A Swift Kick in the Pants

Woo! I finally get to chime in again. My apologies for the lack of attention. This marks the end of the second week now that I've been swamped with preparations for a nice work trip to Jacksonville this past weekend... I made it out intact, but have one mean sinus infection to show for it. It was a pretty nice trip except for the work obligations and the sinusitis, but I'm back now, rejuvenated, and plan to get back on track quickly.

On my trip I read an article in this month's EGM that my girlfriend got me, the subject of which was "The Future of Videogames". While most of it covered areas such as thought-sensing, photo-realistic graphics, and full-immersion technology, one of the things that was mentioned as being prime future territory was user-created content. Also mentioned was that a new genre, completely unpredictable at this point, would be the next big thing, of course, but what caught my eye was the foresight that one of the next big things would be a blending of old genres in ways that has never been seen. This fact, combined with the user-created angle (XNA was noted in the article) really piqued my interest, because this game that I'm intent on making is just that... a blending of old and current genres put together in new ways. In doing so, you can take the best aspects that each genre has - customization, connection, exploration, control, competition, accomplishment, etc. - and mold them into a single overwhelming whole.

Here's a brief run-down of what genres I've enjoyed and what aspects I think would compliment a larger design.
PLATFORMING - The genre that started it all... for me anyways. While the original Mario really perfected it and took it to new levels, it was probably Jumpman that did it for me. That was an intense experience back in the day. That game didn't really deal much in exploration, but in maneuverability. Exploration and maneuvering is what must be taken, honed, and incorporated, because the platforming integrates well with 2D, and 2D must be used for...
FIGHTING - The genre that I always enjoyed, but never really delved into until recently has a lot to offer: intensity and control. But developers have tried to expand on the formula mostly unsuccessfully. Soul Calibur 3 came out and I was itching to get at the character development aspects. They were cool, sure, but the focus on that did little for the rest of the game... in fact it seemed that the important factors, the gameplay, and all the characters we knew and loved, got less attention because of the increased focus on customization. It's a shame, but I can see how it can be a very difficult thing to do. Taking advantage of fighting control, the exploration and maneuverability of platforming, you can find your customization and connection with your character in...
RPG - The genre that once I encountered it, I never looked back. As I said before this really started with Pool of Radience on C64, but has expanded to pretty much every RPG on Super Nintendo, and countless others on PSX, PS2, PC, and everything else since. A community-based environment where you can create your own character from scratch, develop him or her, control them in many different ways (to find your style and perfect your style), maneuver them (in varying and expanding ways, to explore more and more), and break out of the mold of being cornered into a cookie-cutter RPG experience... that's where the real enjoyment can be... where the real enjoyment will be.

I apologize for the lack of coherence, I am still medicated... didn't make it into work today cause my head is still on fire. But hopefully I've provided enough of a glance to pique the curiosity once again. I suppose writing from home could be a good thing afterall though, cause now I can post some content from what I've worked on. Here's a picture of Happy Gandhi, as I called him, the little test sprite I'm using as a player model temporarily. Enjoy!

Happy, huh?

The Content

When it comes to any game, the content really says a lot about it. It's the content that determines a lot of the style of the game - not how cool it is, but how it feels, its mood. There are no set rules to follow, and really the only limitation to content is the limit of imagination and the ability to convey it. How many games can you think of that are cool, that are weird, that are scary? I was playing Metal Slug Anthology last night and loving (almost) every minute (at 2:30 AM the 18,523rd wave of helicopters or mummies is like Chinese water torture). Those games combined crazy wicked relentless violence with very amusing and humorous comedy to retain an action-packed cartoony style. Each aspect was planned very carefully, very intentionally. In every game design, content planning has to be a big chunk of the puzzle, after all it's what you and your players will be immersed in every time you step into that world...

For this game there are a bevy of things I would like to see... little nuances that would set it apart from other content while giving it a little niche of mood and feel of its own. Here's a list of different aspects that should lend to that goal...

• Somewhat ambiguous factional lines. It's too easy in some games (where enemies are denoted by giant red words over their head) to know who you need to be on the look out for or not. With racial factions, class factions, social factions, and possibly religious or financial factions, there would be no telling how far you can trust. Friends are made when you're backed into a corner with no way out, and enemies are made when people stop hiding in the gray areas. That's the kind of drama games need, not politics.
• Aggressive aggro. In most games aggressive enemies will run at you with sword/guns a-blazing as soon as you approach within a certain range, or walk through a certain doorway, but what's the fun in that? There aren't enough games out there where the hunter (player) becomes the hunted. Sure, PvP games lend to that a lot, but I want giant daunting scary predators that can and will sneak up on you and prey upon you. I want areas of notoriety where few survive long enough to know what's beyond the first horizon because the super diabolical monster is out on a player-hunt today.
• Rare phenomena. I'm big on random. I'm bigger on extremely random. I want experiences of various rareness to permeate this game. Natural disasters are a good example. So what would you do if you were running through the same old ho-hum field you've been through a hundred or a thousand times but for some reason today a massive black tornado has sprouted up, and if you don't get away fast enough you will be sucked up and thrown to your death? Run? But what if, by chance, this rare coincidence happened to unearth some long hidden treasure from within a smashed tree? Only one person is going to be lucky enough to find out, and that's going to make that person's day.
• Changing landscape... everywhere. For some reason the chapter Scouring of the Shire is probably my favorite in the LotR series... just because of the change, the unfamiliarity, and the over coming of the adversities.
  
• Scope and how it's dealt with. Sure, games these days are making you feel dwarfed more often than not. But that's a good thing. However, I dislike feeling like I'm going to win because I've stabbed my giant foe 9 thousand times in his big toe or his heel.

I guess I'll leave it at that cause it's getting long again. I could go on, but well, no. :P I suppose at this point I have enough ground work to have conveyed the gist enough and I can start posting on progress. Like I said it may be slow at times, but WoW wasn't built in a day...

The Mechanics

Ahh yes, the Mechanics. No, I'm not talking about the Megadeth song sounding eerily familiar for some reason... *ponder*... but rather the mechanics of this fancy game and/or demo I've been ranting about the last couple of days.

You can make the most visually unappealing game ever, but if the game mechanics are quality enough you can never stop playing it. Why does this game where you move a 6-pixel frog through traffic still sell over Xbox Live Arcade in 2007? It's fun. The mechanics are very suiting for the game and it breeds enjoyment.

One of my favorite games of my childhood, the one responsible for countless lapses into imaginary adventure land, was Pool of Radiance for Commodore 64. Aww yeah! With 5 minute load times every 5 minutes that game was a trial in patience - possibly the sole reason I'm such a patient person today (Thank you SSI!). But I have played through many times through out the years and if I were to hook up the C64 that I still have this afternoon it would be the first disk that I would grab. Holy moly, in a game as out-to-get-ya as that, it was a battle of mechanics manipulation around every corner and you can't help but love every minute. Every game should have incredible mechanics, but sadly so few actually shine in that department. This will not be the case here...

One thing I anticipate is a very robust combat engine. I developed a combat system from scratch on a MUSH that I developed with friends several years back and it was incredible. 20+ bare-handed fighting techniques each unique, 20+ sword techniques each unique, and 10+ polearm fighting techniques each unique. The system allowed for a million unique configurations and kept it simple enough that anyone could use it, but with enough strategy that no two fights were the same. Good stuff, especially for a game that only saw 10 - 20 players. Hehe. My goal is to hone the combat system of this game to such levels or beyond while maintaining flexibility that it doesn't dominate the game as a whole.

Ehh... I was planning on pasting the game summary I'd written up a year ago into here to explain it all. It is a good explanation, but it's... verbose. Nasty habit of mine... So I will just leave a brief list of functionality I expect instead.

• 2D side-scrolling platform MMORPG (demo will probably just be a dungeon crawler brawler)
• Combat featuring "Street Fighter" style move sets, grappling, and timing-based attacks
• 8 - 10 races and 12 unique classes
• A great deal of PvP player-driven conflict
• Dynamic areas of control
• Group system where leverage has a great effect on the outcome of battle
  
• Ideally, an intelligent tutorial system that can ease anyone in... yes, even your grandma
• 17 types of weapons so far
• Real-time archery/throwing system... none of that point, click, and snore junk!
• Lighting will play a big role in exploration and there will be many scary dark places

The Ideal

Hooray for snow in April! You know that 72 degree day we had.. yesterday.. really made snow look like a thing of the past. Little did we know. Anyways, today I will talk about the ideal for the game. Why I want to make the game I want to make. What the goals are. In short, I just want a game that's fun as all hell to play, and a playground that will allow you to get in crazy intense situations and out again if you're lucky.

The game I intend to make doesn't have a name yet. Actually, it doesn't even have a game yet. I'm going to begin by creating a "demo" for lack of a better word. A playground to test limitations and see how far I can flex the creative and technical muscle. I'm calling it Confined so far (intending for it to be small and limited), but I think I may change it to Mastery and this is why: I'm a big proponent of games featuring two things - intensity and skill. Admittedly many games where time spent > skill are among my all-time favorites (FF3, Ogre Battle, and Chrono Trigger among dozens of others), but the games where skill > time really get the heart racing. Skill depends on quick-thinking and reflex, and those two aspects spawn intensity. Intense games are the greatest game in many peoples opinions, as they're capable of spawning the greatest moments... those "holy crap" and "wow" moments. Those tend to stick with you in more than just a deep nostalgic sense. For example, a few games I hold in high esteem due to the intense factor are Halo, Soul Calibur (1 or 2. 3 is drivel), and Midnight Club II... I don't really know why that last one, but something about repeatedly avoiding crashing into 8,000 vehicles within a hair's-width really got me going.

Since I could go on and on and on about the content and systems of the game, I will avoid that for now. That's something to tackle tomorrow. I have several dozen pages of stuff typed out. The initial demo of the game will only contain a fraction of all that, but will touch upon most of the meat of the full features enough so that I can play it thoroughly and determine if they all gel well in one cohesive package. Maybe one day, with a full completed demo, I can present it to some financiers for the backing to create the full beast... until then I have to think small. Unfortunately, small for me is still pretty ambitiously massive.

Formalities... yay!

Heyas! My name is Lee and this here is my blog. I have done the unspeakable... and you're looking at it. I swore I would never do such a thing, but here I am - I blame a lack of sleep. Bleh.

I went to school for programming and got a fancy degree that has gotten me no where incredibly fancy. I chose it on a whim when confronted with the ultimate choice of WHAT TO DO WITH JOOR LIFE! Man, what a crock... While I enjoy it (I have the ability to be content no matter the situation) I often think I would be better served as a helicopter pilot, a cartoonist, or a culinary genius.

Anyways... this here blog is going to serve a purpose. It will fuel my motivation to code and design. In short, I have made a couple sweet, but fruitless attempts now at game design driven by a life-long passion for the art. Each time has fizzled out in a blaze of not-so-glorious glory. Part of the problem may be the fact that my game idea(s) are... well... they've been described as ambitious. ...And that they are. I'm a pretty modest person, but I am confident that if I can get it together I could and would make one of the most enjoyable games to play around. But that's a sentiment shared by about 8 million people, I know. Anyways, my ideas are better... :D I'm working using XNA and C# Express Edition. I dig it alot. Moreso than my past game dev environments. I'll go into that later...

I will be posting fairly frequently to keep the ball rolling. The posts will likely contain stuff related to the game as I make it. It will likely start out dull because despite working on it pretty regularly the past couple of weeks I have little to show for it. I keep finding myself working on the behind-the-scenes aspects - the stuff that will ultimately make the work 10x easier but for now is tedious and without reward - so I will only have theory and updates to show at first, but at least it's something. At least it may provide some insight into the birth of something nice. With this backing me I will keep at the tasks at hand and progress, though I'll tell ya right now it might be kind of slow going... Having a full time job, full time girl friend, house-shopping, and battling a mean WoW addiction (Liege on Emerald Dream, look me up!)

Until next time...
Cheers!