Posts tagged with “multiplayer”

Lost? Wondering what you missed? Read Yesterday’s Post!

September 2008 came and went, and we had a few prototypes for what would eventually become Slam Bolt Scrappers. Now it was time to roll the parts we liked together into a mega-prototype to see if we could actually make something more fun that everyone would enjoy.

The features we wanted to keep were: User generated content for making levels, an architecture theme, and fighting mixed in with the building. We also thought that the electricity and water elements from the tree prototype were interesting as well. The stuff that we wanted to fix was the lack of clear goals and lack of level structure. We spent October 2008 jamming in python, and here’s what we came up with.

Right off the bat you’ll notice a lot of differences. The game play was kind of similar to the T-Rex prototype, with a marauding bad guy (in this case a robot) that you could temporarily knock out so you could focus on building. The building was still centered around the idea of picking up I-beams from piles on the side of the screen, but we increased the complexity, allowing the player to build anywhere and asking them to also make sure that every part of the structure was both powered and watered. We also made the fighting more complex, giving the player a gun to shoot beams and a powerful close range punch attack that was stronger depending on how fast the user was moving. Finally there were two lose conditions; run out of money or have your whole building destroyed and you would fail the level.

Making the game 2 player was a very smart decision, as the game was suddenly much more fun when you had someone else playing the game in the room with you. It also gave rise to all sorts of interesting strategies, like “you fight! I’ll build!” Once we put multiplayer in it was clear that it was going to be a central feature for the game.

Perhaps one of the most interesting points of this game is the controls – you’ll notice the XBox buttons showing up on screen, as we initially envisioned the game as an XBLA title (we had a good contact at Microsoft in that department at the time). The trophies in the bottom right corner of the menu even led to unlockable achievements.

The level editor was a neat feature that people liked but ultimately we decided to cut it. Our Microsoft friend pointed out that we’d have problems with ratings once people started submitting levels that spelled out “Fuck” or had a giant penis in it, and we weren’t convinced that it was worth the hassle of adding a feature that could lead to mediocre level design. Ultimately this was the last iteration that featured the level editor as we dumped user generated content from our core feature set.

We still didn’t have an artist on board until the very end of October so much of the art in this prototype was borrowed. We found sprite sheets online for robots from TwinBee and Mega Man X and repurposed those as our player characters and computer controlled bad guys respectively (it was especially weird for me as I played Mega Man X a lot, this robot was much tougher ). To make the background feel like a city we altered the background from SimTower, and to give the game an epic feel we put in some Matrix music by Rob Dougan. The tiles for the building, beams, and pipes were all original art as our artist managed to get us new assets for those at the last second. We were getting close to the point of pitching though, so this would be the last prototype we would make with non-original art assets as we didn’t want to get into legal trouble.

The prototype was neat but our Microsoft contact confirmed our suspicions that it wasn’t strong enough to get a greenlight for XBLA. We therefore set out after this to make an even more polished prototype, and to fix up some of the things we didn’t like about the version we had.

Pros of Construction Robot Prototype:

• Multiplayer was a lot of fun. We decided it would be neat to try out 4 player mutliplayer next time.
• Game felt innovative and different
• Lighting up the building and punching out robots was satisfying, but could get frustrating quickly when it was too hard
• Achievements were cool, people liked them a lot

Cons of Construction Robot Prototype:

• User generated content too much of a headache, not compelling enough
• Building felt too simplistic
• Going back and forth to the edge of the screen got old quick
• Money mechanic was too complicated and confusing, and added almost nothing to the game
• It felt silly to not only have to build but also to have to water and power it, and people weren’t clear on why that was their goal. What was the point?

It’s pretty cool to see how this game is already much closer to Slam Bolt Scrappers than the first attempts. Tune in tomorrow for a run down of iteration 3!

Remember when games were hard? No hand holding, no tutorials, just throw-you-in-the-mix-and-let-you-figure-it-out hard? TerRover, by Creat Studios, is a new game out on the PSN ($15) that is hard like that, and in an awesome way. You control a cute little tank, and your only goal in life is to navigate the level and get from start to finish. Of course your path is blocked by lots of sharp things that kill you, but luckily the game provides lots of save points so if you die you are only set back a little ways. And that’s great, cause you’re gonna die a LOT. The controls of the game are what’s really difficult though – you can flip around in all sorts of ways, and between that and the bouncy physics you are frequently surprised by where you end up.

Now I’ve seen some reviews online bashing the controls, but in my opinion they are totally looking at them the wrong way. The controls are hilarious, and you wind up having an awesome time messing around with them (remember, we loved QWOP). Sure, they can be frustrating at times, but if you go with the flow you will find yourself laughing and having fun a lot more than anything else. And when you do get over that challenge hump or past that insane spikey ball of death you have a great feeling of accomplishment.

However, the game has one stellar feature which far and away outshines everything else. The multiplayer race mode in which 1-4 friends can race together is FANTASTIC. I haven’t yelled, screamed, and laughed so much with my friends since WarioWare. The race is really amusing, with people dying left and right, respawning at odd points, and just general mayhem. This feature alone makes the game worth purchasing, and I *strongly* recommend playing this with friends. If you at all like party games and/or hard games, I promise you you’ll love this one.

Full Disclosure: We hung out with the Creat guys @ E3 in the SOE booth and they are local Boston indie devs, so we’re friends with them. That said this review is impartial and not influenced by that friendship.

I’ve spent the better part of the past weekend playing through Borderlands, a new first person shooter with RPG elements from 2K. I had fun playing so here are my thoughts on the game.

What was interesting: I liked the Diablo similarities where you get procedurally generated loot for killing enemies. While it can be cumbersome at times to sort through all the drops it did certainly feel satisfying when you found the rapid-fire-rocket-launcher-of-lighting-your-enemy’s-face-on-fire. The tech tree part was fun too, I played as a Berserker and leveled up my ability to punch people to death instead of the tried and true shooting method. The missions that you picked up, while mostly formulaic, kept me engaged enough to want to keep playing to see what happened next. Finally, I really enjoyed the voice acting for a couple of the characters, especially the hillbilly who offers you vehicles (“Get you one!”)

What was ok: The vehicle sections were about as mediocre as I expected, and felt very reminiscent of Halo Warthog Jeep (alas, no flying motorcycle or tank). The plot was entirely throw away as far as I was concerned (I’m searching for some secret treasure vault? Who gives a shit?) but luckily the game didn’t really shove it down my throat too much. The game had a nice visual aesthetic with some cartoony/serious graphics, but after a while things started to blend together and I got tired of the whole junkyard look and feel. It’s too bad they didn’t explore different environments with different colors more! The boss fights were generally good, with some memorable tangles, but there were too few bosses to break up the game play.

What sucked: After a while things started to get a little bit repetitive, especially in the enemy department. By the end I was just playing for the sake of playing, not because I wanted to see the next exciting thing. Some of the fetch quests were kind of annoying too, especially when it clearly felt like a fetch quest.

What I missed: The multiplayer! Everyone tells me this is one of the best features of the game, but I only played through single player. After I find my gold trial I’ll give the co-op and death match modes a shot and see how they play out, I’m sure they’re a ton of fun.

Overall I think Borderlands was a lot of fun, and it appeals to me even though I’m not usually into FPS-es. I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot, especially if you like playing with friends. Accept its flaws and you’ll have a good time.