New SBS Teaser Up
WHAT IS THIS? Is it a new teaser with all the awesome juicy bits we are going to be showing off at PAX? I DO BELIEVE IT IS.
This teaser is our first time showing off two of the new co-op campaign levels. The first is the Robot Boss, who is fought high up in the snow covered mountains overlooking Slam Bolt City. The second level is Volcano City, where our heroes battle vicious computer AIs and demon chicken riders above pits of fiery lava. This level has a fun twist but if you want to see what it is you’ll have to come to PAX and play it yourself!
Hop into the comments if you want to talk to us about the new level additions. We’ll have a more detailed write up of the new features after PAX. And of course we hope to see any of you that are planning on going to Seattle this weekend! Remember: SCHWAG!
Oh, and we’re on the Sony PlayStation blog! Nice.
August 31, 2010 | | Comments (0)
Category: Development Blog, News
Tags: boss, city, lava, PAX, robot, SBS, Slam Bolt Scrappers, snow, teaser, video, volcano, youtube
Fire Hose Games at Boston GameLoop 2010
Boston GameLoop 2010 took place this past Saturday, and it was honestly one of the coolest games events I’ve ever been to. Turnout more than doubled since last year, so there was a huge crowd around to enjoy the plentiful food, awesome game talks, and endless demos. Fire Hose Games had a good showing, with both Jeff Ward and myself hanging out with the always cool, Boston games community and chatting about our favorite subject: video games.
While Jeff was being coaxed into giving a talk on XNA game development (even though SBS is a PS3 game – he’s wicked smart), Caroline Himmelman from HubSpot and Ichiro Lambe of Dejobaan Games, convinced me to stand next to them making jokes throughout their talk on indie game marketing. Other highlights were overwhelming support for cut-scenes (WTF?!), some text adventure interactive fiction goodness, and getting pummeled in a round of Skulls of the Shogun – the new game from Haunted Temple Studios. While hanging out between sessions, I whipped out my… computer, and forced innocent bystanders to get their scrap on. Glance up and behold the intense focus brought about by round after round of Slam Bolt Scrappers. Now imagine yourself there at GameLoop 2010. Think about how much fun you’d be having… then think about how much more GameLoop 2011 will rock!
| | Comments (1)
Category: Development Blog, Events
Tags: gameloop, Slam Bolt Scrappers
Slam Bolt Scrappers will be at PAX!
Just 10 days until PAX in Seattle! We’re getting really excited, we’ll be showing off a bunch of new features including new levels, new characters, and this charming guy up top. We’re talking MADNESS, people!
If you are going to be in town for the show be sure to stop by our booth (#3834, next to Square Enix and located on the lower right hand corner of the exhibitor hall map) and say hi! We’ll have some nice schwag to give out to our fans, and of course we’ll have the game for you to play.
Also I’m on a panel along with a bunch of sexy indie devs (Robin Hunicke [thatgamecompany], Nathan Vella [Capybara Games], Dylan Fitterer [Audiosurf LLC], Andy Schatz [Pocketwatch Games]), and we’ll be talking about all sorts of fun new games worth checking out. It’s called “In(die)credible! The Best New Games You Haven’t Played”, and it’s taking place on Sunday, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM, in the Raven Theatre. Come and check it out!
Oh yeah, and we’ll be taking pictures during the show. Oh yes. PICTURES.
August 24, 2010 | | Comments (1)
Category: Development Blog, Events, News
Tags: Andy Schatz, Audiosurf, Capybara Games, Dylan Fitterer, indie, Nathan Vella, PAX, pictures, Pocketwatch Games, Prime, Robin Hunicke, robot, SBS, Slam Bolt Scrappers, thatgamecompany
How Much Is Enough?
BREAKING NEWS! Recently unclassified development documents reveal astonishing details about our views on game length!
CONFIDENTIAL Unclassified Fire Hose Game Length Guidelines
1. A game should have a length that is reasonable given its price point and its genres. The pricier the game the more depth and game play it should have. It’s fine if a $1 iPhone game only has 10 minutes of game play, but a $60 PS3 game better be waaay longer. Games that rely heavily on multiplayer (like fighting and FPS games) can have much shorter campaigns, while JRPGs can have entirely unreasonable game lengths, to the point where you want to stop playing because they are so longwinded and boring. For example, Wind Waker [redacted]
2. It’s ok if an experimental/highly innovative game is a bit shorter, while well established genre titles should have more meat to them. Making generic Mario-like platformer #18? It better have some real depth to it.
3. Games should end around an hour before they lose my attention or when [redacted]. This usually occurs right around the time that game mechanics start getting reused wholesale.
4. Replayability is more important than game length. A short game that I want to play over and over again is better than a long, boring monstrosity I’ll never want to touch again.
5. There are a small, vocal minority of nuts on the internet are very sensitive about game length vs. price (see Limbo complaints). Generally they only complain about games that they like, so if you are a developer and they are complaining about your game then MAN UP AND MAKE THEM HAPPY! Add in hooks to make the game more replayable so they get their money’s worth. Don’t piss off your fans! I’m looking at you [redacted], [redacted], and [redacted].
6. You Have To Burn The Rope is hilarious, and way better than Don’t Shit Your Pants. Actually… I’m not so sure it’s better.
7. Games designed to waste your time suck and I have no intention of ever playing them or making them. See: Farmville.
Got something to say? THEN POP IN THE COMMENTS AND SAY IT ALREADY.
This is part of an industry wide day of talking about game length. Want to read more? Check out:
Jonathan Blow of Number None: http://the-witness.net/news
Ron Carmel of 2DBoy: http://2dboy.com/2010/08/17/too-short/
Chris DeLeonL: http://www.hobbygamedev.com/spx/short-videogame-design/
Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games: http://nygamedev.blogspot.com/2010/08/coming-up-short.html
Eitan Glinert of Fire Hose Games: http://www.firehosegames.com/2010/08/how-much-is-enough/
Mike Gilgenbach of 24 Caret Games: http://24caretgames.com/2010/08/16/does-game-length-matter/
Cliff Harris of Positech Games: www.cliffski.com
Chris Hecker of Spy Party: http://spyparty.com/2010/08/16/size-doesnt-matter-day/
Scott Macmillan of Macguffin Games: http://macguffingames.com/2010/if-size-doesnt-matter-where-do-you-get-the-virtual-goods
Noel Llopis: http://gamesfromwithin.com/size-matters
Peter Jones of Retro Affect: http://retroaffect.com/blog/160/Size_Doesn_t_Matter_Day/
Lau Korsgaard: http://www.copenhagengamecollective.org/2010/08/17/size-does-matter/
Martin Pichlmair of Broken Rules: http://brokenrul.es/blog
Greg Wohlwend of Intution Games: http://mile222.com/2010/08/a-haiku-about-game-length/
Jeffrey Rosen of Wolfire: http://blog.wolfire.com
August 17, 2010 | | Comments (14)
Category: Random, Rant
Tags: classified, don't shit your pants, farmville, game length, redacted, replayability, you have to burn the rope
Schwag (noun)
Schwag (noun):
1. Any free or extra goods, usually given to employees, workers, or fans. Frequently distributed at conferences.
2. Low grade marijuana
3. A rock & roll band based in St. Louis, Missouri
Guess which one UPS just delivered? Hint: we don’t accept packages from St. Louis, and anything labeled “low grade” goes against the Fire Hose lifestyle.
Yes, we have SBS schwag! And if you wanna get some be sure to visit our booth at PAX. It’ll be the extra awesome one where you can play Slam Bolt Scrappers. Sweet, right?
August 13, 2010 | | Comments (1)
Category: Random
Tags: buttons, PAX, SBS, schwag, Slam Bolt Scrappers, stickers
What is Indie: A Manifesto
Last month at Boston Post Mortem, Eitan grilled the founders of Moonshot Games, Macguffin Games, and Dejobaan Games on the topics of game development and being indie. Attempts to define “indie” and questions about whether something or someone is “indie” strike a chord with a lot of folks, so Scott Macmillan (of Macguffin) followed up the talk by posting an interesting manifesto on his studio’s blog and Gamasutra. Check it out, it’s good stuff.
Bottom line:
1- Don’t ask if something is indie, it’s a waste of energy
2- “Indie is the aspiration to create something new, interesting, or different. Something you as an artist find worthwhile.”
Update
Eitan: Man, Scott is such a little bitch. Waaaaaaa, I don’t wanna define what indie is! Waaaaaa!
August 11, 2010 | | Comments (3)
Category: Events, News, Rant, Words of Wisdom
Tags: Boston Post Mortem, Dejobaan Games, fire hose games, Indie Games, Indie Manifesto, Macguffin Games, Moonshot Games, Scott Macmillan, Slam Bolt Scrappers
Words of Wisdom: Sound and Music as Narrative
Vincent Diamante and Steve Johnson are two of my favorite people. They are the two sound geeks behind the music in Flower, and they are VERY good at what they do. Here is a talk they recently gave on using sound and music to create narrative in that game, and it’s a really cool listen! They discuss influences, how they went about creating music on a shifting project with an abstract goal, and what interesting things they did to make the game sound awesome. And considering that Flower is (in my opinion) one of the best sounding new games out there I’d say they did a great job?
Yes, this is only the first 8 minutes of an hour long talk. Wanna watch the whole thing? You can catch it the full talk (chopped up into 8 sections) here.
SEMI-RELATED TANGENT TIME!
1. As long as we’re talking about video game music, does anyone else think that the Bionic Commando Rearmed soundtrack was extra awesome?
2. I’d like to point out that in addition to being a composer nerd Vincent is also has a kick ass blog on photography, food, and anything else interesting that comes to mind. Definitely a fun read.
August 4, 2010 | | Comments (0)
Category: Words of Wisdom
Tags: bionic commando rearmed, Diamante, flower, Johnson, music, narrative, Sound, Steve, thatgamecompany, Vincent
Conceptualizing Slam Bolt Scrappers
Slam Bolt Scrappers takes place in Slam Bolt City, but the world containing SBS includes several different environments. One of the discussions we had here at Fire Hose Games was, “How can we create an exciting world full of color that takes place in urban and non-city related environments?” The answer boiled down to identifying exactly which elements were affected by the chaos. Slam Bolt City is a world by itself, your kingdom, where things are influenced by outside events. The rest of the world is a battle ground for events that will tie into Slam Bolt City. This mindset allowed us to create some interesting 2D level concepts.
Below is a concept of Slam Bolt City that was designed alongside our other promotional piece – the Slam Bolt Scrappers wallpaper. It does a great job of using color to emphasize the different environments, hinting at the yet to be disclosed storyline.
We’ve also been putting a lot of thought into the scenery of tutorial levels. Many of the later stages have busy backgrounds that are not really conducive to tutorials. One idea we toyed with was creating a Tutorial Island isolated from the craziness of SBC. This concept shows our try at building a less chaotic environment that still captures the excitement of SBS through its colors.
Check out the full sized images in our Slam Bolt Scrappers gallery.
More to come soon…
July 30, 2010 | | Comments (1)
Category: Development Blog
Tags:
Why I love Boston
(inspired by Bill Reed’s post over at the Demiurge Blog)
An Open Letter to Curt Schilling (because I don’t have his e-mail address)
Dear Curt,
Dude, seriously? You’re leaving Boston for Rhode Island? This city MADE YOU. Before coming to here you were just some pitcher from Arizona, a state best known for their iced tea and cacti. You’ve upgraded! When people think of Curt Shilling now they think of the Red Sox, Fenway franks, and maybe your new video game push. Hell, your studio mascot is even a green monster!
Boston is a great city! We’ve got a growing, vibrant dev community full of brilliant and generally balanced people who are experts at making awesome games. We’ve got some of the best universities around pumping out students who are basically free slave labor *wink wink*. And we have a higher burrito joint/game developer ratio than any city east of the Rockies.
And what did you even leave Boston for? A mere… 75 million dollars? WHAT? You can get that much for moving to Rhode Island? I didn’t realize….
Hey Rhode Island, wanna cut us a piece of that action? We’re ready to move tomorrow!
ps. 38 Studios guys who don’t feel like moving, perhaps it’s time you considered an exciting switch to indie game development? We’re always looking 
July 27, 2010 | | Comments (1)
Category: Random, Rant
Tags: 38 studios, 75 million, Boston, Curt, Fenway, Massachusetts, Red Sox, Rhode Island, Schilling
What We’re Playing: CellCraft
Some of you may know that in a past life I worked on Immune Attack, a game that teaches immunology to high school students (be sure to check out the new version coming soon!). It was a great project and I loved working with the team on it. However, we had a lot of challenges in development regarding tradeoffs in how to present biologically accurate material and how to keep the game fun and engaging.
Enter CellCraft, an awesome game that is about cellular biology. The game is basically a microscopic RTS in which the player controls a single cell and has to perform the various actions real cells perform to defeat/survive bacterial and viral infections. What *I* find shocking is that:
- They didn’t dumb down any of the terminology in the game (one of the first instructions you get is to create a pseudopod (latin: fake foot, it’s how cells move around). Your fuel is ATP, your units are the organelles themselves, and as a result when you are done playing you know all the terms. Awesome!
- The behaviors taken by the cell are realistic too. At no point do you whip out lasers to kill bacteria, but you do get to go all pac-man-y on them and eat them.
- The game is legit fun! This is a huge accomplishment; when was the last time someone told you that biology is fun?
If you haven’t tried it yet, you really need to go play this game now. If you really like it you can even download it for free onto your computer. Hooray for government grants leading to free games!
One more thing worth noting is that there has recently been some controversy about the game concerning whether it endorses evolution or creationism. This is, of course, a bit ridiculous as the game has absolutely nothing to do with either and is concerned with cellular biology, but hey some people like to dig for meaning anywhere they can. I’m glad the controversy happened because it’s driven many more eyeballs to a highly deserving game (sure, it was for the wrong reason but who cares?). If you’re curious you can read about the developer’s thoughts here.