Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn ipad. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn ipad. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Thứ Hai, 12 tháng 12, 2011
Thứ Bảy, 22 tháng 10, 2011
Critique of Killzone 3 Beta
First, I want to thank my friend Cloud_Fury for giving me the code. He generously gave it up for me to enjoy, and I really owe him for it. Thanks a lot bud!
Onto the impressions:
This is purely a list of critical complaints. It doesn’t mean I don’t like the game or enjoy aspects to it, but I won’t mention them because I won’t be saying anything new that everybody else has already said.
I will not be mentioning graphical bugs, or anything that can be fixed with basic polish. This is, for the most part, about the core gameplay.
This is a first-impressions, I've only played for around 3-4 hours so far. The following is a combination of experience and what I've seen in videos.
This is a quick look, I haven’t prepared anything or proofread so forgive me if I say something difficult to understand.
So immediately it’s the controls you will notice, and a lot like K2’s controls this is going to be controversial. However this time, it’s going to be the K2 fans complaining, not the labeled “COD” fans.
And indeed it’s a stark contrast. While K2 was slow, sluggish, and heavy, K3 is light, fast, and floaty. It’s got a more “BC2” feel than a “COD” feel, but it’s definitely not unique. And while I was critical of the unresponsiveness of K2, I was more than satisfied with the post-release patch they did. Now the controls are even sharper, and the missing feeling here Is that “meaty”, heavy feel. And I actually miss it.
Part of this is due to recoil. When firing a gun you have that gritty feeling Killzone is known for—the M82 actually sounds more like a drummer drumming than the firecracker sound in Killzone 2, and putting bullets into enemies is just as satisfying with the gorgeous blood and hit detection animations. But while all this is fine, the actual satisfaction of killing enemies is diminished. It’s hard to explain, but to pin the tail, it’s really easy to get kills. The lack of recoil makes it easy to rack up lightning quick double and triple kills. And part of the fun of shooting in Killzone 2 was feeling that kick in your gun. In Killzone 3 it's gone. The floaty feeling and the lack of recoil make the feeling fall flat from Killzone 2.
Along with this is a lower base health making killing much reckless. The COD comparisons are imminent. And sadly K3 feels more like a BC2/COD hybrid in terms of gameplay than it does K2.
I honestly don’t mind the sharper controls. Killzone purists on the other hand are already up in arms about Killzone 3’s “lack of identity”
But if I were to complain about controls then I definitely will have to agree that recoil and damage need a buff.
The real issue here is the LMG. This is by far the most versatile gun. It’s pretty much a sniper at mid-long range and can mow down any enemy with ease. The lack of recoil is disturbing and it’s entirely possible to go full-auto and expect to get kills from good distances. Reckless behavior is essentially rewarded and this ought to be fixed. Expect to drop within a blink of an eye from more than snipers when you are in an open field.
In fact, headshots in general are undermined. Whilst in K2 body shots had you putting an entire clip into an enemy, body shots in K3 put an enemy down fairly fast. SMGs do a fair job as the standard gun. Low recoil compared with the fact that this can actually get decent kills at even long-mid range makes the SMG a weapon that is all too commonly used on the battlefield. It’s the “standard” weapon for all classes but it’s a little too strong for my liking.
Again, a good boost in health should solve this.
Then there is the sniper rifle. Once again a single registered shot, from what I’ve experienced, rewards you with a kill. And while this was fine in Killzone 2’s more control-challenging game, it’s way too overpowered in K3. The responsiveness of the controls makes it all too easy to stay at a distance and pick off players. Again, it’s a case of rewarding impatience and recklessness. One Hit Kills should go towards headshots, but I shouldn’t be rewarded a kill if I should at a limb (if my experiences were wrong please correct me about this conclusion).
I also fear that the sniper is a little too anti-teamwork this time around and while the spot ability contributed to the team in K2, the marksman in K3 really doesn’t mark anything or do anything for the team, save for Bodycount matches. This is really a matter of how the community uses the marksman. Hopefully the class is not treated as it was in Bad Company 2.
I’m still debating whether the removal of the spot ability from this class was a good idea. It makes sense to give it to the marksman class but at the same time the class already has a mega-advantage with the one-hit-kill sniper.
Speaking of classes, the poor tactitian has been dumbed down for the sake of gameplay sanity.
Killzone 2’s spawn grenading was a genuinely great concept marred by a ridiculously stupid community. And since it was evident that the community never learned how to use the damned thing, the spawn system has been completely changed. It’s a sad sacrifice that removes the tactical potential Killzone 2 offered the class, but the chaos it brought was the double edged sword of this class. The pros were outweighed by the cons.
But now there is yet another potential issue. While the new spawn system guarantees less chaos, it’s actually become too quiet. What you can experience in Warzone is a wave of contrasting pacing.
This is especially evident in Search and Destroy which has become impossible to win. It's a difficult mode by design that requires teamwork. Unfortunately the game is played in a disjointed manner (part of this due to the party system which I will explain later).
In K2 the solution was simple: throw spawn grenades and hope that your team outspammed the chaos against 31 other players in a room.
In K3 the removal of the spawn grenades scatters teammates across the map.
Since you spawn so far away it’s too easy for the enemy to pick off the lone troopers trying to plant the bombs. Partly to blame is the placement of objectives. The objectives are way too close to each other. What results is all members of the defending team hanging around the objective area, patrolling the bomb site with ease.
Compare this to Demolitions in Call of Duty where the advantage for the offense team comes out of the lack of defense. In K3, defense can be airtight and impossible to penetrate because of the spawn system.
Way too often cloaked snipers hide and wait the few players who attempt to plant the bomb. The rest of the team is either running towards the objective or doing something else.
The potential for spawn-camping is also evident. In one match, our team kept getting blasted by a spamming exo-skeleton who would spam rockets and shoot our exit. I also want to mention that you spawn exactly at the same spot every time in your captured spawn point.
At the same time a spawn point is meant to be captured by enemy teams, so I don’t necessarily mind it. So long as there are multiple exits then it ought not to be bad. There is however the issue that if one team manages to capture all the spawn points, the enemy team will get dominated. I suppose this can be blamed on the team just being inferior. So while the new spawn system has its drawbacks, the importance of the tactitian is still vital to a good turnaround.
Then there is the new squad system, which by the way has a counter-intuitive invite system now. Everybody spawns with no squadmates (unless you create a party), and people who actually bother have to go through the process of getting taken out of the action to send PSN invites to people on his team. It’s slow, can't be done pre-game, and people don't bother with it. I personally invited all members of my team and we had a pretty sizable squad, which should offset the spawn system in Killzone 3 that slows down modes like S&D.
Two other things: In-game ribbons and “Special Abilities”.
In-game ribbons are different this time around. It seems that for achieving the requirements for a ribbon you actually get a bonus for that game you are in. For example, do the right thing to earn a "Faster reload" ribbon and you can actually reload faster for the remainder of the game. Consider it like perks you have to earn.
By any mid-game you should have silent footsteps, bullet damage, faster aim, better hip fire, etc.
I’m not sure how I feel about this system. I also don’t like the idea of extra bullet damage or the idea of having these sorts of advantages over others. Some ribbons like Silent footsteps seems like it has no real purpose, while others like extra bullet damage seem to overdo the already high damage you can do. Granted this is a unique take on it, but I am not exactly sure how beneficial they are.
And as for special abilities, they feel a little misplaced. Essentially they are a very small list of perks that you can spawn with, as opposed to the ones you earn in-game. Included are extra health, extra armor (I cant tell the difference between these two), extra ammo, two primary weapons, etc.
They feel a little tacked on and when you consider the in-game ribbons you really get this sense that by the end of a game some players will be intrinsically more powerful than others.
From experience I’m not sure if these are exactly that noticeable on the battlefield. However something like extra damage ribbons are something I’ll be looking out for.
It's worthy to point out that there is an evident choppiness to the gameplay. It's not lag (as tested against bot games), it's just that the framerate is a little choppy. Rest assured that this is because it's Alpha code as Killzone 2 was much smoother.
Brutal melee is the final big change, and while it's really cool to do, there are three concerns:
a) It's automatic, meaning you can't decide when to do the brutal melee. The issue here is that you could be wanting to get a quick melee and instead you could end up doing a flashy kill taking up valuable time, in which time you could easily get noticed and killed
b) Melees have a lunge/hit detection problem. Sometimes I wont be anywhere near making contact but I'll get a melee kill
c) It's one-hit kill. I'd much prefer if basic melees did damage while brutal melee did instant-kill. That way you'd get rewarded for doing a brutal melee instead of trying to just look cool.
And then there are the jetpacks. While incredibly fun, the jetpacks have a very limited fly-time. It's most like an attachable jump pad from what I've used. I wouldn't mind if the fly-time was extended. Maybe you can fly higher in mid-after after your initial thrusters deplete, but I haven't tried this and doubt this is possible. I will continue using them, perhaps I didn't fully grasp how to use them.
One final complaint: I hate the black and white draining when you lose health. It really is distracting, as worse as the “red jelly” in Modern Warfare 2. When you combine how fast your health can drop you essentially are even more disadvantaged to fight back because you become so disoriented by the blending in of the environment that you pretty much either run and fire like an idiot or accept that you will die. I feel that it should be removed.
In summary, Killzone 3 is far different from Killzone 2. Purists may be upset, and it’s evident that though it looks like Killzone, it doesn’t feel like the Killzone you may have adapted to. Some people criticize GG for caving in to COD fanboys, others praise the new changes, and yet others are bargaining for a more balanced compensation. I feel that while Guerilla Games had a few flaws with the controls in K2, they went a little too far out this time. While Guerilla Games may stand their ground with the new approach, there is nothing too wrong with the gameplay—it’s still fun—but don’t expect to be comfortable if you are a Killzone 2 veteran. You may either end up adapting to this new style or resenting Guerilla Games for feeling too similar to other shooters. Personally, I’m hoping Guerilla Games can make some significant adjustments
Onto the impressions:
This is purely a list of critical complaints. It doesn’t mean I don’t like the game or enjoy aspects to it, but I won’t mention them because I won’t be saying anything new that everybody else has already said.
I will not be mentioning graphical bugs, or anything that can be fixed with basic polish. This is, for the most part, about the core gameplay.
This is a first-impressions, I've only played for around 3-4 hours so far. The following is a combination of experience and what I've seen in videos.
This is a quick look, I haven’t prepared anything or proofread so forgive me if I say something difficult to understand.
So immediately it’s the controls you will notice, and a lot like K2’s controls this is going to be controversial. However this time, it’s going to be the K2 fans complaining, not the labeled “COD” fans.
And indeed it’s a stark contrast. While K2 was slow, sluggish, and heavy, K3 is light, fast, and floaty. It’s got a more “BC2” feel than a “COD” feel, but it’s definitely not unique. And while I was critical of the unresponsiveness of K2, I was more than satisfied with the post-release patch they did. Now the controls are even sharper, and the missing feeling here Is that “meaty”, heavy feel. And I actually miss it.
Part of this is due to recoil. When firing a gun you have that gritty feeling Killzone is known for—the M82 actually sounds more like a drummer drumming than the firecracker sound in Killzone 2, and putting bullets into enemies is just as satisfying with the gorgeous blood and hit detection animations. But while all this is fine, the actual satisfaction of killing enemies is diminished. It’s hard to explain, but to pin the tail, it’s really easy to get kills. The lack of recoil makes it easy to rack up lightning quick double and triple kills. And part of the fun of shooting in Killzone 2 was feeling that kick in your gun. In Killzone 3 it's gone. The floaty feeling and the lack of recoil make the feeling fall flat from Killzone 2.
Along with this is a lower base health making killing much reckless. The COD comparisons are imminent. And sadly K3 feels more like a BC2/COD hybrid in terms of gameplay than it does K2.
I honestly don’t mind the sharper controls. Killzone purists on the other hand are already up in arms about Killzone 3’s “lack of identity”
But if I were to complain about controls then I definitely will have to agree that recoil and damage need a buff.
The real issue here is the LMG. This is by far the most versatile gun. It’s pretty much a sniper at mid-long range and can mow down any enemy with ease. The lack of recoil is disturbing and it’s entirely possible to go full-auto and expect to get kills from good distances. Reckless behavior is essentially rewarded and this ought to be fixed. Expect to drop within a blink of an eye from more than snipers when you are in an open field.
In fact, headshots in general are undermined. Whilst in K2 body shots had you putting an entire clip into an enemy, body shots in K3 put an enemy down fairly fast. SMGs do a fair job as the standard gun. Low recoil compared with the fact that this can actually get decent kills at even long-mid range makes the SMG a weapon that is all too commonly used on the battlefield. It’s the “standard” weapon for all classes but it’s a little too strong for my liking.
Again, a good boost in health should solve this.
Then there is the sniper rifle. Once again a single registered shot, from what I’ve experienced, rewards you with a kill. And while this was fine in Killzone 2’s more control-challenging game, it’s way too overpowered in K3. The responsiveness of the controls makes it all too easy to stay at a distance and pick off players. Again, it’s a case of rewarding impatience and recklessness. One Hit Kills should go towards headshots, but I shouldn’t be rewarded a kill if I should at a limb (if my experiences were wrong please correct me about this conclusion).
I also fear that the sniper is a little too anti-teamwork this time around and while the spot ability contributed to the team in K2, the marksman in K3 really doesn’t mark anything or do anything for the team, save for Bodycount matches. This is really a matter of how the community uses the marksman. Hopefully the class is not treated as it was in Bad Company 2.
I’m still debating whether the removal of the spot ability from this class was a good idea. It makes sense to give it to the marksman class but at the same time the class already has a mega-advantage with the one-hit-kill sniper.
Speaking of classes, the poor tactitian has been dumbed down for the sake of gameplay sanity.
Killzone 2’s spawn grenading was a genuinely great concept marred by a ridiculously stupid community. And since it was evident that the community never learned how to use the damned thing, the spawn system has been completely changed. It’s a sad sacrifice that removes the tactical potential Killzone 2 offered the class, but the chaos it brought was the double edged sword of this class. The pros were outweighed by the cons.
But now there is yet another potential issue. While the new spawn system guarantees less chaos, it’s actually become too quiet. What you can experience in Warzone is a wave of contrasting pacing.
This is especially evident in Search and Destroy which has become impossible to win. It's a difficult mode by design that requires teamwork. Unfortunately the game is played in a disjointed manner (part of this due to the party system which I will explain later).
In K2 the solution was simple: throw spawn grenades and hope that your team outspammed the chaos against 31 other players in a room.
In K3 the removal of the spawn grenades scatters teammates across the map.
Since you spawn so far away it’s too easy for the enemy to pick off the lone troopers trying to plant the bombs. Partly to blame is the placement of objectives. The objectives are way too close to each other. What results is all members of the defending team hanging around the objective area, patrolling the bomb site with ease.
Compare this to Demolitions in Call of Duty where the advantage for the offense team comes out of the lack of defense. In K3, defense can be airtight and impossible to penetrate because of the spawn system.
Way too often cloaked snipers hide and wait the few players who attempt to plant the bomb. The rest of the team is either running towards the objective or doing something else.
The potential for spawn-camping is also evident. In one match, our team kept getting blasted by a spamming exo-skeleton who would spam rockets and shoot our exit. I also want to mention that you spawn exactly at the same spot every time in your captured spawn point.
At the same time a spawn point is meant to be captured by enemy teams, so I don’t necessarily mind it. So long as there are multiple exits then it ought not to be bad. There is however the issue that if one team manages to capture all the spawn points, the enemy team will get dominated. I suppose this can be blamed on the team just being inferior. So while the new spawn system has its drawbacks, the importance of the tactitian is still vital to a good turnaround.
Then there is the new squad system, which by the way has a counter-intuitive invite system now. Everybody spawns with no squadmates (unless you create a party), and people who actually bother have to go through the process of getting taken out of the action to send PSN invites to people on his team. It’s slow, can't be done pre-game, and people don't bother with it. I personally invited all members of my team and we had a pretty sizable squad, which should offset the spawn system in Killzone 3 that slows down modes like S&D.
Two other things: In-game ribbons and “Special Abilities”.
In-game ribbons are different this time around. It seems that for achieving the requirements for a ribbon you actually get a bonus for that game you are in. For example, do the right thing to earn a "Faster reload" ribbon and you can actually reload faster for the remainder of the game. Consider it like perks you have to earn.
By any mid-game you should have silent footsteps, bullet damage, faster aim, better hip fire, etc.
I’m not sure how I feel about this system. I also don’t like the idea of extra bullet damage or the idea of having these sorts of advantages over others. Some ribbons like Silent footsteps seems like it has no real purpose, while others like extra bullet damage seem to overdo the already high damage you can do. Granted this is a unique take on it, but I am not exactly sure how beneficial they are.
And as for special abilities, they feel a little misplaced. Essentially they are a very small list of perks that you can spawn with, as opposed to the ones you earn in-game. Included are extra health, extra armor (I cant tell the difference between these two), extra ammo, two primary weapons, etc.
They feel a little tacked on and when you consider the in-game ribbons you really get this sense that by the end of a game some players will be intrinsically more powerful than others.
From experience I’m not sure if these are exactly that noticeable on the battlefield. However something like extra damage ribbons are something I’ll be looking out for.
It's worthy to point out that there is an evident choppiness to the gameplay. It's not lag (as tested against bot games), it's just that the framerate is a little choppy. Rest assured that this is because it's Alpha code as Killzone 2 was much smoother.
Brutal melee is the final big change, and while it's really cool to do, there are three concerns:
a) It's automatic, meaning you can't decide when to do the brutal melee. The issue here is that you could be wanting to get a quick melee and instead you could end up doing a flashy kill taking up valuable time, in which time you could easily get noticed and killed
b) Melees have a lunge/hit detection problem. Sometimes I wont be anywhere near making contact but I'll get a melee kill
c) It's one-hit kill. I'd much prefer if basic melees did damage while brutal melee did instant-kill. That way you'd get rewarded for doing a brutal melee instead of trying to just look cool.
And then there are the jetpacks. While incredibly fun, the jetpacks have a very limited fly-time. It's most like an attachable jump pad from what I've used. I wouldn't mind if the fly-time was extended. Maybe you can fly higher in mid-after after your initial thrusters deplete, but I haven't tried this and doubt this is possible. I will continue using them, perhaps I didn't fully grasp how to use them.
One final complaint: I hate the black and white draining when you lose health. It really is distracting, as worse as the “red jelly” in Modern Warfare 2. When you combine how fast your health can drop you essentially are even more disadvantaged to fight back because you become so disoriented by the blending in of the environment that you pretty much either run and fire like an idiot or accept that you will die. I feel that it should be removed.
In summary, Killzone 3 is far different from Killzone 2. Purists may be upset, and it’s evident that though it looks like Killzone, it doesn’t feel like the Killzone you may have adapted to. Some people criticize GG for caving in to COD fanboys, others praise the new changes, and yet others are bargaining for a more balanced compensation. I feel that while Guerilla Games had a few flaws with the controls in K2, they went a little too far out this time. While Guerilla Games may stand their ground with the new approach, there is nothing too wrong with the gameplay—it’s still fun—but don’t expect to be comfortable if you are a Killzone 2 veteran. You may either end up adapting to this new style or resenting Guerilla Games for feeling too similar to other shooters. Personally, I’m hoping Guerilla Games can make some significant adjustments
Thứ Năm, 20 tháng 10, 2011
Slam Bolt Scrappers Interview with Eitan Glinert
I asked Eitan Glinert, Fire Hose Games' very own Fire Chief, a series of brain melting questions. Fueled by Cheerios and Everclear, Eitan survived to tell us why FHG work with SOE, what he thinks about game demos, what he dislikes about motion control - and even reveals two additional character names for the first time!
CS: Can you talk a little bit about the Fire Hose Games beginnings? Give us an origin story!
EG: We were just a bunch of normal nerds until we were bitten by a radioactive spider, exposed to gamma radiation, and had our parents brutally murdered in front of us. It was a pretty crazy day! At that point we developed superpowers and started making video games in a misguided effort to fight crime. That was back in 2008, and we've been going ever since! Beforehand I was a graduate student at MIT doing research on how to make video games more accessible, and before that I was making an educational video game that taught immunology to high school students. Fun stuff!
CS: Advice for anyone thinking of opening their own studio?
EG: Oh man, where to start? Here's a few pointers: have at least one person on the team with 3+ years experience making games commercially, have one person on the team dedicated to finding money, make friends with lots of game developers smarter than you and lean on them heavily for advice, and don't be afraid to ask others for help. Oh, and you should make a game too. That would be helpful.
CS: For those that haven’t read my super awesome preview from PAX Prime, can you talk a little bit about Slam Bolt Scrappers' premise and gameplay?
EG: Sure! SBS is a unique multiplayer mash up of building and brawling.
Either watch the video below, or read this:
Basically you fly around and get colored blocks by beating up these charming little baddies. Once you've got a few colored blocks you can build with them in your tower, with your goal being to build big squares of the same color. Build big squares causes weapons to grow on your tower, with bigger squares leading to bigger weapons. The weapons then fight along side you, targeting baddies, other players, and of course the enemy's tower. The towers fight, and the last tower standing wins! The game is VERY fast paced and hectic, as you're trying to quickly fight other players and baddies while simultaneously build up these giant towers of destruction. Luckily we've added a bunch of power ups to help you along the way. If you like multiplayer party, fighting, or building games you are really going to love this!
CS: And what was it like coming up with Slam Bolt Scrappers as a game, which ideas ended up on the “reject” pile?
EG: It was nuts. The game that players will actually get is the 5th (!!!) version of the game; versions 1-4 didn't make the cut. We spent a full year prototyping before coming up with this final design. Here's a partial list of some of the features and ideas that got the ax on the path to release:
- Growing plants on your tower
- Building with bizarrely shaped tangram blocks
- Electrocuting baddies with live power lines and batting them away with steel I-beams
- Plugging up holes on a giant dam about to collapse
- And punching T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics, by Ryan North. Yes, that was actually in our game once upon a time.
Don't worry though - the version of the game you see now is WAAAAY better than the older versions. Once the game is out we'll probably put up some screenshots or video from the old versions and you'll understand why it evolved into what it currently is, and why we're really happy with the final result.
CS: Why SOE, and what has working with SOE been like?
EG: Because they're awesome and they let us be indie. We're a small studio of nutcase devs with what we like to think of as personality quirks (as opposed to disorders). We're making a really innovative game with some new, never before seen gameplay, and we needed creative freedom to bring SBS to life. Not only did SOE stay out of our way creatively, they actively supported us at every step of the way. When the game grew really big and we needed help testing, SOE was there for us. When we needed to translate the game into a bunch of languages for Europe SOE stepped up to the plate and took care of all of it for us. These are things we would have really struggled to do on our own. So in short it's been great working with SOE; they really let our indie creativity flourish while giving us the support we needed to get the game onto PSN quickly.
CS: What makes the game a good fit for PSN, and vice versa?
EG: PSN is going to be a great home for SBS because of how much the channel pushes the limits on a regular basis. If you've got something creatively weird then PSN is the place to be. PSN users are always willing to explore exciting new games that don't fit into any genre checkbox nicely (i.e. Flower, anything PixelJunk). Oh, and we're gonna stick out like a sore thumb on PSN :) A 1 to 4 player party/brawling/building game with full fledged co-op campaign and competitive battle modes? Fuhgeddaboutit.
CS: What I saw at PAX last Fall is only a small slice of the game, and I recall a (very resourceful) giant robot piling snow on the board, and a Volcano stage with lava damage - can you talk about the different levels and environments - and how they affect gameplay?
EG: Ha! Yup, they're still in there, and we've spruced up them and their levels a bunch. Each level has its own feel, and many affect game play. In Volcano City you build your tower on platforms that are scales suspended above lava; build too much on one side, and it'll dip down into the molten rock, taking tons of damage. To add a nice twist to the level we've added intermittent volcano explosions - I'm guessing you can imagine what that means. We've got a bunch of great new levels that we haven't shown off yet too, like Neon City which features a turbocharger which can temporarily boost all your weapons and make them fire twice as fast. We'll be showing off more of these levels leading up to launch!
Of course, levels aren't the only source of variety in the game. The game can play very differently depending on what weapon types you have available. So far we've shown off purple lasers, red missiles, and blue shields. In the video you can also see green drills which do continuous damage until punched, and orange ping pong paddles which bounce attacks back at the attacker's tower. And of course there are other weapons besides these too, including my favorite weapon in the game. No, we haven't revealed it yet! Check back in and we'll show you more soon.
CS: Let’s talk about hats - oodles of hats.
EG: So we pretty much think Dino Run is the best game ever and we totally want to mimic them. Seriously though, what's the point of brawling if you can't have look good while punching your buddy in the face? The game features a ton of unlockable hats, all of which are tied to in game challenges. Want that Jolly Roger pirate hat? You'd best get to work stealing blocks from your friend's tower. All of the trophies in the game are tied to hats as well, so if you get a trophy for doing something awesome then you also get a hat in game. It's a lot of fun! My favorite hat right now is the Fire Chief hat, but of course I have to say that.
CS: Can you talk about “Beverage Mode” and accessible gaming? (our N4G forum goers are familiar with AskACapper)
EG: Beverage mode is a way that you can play our game with only one hand, allowing you to multitask and... have a drink! Or eat a sandwich! Or, if you're sufficiently hardcore, dual wield controllers and play two characters at once. Even I have trouble with that. Our game also fully supports controller remapping, so you can change around the control scheme however you'd like and then save it for when you come back later.
Beverage mode is an offshoot from my graduate work at MIT where I did research on how to make video games with highly usable and accessible interfaces (what a mouthful!) If you ever have trouble getting to sleep you're welcome to pass out while trying to read my thesis on the subject ( http://www.firehosegames.co... ). In general I'm a strong proponent of making games as accessible as possible without breaking the gameplay, which is what Chuck (AskACapper) is all about. When we realized that we could dial down the number of buttons needed to play the game to one hand, we figured we had to make beverage mode.
CS: There seems to be a growing interest in co-op games (vs just online mutliplayer competitive titles), in what ways did that inform your game’s co-op mode?
EG: I love co-op games. I won't even play Rock Band without other people. They're just always more fun than playing by yourself, even if it means you lose more often or have more trouble getting through certain levels (New Super Mario Bros Wii, I'm looking at you). We always knew the game would have a 1-4 player co-op mode right from the start, and that affected a lot of our design decisions. Every level is designed to scale in difficulty with the number of players. All of the bosses have variable attack styles based on the number of players. Ideally we did the co-op part so well that you won't notice much a difference between playing on your own and playing with your friends.
CS: You’re not planning an online mode, which is a bold choice in these - often frightening - online multiplayer times, can you talk a little about that decision?
EG: I dunno, I don't think it's that bold of a choice. I've played Smash Bros a million times with people. You know how many times I've played Brawl online? Never. I know it's not going to win me many fans to say this, but I personally think that local multiplayer is ALWAYS more fun than online multiplayer. There's no lag, there's no inappropriate 13 year old cursing more than a sailor, and it's so much easier to laugh. Slam Bolt Scrappers isn't designed to be a hyper competitive game for people to play ranked matches against random strangers online. It's designed to be a really fun party game that you play with your friends while yelling at each other and the TV in the same room. That's how you have the most fun, and that's why we decided not to bother with online multiplayer.
CS: For those players without anyone to play co-op with, will you come to their house and play with them?
EG: I actually ship with the game. BE WARNED.
CS: What do you think of motion control?
EG: Ha! I think I have a chapter in my thesis written on this :) Motion controls make a lot of sense if it is appropriate for the game. Dance Central uses motion controls in a really neat and intuitive way, and the game is awesome as a result. Same thing for Bit.Trip Beat. Unfortunately a lot of games just dump it in for no reason or, even worse, try to use it as a substitute in a situation where a button press would do perfectly well (waggle controls, anyone?) In those cases I really dislike motion controls and wish developers wouldn't try to be cute.
CS: Does it have a place in your development?
EG: If it makes sense for one of our games absolutely. We've actually already worked on one motion controlled game and we might do it again if we have a good, appropriate idea. Between the Move, Kinect, NGP, and Wii I feel like we'll have plenty of opportunities.
CS: Power-ups are a big part of the game - and I recall from PAX you're partial to the dastardly Thief power-up - what are the rest of Fire Hose Games team’s favorite power-ups?
EG: The thief power up is heroic and awesome :) It does just what you'd think, letting you steal a weapon from the other team's tower. One guy here is really, really good with the comet power up, which lets you dash around the screen madly like a comet, destroying everything in your path. Another developer is partial to the monster, which in addition to turning you big and green makes you super powerful and lets you directly punch the other person's tower. So yeah, power ups play a HUGE role in our game.
CS: You recently had players help choose the names for two characters in the game, Zephyr, the angel, and Joule, the masked character. What about the other character names - like the two chosen by the Child’s Play auction winners?
EG: Oh man! GOOD MEMORY. We were gonna post them on our website soon, but you know what? If anyone has read this far in the interview they deserve the scoop. So here they are, the naming debut of two more characters: The girl is Pen Yen, and the demon is J.S. Bull. Both names have great stories behind them, we're really happy with the result.
CS: Will there be a demo?
EG: Demos are a developers way of saying "My game is quality, I stand by it. If you don't like my game, if you don't like my demo, don't give me your money." So what I'm saying is YES, our game will absolutely have a demo. And it'll rock your face off. We know that if people just play the game for a little bit they'll fall in love and want to pick up the full title.
CS: Provided infinite time and money, what sort of game would you want to make next?
EG: Great question. I want to go in some weird directions with my games in the future - I'd love to make a game that REALLY uses the Move + Eye or Kinect in a deep and meaningful way, something that hardcore gamers would like to play. That sort of thing is exactly what we know how to do, but alas when you're a small indie studio it's tough to line up those kinds of projects. Maybe soon we'll be able to do it!
CS: And finally, for anyone not paying attention in class, release date and price:
EG: The game is dropping in March, don't worry you won't have to wait long! Pricing we're not sure about yet, but it'll be reasonable.
CS: Can you talk a little bit about the Fire Hose Games beginnings? Give us an origin story!
EG: We were just a bunch of normal nerds until we were bitten by a radioactive spider, exposed to gamma radiation, and had our parents brutally murdered in front of us. It was a pretty crazy day! At that point we developed superpowers and started making video games in a misguided effort to fight crime. That was back in 2008, and we've been going ever since! Beforehand I was a graduate student at MIT doing research on how to make video games more accessible, and before that I was making an educational video game that taught immunology to high school students. Fun stuff!
CS: Advice for anyone thinking of opening their own studio?
EG: Oh man, where to start? Here's a few pointers: have at least one person on the team with 3+ years experience making games commercially, have one person on the team dedicated to finding money, make friends with lots of game developers smarter than you and lean on them heavily for advice, and don't be afraid to ask others for help. Oh, and you should make a game too. That would be helpful.
CS: For those that haven’t read my super awesome preview from PAX Prime, can you talk a little bit about Slam Bolt Scrappers' premise and gameplay?
EG: Sure! SBS is a unique multiplayer mash up of building and brawling.
Either watch the video below, or read this:
Basically you fly around and get colored blocks by beating up these charming little baddies. Once you've got a few colored blocks you can build with them in your tower, with your goal being to build big squares of the same color. Build big squares causes weapons to grow on your tower, with bigger squares leading to bigger weapons. The weapons then fight along side you, targeting baddies, other players, and of course the enemy's tower. The towers fight, and the last tower standing wins! The game is VERY fast paced and hectic, as you're trying to quickly fight other players and baddies while simultaneously build up these giant towers of destruction. Luckily we've added a bunch of power ups to help you along the way. If you like multiplayer party, fighting, or building games you are really going to love this!
CS: And what was it like coming up with Slam Bolt Scrappers as a game, which ideas ended up on the “reject” pile?
EG: It was nuts. The game that players will actually get is the 5th (!!!) version of the game; versions 1-4 didn't make the cut. We spent a full year prototyping before coming up with this final design. Here's a partial list of some of the features and ideas that got the ax on the path to release:
- Growing plants on your tower
- Building with bizarrely shaped tangram blocks
- Electrocuting baddies with live power lines and batting them away with steel I-beams
- Plugging up holes on a giant dam about to collapse
- And punching T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics, by Ryan North. Yes, that was actually in our game once upon a time.
Don't worry though - the version of the game you see now is WAAAAY better than the older versions. Once the game is out we'll probably put up some screenshots or video from the old versions and you'll understand why it evolved into what it currently is, and why we're really happy with the final result.
CS: Why SOE, and what has working with SOE been like?
EG: Because they're awesome and they let us be indie. We're a small studio of nutcase devs with what we like to think of as personality quirks (as opposed to disorders). We're making a really innovative game with some new, never before seen gameplay, and we needed creative freedom to bring SBS to life. Not only did SOE stay out of our way creatively, they actively supported us at every step of the way. When the game grew really big and we needed help testing, SOE was there for us. When we needed to translate the game into a bunch of languages for Europe SOE stepped up to the plate and took care of all of it for us. These are things we would have really struggled to do on our own. So in short it's been great working with SOE; they really let our indie creativity flourish while giving us the support we needed to get the game onto PSN quickly.
CS: What makes the game a good fit for PSN, and vice versa?
EG: PSN is going to be a great home for SBS because of how much the channel pushes the limits on a regular basis. If you've got something creatively weird then PSN is the place to be. PSN users are always willing to explore exciting new games that don't fit into any genre checkbox nicely (i.e. Flower, anything PixelJunk). Oh, and we're gonna stick out like a sore thumb on PSN :) A 1 to 4 player party/brawling/building game with full fledged co-op campaign and competitive battle modes? Fuhgeddaboutit.
CS: What I saw at PAX last Fall is only a small slice of the game, and I recall a (very resourceful) giant robot piling snow on the board, and a Volcano stage with lava damage - can you talk about the different levels and environments - and how they affect gameplay?
EG: Ha! Yup, they're still in there, and we've spruced up them and their levels a bunch. Each level has its own feel, and many affect game play. In Volcano City you build your tower on platforms that are scales suspended above lava; build too much on one side, and it'll dip down into the molten rock, taking tons of damage. To add a nice twist to the level we've added intermittent volcano explosions - I'm guessing you can imagine what that means. We've got a bunch of great new levels that we haven't shown off yet too, like Neon City which features a turbocharger which can temporarily boost all your weapons and make them fire twice as fast. We'll be showing off more of these levels leading up to launch!
Of course, levels aren't the only source of variety in the game. The game can play very differently depending on what weapon types you have available. So far we've shown off purple lasers, red missiles, and blue shields. In the video you can also see green drills which do continuous damage until punched, and orange ping pong paddles which bounce attacks back at the attacker's tower. And of course there are other weapons besides these too, including my favorite weapon in the game. No, we haven't revealed it yet! Check back in and we'll show you more soon.
CS: Let’s talk about hats - oodles of hats.
EG: So we pretty much think Dino Run is the best game ever and we totally want to mimic them. Seriously though, what's the point of brawling if you can't have look good while punching your buddy in the face? The game features a ton of unlockable hats, all of which are tied to in game challenges. Want that Jolly Roger pirate hat? You'd best get to work stealing blocks from your friend's tower. All of the trophies in the game are tied to hats as well, so if you get a trophy for doing something awesome then you also get a hat in game. It's a lot of fun! My favorite hat right now is the Fire Chief hat, but of course I have to say that.
CS: Can you talk about “Beverage Mode” and accessible gaming? (our N4G forum goers are familiar with AskACapper)
EG: Beverage mode is a way that you can play our game with only one hand, allowing you to multitask and... have a drink! Or eat a sandwich! Or, if you're sufficiently hardcore, dual wield controllers and play two characters at once. Even I have trouble with that. Our game also fully supports controller remapping, so you can change around the control scheme however you'd like and then save it for when you come back later.
Beverage mode is an offshoot from my graduate work at MIT where I did research on how to make video games with highly usable and accessible interfaces (what a mouthful!) If you ever have trouble getting to sleep you're welcome to pass out while trying to read my thesis on the subject ( http://www.firehosegames.co... ). In general I'm a strong proponent of making games as accessible as possible without breaking the gameplay, which is what Chuck (AskACapper) is all about. When we realized that we could dial down the number of buttons needed to play the game to one hand, we figured we had to make beverage mode.
CS: There seems to be a growing interest in co-op games (vs just online mutliplayer competitive titles), in what ways did that inform your game’s co-op mode?
EG: I love co-op games. I won't even play Rock Band without other people. They're just always more fun than playing by yourself, even if it means you lose more often or have more trouble getting through certain levels (New Super Mario Bros Wii, I'm looking at you). We always knew the game would have a 1-4 player co-op mode right from the start, and that affected a lot of our design decisions. Every level is designed to scale in difficulty with the number of players. All of the bosses have variable attack styles based on the number of players. Ideally we did the co-op part so well that you won't notice much a difference between playing on your own and playing with your friends.
CS: You’re not planning an online mode, which is a bold choice in these - often frightening - online multiplayer times, can you talk a little about that decision?
EG: I dunno, I don't think it's that bold of a choice. I've played Smash Bros a million times with people. You know how many times I've played Brawl online? Never. I know it's not going to win me many fans to say this, but I personally think that local multiplayer is ALWAYS more fun than online multiplayer. There's no lag, there's no inappropriate 13 year old cursing more than a sailor, and it's so much easier to laugh. Slam Bolt Scrappers isn't designed to be a hyper competitive game for people to play ranked matches against random strangers online. It's designed to be a really fun party game that you play with your friends while yelling at each other and the TV in the same room. That's how you have the most fun, and that's why we decided not to bother with online multiplayer.
CS: For those players without anyone to play co-op with, will you come to their house and play with them?
EG: I actually ship with the game. BE WARNED.
CS: What do you think of motion control?
EG: Ha! I think I have a chapter in my thesis written on this :) Motion controls make a lot of sense if it is appropriate for the game. Dance Central uses motion controls in a really neat and intuitive way, and the game is awesome as a result. Same thing for Bit.Trip Beat. Unfortunately a lot of games just dump it in for no reason or, even worse, try to use it as a substitute in a situation where a button press would do perfectly well (waggle controls, anyone?) In those cases I really dislike motion controls and wish developers wouldn't try to be cute.
CS: Does it have a place in your development?
EG: If it makes sense for one of our games absolutely. We've actually already worked on one motion controlled game and we might do it again if we have a good, appropriate idea. Between the Move, Kinect, NGP, and Wii I feel like we'll have plenty of opportunities.
CS: Power-ups are a big part of the game - and I recall from PAX you're partial to the dastardly Thief power-up - what are the rest of Fire Hose Games team’s favorite power-ups?
EG: The thief power up is heroic and awesome :) It does just what you'd think, letting you steal a weapon from the other team's tower. One guy here is really, really good with the comet power up, which lets you dash around the screen madly like a comet, destroying everything in your path. Another developer is partial to the monster, which in addition to turning you big and green makes you super powerful and lets you directly punch the other person's tower. So yeah, power ups play a HUGE role in our game.
CS: You recently had players help choose the names for two characters in the game, Zephyr, the angel, and Joule, the masked character. What about the other character names - like the two chosen by the Child’s Play auction winners?
EG: Oh man! GOOD MEMORY. We were gonna post them on our website soon, but you know what? If anyone has read this far in the interview they deserve the scoop. So here they are, the naming debut of two more characters: The girl is Pen Yen, and the demon is J.S. Bull. Both names have great stories behind them, we're really happy with the result.
CS: Will there be a demo?
EG: Demos are a developers way of saying "My game is quality, I stand by it. If you don't like my game, if you don't like my demo, don't give me your money." So what I'm saying is YES, our game will absolutely have a demo. And it'll rock your face off. We know that if people just play the game for a little bit they'll fall in love and want to pick up the full title.
CS: Provided infinite time and money, what sort of game would you want to make next?
EG: Great question. I want to go in some weird directions with my games in the future - I'd love to make a game that REALLY uses the Move + Eye or Kinect in a deep and meaningful way, something that hardcore gamers would like to play. That sort of thing is exactly what we know how to do, but alas when you're a small indie studio it's tough to line up those kinds of projects. Maybe soon we'll be able to do it!
CS: And finally, for anyone not paying attention in class, release date and price:
EG: The game is dropping in March, don't worry you won't have to wait long! Pricing we're not sure about yet, but it'll be reasonable.
Killzone 3 Commentary PS3 Demo Playthrough
This is my playthrough of the Killzone 3 Demo now available on PSN. My commentary is not the best but its a second attempt. In any case this game is really good but not without its issue's. My 2 biggest gripes with this game is it really feels like a shooter on rails. more so then the first one & they have toned down Rico too much. He went from rated M language to PG. during the whole demo he cursed twice. Sh*t and B*&ch.. that was it.. i actually enjoyed the things he said in the original. Other then that it's a very good game.
Thứ Tư, 21 tháng 9, 2011
Bungie's first game since Halo is a freemium pirate combat iPad game?
Why yes, and it's hitting the App Store globally (in phases) as of this writing, Pocket Gamer reports. It was recently revealed that "Crimson," the mysterious first project by Halo creator Bungie's new label, Bungie Aerospace, is a free-to-play steampunk pirate ship combat game for the iPad. Developed by Harebrained Schemes and published by Bungie, this is far of a cry as it gets from the legendary developer's previous work.
Officially titled "Crimson: Steam Pirates," the game throws players into an alternate Civil War era in which steam technology has taken off and powers technologically-advanced pirate ships. You're Captain Thomas Blood as he conquers the Caribbean Sea in turn-based battles of strategy and smart move-making. Of course, thanks to Bungie, players will be able to track their Crimson stats and progress on Bungie.net (and hopefully even in the Bungie iOS app).
Bungie is far from the first developer to enter the free-to-play mobile or social games space. Valve is already knee-deep in freemium goodness, thanks to multiple updates to its Steam game store and network like free-to-play game offerings. Atari recently reiterated its focus on social and mobile games, as did a number of big time game designers like John Romero, Will Wright and Richard Garriott, to name a few.
Crimson Steam Pirates iPad
While the game is available for free, additional content is available for an in-game download that costs $1.99. That does sound pricey, but based on the fact it's Chapter 2 in the storyline, "Tales of Captain Blood," this sounds like a collection of new missions. Crimson: Steam Pirates is exclusive to iPad at the moment, and should hit western App Stores later today.
[Image Credit: Pocket Gamer]
Are you surprised that the creator of one the biggest retail games ever has done a near complete 180 to freemium games? What do you think this means for both Bungie and the existing free-to-play games scene? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Officially titled "Crimson: Steam Pirates," the game throws players into an alternate Civil War era in which steam technology has taken off and powers technologically-advanced pirate ships. You're Captain Thomas Blood as he conquers the Caribbean Sea in turn-based battles of strategy and smart move-making. Of course, thanks to Bungie, players will be able to track their Crimson stats and progress on Bungie.net (and hopefully even in the Bungie iOS app).
Bungie is far from the first developer to enter the free-to-play mobile or social games space. Valve is already knee-deep in freemium goodness, thanks to multiple updates to its Steam game store and network like free-to-play game offerings. Atari recently reiterated its focus on social and mobile games, as did a number of big time game designers like John Romero, Will Wright and Richard Garriott, to name a few.
Crimson Steam Pirates iPad
While the game is available for free, additional content is available for an in-game download that costs $1.99. That does sound pricey, but based on the fact it's Chapter 2 in the storyline, "Tales of Captain Blood," this sounds like a collection of new missions. Crimson: Steam Pirates is exclusive to iPad at the moment, and should hit western App Stores later today.
[Image Credit: Pocket Gamer]
Are you surprised that the creator of one the biggest retail games ever has done a near complete 180 to freemium games? What do you think this means for both Bungie and the existing free-to-play games scene? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Google+ Games hit the iPad, thanks to iSwifter update
If you're willing to pay to play a free Facebook game on your iPad, then enjoy the ability to pay to play free Google+ Games, too. VentureBeat reports that iSwifter, the nifty iPad app that allows users to play Flash-based Facebook games on the device, just opened itself up to the growing stable of games on Google+ in update 4.1.
Available for free in the App Store (though, the app itself charges a subscription fee), the update essentially allows players to access the Google+ games in a mock browser that streams the information from the Flash-based games. This is, of course, because iOS devices are notorious for their lack of Flash support.
"The iSwifter platform's "instant-on" streaming capability makes it pretty quick and easy to add new games," iSwifter founder Rajat Ali told VentureBeat. And we're gonna go off on a limb and say that Ali's words mean this is just the beginning for iSwifter.
Crime City in iSwifter for iPad
Well, until Project Spartan, the rumored not-so-secret effort to bring a full-featured, game and app-rich Facebook to mobile browsers, releases. But considering the app has garnered over 500,000 paying players since its release, we're sure iSwifter has some tricks up its sleeves to maintain relevant as the industry shifts.
Click here to download iSwifter for iPad Now >
[Image Credit: Apple]
Would you ever pay a fee in order to play your favorite Facebook or Google+ Games on the go? Do you think iSwifter will survive once projects like Project Spartan goes public? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Available for free in the App Store (though, the app itself charges a subscription fee), the update essentially allows players to access the Google+ games in a mock browser that streams the information from the Flash-based games. This is, of course, because iOS devices are notorious for their lack of Flash support.
"The iSwifter platform's "instant-on" streaming capability makes it pretty quick and easy to add new games," iSwifter founder Rajat Ali told VentureBeat. And we're gonna go off on a limb and say that Ali's words mean this is just the beginning for iSwifter.
Crime City in iSwifter for iPad
Well, until Project Spartan, the rumored not-so-secret effort to bring a full-featured, game and app-rich Facebook to mobile browsers, releases. But considering the app has garnered over 500,000 paying players since its release, we're sure iSwifter has some tricks up its sleeves to maintain relevant as the industry shifts.
Click here to download iSwifter for iPad Now >
[Image Credit: Apple]
Would you ever pay a fee in order to play your favorite Facebook or Google+ Games on the go? Do you think iSwifter will survive once projects like Project Spartan goes public? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
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