So
Many Games: So little time. Fallout 3, Wrath of the Lich
King, Left 4 Dead, NFS: Undercover, and me in crunch mode.
I just so damn busy I've had little time for anything else.
The
brief moments I've had to play Fallout have been fun though.
I'm a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series and Bethesda in
general which has been both good and bad for my game experience.
Since I've played Oblivion to death I notice so many reused
assets in Fallout such as talking, sleeping, and sitting anims.
Also I recognize some of the voice actors from Oblivion and
environment sounds. And I swear there is a retextured interior
from Oblivion. But so what, good for them and only the hardcore
fans would even blink at it.
The
game does have a few issues especially in the Vault. Many
conversations get interrupted by other AI which look like
bugs and I really despise the forced player view when someone
wants to talk to you. But overall the game is wonderfully
depressing just as you'd expect and the wasteland is truely
a dangerous place which gives you an interesting cautious
feeling while exploring it.
Player
Hand Holding in Game Design: Guiding the player is something
that really takes a delicate touch and is often taken too
lightly. There are two extremes of this of course. One is
no guidance at all were the player has no idea what to do
and the other is too much were the game almost plays itself.
My
design experience has mainly been with the latter. For instance
Quake 4's original design was going to be that every lever
and machine GUI was going to be functional. It was all going
to do something even if it was just switching on a light.
The idea was the player could explore the Strogg world and
gets rewards for doing so even if it was just an "I did
that" reward. This was really exciting but also very
ambitious. We quickly saw time restraints weren't going to
allow this. So the feature got pulled back to less events
but bigger ones. The idea behind this was there wouldn't be
as much to play with but the ones you could find would give
a greater payoff. Unfortunate this lead to the publisher demanding
that the player sees these events. So most events turned into
the kind that the player had to witness to advance through
the level. Some were even triggered with a triggerFacing brush
that would only fire when the player was looking in the correct
direction. So the design had gone from exploration to a standard
linier shooter which I found very sad.
I
see this trend continuing and getting worst on future titles
as well. Objective heavy games tell the player every move
to make. Basic things like "pick up the gun" pop
up as an objective and the game won't let you advance until
you do so. This breaks the game down and makes it feel almost
like you're just advancing a movie. Allies screaming, "Come
on! Lets get going! What are you doing?" make the player
feel he's doing something wrong if he stops to explore the
world we created for him. It's almost as if we want them to
finish the game as soon as possible and in fact this if often
the view of upper management. I have often heard the excuse,
"The player will only play the game once" or even
worse, "Most players won't play these later levels."
This is crazy! If you feel the game you're making isn't good
enough to play all the way through or play again something
is terribly wrong!
Some
of this may be the idea that currently console game are king
and it is often believed that console gamers have low attention
spans. They need constant guidance so they can get the maximum
game play for their time spent. People these days want something
they can play for an hour and put down which may be true.
I've talked to people (my self included) the just don't have
the time to get absorbed in a game but I find if the game
is good I can still get absorbed in that hour and excited
for the next time I get to pick it up.
Games
that don't help you along enough suffer from the player stumbling
around and not getting anywhere so he spends his hour feeling
he did nothing. This was the case with Morrowind, it was just
too open for people. I spoke with many that just got lost
and had no idea what to do. This lead to frustration and of
course they ended up not playing anymore. Oblivion held the
player's hand a bit more but the world was still overwhelming
for some with quests saying vague things like, "Head
east". However in Fallout 3 Bethesda seemed to get it
right. The majority of people I talk to seem to really be
enjoying their game time. You always know what the goal is
and in fact the location appears on your map upon getting
the quest which really streamlines game play. So players know
what's happening and where to go. Funny thing is the biggest
complaint I hear from people is that the game is too short.
Obviously because the quest system work so well.
Personally
I loved Morrowind and being dumped into a world with the single
goal of go have fun but I can certainly see that's not for
everyone. It also depends greatly on the type of game. Role
playing games seem to generally need less guidance where as
shooters tend to need more. Since they are often trying to
convey a feeling of urgency the player needs a clear path
or that quickly breaks down. When the building is going to
explode but the game allows the player to wander with no explosion
the illusion is lost. I think the key is really play testing.
Allow some gamers to try it out. Notice I said gamers. Bringing
in relatives that don't play games doesn't really help much.
Sure they may have fun but they'll spend your time struggling
with basic game mechanics and not give you anything useful.
Ask the question directly. "Do you feel you were guided
too much". Remember as the developer you're in control
of the experience (not the publisher). ;P
Wolfenstein
Teaser Trailer Released - Man, we sure like explosions
don't we. Happily I scripted a lot of what was shown. :)
The project is really coming together. I think people are
going to really like it.
Singularity
Teaser Trailer Released As Well - They also released a
little sample of one of the other projects Raven is developing.
Can't really say too much about it of course but I wanna play
it when we're done so that certainly says something.
July 16th, 2008:
More
Wolfenstein Stuff - Five screen shots were released. Can't
really say much more than that or I'll
be killed. However the August Game Informer issue has a really
great 10 page article for those wanting
more.
July 13th, 2008:
We
Finally Get Some Press!! - The "hush hush" is
starting to lift. The August issue of Game Informer has
Wolfenstein as their cover story! Pick it up and see what
I've been working on for the past few years.
June 21st, 2008:
SPORE
Creature Creator -
Picked up the SPORE Creature Creator today. Really interesting.
It's got issues
not really bugs but just the way things animate which I guess
you can't help since it's so random. Really fun
though. My kids love to create character in games like WoW,
not play them but just make them so they love
this. They just create one after another.
Little
Insider note - Keep an eye on the August issue of Game
Informer. ;)
May 19th, 2008:
GRID
Demo - Tried out the GRID racing demo by Codemasters.
Wow, it's a lot of fun! It worth it just for the
reply function. You can watch each fender crushing moment
at about any angle you want. The demo wouldn't
let me reconfig the controls so I couldn't set them up the
way I wanted but the racing still felt good. Graphics
are really nice as well with a great damage model for the
cars. If you even remotely like racing games give
it a look.
January 19th, 2008:
-
WOO WOO - Well I'm back on the WoW train. Not sure if
it's a good thing or a bad one but I like playing it
so what the hell. I play on the Scryers with some other Raven
guys. Thought I'd seriously try leveling an Orc
Warlock. So far at lvl 33 I'm still enjoying it. Also picked
up the old GBA which I haven't touched in months.
I have Golden Sun and it's sequel that I haven't ever played.
Not bad games, just a bit repetitive.
-
Industry Unfairness - Recently I was talking with a few
co-workers about a pretty cool game idea. It's fresh and
new and hasn't really been done. They also got excited about
it and said if I wanted to explore it further let them
know. So I wondered, can I explore it? So I went to our Legal
/ Human Resources Dept. and asked. Turns out I'm
not allowed to do anything or it's instant Activision property
which frightenly is a better deal than the newer people
have. The new contract agreement states that even the thought
of something is their property. I've been with
Activision / Raven Software for over 10 years. I don't know
what other company polices are but I assume they are
very similar. So how does anything new ever happen? I guess
you have to risk everything, ditch your job and
create yet another start-up company. Not sure I have the dough
for such a thing so there my idea sits doing
nothing. Such a shame.
October 19th, 2007:
-
A rather big month for gaming. Valve release The Orange Box
which included Half-Life2: Episode 2, Portal,
and Team Fortress 2. I played through them all rather quickly.
Portal
is such a great concept. I completed it all in only 4 hours
which didn't really upset me but rather just left
me wanting to play more of it. The voice of the computer and
the things it said make it worth playing just for
that. Plus the sentry guns being so polite was hilarious.
Episode
2 was also really amazing. While I played my 2 daughters sat
and watched as if it was a movie. At
one point my 10 year old said, "Man, this is awesome!"
which is really a great testament to the story and the
character development. You really care what happens to Alyx
and her father which is a rare thing in gaming.
My only real complaint is that the ending sucked BIG TIME!
You can't leave me hanging like that man!
Team
Fortress 2 I haven't played much. People are already so good
at it that it's rather frustrating to jump
into. The design and characters look very nice with a great
style. Hope to play it more in the future.
I
heard Quake Wars came out but with TF2 out there I don't think
anyone noticed. Way to go marketing. :P
Hellgate:
London demo was released. Ummm, yeah. Really expected more
from a company created from
people on Blizzard's Diablo team. There is a reason Blizzard
holds thing so long before they let the public
look and they should have known that. The demo felt similar
but not fleshed out. No dialogue?!? What was
with that?? I don't want to read.
Other
than that I've been burning through Need For Speed: Carbon
during my lunch hours. Gotta get it done
before Need For Speed: Pro Street comes out on November 9th.
August 13th, 2007:
-
Added a link to a fellow designer Simon O'Callaghan who will
be leaving Raven shortly to head back to Europe.
Simon made a cool little puzzle game that I'll be linking
as soon as it's available. In the meantime check out some
of Simon's work on his site. Simon, keep in touch and good
luck!
July
23rd, 2007:
-
I've got some very sad news. My co-worker and friend Glen
Angus pasted away July 19th due to an unexpected
health complication at the age of 35. Glen was an incredible
artist and was known world wide for his work. He was
also a genuinely nice person. On top of all that he was an
automobile enthusiast like me and we talk cars constantly.
He owned a show quality 1968 Chevelle 396, silver with black
racing stripes. Very nice!
To
say this was a shock would be an understatement. There is
a strange heaviness in the air at Raven since his
passing and his talents cannot be replaced. He will be missed
as a talent and a friend. He leaves behind his
wife and 2 children which is the greatest sadness of all.
June
19th, 2007:
-
I updated my Madtown
Muscle car site. Mainly because I had a few pictures to
post from a
parade my car club was in. We got in a little trouble with
the law there and we are banned from ever returning. I
guess some people have no appreciation for power. The crowd
loved it at least. >:)
-
Added a few co-worker sites to my links page. They are some
very talented people so check them out.
June
18th, 2007:
-
I submitted a true ghost story to Llewellyn Press and they
purchased it for their online journal.
So I guess that officially makes me a published author. Read
the story here.
