainstream Japanese game publishers could be in danger of becoming stagnant, after the big expansion created by Nintendo's DS and Wii. Konami's Kitaue commented: "Everyone gets tired of playing the same thing... a new proposition has to happen every year."

As for Square Enix's Wada, he noted that it's important that games be seen as "an entertainment market for adults as well" as children. He commented that in the West, people "think it's cool to play games", even adults. But in Japan, many people tend to think that it's something that only children will do.

But Wada again concentrated on the business model changes, questioning how "profit distribution is going to come out" under digital distribution. With many cheaper digital games already available, this may significantly shift the profits for the bigger publishers. He said: "If this downward pressure on price continues, in some way we have to change this revenue model", and even if the current model works in the short-term, it may not in the longer-term.

Namco's Unozawa discussed digital distribution further, looking at AAA 'premium' priced $59 or 7000 yen retail games, and asking an open question -- are people in Japan going to download a game for 7000 yen? He commented: "that's inconceivable, in my opinion."

He then referenced Pac-Man on iPhone, which he said had 200,000 downloads at around $5 - decent money, but just not that significantly compared to the $59 games. Unozawa admitted: "There is a sense of fear there", in terms of changing how the big operators work. He added: "it's quite frightening to think about changing business models" -- but nonetheless it must be addressed.

The collected executives then discussed how they might expand their games using variable payment schemes. Capcom's Tsujimoto noted "if we have more diversified billing mechanisms, we can look at different ways" of providing games to users.

Wada added, along these lines, that even for larger games: "it doesn't have to be one title, one price". From the same content, a lot of different revenue models can be created. Some people might want to spend a lot less to play a fraction of the title, and some might want to spend a lot more to get many extras.

On the other hand, SCE's Yoshida concluded by referencing the small-scale indie development teams creating games that can sell well on PSN, Xbox Live or WiiWare. In this way, smaller developers "can assume their own risks on digital download sites", and the successful titles will allow indies to make a good profit. (As a platform holder, this model works well for Sony, but less so for the other publishers on the stage who require higher revenues and profits from wholly owned games.)

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

When we last featured Mikaël "Orioto" Aguirre's work, the artist had just completed his fabulous desktop background for Eric Chahi's Out Of This World/Another World. Orioto has put up a new IGN-commissioned piece paying tribute to another game series from a European developer, Team17's Worms.

Definitely download the full 800x2700 wallpaper (the cropped image above only shows about a third of the painting) from his DeviantArt page to admire all the details -- just like in the strategy game, the worms are too busy rappelling off cliff-sides, avoiding landmines, and aiming their shots to notice the waves crashing and rockets exploding around them.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cute Room, an upcoming shop opening in Akihabara this October 4th, will soon offer customers a chance to spend time with one of its female employees and engage in a variety of non-sexual activities. Clients select a themed room -- maid room, school room, Monster Hunter room, etc. -- and pick out a costume for the girl they will spend time with.

You can watch a DVD or play video games on a number of consoles (Wii, PS3, PSP, Xbox, and DS) with her for around ¥1,000 ($11) every 30 minutes, or you can pay your companion to fake her affection for you by massaging your hand, giving you a love letter, reading a bedtime story, slapping you in the face (both sides), or just looking at you.

Even more strange than those activities, for ¥1,500 ($16.46), you can rest your head on a girl's lap and have her clear your ears for 20 minutes. Apparently, some guys are really into this! Last month, one customer at another shop became so smitten with the woman cleaning his ear, he spent around ¥300,00-400,000 ($3,291 - $4,388) per month, and ended up stabbing her when she refused to become his girlfriend.

Crazy and expensive, right? Might be better to just play your video games and clean your ears at home.

[Via Canned Dogs]

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

['Diamond In The Rough' is a regularly scheduled GameSetWatch-exclusive opinion column by Tom Cross focusing on aspects of games that stand out, for reasons good and bad. This week, Tom examines Lara Croft, her strengths and weaknesses, and looks to her future]

It's pretty obvious to most people that Lara Croft is not the "everyman" so many developers are mistakenly, humorously obsessed with. Never mind that this everyman is often a gravelly-voiced, shaven-headed, hugely muscled lout who kills lots of people. He is, after all, “relatable.” He cracks jokes while curb-stomping aliens! So Lara Croft is not a guy, right? That's one step in a different direction. That already sets her apart from an unpleasantly large number of video game heroes.

Super Powered, Super Predictable

Really though, playing through Tomb Raider: Underworld, I'm constantly made aware of the fact that Lara is anything but average. She can kill anything, from tigers to giant, spitting lizards, to armed goons. She can escape ridiculously climbable, sinking ships, and she can face off against villainous winged ladies, all without a single wince, groan, or faltering step. In other words, when it comes to adventuring and exploring, she's the indestructible badass to Nathan Drake's fallible, barely-makes-it-by-the-seat-of-his-pants joker.

Lara encounters two kinds of creatures during her travels: friends, who treat her with respect and care, and enemies who want to kill her, very badly (professionally, though). If it weren't for the fact that she's chasing after her long-lost (possibly Underworld-dwelling) mother, her emotional involvement in the story would be almost non-existent. Sure, she cares for her cutout-character sidekicks, Zip and Alister, but they're as emotionally resonant as a box of rocks.

Why should we care for them, when Lara can't really muster up more than a bit of amusement at their lack of knowledge/expertise in areas she excels in? When they're in danger, she furrows her brow, and looks a tad troubled. It's a bit like watching a James Bond or Indiana Jones movie: don't get too connected to the sidekicks and love interests, because they'll be gone soon enough.

Who Needs Friends, With an Attitude Like That?

Except that's not true: even in the most continuity-challenged, misogynist-riddled fictions, side characters at least attempt to perform a level of complexity and depth, along with a mild connection to the main character. Lara doesn't actually have to care about Zip and Alister, she just has to do a better job at pretending they matter. At the beginning of the game, Zip attempts to kill Lara. The question this action evokes should go something like this: "Wow, why would Zip want to kill Lara?" Instead, it's something like this: "Oh, the stereotypically Black guy wants to kill his “friend". I wonder when during this game-long flashback we'll learn of her occult-inspired betrayal/possession, which encouraged his assault!?"

This is not the drama-inspiring, exciting beginning the designers wanted to create, but thanks to Lara's almost godlike disconnection from the world she inhabits it's hard to avoid such a let-down. Whenever she admires the beauty of a newly discovered temple or ruin, she just sounds so... bored. It's like she's reading the latest "Ancient Temples Quarterly," not experiencing the thrill of doing the job she loves. After all, she’s not only doing what she does best (and what she lives for), she’s pursuing a lost mother, and following in the footsteps of a dead father. That should elicit just a tad more emotion, I think.

Then again, this is Tomb Raider, right? I should glad that they've created a real, mostlyinteresting character, I suppose. Think of the alternatives, think of the series' own history and Lara's past incarnations. I'm not even asking that she be flaw-ridden. I don't need her to be like Nathan Drake, and I don't need her to be like April Ryan. One does not have to be filled with tics, flaws, and quirky habits to be an interesting, empathy-worthy character. But one does have to have more than "idle" and "ass-kicker" modes. Hell, even something more than Lara's steely cold action/British approach to everything would be nice.

Stiff Upper Lip, Stiff Dialogue

Sadly, players mostly see only one other side to Lara, and that's her "emotional" side. That's what happens when A) she's close to finding out new information about her Mom, and B) her "friends" are in danger. Once again, this is not a problem on its own. If Lara didn't feel compassion and worry for her friends and family, I'd find her to be even more of a weirdly emotionless automaton than I already do. The problem is that she has no other noticeable character elements. She may enjoy spelunking and exploring, but she enjoys these activities like a cat enjoys the ministrations of its human: she can't quite dignify the game, or the world, with her complete attention.

It's hard to describe the things about Lara that are "off" because they're not horrible, glaring flaws. She's not a stupidly violent, senseless killing machine like Kratos and his ilk (though her disrespect for local flora, fauna, and ancient structures is, as always, extreme), she's a bit less of a pointlessly campy sex caricature than she used to be, and she's not a silent, vacant "character" (sorry Gordon, sorry Isaac!). She's solid; she takes up space. In this way, she's infinitely superior to most "characters" in games who take up only as much space as their ill-written, game-necessary dialogue prescribes (for this, see almost every movie-game, most "story heavy" games, and most action games).

Somebody obviously cares about who Lara is, and they care about who we think she is. Still, it's as if this care was a reflection of the real thing, as if our Lara were some slightly-removed, shadowy reflection of the real one.

As "Relatable" as Nate?

Lara's not connected enough to our world, and the ways in which she connects to it are always vague, slightly unfeeling, and less emphatic than they should be. Even the connections she has are simple, one-dimensional ones. I'll admit that when it comes to characters, I'm comparing her to Nathan Drake more than I should. He's the product of a pulpy, self-aware fiction that delights in painting him in familiar, broad strokes, and then taking those familiar facets to their extremes.

But he's over-the-top and cliche in a way that feels honestly relatable, if completely unreal. He may be foolishly disbelieving and mysteriously jovial in the face of certain death and dark magic, but he does it in a way that feels grounded in the world. He's a caricature of a caricature, a man lovingly, perfectly constructed from the leavings of older, less self-aware scoundrels, but he relates to his world as if he lives in it. Lara, for all of her prowess and newly found pathos, approaches everything like an actor in a play, and a play she only half-likes at that. Lara doesn't need to be relatable, she just has to relate to something, anything; she needs to convince us she cares enough about her world and her quest, so that we can care.

Reborn, Stronger than Before?

All that said, I enjoy Lara's take on the action adventure genre, and on games. I love the intricate, humongous puzzles, the ludicrously vibrant and "explorable" settings, and the outlandish bad guys and set pieces. It's like a summer action movie, without the problematic "native danger" (well, sometimes) and without the Bruce Willis/Michael Bay racism (again, sometimes). Plus, she's an interesting, strong character who has a long history in video games. As a character, she's older than almost everybody else out there, especially if you don't count "characters" like Mario.

I think she's important to video games for many reasons (some having to do with her gender and representational evolution), but specifically because she has pioneered many things, good and bad, and because she's still around to tell the tale, unlike so many of her competitors. I like her games a good deal, and it's too bad that despite Underworld's commercial success, a "reboot" was again deemed necessary. Maybe it will be a good thing? Maybe Lara will reappear, more deeply invested in her own existence, and in the immediacy of her own adventures.

If there’s one thing Lara suffers from, it’s a strange combination of age and invincibility. It’s hard to take a character seriously who never falls in the mud, who is so terribly effective and successful, we never get to experience the thrill of bringing her back from failure, as strong as before. It seems likely that the reboot will horn in on this issue specifically. Lara will be turned into a scrappy action hero (hopefully, one well-divorced from Mr. Drake's hapless adventurer in as many ways as possible), using her wits and skills to survive, not her private yacht and humongous mansion.

Then again, part of Lara’s character is subject to that same Bruce Wayne appeal: she’s skilled and smart, but she also gets to fiddle with loads of gadgets, thanks to her wealth. It’s no surprise that Batman is at his most popular when he “goes back to basics” and proves that even without his bag of tricks and money, he’s still a convincingly powerful, fun character. Here’s hoping Lara emerges from the ashes of her most recent series a better, more human action hero. Oh, and fix that gunplay while you’re at it, Eidos.

[Tom Cross writes for Gamers' Temple and Popmatters, is the Associate Editor at Sleeper Hit, and blogs about games at Delayed Responsibility. You can contact him at romain47 at gmail dot com.]

Posted by Thomas Cross at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[If you work in the game biz, you know that tools are a big deal - so hopefully you can help us nominate for sister mag Game Developer's latest Front Line Awards, honoring the best tools, books, and other aids out there.]

The editors of Game Developer magazine have announced that nominations for the historic 12th Annual Front Line Awards are now open, continuing the magazine's tradition of honoring excellence and innovation in tools for game development.

The Front Line Awards are highly regarded in the industry as among the most important awards to honor the year's best development software for programming, art, audio, middleware, game engines, and books.

Nominations from the game development community are accepted during a fixed period of time. While a great many considerations go into determining a winner, innovation is the real name of the game.

Products are nominated in all categories by the readers of Game Developer magazine and Gamasutra. Once all nominations are in, the editors of Game Developer and Gamasutra will select finalists and the readers of Game Developer will ultimately determine the winners in each category.

Nominations are open from September 21st, 2009, through October 9th, 2009, to all new products and new versions of products related to game development released between September 1, 2008, and August 31, 2009 (betas are not eligible). Front Line Award finalists will be announced in the December 2009 issue and winners will be revealed in the January 2010 issue of Game Developer.

To nominate a product -- whether a satisfied user or a creator of that product -- please visit the 12th Annual Front Line Awards website and fill in the supplied form.

Posted by Simon Carless at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fondly recounting her trips through Colossal Cave Adventure, Mari Michaelis created a charming, nostalgic map for the classic adventure game's labyrinthine network of canyons and twisty passages. The guide is based on Will Crowther and Don Woods's 350 point version from 1976, so don't rely on it if you're playing through newer versions and variants!

Though Michaelis clearly put a lot of work into the diagram -- decorating it with dragons, bears, and other useful visual details -- she asks that players who haven't yet memorized the maze to and achieved Master Adventurer status to hold off on examining the spoiler-filled map, assuring them that they'll appreciate the game more without the map.

You can view the full Colossal Cave Adventure map and print out an 8 1/2 x 11 version on Michaelis' site.

[Via @textfiles]

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

If you've ever wanted to wake up in the middle of the night and feel a jolt of terror grip at your racing heart after seeing a sinister pair of red eyes staring back at you from a far, dark corner in your bedroom, SOTA Toys has a figurine that will help you realize that nightmare.

The toy company will release this 12" Shin Akuma polyresin statue exclusively through Slideshow Collectibles later this year. It looks a lot like the standard Akuma figure SOTA also plans to release, except with white hair, darker skin, a darker gi, a different symbol on his back, and battery-powered LED eyes -- according to Capcom, it looks like the eyes follow you when you move side to side.

And If the thought of Akuma waking you up to unleash his Shin Shun Goku Satsu super on your face isn't scary enough, perhaps the price will dissuade you from picking one up -- $139.99! I suppose that cost justifies all the detail SOTA is putting into the toy; check out those disgusting toenails!

[Via Capcom]

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

Square Enix, better known for its epic RPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest (though it did work on puzzler Yosumin), announced a surprising collaboration with casual game studio PopCap for what looks like a more polished Puzzle Quest clone, releasing for Xbox Live Arcade and PC.

In Gyromancer, you line up three or more gems on a puzzle grid by rotating a square of pieces, similar to Bejeweled Twist. Clearing pieces enables you to execute attacks and cast spells against enemy creatures. The puzzle/RPG hybrid includes ten game stages, more than 50 summonable beasts, and an online ranking system.

The plot is kind of wackadoodle:

"Rivel, leader of the rebel faction Temperance and sorcerer vessel of the Godseye, follows Qraist, the countslayer, into the enchanted Aldemona Wood. The wood whispers to the two. For Rivel, the wood holds the key to his locked memories. For Qraist, the wood holds his calling - to be its master.

Unbeknownst to either, the nefarious Everett watches quietly from the shadows. Within this enchanted wood, severed from the outside world by ritual, lie mysteries and answers, knowledge and wonder. Each enters in search of something - but what is it they will find?"

While it's unfortunate that there isn't a portable edition for Gyromancer, a convenience that attracted many gamers to Puzzle Quest when that series first debuted, it's great to see the puzzle/RPG hybrid's formula dressed up with such detailed artwork instead of Infinite Interactive's simpler designs.

“Gyromancer is a cool puzzle/RPG hybrid that uses Bejeweled Twist’s game mechanic at the heart of its battle system,” says PopCap's chief creative officer and co-founder Jason Kapalka. “We’ve worked with Square Enix as a distribution partner in Japan for several years, and it was fun to collaborate with them in a more creative way on Gyromancer.”

Neither Square Enix or PopCap announced details on pricing or an expected release date, though they revealed that the PC edition will appear on Valve's Steam service.

[Via GamerBytes]

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

[Continuing his 'Sound Current' series talk to notable game audio creators, Jeriaska sits down with Civilization IV soundtrack co-composer Christopher Tin on his new album, inspired by one of the signature Civ IV songs.]

Musician Christopher Tin made his debut as a game composer with the tracks "Baba Yetu" and "Coronation" for the 2004 strategy title Civilization IV. His contributions to the score earned him two awards from the Game Audio Network Guild, for Best Original Vocal Song and Rookie of the Year.

Music from Civ IV has graced the stage numerous times as part of the Video Games Live concert series, allowing for "Baba Yetu" to be performed around the world. On October 1st the composer is publishing an album of music inspired by the piece.

Called "Calling All Dawns," the collection assembles twelve songs in twelve languages, including a brand new rendition of the celebrated videogame vocal theme. The album represents the culmination of an artist's personal interpretation of a computer software series that has inspired him since his youth.

In this interview coinciding with the release of "Calling All Dawns," Christopher Tin describes being a part of the VGL concert series. The discussion offers a personal perspective on the position of game soundtracks as an art form with international appeal.

As an intersection of Civilization IV and the entirely new material present on Calling All Dawns, "Baba Yetu" is also an example of bringing together ancient musical traditions and modern game software. In your work as a composer, what have you observed about the interplay of the canon and today's videogame industry?

Sadly, on a macro level, there is no interplay between classical music and videogames. This is not to say that the classical world doesn't explore adaptive and dynamic music (Steve Reich, John Cage) and that game music doesn't flirt with the classics (Civ IV had a number of licensed pieces, including 20th-century works by John Adams). But the circles have been wary of each other for awhile.

Tours like Video Games Live are helping to redefine those boundaries, but it's an uphill struggle, and videogames and the classical canon have little to do with one another for now. But really... why should there be any interaction between games and the classical canon? Why can't game music evolve as its own distinct art form? Why should it rely on the Western classical tradition at all?

Videogames (and their music) are complex, evolving, and technologically mediated. Why should the music in videogames rely on a the classical tradition that's centuries old, linear in definition, and based on artifices of 16th-century technological limitations?

Does the idea interest you of writing music that includes an interactive component and responds dynamically to the feedback of the player?

As far as effective uses of interaction in games, I'd have to say that Troels Folmann does this very well in his scores (matter of fact, Troels does many things very well).

I would certainly love to write more dynamic and adaptive music. I've done it for various sound installations and product design applications, but not yet in a game context. I certainly have a lot of ideas as to how it could be done; some of which may extend beyond the limitations of the current generation of consoles.

The key, though, is that I consider myself a highly structural composer; for me, the second most important element of music is form (the most important element is melody). So the challenge becomes how do you maintain a cohesive and satisfying musical form, while still relying on an adaptive engine? How do you have sensible modulations, recapitulations, developments, counterpoint, etc.? Is this possible, practical or even desirable? Maybe someday when the technology catches up, someone will hire me to solve this dilemma.

Prior to contributing to the score of Civilization IV, what had been your experience with the computer game series?

Civ was a huge part of my childhood. The funny story is that it was my college roommate, Soren Johnson, who turned out to be the lead designer for Civilization IV. I ran into him at our five-year reunion at Stanford. We had done an overseas study program together at Oxford. He was studying history and computer science, which is perfect for Civilization, and I was studying music. We caught up and he had just finished Civilization III as one of the co-designers. I told him I had been a huge Civilization fanatic growing up.

A couple months went by and I got a phone call from him saying, “Hey Chris, we are in the process of putting together the opening animations for Civilization IV. I took a track from one of the Stanford Talisman a capella albums recorded back at Stanford, and everyone loved the world vibe of it.” Talisman specializes in African choral music, so Soren came back to me and asked if I would be up for writing something new that was an epic sounding African vocal track with drums. And it was right up my alley.

I spent a month writing the main theme for Civilization IV, which is actually a long time in composer terms. I then recorded it with Talisman a capella back at Stanford. I got it into the game and that was it.

What is it that appealed to you about the series when you played it in your youth?

I’ve always been the type of person that likes to build, cultivate and tinker with things. I get fixated and obsessed on little projects. A game like Civ, where you’re growing a Civilization, expanding your borders and expanding new territories, that all fits into that pleasure center in my brain.

Your music for Civilization IV has been a fixture of the Video Games Live concert series program. What has been your experience working with the event organizers?

Well, Tommy and Jack are great. To me, they’re living the life right now. Having gotten to know them over the years, they have cultivated a great sense of community among game composers.

For example, Tommy has an annual summer barbecue where he invites everyone in the Game Audio Network Guild to his house. I can’t think of another industry where one of the top composers says, “Hey guys, everyone come over and hang out at my place!” It doesn’t matter if you’re an A-list composer, an assistant or an intern, you can come over, play videogames and hang out.

Has participating in the Video Games Live concert series directly contributed to the design or realization of your concept for Calling All Dawns?

I think that any time you're able to take a piece of music out of the context of a game and still have it stand on its own it's a validation that you've written a good piece of music. In a sense, the success I've had with my music being featured in Video Games Live (and the hundreds of other live performances of my music) gave me the motivation to create an entire album of music that would stand on its own, apart from any visuals.

On your blog you mentioned an audio/video experiment that took place at a recent performance of your Civilization IV medley at Video Games Live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. You had attended the concert virtually from your home in California and participated in a Q&A session by being projected on a monitor at the venue. How did the experiment turn out?

It was a great experience! And kudos to the VGL guys for trying to integrate this technology into the concert experience. In this day and age, why can't we do more of this stuff?

I'm relatively young, but I still remember a day when the idea of a 'video phone' was some sort of distant, newfangled technology. Nowadays we can beam anyone's voice and image anywhere in the world (and for FREE, on top of it), so why not have more remote participation events where composers 'virtually' attend concerts of their music? If any orchestra or choir out there wants me to do such a similar broadcast, even if it's just to say 'hi' during a rehearsal or do a Q&A, I'd be ready and willing.

Do you find it rewarding as a musician to interact directly with listeners and hear their feedback, for instance during the Video Games Live series' post-concert meet-and-greets?

Absolutely! I love meeting game music fans in person, and especially getting emails from people who are fans of my music (I usually write back). I'm very 'public' in my composition process. When I have the time, I love to workshop works-in-progress with a trusted circle of friends for feedback. The act of playing your works for people is a very revealing part of the creative process; you can no longer avoid those weak points that maybe you've been turning a blind eye to, but instead, are forced to confront them.

How would you say your academic training, both in terms of your literary background and training as a musician, contributed to your career as a composer?

Well, one can be inspired in the head, and one can be inspired in the heart. My cerebral inspiration, of course, was my study of the musical canon, which in one form or another gets subconsciously translated into the music that I write. But as for what moves me? What inspires the heart? It comes from far and wide.

I suppose that looking at the music I grew up listening to, there's a common thread of good old-fashioned tunefulness, that seems to work its way into what I write. I don't talk about it much, but when I was a tween I was absolutely obsessed with the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Schönberg and Boublil. (In fact, I originally wanted to be a musical theatre composer!)

There's a certain sweeping drama in their works that I loved growing up, AND you can't get their melodies out of your head. Once I entered high school I traded that love for the likes of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and the rest of the 'classic rock canon'. And again, the sort of repetitive riffs and hooks that you find in their music work their way into the stuff that I write. I write very riffy, hooky orchestral music. Maybe I'm a rock musician trapped in a classical musician's body.

Is "Calling All Dawns" a reflection of your academic training or experiences traveling?

A little of both, perhaps. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Book knowledge and life experience are often spoken of as competing ideas, but really they're two sides of the same coin. In fact, what you learn in school and what you learn in the real world should teach you the exact same thing: that it's important to look at the big picture, to think big, to take it all in, and to be unafraid to make a statement in the world.

Anyone who has traveled has been humbled by the enormity of the world's cultures and landscapes. Likewise the more schooling you have, the more awestruck you are by the depth, breadth and history of human knowledge. So whether you went through years of academia or years on the street, you should graduate with one important lesson learned: respect. Respect for the world, for the people around you, and for the people who came before you.

So what is Calling All Dawns? It's a vehicle of respect.

Christopher Tin conducting 'Baba Yetu' with the Golden State Pops Orchestra

What has been your experience meeting Afrika composer Wataru Hokoyama? You’ve both received GANG Awards for Rookie of the Year.

Wataru and I did a concert together with the Golden State Pops Orchestra at Game Music in Concert (four of the six composers there were GANG Rookies of the Year). He’s a great guy and a great composer. We did joke that when the game community wants something African, they turn to the Asian composers.

One of the songs on your forthcoming album, "Mado Kara Mieru," was recorded in Japan. Did you receive any advice from videogame musicians in the creation of this Japanese-language music track?

Absolutely! Hitoshi Sakimoto (of Final Fantasy XII fame) was instrumental in helping me get the vocals recorded. The song itself was conceived and written several years ago with the help of various Japanese-American friends, but when it came time to record, I didn't have the resources to find the right vocalists on my own.

As it turns out I was passing through Tokyo earlier this year, and decided to see if I could find some leads through the Game Audio Network Guild. One member referred me to Sakimoto-san, who referred me to the excellent singer Lia.

Through Lia's management I met two other excellent singers (Aoi Tada and Kaori Omura), and the three of them are the featured vocalists on my song (entitled 'Mado Kara Mieru'--translated as 'Through The Window I See'). It really speaks to the closeness and camaraderie in the game industry, I think; Sakimoto and his company were amazingly helpful in contacting the vocalists, arranging the recording session, and even helping out with the paperwork. I hope I can repay them in some way, someday.

How did you go about finding lyrics for "Mado Kara Mieru"?

With a lot of these songs, I tried to capture a cultural understanding of the language that the song is based on. There is a tendency to rely on clichés in striving for ethnic legitimacy. Whenever possible, I try to go a step beyond and find a deeper cultural raison d’etre.

This is where the understanding of literature and poetry comes into play. As it is, each of these songs draws from texts about life, death and rebirth. You have the requiem mass in Latin, you have excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita, an excerpt from the Torah, a Catholic hymn, a Japanese haiku, Māori proverbs, Persian poetry by Omar Khayyám. It’s not just sacred material, but also secular. 2009 has been spent recording soloists like the Soweto Gospel Choir performing "Baba Yetu," various singers in Japan, and Anonymous 4 in New York. The Portuguese Fado singer Dulce Pontes also sings a song for me, as does Iranian singer Sussan Deyhim and the legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade.

The dominant poetic form in Japanese is the haiku. In doing research into haiku, I got to understand that basically every classical haiku has a kigo, a seasonal word. They will say something like, “I look up in the sky and I see the moon.” The moon in that case is the seasonal word, because in autumn the moon is its roundest. That grounds the haiku in a particular season. If you see the word “sakura,” --meaning 'cherry blossoms'--it refers to spring, when the cherry trees blossom. Many of these haiku are grounded in particular seasons.

At the time I was writing this, I knew that my overall theme for Calling All Dawns was the cycle of life. Life, death and rebirth are a never-ending cycle. Even our distant ancestors observed this cycle in the turning of the seasons and the crops rejuvenating themselves in the spring.

What I did was take five haiku with corresponding words for spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring. Then I put them in order and treated them as a rondo. The goal was also to have singers at different stages of their lives singing these solos. The spring haiku would be sung by a young girl, for example. The summer haiku, by a young woman.

In the end is this how you went about recording the song?

Not quite. Ultimately, while all this artistic vision is important, the emotional impact of the vocalist is the most important thing. While you can theorize that it would be ideal to get a young girl to sing this, if an adult woman who can sound like a young girl is more capable, you should side with her. In other words, you should always choose quality over strict authenticity.

Looking back at your own experience, is there any personal advice you might offer someone who plans on going to school for musical training and is interested in working in videogames?

I wouldn't encourage prospective students to look *specifically* to get into video games, nor anything else for that matter. Just focus your energies on becoming the best possible composer you can be, and don't worry about what you're going to compose for--that will sort itself out later, and frankly you have no control over what's going to fall your way.

The truth is, though, that if you're a good musician, you'll be able to apply those skills towards any field you wind up working in. One thing in particular is that I've always believed that if you can write a good melody, you'll never go hungry. Why? Look back on history: every single piece that's established in our collective memory has always had a good melody. Even the great composers have pieces that stand out from the rest of their canon, and most often those are the ones with the great melodies.

Beethoven wrote nine symphones. How many people can hum the Fourth? The Eighth? Yet everyone knows the Ninth, the Fifth, the Third, and to a lesser extent the Sixth and Seventh. Why? Because they're great melodies. Even canonical dissonant works like the Rite Of Spring have great melodies. Want to write a piece that everyone connects with, that will stand the test of time? Write a good melody.

[Find more about Christopher Tin, along with ordering information on the album, at the composer's official website. Images courtesy of Christopher Tin. Hear samples of "Calling All Dawns" on Soundcloud.com.]

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

Konami and Sinister Pointe, the haunted attractions company behind last year's Saw haunted house, announced a Silent Hill-themed labyrinth opening at Sinister Pointe in Orange County, California

Inspired by the survival horror game series and the films, the Silent Hill maze is set in a vacant movie theater sized at over 10,000 square feet -- that's a lot of room for people to hide around and jump out of corners to scare you! If the attraction has faceless nurses that are even half as scary as the cosplay we featured last May, this thing is too scary for me.

The haunted house will run from October 2nd to October 31st (with a special media and public preview this Friday), and will herald the November 2nd release of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Konami's Wii remake of the first Silent Hill PlayStation 1 game.

Apparently, someone heard about the attraction's upcoming opening and broke into the labyrinth last night to get an early peek. You can watch a video from the trespassing adventure below:

It's a good thing the intruder shot this with an iPhone and could upload it to Youtube even after his encounter with whatever it was he ran into. You can find ticketing information for the attraction on Sinister Pointe's official site.

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

“What if there was physical proof that the Super Mario Bros mythology existed a long time ago on a lost chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean? Would you believe this fictional universe once existed if there was tangible evidence to prove it did?"

The Excavation of Mushroom Island is a new self-published book that asks those questions while chronicling the findings of author and archaeologist Logan Zawacki as his team explores Mushroom Island, the once-thought fabled land that served as the basis for so many Super Mario Bros. myths.

Offering up 76 informative pages covering the author's discoveries, "The Excavation of Mushroom Island" includes "a detailed chronology of the cultures that inhabited the islands between the Arcadic Period and the Early Snesolithic Period". It also features marked maps and profiles for over 30 documented fossils.

You can purchase softcover copies of the book at Blurb.com for $50. Zawacki is also selling limited edition hardcover copies of "The Excavation of Mushroom Island" (100, signed and numbered).

[Via Albotas]

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

[In this design analysis, first published in the May 2009 issue of Game Developer magazine, Maxis designer Soren Johnson (Spore, Civilization IV) addresses the careful balance between smart AI and player perception that the game is cheating.]

The designers of Puzzle Quest have a frustrating burden to bear – everyone thinks they are a bunch of dirty cheaters. The game centers on a competitive version of Bejeweled, in which players duel with an AI to create the most “match-3” colored patterns.

The problem comes from how the pieces on the gameboard are created - when, for example, a column of three green orbs is lined up and removed from play, new pieces fall in to take their place. However, sometimes, these three new pieces happen to be of all the same type, which means that a new match is automatically made, and the player scores again.

The odds of such a result are low (around 2% for getting three of the same colors in a row), but they are still high enough that a player will see it many times with enough games played.

Of course, the AI is playing the same game, so the player will see this lucky match fall into the enemy’s lap as well. At this point, human psychology takes over. Because the new pieces are hidden from view, how does the player know that the computer is not conducting some funny business and giving itself some free matches?

The human mind is notoriously bad at grasping probability, so many players are convinced that the AI is cheating. The developers have pledged over and over again that everything is fair and even, but whether they like it or not, the player experience has been affected by the simply possibility of cheating.

Trust Me

Games do not start with a player’s trust – this trust needs to be earned over time. Our audience is well aware that we can make a game do whatever we want under the hood, so the transparency and consistency of a game’s rules contribute significantly to player immersion.

The worst feeling for a player is when they perceive – or just suspect – that a game is breaking its own rules and treating the human unfairly.

This situation is especially challenging for designers of symmetrical games, in which the AI is trying to solve the same problems as the human is. For asymmetrical games, cheating is simply bad game design – imagine the frustration which would result from enemies in Half-Life warping around the map to flank the player or guards in Thief instantly spotting a player hiding in the shadows.

However, under symmetrical conditions, artificial intelligence often needs to cheat just to be able to compete with the player. Accordingly, designers must learn what cheats feel fair to a player and what cheats do not. As the Puzzle Quest team knows, games need to avoid situations in which players even suspect that the game is cheating on them.

Cheating is not the same thing as difficulty levels – by which the players are asking the game to provide extra challenges for them. Cheating is whether a game is treating the player “fairly” – rewarding them for successful play and not arbitrarily punishing them just to maintain the challenge. Unfortunately, in practice, the distinction between difficulty levels and cheating is not so clear.

Show the Mechanics

Fans of racing games are quite familiar with this gray area. A common tactic employed by AI programmers to provide an appropriate level of challenge is to “rubberband” the cars together. In other words, the code ensures that if the AI cars fall too far behind the human, they will speed up. On the other hand, if the human falls behind, the AI slows down to allow the player to recover.

The problem is that this tactic is often obvious to the players, which either dulls their sense of accomplishment when they win or raises suspicions when they lose. Ironically, games which turn rubberbanding into an explicit game mechanic often becomes more palatable to their players.

For example, the Mario Kart series has long disproportionately divvied out rewards from the mystery item boxes sprinkled around the tracks relative to the riders’ current standings. While the first-place racer might receive a shell only useful for attacking other lead cars, players in the rear might get a speed bullet which automatically warps them to the middle of the pack.

These self-balancing mechanics are common to board games – think of the robber blocking the leader’s tiles in Settlers of Catan – and they don’t feel like cheating because the game is so explicit about how the system works. Thus, players understand that the bonuses available to the AI will also be available to themselves if they fall behind. With cheating, perception becomes reality, so transparency is the antidote to suspicion and distrust.

Cheating in Civilization

Sometimes, however, hidden bonuses and cheats are still necessary to provide the right challenge for the player. The Civilization series provides plenty of examples of how this process can go awry and drive players crazy with poorly-handled cheating.

Being turn-based, the developers could not rely on a human’s natural limitations within a real-time environment. Instead, Civilization gives out a progressive series of unit, building, and technology discounts for the AI as the levels increase (as well as penalties at the lowest levels).

Because of their incremental nature, these cheats have never earned much ire from the players. Their effect is too small to notice on a turn-by-turn basis, and players who pry into the details usually understand why these bonuses are necessary.

On the other hand, many other cheats have struck players as unfair. In the original version of the game, the AI could create units for free under the fog-of-war, a situation which clearly showed how the computer was playing by different rules from the human. Also, AI civilizations would occasionally receive free “instant” Wonders, often robbing a player of many turns of work.

While an AI beating the human to a Wonder using the slow drip of steady bonuses was acceptable, granting it the Wonder instantly felt entirely different.

How a cheat will be perceived has much more to do with the inconsistencies and irrationality of human psychology than any attempt to measure up to some objective standard of fairness. Indeed, while subtle gameplay bonuses might not bother a player, other, legitimate strategies could drive players crazy, even if they know that a fellow human might pursue the exact same path as the AI has.

For example, in the original Civ, the AI was hard-wired to declare war on the human if the player was leading the game by 1900AD. This strategy felt unfair to players – who felt that the AI was ganging up on the human – even though most of them would have followed the same strategy without a second thought in a multiplayer game.

In response, by the time of Civ3, we guaranteed that the AI did not consider whether an opponent was controlled by a human or a computer when conducting diplomacy. However, these changes still did not inoculate us against charges of unfairness. Civ3 allowed open trading – such as technology for maps or resources for gold.

An enterprising human player would learn when to demand full price for their technologies and when to take whatever they could get – from a weak opponent with very little wealth, for example.

We adapted the AI to follow this same tactic, so that it would be able to take whatever gold it could from a backwards neighbor. To the players, however, the AI’s appeared to be once again ganging up against the human. Because the AI civs were fairly liberal with trading, they all tended to be around the same technology level, which led the player to believe that they were forming their own non-human trading cartel, spreading technologies around like candy (or, in the parlance of our forums, “tech-whoring”).

Perception is Reality

Once again, perception is reality. The question is not whether the AI is playing “fairly” but what is the game experience for the player? If questions of fairness keep creeping into the player’s mind, the game needs to be changed. Thus, for Civ4, we intentionally crippled the AI’s ability to trade with one another to ensure that a similar situation did not develop.

The computer is still a black box to players, so single events based on hidden mechanics need to be handled with great care. Sports game developers, for example, need to be very sensitive to how often a random event hurts the player, such as a fumble, steal, or ill-timed error. The dangers of perceived unfairness are simply too great.

Returning to our original example, the developers of Puzzle Quest actually should have considered cheating, but only in favor of the player. The game code could ensure that fortunate drops only happen for the human and never for the AI.

The ultimate balance of the game could still be maintained by tweaking the power of the AI’s equipment and spells - changes which appear “fair” because they are explained explicitly to the player. The overall experience would thus be improved by the removal of these negative outliers that only serve to stir up suspicion. When the question is one of fairness, the player is always right.

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

[Every week, Gamasutra sums up sister iPhone site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's nascent portable games platform -- this time covering Dexter, geoDefense Swarm, and Hybrid: Eternal Whisper.]

This week, FingerGaming covers the remade arcade classic BurgerTime Deluxe, TV drama adaptation Dexter: The Game, and the action-RPG Hybrid: Eternal Whisper.

Here are the top stories from the last seven days:

- Serial Killer Sim Dexter: The Game Debuts in App Store
"The Showtime television drama Dexter has made its video game debut, premiering in the iTunes App Store. Dexter: The Game adapts the series to the iPhone with a mix of investigative gameplay and stealth-action sequences."

- Prope Brings Let's Tap: Tap Runner to iPhone
"In Prope's iPhone adaptation of the Nintendo Wii minigame Let's Tap: Tap Runner, players must place the iPhone on top of a cardboard box and tap the box softly and rapidly to run. Harder taps will make the player's character jump."

- Gamevil's Hybrid: Eternal Whisper Available in App Store
"After bringing the well-received action-RPG Zenonia to the iPhone earlier this year, developer Gamevil follows up on its previous success with Hybrid: Eternal Whisper, a fantasy-themed brawler with role-playing elements."

- Top Free Game App Downloads for the Week
"CandyCane's puzzler Fling! finishes at the top of this week's free app chart. The balance game TightWire Lite arrives at second place in today's rankings, while the ragdoll injury sim Max Injury Lite takes third."

- Tower Defense Sequel geoDefense Swarm Premieres in App Store
"geoDefense Swarm mixes up the formula a bit by adding a new layer of complexity. Players are now encouraged to construct their own mazes, in order to guide invading creatures to their trap-laden doom."

- Top-Selling Paid Game Apps for the Week
"EA's Madden NFL 10 is off to a fast sales start, finishing its debut week as the App Store's top seller in both revenue and volume. Battle Bears moves up to second place after placing fifth last week, as Mr. AahH!! takes third."

- Namco Networks Releases BurgerTime Deluxe
"Yet another classic Data East franchise has found new life on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Namco's BurgerTime Deluxe offers an upgraded version of the 1982 hamburger-stomping arcade game."

Posted by Simon Carless at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Filipino artist Chad Manzo posted a few "copy-less posters" from his portfolio working with music production unit Sonic Boom, including this art of M. Bison playing the part of a severe instructor to his minions -- it looks like he just rapped the knuckles of his Shadaloo students. Why else did you think Sagat had bandages all over his hands?

On a kind of related note, I went to school in the Philippines for a year (second grade), and the teachers there were no joke. One particular instructor, a nun, had a favorite punishment -- she would make troublemakers kneel in front of the class, hold their arms out with their palms facing up, and place heavy books on top of their palms to hold up for the rest of the class. Crazy!

But I digress. I've included more of Manzo's video game-inspired posters, like Mario imagining his Princess cheating on him with his arch-enemy (Didn't Peach actually sort of marry Bowser in Super Paper Mario?), below. You can also see more of his work on the artist's portfolio site.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Billed as "a video game with real life consequences", Lose/Lose is a simple vertical-scrolling shoot'em up with a twist -- each alien appearing on your screen represents a random file on your computer. Thus, each time you kill an alien, the game will delete that sprite's associated file. If the aliens manage to destroy your ship, the Lose/Lose application is deleted. Wacky and dangerous!

Developer Zach Gage calls attention to the fact that the aliens don't actually fire back at you, calling into question what your mission is in the game. Are you defending your planet? Terrorizing a pacifist alien race? Just killing whatever comes up on your screen for fun?

"Why do we assume that because we are given a weapon an awarded for using it, that doing so is right?" asks Gage. "By way of exploring what it means to kill in a video-game, Lose/Lose broaches bigger questions. As technology grows, our understanding of it diminishes, yet, at the same time, it becomes increasingly important in our lives."

"At what point does our virtual data become as important to us as physical possessions? If we have reached that point already, what real objects do we value less than our data? What implications does trusting something so important to something we understand so poorly have?"

You can download Lose/Lose and see the game's highscores at Gage's site. You can also watch a trailer for the game below, and enjoy watching aliens shot down without having to worry about losing valuable documents.

[Via Tlon]

Posted by Eric Caoili at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Though the Xbox 360 isn't nearly as popular in Japan as it is in other territories, that didn't stop Microsoft from bringing Project Natal, its gesture/voice-based peripheral for the console, to this week's Tokyo Game Show.

Here, Microsoft director Kudo Tsunoda and his oversized sunglasses show off a couple Project Natal demos (starting around the 02:10 mark), Ricochet and Burnout Paradise, for a local news show. There seems to be a little lag between the player's and the on-screen character's movement in the Ricochet demonstration, but the Burnout Paradise problems look like oversteering issues on the player's part.

Even if you don't watch the entire video, make sure to at least check out the brief hilarious bit around 03:35 when Tsunoda slowly claps with the Japanese host, cheering, "Yes, very good for you. I'm so happy," before turning to flash us a cheesy smile and give us a thumbs up.

[Via kpop100]

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

[‘Design Diversions’ is a biweekly new GameSetWatch-exclusive column by Andrew Vanden Bossche. It looks at the unexpected moments when games take us behind the scenes, and the details of how game design engages us.]

About thirty levels into World of Warcraft, I realized that I did not need to read two paragraphs of text to justify killing twenty specific woodland creatures. It was at this point that I realized something crucial: in these two paragraphs, the only words that held any interest for me were “kill” and “woodland creatures.” It was very liberating to know that aside from the very few quests that tied into a larger narrative, I wasn’t missing anything at all.

Video games have a complicated relationship with narratives. Some games do just fine without any story at all. Other games make story their main focus, while others use it as convenient way to glue together the disparate elements of a game into a cohesive whole.

Meanwhile, the video game community is caught between the two extremes. On the one hand, we ask for video games to be have more sophisticated narratives, but on the other hand, we’re frustrated stories that drag us along and break up the game’s rhythm. Getting the story across without killing the mood is the greatest challenge to narrative gameplay, so it’s no wonder that there are plenty of games that drop the whole thing altogether.

It wasn’t always the case, but it’s quite mandatory nowadays for cutscenes and story segments to be skippable. While I would never call for a return to the heinously obnoxious past where we were forced to watch the same fifteen-minute movie every time we failed to defeat the boss we saved immediately before, when story is considered skippable it probably doesn’t belong in the first place.

We want compelling stories in our games, but we also want them to not forget their chosen medium in their quest to hold our attention. Some games let the world speak for itself rather than putting words in its mouth. In writing, it’s important to be efficient with words. Some games create gorgeous environments without any at all, while others drown themselves in listless text that players don’t bother to read and designers don’t expect them to.

Who What When Where Why

If learning to play a video game is like learning to live in another world, then narrative is particularly helpful since it provides a framework with which to understand it. Simple games like Tetris don’t need require anything more than basic geometric patterns to convey what’s going on, while more complicated games like Doom use a huge number of images to convey everything from switches to monsters to helpful items to dangerous floors.

Doom is virtually plotless, but the game world is very strong both when it comes to conveying what the player is supposed to do and at providing an emotional experience. Doom terrified a generation of children who grew up playing the game, and the grisly violence and grotesque monsters were a large part of its success. The imagery of Doom ensures from the moment that you start playing that killing monsters is exactly what you’re going to do, and something you want to do, since the creatures in the game are both repulsive and dangerous.

Doom was a successful game because it delivered exactly what it promised. Doom is a terrible example of a good story, but it is a fantastic example of how world design, from the pathways of the level to the imagery and sound effects convey the game’s atmosphere. Doom is the video game equivalent of a perfectly executed B horror movie. It’s not just a successful game, but one that delivers thrills, no matter how cheap they may be.

The World vs. The Story>

Narrative is optional for videogames, but world building is not. In other words, Tetris doesn’t need a story, but you can’t have Tetris without the blocks. In fact, many games are recognized for creating a high level of excellence in this respect alone, such as the frantic visual and aural experience of Rez. Videogames straddle the line between narrative and non-narrative art.

We can say that narrative starts at zero and is added as it becomes required. Since every game has some kind of title, it might be more accurate to adjust that number to one, but even a simple title like “Asteroids” may be all that’s needed to bring life to floating images on a screen.

This isn’t to say that narrative (or world design, for that matter) should exist only to explain to players what they’re supposed to do. But just as every good writer knows to cut unnecessary words, the same should apply to games. A common mantra in creative writing classes is “show, don’t tell”. Which even a game like Doom does, and even if it’s horror film camp, does so much with imagery alone. Players will become at worst frustrated and at best bored with extraneous narrative.

What sort of experience is the game supposed to create? How can dialogue or text help this process? How will text or dialogue be better than any other medium for creating this experience? This last question is the most important, since it’s not enough to just tell a story. A story should be read, so if it’s told in a way that players will ignore or skip (or wish they could ignore or skip) it doesn’t matter how good or bad it is.

Fat Games>

If there’s one game that really puts the flab on its narrative, it’s World of Warcraft. WoW’s quest text is like some sort of gaming appendix that the designers feel needs to exist but completely oversteps its requirements. There is simply no need to read two to three paragraphs about why you should be killing woodland animals, especially when endgame boss encounters central to the storyline might not have that much text.

If it isn't being used to enhance the experience, it simply doesn't belong. If players skip the story, the designers have failed. Players don't skip story because they hate stories. They skip it because the story's bad or because it interrupts what they're doing.

WoW’s quest text is compensating for the fact that the monsters are simple and the encounters with them are often difficult to distinguish from others except for the differing models. When everything from a dog to a dragon behaves the same way, it’s hard to find them interesting. But rather than have the monsters themselves behave in an evocative or unique manner, the player is then supposed to imagine the qualities of the monster he then goes off to fight. This happens often when what a player reads in quest text isn’t reflected in the actual game world.

Page to Stage

Making the world come to life requires a different approach, one that has been successfully executed more than once in WoW itself. For example, there’s a mine full of babbling prospectors who have gone insane from an evil god beneath the earth that constantly whispers insidious things to players in the area. This is conveyed from word bubbles from the miners, and private messages from the god in the player’s chat.

Because all the text comes in through the game’s chat screen, you aren’t forced to read it to continue. It happens as an organic part of the world rather than something you sit down to read. This is writing that doesn’t interrupt gameplay and is a far more vivid scene than what could ever be found in a snipped of quest text, removed from the rest of the game. Rather than making the player read about something, this brings the event to life.

The problem is fitting it into the game. With videogames, less is more. Text and cutscenes stick out awkwardly when they don’t fit. Of course, context is everything. While Metal Gear’s cutscenes are infamous for straining even the patience of fans, it’s an expected aspect of the game. VNs are also nothing but scrolling text with still images, but they still manage to captivate their audience.

Rather than feeling that story is a burden, it should be celebrated and integrated as fully within the game experience as possible. If that means cutting what doesn’t fit, that’s fine. Story isn’t measured by the pound, but by how much it impacts the player.

[Andrew Vanden Bossche is a freelance writer and student. He has a blog called Mammon Machine, which hasn’t been updated for an embarrassingly long time, and can be reached at AndrewVandenB@gmail.com]

Posted by Andrew Vanden Bossche at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[It's a bit of a gargantuan round-up, but this GDC Austin write-up collection includes two days of the show not covered on GSW, and there's a heck of a lot of good info here from the online, iPhone, writing, indie, and other spaces - thanks to my colleagues for putting on the event.]

With GDC Austin 2009 now complete, we've collected highlights of its extensive coverage throughout the show, including session writeups and interviews drawn from the main conference as well as its iPhone, Indie, Audio, and Writers summits.

We think it's important to leave a lasting record of what these speakers have to say, and tell those who can't be present about some of the useful advice and stats that they have.

Gamasutra (a part of Think Services, as is GDC Austin itself) was at the show for all four days, and links to many notable stories are presented below:

Turbine On Why Console MMO Migration Is "Inevitable"
"Focusing on Turbine's plans to move in the console MMO marketplace, VP of product development Craig Alexander's GDC Austin talk discussed why the shift is 'inevitable' -- and what he's doing about it."

Running a Global Community In Final Fantasy XI
"What does it take to run an MMO on three platforms and in three regions, with one player base? Square Enix talked Final Fantasy XI's community challenges and the road to FF XIV at GDC Austin."

Nexon's Kim Announces BlockParty, Talks Post-'Penguin' Kids
At GDC Austin, Nexon America vice president Min Kim asked how we should get ready for the "penguin army" -- the first fully-connected generation -- as they graduate from Club Penguin, announcing the new BlockParty social game portal.

Zynga's Reynolds On Social Game Design's Evolution
"In his GDC Austin talk on Friday, Zynga's Brian Reynolds, a founder of Firaxis and Big Huge Games, talked about Facebook games and why 'social games are going to need better game design than they have now.'"

Insomniac Games' 10 Commandments Of Community
"Insomniac Games community director Ryan Schneider knows there are a lot of beers out there. "For us, when people go into the pub, we want to look for the Insomniac brand of beer," he said. "...We want them buying Insomniac brand beer and telling their friends about it."

An Inside Look At The Universe Of Warcraft
"Thursday morning's GDC Austin keynote was met with a large crowd as Blizzard Entertainment's J. Allen Brack and Frank Pearce took the stage to offer a detailed look into the inner workings of the genre-dominating World of Warcraft."

Thinking Inside The Box -- Writing For Franchises
"Coming from a studio best known for their extensive work on the Tom Clancy games, Red Storm Entertainment's Jay Posey had a wealth of knowledge to share in his GDC Austin 2009 Game Writer's Summit lecture about writing for franchise game titles."

Gaia Online's Three Lessons For Free-To-Play Success
"At GDC Austin on Thursday, Dave Georgeson, senior producer for Gaia Interactive's free-to-play casual MMO zOMG, said there are three keys to a successful online game: Make it fun for everyone, get users to want to buy, and make it easy for users to buy."

The Power Of EVE Online's Council Of Stellar Management
"At GDC Austin, CCP's Petur Johannes Oskarsson discussed EVE Online, the company's complex MMO with a passionate player base all coexisting on a single server, and the government that has arisen in the game to address player concerns."

The Old Republic And The Challenges Of Big Teams
"BioWare Austin technical director Bill Dalton delivered a look at how interdependencies can lead to problems in development on games -- with the studio's Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO as a perfectly complex test case."

Free Realms And The Attention Span Challenge
"Sony Online Entertainment is now moving from the hardcore to the kid market. President John Smedley revealed a PS3 Free Realms debut in 2010, and admitted that "making games for kids is hard" in his GDC Austin keynote."

Mythic's Hickman Shares Warhammer Online's Biggest Mistakes
"At GDC Austin, Mythic's Jeff Hickman delivered spoke frankly about mistakes the company has made, particularly in the last "interesting year" since the launch of Warhammer Online -- and looked to the future."

Half-Life, Portal Scribes Talk Writing Process
"Valve writers Marc Laidlaw and Erik Wolpaw delivered a talk at GDC Austin about the processes and principles of video game writing, drawing from their experiences with the Half-Life and Portal games."

Heroes and Villains In DC Universe Online
"Veteran comics scribe and DC Universe Online writer Marv Wolfman teamed up with his Sony Online colleagues to discuss writing for heroes and, more especially, villains at a GDC Austin talk."

Writing for MMOs: You're Doing it Wrong
"Is the MMO genre is a bad fit for traditional storytelling methods? At GDC Austin, Tracy Seamster of ZeniMax Online and Steve Danuser of 38 Studios discussed examples of how to do it right -- and how not to."

2D Boy's Carmel On 'Beyond The Finish Line'
"In an intriguing GDC Austin lecture, World Of Goo co-creator Ron Carmel examined the world 'beyond the finish line', discussing what happens after your indie game is released and how to deal with it."

Twisted Pixel Talks 'Splosion Man Postmortem
"Mike Henry and Sean Riley from Austin-based indie Twisted Pixel used their Independent Games Summit talk to postmortem the six-month XBLA project and 'Summer Of Arcade' title 'Splosion Man.."

Swink, Wegner On Blurst's Rapid Prototyping Madness
"At the Independent Games Summit on Austin in Wednesday, Flashbang's Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink explained how their rapid prototyping of web games like Off-Road Velociraptor Safari gave them larger life lessons."

Lost Garden's Cook On Why Premium Flash Games Rock
"Talking at the Indie Games Summit at GDC Austin on Wednesday, Bunni co-creator and Lost Garden blogger Daniel Cook explained why he believes charging users for more complex Flash games is the wave of the future."

PSP Minis Drop Features To Hasten Approval Time
"Sony confirmed at GDC Austin that PSP Mini games will not be allowed to have wireless multiplayer functionality, downloadable content, or software updates, in order to quicken the approval process."

How Fantastic Contraption Became A Fantastic Hit
"Talking at the Independent Games Summit at GDC Austin, Fantastic Contraption creator Colin Northway explained how he created his Flash-based physics game with no pro game experience, and "made a boatload of money" along the way."

NinjaBee's Fox Gets Practically Indie
"NinjaBee's Brent Fox discussed practical indie tips at GDC Austin, looking at the massive advantages of being in XBLA's Top 20, and why DLC for XBLA games isn't generally a moneymaker in itself."

Gaijin's Roush on Bit.Trip's Indie Construction
"Kicking off the Independent Games Summit at GDC Austin, Gaijin Games' Mike Roush talked about 'holistic indie console game design' in making the retro WiiWare series, explaining how project scope morphed its game design."

Certain Affinity's Bullard On Bootstrapping Your Indie Business
"In an intensely practical Indie Games Summit talk at GDC Austin, Certain Affinity (Age Of Booty) production manager Jennifer Bullard talked about the realities of game business for a mid-sized independent developer, spanning business to relationships and beyond."

Wolfire On Making Indie Marketing Buzz
"In the final talk at GDC Austin's Indie Games Summit on Tuesday, Wolfire's John Graham discussed how to get the word out about your independent game, based around successful tactics for upcoming PC action game Overgrowth."

From AAA To Indie - Tiger Style and the Making of Spider
"At GDC Austin on Tuesday, former EA, Midway developers Randy Smith and David Kalina discussed moving from AAA console to iPhone development, showcasing Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor -- whose "sales have exceeded our expectations"."

Five Rules For Marketing iPhone Games
"At the iPhone Games Summit at GDC Austin on Tuesday, Brian Greenstone, CEO of Enigmo developer Pangea, gave five marketing rules for iPhone games, adding that "99 cents is a horrible price" for game Apps."

PlayFirst On Bringing Established Brands to iPhone
"PlayFirst's Chris Williams talked at GDC Austin on moving established brands to the iPhone, using the company's successful Dash series as an example -- discussing strategy, stats, and more."

Newtoy On Becoming The 'Nintendo Of The iPhone'
"In its search for iPhone success, Words With Friends developer Newtoy said it wanted to think like a gaming platform holder -- to be the "Nintendo of the iPhone." CEO Paul Bettner spoke at the iPhone Summit at GDC Austin."

Storytelling in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
"Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 marks a new direction in narrative integration and team structure for Vicarious Visions -- lead writer Evan Skolnick and narrative designer Jonathan Mintz discussed its genesis at GDC Austin."

Interactive Narrative As a Counselor
"To University of Baltimore assistant professor Aaron Oldenburg, an effective interactive narrative is much like being a counselor for the player, he said during a Tuesday session at the GDC Austin Game Writers Summit."

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

Last month, renown artist Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy series, Vampire Hunter D) made his only appearance in the U.S. this year at New People's Superfrog Gallery in San Francisco for a panel discussion and autograph session.

He was there to promote the opening of a new exhibit featuring his latest art, pieces coated with auto paint and metallic glitter. Titled Deva Loka, the collection is presented as "an ode to [Amano's] childhood love for American comics and automobiles". Many of the paintings and sculptures recall the artist's years working at Japanese animation house Tatsunoko Productions.

"Between the late 60s and 70s, during my early years in the art world, I was greatly influenced by American comic books and pop culture," says Amano. "If you have seen my series of Gatcha-man, Time Bokan, and Yatter-man, you would be able to recognize this immediately. Also from Japan, starting with the traditional animal caricatures, original Japanese culture has uniquely influenced today’s Anime and manga. I feel that my current work is nurtured by both of these key elements."

He adds, "This exhibition at Superfrog Gallery brings me back to the U.S. after a long period of being away. I would like to show my gratitude for the inspiration America has given me through each of my work. With the theme of Deva Loka, the ancient Indian land of God, all of my concepts and influences have come together, centered within one place. I hope everyone enjoys my show."

You can see many of his pieces from the Deva Loka show, which runs through October 18th, below:

[Photos via New People, Patrick Macias, Eric Johnson]

Posted by Eric Caoili at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Data East's simple sprites and jovial 80s artwork for BurgerTime falsely portrayed the horror of Peter Pepper's work situation, painting a playful scene over his terror in order to placate customers and push more arcade machines/game copies.

This artwork from illustrator Emory Allen, however, lifts that veil to reveal the nefarious twisted faces of Mr. Egg, Mr. Hot Dog, and Mr. Pickle as they terrorize Peter, appearing from the darkness and cackling before they punch him in the gut, stomp on his hat, and jerk his arm to make the chef slap himself across the face. "Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself."

Peter curls into a ball, suffering their kicks and taunts, swearing to himself that he'll quit as soon as the economy picks back up and there's more work out there. Who knows, perhaps he'll find a job that will pay for him to go back to school, so he can learn a trade other than making giant hamburgers. It's never too late to return to college. Maybe he'll go into nursing. He heard there's a big demand for nurses, and he'd love to work with people for a change.

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

[In this editorial, originally published in the September issue of sister print publication Game Developer magazine, editor-in-chief Brandon Sheffield muses on the distinction between game genres and so-called "clones."]

We often talk about “clones” of games, or copies of ideas -- but at a certain point, if an idea is copied, expanded, and massaged enough times, nobody says "clone" anymore.

When does an idea become large enough to lose its identity and flourish into a full-blown genre? Perhaps it’s better said that the idea gains a new identity, one that’s more generally applicable.

Most recently, we stopped referring to "Tower Defense clones," and began discussing tower defense games as an entire genre, which has since been expanded to include a number of variations by companies as diverse as Square Enix and PopCap.

"Doom clones" stopped appearing around the time Quake came out, and we started to deal with the first-person shooter as a genre. Bejeweled, itself inspired by earlier matching puzzlers like Columns, is no longer copied per se; we now have the "match three" genre, which includes the robust Puzzle Quest in its ranks.

Will The Original Concept Please Stand Up?

This question occurs to me as I work on an iPhone game that's heavily inspired by one specific existing game. This original game has had one or two "clones" already, but they're not well known enough for the mechanic to have become pervasive. So how do I know if I've expanded my own version of the concept enough to safely claim I'm not making a "clone?"

Let's consider some existing examples. PopCap's Astro Pop successfully iterates on a concept popularized by the Data East game Magical Drop (grab colored balls from a well, form groups of three to remove them) by adding powerups and changing the setting to outer space. (Magical Drop III is pictured above.) Magical Drop's creator Data East was no longer around to make another entry in the series, so who would begrudge PopCap's renewal of the still-enjoyable concept?

One step further, there's the mobile game puzzler Critter Crunch, which looks familiar, but changes the chaining structure to such an extent that it feels like a totally different game.

Then there's Zuma -- also from PopCap -- versus Puzz Loop from Mitchell Corp. In this case, only the setting was changed; the gameplay was not significantly altered or upgraded from the two existing Puzz Loop titles. This is much more likely to be labeled a clone, because while the platform has changed from the original arcade game to the PC (and other devices), the game feels very similar. (Mitchell has since brought its concept to other devices under the name Magnetica.)

The game I'm working on may well be more similar to the original than it is different. Though the platform, characters, and controls will have all changed significantly, the core concept is still quite reminiscent of the original. So how will my game be labeled?

I Am Not A Replicant

So where is the line drawn? How much is "enough" concept evolution to make a game a step forward within a genre shard versus being labeled a clone? I say "shard," because as games evolve, genres themselves become more granularly defined. Though Tetris, Sokoban, Sudoku, and Bejeweled are all puzzle games, you wouldn’t paint them with the same brush. Falling-block puzzle, action puzzle, brain puzzle, and match three are the more correct terms.

Sokoban (a game in which you push boxes into the correct areas, trying not to trap yourself) is an interesting one, because most games based on its concept are in fact true clones, to the point that they use the Sokoban name in their titles and reuse the puzzle maps from the original. Variants like Chip's Challenge and Boulder Dash seem to escape the "clone" distinction by adding different goals and scenarios.

Then we have genre-defining games like Grand Theft Auto's 3D iterations. Certainly open-world games had existed previously, but the term "sandbox game" was used to describe something like SimCity rather than an action game like GTA.

After Grand Theft Auto III, any game with similar structural and mechanical elements was called "GTA-like," and to some extent that's still true. Perhaps this is because we heard a lot of publishers saying, "Make it more like GTA" at the time. But perhaps it's also partially the fault of the press for wanting to compare everything to a specific gold standard.

In the case of the game I'm working on, the original concept is simple. I think that's the major factor here. It seems the simpler the core concept, or the fewer core concepts exist within one game, the more likely a successor is to be labeled a clone. But of course, we don’t call Madden and NCAA clones of each other, nor clones of the sport on which they're based, even though they follow the original core concept of American football to the letter.

Ultimately, it's a question of semantics, evolution, and feeling. If a game simply feels too much like another, it’s going to get called a clone. If it works to distinguish itself within a solid concept, every game like it will work in concert to create a new genre.

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

D3 Publisher has ported the previously Xbox 360-exclusive Earth Defense Force 2017 (Earth Defense Force 3 in Japan) to mobile phones in Japan, keeping the original's 3D graphics and refusing to shrink its massive alien bugs. So far, the cell phone version seems surprisingly faithful to the console edition, even featuring an identical HUD.

Unbeknownst to me, D3P released the previous two previous EDF games to mobile, too, and even maintains a cell phone line of Simple series budget games just like on the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and other consoles, except with a few adult games snuck into its catalog.

You can see more EDF 2017 mobile screenshots below and on D3P's official Japanese site. Hopefully, the publisher will jump on the bandwagon with bringing its mobile games to the iPhone and we'll eventually see this cult favorite on the U.S. App Store.

[Via Siliconera]

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

In this wicked ZX Spectrum 128 demo released at Sundown 2009 two weekends ago (where it took first place in the Oldskool competition), Evilpaul demonstrates what could possibly be "the first 'proper' tape streaming demo on the Spectrum."

The coder explains, "We use tiny delays in the loading routines to stream the new code, run the current effect, and play the music." And if that sounds too technical for you, Evilpaul also channeled Pimp My Ride host Xzibit for this summary: "Yo dawg, I heard you like demos so I put a demo in your demos so you can watch a demo while you load your demos." Brilliant.

You can download the Spectrum demo from Ate Bit Productions, though you should keep in mind that the program will likely not work properly in most a few emulators without some fiddling.

[Via TCTD]

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

Alberto Mielgo is sharing the artwork he contributed to The Beatles: Rock Band (with the help of other talented artists), starting with the first 2D half of the game's initial trailer, which sought to share a "brief story of young Beatles."

The two vertical pieces below show an early version of the video's first 25 seconds, with the camera panning through Liverpool, from that beautiful shot of the city's rooftops to the band's Cavern Club performance. "Many layers, hours of painting and thinking, and master AfterFX Jhonny Still makes this one of my favorite scenes," says Mielgo.

[Via Superpunch]

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.]

As we head into heavy Tokyo Game Show action (TGS attendees, don't forget to come to Sense Of Wonder Night 2009 at 5pm on Thursday for lots of experimental game goodness, inc. the creator of Echochrome and the first showing of the XBLA game from the IGF-winning Synaesthete creators!), here's the remainder of the GameSetLinks from a while back.

(Since we're talking indie events, a note to Melbourne, Australia game devs. I'm speaking on practical routes to indie game success at (free!) local Government-organized Digital Distribution Summit on Tuesday, September 29th, and the successful iPhone devs at Firemint are also talking. Should be worth a gander!)

Onward to the links:

Best Games of September 2009 by Game Tunnel
Yay for Osmos at #1, it really is a bit of a sleeper.

Thoughts on Gaming: Indirect Effects « All Topics « Improbable Insights
Another nice design piece from Case.

The people who wrote that Cross Review don’t understand anything! @ Magweasel
Interesting dissention on a Japanese review of House Of The Dead's new Wiicarnation.

Mike Darga's Game Design Blog: The 3 Flavors Of Enemy Design
'When deciding on a high-level design for the opponents in your game, it helps to decide first which of the 3 major groups you'd like your enemies to fall under.'

Player Representative to EVE Online Dev Council Caught in Insider Trading Scandal | GameCulture
More fascinating Eve wackiness.

Billy Bragg: In defence of guitar heroes - Commentators, Opinion - The Independent
'Let's not complain about a game that encourages kids to become music fans and, in our son's case, gives them the rudimentary skills needed to learn to how to play guitar.' Via Plastic Axe.

Post Position » Interactive Fiction Suggestions, Fall 2009
'The games on that list remain good ones, but I’m now updating those recommendations to take into account games from recent years.'

Write the Game » Selling a Game: Word of Mouth
This may seem basic, but seriously, how many folks don't do it right?

Ian Bogost - Videogames are a Mess
'Videogames are a mess. A mess we don't need to keep trying to clean up, if it were even possible to do so.'

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

Developed by Interplay's Tribal Dreams group from 1997 to 1999 before it was cancelled, Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury was a Trekkie's dream, promising to deliver an animated, FMV adventure game exploring the conflict between the Romulans and Vulcans, with voice acting from the original show's cast and a script penned by series writer D.C. Fontana.

The way former lead engineer Thom Robertsons described production on the game, however, Secret of Vulcan Fury was a nightmare and likely wasn't as far along as many had hoped, despite rumors of playable builds unearthed from the company's auctioned-off materials.

Speaking with 1UP podcast Retronauts, Robertsons detailed the challenges that his team faced developing the game, and why the company's idea of producing a Star Trek game of this scale with computer-generated, Pixar-style 3D graphics wasn't feasible:

"Just one of the many reasons why that project was doomed to failure was because the team and the management had really no concept of exactly how expensive a proposition they were imagining when they set out to do it," the programmer explained. "I saw the plans. They were looking at four to six hours of created video, and they were planning on doing it at maybe a 1/20th of the budget of a Toy Story movie. Something did not connect."

He points out other roadblocks to development, such as Christmas party planning distractions, Interplay's producer-centric structure, and the game's incomplete script. According to Robertsons, Secret of Vulcan Fury was still very early into development when he left the company:

"They had a working demo of the bridge and Scotty cutting through the door, you know, five minutes of play, and pretty much nothing else. There was a large scale plan for about the first half of the entire game, at which point the script itself had petered out. They admitted from the beginning to me that they didn't have the full script. ...

At the time I left, I didn't see any indication that the producer had resolved the issues with getting the rest of the script worked out. This is so close to Hollywood that, you know, when you don't have the script, you don't have anything. You have to start with the script.

If I'm sounding like the project was doomed to failure from the beginning, I'd say that's quite accurate, but it was doomed to failure for a lot of little reasons, not one big -- somebody left -- reason."

At least we have this Secret of Vulcan Fury CG test of Spock with NSFW audio from the Goodfellas film to enjoy:

Robertsons also aired out Interplay's dirty laundry on another Star Trek game the company actually managed to ship, though not without its own major problems. If you remember Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, the game's primary selling point was its interactive live action scenes featuring the original show's cast as guest instructors.

The programmer says that filming those scenes was a disaster, as the team neglected to re-paint the green screen to prevent fading throughout the three-day shoot, and tried to jury-rig a system for matching the real camera's movements with the digital in-game camera's:

"The lead artist on that project had this brilliant idea that he would paint red dots on the green stage, and as the red dots moved left, that meant that the camera was moving right, and it would magically all work out. So, this badly painted green screen stage with red dots all over it was what they shot very expensive footage of over a three day period. And then they brought it all back to the studio and said, 'Oh my god. What did we do?'

They basically took a lot of expensive art time having artists very carefully try to hand-manage the synchronization between the real camera and the digital camera. But the faded green screen was a much bigger problem. It was a huge mess. The solution [the producer] came up with was to freak out and steal as many artists from other teams as he could possibly get to take every single frame of video and scrub green in the places where the green was supposed to be."

Wow! You can hear more of Thom Robertsons' account on what went wrong with Interplay's Star Trek games on Retronauts' latest podcast episode (starting around 42:07). You can also catch up on what he's been up to since he left the company and check out his iPhone game GunRazor on his personal blog.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Ignoring the fact that nearly two years have passed since Cloverfield's box office release, and the idea that spoofing the movie now is long past passe, the Mascot Wedding crew parodied the "reality film's" style, replacing its mysterious and disappointing antagonist with familiar monsters we can cheer on: George, Lizzie the Dinosaur, and Ralph from Rampage.

The group produced the video as part of "The Uwe Boll Totally Awesome Videogames Filmmaking Competition", presented by G4's Attack of the Show and Fantastic Fest. Participants shot movie trailers for potential films inspired by video games -- two finalists will be sent to the Fantastic Fest film festival, where Uwe Boll will announce and congratulate the winner (um, and that's pretty much the prize, other than the paid flight/room/food/show badges).

This is the only decent submission I've seen from the contest so far, but this goofy Time Crisis trailer is funny just for the brief scene of three dudes doing cartwheels and shooting each other in a cramped room, all of them failing to hit anything:

Oh, and on the topic of Cloverfield, there's another, longer parody (also better produced) from Seakitten Collective making the rounds, again replacing the movie's monster with video game characters -- Samus, Luigi, Pyramid Head, LocoRoco, Kirby, Space Invaders, and many others. Definitely worth checking out if you liked that first video above!

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

[Starting a new column series for GameSetWatch, examining overlooked and intriguing games and notable design aspects of them, UK writer Fraser McMillan looks at retro PC freeware title Tower Of Heaven and its surprising use of play conditions to control the gamer.]

Tower of Heaven is an unabashedly old-school title, and it’ll take no more than a cursory glance at a screenshot to come to this conclusion. Two dimensions, three colours, four buttons – it wouldn’t look or sound out of place on the chunky, yellowed Game Boy sitting in that mangled cardboard box in your garage.

Or so you’d be compelled to think. Though ostensibly gratifyingly crude and backwards in its overall design, this is arguably a sly, deliberately deceptive tactic on the part of two-man development team Askiisoft. Tower of Heaven’s look and general feel are familiar to the point of comforting, and just as you’re sucked in by its post- retro-revival majesty it delivers the sucker punch. It’s not that this little title is tough, no; it’s absolutely brutal.

Degrees of difficulty are obviously an element of design perceived in the eye of the beholder, but Tower of Heaven is knowingly rock solid from the off. That someone can actually finish it in as little as two minutes and seventeen seconds is nigh on inconceivable to me, myself a less dextrous player who took and hour and approximately one hundred and sixty deaths to see the experience to its wonderful conclusion. Like a diamond in the rough it’s small, but makes up for that in sheer force of resistance.

Chipping away is the only option, painfully and gradually tackling stages that only once or twice commit the heinous crime of unexpected killing. Askiisoft have hardly taken the lazy route themselves in this respect – their balancing act is a dazzling one. Spontaneous death is a hallmark of poor design, and as indicated above, Tower of Heaven is as close to watertight as it’s possible to be. To craft something so demanding is one thing, but to do so without eventual failure as an inevitability is another entirely.

This controlled equilibrium is achieved in large part by the way stages are constructed as the player character ascends the titular Tower. Each individual obstacle is candidly surmountable, but connect three or four to be conquered in a single fluid string of jumps and the test is multiplied tenfold in a manner that naturally eludes the notion of injustice. Control is tighter than even Mario’s best 2D outings, ensuring each misstep is just that – an error in timing, a lapse in judgement or a momentary oversight. Death is an omnipresent and crushingly overbearing threat, but it’s perfectly possible to give it the slip.

Alright, what have we learned so far? It’s hard. So what? True, countless old games were like that, but few to so finely pitched a measure as Tower of Heaven. Another of its myriad strengths and a similar differentiator from its apparent influences is the lack of a lives system.

What we have in its place is a time limit on each floor of the Tower, encouraging quick reactions and preparation, both in muscle memory and psychologically, for a smooth run. Most players will jump in with the knowledge that though it’s possible to reach the next stairwell unscathed, it’s by no means probable. They’ll have to take multiple attempts before each level’s intricacies can be reasonably anticipated and dispatched in a timely fashion, but these attempts are unlimited.

The absence of consequences could debatably foster complacency in the player - just guess and check, leap and perish time and again - but the roadblock of punishing difficulty gets neatly in the way. By placing the onus on a healthy mixture of quick fingers and meticulous precision rather than one extreme or the other, there’s ample leeway for the lesser skilled player to explore the workings of each set of hurdles in an almost puzzle-like manner before taking that run-up whilst simultaneously eliminating the now redundant but weirdly pervasive Game Over screen and alleviating an irritating peripheral factor from the shoulders of speed-runners. All in all, it’s a small change, but one that powers something of a sensible catch-all policy.

By far the most striking and intriguing aspect of Tower of Heaven – and one that is hardwired to its ferocious difficulty – is the “Book of Laws” that the player is handed by the so-called god above. These dictate the conditions of play and progressively ratchet up the challenge factor.

The Book surfaces as a simple enough “Thou shalt not touch yellow blocks” rule, but the further “Thou shalt not walk left” requires a bit of lateral thinking to solve. Situations that engage the brain are more frequent than one would expect in such an outwardly twitch based game, and by the penultimate level the Laws number several, each more taxing than the last. Akin to the considered level layout, it’s the combination of these that sets Tower of Heaven apart.

The Book is unique in another aspect. We’re usually clamped firmly to this path or that by the designer, and even in self-proclaimed “non-linear” experiences we’re accustomed to having no more than dual narrative tracks, which are themselves normally restricted to non-essential aspects of the plot and can have little or no bearing on the overall story arc.

In Tower of Heaven, the presence of an in-game authority serves as more than just an excuse for excessive dictation and scripting. It’s an integral part of what little narrative there is – a god that’s watching your every move and altering the very fundamentals of the physical world around you on the fly. It’s reminiscent of Portal’s inspiring scenario, but to an even more authoritative degree and in the context of a side-scrolling platform game. It’s a rule defined experience, but one whose rules are perpetually shifting further in favour of the powers that be.

For this, Tower of Heaven is almost more liberating than Infamous, BioShock or Grand Theft Auto can ever be. Quitting and allowing the Tower to stand forever more is a perfectly valid option should the game become too challenging. Niko will always be ready to attempt Four Leaf Clover, but this is an experience about you and your reaction to extreme adversity. It never yields or scales down, and by walking away you know you’re allowing a potentially malevolent force to continue its doings from the top of the Tower and depriving yourself of a satisfying (not to mention very pretty) conclusion to the tale.

The player has no agency, no ability to approach it the way they wish besides either persevering or closing the window forever. This could be based on their reaction to the lack of freedom, and this is Tower of Heaven’s greatest achievement. For once, a loss of the will to continue is just as acceptable as starting over and over, and this reveals the two ironies that define it. Firstly, attempts at each level are infinite, but refusal to accept the next shot is alright. Secondly, a complete lack of choice in the context of how to approach the game results in more freedom than any sandbox playground or half-baked moral choice ever could.

Posted by Fraser McMillan at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[We round up the top console digital download news of the last week from GamerBytes, including brand-new game announcements and scoops from the world of Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, WiiWare, PSP Minis and DSiWare.]

This week has been incredibly good for Nintendo fans, with the announcement of a mass of new WiiWare and DSiWare titles at a European event. Many of these certainly look like something to look forward to.

New Castlevania, new Clayfighter, new Shantae? I'd almost say that Nintendo's digital service has more interesting games for me personally than their retail space. Can't wait!

Here's the top stories in the digital download space over the last seven days:

Store Updates

XBLA Update - Red Alert 3: Commander's Challenge, Bubble Bobble, cheap Lode Runner

NA PSN Store Update - Switchball, Interpol, Lemmings Update, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tomb Raider 3

EU PSN Store Update - Trine, RA3: Commander's Challenge, Bomberman Ultra and bargain PSN games

NA Nintendo Update - Spaceball, Texas Hold'em, Mart Racer, Crash ‘N The Boys, Oscar In Toyland and Art Academy

EU Nintendo Update - Pooyoos, Magnetis, Super Star Wars, Golden Axe, MySims Camera

GamerBytes Originals

Xbox Live Rating System Helps Indie Games Sales
"How has the rating system and price drop affected Xbox Indie Games? We contacted several developers to get their side of the story."

Interview: Frontier Getting Lost In The Winds
"We hunted down an interview with David Braben, Chairman of Frontier and Executive Producer of LostWinds, to discuss the new abilities the player has, his thoughts on the WiiWare service, and plenty more."

Leaked: Screenshots, Concept Artwork For Spongebob GravJet Racing
"Thanks to an anonymous tipster, we've been able to secure the first screenshots of Spongebob GravJet Racing, an upcoming title for the Xbox Live Arcade."

Microsoft (Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Indie Games)

First Footage Of QIX++, Plus Loads More
"Taito's classic arcade title is making a return on the Xbox Live Arcade."

Rainbow Islands XBLA Supports Avatars, Online Play
"Bubble Bobble may have been missing some extra features, but Rainbow Islands will come with the lot."

Sony (PlayStation Network, PSP Minis)

Thexder NEO Revealed, Out In Two Weeks
"Square Enix have added the official page of Thexder Neo to their Japanese website, complete with the first trailer of the game in action."

PSP Minis To Drop Features To Decrease Approval Time
"At the Game Developers Conference in Austin, TX, it has been revealed that PSP Mini games will not be allowed to have wireless multiplayer functionality, downloadable content, or software updates, claiming the rules are in place to "speed up the approval process"."

Söldner Sequel Coming This Winter
"Hong Kong publisher Eastasiasoft has announced that a sequel to their PSN game Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer, will be making its way back to the platform this winter."

Nintendo (WiiWare, DSiWare)

"CastleVania Gets Rebirth Treatment
"A surprise weekend update to the ESRB listings has revealed that Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth will be coming to WiiWare."

Clayfighter Gets Remade For WiiWare And DSiWare
"Interplay are doing quite a bit with their old IPs - first the sale of Fallout to Bethesda, then the Gameloft remakes of Earthworm Jim, and now they're going to publish a new Clayfighter game for WiiWare and DSiWare."

Nintendo Revealed WiiWare, DSiWare LineUp For The Holiday Season
"Nintendo has revealed the majority of their holiday lineup, and it includes a lot of surprises."

WiiWare Summit - First Worms: Battle Islands Footage
"Team 17 are finally bringing Worms to WiiWare, following that strange retail Space Oddity game."

WiiWare Summit - First Super Meat Boy Footage
"Super Meat Boy will be moving away from his vertical platforming prison and can now move around the world much more freely."

DSiWare Summit - Castle Of Magic, Completely 2D Adventure
"While Castle of Magic is well known as a popular iPhone title, this new DSiWare game is an entirely different adventure."

Shantae Returns In Episodic Adventure For DSi
"It's been a long time coming, but WayForward's Shantae is finally making a return, and on DSiWare."

Posted by Simon Carless at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rich Carlson, co-founder at Digital Eel (BrainPipe), has set out to put out a board game kit each week, each release based on an obscure and sometimes centuries-old game. Most of the games are available through Game Crafter, a really neat Cafepress-esque site for designing, publishing, and selling your own tabletop games.

Carlson has released six board games through Game Crafter so far (the project began in mid-August), the latest of which is Three Musketeers, "an abstrategy game" originally designed by Haar Hoolim. The two-player game has one person controlling the Three Musketeers, while the other manages 22 enemy tokens. It uses the concept of "unequal forces", in which two players have different pieces, rules, and victory conditions.

Th other five sets published under Carlson's "Let's Play Games" label include Hex, Space Ludo, Surakarta, Knights & Champions, and CAM. You can find more information on all of them, along with links to purchase their kits from Game Crafter, on the Let's Play Games page.

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

Parisian "gamewear" shop Otaku hasn't launched its site yet, but you can preview several planned shirt designs at illustrator David Lanaspa's portfolio. My favorite from the bunch is the yellow tee with the anthropomorphised game consoles and controllers (below) -- it reminds me a lot of the poster we featured just last Thursday from Axel Pfaende.

Established in 2007, Otaku sells its shirts through stores in several European countries, bringing out a fresh line of looks with each new season. You can see and pick up some of the label's previous designs at online shops like Artoyz and Astrofaz. Otaku's Facebook page also has previews of the new season's tees.

[Via Otaku]

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

After demonstrating his camera projection technique for turning the original 2D concept art from Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge into 3D scenes, artist Hannes Appell has taken the idea of updating the 1991 PC game by recreating its backgrounds as 3D scenes in CryEngine 2.

Appell built the sets using Maya before exporting them into CryEngine's Sandbox editor. In this demonstration, you can see him not only walking through the environments but actually interacting with them, picking up objects and swimming at the beach. All the demonstration needs is a 3D Guybrush model!

The artist says he's considering a release for the CryEngine Monkey level in the near future. You can read more about his camera projection technique and see screenshots from the process at the project site.

[Via -SD-]

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

Back again, it's time to go through the top full-length features of the past week on big sister site Gamasutra, in both feature and news form, plus some GameCareerGuide features du jour.

Even outside our GDC Austin write-ups (not included here), lots of neat pieces debuted on Gama and GCG last week, including some behind the scenes discussions on getting ahead in the game biz, interviews and articles about Dungeons & Dragons and Diablo III, and more besides.

Here's the highlights for the week:

The Road to Diablo III
"Developer Blizzard Entertainment is known for its relentlessly iterative process, which is what leads to the infamous "when it's done" release mentality, and Diablo III is no exception. Gamasutra talks to Blizzard's Julian Love and Kevin Martens about progress and design specifics on the much-awaited game."

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Switching Gears by Allen Rausch
"Changing biz models on a live game is like switching a moving car from gas to electric -- Turbine shares what it learned from taking Dungeons & Dragons Online free."

Gaming the System: How to Really Get Ahead in the Game Industry
"In this article, originally published in Game Developer magazine, pseudonymous developers of all levels share their honest, sometimes cutting thoughts on what it takes to truly succeed in each game industry discipline."

Sponsored Feature: Scaling Ambient Animations for Improved Game Experience
"In this Intel-sponsored feature, part of the Visual Computing microsite, an Intel duo introduce Horsepower, a demonstration of enhanced, multi-CPU specific ambient animation -- with full, redistributible source code included."

Gamescape: A Look at Development in North America's Cities
"Games have undergone a Cambrian explosion of growth and diversification, and Gamasutra takes a look at the various talent pools that have collected across North America -- including Boston, Seattle, Toronto, the Bay Area, Raleigh, and Vancouver -- and discover the exotic life forms that have taken root."

NPD: Behind the Numbers, August 2009
"Gamasutra's latest analysis of NPD's U.S. console retail figures examines hardware prices and key software prospects -- and explains how the industry will likely miss $20 billion in revenue for the year."

In-Depth: The Most Popular Gamer On Facebook
"The draw of socially-networked games is playing with folks you know -- but meet gamer A-ya Chiu, who's had up to 4,500 Facebook friends just to maximize her Pet Society stats, for a look at how it can take over."

Interview: Paradox CEO Wester On Victoria 2's Head-Shaving Profitability Bet
"Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester doesn't think his studio's next game, Victoria 2, will be profitable -- and he's pledged to shave his head if it is. Gamasutra talks to Wester about the bet, the game, and his strategy."

Winning: A Guide to Finding Game Competitions for Independent Developers and Students
"Educator Lindsay Grace takes a look at the competitions students can enter with their games, offering advice on which are good choices and how you can ensure that it's worth your time to make the entry."

Game Narrative Review: Fable II
"We present a comprehensive look at the story of Lionhead's popular and compelling choice-based RPG, taking in characters, situations, and the structure of the narrative itself."

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 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.]

This month's Game Informer marks the last before what promises to be an extensive redesign, the first full-on one the magazine's undertaken since acquiring its current wide-body dimensions in late 2000. I'll talk more about that below, but before that, another thing that's struck me lately.

I've commonly made the accusation in this column (either directly or in some underhanded fashion) that Game Informer puts bald space-marine dudes on their cover every issue. Is this impression backed up by facts, though? I decided to take another look at the past year of GI covers (above), and reflecting back, I think the impression -- while not entirely false -- is aggrandized through no fault of GI's.

It's true that half of the covers feature what could be called action-movie stereotypes -- rugged, strong, often-armored males brandishing weapons. But you could say the same about Official Xbox Magazine, too, not to mention GamePro. That's the way "AAA" video game projects themselves trend these days, after all.

Why was this trend toward putting the "bald space marine" on the cover moreidentified with GI in my mind, then? A few reasons come to mind. GI covers have far less text than anything else on the newsstand, letting the cover art tell the story by itself; this makes the subject character the first thing you notice.

Also, the sort of games that become "world exclusives" on GI are almost always high-budget action/FPS titles. Such games usually aim for a gritty, realistic look, which -- when placed on a magazine cover -- tends to make all of them look the same from a distance. This is especially obvious in the above pic, where the Beatles Rock Band cover and its bright, toon-ish approach sticks out like an albino otter compared to the other 11 issues.

When I look at the cover of a Future mag, it's usually the coverlines, the title of the game or (in the case of PC Gamer) some humorous one-liner that sticks in my mind. With GI, it's always the image of the video game's main character -- and in modern video games, that's more-often-than-not going to be a dude with a gun and maybe some cool space armor. If GI's covers are repetitive, that simply means the mainstream game industry itself is repetitive.

All this talk begs another question, one that's bugged me for a bit: Does a game debuting on the cover of GI, one of the largest-circ publications in the country, inherently lead to better sales? That's a much broader question, though, and it deserves a column by itself. For now, let's take a look at the rest of the mags that hit my mailbox over the past fortnight:

Edge October 2009

Cover: PS3 Slim (newsstand), LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias (subscriber)

This is the second time the newsstand edition of Edge has a cover I think is nicer-looking than the subscriber version. I can't find the newsstand cover online anywhere at the moment, but take my word for it -- it looks refined and well-designed, the way that all Edge's hardware-oriented covers tend to be, while the subscriber version looks more like it oughta be on Nintendo Power. (Not a slight upon Nintendo Power; I just mean it's un-Edge-like.)

Both features are very good, however, as is Edge's exhaustive approach to covering Halo 3 ODST. A profile of Jenova Chen, the co-creator of titles like Flow on PSN, is so Edge-like and artsy-fartsy that it's sure to give Edge haters all the ammunition they need for the rest of the year, but it's nonetheless good reading if you like meandering peeks behind the design process. That theme's continued in a dev roundtable tackling how open-world games are changing the role of scriptwriter in the business. (If this is all too hoitie-toitie for you, you can quickly turn the page to this issue's top-50-iPhone-games roundup, the first time I've seen Edge do a "best XX things" feature in recent memory.)

That wraps up the highlights for this issue, save for the 2/10 awarded to the GI Joe video game that appeared on the cover of GamePro a while back.

By the way, at 196 pages, this is one of the largest video-game mag issues period I've seen in a long time. The number of pages, plus the high-quality paper stock Edge uses, makes this thing as thick as EGM during the glory years of the mid-1990s. About 80 of thoes pages, though, are devoted to ad-supported developer content -- partly a region-specific look at dev outfits in Ontario, partly a more general "how to get into games" info-blast. Not content appealing to everyone, I suppose, but still, kudos to Edge for pulling off a mag this size in 2009.

Game Informer October 2009

Cover: Crackdown 2

There's a spread in this issue touting the redesign in the works, and while most of the Internet was excited because they'll be using the occasion to reveal Warren Spector's Epic Mickey project (there's a lovely retrospective interview with Spector in the back pages this month, by the way), I'm more interested in the tiny glimpses of internal pages the staff inserted into the teaser. The pages are too small and blurred to say anything in detail, but staring intently at them makes me want to say that the redesign incorporates a fair bit more white space and uniformity in the rank-and-file pages than what we see currently. That, combined with the new logo, makes me wonder if GI is going for the European-style "clean look" that Simon Cox brought to all of the Ziff mags a few years ago. I may be completely wrong, but it's exciting either way, and I look forward to great surprises.

As for actual content, I like the cover feature this time around a great deal more than last month's. It's an early first look and therefore the text mostly discusses what will be instead of what is, but the devs they talk to are intelligent, interesting, and not afraid to tackle touchy questions, such as how much of Crackdown 1's success had to do with the Halo 3 beta bundling. The bit on Enslaved that follows is a bit less flashy but has the advantage of featuring Andy Serkis, who I didn't know was involved before reading.

Retro Gamer Issue 68

Cover: Asteroids

It's funny, sometimes, to imagine a world where modern design sensibilities existed in 1979. If so, we would've seen covers like these back then, no doubt. I can't get enough of it. The cover feature is not new stuff if you are a hardcore retro-phile, but who cares -- it's got lovely development sketches and tons of other neat details.

The feature on Tiger's Game.com also brought back great memories. Great ones. I mean it.

PC Gamer November 2009

Cover: Wolfenstein

A review of Wolfenstein is pretty out-of-date by the time of this writing, the game having come out back in mid-August. Wolfenstein doesn't even get the highest review rating this issue, either. But this isn't a review so much as an 8-page celebration of the game and its summer film-like qualities. It matches PC Gamer's current philosophy well -- don't worry about being first or flashiest; just offer the thing that's the most fun to read.

The back page, which prints an assortment of quotes and asks readers to guess whether they're from Osama bin Laden or the Left 4 Dead 2 boycotters, actually beats anything I read in PC Zone this month. On that note:

PC Zone October 2009

Cover: Aliens vs. Predator

Then again, this month's PC Zone describes a certain classic game as having "a soundtrack that sounds like R2-D2 wanking," which is the best one-liner I've read in games media all summer. There's also a funny-'cos-it's-too,-too-true column devoted to bluffing your way through game media writing -- basically, learn one fact about every game, tell people your favorite title ever is Psychonauts (or Giants: Citizen Kabuto), and give everything 72%. I'm having trouble deciding which publication wins this month.

Two Very, Very Special Mags

   

Nintendo Power's 2010 Calendar (on newsstands now) is exactly what it promises to be: A Nintendo-themed calendar for 2009 and 2010, complete with a bunch of ridiculous stickers and some posters just in case you think the dining room walls need some more class. I'll use it, anyway.

Out of nowhere, I got issue #11 of Video Game Collector in the mail yesterday, the first new edition since October of 2008. I respect the effort they go through, but it's still mostly checklists and boring text and doesn't hold a candle to Retro Gamer. Hang in there, though!

[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site covering magazines and other esoteric aspects of the game industry. 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 PM | 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, when it says 'daily' above... not so much. With GDC Austin behind me and Tokyo Game Show up next, luckily the most excellent Eric Caoili is providing the bulk of the awesome GameSetWatch content.

But I do have a cache of links from a week or two back to provide - here's the first chunk. Notable pieces include a neat rebuttal of a New York Times article, a games column with lots of Boosh in it (be still, my beating heart!), who gets review copies first, and much more.

Cha cha cha:

The Writers’ Bloc: Narrative in Games | Resolution Magazine
Nice write-up on a UK event with, uh, game writers, woo.

Pass Pass: The Review Copy Revue > Kyle Orland > 9/10/2009 10:15 AM | Crispy Gamer
Another interesting meta piece from Orland.

Psychochild’s Blog » Extreme Makeover: LotRO’s legendary items
A nice game design vignette.

Six To Start: Why Smokescreen is the Best Game Ever*
From the creators of Smokescreen, of course, but you can't deny that Channel 4 is doing _interesting_ things with their education money.

Terra Nova: Great Big Monopoly
'Like Jerry Paffendorf's million-inches-in-Detroit, MCS combines alternate reality, games, virtual worlds, and social networking.'

Ian Bogost - A Gigantic Vermin
'This week, Kate announced a new official scenario for Spore Galactic Adventures, which she created based on Kafka's The Metamorphosis.'

Crispy Gamer | Those Games Mean Nothing to Me
Rebutting the New York Times on meaning in games, with plenty of fire.

The Superjoke | Edge Online
Any column which twins games and The Mighty Boosh is good by me!

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