Archive for April, 2009
3D in a 2D world
Posted by Black Lab Games in Game Development on April 20th, 2009
As much as I really like the 2D art that Jack did for Operation: Star Hammer, lately I’ve been a bit bothered by the flatness and the feel that gives the game. The style that was used in the current set of sprites deliberately avoids shading and lighting, because the sprites are rotated in real-time. You could have a situation whereby two instances of the same sprite are drawn adjacent to each other, with light sources appearing to contradict each other because they look like they come from different directions. No sir, that won’t do!
So the only solution is 3D. Over the weekend, I worked a bit on a prototype using 3D models in place of sprites, so that the lighting can be done at runtime without resulting in a totally flat scene. So far, so good. My friend Simon was only too willing to crank out some ships to get me started. Thanks Simon! I experimented with perspective and othographic views, and decided that the latter will suit the game better.
The 2D gameplay is exactly what I’m after for the game, and I’m planning on keeping the top-down view. I want fast, I want action, and I want easy-to-grasp, and I think 2D gameplay is best for that. Making the entire game 3D (and first – or third – person) is certainly not a technical stretch, but the extra dimension makes it harder to hit your opponents, and that in turn slows the gameplay down. I’m not making a combat sim, I’m making an action arcade game.
I think having 3D objects will open up a number of other possibilities going forward as well, but more about that another time.
Feedback is awesome
Posted by Black Lab Games in Uncategorized on April 15th, 2009
Last night was the first public airing of Operation: Star Hammer. It was also the first time people other than me have played the current iteration of the game. It’s always interesting to watch how other people play a game you’ve made (or are making). Developers tend to make assumptions about what people will or won’t know or understand about the game, especially when it’s partially developed and doesn’t have all of the instructions, tutorials, etc. So it was illustrative to see people play the game at the mixer showcase.
A couple of top level TODO’s came out of the feedback. The first is to make some changes to the controls. I figured that might be the case, but now I have more information to go on. There are some others that relate to guiding the player through the missions, making some things in the game more visible or distinguishable, etc.
Thanks to everybody who played the game at the event last night, and extra thanks to those that filled out a survey.
RPG elements in a shooter?
Posted by Black Lab Games in Game Development on April 14th, 2009
The development of Operation: Star Hammer has progressed to the point where I’m starting experiment with some new ideas. Originally, I wanted to make a fairly recognizable old-school ‘shoot-em-up’ game, kinda like you’d find in video game arcades of old, except with more to do than just shoot aliens. However now that I’ve reached that point, I really want to do more with the game.
I like action games. But I also used to play a RPG’s a fair bit (before they all went online). So I thought a bit about how to mix the two genres. Yesterday I spent most of the day refactoring code so that I could make the internals of the game more RPG-like. It will still be an action game, but I’m hoping that being able to customise your ship and play in different styles will make the game more interesting and possibly add some replay value. I guess time will tell if the two genres can be crossed or not.
Showcase
Posted by paul in Game Development on April 7th, 2009
Lets Make Games are arranging a mixer and showcase for Tuesday the 14th of April.
I’m planning on showing where Operation: Star Hammer is up to, and getting people to play it and give me some feedback. It will be the first public airing of the game…I hope it goes well 
If you are Perth, please come on down and support local developers.
Home, the IGS and lessons learnt at Disneyland
Posted by Black Lab Games in Uncategorized on April 6th, 2009
I’ve been away from home for the past two weeks. Now I’m back and looking forward to getting back into game development!
I attended the Independent Games Summit, which was held as part of GDC 2009. It was a really interesting, inspiring and worthwhile 2 days. There where plenty of highlights and some great sessions. The talk by Ron Carmel (from 2D Boy, creators of World of Goo) titled “Everything you wanted to know about indie game development but were afraid to ask” was excellent – there was loads of good advice. Petri Purho’s presentation about the value of prototyping was thought provoking. It was also great to meet some of guys from the XNA and XBLCG teams.
Last week I spent some time sightseeing. One of the places I went was Disneyland. Something I that really struck me was the attention to detail, and I think there are lessons here for game developers – attention to small details is important.
Disneyland is about fantasy, as in dropping into a fantasy world, be it a from a Pixar film or a cartoon series. From the moment you walk up to the gates to get in, no detail is overlooked to enforce the fanasty of being in a world of entertainment. An example is the construction sites inside the park. As parts of the park are overhauled or new attractions built, sections are fenced off – not with any old scrap wood or wire, but with themed painted wood sheeting, complete with posters that are themed to match the new attraction. They essentially say ‘under constructions, sorry for the inconvience”, but using wording, fonts and colors that fits with the new attraction being built. There is nothing generic anywhere in the park – everything you see or hear continues to re-enforce that you are not in the real world, but in a world of fantasy that the parks creators have built.
The top tier developers also do this. Whether it’s themed installers or error message boxes, creating a game that is a complete experience is something that the best developers get right. It takes time and effort, and it’s a lot harder than it looks, but I think that small details that are missing can easily overshadow or detract from the rest of the effort put into the game.