Hey, so... yesterday, the twenty-ninth. I hardly know how to ask this, but did yesterday... repeat... for anyone else? Like Groundhog Day, I mean.
Woulda been like three months of June 29th, over and over. Anyone else remember that? Because I figured I had to do something special to sort out my life or something, and I tried all kinds of stuff, flying all over the world, confessing all sorts of crap to all sorts of people, but the loop ended on a day when I wasn't doing anything in particular, just kind of taking a break.
So what happened? I feel like I was caught in someone else's Groundhog Day, which is fine, I guess, but I'm probably not supposed to remember it...? I'm tempted to believe that some cosmic force wanted me (or someone?) to stop Michael Jackson's death but just got the date wrong.
Anyway, here's hoping that tomorrow will be July.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
This is Red Eye
Some time ago I made myself a simple level design tool in Flash. It's matured considerably since then, in fits and spurts, always with an emphasis on functionality rather than appearance.
It was made to model levels for a game project called Shifter that I'm working on for the XBox games marketplace. "Indie." They changed the name so the word "Indie" is in there now, right? Sorry, I've been in Japan until just recently and didn't have my XBox to play around with.
Anyway, it's served its purpose as far as that goes, but since I've got it lying around, and I still tweak it occasionally, I thought I'd use it to try out a few simple gameplay concepts. Maybe make it my regular Saturday night thing. Thursday morning. Whatever. This is the first of them, called Red Eye.
The red blocks make you run fast and jump high.
I'm setting aside visuals, in part because I am no artist, but I was surprised to find simplicity playing a big part in the development of the game. because it's a game of solid colors, its easy - and it makes sense to the eye - to make things invisible by changing the background color. This is only a brief exploration of the idea, but I'm happy with how it found its way from beginning to end.
It was made to model levels for a game project called Shifter that I'm working on for the XBox games marketplace. "Indie." They changed the name so the word "Indie" is in there now, right? Sorry, I've been in Japan until just recently and didn't have my XBox to play around with.
Anyway, it's served its purpose as far as that goes, but since I've got it lying around, and I still tweak it occasionally, I thought I'd use it to try out a few simple gameplay concepts. Maybe make it my regular Saturday night thing. Thursday morning. Whatever. This is the first of them, called Red Eye.
The red blocks make you run fast and jump high.
I'm setting aside visuals, in part because I am no artist, but I was surprised to find simplicity playing a big part in the development of the game. because it's a game of solid colors, its easy - and it makes sense to the eye - to make things invisible by changing the background color. This is only a brief exploration of the idea, but I'm happy with how it found its way from beginning to end.
Friday, June 12, 2009
I Fix Rhythm Heaven
It's fair to say that Rhythm Heaven struck its gameplay balance on the wrong side of user-friendly. Feedback is meager, apparently learning little from rhythm games that have come before it. I can't count the number of times I really could have used some guidance as to whether I was striking a missed beat early or late, but it wasn't forthcoming. The game lets you know if you "hit," "half-hit," or "miss," which just isn't enough.
I know why this is; they wanted to keep the interface clean, rather than constantly flashing "excellent!" and "too slow" and "speed up, bro!" like a surfer spirit guide, so they thought they'd let the visuals do the work. But the visuals move as fast as the rhythm, and if I can't hear what I'm doing wrong, there's no reason to assume I can see it.
This is about as much information as Rhythm Heaven will ever give you.
One thing Rhythm Heaven does right, and a lot of rhythm games do infuriatingly wrong, is letting you play through the whole song every time you play. Elite Beat Agents fails you mid-song, which only ensures that you learn each song in five-second chunks as you progress bit by bit through the song. What Rhythm Heaven doesn't do is tell you whether you're getting a winning score or you're already doomed to fail. It knows what it's doing, too, and milks the tension at the end of the level, but come on, guys, not cool. Let me ragequit when I'm screwed.
What everyone mentions about Rhythm Heaven is the difficulty, but not everyone talks about whether or not it's well implemented. It is, mostly; Rhythm Heaven is a game that could have still been incredibly challenging if it had given the user all the feedback he could have wanted. It's still a great game, I just wish the developers had realized they didn't need this coy little interface to make something awesome.
I know why this is; they wanted to keep the interface clean, rather than constantly flashing "excellent!" and "too slow" and "speed up, bro!" like a surfer spirit guide, so they thought they'd let the visuals do the work. But the visuals move as fast as the rhythm, and if I can't hear what I'm doing wrong, there's no reason to assume I can see it.
This is about as much information as Rhythm Heaven will ever give you.
One thing Rhythm Heaven does right, and a lot of rhythm games do infuriatingly wrong, is letting you play through the whole song every time you play. Elite Beat Agents fails you mid-song, which only ensures that you learn each song in five-second chunks as you progress bit by bit through the song. What Rhythm Heaven doesn't do is tell you whether you're getting a winning score or you're already doomed to fail. It knows what it's doing, too, and milks the tension at the end of the level, but come on, guys, not cool. Let me ragequit when I'm screwed.
What everyone mentions about Rhythm Heaven is the difficulty, but not everyone talks about whether or not it's well implemented. It is, mostly; Rhythm Heaven is a game that could have still been incredibly challenging if it had given the user all the feedback he could have wanted. It's still a great game, I just wish the developers had realized they didn't need this coy little interface to make something awesome.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
I'll beat YOUR heart
It took me a while to realize that people are actually serious about disliking the Wii Vitality Sensor.
Really. A peripheral that reads data from your heartbeat, something that can pick up of the state of your body and that you can't lie to? You can't think of anything interesting to do with that?
How's this? Next Silent Hill game learns what scares you, tailors encounters accordingly. Boom! Hell, when I saw the announcement of the Vitality Sensor and the new Silent Hill, I just sort of assumed that's what was happening.
Next big fighting game: your special attack meter rises as you get more into the game. Hell, that works for more than fighting games.
And we don't have to reward only high heart rates! How about a multi-player game where your heartbeat dictates your abilities? Suddenly, trash talking, lulling your opponent into a false sense of security, and the element of surprise have concrete and far-reaching gameplay implications.
How about a one-player game where you have access to different psychic abilities based on your heartbeat? The "stay frosty" power-ups would be pictures of cute animals, and the "get steamed" power-ups would be filthy words and high-pitched screeches.
Heartbeat rhythm game? You feeling that?
A dating sim! The Vitality Sensor calculates exactly how much you've fallen in love with your onscreen girl/boyfriend by taking your heartbeat at emotional moments. If you don't love him/her enough, he/she dies. Think of it! Millions of gamers forced by this new technology to fall in love with imaginary people, giving more and more of themselves to the game, until the conclusion, good or bad, leaves them emotionally crippled for life!
See? Several good ideas, and one evil one. You should be complaining about how it won't be used for cool stuff, not that it can't.
and uh i guess also the very one-dimensional picture of one's overall biometric data that a simple heart rate monitor actually provides
Really. A peripheral that reads data from your heartbeat, something that can pick up of the state of your body and that you can't lie to? You can't think of anything interesting to do with that?
How's this? Next Silent Hill game learns what scares you, tailors encounters accordingly. Boom! Hell, when I saw the announcement of the Vitality Sensor and the new Silent Hill, I just sort of assumed that's what was happening.
Next big fighting game: your special attack meter rises as you get more into the game. Hell, that works for more than fighting games.
And we don't have to reward only high heart rates! How about a multi-player game where your heartbeat dictates your abilities? Suddenly, trash talking, lulling your opponent into a false sense of security, and the element of surprise have concrete and far-reaching gameplay implications.
How about a one-player game where you have access to different psychic abilities based on your heartbeat? The "stay frosty" power-ups would be pictures of cute animals, and the "get steamed" power-ups would be filthy words and high-pitched screeches.
Heartbeat rhythm game? You feeling that?
A dating sim! The Vitality Sensor calculates exactly how much you've fallen in love with your onscreen girl/boyfriend by taking your heartbeat at emotional moments. If you don't love him/her enough, he/she dies. Think of it! Millions of gamers forced by this new technology to fall in love with imaginary people, giving more and more of themselves to the game, until the conclusion, good or bad, leaves them emotionally crippled for life!
See? Several good ideas, and one evil one. You should be complaining about how it won't be used for cool stuff, not that it can't.
and uh i guess also the very one-dimensional picture of one's overall biometric data that a simple heart rate monitor actually provides
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
E3 Reminds Us
Cracked: 5 Things the Game Industry Will Never Fix
As ever, David Wong is a thoughtful and passionate commentator on the state of games. He also points out, as only David Wong can, that there aren't enough famous female game developers:
Too true, Wong. If the game industry consisted of more people who simply had to put on a bra every morning, that chart would look very different.
As ever, David Wong is a thoughtful and passionate commentator on the state of games. He also points out, as only David Wong can, that there aren't enough famous female game developers:
Too true, Wong. If the game industry consisted of more people who simply had to put on a bra every morning, that chart would look very different.
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