This “review” is more of an analysis, really. I’ll split the game’s design into a few parts and do some strange cross-breed between opinion, analysis and suggestions. This time yet another Bioware game – they tend to be fun, come out fairly frequent and be different enough to be interesting but similar enough to feel familiar. Theme Before describing the game in any way, some of the differences in theme between ME1 and ME2 should be noted. ME1 plays a lot with an optimistic theme, where “You’re a Spectre, you can do whatever you want” imbued the whole experience. ME2 has a theme more akin to “pretend to be free if you want, but you know who pulls the strings. And you know where you’ll be heading in the end”. I have a feeling many of my criticisms of this game boils down to this change of theme, and perhaps these changes are not technical restraints as much as concious steps to reinforce that theme. Core Mechanics For Mass Effect 2, Bioware has taken a few steps closer towards the “Action” in “Action RPG”. Because there’s a lot more action, and a bit less classic RPG stuff. The endless inventory-management […]
Review
I recently stumbled upon a handful of links about marketing/PR and indie development, so I thought I’d sort of bookmark them here for future and public access. It all started with this article from Gamasutra: The Real Cost Of Marketing Your Game With Social Media. It turned up to be a follow-up article to the article Listening Is Your First Step: An Online Game Marketing Audit Primer. Both are really worth reading if you’re interested in social media marketing. If you’re not, then maybe Haunted Temple Studios’ First Indie PR Tour – Lessons Learned will be of interest. It might be a new trip, but it deals with issues such as “how much work is selling a game to webzines, anyway?” and “how much does it cost to park a car in San Fransisco?”. And that’s just some anecdotes! Really, a key to marketing – and a bit of everything, really – is about knowing the right people. So how do you get to know the right people? Well, there seems to be guides for pretty much everything these days, and I happened to come across one for this topic! It’s called Effective Networking in the Game Industry and could […]
Marketing, Indie development and other various links
I just read a feature series on Gamasutra about pre-producing level design (and, as a consequence, atmosphere, presentation of story etc.) The first part deals with the layout of a level and how the character’s motivations can align with the player’s to create a strong motivator to achieve the intended objective. The second part emphasizes the importance of research and giving all the space within a level an in-world reason. The third parts puts all these levels in perspective to see how levels can be chained together. Well worth a read! Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 On the topic of pacing, which is sort-of-the-same as the third part of the articles above, a former student at the University of Skövde’s game development program got an article features on Game Career Guide with what I believe was his thesis. It’s about how to pace a level. Link These articles really complement an old article series I know I’ve linked before, but it was a good read (I should read it again some time). It’s about multiplayer level design, and frankly I can’t remember much more than that. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Yes, it’s a […]
Level Design Articles
For a few weeks now I’ve been studying about AI in computer games, wishing to know what makes it so difficult and perhaps learn what makes a “good” AI opponent/side-kick. Turns out the course was all about the programming of it (which I should’ve known, as it was a programmer course called “AI programming for computer games”), but after some scratch-the-surface research (ask people and ask google) I found no course (at least in Sweden) about the subject. So I started googling if there was anything released on the topic, and did find a few worthwhile sites to read. I’ll try to not make it another Link-Tips, even though it’s very tempting (and way easier and faster). The first impression of this quick research is that computer games AI is a fairly programmer-dominated area. Most of the links appearing gives the impression of code-related tasks, such as techniques here and there and stuff. But just a few links away and I started to discover some really interesting things. First off a page I read a long time ago and been trying to find again ever since – a very design-oriented piece giving 7 ways to make the AI opponent smarter. […]
What makes a “smart” AI?
Mass Effect is the best movie I’ve ever played. Many would read that as insulting (still having the “interactive movies” in memory), and I would mean it as insulting due to lack of interactivity in many other cases, but this is only in a positive way. From camera angles during dialogue sessions and the dialogue itself to the scenery, level-design and art direction it all goes with a very movie-like feeling, but it never takes the power away from the player. The Dessing Story The following section will contain spoilers, so skip it if you haven’t played the game. The movie, considered as such, is perhaps not the best I’ve “seen” from a dramatic perspective, yet still very engaging. Act one starts out as a fetch-mission turned battleground, following to an investigation to convince the council (the board of the galaxy) to accept one of their top agents is the enemy, which then lets the player become such an agent. Act two then follows several clues of the enemy’s presence, cleaning up the chaos he’s caused. This ends up in a frontal assault on one of his bases, the big plot-twist and the first encounter with the enemy himself. Act […]
“Review”: Mass Effect
Back from another Stockholm-visit, so this article got a bit late. And it doesn’t have many links, which is a shame. The must-haves: Article and Papers. On gamecareerguide, a thesis about Adaptive Audio On Gamasutra, an article about.. I think it’s supposed to be learning stuff from games, but it took a while to get to the point. And an article about expressing a mechanic with graphs. Anyway, summer’s almost over, and I’ve got a few things to do so these won’t be as regular – perhaps I’ll actually post some of those things I said I should, then! That is, unless I’m working my butt off doing what I’m supposed to, which I bet I will be.
Link Tips #6
There weren’t any Link Tips last weekend, as I was away. As I have decided to not talk about my life in this blog (unless the extreme cases), I won’t delve further into the why. To compensate, I’ll add last week’s Sunday papers and GI.biz article. I’m not entierly sure, but I suppose this is the GI.biz article (here called “editorial” to my confusion) about The Free Trade. And last weeks Sunday Papers. And also this week’s article and papers. I was just about to think this post would only be the articles and papers – I haven’t found much this week worth linking – but just in the nick of time I find this: An article on edge-online about Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. That was… short. And I’ve still got a bunch of games to write about – why don’t I?! (Answer: I dunno, there’s no good reason)
Link Tips #5
Yay, another week of link-tips! And this week I actually posted an opinion in-between. I might actually have the momentum I want from the blog now… although I could do more (but now I *want* to, last year I felt I *had* to due to self-demand). Anyway, you’re not here to hear my ramble about my blog, but to get some nice links – and here are some! As always, gamesindustry.biz’s weekly article and Rock Paper Shotgun’s Sunday Papers (the latter is actually the only link I put here *before* I read it myself. There’s just always something good in there). On Gamasutra, there’s an opinion about Infusing Games with a Moral Premise. and a cute poem called Gameplay and Story: An Ode To The American Junior High School Dance. Another on gamasutra, a piece on satirical games. And then two such satirical games: Upgrade Complete and Steamshovel Harry. Not to forget Achievement Unlocked! And, no, I won’t describe them: It would ruin the point. Besides, two of three are self-describing. And, just before posting, I found this through the Onion. Yet another on gamasutra – damn, if I keep up like this I’ll have to call it “gamasutra links” […]
Link Tips #4
I see I haven’t made any real updates this week. Which is strange, because I’ve been reading and playing more stuff then usual. I guess I should start making myself some opinions and get writing! Anyway, I made sure to make the Link Tips-posts less a sad thing then they’ve been before, and took a new strategy to build them (that is, throwing all links in and edit a draft during the week). And, lo and behold, it seems to have worked! As always, Rock Paper Shotgun’s Sunday Papers and Gamesindustry.biz’s article Depth Changes – and a Eurogamer-blog article about Gaikai turned up while I was searching. On Gamasutra, an opinion called Can Games Become “Virtual Murders”?. I’ve always had a worrying feeling about the “shoot people in the face”-focuc of gaming (as some earlier posts goes through), so this is really refreshing to read – but it seems like the post gets the same sort of opposition I tend to get while speaking about it aloud. I hope it’s the first step in realizing things, denial, but it could just as well be a defense of the established, home-blindness or plain “I want my guns!”. Anyway, great article. Eurogamer […]
Link Tips #3
Yes, I know I didn’t post any last week. But here’s one! First off, the returning Sunday Papers and Gamesindustry.biz article. Also, a gamasutra feature about Dramatic Play. And another gamasutra article on Infamous’ pacing. Some marketing-posts: First off Dev.Mag’s Zero budget indie marketing guide, which links to Kieron Gillen’s How to Use and Abuse the Gaming Press and How the Gaming Press Wants to Use and Abuse You (and, yes, I do think I found that thanks to RPS). Finally a edge-online post by Introversion’s Thomas Arundel called Selling to Customers. I think that’s enough for this time. Embedded links makes these posts seem shorter then they are, or if it’s “not longer then they are”…
Link Tips #2
I made a “review” about both Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR, or just K because I’m going to write it a lot)-games almost a year ago, and said something along the lines with “the first has better atmosphere, the second has a few technical advantages” (that’s not a quote). After having played KotOR2 again one, and almost two, times more, I have really changed opinion about the game, so a new review feels like a good thing. And that I’ve learned a lot about game design since last year has it’s effects, as well. K2 starts off five years after K1 ended in the player either saving or dooming the world. From such a starting-point, you have to wonder how you can have one starting point in what should be two completely different worlds. The developers, Obsidian Entertainment, decided to give you a character who was missing from the galaxy during K1, and starts the game outside of current galactic events. From a “make sense”-perspective, that’s a smart move, but from an interest curve-perspective, it makes the game start off with a lack of bang. And it takes a long time until the plot starts to have a real […]
New KotOR2 “review”
I recently posted a Link Tips-like post in a school-related forum, which was originally intended to be the Link Tips #1. As I sort of forgot the draft while writing it, and having to translate it from Swedish, I pretty much missed it for #1. As this isn’t enough to justify a #2, I’ll simply call it #1.5 Statistically Speaking, It’s Probably a Good Game This is an article series in three parts about probability and statistics. Although the third part is not published yet, the current two parts are well worth the read. It might seem to start in all seriousness, but it soon turns a lot more… fun. Part 1 | Part 2 Multiplayer Level Design In-Depth Another article series, this one about – take a guess- multiplayer level design! There’s a bunch of tips about stuff to think about for a multiplayer level to give variation and attract new as well as old players. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Bad Designer: No Twinkie Database A yearly article series about design mistakes so common and, frankly, easily avoided that it shouldn’t be in games but still is. Imagine these being in Issue #1 and you’re […]
Link Tips #1.5
One of the reasons I resumed my blog was to share links to interesting articles and such things. It’s not all to seldom I’ve been thinking “hey, this thing was interesting, I wish I could tell some one!”. Now I can! Truth to be told, I’ve been thinking about writing the first issue for a few weeks already, but it hasn’t come at a good moment to post it. So, let’s start off with two points that’s likely to be returning every time: gamesindustry.biz articles and Rock Paper Shotgun’s Sunday Papers. Hmm.. I wish I actually had anything interesting to post this week.. o.O
Link Tips #1
I’ve noticed, as I’ve written, that some of my reviews have been a bit unfocused and fell into what my history teacher used to call the “fact trap”. I’ll try to solve this by focusing on about three things, probably features of some sort, and quickly get to my opinion and arguements why I think that. So, Eternal Darkness. Google it up for some general info, this review will focus on three things: The sanity system, the magic system and how you heal. The sanity system, to start with, is a clever idea. As monsters see you, your sanity decreases. As you finishes monsters off, it goes back up. When your sanity is low, you start to get hallucinations of different sorts. If the meter is empty, you get damaged if monsters see you. This is a cool idea – the hallucinations can make you doubt if what you see before you is actually happening or not, making you suspicious to every action while playing. But it has a lot of oddities: Firstly, it decreases if the monsters see you, not the opposite (if I see monsters). Secondly, it takes on the health-bar if there’s no sanity meter (how can […]
“Review”: Eternal Darkness
As you might have spotted, I’m doing something a bit different this time – I’ve put two games to review in the same article. That might sound odd, but in this case it’s possible – the games are very similiar design-wise, yet I find the feeling of playing them vastly different from one another. Let’s begin at the ground-level – KOTOR is an abbreviation for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, a series of two RPGs (made by different devs, so I’ll avoid typing them out not to step on some random google-user’s toes). As with any RPG (that I’ve played, which counts out the Final Fantasies), the story can be played like a good book – you play a bit now and then and think abouthow the story may progress when not playing – that in itself is a good opinion. But unlike books, you have a bit more power of the story’s progression – you can often choose from a pool of replies to most comments, which gives different results. For instance, they may push you on the Light-Dark scale, which only real effect is making some spells more expensive and others cheaper. But I didn’t notice […]
“Review”: The KOTORs
Before I begin, let’s do the apologies. I have not finished the game, or even played it since I started mentioning it. This means I can’t tell how good the ending is, for instance (I’ve heard it’s great, though) or how the difficulty towards the end of the game. With all that said, it’s time to get this review done. Deus Ex is still a good game. I haven’t played it before (with the exception of the first few levels), and I didn’t try it out when it was new. But, seeing how good it still is, I understand those who state it’s awesome. It has a story that turns into a huge conspiracy, it has several ways of solving most of the troubles you are put against (and most have to be discovered by you, no “guide” telling you all options as soon as a choice appears) and it has a nice way to handle weapons in a non-shooter. It has pretty bad voice acting at some parts, but pretty much everything is voice acted – and there are a lot of people saying a lot of things – so it can be excused. About the weapon handling: You […]