Dark Manifesto

Memoirs

2011-09-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

Experimental Gameplay Project September 2011 : Indie / Game Maker : PC
Credits: Jeremy Kang

Download Memoirs

Synopsis

"History is Written by the Victors" - Winston Churchill

Memoirs is a top-down shooter featuring a gritty story about War, presented in the style of a History Book - the story unfolds and History is literarily written on one page as the Player combats enemy troops on the opposing page.

Designed for the Experimental Gameplay Project September 2011 theme of "Story Game", the original story was conceptualised, written and integrated with the gameplay in 7-days.

In Memoirs, Accuracy and Evasion are valued over an Eager Trigger-Finger, as through reducing the number of Civilians casualties in the story, Players will gain an entirely different perspective of the events that transpire - hinting at a more sombre underlying message on the story's themes.

Screenshots

Websites

Game Jolt - Memoirs

Experimental Gameplay Project September 2011 - Story Game

Memento Mori

2011-02-02T01:14:00.000-08:00

Download Memento Mori

Synopsis

"Memento Mori - Remember Your Mortality"

From concept to completion in 48-hours at the Global Game Jam 2011 (Singapore), Memento Mori is a game based on the famous Latin poem of the same name, based on the jam's theme of "Extinction".

Featuring double metaphors related to the theme of "Extinction", players guide a Roman Poet through a series of platforms made from the famous poem, as the words crumble behind him, while he runs towards salvation. Realised through the gameplay and presentation of the game, players are left to ponder on the metaphorical overtones and how the theme of "Extinction" is realised.

Memento Mori also features 2 of the GGJ2011 achievements: "Game for a Cause" and "Mandelbrot".

GGJ-2011 Achievements:

Game for a Cause: The game is about a social or political issue that can be solved solely through increased awareness.
Mandelbrot: The game features some pattern or aspect that fractally repeats itself at different scales.

Screenshots

Websites

Global Game Jam 2011 Games - Memento Mori
Global Game Jam Website

Shibuya Connection

2010-12-31T17:00:00.000-08:00

Experimental Gameplay Project December 2010 : Indie / Game Maker : PC
Credits: Jeremy Kang | Character Artwork: Shaun Tay

Download Shibuya Connection

Synopsis

"The Shibuya Scramble Crossing is the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world that sees over 1 million people every day. However, all that really matters is finding the one in a
million..."

Designed for the Experimental Gameplay Project (December 2010) theme of "Drawing", Shibuya Connection features a drawing mechanic and is based on the concept of the East-Asian myth of the Red String of Fate.

In Shibuya Connection, players have to draw lines to connect male and female pedestrians on the Shibuya Scramble Crossing with the Red String of Fate to gain points - matching charming characters based on a light-hearted representation of Japanese archetypes; while avoiding deadly Ninjas - all in the span of a frantic 2-minute scramble for the highest points possible.

Screenshots

Websites

Experimental Gameplay Project December 2010

Gamejolt - Shibuya Connection

A Firefly Story

2010-09-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Experimental Gameplay Project September 2010 : Indie / Game Maker : PC
Credits: Jeremy Kang | Artwork: Shaun Tay

Download A Firefly Story

Synopsis

Designed for the Experimental Gameplay Project (September 2010) theme of a "Neverending Game", A Firefly Story is an infinite game that tells an Interactive Story of Life and Love.

In A Firefly Story, players have to click on the Blue Fireflies to gather light while avoiding the Red Fireflies.

The amount of light gathered changes the way the Interactive Story plays out through the seasons - where each story scene has been carefully crafted to allow for multiple permutations and interpretations based on the player's performance.

- Can you alter the Neverending cycle? -

Screenshots

Websites

Experimental Gameplay Project - September 2010
A Firefly Story - Post-Mortem
Gamejolt - A Firefly Story

Post Mortem: A Firefly Story

2010-09-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

September's Experimental Gameplay Project was a tricky one, since there was an additional prize for it to be displayed at the Babycastles Indie Game Arcade in Times Square NYC, leading to some additional requirements / tips, which I set as additional design challenges for the game:-

1. Look interesting even when not being played. Attract players!

2. Be instantly playable, understandable, intuitive. Assume your game will be left in any possible state, and must always be ready for one player to leave, and another player to pick up some time later.

3. Avoid a title screen, or any menu system at all. (Like Flow.)

4. Use sound, but don’t rely on it for gameplay.

I thought long and hard about a game idea that could fulfill all the above criteria, based around an infinite game concept to suit the theme of "Neverending", and came up with a couple of quick ideas - but nothing solid really surfaced, as I couldn't put all the pieces together.

Finally, I arrived at the decision to revisit Fire(f)Lies, a game prototype I developed in January over the 48 hours that was Global Game Jam, and decided to expand on that, simply due to the fact that it fulfilled Design Goal #1: To look interesting when not being played.

The part about making it a Neverending infinite game wasn't too difficult, as it probably meant taking away lives and playing for a high score, or combo count kind of thing, which would well suit the arcade experience - and a lot of games this month chose to interpret it that way, and so did I initially.

A tough decision that I had to make about this concept mid-way was whether to pursue something a bit more arcade-y, and probably more suited to the theme (and in the process improve the chances of getting selected)? Or try to go for something a bit more artsy, which I am more inclined towards, but being slightly less suitable for the theme based on conventional intepretations of an "arcade experience"?

In the end, I chose to go for something a bit more artsy, and more in-line with my design style.

I tried to ponder a bit deeper into the concept of "Neverending", and I asked myself: " What is infinite or Neverending in this world or life?" Almost naturally, my mind drifted towards the concepts of cycles to be Neverending, and went on to list down some meaningful Neverending cycles.

And my mind started to shortlist cycles, like Seasons, Life and Love, and roots of a multiple narratives started to form, as I realised that these could be used to tell and Interactive Story, in which the player's performance in the game would affect the way the story turns out.

!Spolier Ahead!

(If you haven't played A Firefly Story, you might want to skip this section and come back to it after playing the game.)

It came down to 4 different stories running in parallel, The Story of Seasons (which occurs naturally regardless of the player), to signify the passing of the time, a Story of Life, a Story of Fate (a lovers' tragedy) and a Story of Love (see if you can figure out how these stories are represented through the game); and the player would switch between story "branches" based on his / her "score".

The trickiest part of this entire process however, was for the story to make sense, no matter what the potential branches were, and this came down to a matter of the meaning and interpretation of the individual scenes, through the composition of the visual scenes.

!End Spolier!

Fortunately, my colleague and friend, Shaun Tay - an artist by training, saved my life by offering to help with the story artwork after hearing the concept, allowing the vision to be realised. So thank you Shaun, you were a life-saver this time.

In retrospect, I think that I managed to fulfill most of the design goals set this month, but the last one, about using sound but not relying on it was something that I didn't manage to fully work around, as A Firefly Story is quite reliant on the sound effects to bring out the ambience, and it helps in gameplay that little bit.... ok, maybe quite a bit that actually amounts for something.

But oh well, there's always next month....

Legacy of Wisdom

2010-08-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

Experimental Gameplay Project August 2010 : Indie / Game Maker : PC

Download Legacy of Wisdom

Synopsis

“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” - Abraham Lincoln -

Designed based on the Experimental Gameplay Project theme of a "Zero Button Game" (August 2010) , Legacy of Wisdom's main gameplay uses nothing but mouse movement.

Centering around the metaphorical themes of "Legacy" and "Man's journey in attaining Wisdom", Legacy of Wisdom adopts an oriental aesthetic style based on Oriental Calligraphy / Paintings to help create a "Zen" aesthetic to complement the game's metaphorical themes.

Legacy of Wisdom also features an additional gameplay twist - an experimental take on the concept of "Player Death" in games, toying with the idea that death in games can be a reward as much as a penalty; where each time a player dies, the player is given a reward for his / her next playthrough.

Screenshots

Websites

Experimental Gameplay Project - August 2010
Experimental Gameplay Project - 0 Button Game Roundup
Accessible GameBase - Legacy of Wisdom
Legacy of Wisdom Post Mortem

Post Mortem: Legacy of Wisdom

2010-08-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

Legacy of Wisdom Website

Download Legacy of Wisdom

! Spoiler Alert !

(If you haven't played Legacy of Wisdom, the following article might potentially give away some aspects of the metaphors involved in the game. Please use the link above to go to the Legacy of Wisdom main page.)

Legacy of Wisdom was designed with 3 Design Goals:-

a Zero Button Game
a Metaphorical Game
experimenting with the concept of "Player Death" in games.

For the latter 2 goals, ideas in which these goals could be expressed and achieved were being nursed in my head a few months before the announcement of the Experimental Gameplay Project's August "Zero-Button" theme.

Once I got wind of the "Zero-Button" theme, it didn't take too long for me to realise that the theme was a good fit for me to create a game that would explore all 3 ideas. In fact, in hindsight, I would say that due to the nature of the theme, it immediately stripped away all other forms of interaction aside from Mouse Movement (for my game), and allowed me to focus on realising the other 2 concepts.

For the Metaphorical Game Design Goal, it is something that I have been very interested in for quite a while now, if my previous work, Avalon Legend is any indication. Initially piqued by Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab's Akrasia (in which the team was developing the game in the room behind my team's, back in the summer of 2008), and seeing the powerful execution of metaphor in games like Jonathan Blow's Braid, and thatgamecompany's Flower; I think that there is still alot of room for exploration on the use and portrayal of Metaphors in games, or Metaphorical Games in general.

Thus, picking up the reins of where I left off in Avalon Legend, I decided to take another stab at infusing Metaphors into Legacy of Wisdom, this time dealing with the themes of "Leaving a Legacy" and "Attaining Wisdom". But this time around, I was careful to avoid the mistakes I made in Avalon Legend, particularly on the transparency of the metaphor.

The primary complaint about Avalon Legend's metaphor was that it was a bit too obtuse, and most people didn't get it, even though there was a multi-layered metaphor about "Loneliness" there, crossed with references from Arthurian legend, that I had very complexly put together in the deeper recesses of my creative mind, but a lot of this went by the players totally unnoticed.

Thus, this time around, I was very aware of at least letting the metaphors rear their heads, and leave the players to figure the rest of it for themselves, and how it is reflected in gameplay. Based on initial playtest results, I think most of the testers have gotten it so far, albeit some with a bit of explanation.

Finally, for the concept of "Player Death", I wanted to experiment with the concept in which the death is not necessarily the end in a video game, or an absolute penalty for that matter. Perhaps a little inspired from the Rogue-like genre and more recently, Demon's Souls; I decided to experiment with taking "Player Death" the opposite direction, to some extent making death a stepping stone, power-up or even a reward to some extent, that would benefit a player on his / her next playthrough.

Quite interestingly, the metaphorical theme was able to complement this concept quite well, when it came to the theme of "Legacy", and with enough famous quotes about Knowledge, Wisdom, Legacy and Future generations to justify this.

Initial playtests have shown that players were able to figure using "death" as a potential "mechanic", and have definitely shown some interesting player strategies revolving around "Player Death". The bigger question behind it all now lies very much in whether the balance can be sustained over prolonged play, and whether there is a be-all-end-all strategy to get the high scores.

Avalon Legend Official Website

2010-05-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

In hope of promoting the game further, I just finished up an official website for Avalon Legend with a clearly emphasis on the game and greater explanation of the metaphorical meaning.

Feel free to take a look at it.

http://avalonlegend.blogspot.com/

Avalon Legend

2010-04-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

MDA-Microsoft XNA Initiative: Team EXYLE : Shooter : Xbox Live Indie Games
12th Annual Independent Games Festival Main Competition Entry: Dream.Build.Play.2009 Entry
Website: http://avalonlegend.blogspot.com/

Download Avalon Legend (Xbox Live Marketplace)

Reviews

"The trial version of the game is well worth playing, if you like the trial you will definitely enjoy the full game."

"The game is presented well, the tutorials are very helpful and a journal and gallery is included which is unlocked via an award type system such as defeating a number of enemies, gaining scores and using knights."

"Graphically the game is good, the sprites are drawn well and the game copes with a large number of enemies on screen."

- www.gammergeddon.com
(Read the full Avalon Legend review from Gammergeddon.com here.)

"I thought the graphics were simple but effective, and the overall gameplay was fun - I do think the topdown perspective is a good one that more people should use for games. At its heart it's a frantic Geom Wars-style shooter..." - IGF 2010 Judge

"... I did appreciate the frantic pace of the play, and attempts at variation through the different systems..." - IGF 2010 Judge

Synopsis

“Combine and Control two characters simultaneously in a post-apocalyptic abstraction of the King Arthur Legend with a haunting metaphorical overtone.”

Avalon Legend is a metaphorical game that explores the theme of "Loneliness" through the gameplay mechanics, aesthetics, and narrative of the game.

Players take control of Arthur the Exiled in a unique "Single-Player Co-op Experience" where players control 2 characters simultaneously in a fast-paced, top-down "shooter", battle 9 different demons, and unlock secrets to discover the meaning behind Avalon Legend.

Players will be probed to ponder upon the deeper meaning behind the elements in the game and its representations, as every game element is carefully crafted with reference to the central metaphorical overtone.

Aimed to marry white-knuckled, fast-paced gameplay, with a deeper artistic, metaphorical meaning, Avalon Legend aims to appeal to players both viscerally and intellectually.

Key Features

• Innovative Control Scheme:
Avalon Legend is built upon a refreshing and unique control scheme that allows players to control up to 2 characters simultaneously, each one assigned to “one-half” of the controller in a “single-player co-op game.”

• Unique Game Mechanics:
Learn to take control of 2 characters simultaneously over two different modes - Attack Mode and Defence Mode – to cooperatively vanquish enemies in action-packed combat.

• 5 Playable Characters:
As Arthur the Exiled in a post-apocalyptic world, harness the powers of 4 different robotic companions, across 2 different modes for a combination of 8 different play-styles towards striving for the highest score.

• 9 Different Enemies:
Go up against 9 different types of deadly enemies, each with unique behaviour and weaknesses, based upon their metaphorical representations.

• Deep Metaphorical Overtone:
Set with a metaphorical overtone, players will be probed to ponder upon the deeper meaning behind the elements in the game, as both the main character and the player alike embark on their journey toward discovering the meaning of “Avalon”.

• 2 Different Game Modes:
Avalon Legend boasts 2 different Game Modes, in addition to an in-game tutorial, that allow players of different skill levels to pick-up-and-play Avalon Legend, and make it accessible to hardcore and mainstream gamers alike.

• Replayability and Depth:
Strive for the highest score and learn to master the 8 different play-styles as well as utilizing the special abilities of each knight to fully take advantage of the deeper mechanics in the game, such as the “Enemy Weakness System” or the “Health Restoration System.”

• Enchanting Artwork:
Be enthralled by the Stylized 3D Characters locked into an overhead 2D perspective with snazzy effects for that additional dazzle, giving life to the haunting and vacant landscape of post-apocalyptic Camelot.

• Rewards System:
Featuring over 40 rewards unlocked by fulfilling special gameplay conditions. Discover the secret behind the meaning of Avalon Legend through the “Journals” or take the time to view and enjoy the conceptualizations of the different elements in Avalon Legend and find clues towards their metaphorical meanings in the “Gallery”.

Videos

Avalon Legend Official Trailer

Avalon Legend DreamBuildPlay 2009 Trailer

Screenshots

Concept Art

3D Art Assets

3D-Models Preview

Game Story

Websites

Avalon Legend Official Website
Avalon Legend - Xbox Live Marketplace
Avalon Legend Review - Gamergeddon.com
Avalon Legend Review - XBLIGR
Avalon Legend Review - XBLA and XBLIG Ratings

12th Independent Games Festival Main Competition Entry

Microsoft DreamBuildPlay 2009 Gallery

Fire(f)Lies

2010-04-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

Global Game Jam 2010 : Indie / Gamemaker : PC

Download Fire(f)Lies

Synopsis

“Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.”- Thomas Jefferson -

From concept to completion in a span of 48 hours at the Global Game Jam (GGJ) 2010, Fire(f)Lies is an audio-visual gameplay experience where players must depend on precision, observation and memory to decipher between two different species of Fireflies.

Centred around the jam's theme of "Deception", Fire(f)Lies is presented in an explorotary manner that encourages players to explore the game's mechanics and artistic meaning.

Fire(f)Lies also managed to fulfill the "Take Five Game" and "Lo-Text Game" achievements.

Video

Screenshots

Website

Fire(f)Lies - Global Game Jam 2010

30 Seconds of Fame

2009-09-24T09:44:00.001-07:00

Lighting strikes at the same place twice.

Don't think I am eligible to win a subscription for my next lifetime, though.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25059

And, make that trice. Funny how the same post gets featured for 2 weeks straight...

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25060

15 Seconds of Fame

2009-09-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

It may not be the lottery, but winning something sure feels good - not to mention the validation that comes along with it.

Featured in Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25058

Take-Out: Castle Crashers

2009-07-22T14:51:00.001-07:00

I completed Castle Crashers (XBLA) over the weekend with my girlfriend. What's interesting is that when I played the demo with my brother earlier this year, I wasn't entire sold on it, and didn't think it justified a purchase.

But after hearing that it was the No.1 selling Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) game, I just had to check it out, and try to find out exactly what the hell makes it so popular.

And so I mashed, and tapped, and madly rotated my stick occasionally, before finally laying the smackdown on that wizard guy. But more important that kissing the Princesses, is that I managed to take-away some Food-for-Thought from my weekend experience.

What I took away was this: that the success of the game had very much to do with the game meeting the expectations for the type of game distributed on a platform such as XBLA, or perhaps, even across almost the entire Digital Download scene.

The Top 5 reasons that I think made Castle Crashers strike a resonating chord on XBLA are:-

1) Casual-ness

Above all, Castle Crashers is a casual game, something that is so easy to pick-up-and-play, in long or short bursts; and perhaps this says a bit of the profile of the target audience of XBLA - to provide slightly more casual affairs in conjunction to the hardcore-boxset experience.

2)Accessibility

The game is extremely accessible - no hardcore combo memorization or the like. Button-mashing can get you pretty far. Basically, this means that almost anybody can just pick it up and play, and still have a decent amount of fun with it.

3) Multiplayer Mayhem

Perhaps the biggest sell-through factor for the game, the frantic (and perhaps nostalgic) experience of working together and occasionally against other players, in a tried-and-tested genre that almost anyone can appreciate.

Put this together with Point #2, and you have an ideal party game that non-gaming friends or girlfriends can partake in. For the more hardcore gamers, Castle Crashers would probably be a game to occupy their hands and the occasionally silence while they chat and catch up on their lives or other unimportant stuff.

4) Quirkiness / Personality

Even though the game has ARPG elements like Guardian Heroes (SS), the gameplay hardly carries the same amount of depth. But what Castle Crashers lacks in depth, it more than makes up for it in Personality.

From it's distinctive "Flash-game" graphics to it's humour-laden levels and bosses, almost every minute of Castle Crashers oozes personality, regardless of the gameplay. It's definitely not hard not to at least chuckle at some of the crazy things that happen in the game, like the profusely-shitting animals, for example.

5) Replayability

With multiple characters to unlock, different animal orbs to find and weapons to experiment with, Castle Crashers is a game that is choked-full of excuses in revisiting. True, the levels and bosses are always the same with each playthrough, but it's multiplayer alone already gives the game it's own 2 legs in terms of replayability.

For everything else, they just tend to serve as icing on the cake; any additional incentives provided, no matter how minute, gives the seasoned-player an additional reason to sit through the game "just one more time" with a new group of friends - and perhaps even spur people to convince more of their friends to get the game to join in the fun, amounting to it's current success.

All in all, I think that the underlying point is that people expect very different things coming out of a full-priced boxset game and a smaller, indie-developed, digitally-distributed game like Castle Crashers. It has come to a point that the market has enough space for both type of games, and perhaps now, more so than ever, it is important to profile and pander towards that different set of expectations.

Design Analysis: Resident Evil 5 Times Over

2009-04-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I finally shelved Resident Evil 5, after a very whooping 5 back-to-back playthroughs. First playthrough on "Amateur", then going back to "Amateur" to get S rank for all levels, then finishing the game on "Hard" (with Infinite Rocket Launcher), then finishing the game on "Professional" (battling through occasionally bafflingly-stupid AI), before finally finishing a co-op game on "Normal" with my girlfriend (which proved a very different and entertaining experience thanks to my partner-in-crime).

What's surprising is... this is the first time that I played through a Resident Evil game more than once after beating it. However, what's even more surprising is... Resident Evil 5 is not even my favourite Resident Evil game. So, why did I drag my ass through the same game so many times then?

Before I go into answering that question, let me go into some of the reasons why I wasn't as blown away with the latest instalment as I was with the last few entries in the series, particularly Resident Evil 4.

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Resident Evil vs. Resident Evil

Before anything else, I know that a ton of people have said that Resident Evil 5, while being a good action game, doesn't feel like Resident Evil anymore; and I have to say that I completely and utterly agree with this statement.

Even though the control scheme and viewpoint were adopted and evolved from the revolutionary series entry that was Resident Evil 4, the gameplay scenarios in which these controls are employed are totally different; I mean c'mon, a "Cover System" (a la Gears of War) in a Resident Evil game, never saw that coming.

Back-to-back, Literally

But the biggest lost in transition for me in Resident Evil 5 has to be in terms of the atmosphere. The Resident Evil games have always been more about the creation of atmosphere and ambience, and the sense of tension that results from that. Even with the redesigned controls in Resident Evil 4, the game still managed to hold its own in this regard.

Gone and missed are the gloomy, cloudy and occasionally intentionally claustrophobic environments of the past Resident Evils, only to be replaced by a bright African town depicted in broad daylight for a good quarter of the game. The perpetual presence of a partner also takes a lot away from the fear factor of the game's settings, and making her powerful enough to hold her own doesn't help either, when it comes to this.

I understand that Resident Evil 5 tries to create the tension through a different gameplay lens, by making the zombies faster, more aggressive, smarter and deadlier, and focusing towards the tension and excitement through the action-oriented gameplay; as opposed to the reliance of tension-induction through setting and atmosphere as in the past games. But personally, without the atmosphere, Resident Evil just doesn't feel like Resident Evil anymore.

Perhaps Less is More in this case

Through its own merits, Resident Evil 5 is a good action game, and the co-op factor is a welcome addition as well (if you minus the occasional hiccups in the AI). But in the evolution of the series, I would have much preferred Capcom to actually have used the current-gen technology to create a better atmosphere with all the smokes and mirrors of today, and ride on the original essence of the series, rather than evolving it a little too far from its roots.

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Through the Grindmill: When Play feels like Work

So going back to the question at hand: Why would I play a game that is relatively less stellar 5 times while leaving more stellar games to sit comfortably on the shelf after one playthrough? If it has to come down to one thing, then it has to be: Achievement Points.

http://www.gamespot.com/

Achievement Points - The Killer of Time

Resident Evil 5 is a rather tricky case. The game itself is actually very replayable. However, stretch that replayable-fun-factor over 5 playthroughs of the linear structure of the game, and the entire experience straddles the thin line between work and play at times - especially on "Professional Mode", where I saw Sheva stand right next to me and refusing to rescue me on multiple occasions.

If playing through the game itself was work, then the Achievement Points acquired at the end of the day probably felt like a fat paycheck. In my opinion, Achievement Points are actually glorified bragging rights that you can actually validate and verify, unlike in the old days that people mostly took your word for it when you tried to prove to them how hardcore you were. But the deeper implication of Resident Evil 5's case told me a little more about the power and influence of this new-found "glorification" and also a little something about my own gaming habits.

Firstly, let me say this out straight, I am NOT an Achievement Whore. While I do try my best to acquire as much as I can to prove myself, I am not the kind that will go about buying Avatar just to get 1000 points in 10 minutes. For me, the Achievement Points are a way to create an enjoyable meta-game around the game, and I will do it as long as I find it at least somewhat, bearably fun - which often takes into account the time, fun factor and potential reward in trying to achieve them.

This in itself is a little nostalgic, as it reminds me of the times when I was a kid. I had a lot less games to play, I and would grind and try to set up these challenges for myself for bragging rights among my friends (I had a promoted Level 37 Adam and Bleu in Shining Force). But as I grew older, and as I built a much bigger library of games than I actually had time for, I started to try to finish the games I had to a "justifiable" level - this being subjective of course, but often was taken as completing the game and seeing all the stages / missions / bosses possible in a single playthrough.

Grinding Force: Till the Enemies were worth 1EXP each

Basically, under this "justifiable" rule, the basic instinct was to shelf a game when the game was relatively less gratifying in itself once the logical or reasonable ending was reached. But with Achievement Points, I found myself doing things that were a lot less gratifying in themselves, but still did them anyway as I knew that there was a reward at the end of it.

And the power of the reward to me, comes from 2 factors. 1 of which is mentioned, being able to show-off said Achievements to the world, but the other factor is because of the fact that these Achievements are developer set, there is a greater and more universal level of recognition and "certification" that people agree on and gives rise to a greater sense of pride in obtaining them. I personally think that Achievements have come so far that they have become an artful balancing act or perhaps a bit of a tug-of-war between the gaming community and the developers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Power to Shift Paradigms

One weird effect that I questioned in my gaming habits were the change in my "Bartle Test" results. I always thought of myself more of an "Explorer" - I remembered that the thing I liked most about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, was exploring the world of Hyrule and discovering all its little secrets. In fact, I attributed my preference towards exploration as the reason for it being my favourite game, because I enjoyed that sense of amazement and discovery as I journeyed and explored someone else's world.

Ocarina of Time - The Vastness of Exploration

I kind of knew that I was partially an "Achiever" as well, considering my self-proclaimed hardcore-ness and all, and just wanted to prove to myself (and perhaps to others as a secondary audience), that I could do certain things in the games that I play (like my 2.7 million Geometry Wars score, for example - that's hardcore).

Bartle Chart

However, in recent months, I really find myself questioning if my type has shifted, as now, when I play an Xbox360 game, I seem to have developed a stronger threshold for the repetition of gameplay and levels if there was a reward at the end, as compared to trying to take all the time I need to find explore and discover the game world.

Perhaps this is another issue altogether, on whether I personally find the game worlds these days to be becoming too large for a comfortable pace of exploration without feeling lost for more than half of the game, knowing that you are barely scratching the surface, like in Fallout 3 or in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

But what I do know is that Achievement Points are here to stay, and the dilemma of trying to decide between gratification and accomplishment will only continue to haunt me as long as I give a damn about them.

Pictures Courtesy of:

Gamespot:

Design Analysis: Street Fighter IV - The Fighter's Legacy

2009-03-31T13:05:00.000-07:00

At the recent Game Developer's Conference 2009, Yoshinori Ono gave a talk about Street Fighter IV, and discussed the direction his team took in the development of Street Fighter IV.

The keyword in the development of Street Fighter IV was 'origin', and "the team wanted to return the series to where its phenomenally successful run began, Street Fighter II." One particularly interesting analogy he used was likening Street Fighter IV to a "class reunion" of sorts.

I find this term particularly apt, as beyond being a "class reunion" for the distinctive cast of the Street Fighter II, (and some returning characters from other entries in the series as well); Street Fighter IV also came across to me as a somewhat-meta "class reunion" of sorts between the iconic 2D Fighters since Street Fighter II.

Dissecting Street Fighter IV's gameplay system reveals some familiar gameplay elements, and to a long-time 2D-Fighter-fan that's been there since the heyday of the original Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Street Fighter IV almost seems like a nostalgic snapshot that pays tribute to some of the ghosts of the past in the genre's (relatively) long and varied history.

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1) EX Special Moves

Yes, Fire Hadoken is now EX-Hadoken

In Street Fighter IV, players can use one bar of the Combo Meter to enhance their regular special moves into a more powerful, EX version of the special moves, giving it properties like additional hits, armor-breaking properties, etc. This adds some new opportunity for mind games or simply allows players to build more powerful combos.

In memory of: Darkstalker / Vampire Hunter Series

ES Dae-mon Craaa-dle

For me, this was an INSTANT throwback to Capcom's Darkstalker / Vampire Hunter series, where players could use one bar of power to enhance a special move into an ES Special Move. But between the 2, Street Fighter IV's EX Special Moves only takes 1/4 of your combo meter as opposed to 1 entire bar in Darkstalkers, which players could be using to perform a often more powerful and unique EX Special Moves.

In addition to that, Armor-Breaking and Hyper-Armor properties give an additional layer of play to consider deciding when and what moves to EX.

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2) Hyper Armor

Focus attacks (see below) and certain moves in Street Fighter IV allow players to absorb one-hit of an incoming attack in exchange for a chunk of their vitality that will regenerate over time. Getting hit before the vitality is fully regenerated will cause permanent damage to the player's vitality.

In memory of: Street Fighter III, Marvel-Vs. Series, Darkstalkers 3

When using the Hyper Armor properties of a Focus Attack, it seems to be a simplified replacement of Street Fighter III's insanely difficult parrying system, even down to the blue flash. Things have been slightly simplified in the sense that the Focus Attack's Hyper Armor blocks attacks from all directions, instead of Street Fighter III's different parries for high and low attacks, making it less exclusive to expert-players.

But the difference is that while in Street Fighter III multiple parries are possible, Street Fighter IV's Focus Attacks can only take one hit. And will also cost you a little bit of your vitality too, temporarily at least.

The First time when there was something worse than a Red Life Bar

First seen in X-men Vs. Street Fighter, where the inactive fighter regenerates health over time when tagged out, this feature was later incorporated in Darkstalkers 3's system as well. This features causes players to consider balancing attack and defence in accordance to the situation.

Unlike the other two series, where every move causes a permanent damage and a recoverable damage, in Street Fighter IV, only the Hyper Armor moves gives rise to this effect. Overall, it adds a bit more strategy of balancing attack and defence, but it's probably intentionally kept this way as compared to a game like X-men Vs. Street Fighter, where knowing when to tag out was a core part of the gameplay.

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3) Focus Attacks

At Least the Ink Effect made it into the Game somehow

By pressing the Medium Punch and Kick buttons simultaneously, players can perform a chargeable and potentially unblockable Focus Attack that can cause the opponent to stumble. Also has hyper-armor properties and can be cancelled into a front or back dash.

In memory of: Street Fighter EX series

3D Street Fighter has come a Long Way

Perhaps one of the most blatant references, Street Fighter IV took what was a rather rarely used move in Street Fighter EX, the Guard Break, and totally ran with it to the moon. In Ono's talk, he mentioned that "The command is simple, but there needed to be a reason for hardcore players to use it. Ono said the team went about looking to incorporate it as an "easy to learn, difficult to master" gameplay element."

And they sure did stack-up the hardcore factor in the Focus Attack, making it chargeable, hyper-armor and cancel-able all at the same time.

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4) Ultra Combos

Brings back Memories

A new gauge was added to Street Fighter IV that builds up as the player takes damage. Once filled sufficiently, players can perform powerful Ultra Combos to turn the tide of the match and come back into the match with a decent fighting chance.

In memory of: The King of Fighters '95, '96

I wonder why they took away the Ripping Clothes for Yuri

A little history lesson behind this. In the good old days, Capcom and SNK had very different views about how a character would build up his / her gauge towards a finisher. Whereas Capcom believed in rewarding offensive play, where each move hit or special move performed increased the gauge; SNK chose to take the reverse approach, gearing towards damage-centric increment, in light of the chance for a last-minute comeback by the losing player.

Initially, SNK coupled this with a charge move that allowed players to increase their gauges by charging, in The King of Fighters (KOF) '94 - '96, before becoming ambivalent about which approach to go for in KOF'97, where they offered players 2 styles of play. Eventually, offense- heavy play became the preferred choice, and SNK only retained the last-minute-match-reversing moves in the form of Desperate Attacks, which could only be performed when the player had less than 1/4 vitality and a full gauge.

Taking a page out of SNK's old design philosophy, Street Fighter IV introduces Ultra Combos to give losing players a chance for a comeback. Probably in an attempt to make the game more accessible and potentially lessening the chances of utterly one-sided matches. I personally like how the Ultra Combos are balanced in the way that while more powerful than the regular Super Combos, but cannot be Super (Ultra?) Cancelled and are much harder to combo into.

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5) EX Focus

Probably the most advanced-mechanic in Street Fighter IV, players can interrupt and cancel special moves with a Focus Attack or EX Focus, which then allows it to be cancelled into a front or back dash, as with a regular Focus Attack, which can then be cancelled into any regular or special moves.

Needless to say, this gives players the potential to string together some really impressive combos. Fortunately, it uses up 2 segments of the combo gauge, limiting its use and preventing it from being abuseable.

In memory of: Guilty Gear series, Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves

Perhaps the most obtuse of references, the mechanic of cancelling a interrupting a special move mid-way through its animation has been used in the likes of Guilty Gear's Roman Cancel or Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves Break system, both of which involve hitting 2 or more buttons simultaneously.

Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves - Extremely Underrated

While in Fatal Fury: MotW, no gauge was necessary to perform a break, it was limited to only specific moves being interruptible. Street Fighter IV's EX Focus is a bit more akin to Guilty Gear's Roman Cancel, but is more advanced as it requires a dash after a EX Focus before cancelling into another special move, and doesn't allow players to cancel one special move into another special move immediately like the Roman Cancel.

Either way, mid-move cancellations are always a deep and rewarding system, and Street Fighter IV's system allows players to improvise on their combos while not limiting it to dial-a-combo type of fix sets, given they are prepared to invest the time in mastering the timing of the EX Focus.

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Street Fighter IV is an excellent example of evolutionary game design that even though borrows gameplay elements from its genre counterparts, it still manages to marry them together into a cohesive, elegant and balanced system that is "easy to learn, difficult to master."

Ono spoke about his "theory of fighters not as games, but as tools for competition," where like chess, "a grandfather can play against his grandchildren for fun, while the game is deep enough to justify high-level champion-versus-champion play in an entirely different context. Proper fighting tools such as this cast a wide net, offering something appealing to all audiences."

I'm personally not sure if the gameplay references in Street Fighter IV are actually an intentional tip of the hat to its forefathers or not. But for me, aside from the deep and rewarding gameplay mechanics, part of the appeal of Street Fighter IV is the warm sense of nostalgia of seeing and identifying some of the shadows of past fighters that have managed to leave a legacy in today's update.

Pictures Courtesy of:

Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/

Street Fighter IV Walkthrough and Guide:

http://www.greenpixels.com/games/guides/955947/Xbox-360/Street-Fighter-IV/p2

Dreamcatcher

2009-03-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

MDA Invigorate 2008 : Protégé Productions : Simulation : PC

Synopsis

“Guide the Destiny of the Tribe through the Stars.”

As the Great Spirit watching over the Tribe, use the magical power of the stars to help your tribe survive the harsh environment, answer their earnest prayers, guide the development of their village, protect them from treacherous enemies, and ultimately lead them to become the Great Tribe that they are destined to be.

Dreamcatcher is a real-time resource-management / development game interlaced with exciting tower defense battle sequences. Stylized silhouette visuals contrasted against a star-lit twilight sky help to create a magical and mystical Native-American-inspired setting.

Game Concept

In Dreamcatcher, the player utilizes the different colored stars in the sky to bestow different things on the tribe and guide the development of the tribe:-

Each Level requires players to complete specific objectives.
Players circle stars in specific groups to fulfill needs or construct buildings.
There are 3 primary-color stars (Green, Red, Blue) which are mostly for fulfilling Survival needs (Crops, Fire, Tepees).
Players can create Secondary-color stars (Purple, Yellow, Cyan) by circling two corresponding primary-color stars. These are essential for buildings / structures.
Players also can create special White stars by combining 3 secondary-color stars. White stars can be used to cast Magic Spells, which can aid the Tribe in a variety of ways.
Occasionally, players will have to help defend their village from aerial attackers in a Tower Defense-style gameplay, where efficient resource management and strategic building placement can separate victory from defeat.

Videos

Dreamcatcher Gameplay Video

Music by: McVaffe (http://www.ocremix.org/)

Dreamcatcher Battle Gameplay Video

Music by: McVaffe (http://www.ocremix.org/)

Screenshots

Game World / Backstory

They say that in the beginning, the Great Spirit created man out of seven stars. With a mighty hand he reached across the night sky and ground them into dust. This he gave to the Wind and she scattered them across the land, that every grain might become a man, woman or child, and so the seven tribes began.

Since then, man has always looked longingly towards the sky, and that is how we, the Ancestral Spirits of each tribe, were born. Since times immemorial we have kept watch over our children, we have guided them, protected them, taught them, and all was good. But now we live in dark times…

Tech Tree

UI Design

Website

MDA Invigorate 2008

Design Analysis: Odin Sphere - Small Team, Big Game

2009-03-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Released by Atlus in 2007, Vanillaware's Odin Sphere was a critically received Action-RPG that was not only a tribute to the glory days of 2D games, it was a 2D-sprite-based masterpiece, still considered gorgeous even by today's standards, as noted in the multiple game reviews.

But more than that, what was more amazing about Odin Sphere in my opinion, was that the team behind the game, Vanillaware, only consisted of 12 members. Expectedly, 7 of which were Artists, 3 were Programmers and with 2 Game Designers (or Planners, in Japanese Game Development lingo).For a small development team to ship a game that can hold its own against today's 100-man-blockbuster-games environment is no small feat.

I believe that this was made possible by the team making a few very smart and economical Game Design choices that gave the most gameplay-bang for the asset-buck in Odin Sphere, and produced a game that worked around the manpower and technical constraints of a small development team.

Some of the good design choices that I concur with as I played through the game were...

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1) Parallel Storylines - Bits and Pieces

Parallel storylines are always a great excuse to extend the replayability of a game and get more bang-for-your-buck with what you already have. But Odin Sphere does it with much more panache and thought than most others.

Each character's story is actually deeply-intertwined with the at least one other character's storyline, giving players a new perspective on previous stories, while contributing to the overarching story in Odin Sphere, by revealing new details of certain key events previously left ambiguous. The fact that each story is complete in its own right and yet gives enough room for subsequent stories to fill in the gaps is evidence of the thought put into the writing and pacing of the story to ensure its coherence and continuity.

Parallel Stories

It helps that there is an overall game timeline, which sequences the events in each character's story against those of the other characters and makes the entire story more easily referenced and accessible to players.

Naturally, parallel storylines make the game more "design-heavy", and is a great way to cover up for...

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2) Reusing of Assets - How to do it with Style

Unlike some other games which shamelessly reuse assets and cover it up with some weak storyline excuse (I'm looking at you, Devil May Cry 4), Odin Sphere's reusing of assets is done with a lot more finesse.

Between 8 -10 areas and an almost equal number of bosses, the repetitive factor that plagues the constant reusing of assets is somewhat nullified by how smartly the game interweaves the character stories with the level orders and the levels themselves.

World Map

There is always a convincing reason as to why the different characters are transcending the same few areas, and since the order in which the stories have to be played are pre-determined, certain thought had surely been put into the pacing of which to introduce new areas or bosses with each new storyline.

As an additional cool factor, it's always cool to use a what was previously a boss in one character's story as a playable character later.

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3) Simple Core Game Mechanics - K.I.S.S.

To keep the game manageable by a team of 3 programmers, Odin Sphere keeps it core gameplay simple. Run left to right in a "circular" stage, which is essentially a 2D plane connected at both ends, kill all enemies, proceed to next stage. Stages are interconnected predeterminely through a "map." If you break it down, essentially, Odin Sphere can be said to be simply a side-scrolling brawler infused with RPG elements.

Kill Him, and Everything Else that Moves

Things are kept a bit more interesting with the limit imposed by the POW meter and the different 2-4 unique abilities of the different characters. The Designers probably understood that killing all things on screen are inherently fun, albeit or perhaps intentionally old-school, and mixing things up with different character abilities adds to the dynamics of the game and how players would actually tackle the same enemies in different ways.

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4) Recipe System - The Power of Knowledge

Perhaps the most understated aspect in Odin Sphere, the complex Recipe System adds substantial depth to the dynamics of the overall game. In a game that forces you to start from Level 1 with each new character, it is an extremely smart choice, in my opinion, to allow the Recipe Book to remain consistent between the different characters, giving at least a sense of progression as you move from character to character.

It sure helps that the recipes in the game are extremely useful, like helping characters level up faster, giving them access to new power-ups, etc. I don't remember a recent RPG that I played that I felt so empowered simply by "knowledge" and not so much by character stats.

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5) Psypher System - Player Choice

Absorbing Psyphers

Essentially it is a rather simple feature, but introduces a sort of "management" element and player choice into the game. Players can choose to use Psyphers (floating orbs) from defeated enemies to power up and upgrade their weapons, learning new magic spells in the process, or use it to grow food items, which allow you to regain health.

This choice was an extremely crucial one as I moved from screen to screen due to a number of reasons, the limited inventory, the difficulty of the enemies, and the food recipes were all crucial in my decisions between getting a more powerful weapon or ensuring my survival or saving it up to power up my stats while taking up precious inventory space.

For a simple system that was not at all hard to program, the options that branched out from this resource led to a rather engaging player choice that I consciously thought through every 2-3 screens.

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Overall, Odin Sphere is by no means a perfect game, when you consider its technical shortcomings like slowdown and frame rate issues (try fighting Odessa and you will know what I'm talking about), and some general repetitiveness.

But for what it's worth, it's an example of a game that retains much of its charm with the emphasis on "design-heavy" features, like story and resource management elements, while trying to keep the technical and artistic manpower limitations in mind, resulting in a rather deep and engaging game that is greater than the sum of its technically-simple parts.

Pictures Courtesy of:
Gamespot: http://gamespot.com
Wikipedia - Odin Sphere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin_Sphere

Know Thy Maker(s)

2009-03-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

IGN.com has just very recently finished their run on the a list of the Top 100 Game Creators, which is basically a who's who in the world of videogames over the last 4 decades or so, spanning 7 console generations.

This is especially note-worthy in my opinion, simply because the heroes in the game industry go relatively unsung of in mass media as compared to the giants of the other media industries, like the movie industry for example.

Needless to say, rather obvious choices like Hideo Kojima, Peter Molyneux, Shinji Mikami and company made the list, but it was refreshing to see some of the forefathers of the industry getting props too.

All-in-all, I would say that its a rather fair list, give or take a few debatable positions, but still... No prizes for guessing who made the top of the list though, it was a far too obvious choice.

Hit the link if you're even remotely interested about finding out the people behind your favorite games.

Top 100 Game Creators

Mūzaïc

2008-11-07T02:57:00.000-08:00

Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab 2008 : Casual : Windows / Facebook

Synopsis

Enter the fascinating world of Mūzaïc, where players take upon the role of growing and cultivating their own musical garden in order to create the ideal home for an endearing race of musical creatures known as Mūzes.

Interact with other players all over the world at your own leisure to breed your Mūzes together to grow the musical garden of your dreams.

Featuring a huge cast of the musical Mūzes, each with their own unique signature tune spanning across a wide range of musical genres, Mūzaïc is an audio masterpiece that is designed to be accessible to the visually impaired and yet appealing to sighted players at the same time.

Research Goals

Designed for both the Sighted and the Visually Impaired

Remote Asynchronous Multiplayer

Identity Masking

Online Social Network

Videos

Trailer

Gameplay Video

Screenshots

Mūzaïc in the Media

Mūzaïc on Channel 8 / Channel U News

Mūzaïc on RAZORTV (Part 1)

Mūzaïc on RAZORTV (Part 2)

Websites
http://apps.facebook.com/muzaic_game

http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/muzaic.php

RAZORTV - http://www.razortv.com.sg/

Troll & Armor

2008-11-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

Emerging Entertainment 2007 - 2008 : Action-Adventure : Xbox360 / PC

Synopsis

"Use your Shape-Shifting Troll to save a Mystical World."

Troll&Armor is a fantasy action-adventure game with a unique twist of management. The story follows the journey of Rusty and Troll, as they set out on a quest to fully restore themselves to their former, single entity, Lucan; at the same time, returning order to the enchanting fantasy world of Haelum.

As Rusty, players employ resource management in the form of Gem Stones used to guide Troll and utilize his powers to overcome obstacles and solve puzzles.

At certain points in the gameplay, Rusty and Troll are momentarily restored as Lucan, and the game progresses to a more dramatic, combat-focused, action-oriented pace. Both styles of gameplay are cohesively tied to each other and weaved seamlessly into the engaging backstory.

Key Features

Innovative Game Concept: A refreshingly original game concept that seamlessly fuses management elements into an action-adventure game in a way that is never-before-seen; laying a conceptual foundation for an entire slew of creative gameplay scenarios.

Immense Game Variety: The progression in gameplay as players learn to utilize the different abilities of the 3 main characters, Troll, Rusty and Lucan allow for tonnes of gameplay variety spread throughout two different dimensions of gameplay.

Pick-up-and-Play Accessibility: An instantly comprehensible GUI and an intuitive and consistent Control Scheme will allow gamers to be drawn into the Troll&Armor experience instantly.

Depth of Gameplay: Performance-based incentives, secret areas, upgrades and hidden unlockables will have the dedicated player coming back for more.

Enthralling Backstory with Memorable Characters: A light-hearted and humorous narrative that is free of blood and gore, ties in flawlessly with the gameplay. Coupled with original and amiable characters, players of all ages will be able to appreciate the emotionally engaging-narrative.

Unique Art Direction and Visual Style: A unique Fantasy-meets-Steampunk art direction realized with the graphical powers of the next-gen consoles sets the world of Troll&Armor apart visually and artistically.

Game Design Concept

A brief summary of the game design concept of Troll&Armor.

Troll&Armor is a unique gameplay experience that adds an innovative twist of guiding and management to the traditional action-adventure formula.

Players play as Rusty, the magical Living Armor, who collects magical gems, guides the mighty and amiable Troll and manages Troll's repertoire of magical powers.

Troll is not only an indispensable tool in overcoming the mind-bending environmental puzzles, with his various abilities, he also plays the role of your greatest weapon in conquering menacing enemies and defeating epic bosses.

An additional dimension of gameplay comes in the form of Sanctuary Areas, areas in which Troll and Rusty are temporarily combined and restored as Lucan, Hero of Haelum; enabling a slew of different abilities to overcome new obstacles and battle opponents in a more action-oriented style of gameplay.

Strong artistic direction and an original narrative, make Troll&Armor an extraordinary gameplay experience built upon a radically innovative formula.

Trailer

Screenshots

Characters

Gameplay

Environment

Game World / Backstory

The World of the Wizard

I set my feet upon the ground of this brand new world and gaze out into the distance. I behold an ocean of darkness, glistering with stars and all manner of heavenly bodies. I raise my head and set my sights on the space above me. It is not the sky that I see, but a massive body of water, defying the laws of gravity, suspended in mid-air. I smile to myself, for it is all good in my eyes.

This is the world that I have always dreamt of; a world of perfect chaos. In my world, nothing has to be what it was supposed to be. A world where Laws have no power, Seasons follow no order, Opposites can coexist and Systems have no place. My world exists in utter rebellion to yours. It is the anti-thesis of all you know, believe in, and hold to be true. This is the world through my eyes, the eyes of an unrestricted child, a child with no respect for boundaries or placement. This is my grand design of chaos, my world of paradoxes.

In my world, pre-conceived notions of perfection you call “expectations” will do you no good, not when you will never know what awaits at every turn. So, prepare your hearts to be amazed at the things you will soon see. Creatures that live beyond your wildest imagination wait to bewilder you. Lands that defy all manner of logic beckon your arrival, lying in wait to bend your mind and open your eyes to the truth … And the truth is … there is no such thing as an “Impossibility” in my world, the world of Haelum.

- Words of the Grand Magus

Graphic Novel

Level Design

Level Maps

Puzzle Design

Website

http://www.emerging-entertainment.com/

As used with permission by Emerging Entertainment
Copyright of Emerging Entertainment

Big Bang!

2008-11-05T23:44:00.000-08:00

National University of Singapore Arts Festival 2007 : Indie / Game Maker : PC

Synopsis

Showcased at the National University of Singapore Arts Festival 2007, Big Bang! is a unique hybrid of collecting objects to increase mass (Katamari Damacy), a gravity mechanic (Strange Attractor), avoiding obstacles and enemies (traditional shooters, e.g. Geometry Wars), combined with a destructive supernova explosion mechanic, to create a one-of-a-kind, intuitive gameplay experience.

Game Concept

Players guide a UFO around in space, using a gravitational force to attract objects. As the mass attracted increases, the gravitational force gets larger, allowing the UFO to attract bigger objects, but trading off the movement speed of the UFO with the larger mass. As a destructive and strategic element to the game, players can activate a Supernova, which varies in size and power according to the current mass of the UFO. This mechanic can be used for blowing up bigger rocks into smaller particles so that they can be drawn in. These two core mechanics lay a foundation for many interesting gameplay objectives.

To add challenge to the game, players will have to avoid various obstacles, such as randomly moving comets, homing enemies, and screen filling meteor showers. Overall, the game will be one that balances reflexes, (e.g. maneuvering the UFO to collect objects and avoid hazards), as well as strategy (e.g. considering the rate at which to increase mass, when to trigger off a supernova, etc.).

Videos

Screenshots

Marketing Brochure

Outer Side

Inner Side

Website / Development Blog

http://sinkingshipstudios.blogspot.com/

Retro Billy Bones

2008-11-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

NUS Contrast 24-hour Game Jam 2006 : Indie / Game Maker : PC

Synopsis

Built from scratch in a mere 24 hours by a team of 2 people, using Game Maker. Retro Billy Bones was an entry in the inaugural Contrast 24-Hour Game Jam organized by the National University of Singapore's Communications and New Media department.

Game Concept

Players guide the protagonist, Billy Bones, through the chambers of heaven and hell, as he attempts to get his life back and escape the clutches of the Netherworld. But between him and his (ex-)life, stand a group of vicious enemy guards that would do anything to stop him.

In accordance to the competition theme of "contrast", the enemies in Retro Billy Bones can only be beaten by first warping them to the opposite side, making them a contrast to their environment, before they can be eradicated.

With aesthetics and a vibe that hails from a forgotten era of gaming, Retro Billy Bones is a tip of the hat to the yester-years of gaming; when the only objective was: To kill EVERYTHING that moved.

Videos

Screenshots

Game Design Documents

2008-10-20T04:30:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

Game Design Documents (GDDs) are the bread-and-butter of a Game Designer's role, and just like bread (more so than butter), they come in many different types and textures. Some designers believe in a 200-page Game Design Bible, which details everything about the game, and some believe in separate documents to be used for different purposes; in short, different designers tend to write the GDD in different styles based on the dynamics of the development team.

I personally believe in the David Jaffe school of GDDs, which generally follows the KISS rule, "Keep it simple, stupid." My general rule of thumb is not to include any unnecessary information in the document just for the sake of it, as many people are tempted to do for the sake of convenience. As with any form of communication, the most important thing is getting the message across to the people that matter, through whatever means possible.

Game Design Documents

Below are some samples of the GDDs that I have written. Meteor Garden's GDD is a more for general use and to convey the game concept, whereas Mūzaïc's GDD was one written more for internal use to convey detail the design to the rest of the development team.

MDA Invigorate 2008: Meteor Garden Game Design Document

Mūzaïc Game Design Document

Level Design

2008-10-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

Sypnosis

Level design in itself is often an art, given the limited amount of resources which are the core mechanics, it is a game / level designer's jobs to use the available mechanics to squeeze out as much interesting gameplay possibilities as possible.

Many things go into the level design process, from the level's conflict elements, e.g. enemies unique to the level, insidious puzzles to overcome etc., gameplay flow, to the story that is often the icing on the cake that ties the whole level together, a 10-minute level that goes into the hands of the player is often much lesser time spent than the sum of the development time of its individual parts.

Nonetheless it is the Level Designer's responsibility to try to make it the best 10 minutes possible for the player.

Level Maps

Troll & Armor Level Maps

Puzzle Design

Platform Puzzle Design

Enemy Design

Level Backstory

Frevendia, the region of the Great North is a region of harsh cold, snow, ice and beautiful auroras. However, as with all things in Haelum, contrast is the order of the day. Frevendia's climate hangs in the balance as it is also home to the Living Mountains, organic, living, breathing active volcanoes kept dormant by their existence in the cold climate.

Of the smaller inhabitants, there are two races, the Pengus and the Hammoths. The Pengus (Pengi) are cold climate creatures, a playful and carefree bunch and mostly live out in the cold, in a shire of snow caves built atop the surface of the icy lakes of Frevendia. The Hammoths are mainly a mining race, unaccustomed to the cold weather, and deeply religious. Making their homes, work and places of prayer inside the warm interiors of the Living Mountains, hardly venturing out into the cold unless necessary, like for reasons of trade and commerce with the outside world. But other than that, they are rather self-sustaining.

However, the long years of being cooped up indoors has made the Hammoths secretly envious of the luxury that the Pengi enjoy, of being able to live out in the great outdoors. Thus, when Marty comes along and offers the Hammoths a chance to make their wishes come true with Steampunk technology, the Hammoths more-than-readily accept Marty's help, and him as a Savior. Digging deep into an ancient Hammoth volcanic temple built into the Chief of the Living Mountains, a Great Volcano, Marty harnesses a its great volcanic activity to power a thermal generator to supply electric energy for the heaters and microwaves that the Hammoths were given to survive out in the cold.

However, little did Marty or the Hammoths know that the intense use of the heating technologies used by the Hammoths would cause an increase in the climatic temperature, disrupting the magical balance of the region, and leading to the Living Mountains erupting. The most drastic disaster occurred when the Great Volcano erupted, sending forth a gushing flow of volcanic rocks and lava, flooding the entire lake of ice beneath it, destroying the homes of the Pengi and changing the entire landscape of Frevendia.

Rusty and Troll arrive in this disaster-stricken land, and are tasked to help the troubled inhabitants and to find a way to restore the delicate balance to the land of Frevendia....

Used with permission by Emerging Entertainment

Copyright of Emerging Entertainment

Presentations

2008-10-15T05:55:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

Any good Game Designer should be worth his weight in presentations, after all, one of the primary roles of the Game Designer is to sell the game idea, not only to external parties, but also internally to the team.

I remember an article that wrote that it is important for a Game Designer to be able sell how fun a particular game idea is to the team, as the team needs something to believe in and be convinced of when they spend weeks or even months before something tangible and playable is realized. And for the times in between, they more or less only have the designers' words to go by.

Presentations are vital to communicating game ideas, and pretty much go hand-in-hand with the Game Design Document, some teams even make their GDD a PowerPoint file, for easier reference.

Personally, I've done quite a few presentations, the biggest of which was during Gambit Media Day presentation when I presented Mūzaïc to the members of the press and reporters; and also when I pitched Troll & Armor to some big publishers back when I was with Emerging Entertainment.

Presentations

Download Mūzaïc Media Day Presentation Slides

Download Gambit 2008 Game Design Test - Roy the Bouncing Hippo

Story & Script Writing

2008-10-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

Most modern games contain some form of story, some even place narrative above gameplay, like classic adventure games such as Hotel Dusk (NDS) or the Phoenix Wright series (NDS), while others place almost equal emphasis on story and gameplay, such as Final Fantasy.

There is no denying that games are a viable medium in telling an involving story, some times to the effect of being even more emotionally charged than film because of the more interactive nature of games.

Whatever the case, story in games has been around since the early days of gaming (Bionic Commando, anyone?) and are definitely not only here to stay, but will continue to evolve with the medium. And as story evolves in games, storytelling techniques start to become more relevant in games.

Backstory Writing

Some samples of the backstory material I co-wrote for Troll & Armor.

History of Haelum

Destiny, the force that ensures that everything has its place and time. Mortals have long since been subjected to its control, but legend has it that there exists 12 Invitations that can allow a man to free himself from his preset fate. It is said that these books were placed in the world by a child wizard so powerful that he managed to defy his own destiny through the power of his mind; through the power of his imagination. This inspired him to provide 12 privileged souls the opportunity to escape to his world, the world of Haelum. It is said that in Haelum, dreams can be fulfilled, hopes can be rekindled and lives can be redefined.

With his profound wisdom and unsurpassed creativity, the Grand Magus was able to derive an equation that allowed him to transcend space and time; to reach into a dimension that was parallel to the world that we live in. That dimension started out as a blank canvas; a void so to speak, but the Grand Magus saw limitless potential and there he created his own world, where things were not bound by convention or natural order. What was most intriguing was that existing outside of the stream of Time itself allowed the Grand Magus to look into the Past, Present and Future. It was as though he had taken a step back and could see the picture in its entirety. But that was when he also realised that the Future was a fixed variable in the equation of Time, which meant that Man could do nothing to change His own Destiny no matter how hard he tried.

The Grand Magus longed to free mankind from his futile struggle against the inevitable, but he was afraid that too bold an approach would draw the attention of the Magic Council to his magical empire. So he wrote 12 Invitations to the world of Haelum and sent them out to Earth, a subtle and powerful solution that would allow a select few to free themselves from their Destinies.

The World of the Wizard

In my world, pre-conceived notions of perfection you call “expectations” will do you no good, not when you will never know what awaits at every turn. So, prepare your hearts to be amazed at the things you will soon see. Creatures that live beyond your wildest imagination wait to bewilder you. Lands that defy all manner of logic beckon your arrival, lying in wait to bend your mind and open your eyes to the truth … And the truth is … there is no such thing as an “Impossibility” in my world, the world of Haelum.

- Words of the Grand Magus

Script Writing

Here are some excerpts from the Troll & Armor script which I co-wrote.

Excerpt #1

Prelude

Invitation to Freedom

Scene 1 --- Concept Introduction

[Intro begins with a completely black screen, with words flashing by and igniting ablaze as they scroll pass the screen]

Narration: “Destiny ... The invisible force that drives us all to become what we are meant to be, or is it just a restriction that dictates all our lives?”

[One of the Grand Invitations is seen swirling into the centre of the screen]

Narration: “If we are unable to change our fates despite all our efforts; if the course of our lives have already been pre-ordained, then does freedom truly exist?”

[The Grand Invitation lies still in the centre of the screen as chains fade in from the darkness and make a scene where the Grand Invitation is amidst an entire network of chains]

Narration: “What if ... all our fates had already been decided from the day we were born? In such a world, we would all become what we were destined to be; nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.”

[The Grand Invitation starts to glow and resonate like a heartbeat]

Narration: “A cruel world indeed that would be... but fret not ... for I can offer you an escape ... a taste of true freedom ... a world where Destiny and Order have no place.”

[The Grand Invitation opens and all the chains around it shatter. The screen fades out into white light]

Narration: “Would you like to change your destiny?”

Excerpt #2

Scene 6 --- Heart of a Hero

- Scene kicks in when all the Steampunks are defeated
- [Rusty and Troll are seen side surrounded by rubble]
- [Troll is dusting off his hands after the battle]
- [Rusty turns around and gives him a smile]

Rusty: “Seems to me like we're getting good at this.”

- [The doors of the houses start to open one by one and the inhabitants start to emerge cautiously]

Rusty: “Now that the cats are gone, the mice are coming out to play.”

- [The Hammoth and the Pengus gather round the heroes amidst mummers and mutters]
- [Azenta is looking on in wide-eyed amazement]

Azenta: “What are those things?”

- [Zoom in on the Pengus and Hammoth one after the other in sync with the dialogue]

Rusty: “Pengus, and Hammoth. Strange seeing them together though. They don't exactly make the best neighbors.”

- [The Hammoth Elder steps forth]

Elder: “Mighty warriors, the gods must have answered our prayers, for you have come in a time when we are in need of deliverance. Please, be so kind as to hear our plea and rescue us from the great misfortune that has befallen us.”

*** Note that the Hammoth all speak as though they are singing, making random tunes when they are stringing their words together.

- [Rusty just walks past the elder, ignoring his presence]

Rusty: “Nope. With all due respect, you're barking up the wrong tree, we're not here to save you guys. All we want to know is where we can find the clown that created all those robots.”

- [One of the Pengus answers in a snap]

Pengus: “He headed further north. He and his crazy jetpack.”

- [Rusty starts to walk off]

Rusty: “Why thank you. Let's go, Troll.”

- [Azenta screams at Rusty]

Azenta: “Hold it right there! You can't just leave them like this! They need our help!”

- [Rusty just continues walking]

Rusty: “You think? We don't have the time for sightseeing, Azenta. Marty's probably miles ahead of us by now.”

- [Suddenly Troll grabs Rusty from behind and looks at him sternly]

Rusty: “Don't look at me like that, I'm doing it for you too, brute. You don't want to stay like this forever do you?”

- [Troll stomps his fist into the ground and shakes his head]
- [Rusty looks around and sees all the sad faces around him]
- [Rusty gives a sigh]

Rusty: “Argh! Alright then. It's your loss anyway, brute.”

- [The Pengus and Hammoth standing around rejoice at Rusty's decision]
- [Troll and Azenta smile at Rusty]
- [The elder tells them to meet him in his house to hear more about the situation]

Used with permission by Emerging Entertainment

Copyright of Emerging Entertainment

Paper Prototypes

2008-10-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

Paper prototyping is essentially a representation of the game on a non-digital medium. Meant to mostly be low-fidelity, quick-and-dirty representations of the game, or particular aspects of the game; paper prototyping is mostly used to test functionality of the core mechanics, new features, UI functionality, or even entire game systems.

Naturally, paper prototypes often require their own set of rules that attempt to aggregate the rules of the game system, and in such an aggregation, there will certainly be some elements lost in the digital to non-digital translation.

Nonetheless, I personally believe in paper prototyping as not only is it quick-and-dirty, it also gives people a good feel of the game in play. Despite being a dummied down or sometimes really slow representation of the actual digital game, there are certain issues that can be identified with the game systems even in the early stages of paper prototyping, and it is best to address to be able to test and address whatever can be tested on paper, before moving on to digital prototyping, which is a whole new can of worms.

Mūzaïc Paper Prototype

Interactive Storytelling

2008-10-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

Interactive Storytelling, much like its name, is a means of telling a story that involves user / reader interaction. The story and reader are both part of a back-and-forth system, where every interaction choice displayed by the user is followed by an evolution of the story according to that choice.

Modern games such as Mass Effect and Oblivion employ techniques of Interactive Storytelling, in order to make the player feel that he / she is central to the game's universe, and that the decisions made by the player in the game, do affect the game world and the outcome of the story that is told, thus resulting in players having more personal experiences.

Story Elements

Premise - The setting and introduction to the story.

Middle Elements - The plot points in the plot pool that should ideally be coherently linked to at least 1 other middle element / ending.

Stasis Elements - Elements that describe a state in the story.

Process Elements - Story elements where an event takes place.

Endings - Possible conclusions to the story.

Possible Plots

Using the story elements given above, I have formulated 8 possible plots that could occur based on the decisions that the player makes in the story as Billy.

Each possible plot is noted with the traditional story-telling elements of Turning Points, Dramatic Events and Ending Climaxes.

Character Descriptions

2008-10-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

A sample of some of the character descriptions for Troll & Armor.

Rusty, The Embodiment of Will

Marty's reflexive attempt to destroy Lucan was a failure, but not a complete failure: The armor, unable to be harmed, remained intact. The armor lost its hold on Lucan's body, but it held on to some of his essence. Rusty, as the armor is now called, possesses Lucan's consciousness, intelligence, partial memory and force of will.

However, Rusty also possesses a personality of his own, and a strong one at that. Rusty often reminisces about the good old days with his former wearers (i.e. King Arthur, Conan, Prince Valiant). Yet, at the same time he often laments about his own tragic fate of fading into the pages of history as nothing more than a mere object which exists solely to assist its owner(s).

Rusty likes to brag about all the adventures he went through with the heroes of old, and is constantly at loggerheads with Azenta, especially when she gives advice or when she unerringly inquires more about his former owners (which she admires greatly). But deep beneath the tough exterior (pun intended), Rusty is a brave and trustworthy companion to the young visitor.

Troll, The Embodiment of Instinct

The rest of Lucan; his passions, emotions and desires, remained with his body after the Transformation Spell hit Lucan. Being left with only the primal, lower instincts and emotions, Lucan's body grew and morphed to fit the remnants of his soul, taking the form of Troll. While Troll is large and strong, he lacks the intelligence and ability to control his powerful emotions and the powers that are tied to them.

Troll is all emotion, and can be likened to a pet puppy, a small child or an angry gorilla. Driven purely by emotions and instincts such as hunger (especially), Troll will instinctively smell out and move towards the nearest rocks (a favorite of Troll's) he can find to satisfy his never-ending hunger. Troll's emotions and powers can vary based on the stuff that he eats, especially when it comes to gems (a mythical favorite dish among Trolls). These gems are said to incite Troll to unleash some of his latent powers when eaten.

Used with Permission by Emerging Entertainment

UI Design

2008-10-06T00:32:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

User Interface or UI is a vital part of games, since it is the part that connects the game to the gamer. The functional aspect of UI Design mainly takes into account the accessibility and the usability of the interface.

UI Flow

UI Flow is the flow or order of the different screens of the UI; from menus, to loading screens, to the actual gameplay screen.

UI Flowchart Sample

Mūzaïc UI Flow Diagram

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Another functional aspect of UI Design is in the actual layout of the elements in the HUD / GUI of the in-game screen, and this is normally represented in a GUI mock-up before it is passed on to the artists to beautify it.

Mock-Up GUI

Mock-Up GUI with Description

Audio User Interface (AUI)

An often overlooked aspect of UI design, the audio user interface some times plays as important a part as the GUI when communicating information to the player, for example, in Halo's use of the beeping and refilling sounds to indicate low health and danger.

Since Mūzaïc was a game that was supposed to be made accessible to the blind, every aspect of the GUI had to have an accompanying AUI to make the game entire accessible, and it had a separate document solely for UI design (available here)

Academic Writings

2008-10-02T05:07:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

Before I was a Game Designer by profession, I was a university student. And I had to do the things that other university students did too, which was to critically analyse an issue in an academic manner, citing references and trying to make sense out of jargon.

Fortunately, the jargon that I was reading about was at least somewhat interesting jargon that was relevant to game design and games in general. Thankfully, there is an ever-growing interest in media studies that actually embrace games a legitimate form of media worth studying and researching about, it sure made my academic life easier.

Academic Writings

My two cents worth into the ever growing fountain of the academics of games.

Autopsy of a Garlic: Critique on What Warioware can teach us About Game Design

Design Analysis

2008-10-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

In my opinion, an important aspect of being a Game Designer is being exposed to a large number of games across different genres. A good Game Designer is not only one who can quote other game as references at the tip of his tongue, but also one who is able to critically analyse and dissect games to identify what works and what doesn't.

In this section, I will identify and critically discuss some of the games that I've played and personally feel have aspects that are noteworthy, inspiring, excellent or just plain bad.

Design Analysis

The list of Design Analysis articles:

Design Analysis: Odin Sphere - Small Team, Big Game (11/03/2009)

Design Analysis: Street Fighter IV - The Fighter's Legacy (31/03/2009)

Design Analysis: Resident Evil 5 Times Over (24/04/2009)