My Fractal Heartbeat

What I'm Working On

2011-07-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a few different games lately. All of these projects are being made in Game Maker 8.0.

The first is an adventure rpg. You play as a detective solving a murder. The suspects include a Yakuza group and the violent authoritarian police force. I really like working in this sort of mix between 2d sprites and 3d environments, because I can easily make buildings with very simple walls and textures, rather than having to make sprites which take perspective and stuff like that into consideration. My main obstacle in this project is coming up with interesting gameplay, especially since I'm trying to avoid relying on combat. I've tried out a couple of combat systems, including a turn based system resembling a Final Fantasy game, and also a real time system more similar to a beat em up, but neither system really appeals to me. I enjoy the challenge of making a game which doesn't rely on violence for a change.

The next game is an ambient exploration shooter game. A combination of Knytt, Zelda, and Metal Gear Solid 3. I've been focusing on lighting, graphical effects, and sound design, and I'm quite proud of the results. The only problem is a distinct lack of any sort of gameplay or story, making it more of a tech demo than anything else at this point.

Third is a game I came up with after playing through Mega Man 2 (that game is HARD!) It's a combination of Mega Man and a metroidvania. I came up with a quick engine in a couple of days, but I've hit a roadblock in starting designing levels and powerups. Also, I suck at pixel art.

This is a weird one. It was going to be a sort of Mass Effect demake, combined with a Cactus game. I never really got farther than a basic first person engine and some 8 bit character billboards.

This is another fairly random project. All it does is generate a medieval or fantasy house, of the sort you might see in a Game of Thrones. It doesn't do much more than coming up with a basic family tree which assigns random personality traits to different family members.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you like the look of any of these, or you want to share whatever project you're working on. I'll try and update this blog a little more often, but you can always check my twitter feed for what I've been doing.

What I'll Be Doing in 2011

2010-12-31T15:55:00.000-08:00

What Games I'll be Making:
Right now, I'm working on a story centered RPG sort of thing.

It takes place on an artificial island, where powerful, violent Neo-Yakuza factions fight with a corrupt police force. Where a distant war creates a city of criminals and arms dealers. Where the only hope for justice is revolution.

So yeah.

What Games I'll be Playing:
I recently got into Morrowind because of the amazing world. I've been enjoying it quite a bit more than Oblivion, due to the much more subtle use of level scaling, previously mentioned awesome world, better fast travel, and greater variety of factions and items.
I've also gotten amassed a large collection of games I need to play on my DS. This includes the World Ends With You, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor and SMT: Strange Journey, as well as Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. So that should keep me busy.
If I ever get bored of that, then I have both Humble Indie Bundles to play. I'm particularly looking forward to Aquaria, Cortex Command, and Machinarium.

What Music I'll be Listening To:
I got an iPod for Christmas. I've been listening to Franz Ferdinand, Muse, Ennio Morricone, the Cave Story Remix Project, the Spirit Engine 2 OST, the Scott Pilgrim OST (both game and movie), and the Black Mages.

New Years Resolutions?
Not really. I'd like to spend a bit more time practicing Kung Fu, and I suppose I should try and eat less junk food. Other then that, 2010 was not a horrible year. Why fix what ain't broken?

Entity

2010-10-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Entity is a game I've been helping the charming Liam Berry out with. He's doing the graphics, music, and design of the whole thing. All I have to do is the programming. It's a platformer, with some elements from metroidvania style design and that game with a story about caves in it. There's robots and stuff, so you will definitely want to play it. For more info, check out Liam's blog post.

Bytejacker: The Show: The Game: Episode 1

2010-07-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

I made an adventure sort of game for Bytejacker's birthday! Download it here: http://bit.ly/9LTkEU
Made it in about three hours or so. It uses both text and pictures, and took me around 3 hours to make from scratch (although pictures and music were taken from Bytejacker's show).

Putting the Player in Control - Ramble Rant

2010-07-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Plenty of games offer choices of dialog in response to NPCs in an attempt to allow the player to shape the conversation, and even parts of larger segments of the plot. You know, the thing which Bioware has been showing off since Knights of the Old Republic, and is present even now in Mass Effect 2 and games by other developers, like Fallout 3 and Alpha Protocol.

Mass Effect's Branching Dialog System

The key part, and problem, of this system is that, with a few exceptions, it is totally reactive. You walk up to an NPC, the game transitions to a sort of pseudo-cutscene, and with hardly a word of greeting the NPC will immediately ask you to save their cat or something, from which you can choose to help them or butcher their immediate family. You're given a very limited set of options made by the developer, so you can't, say, ask whether you can replace the cat, or whether she might prefer a dog. Of course, you could say it isn't always totally reactive. In the above screen of Mass Effect 1, we can see Commander Shepherd seems to have the option of asking a couple questions, or just blowing the NPC off and leaving. Still, I will guarantee you that this Gianna Parasini was the one who opened up the conversation by introducing herself. You're still in a reactive mode, and the dialog options you have will always guide you towards what the developer wants. You can't ask Parasini to save your cat or cough up her lunch money.

In other games, especially sandbox games such as Grand theft Auto or Saint's Row, you actually do have the option to open up interactions with NPCs on your own terms. Unfortunately, your only real option is shooting them in the face, or driving over them with your car. Not exactly the kind of social interactions you'd want for a friendly, or at least interesting, conversation.

Like I said, there are exceptions. Mass Effect 2 introduced the ability to interrupt NPCs while they're in the middle of saying something. Of course, this really only plays out as a sort of quick time event, as you can only press the interrupt button when an on-screen indicator comes up and tells you to. It is still reactive, the developers are giving you a prompt and you can either follow through or leave it alone. When I first played the game, I was hoping I'd be able to slap an NPC in the middle of conversation whenever I wanted. As it is these interrupt actions server only as rewards if your morality bar is high enough in either the "paragon" or "renegade" direction, and almost never have negative consequences for you.

There are some games which experiment with more emergent systems of giving the player the ability to say whatever they want to any NPC. One example of this, is the system of giving the player a number of keywords which they can learn, like "The Flaming Sword" and "The Orcs of Death Cliff", and then while they are in conversation with an NPC they can bring up any keyword they have previously learned and ask them if they know anything about it.

Shadowrun, a game which incorporates the ability to ask NPCs about specific keywords

Unfortunately, 90% of the time, when you ask an NPC about something they will say something along the lines of "What? I don't understand." This is rather frustrating for the player, and they end up asking every NPC they meet a string of keywords in hope that one of them will trigger the NPC's knowledge of that term. This method of giving the player control does not really accomplish its goal because the player is still activating little triggers put in by the designers when they ask an NPC about a keyword they know something about.

And now for something totally different...

ArmA II

ArmA II is a military sandbox sort of sim. I've only played a little bit of the demo, but the thing which really stuck out to me was your ability to say various things to your squadmates in game. Since the game is a tactical shooter, most of these options are things like "Hold Fire", or "Get in the Hummer!". However, there's a surprising amount of commands you can use. I found this system to be very organic. It's all operated with a system of in game menus, and even while you're choosing an option you can move and look around. This is way different then most other games, which take you into a cutscene sort of view for NPC interactions. Even Fallout 3 and Oblivion do that creepy thing where it zooms into people's faces so you can look into their creepy, soulless eyes. Sometimes, when you talk to an NPC, it doesn't go to a cutscene, but this is usally when talking to an "extra" character, who will only shout a line of dialog at you as you walk by. Since you can't actually respond, it isn't necessary to restrict your movement.

An example of Oblivion's Creepy Dialog Sequence

While I was playing ArmA II, I thought about how interesting it would be to apply the same sort of system to an RPG, or some other sort of game. It would feel a lot more immersive and organic, because you can say whatever you want (within the limits of what the designers think of), to any NPC. Obviously, this would take a lot of work, both in the writing and voice acting departments, especially if you want to avoid the problem I mentioned earlier where 90% of the time people's response to you will be "What?". ArmA II itself "overcame" this problem by stitching the lines together from small segments of audio consisting of little more than a word or number. This creates a very artificial and disjointed voice, which breaks any immersion gained from the system.

Anyway, putting a dialog system in-game instead of restricting it to those cutscene-style sequences may not seem like a big deal, but I would say it's a similar concept to allowing you to kill any NPC you want. Many games make NPCs who are important to the game's plot or story invincible, or just give you a game over if you kill them. Games like Morrowind let you kill anyone, and although killing someone vital to the main quest will make it so you can't progress along the main plot, it works because the main plot is not incredibly important in that style of open world game. Of course if you actually do kill any important characters on purpose, then you are probably a pretty sadistic and twisted person (don't worry, I am too), but having that freedom can still be very immersive and rewarding.

To be continued...?

Extras:

-ArmA II gameplay footage showing command system (and terrible voice acting): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogaRAYbqtgc

-An article by Steve Gaynor which does a better job of explaining the different approaches for simulating dialog with AI characters: http://fullbright.blogspot.com/2009/12/quick-hits.html

The Entropy Movement Private Demo

2010-06-29T18:44:00.001-07:00

Private demo for the Entropy Movement was sent out. If I missed anyone, or if anyone else is interested in testing, be sure to let me know!

The Entropy Movement Update

2010-06-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

So, I had plans to release the beta for the Entropy Movement today. However, looking back at my "to-do" list before I released the beta, I haven't really finished very much on it.

Things to do before beta is released:

~~Create suitable opening sequence for demo~~
Create suitable ending sequence for demo
Make basic menu
~~Create and place savepoints~~
~~Finish up "prisoner conversation sequence"~~
~~Create dying sequence~~
Polish ~~health~~ and energy usage
Polish up sound design

However, I did a lot of stuff which wasn't on the list, like adding an awesome grenade launcher, polishing up the level design and AI, fixing a lot of bugs, and added about a dozen pages to the design document detailing characters, locations, and enemies.

Summer Projects

2010-06-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

As of right now, I only have two more days of school, and then I will have two and a half months to work on some awesome projects.

Super Secret Collab
Right now, I'm helping Liam Berry out with a project. I don't want to say too much, but I really like the direction it is going. Also, working with someone else on a game is a very nice change of pace from having to do everything myself.

The Entropy Movement

I'm also still working on The Entropy Movement (formerly titled Cyber Odyssey). Progress has been swell, and since I've been working on it for over a year now, I thought I would do some beta testing. If you're interested be sure to let me know (through a comment, email, twitter, etc...). A list of things I need to do before I release the beta is here. The estimated release date is on the 21, so if you're interested let me know soon.

Legos?
I thought I might as well do something with the massive amount of legos I have sitting around. I thought this would be a good project to pursue. It's fairly simple single shot lego gun. No clip or semi-automatic fire at all, so I thought it would be a good starting point. After that I can move onto more advanced projects.

I will also be updating the blog a lot more frequently over this summer, so stay tuned for more updates!

The Entropy Movement

2010-04-05T05:21:00.000-07:00

Remember Cyber Odyssey? I've renamed it to be The Entropy Movement. I've also set up a development blog over at TIGSource. Check it out for updates: Dev Log

Dialog in Games

2010-03-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

Let's face it. Most writing in games is terrible. Dialog is the portion of the writing that is observed by players, and so it is usually considered the most important part of writing. This is untrue. If the writing of a game is like a car, then the dialog is the shiny (or not so shiny) exterior which is seen by everyone when you drive past. However, dialog is only the symptom, not the cause of bad writing. A bad engine will ruin the car no matter how much paint is on the outside. Have a good engine, and you'll be able to go wherever you want, no matter what the condition of your paint is. The "engine" of game writing is having interesting characters who are placed in interesting locations. If you have boring characters talking in an equally boring location, nobody is going to care about the dialog because they're rapidly hitting the A button to skip over it!

Now, besides just interesting characters and locations, what makes dialog sound good? Perhaps... realism? No. Wrong. Have another guess? I humbly insinuate that it is the appearance of realism. Take a moment and think about it: in real life, most conversations are very unfocused. They wonder around. People speak in sentence fragments and say "um" a lot. In a game, dialog needs to be focused. It has to communicate a point to your audience. It could tell the player information about the world, or it might demonstrate characterization. You shouldn't just throw in some dialog because it's easy. You need to be as concise as possible, so that you stay focused and don't lose your over-caffeinated players.

Despite this, realism still plays a part in dialog. Great authors, like Dickens or Shakespeare do an incredible thing with their dialog. They give just about every character a unique and identifiable way of speaking an acting. You can often times identify a character just by hearing a few lines of dialog from that person. Even if you can't guess the specific character, you can usually identify the social class which they belong to. For example, take this line from Chapter 3 of Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.

"I'll eat my breakfast afore they're the death of me," said he. "I'd do that, if I was going to be strung up to that there gallows as there is over there, directly afterwards. I'll beat the shivers so far, I'll bet you."

From the character's manner of speaking, the language he uses, his bad grammar, that he belongs to the working or lower class (the character in question is actually a convict). Now, try contrasting that example to this one:

"It seems to me that in the despondency of the tender passion, we are looking into our gift-horse's mouth with a magnifying-glass. Likewise, it seems to me that, concentrating our attention on the examination, we altogether overlook one of the best points of the animal. "

This person uses much more flowery language and has the decency to use correct grammar. He is certainly of the upper class, or at least a rich member of the middle class. All this from only a couple lines of dialog! A good author can uses dialog to indirectly characterize characters by exploring their manner of speech, a lesson which many writers should take note of.

That's it for now. See you next time.

Game Spotlight: Bioshock

2010-03-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Bioshock has been incredibly popular since its last release. Its gotten glowing reviews from both critics and players. I've always been a fan of the System Shock series, considered to be spiritual prequels to Bioshock. If you've played System Shock 2, a lot of the elements of Bioshock may be familiar to you. You explore an atmospheric and creepy world. You fight off a variety of mutants with a combination of guns and psychic powers. There are security systems and robots to hack. However, to call Bioshock a simple rehash of the System Shock 2 formula would be a crime.

Gameplay-wise, Bioshock sheds off some of the unnecessary complexity of System Shock 2. The inventory system is vastly simplified The game is also a lot easier to get into thanks to a interactive tutorials system which gives you little hints if you are having trouble, but never gets too intrusive. The combat is also insanely fun and intense. You'll find yourself on the edge of your seat as you duke it out with the various enemies in the world of Bioshock, from the mutant Splicers, to the monstrous Big Daddies. Fights are filled with bullets, fire, and explosions. You'll rapidly switch between the various weapons (including a machine gun, makeshift flamethrower, and a deadly crossbow). You also have a variety of plasmids (psychic powers), such as Emperor Palpatine style lightning. One of my favorite tactics is to set a Splicer on fire, and when he jumps into a nearby pool of water, I throw lightning at the water, electrocuting him. However, there are also more subtle powers which let you manipulate the world around you to a fascinating degree.

This is really the biggest strength of Bioshock. The world is incredible. Its really something you have to experience on your own. Its not just that the world is incredibly pretty. What really sets Bioshock apart is the incredible atmosphere which pervades your every step. Its the way that you can mess with the world and its inhabitants. Its the fact that the world of Bioshock isn't like anything else you've ever seen before.

Another factor which heavily contributes to the atmosphere is the sound design. Its above just about anything else I've ever seen (heard?). If you just stand still for a moment, you might hear the insane ramblings of a nearby Splicer. Maybe some heavy machinery in the distance, or the drip of water. Perhaps you'll hear the distinctive heavy step of a Big Daddy. Sometimes I would run around with my wrench hitting different objects, just to hear the distinctive sound that each one made.

I'll try not to spoil anything, but the story is almost as fascinating as the world it takes place in. I would have liked for some of the philosophy to be explored even deeper, although I'm sure the developers didn't want to alienate trigger happy gamers. Also, the way that morale decisions are approached is far too black and white for my taste.

Perhaps the only other flaws are that the game was a little too short for my tastes (it took me around 15 hours). There isn't really anything to add replay value to the game, but its still incredibly fun the second time around. Also, the final battle was on the easy side, although it was still a frenetic and exciting climax to the game.

Nevertheless, Bioshock definitely lives up to the vast amount of praise it has gotten. I would recommend it to almost anyone (although the game can be rather disturbing for younger kids). If you get a chance to play it, you shouldn't pass up the opportunity.

This blog has moved

2010-03-20T11:10:00.001-07:00

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Bushido

2010-02-20T16:24:00.000-08:00

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

Game Spotlight: Deus Ex

2010-02-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

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.

Why I don't Make Games in One Week

2010-02-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

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.

Beginning Project: Make a Game

2010-02-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

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.

Current Projects

2010-02-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

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.

The Nonlinear Game I Want to Play #2

2010-01-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

Player Driven Design
In my last game design post, I talked about a nonlinear game with an environment which allowed emergent gameplay through the creation of many different elements which all interacted with each other in different ways. However, a sandbox world does not make a game by itself, although it provides the basis for nonlinear gameplay.

I also talked about taking out the boring quest/mission mechanic found in many open world games, which basically make you perform a linear mission in an open world. Some of these missions aren't totally linear. They might be something like "kill 10 henchmen", and require you to explore the open world a little and find the henchmen you need to kill. Sure, its not really linear, but this is usually fairly boring because the game designers are just shoving their open world down your throat. You're not really exploring it because you want to.

To truly create an open world, you shouldn't have such boring and linear goals at all. Many simulation type games do this. In the Sims, your only long-term goals are to make a family and retire. Even these are optional, depending on how you want to play. However, there are a lot of short term goals: buy some food, read a book, flirt with another sim, etc...

Another example is the fantasy simulation Dwarf Fortress, where you control a bunch of dwarfs in a randomly generated world. Your only long term goal is to make your fortress survive and prosper. Short term goals might be to harvest enough food to live off of, or to fight off any goblins who might be attacking you. As you progress, more and more challenges present themselves. Satisfy the various nobles who come to live in your fortress. Fight bigger and more powerful creatures like titans and dragons.

In both of these games, almost all of the goals are created by the player. The game never tells you what to do. Instead you think "Hm, I think I want to cover the ground outside my fortress with so many traps goblins won't want to come within two miles of my walls." I think this is the kind of attitude which needs to be taken when creating nonlinear games in a more "standard" genre, such as a shooter or action game.

Dwarf Fortress

2010-01-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

It was spring. Finally, the harsh winter was over. With the change of seasons, a caravan of elven traders decided to pay a visit to my fortress. My dwarfs started bringing up the various goods we had crafted in anticipation of trading with the elves.
Suddenly, goblins spring out and ambush the elves! I organize two squads, and send them out to fight off the goblins. Many of the elves, caught by surprise, are almost instantly slain. Only one of my dwarves, known as Iden Nitigmeng Olonthir Nentuk, a champion, is ready for battle. He rushes outside to combat the goblins, while the remaining elves run towards the safety of the fortress. One of them is butchered, but there are still two more. There are twelve goblins, who catch up to the elves just outside my walls. They engage in fierce fighting as Iden runs as fast as he can to reach them. By the time he gets there, all of the elves are dead. Furious with rage, Iden takes his hammer and blasts over half of the twelve goblins about twenty feet backwards (no joke). They never get back up. The other goblins try to run away, but Iden quickly destroys them.
I let the rest of my dwarves out of the fortress, and they quickly go to loot the bodies of both friend and foe. None of them seem particularly worried about the dead elves. Afterwards, one of my miners decides to throw a party.

Such is Dwarf Fortress.

The Nonlinear Game I Want to Play

2010-01-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

What's Wrong With Nonlinear Games?

I'm not a big fan of nonlinear games. Games like Grand Theft Auto, or Infamous. Most of them aren't really nonlinear, but just a series of linear quests, or missions, in an open world. You go do a quest, and each quest is very linear. Then you walk through an "open" world, which is basically just a series of random enemies, until you get to the next quest. This is a concept which showed up in the first Zelda! In Zelda, there's an open world, broken up by a series of linear dungeons. Yet nobody thought to call that a sandbox game, or a nonlinear game, because it wasn't. And that's totally fine. I still love Zelda. However, with newer games like Grand Theft Auto, and Infamous, they're basically the same thing. Except they're called missions and not dungeons, and sometimes you can do them in a slightly different order. The difference is that (in my opinion) the gameplay is boring at best. Often times, its downright horrible.

So how would I go about creating a nonlinear game? First thing: take out quests. They're not really helping anything. They're just linear gameplay events, and we want to eliminate linear gameplay. However, I wouldn't take out goals. Goals are there for a reason, so that players will want to get through the game. You can still have goals without quests, they just won't be goals like "kill ten bad guys", or "collect ten packages".

Nonlinear Gameplay

Most of the gameplay in these "nonlinear" games is actually very standard, and rather boring. We've been shooting random guys with a shotgun for years, and most "nonlinear" games don't do much to change this. Games have been able to implement nonlinear gameplay into a game for a long time. Metal Gear Solid let you approach a given situation in tons of different ways. You could be stealth, or use brute force. Be nonlethal or kill everyone you come across. Spelunky is another great example. There are a million things to do in that game, even though it has a very linear progression. You get past one stage, and then you move on to the next. The difference is that every stage is randomly generated, and each of the elements of the stages interact in different ways, giving you endless possibilities. A snake might seem like just a snake, but there are about a dozen ways you can go about trying to kill it or get past it. You can jump on it, Mario style. You can use your trusty whip. If you've bought/stole another weapon like a machete or a shotgun, you can use that. Or, you could use the environment to your advantage by luring it into some spikes, or into a arrow trap. This is just with a snake, which is probably the most boring thing you encounter in the game.

So why is it that these linear games like Metal Gear Solid and Spelunky pull off this whole nonlinear gameplay thing better then actual "nonlinear" games like Infamous? In my nonlinear game, I would start by adding just a few elements, and making all of these elements act together in different ways. If added something like a spiked pit, I would make it so you can interact with that spiked pit in as many ways as possible by making it so you could lure enemies into it, or place something over the spikes so they don't harm you. If you can imagine an entire open world with all of these different items in the environment which are able to act together in an infinite number of ways, I think you would have the basis for a truly nonlinear game.

Further Reading/Watching:
Is interactivity inimical to storytelling? (by Chris Crawford)
Rev Rant: True Nonlinearity

Game Developing Resolutions

2010-01-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

As an indie developer, I have a lot of freedom in how I develop games. This freedom is both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. One advantage is the ability to work whenever I want. The down side is that I do not get a whole lot done. I can make any kind of game I want, but my visions are often inconsistent and I usually stray from my original vision and become unsatisfied with what I am making. To focus my efforts and be more productive in my game making endeavors, I decided to make up a list of game developing resolutions/commandments (even though I missed New Years).

1.) You will turn off the internet when working. I find I am much more productive when the internet is off. If there are any tutorials or articles I need to reference, I can save them onto my computer.

2.) You will set up deadlines. The most productive I've ever been is probably while developing my game, Agent, for a competition. If I hadn't had the deadline forced upon me, it would have taken me ten times as long to get to the stage of development that I did.

3.) You will plan out what I will do before sitting down at the computer. All too often, I find myself far too unfocused when I am programming. I will add a chunk of code in one place, and then move somewhere else, and try changing something there. With more focused goals I hope to be more efficient in making my games.

4.) Spend more time in reality. I often am far too ambitious in my game visions. I won't stop too consider how long it will take to do the graphics for a particular area, or how I will program a certain interface. Being more realistic in my expectations will help me set better goals.

5.) Don't neglect your school work too work on games. This has gotten me in trouble more then a few times. I usually end up having to do my work at the last moment and doing a terrible job (although my teachers don't seem to notice).

And, finally:

6.) Stop writing on your stupid blog and make some games!

Morality

2010-01-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

Morality in games is a topic which is often brought up in articles, blogs, and conversations. The ability to play a game however you want seems very appealing, but I find that I am almost never satisfied with the choices given to me. In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you can make many morale choices. Do you want to help the alien, or kill him? Give the beggar some money, or kill him? Kill Darth Malak, or... well I guess that's actually the only choice you have. My point is that many of these choices are rather black and white. In KOTOR you aren't given much reward for staying neutral and making each decision the way you think would be best. Instead, most people seem to decide if they want to be evil or good before they even start the game, and make all their decisions accordingly. In more recent games, I've heard that they are doing a better job of this kind of stuff.

However, this black and white approach to morale decisions isn't the only thing that bugs me about these games. Its also the fact that the gameplay doesn't seem to match up with your morale decisions. Often times, morale choices are made outside of the normal gameplay (like in a scene of dialog). In KOTOR, you can decide to be good, but to get through the game you will still have to kill dozens of people. There isn't really any way to be a total pacifist, which is rather unrealistic. The same is true of Mass Effect and Fallout 3.
Iji is an indie game which gave you the choice of killing everything you came across or avoiding them. However, this decision is rather unrealistic. The only way to be a pacifist is to try to run through all the levels dodging as many bullets as you can. Iji is a great game, but I found this aspect to be rather unrealistic.

There are some games which have this degree of morale choice in the gameplay: on example is the Metal Gear Solid series. These games weren't really focused on morale choice, but let you play through them without killing a single person (for the most part). This didn't involve running through the levels trying to dodge bullets, but allowed you to tranquilize people you came across without killing them.

Another game which did this well is Deus Ex, which also allowed you to use nonlethal weapons to knock out enemies. In fact, Deus Ex handled the whole moral choice thing very well. The choices weren't always black and white. In one pivotal moment in the game, you are ordered to kill the leader of the terrorist organization you have been fighting. However, you have reason to believe that the organization you are working for is corrupt, and that the terrorists may actually be the good guys. You can choose to follow orders and kill the terrorist, or you can go back to base without killing him. You can even disobey your orders and kill your superior. Now that's a morale decision.

Kindle

2010-01-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

Recently, I got a Kindle. I'm not quite ready to abandon paper books, but I love the ability to read PDFs on it. I have a ton of PDFs on my computer which I don't want to read because reading on a computer is very tedious. However, its much easier on a Kindle because it doesn't strain your eyes anymore then reading a normal book does.

The other thing I like about it is the large amount of books which are either free, or less then two dollars. Most of these are classics, like the Iliad, and are still a lot of fun to read. Because of the free wireless, you can download one of these free books whenever and wherever you want, which is really cool. In a month or two, I'll probably have made up the up front cost of the Kindle by buying these cheap books.

Update!

2010-01-06T16:03:00.001-08:00

Today I updated my website/blog so it was actually usable by me. Now I'll be able to post my random game developing geekery and rants without the annoying technical difficulties I had before. I will probably be updating the theme in the near future. I will also be making new posts much more frequently then I usually do, or at least that's the plan.

Anyway, I hope you like what you see, and that you'll check back soon to read about my crazy theories and game ideas.

Tests!

2009-10-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

This week:
Monday: Greek gods test (English)
Tuesday: 7.1 reading test (History), vocabulary test (English)
Wednesday: Short story test (English)
Thursday: 7.2 reading test (History), vocab test (German), health test (health)
Friday: Analogies test (English), 7.3 reading test (History)

Yup, at least one test a day. Not too bad, as weeks go. Right now 95% of my time is spent with school, sleeping, homework, orchestra and Castlevania. The remaining 5% is spent on the internet and reading, or doing something with my friends.

Hopefully this explains why I haven't been very active on this blog.

Cyber Odyssey Preview Video

2009-10-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

I decided to whip up a little preview of Cyber Odyssey, even though it is far from done. It doesn't have audio (which is overrated anyway), and the quality isn't fantastic, but if you're wondering what the heck this game is about I would appreciate it if you checked it out.
Preview Video

New Site

2009-10-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, after a ton of hard work, I've got my site set up, at ninjutsu.co.nr. I learned a lot about web design, but any feedback would be appreciated. I also set this blog up with my website, but I still have to make it look like the rest of the site, which will probably take a while. If you have any links to my blog as my homepage, I would appreciate it if you changed it to the link above.

Bump Mapping

2009-08-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been looking at bump mapping, a technique which adds actual 3d texture to something. You can see an example I made here:

After playing System Shock 2 and Half Life 2 I'm really inspired to make a 3d game. However, I am terrible at making, animating, and texturing people or creatures. Environments are more towards my strong suit. I'm also trying to wait until I finish my current project.

Edit:
Here's one that looks much better:

Waking up early

2009-08-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I have a weird tendency to wake up rather early. Usually 5:00 nowadays, but a year ago it used to be 4:30. I just don't like sleeping in. It seems like a big waste of time to me. I always feel like I have to be getting something accomplished (even if it's something like writing a blog post, or reading a book).
I usually go to bed at about 10:00, so I probably don't get enough sleep, though I usually fall on the couch and don't get up for a while in the middle of the day.

Anyway, I look forward to the pill you can take that will let you stay up 24/7.

Twitter?

2009-08-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

Today I just got a twitter. I've been hesitant to get one so far, because I haven't really seen much point in it, but I decided I should at least try it out. So far I'm noticing a rather alarming lack of options for customizing the layout. You can only change some of the colors, you can only place your background image in the top left corner, and all kinds of other limitations that just seem lazy on the part of the creators of twitter.
You can check it out at twitter.com/ninjutsu63.

Enemy AI

2009-08-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

I notice that a lot of people seem to have trouble coming up with some good AI for their games. I have trouble with this as well, so I thought I would detail the process I performed when I created an enemy AI for my platform-shooter.
First, I wrote down the basic things I wanted the AI to do. That came up with something like this:

-Patrol an area when idle
-Be able to 'spot' the player, and give chase
-Be able to try and shoot the player is in range
-Be able to jump over and onto obstacles

Listing it out like this provides you with some guidelines, which is much better than simply thrashing out some code without a clear idea of what you want.

The next step is to write out the basic idea of your code. This might be pseudo-code, or just normal code. A simplified version of my code might look like this:

//if we are in idle mode
if state=0 {
//look for the player. if we find him, transition into alert mode
//patrol an area x pixels wide
//if an obstacle is encountered, jump
}
//if we have spotted the player and gone into alert mode
else if state=1 {
//if the player is out of range, go back to idle mode
//go towards the player
//try and shoot the player
//if an obstacle is encountered, jump
}

As you can see, this is very simple, but gives you a good outline of what you are trying to accomplish. From here, you can write your basic code. Chances are, it won't work perfectly the first time you try it out, which is where iteration comes into play. Just test out the AI, and when it does something unrealistic or stupid (like walking into walls, or shooting in the wrong direction), figure out what it should be doing (jumping over the wall, shooting the other way), and fix that in the code.

With enough iteration, you should get a good code that works about how you wanted. You might find it doesn't exactly match up with your original guidelines, but often times it is even better than what you predicted.

Fun fact: At one point in my AI development, that enemies could actually jump onto each other, and would stack themselves up to get at me. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

Progress on the new game

2009-07-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

So, my new game is a sort of platform shooter. So far I've got a basic engine almost done. So far it has the following features:

-Movement (including slopes)
-Animations for walking, jumping, etc...
-Variable Jumping
-Shooting
-A system which draws each part of the player's sprite (head, body, legs) separately, so that if the player gets a new helmet I can just switch the head sprite very easily

Anyway, I'll be on vacation for the next week, so don't expect my presence online.

What I've been Listening too

2009-07-10T06:25:00.001-07:00

Over the last few weeks I've been listening to lots of different music. Here are some of my favorite songs:

-Future, and It Doesn't Work, by Starscream. These songs just scream out pure awesome, and it's some of the best chiptunes music I've heard.
-The music from Iji is great. My favorite song is probably Tor. After trying to beat that guy time and time again on the hardest difficulty, you would think I might get tired of the song, but I still get awesome chills every time I listen to it.
-The Flight of The Conchords have some hilarious music. This is one of my favorites.
-I also love the Decemberists. I can't stop listening to them. One of my favorite songs is 16 Military Wives.
-Stairway to Heaven. A little unknown song which is surprisingly awesome. It's by Led Zeppelin.

Theme Update

2009-07-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

I decided to redesign this blog, and I have to say I think it looks quite a bit better. The old look was rather ugly, I'll admit. Lately I've been helping my brother in doing some web design for community service, and I've been using css a lot recently. This blog was a perfect chance to test my skills.

Please, let me know your opinions on the new theme, and whether you have any problems or suggestions. Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read my ramblings!

Today

2009-07-04T09:48:00.001-07:00

Today I started production on a new game I've had planned for a long time. It's looking pretty good.

I also picked up three new SNES games yesterday, for a pretty good price.
Shadow Run, which is interesting so far, although the controls are far from perfect.
Super Mario RPG Legend of the 7 Stars, which also looks good so far, although my SNES decided to mess up after I hadn't saved for a while.
Also, Super Metroid. I haven't played it before, but I've heard great things about it. So far it's been great.

Even though I have a Wii and all of that virtual console stuff, I still like playing games on my old SNES. It kind of feels like cheating on the Wii, and a lot of the time it's more expensive.

Yay

2009-06-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

My game, Agent won second place in the GameCOG competition, which was pretty much what I had expected. I've found that working with a deadline is actually very helpful.

New Game

2009-06-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

Info
Agent is a third person shooter created for Gamecog's second competition. The goal of each level is to find a briefcase. Once you find it, you will be awarded points depending on your speed, accuracy, and whether or not you got hit at all.
Once you complete a level, you will unlock the next level in line.

Core Information
Title: Agent
Genre/Category: Third Person Shooter
Download Size: 6.6 MB
Game File-Type: ZIP (make sure to extract all files)
Resolution: No Change, Windowed
Current Version: v.1
Written In: GM7 Registered with the Ultimate 3d DLL

Screenshots:

Download Links:

Mirror 1
Direct Link
Mirror 2
Box.net

Other:
Thanks to everyone that plays this game. It is currently unfinished, and I hope to add a lot more content. Any feedback you have would be great! :)

Credits:
Everything (music, sounds, models, textures, programming, design, etc...): ninjutsu63

Finals

2009-06-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I've just finished up with my final exams. They were pretty easy. I was only really worried about my finals for Spanish and Math. Luckily they both went well. While I got a B on the Spanish one, I still have an A for a final grade, and though I haven't gotten a score for it yet, the Math final was pretty easy. I figured out I only needed to get 28/50 questions correct to get an A. It was also multiple choice, so I could figure out quite a few of the problems just by looking at the question and the answers.

In other news, lately I've become obsessed with the Metal Gear Solid games. I first got interested when I played MGS4 at a friend's house, and now I've played through most of the series. The story is great, even though it is rather convoluted, and rather hard to follow at first. I'm certainly looking forward to the new metal gear solid games announced at E3, Rising and Peace Walker (even though I don't have a PSP).

JRPGs #1

2009-05-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

RPGs are an interesting genre, because it can encompass so many different things. However, the kind of RPG I've been most interested in are Japanese RPGs, or just JRPGs. JRPGs have almost become their own sub-genre, because of their distinctive features. So what exactly are these features that make them unique?

Story takes the forefront. Often, JRPGs have a very linear storyline that progresses in a 'string of pearls' pattern. A cutscene or story moment will explain what's going on and make the player's next objective clear. Then, the player will go somewhere else, where the next cutscene awaits to tell them where to go next. The cutscenes are the pearls, and the gameplay is the string connecting them.
A focus on upgrading your character(s). Usually, you can level up and gain equipment and money by killing monsters. You can use new abilities from levelling up and new equipment to defeat even more monsters, and advance the story.
Random Battles are a prime staple of JRPGs. These usually occur randomly when the player is walking around on the world map, or when the player runs into an indicator of a monster on the world map. In either case, the player is taken to a different screen, where a battle is carried out, usually using some variation on a turn based fighting system.

Unfortunately, making a game that follows this guideline seems rather limiting, and for that reason many people complain about how all JRPGs are the same. I want to disagree, but these people are not far off. This begs the question of why so many people are ready to come back for more. I don't know exactly, but I wish I did. Is it the great stories they have to tell? The comfort in buying something that you will already be familiar with?
Whatever it is, hopefully I'll be able to trigger that primal urge with Urban Odyssey.

Urban Odyssey

2009-05-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd quickly post about a preview trailer on the RPG I'm working on. Check it out here:

Busy busy busy...

2009-05-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a lot of time to spend writing on this blog, for several reason:

I've been bust with school. I'm working on several big projects, like a big presentation comparing warfare during the Civil War and modern times (I might even manage to fit in the classic Fallout line "War. War never changes). I also have a big Spanish final project, which is a sort of autobiography written entirely in Spanish.
I've been busy with music. I play in an orchestra at school, and we've had several concerts lately. I also have an upcoming solo cello recital. I also play piano, and I've had several adjudicated events lately. Luckily I managed to do very well on all of them. I'm also trying to learn Death On Two Legs (by Queen) on the piano. Don't ask why.
Normall I'm not really into webcomics, but I managed to read through every single strip of Questionable Content. You should check it out, it's actually pretty funny.

(Hopefully) more later!

RPG Update

2009-04-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hey. Remember that 3d game I was making? I've been working on it, and made quite some progress. There are several changes in its design.
First, it's going to be an RPG. The name will no longer be City Scoundrel, but the game will probably still be focused on an urban setting.
The game will have a Final Fantasy style combat system, although I'd relate the general feel of the game more to Earthbound (in both style and gameplay).

Here's some screenshots:

The new re-textured character. The earlier model with the suit just didn't fit the game. Hopefully this will do a better job.

The Final Fantasy style combat menu.

Torching a zombie.

More info can be found on Gamecog.

Annoying Forum Habbit #83

2009-04-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

I absolutely can not stand it when people use a centered alignment on most, or all of a post on the Game Maker Community (or any other forum).
First of all, it's simply harder to read, because our eye has to find the beginning of each new line, whereas a normal left alignment has a clear start to each line.
Because of that, it's incredibly amateur, sort of like making your whole post bold, or some crazy font. Doing this doesn't make you cool, it just makes your post harder to take seriously.

Argh, can you see what I mean?
Tell me the truth, this is way harder to read.
Seriously, is this supposed to be some sort of poem?
Posting like this simply makes me go insane.

But enough with my ranting. Progress on my games has been going great. I'm spending the weekend catching up on some exercising, finishing up my math homework, and programming, as well as playing another awesome freeware game made with gamemaker, by the name of Gang Garrison 2. It's a remake (or, according to the manual, a demake) of Team Fortress 2, in a great retro platformer style. It's all online, and unlike many online games made with gamemaker, you can find a consistent amount of players online. Sometimes you can even fight matches with up to 25 players! It's a very impressive little game that I'd recommend you to play.

City Scoundrel

2009-03-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

I know there are health hazards (physical and mental!) when you start programming two games at once. However, I did it. I started a new game, by the name of City Scoundrel. Not that I've give up work on Island. I'm trying to keep my work time fairly balanced.
So what is City Scoundrel about? Well, you'll have to see for yourself.

Here's our lovely scoundrel after whom the game was named. He is the protagonist of the game, standing in the lovely peaceful city street.

Then...

OH NO! Zombies!

Well, it's not Shakespeare to tell you the truth. I'm going for a more simple game. Look out for more info soon!

Island Devblog 3... and then some

2009-03-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Finally, I've got a pro version of gamemaker up and running on my computer. Now I see why so many people dislike Vista. So I've had some time to work on Island. I've got the basic mechanics of walking and shooting down, as well as a couple basic enemies. Now I'm working on the more advanced gameplay mechanics such as NPC interaction (conversation, bartering, etc...) and survival mechanics (hunger, thirst, exhaustion, disease, etc...).
Here's an early screenshot:

I've also been playing the addictive freeware game Spelunky, which is amazingly addictive. I highly recommend it if you've got some time to spare.
Also, I'll be going on vacation for the next few days, so don't be surprised if I don't respond to communications. See you soon!

Island Devblog 2

2009-03-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm still waiting on that pro-version of gamemaker unfortunately. In the meantime, I've been creating some graphics and artwork for Island. I've been having some great fun designing some sprites, animations and tilesets. I also created this rough map of the island from which the game gets its name. While it didn't come out perfectly, it's a nice sketch of the general terrain. Yes, those green splotches are forests.

Island Devblog 1

2009-03-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

Island is the game I am currently working on. It will be a top down open world game, where you play as person stranded upon an island. Three tribe-like factions live upon the island. You will have to trade with these factions to get a chance for water, food, equipment, and a small chance of escaping the island.

One of my main influences when designing the game, was the original Fallout. It's one of my favorite games. I was inspired by its open world setting, which made you make choices, many of which fell in the gray area between good and evil. It's atmosphere was also spot on. I can only hope my game will have some of those qualities.

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten as much time to work on it as I'd like, as my computer died. Now, I've built a new computer, but haven't been able to activate gamemaker's pro functions yet.

In the meantime, here's a character in the game:

Blog Started

2009-03-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Hey there. I thought I'd create a blog like every other person who thinks they are somehow more important than everyone else in the world. Mine will provide you with my random thoughts, and serve as a sort of development blog for some of my upcoming projects. If I find the time, I might even write up some reviews for some indie games, especially those created with the software gamemaker.

Well, enjoy. Be sure to contact me about that new game you're working on, or post a comment on one of my upcoming posts. My email is ninjutsu63@gmail.com.

About

2005-01-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog. I'm an indie games developer, and I call myself ninjutsu63. I've been making games in gamemaker for a few years, and while I've never finished one, I have a couple that are close.

Contact me at ninjutsu63@gmail.com

Want to know more? Ask me a question at my formspring.

Twitter

2004-01-08T15:50:00.000-08:00

follow me on Twitter

Games

2001-01-18T12:50:00.000-08:00

Agent

Genre: Action
A third person shooter originally created for the second Gamecog competition.

Cyber Odyssey

Genre: Adventure

A WIP platformer which is far too ambitious for its own good.