Starter Kit for Independent Game Developers: Perry Board’s Amazing 3-Part Manual

If you developers out there need any inspiration, this is the set of articles to read: Starter Kit for Independent Game Developers by Perry Board.

He sucks you right in from the first paragraph:

Starter kits are great. You can get them for just about anything. A quick web search turns up starter kits for wireless networking, harmonicas, aquariums, sushi and vermicomposting. (If you don’t know what the latter is, get the starter kit.) Good starter kits are shrink-wrapped in plastic and contain lots of tiny pieces you can lose in the cracks of your sofa. Bad starter kits count advertisement brochures as package contents and expect you to go buy or find about half of the stuff you really need.

He fills it in with solid material, excellent advice -

The design phase is the decision making process that answers the question, “What is the game and how do you play?” …. you could use an existing pattern or genre: first-person shooter, real-time strategy, RPG, simulation, arcade and so forth.

Most difficult, but possibly very rewarding, is the invention of a new pattern. … It’s very hard to come up with something that has never been done before - at least something that’s fun to play. In fact, it might not be a good idea to abandon all existing patterns in favor of your own unique concoction. There’s a reason why so many games implement concepts like “scoring points” or “inventory.” Players learn to recognize these fundamental building blocks and can quickly get up to speed. If you invent something so unusual no one can figure out how to play without reading your hefty instruction manual, you’re going to face an uphill battle to success. On the other hand, if you do invent something completely original and people love it, you’ll be really cool and maybe rich.

Truly a masterpiece.

Two versions of PS3 ‘unlikely’

From News.Yahoo.Com

Wednesday August 31, 05:50 PM

Phil Harrison, VP of studios for Sony Computer Entertainment, has criticised Microsoft for planning to put two versions of the Xbox 360 on the market.

Microsoft recently announced that the Xbox 360 Core System, which does not include a hard disk, will retail for GBP 209.99 at launch. For GBP 279.99 you’ll be able to buy a console with a 20GB hard disk, wireless controller, Xbox Live Silver membership, HD-AV cable and removable faceplate.

Speaking at the European Game Developers’ Conference in London today, Harrison said Sony was “unlikely” to follow in Microsoft’s footsteps and offer two different versions of the PlayStation 3.

“Are there two versions of the Xbox 360 that people want to buy, is my question,” he said.

“I don’t know. This is my personal view, not my corporate view, but when I look at those formats, I think it just confuses the audience. They don’t know which one to buy, developers don’t know which one to create for, and retailers don’t know which one to stock.

“So I think we wouldn’t take that strategy. We wouldn’t create confusion,” he concluded.

However, Harrison did go on to suggest that we’ll have a variety of options to choose from in the longer term.

“There have been various versions and variants of PlayStations in the past - some run through the hardware and some through the software, and that’s worked pretty well for us, offering different value propositions to the consumer.

“Exactly what we do with the launch? Too early to tell.”

Harrison did give Microsoft props, as the youngsters say, for the Xbox Live service, telling the audience: “Microsoft has done a lot of things right, and there are certainly things that are going to form the model for many of the high quality consumer experiences that we will deliver with PS3.

“But I think our role is always to go beyond, to push further,” he continued.

“I’m not in a position today to share with you all the details but PS3 was a network platform from the very beginning, and that is designed into every aspect of the machine.”

Harrison said the service will offer free downloads along with content you’ll be able to buy direct from the publisher - “We want other companies to see the PS3 as a platform that they can exploit for their content, services and communities.”

He was also keen to emphasise Sony’s commitment to producing innovative games: “We do have the privilege of being the platform holder, and of having the opportunity and, I think, the responsibility to invest in more esoteric titles.

“We have to continue to put creativity and innovation first, otherwise we will turn into a formulaic industry and consumers will go elsewhere.”

And, in contrast to his recent comments slamming the Nintendo DS as “a gimmick”, Harrison was full of praise for Nintendogs as a game that’s pushing the boundaries: “I briefly played Nintendogs at E3 and I think it’s absolutely fantastic.

“I’m very admiring of what Nintendo have done with that game… I would love for us to go and create that kind of immersion for a game on the PSP.”

Harrison went on to say that while innovation is important, financial considerations still have to be taken into account. “We are a business, we do have to make a profit. We can’t just do this for the fun of it - we’re not art house theatre. We have to balance the two.”

Harrison then turned to the PlayStation Portable, which finally launches in Europe at midnight tonight after a series of slips.

“Obviously we didn’t plan it that way, factors outside of our control contributed to us having to delay the launch.

“Although the benefit to European consumers is that the machine we launch tomorrow has got a Version 2 operating system on it, there are more games, more movies, and the production output for our factories in Japan will be able to sustain demand in the US and Europe,” Harrison said.

We’re also promised more downloadable PSP content in the future - but we’re going to have to pay for it, apparently.

“We will be building some premium content next year and we will be charging for download,” he confirmed, adding that this will be sold on a pay-per-download basis - so once you’ve handed over your cash you own the right to download it again, should you accidentally erase it from your Memory Stick or some such.

Harrison then took the opportunity to hit back at those who have criticised the PSP launch line-up, telling the audience: “Don’t judge the life of the format on the first games that come out for it - remember we launched PS2 with Fantavision. Although it’s a lovely piece of software, it’s by no means the software that will define the format.

“I think it’s natural that when a format first comes out, the games that you make are the games that you know how to make, because you only have a limited amount of time to make them,” Harrison continued.

“Then the next games to come out on the platform are where the innovation starts to happen.

“We’re doing some things internally and I know a lot of people externally are too. We’re really starting to see that innovation coming through on PSP, and it will certainly come through on PS3.”

And as for Harrison’s favourite PSP game of the moment? “I’ve nearly finished Ridge Racer but the Max Tour’s got me. That’s probably the one I’ve played the most intensively.”

Harrison went on to suggest that games should become “more like soap operas”, with developers delivering “similar, reliable experiences in a friendly way to a set of characters and stories that change dynamically over time.”

This is designed to generate a “water cooler experience” in the same way the TV series Lost has (Harrison mentioned Lost several times during his speech, suggesting he is a big fan. And aren’t we all).

“Some game designers are starting to think about this, and I think over the next five years it’ll become more common,” Harrison predicted.

Unsurprisingly, he declined to comment on a possible price point for the PS3, telling the audience: “It would be foolish of me to make any comments about pricing at this early stage.”

“I’m sure Ken will continue to be enigmatic about that.”

The MMOG Manifesto

Game analyst Babylona has posted a very insightful MMOG manifesto on her blog, and it was too worth the read for me not to mention it in here. It’s all about MMOGs, their industry and audience, also about her beliefs and thoughts regarding the matter.

As an appetizer (since the post is way too long to be quoted here, and Babylona’s page deserves a visit in any case, if for her other articles and not this one only), here are some of the points I especially dig out:

4. People, en masse, are extremely smart. (Individually is often a very different story.) Underestimating this has probably cost game companies – in terms of exploits, hacks, bugs, support, etc., more money than one would like to think.

5. There are ways to share control of a world that live in a space between Second Life – and its attendant ethical issues now that #4 has been proven to be true – and more traditional MMOGs.

8. Given the opportunity and the reason, players will usually take some responsibility for their environment (they already do, mostly.) Remove the opportunity and the responsibility and they will explode into tiny pieces, totally messing up your lovely landscape.

11. Players who have something to say deserve to be listened to.

13. Give them control over the world and they will reward you a hundred times over. Figure out a way to make that work AND make you money.

I may not agree with each of her points—after all, the fun in this is to think and discuss, not to nod one’s head—but they sure raise lots of thoughts and questions.

The End of Asheron’s Call 2

Following a short but to the point announcement on the official Asheron’s Call 2 website, GameSpot has published an article about the scheduled closure of Turbine’s MMORPG on December30th, 2005:

In a posting on the official Asheron’s Call 2 Web site, Jeffrey Anderson, CEO of developer and publisher Turbine Entertainment, has announced the impending death of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

“In spite of our hard work and the launch of [Asheron’s Call 2 expansion pack] Legions, AC2 has reached the point where it no longer makes sense to continue the service,” Anderson wrote. “We will be officially closing the Asheron’s Call 2 service on 12/30/05. Until then, we plan to run live events, but we will not be adding any content or features.”

A Turbine spokesperson confirmed for GameSpot that the title was no longer profitable, and will be shut down in all existing markets. All staffers previously working on Asheron’s Call 2 have been reassigned.

It very likely feels weird and sad, when a game one has played for long suddenly shuts down with only a meager four month’s notice (it’s better than nothing, at least). Perhaps the negative reactions on the AC2 forums may seem exagerated to an outsider, but anyone who’s played and liked a MMORPG knows that you can’t just erase the game and the friends you made through it in a simple matter of minutes.

(Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/08/25/news_6131975.html)

Halo-based Movie: Microsoft Signs a Deal

While this is not a review, console announcement or other news that would be more expected on a gaming-related blog, I thought it would still be of interest: who else than gamers would be more interested to know about such a movie if it’s indeed to come? Sure, there have been many catastrophes in that regard in the past, and movies based on games may not seem like the best thing in the world. Nevertheless… here it is:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. […] has signed a deal with two film studios to make a movie based on its popular space-based video game series “Halo,” a spokesman for Universal Pictures said on Wednesday.

Universal and Twentieth Century Fox agreed to pay Microsoft $5 million plus a percentage of ticket sales. The total price being paid is capped at 10 percent of the domestic box office.

The deal ends months of speculation over which studio would win the right to make a “Halo” film, which came to Hollywood last spring highly-touted by Microsoft and its representatives at Creative Artists Agency. Messengers delivered a script to the studios wearing costumes and toting laser guns.

The rest of the article is available here on Reuters – Technology news articles. Whether this is good or bad news (when it comes to the movie’s quality) is of course still unknown at this point. The rumor than perhaps a Halo 3 game could tag along the movie, though, may be more itneresting.

Resident Evil 4 on PS2: Spot on Ada Wong

Scheduled for release in the US on October 25th, Resident Evil 4 for PS 2 is going to be a remake, rather than a simple copy of the original game for GameCube, and the hero is not the expected one.

According to Japanese magazine Famitsu, the PS2 version of RE4 will do some departing of its own by slightly deviating from the GameCube version, presenting some new features.

The biggest addition to the game will be a new scenario, which roughly translates to “The Other Order” in English. Gamers expecting to take on a whole new slew of enemies with Leon will be thrown for a curve, as Leon won’t even be featured in the new gameplay. That role belongs to Ada Wong, the sultry siren who made her return to the series in the GameCube version of RE4 after she was thought to have met her maker in Resident Evil 2.

This version of the game will also feature a new gun model.

(Source: GameSpot)

Star Wars Galaxies: House of Commons tonight

I’m not going to announce these every time they’re held, but for once I catch word of it before it’s actually over, I thought it’d be worth mentioning it. Why, yes, it’s… today.

Therefore, at 5 pm PDT/8 pm EDT, a House of Commons will be held with the developers of Star Wars Galaxies:

Once again, Stratics is pleased to announce a House of Commons with the developers of Star Wars Galaxies. Come join us tonight Wednesday, August 24th at 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT / midnight UTC/GMT in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.

We will cover two topics tonight; the upcoming expansion SWG:The Trials of Obi-Wan, and also last week’s XP Publish. We also have two copies of SWG:The Total Experience to give away so stick around after the HoC has ended.

You can connect to one of our IRC servers through the use of your favorite IRC client, such as mIRC, ircle, xchat, or whichever you prefer. Connect to irc.stratics.com port 6668 or whichever server is closest to you:

• irc.epaxsys.net port 6668, USA - Colorado
• stratics.frws.com port 6668, USA - Colorado
• irc.glowfish.de port 6668, EU - Germany
• stratics.afraidyet.net 6668, USA - Atlanta

You won’t find me there, as it’s too late for my European timezone, but don’t hesitate to fire off these IRCs, if you’re interested in knowing about SWG developments through other means than “simple” articles.

Source: Stratics.com

Interview of Martin Klima About UFO: Aftershock

RPG Vault publishes an interview with Martin Klima, Lead Designer on the upcoming UFO: Aftershock game. Aftershock is the sequel to Aftermath (note that this could be expected), and […] takes place some five decades later, in the year 2054. The events of the first title left Earth largely if not completely uninhabitable. The remnants of humankind departed to a huge flying island, the Laputa. Sadly, life on this ostensible sanctuary proved considerably less than idyllic. Corrupt, unbending leaders created a festering discontent that eventually flared into open hostilities. Perhaps inevitably, the airborne platform itself was destroyed. Ironically, a new generation of survivors was left with no choice but to reclaim the very surface their forebears had abandoned.

There would be no point in posting it word by word, but I’m going to encourage you to read it, if only because it’s always extremely interesting, at least in my opinion, to know about the ropes behind the development of a game.

And because an image is often worth a thousand words, you can also see quite an amount of screenshots and download materials at Cenega Publishing.

UFO: Aftershock is bound for release on October 7th.

Suikoden Tactics Preview

Here’s something that got me hyped and enthusiastic. No, really. Contrary to my habit of not being too thrilled about tactical games, I’ve however always been a huge fan of Final Fantasy Tactics, from a few years ago, when I was running amok trying to find a PSX imported from the USA because the only version of the game I had found was the US one, to fondly getting my CD out again from time to time nowadays. So what did I think when I saw this article at Gamespy featuring a preview of Suikoden Tactics? Well, I thought: “Me must have! Mine! Mine!”

*coughs* Alright, I need to calm down. Nevertheless, a FF Tactics-style game would be something I’d really like to get my hands on once it goes live by November of this year (I’m also quite fond of the Suikoden series, that is).

The gameplay, again, will be largely familiar to fans of tactics games. Character turns are taken based on stats; Suikoden Tactics is not a “you go then they go” type of game. Turn progression for player characters and enemies is individually determined. Physical attacks, of course, require you to be in range of the enemy; here’s one place where the game’s new system of “balloons” (think speech bubbles from a comic book) helps out the player: if an enemy is in range to attack you on its next turn, a sword icon will appear in a bubble over it; whereas if you’re in range to attack it on your current turn, a teardrop (a typical Japanese signifier of anxiety as seen in anime, manga, and games) will appear over it. This saves you from having to manually check movement range, as in other tactical games. These balloons can also show status ailments (poison, etc.). Characters who are hurting bad will call for healing in their balloons, too. The system is designed so that the player can easily see what needs to be done in any given gameplay situation.

And I really don’t care if the graphics looka bit goofy.

Fable Going Gold For PC

I had already blogged in here about the “good vs evil” choices in video games, giving Fable as an example (and an interesting one). Well, PC owners, rejoice, for this game is now going to be available on our dear computers, and not only on Xbox anymore: on September 20th, Fable indeed goes gold, as announced by GameSpot, and not only in its original version. New spells, quests, armors and regions to explore have been added, to answer the often-voices reproach that the game wasn’t of “epic-length” enough.

Last year’s ambitious “choose your own adventurer” role-playing game, Fable, is about to complete its long journey from the Xbox to the PC, as Microsoft Game Studios today announced that Fable: The Lost Chapters has gone gold and will hit stores September 20.
[…]
Though it was fairly well received, one of the common knocks against the game was its less-than-epic length. This prompted developer Lionhead to go back to the PC release and add new spells, quests, armor, enemies, and regions to explore. An Xbox version of Fable: The Lost Chapters is expected before the end of the year as part of the Platinum Hits line of games with a $19.99 price tag.
[…]
Fable: The Lost Chapters is rated M for Mature and will retail for $49.99 on the PC.

Here’s something that definitely needs to be kept under the eyes—at least by myself, and probably by lots of RP gamers out there.

Read or Game: EVE Online Magazine

E:ON is the announced EVE Online official magazine, to be published quarterly: 68 pages of news, interviews, fiction, player guides and more, “all of it professionally written and produced by a dedicated team of writers and designers from within the EVE community and beyond”.

In any case, you can check the E:ON page that is now finally online. The first issue is bound to ship by October 1st, but the stock will be limited; for those who want to make sure to lay their hands on one, it can however be preordered.

Issue 001 will feature, among other things, a comparative article on the eight Heavy Assault Cruisers, three new stories illustrated by Börkur Eiríksson, guides on trading and space survival, and interviews of (seemingly) well-known players.

Quake III Arena Source Code Gets Released

Id Software has now released the source code for Quake III Arena. The file is available for download at GameSpot DLX. For all the crunchy details about what exactly one is allowed to do with the code, have a look at the “read me” file going along with the download.

Amateur programmers, rejoice, you can now tinker at will with this!

Source: GameSpot

World Premiere: Elveon

As seen on Gamesindustry.biz, 10TACLE STUDIOS Slovakia has unveiled their current project, “Elveon”, on the Games Convention in Germany.

“Elveon” means “The book of elves” and is based on a comprehensive fantasy saga which goes back to the times of the rise of the advanced Elvish civilization. The gods have left the world of Naon in a rush, it is the place they had wanted to transform into their paradise. The Neamas, the elves of the ancient times and fellows of the gods have remained there all alone. A smouldering conflict is gaining more and more importance and a new era starts which is marked by envy, malevolence and relentless wars that prevent the gods’ descendants from entering upon their inheritance.

More information is available on the official website, www.elveon.com.

Tales of Eternia Online Enters Closed Beta

According to GameSpot, Namco has now begun closed beta testing for its first MMORPG, Tales of Eternia Online:

TOKYO–Namco has begun closed beta testing in Japan of its debut massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Tales of Eternia Online. As the title suggests, Tales of Eternia Online takes place in the same universe as 2000’s Tales of Eternia for the PlayStation (released in North America as Tales of Destiny II). The beta test lets players travel around the western half of Inferia, including the continents of Barole, Mints, and Moruru. The game features locations from the original console RPG, such as the village of Rashuan, where TOE’s main character Reid Hershel was born and raised.

At the current stage of beta testing, players can create up to three characters per server and select each character’s gender and class. Five different classes are currently available for selection: warrior, swordsman, martial artist, white sorcerer, and magic sorcerer. The player can choose to start out from one of three locations: the port town of Barole, the village of Moruru, or the town of Mints.

Namco being one of the newcomers in the world of MMORPGs, it’s hard to tell how things will evolve: crafting quality content for such a game is never as easy as it could seem, and anyone who has played more than one of them (or at least played one at length) knows very well that nothing is ever written in stone. For the moment, let’s simply wish well to what looks, all in all, like a nice MMOG, if still a tad bit limited regarding available classes. After all, this is closed beta only, and there’s no doubt that once the feedback starts arriving and it goes into a more open stage, things will once again have changed.

The Stages of MMO Gaming

Another reflexion today, rather than simple “news about gaming”. MMORPG.com’s writer Erich Von Hase has published an editorial on the topic of The Roles of the MMO Gamer. He starts by a description of the different “phases” a player generally goes through—and for being one of these players myself, I can tell that these are indeed exact, or at least very close to what happens.

First there is a ‘Buzz’. Players hear news of a new MMOG soon to be released or they hear good things about an MMOG from magazines, websites, or friends. Second is the ‘Acclimation’. We all know the drill - buy the game, install, and then spend a little time figuring out how to make it work. Depending on the game, it can take a few minutes, hours, or days to master the interface and basic gameplay so that we can actually get rolling. Next comes ‘Fascination’, or so the developers hope. This is the point at which players become enamored with the game, get lost in it, and make friends there. If a player doesn’t lose interest in the Acclimation phase, the Fascination phase is what sets players onto the path of the recurring monthly subscriptions. During this phase players are having too much fun to worry about the price of the subscription. It is negligible compared to the amount of fun they are having. There is so much to see and do. At this point, many of us have gotten so infected with an MMOG that we’d probably pay more each month because the game has become such a priority in our lives. But eventually, most of us lose interest for one reason or another and ask that inevitable question, ‘Why do I keep paying to play this game?’ I’ve played enough MMOGs to know that when someone asks that question, a cancelled subscription is not far to follow. Which brings us to our final stage, ‘Cancellation’, where we ask ourselves what we were thinking for playing so long and stop paying our hard earned money to do something we no longer enjoy. Although many players have gone through what could be called the ‘Reactivation’ phase, it is essentially just the cycle starting over.

The editorial also shortly comes back on the beginning of role-playing games, starting with table-top Dungeons & Dragons and 80’s early MUDs, to go on with the explanation about why nowadays’ MMO players behave the way they do. Then come a quite thorough portrait of what I could call the main “trends” in behaviors, namely the Socializers, Explorers, Conquerors and Collectors (in case anyone is wondering, I’m primarily a Socializer in this little crowd). If knowing MMORPGs a little, and taking some time to observe fellow players, one can easily see that in a nutshell, things can indeed be summarized this way.

Every time I stumble upon such an article, editorial or blog entry—you name it—, I can’t prevent myself from feeling the fascination that lies in these mechanics. Perhaps even more than other kinds of games, due to the human factor heavily involved in it (opponents and allies aren’t “only” NPCs anymore, after all), MMOGs hold, in my opinion, an important dimension regarding social behaviors as well as psychology. Which indeed gives me one more reason to plug the Daedalus Project (see my previous entry). Simply because it’s interesting and, well, instructing.

Latest Daedalus Issue

Because the latest issue (the 3-4) got out at the very end of July, I thought it would be worth a little mention here. The Daedalus Project is part of a research conducted by Nicky Yee about the demographics and psychology of MMORPGs. While this isn’t exactly about playing, and pursues a way more informative path (let’s not look for any news about the latest games there), it however contains many interesting entries regarding topics that every MMORPG player has necessarily met at some point, such as the rise and fall of guilds or the tendencies to gender-bending in these games.

For an introduction and links to the most prominent articles, you can also head to the Daedalus Gateway.