Saturday, February 20, 2010

Bushido

I made a game in a week. I doubt I spent more then ten hours on it. I made it for a competition I had with myself. I bet myself that I wouldn't be able to make a game in a week, and I lost. Here's the result:


Bushido
You play as a samurai, fighting against a horde of bandits. Progress through the three levels with your trusty sword, beating back your enemies. Remember, a true samurai is not afraid of death.


Download

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Game Spotlight: Deus Ex

In a word, Deus Ex is an amazing game. It took the (basic) first person shooting gameplay of its time, and fused in an inventory system where you could carry around dozens of different weapons and equipment. It added RPG elements allowing you to customize your character and add upgrades to your weapons. It added the ability to approach any given situation in numerous ways. It took these fantastic gameplay elements, and put them into an entrancing plot, which takes place in tons of different locations around the globe, and it is long. Nowadays, shooters like Modern Warfare 2 clock in at around five hours. You could probably fit ten Modern Warfares into Deus Ex. However, Deus Ex does a great job of drawing you in with addicting gameplay and a great story.
            By now you probably realize that I really like this game. However, before I get too carried away, I’ll tell you that the game isn’t quite perfect. Most of the flaws are because the technology of the day really held back the game’s design. The graphics are pretty bleh. There’s a wide variety of interesting locations, and the character designs are fairly interesting, but the graphics are fairly uninteresting, even for their time. However, this can be forgiven, because the levels are huge. Every nook and cranny is filled with little bonuses that reward you for exploring the levels. You’ll revisit some of the locations throughout the game, and every time you return to a location you’ll notice tons of little changes. Someone might have refilled the soda in their refrigerator because you stole it last time. An establishment might have closed, or people may be gone. Little details like this really bring the world to life, in a way that all the realistic explosions in the world fail to do.
            Another flaw brought on by the technology is that the game is rather glitchy. Sometimes you may get stuck on a certain peace of geometry, or someone might become hostile against you for no apparent reason. For the most part, these are little things, and fail to hurt the overall experience.
            You see a lot of games these days which talk about giving the player the ability to choose their own destiny through the way they play the game. I’ve talked a lot of nonlinear elements like this in my previous posts, and Deus Ex pulls off this emergent gameplay far better than almost any other game I’ve played. Let’s say you’re supposed to attack an enemy building. You can probably find a way to get in underground. Maybe there’s some ventilation shafts in the ceiling. Of course, you can always blast your way in through the front door. The open ended levels really let you play the game however you want, in a way which you rarely see. This element of choice is what really sets Deus Ex apart from other games. If you haven’t played Deus Ex, I would strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone. It’s really something you have to experience on your own to experience its genius.



Monday, February 8, 2010

Why I don't Make Games in One Week



I’ve had three real days to work on my game, Friday Saturday and Sunday. Of those, I only really touched it on Sunday. I was too busy on the other two days to do much. However, on Sunday I managed to get a basic engine up which included movement and your basic sword slash. I also have two kinds of enemies, swordsmen and people with bows.
For those of you who are wondering, the game is a cross between a beat-em-up and a scrolling shooter, where you play as a samurai. I got a lot of inspiration from Seven Samurai. It’s a pretty well known Japanese film that was made about sixty years ago, and it’s freaking awesome. One of my favorite movies of all time.  I’m trying to capture a little of that in my game.

In other news, I now have a Formspring. You can use it to direct anonymous questions towards me about pretty much anything. 


Thursday, February 4, 2010

Beginning Project: Make a Game

I like to consider myself an Indie Games Developer. I've thought of myself that way for at least two years. However, in that span of time I have failed to make a single game. Therefore I am beginning Project: Make a Game.
The goal? Make a game in one week. Starting this Thursday night, I must have a complete game playable from start to finish by next Thursday. If I fail? I'll never call myself an Indie Games Developer again.

The requirements for this game will be minimal.
-It must have a menu (I hate games without menus)
-It must have some kind of story (just to make it interesting for me)
-It must be a complete game. A few bugs or glitches are fine, but it players should see a definite start and finish when playing the game.

I'm not going to have any rules restricting me from using any code, engines or sprites that have already been created, as long as I'm the one who created it.

Wish me luck, and I hope you enjoy the results.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Current Projects

I created a video showcasing my two current projects.



The first is a prototype for a Turn Based Strategy, like Fire Emblem or Advanced Wars. The spirtes are placeholders. The units are taken from Advance Wars. The main feature is the algorithm which generates the various squares units can move to. It takes into account terrain. Black terrain is impassable, like a wall. Gray is difficult terrain, like mountains or hills. White terrain is easily passable, like plains or a road.

The second is an action adventure platformer called Cyber Odyssey. Many elements in the video are incomplete, like the lighting system in the cave, and the HUD. However, I hope to have a playable demo in ready in the next three years ;)

Music by Rushjet 1: Konamized, and Fighting for Control.