Soul Calibur 3 + what Namco has done right (fighting games)

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3142254

After reading this I'm jumping up and down lol. This is one helluva rabbit out of a hat that they've pulled. I've been wondering for a long time now that 3D fighters have pretty much evolved as much as they could in their current state. How many joystick/button combinations for oves/multiparts havent been used yet? Out of a (still) discrete 8 directions, 4 or so buttons. Some double tap + hold can give you an extra couple of moves for the nexe sequel but you will also get to a point where you will hit diminshing returns for more moves added and more moves memorised. Unless the lifebar ends up growing bigger or the damage being drastically reduced, there's only so many moves that you will use per fight and some are more effective than others.

Looks like the designers realised this and took a different approach instead of the usual sequel route. Giving context to why people fight as well as giving them multiple options and variety to learn different facets of the game beyond memorising a movelist was a stroke of genius. Learn by doing. The more variety and fun to spice up the fighting the better. Memorising the movelist in practice mode is the only "artificial" barrier to a fighting game nowadays.

I've loved seeing the Namco fighters, but especially the Soul Calibur series grow from being dial-a-combos to fighting games where one can literally figure out the combos or evolve new ones just by paying close attention. For example, the move being abstracted away so you can focus on where you want to hit, someone wants to kick low, they press down and kick, the kick that you get may be different depending on stance, posture, position but it will be aimed where you want. Another example is that the dial-a-combos are just the beginning, variances in falling speed, juggles and positioning are just some of the factors that can create opportunities to string together more combos and moves together, again things that you can figure out yourself instead of looking at a faq/movelist.

I suspect the fighting system hasn't changed a whole lot, but I'm looking forward to all the other goodies they've added. I'm so damn excited to play this, I may even buy a PS2 for it lol. Yes right before the next-gens are due out :P

Discuss

Disconect between graphics, meaning, purpose.

This is observation on a lot of game art these days. There is a lack of connection between what the viewer observes and what the viewer connects with and attunes them to your world. Taking for example the Myst clones that never caught on. This is a case of artists making things pretty first but not questioning why. I like sources like anthropology when say designing the houses or the clothes of my races, why are the roofs constructed the way they are, or why the fabrics are used (not just for a look). That should clue you into what kind of weather they have to deal wtih, natural resources available to them etc. Try to avoid stereotypes. Again my beef with most pulp fantasy novels is that they just replicate what was done previously without thinking of the why (or the need). Instead of dressing up your world, it's about what you can observe about the graphics that help tell the player about the world.

For more modern settings, your cities, industrial settings etc should be connected to the ecosystem or economy, if your design does not stretch so far, think of the real world. A good way to think about it would be an "alternate earth" to start with. i.e. recognisable elements that players can easily connect with or extrapolate a what-if scenario from that help give meaning to the fancy art. This is also what draws me to a genre like steampunk or a game like Arcanum. We've taken fancy graphics for granted, we expect them. I'm not saying every game needs to be Tolkien-esque in its level of detail, but an analogy to this would be just slapping paint onto something without thinking why you want that colour.

Every designer should at least think about this approach, it would help combat the current malaise of every game looking the same and the player audience having an overwhelming feeling of "been there done that" with all but the most uber-graphics of games.

Discuss

Original IP, licensed IP, are they so bad?

On one hand I'm pretty disgusted at the current state of affairs where new games and ideas that were once the norm, have now slipped into "novelty"/foolhardy status. On the other hand I think we should be grateful that our industry has evolved to the point where we have the movie equivalent of "money flicks" (the flicks you do, to get the money so you can do the film you want/art flicks for charity pay/no $$$).

If you look at the fundamental business model of a typical video game company, especially a startup, there is the usual severe lack of incoming cashflow. I don't think any other business has a model where we work our arses off for 2-5 years for a giant crapshoot where our product may sell for only 1-2 months at best (assuming we get shelf placement) before being heavily discounted or forgotten. Developers are meant to be smart people yet we don't see the flaw in this plan? Don't blame the publishers for having you over a barrel when it's partly our own fault for accepting such a weak cash/bargaining position in the first place.

Anything we can do to bring in incoming cashflow while the giant epic Half-Life 2 clone is being worked on the better, especially if it can be done with fewer resources. Merchandise, mobile games that may have a 6 month dev cycle, licensed games with a 1 year dev cycle etc. It's rare that you get any studio large enough to have several concurrent projects running at the same time. I think by now we've established that certain franchises, Star Wars, Sims, Marvel tie-ins sell irrespective of quality. This is a boon and an opportunity to strengthen the studio. It is only a negative if the industry chooses only to focus on milking these cash cows for the short term. Which brings me to...

Original IP. This is what we should all be aiming for. Star Wars? Marvel chars? they were all once "original IP" (this also means investing in more writers, designers and treating them seriously). Who would not want to create something that could stand the test of time and (oh hell) milkable in the long run. Rare as that may be, I think we all have the potential to reverse our current (pitiful) fate, and I dream of one day seeing the established other forms of entertainment, tv, movies, music, even comics be licensing our stuff and have it be the rule not the exception.

Discuss

Gamemaker

Big flurry of posts coming :D

First up.

http://www.gamemaker.nl

This is what Kilk and Play should have been all these years ago lol. This is extremely powerful, drag and drop, events, behaviours, simple callbacks. Looks like you can make just about any kind of 2D game you want although I haven't seen much about being able to define animation cycles.

It can even do Doom-like and isometric games, platformers and scrollers are extremely easy with this