Thursday, December 6, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Future of Ratchet & Clank
Ratchet & Clank Future Developer Diary #6+ Posted by Greg Phillips // Producer, SCEA
To finish off our developer diary series on Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, we have this guy named Ted Price, whom you may have heard of once or twice before :). He’s the founder and CEO of Insomniac Games and was the creative director on Resistance: Fall of Man. For RCF, Ted took a back seat as Brian Allgier (creative director) and John Fiorito (project manager) helmed the good ship Ratchet & Clank. Only to watch it become the good pirate ship Ratchet & Clank.
But I digress, so without further adieu, Ted’s dev diary on Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction!
To finish off our developer diary series on Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, we have this guy named Ted Price, whom you may have heard of once or twice before :). He’s the founder and CEO of Insomniac Games and was the creative director on Resistance: Fall of Man. For RCF, Ted took a back seat as Brian Allgier (creative director) and John Fiorito (project manager) helmed the good ship Ratchet & Clank. Only to watch it become the good pirate ship Ratchet & Clank.
But I digress, so without further adieu, Ted’s dev diary on Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction!
Monster Madness
Monster Madness+ Posted by Dylan Cuthbert // President and Executive Producer, Q-Games Ltd.
Hi everyone, the response to my blog entry in August was great, and I finally have some spare time. So here’s an entry about our latest PixelJunk title: PixelJunk Monsters!
Everyone here at Q-Games loves real-time strategy games, from Warcraft through to Command & Conquer and Company Of Heroes, etc., but the Japanese public simply don’t buy that genre yet. So one thing I really wanted to do with Monsters is take the simple RTS concept of building and researching and having base defenses (a concept that has been used in Warcraft tower-defense mods and more recently in its Flash incarnations) and wrap it all in a completely different style and mode of gameplay that the Japanese public (and hopefully the West too, of course!) would really get into.
RTS’s are historically controlled by a roving cursor (either a mouse, or an analogue controller) and right from the start I decided to take that away and replace it with a cute character you control. You run around as this little defender-of-the-forests type chap, collecting money and building defensive towers along the paths to your base. You can only build towers where we have placed trees in the stages, which gave us enormous control over the design and balancing of each map. As a result we have over 20 very different stages, all of which are unique and addictive to play.
Another major help in the design was the addition of gems that the monsters sometimes drop; using these gems you can research more advanced towers, or upgrade existing ones. If you like though, you can upgrade existing towers by doing a little rain-dance-type performance in front of them too. The longer you dance, the more powerful the towers become!
Out of all the games I have made over the years, PixelJunk Monsters was probably the hardest to balance and tune! In the end, it took a whole team of planners (Japanese for game designer) to play the game non-stop for a month and record their data into a database from which we adjusted money/gems/toughness of enemies etc., accordingly. They were all thoroughly addicted by the end of this process and even after completing the game in its entirety numerous times they still boot it up for “one more go.” The online rankings are going to be pretty competitive for this title and there are separate tables for cooperative and single play. The cooperative mode actually gets people to talk to each other as they play, and seeing as girls love this game (no, honestly, they do!), Monsters could become an important tool in every lad’s arsenal!
On a completely different (but important) note, some people might be looking for flashy graphics with thousands of polygons and in-your-face transparency/effects everywhere but if every game is like that things begin to look the same; so for this title we have purposefully gone for a style that hearkens back to the pre-PlayStation era. By using a ton of meticulously hand-drawn 2D art instead of 3D modeled graphics, we have tried to re-create the feel of some of those older classics (we still go overboard on shader effects though, as they are so much fun to program!).
Our next title will be yet another completely different style (as was PixelJunk Racers). In fact, this freedom of style and expression we are discovering is one of the great things about developing indie games. With your continuing support (i.e. please keep buying our games, they only cost approximately 1.5 beers!) we’ll continue fiddling and experimenting with new concepts and styles for as long as we can come up with the ideas and cash to support them!
PixelJunk Monsters will be available on PlayStation Network globally in January.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Operation Creature
Review by Ign...IGN gives it a 6.2
Operation Creature Feature Review
Move your hands. Save the Blurbs.
by Ryan Clements
November 21, 2007 - The PlayStation Eye hasn't had much software coincide with it besides Eye of Judgment (granted, they were packaged together). Yesterday's PlayStation Store update, however, changed that when it released a short title that relies entirely on the PlayStation Eye for gameplay, and that title is Operation Creature Feature. We won't really delve into the fact that the title doesn't make any sense because it's charming and we're content with that. We should instead spend our time discussing this relatively unique, motion-based puzzler than can now be pulled off the PSN for a meager $4.99. Whether or not it's completely worth that amount of money is debatable, but we'll get to that. All in good time.
You are an agent of the Alien Liberation Front (A.L.F.), determined to rescue the small creatures known as Blurbs who have been enslaved by a dark force in their parallel dimension. Although this story is told in a cute, stylistic cutscene at the beginning of the game, narrative is clearly not the emphasis of this downloadable title. The entire game simply resolves around your efforts to guide the Blurbs through mazes to the end portal, freeing them from captivity. In order to do so, you need to move your hands through the various puzzles, coaxing the Blurbs along because they're attracted to motion. The PlayStation Eye projects an image of you in the background and then registers every movement on camera as the alluring force that draws the little critters to safety (or, if you fail, to their demise).
Operation Creature Feature is very simple and very short. There are five worlds to the game, each with a series of singular mazes that require you to save a certain number of Blurbs, or else you'll fail out and have to start the world over again. While this might sound like plenty of content at first, we managed to get through all five worlds in about an hour, maybe a little more depending on how many times you make mistakes. So in certain ways, our biggest complaint is the game's length, but at such a small price, that's not overly problematic.
Perhaps more worrisome is the ease of the "puzzles," because most of them just involve guiding the Blurbs through a winding tunnel, with no real thought involved. In fact, the only difficult section of the game was the final world (a fiery mine of sorts), but the difficulty arose not from the depth of the challenge but from the slight inaccuracy in the controls, as well as the fact that the Blurbs would continuously burst into flames when exposed to too much heat (poor little guys). The first four worlds require virtually no effort whatsoever, as long as you have at least some skill in guiding your charge through the cavernous mines. If you have control over your movement, you can breeze through the game.
You can fly through it even quicker because the minimum number of Blurbs that need to be saved is generally four or less. The game sometimes even places one Blurb right next to the exit portal to demonstrate what to do, so you often fulfill your rescue quota ten seconds into the stage, making the rest of it rather pointless.
Don't forget, kids: science can save monsters.For all these issues, Creature Feature does offer some pretty neat things. First and foremost, we were impressed with the overall sensitivity and accuracy to the video/motion control. The Blurbs follow your hands well as you move them around the screen and you can even keep them hovering in the air just by moving your fingers. We could even pass a group of Blurbs from one hand to the other just by alternating between stillness and motion. Although this control implementation is not entirely original, it's certainly refreshing and works relatively well.
Unfortunately, the game demands greater precision than the camera can give. If Creature Feature depended on raw, mind-boggling puzzles, than there wouldn't be an issue, because precise control would come second to creativity and problem solving. Instead, the game is more about quickly getting the creatures through a narrow and winding path, which just doesn't work sometimes. When you move your hand, your arm is also moving, so discrepancies can arise when some of the Blurbs follow the wrong part of your body. We suppose there's really no way to get around this, but it can be frustrating when you're trying to be exact with your movements.
Closing Comments
Operation Creature Feature is a short, fun game that serves as an excellent demonstration for what the PlayStation Eye can do. However, its disappointing length and imbalanced gameplay (precision vs. puzzles) may be cause for concern. If you're desperate for more games that use the PlayStation Eye, $4.99 is a reasonable price for something with some pretty impressive features to it, but be cautious of the super easy puzzles which may disappoint gamers looking to exercise their mind; you're really only exercising your arms in this one.
Operation Creature Feature Review
Move your hands. Save the Blurbs.
by Ryan Clements
November 21, 2007 - The PlayStation Eye hasn't had much software coincide with it besides Eye of Judgment (granted, they were packaged together). Yesterday's PlayStation Store update, however, changed that when it released a short title that relies entirely on the PlayStation Eye for gameplay, and that title is Operation Creature Feature. We won't really delve into the fact that the title doesn't make any sense because it's charming and we're content with that. We should instead spend our time discussing this relatively unique, motion-based puzzler than can now be pulled off the PSN for a meager $4.99. Whether or not it's completely worth that amount of money is debatable, but we'll get to that. All in good time.
You are an agent of the Alien Liberation Front (A.L.F.), determined to rescue the small creatures known as Blurbs who have been enslaved by a dark force in their parallel dimension. Although this story is told in a cute, stylistic cutscene at the beginning of the game, narrative is clearly not the emphasis of this downloadable title. The entire game simply resolves around your efforts to guide the Blurbs through mazes to the end portal, freeing them from captivity. In order to do so, you need to move your hands through the various puzzles, coaxing the Blurbs along because they're attracted to motion. The PlayStation Eye projects an image of you in the background and then registers every movement on camera as the alluring force that draws the little critters to safety (or, if you fail, to their demise).
Operation Creature Feature is very simple and very short. There are five worlds to the game, each with a series of singular mazes that require you to save a certain number of Blurbs, or else you'll fail out and have to start the world over again. While this might sound like plenty of content at first, we managed to get through all five worlds in about an hour, maybe a little more depending on how many times you make mistakes. So in certain ways, our biggest complaint is the game's length, but at such a small price, that's not overly problematic.
Perhaps more worrisome is the ease of the "puzzles," because most of them just involve guiding the Blurbs through a winding tunnel, with no real thought involved. In fact, the only difficult section of the game was the final world (a fiery mine of sorts), but the difficulty arose not from the depth of the challenge but from the slight inaccuracy in the controls, as well as the fact that the Blurbs would continuously burst into flames when exposed to too much heat (poor little guys). The first four worlds require virtually no effort whatsoever, as long as you have at least some skill in guiding your charge through the cavernous mines. If you have control over your movement, you can breeze through the game.
You can fly through it even quicker because the minimum number of Blurbs that need to be saved is generally four or less. The game sometimes even places one Blurb right next to the exit portal to demonstrate what to do, so you often fulfill your rescue quota ten seconds into the stage, making the rest of it rather pointless.
Don't forget, kids: science can save monsters.For all these issues, Creature Feature does offer some pretty neat things. First and foremost, we were impressed with the overall sensitivity and accuracy to the video/motion control. The Blurbs follow your hands well as you move them around the screen and you can even keep them hovering in the air just by moving your fingers. We could even pass a group of Blurbs from one hand to the other just by alternating between stillness and motion. Although this control implementation is not entirely original, it's certainly refreshing and works relatively well.
Unfortunately, the game demands greater precision than the camera can give. If Creature Feature depended on raw, mind-boggling puzzles, than there wouldn't be an issue, because precise control would come second to creativity and problem solving. Instead, the game is more about quickly getting the creatures through a narrow and winding path, which just doesn't work sometimes. When you move your hand, your arm is also moving, so discrepancies can arise when some of the Blurbs follow the wrong part of your body. We suppose there's really no way to get around this, but it can be frustrating when you're trying to be exact with your movements.
Closing Comments
Operation Creature Feature is a short, fun game that serves as an excellent demonstration for what the PlayStation Eye can do. However, its disappointing length and imbalanced gameplay (precision vs. puzzles) may be cause for concern. If you're desperate for more games that use the PlayStation Eye, $4.99 is a reasonable price for something with some pretty impressive features to it, but be cautious of the super easy puzzles which may disappoint gamers looking to exercise their mind; you're really only exercising your arms in this one.
Ghostbusters
Hi everyone, guess what, when you are frightened..and when something looks out of the ordinary, who u're going to call? Yessss...the ghostbusters is coming to the next gen console...and will be out by Q3 2008. All the cast and crews will be in...except for sidgorney weaver, she's out..it seems that the story plot doesn't hold for any appearance for her..From what i've seen so far, it looks pretty good...in fact it looks awesome..but we can only say when the actual game comes out...
For the time being...a sneak preview of what is to come come next year...Long Live the PS3
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Playstation Network News
「PAIN」coming to PLAYSTATION®Store in December!!It's the funniest game in town! Load characters into a super-sized, ultra-powerful slingshot and launch them into an active, physics-controlled environment filled with precarious and humorous situations. Score points by stringing together PAINFUL collisions and unleashing chaos on the downtown environment. Join the PAIN online community to keep up with PAIN’s ever evolving gameplay. Compete with other players worldwide on the Global Leaderboards. See you in PAIN!
PLAYSTATION®Store on PC opens (21/11/2007)
The first PC Version of PLAYSTATION®Store launches on November 21 (20/11/2007)
Eye of Judgment minisite opens (25/10/2007)
NEW「PLAYSTATION®3」- New 40GB in 2 colors at only SG$559 (09/10/2007)
PLAYSTATION®3 System Software 2.01 update available on Nov 20 2007 (20/11/2007)
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