D.I.Y. Game Mechanics by Introversion

Beyond brilliant! I am so fascinated by what the people over at Introversion are doing. One thing had struck me as ingenious; they are creating a system where you can build your own complex gadgets out of simple things. The basics of this is simple: create objects in the world that do one task (perhaps two) such as a wire that transmits a signal of 1 if on and 0 if off, and other objects that respond to signals , such as bomb detonating when it receives a signal of 1 and stays off when receiving a signal of 0. Things can get more intricate when you throw in time delays, motion sensors, and laser trip lines creating dynamic environments where saboteurs actually have to look at what wire they are cutting rather than holding the action button for 8 seconds.

Imagine the things you can make with some simple tools. Lets throw in some neat examples, so what can you make with, wires, sliding door, a motion sensor, a few trip lines, an explosive, a keypad, a gun-turret, pressure pads, some time delays, and an alarm... it almost seems like an electricians play ground...or explosives expert. If you were playing against another player, you can set up elaborate defense systems or traps and the other player will have to do some undercover recon to take note of all your defenses and to see how to bypass them. With a system like this , custom downloadable content is foreseeable and perhaps in some sort of MMO universe it could even be a class of some sorts that builds templates and sells them for mega credits depending on how useful it is.

I don't know why we haven't seen this in games as simple as it is. Half Life 2 did try this with some of their force shields and ....... force shields, and as trivial as it was - using the gravity gun to pull the plug - it still brought a different side of gameplay us gamers haven't seen and we felt proud knowing we "figured" out how to turn off the .. shields . 

This is such a great design and I plan on using a derivation of this in future games.

Procedurally Generated Cities

Imagine just clicking a button and bam! a randomized city is constructed from start to finish right before your eyes. Fiddle with some preset information such as city centers and population density and your city is born. No longer any need for expensive artist to conjure up hours of detailed work if the algorithms and math can do it in fractions of the cost and time! 

Procedural cities bascially use existing data about expansions of cities and roads and apply it into an existing plane. Then they calculate where residential, commercial, and industrial zones would most likely be or fit. Skyscrapers are fitted in down town areas with lots of room and small suburban housing on the fringes. 

Imagine the capabilities with this technology! Soon the tech will support different styles of cities with just an adjustment of a few parameters. Want a metropolis with rome style buildings? Sure thing! You can find more information here

Applying this to a game seems almost obvious. Next step is to make each building accessible and destructible.

Social Network Games : New Grounds For Experimental Gaming

If you are part of one of the biggest social networks , eg. Facebook, Myspace, then you might have noticed a new wave of game showing up and a bunch of your friends playing them. These new games offer twists on great game designs and are unique each in their own ways. Playfish  has been one of the biggest influences out there , having most of their games on the top of the charts on Facebook. So why are these games catching the attention of millions?

For one, it's how they are designed. Their are two types of social networking games, those that are just games to have fun with friends and others that the point is to add friends to your app game. The latter usually has a big "INVITE FRIENDS" button on the main page imporing you to click on it. Games like this are usually not as entertaining because they usually force you to get people to play so that your experience is more enjoyable telling you things like "invite one more peron and you can buy the ROCKET LAUNCHER FROM HELL!!!! RAWR RAWR!" and it really ruins the fun because you end up saying your friends "look you don't need to even play, just join up and thats it." 

This is deplorable... but it is a great marketing scam. These games are called Viral. The point is to spread and get people to eventually click the micro-transaction button so they can get fake money in the game. We'll that's actually how all social network games make their money but when that's the focus it waters down gameplay to null. So the other option is to actually use the network as a testing ground to the infinite possible game designs. MAKE an actual game that people would play rather than some crappy, cookie-cutter spreadsheet game that has been the case for a while now. 

The network is there and people are willing to play; it's like a Game Designers dream! The risk is so small that games can be pumped out as fast as you can make them and the quality does not have to be AAA so to speak. People recognize that graphics are gonna be sub bar and try to make the best of what you have created. Games can be expirmental now that the risk is so low and designers can go nuts and just make far out designs where they could have otherwise on a bigger title. Publishers are out of the picture and it goes straight to the costumer. And if you need to survey your audience, just ask. You have a tool which allows millions of users to be at your questioning and that kind of service is invaluable. 

I see a future of wacky far out games that will call attention to many users proving that games can reach out to all audiences. This new environment will nurture experimental growth for designers and hopefully we'll see some more original games.

Voltron! The Multiplayer Game... how would it work?

Paul Dostal posted a curious topic on the Inside EA Linked In group forum. He posted 

How would you design a game to handle a combining robot, in the style of the combining robots from Transformers, Power Rangers, etc.?

I'm curious about how this issue could be handled, seeing as I've always been a fan of robots and co-op games since I was a child. I always loved watching as the Constructicons would combine to form Devestator or the Dinozords would combine to form the Megazord or even better, the Mighty Orbots combining into Mighty Orbot, but this brings up an interesting dilemma in game design: Who the heck gets to control the robot?!

For those who've never watched Transformers, Power Rangers, Mighty Orbots or other similar shows, I'll give you a brief rundown of what happens. Enemy Robot/Monster/Asteroid appears in town, and the heroes each have or are a robot of some sort that can combine into a single powerful robot that has far superior power and usually defeats the enemy in a single attack, (totally disappointing the kids who were hoping for an epic battle, but lets not bring up too many sad memories) and then they separate and go home. Of course, in some cases, the battles do last a while and can sometimes be pretty exciting. I'm looking for designing for the latter, where the players get some satisfaction of defeating the enemy.

Let's assume that this is an online/lan game so each player has his/her own view of the game. So, you've got the task of taking a 5-part robot, and splitting the gameplay elements between each player who controls each part. I've chosen a 5-part robot because that is the most common combining style I'm aware of, but I've seen some shows with 10 or more parts. 4 of the robots transform into a limb, while the fifth into a head and torso. Now, you combine into your giant robot and are about to battle the enemy monster, so who gets to drive?

There are a couple of ways I see to take care of this, each with drawbacks and advantages.

1) One person takes full control of the robot: The main advantage to this is that there's no splitting of gameplay between players, so the person controlling the robot gets the satisfaction of beating the badguy while the others watch. The disadvantage is that only one person actually plays this part of the game while the others watch. Sure they can comment, or give suggestions, but who wants to watch someone win the game you're playing without some real help from you. You can always rotate pilots though if you wanted, perhaps having 2 combining modes, 1 where you are a limb, the other where you are a torso. I'm not sure I'd enjoy this too much.

2) 1 person controls the walking, 1 person controls the fists, 1 person controls the weapons, remaining 2 keep the power up. This gives everyone a task to do, and an interesting approach to teamwork. 1 person controls the legs, so he/she controls if the robot moves anywhere, and if it jumps or flies around. The next person controls the fists, so if the enemy is nearby, they get to do any punching or swordplay that happens to occur. Another person controls the ranged weapons of the robot, so if the robot has a gun or laser cannons in his chest or some other form of ranged weapon, he'd be in charge of that. Finally the remaining 2 might have a puzzle pirates type role where they have to play mini-games to keep the robot powered or armed. They would all need voice-chat I'd imagine, and someone would have to be in charge of what actions to take. The main advantage I see to this approach is the emphasis on teamwork and communications to maximize the potential of the robots powers. The disadvantage I see is if someone on the team doesn't co-operate then chances are that the team will lose the game.

I think any combining robot games would have to emphasize teamwork and communication skills over solitary ones. Any thoughts?

This is what i had to say:

On #1 - If one person were to command the robot, it would be a total bummer on the rest of the team since they do not get to participate in the action.

On #2 - This is more complicated and needs to be balanced well. For a five part unit I was thinking.

Pilot:
One guy is the robots movement from a 3rd person perspective over the shoulder style, this includes legs and arm motion and jumping and boosters and all things motion. If this was like a fighting robot game then he would execute the combat moves and combos or what not.

Left Shoulder Turret:
One guy is in a turret first person view that is sort of like a ball socket and can rotate 180-270 degrees to from the front to back defending the robot from rear attacks and frontal attacks; perhaps an army of tiny infantry or tanks harass the player while they fight the BIG main guy. The drawback is that he can only defend part of the front, part of the left and part of the back.

Right Shoulder Turret:
Same as the left shoulder turret but on the right. These two are the main defenders for the robot.

Intel / Commander / Tactician:
This guy basically has a view of the battlefield and can have pivotal 3rd person view of the robot. His task is to delegate targets of interest or importance since the main guy cannot view behind him and the two shoulder mounts are frantically defending in all directions. This way there is a person who isn't going nuts fighting and can calmly direct the flow of the battle field. He can set targets for individual parts such as left arm on the tank turret and pilot to the main base and the other players would see on their screen where they should shoot (in case of indirect fire and firing while moving) kind of like in Tribes 2 when they had the laser pointer or in Freelancer moving target reticule.

Engineer:
Someone needs to keep track of the health and status of all the gadgets the robot has. This guy basically has an overview of all the tech in robot and how they are keeping up. He has a main "ENERGY" bar he can distribute throughout the robot, and depending on what needs to be done he can pump it full of energy to make a bonus damage with high critical hit chance, or redirect everything to shields while they make a retreat to safer ground. He also has a side task for repairing the robot so he sends out little flying droids to pick up scraps that will be used to repair the robot. The commander player would also help point out large stock piles of scraps so to direct the droids.

Overall i think this could work out well. But definitely needs constant communication with all members. Perhaps if not all 5 members are available, the AI could take over or a player would take on more than one role. More balancing would be required for different number of team members. But I do enjoy where you went with this and It could possibly make for a great team vs team experience. I can picture two massive robots fighting in a DOTA-esque environment where tons of enemies are thrown at you and you must take out the other players robot, or base , or whatever. This could even work for a space robot game or spaceship game. Very interesting idea!

probably should start sketching concepts and gameplay mechanics. haha!

New Flock-ing Browser

Flock is a browser a new browser based on Mozilla's Firefox browser. At first I was very skeptical about downloading and using it but once I got the hang of it and used it to its fullest, I would recommend it to anyone who likes to stay connected. Flock has many integrated features that include : Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Picasa, Photobucket, Flickr, Gmail, AOL, Yahoo!, Digg, Blogger, and much, much more. It has it's own section for RSS feeds and a tool that makes it easy to update any blog regularly. Some tools include a drag and drop clip board that takes photos and snippets of text so that you can place them elsewhere. One of my favorite tools is the photo uploader, which lets you upload to any of your photo websites and social networks, allowing you to skip the shitty java coded uploaders that come with the webpage. There is a "Media Bar" which lets you view albums and photos on a page and favorite them so that you can view them any time later. 

The interface is what grabs me. It's simple, sleek and easy to learn. And if you want your everyday browser, you can just hide all the extended tools and run the regular browser. On the address bar you'll find clearly visible buttons to , show media images in the Media Bar, subscribe to RSS feeds, Favorite the webpage, and send the link via email. Some common Firefox features include multiple tabs and a search engine drop down lists that let you run different search engines.When you get new messages/feeds the icons for the corresponding thing light up letting you know you have NEW items to look at. Also when you are not on facebook, you can allow the facebook-chat to display on the bottom of the browser window to keep track of how your facebook is doing.

There's still a lot I probably don't know yet and can't wait to figure out, but so far has been a great tool for me to use with networking and keeping track of game news and updates. So to anyone who has tweetdeck and digsby or trillian, I recommend looking into Flock!

AAA Game Jobs - How to Prepare Yourself

First thought is ... "AGHHHHHHGFHGH OMFG THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" but after countless hours of rocking back and forth in a fetal position, I realize what it really takes to "break into the industry."

If you're coming out of college/university/school/whatever with an incentive to work for a big name company as something more than a QA guy, you're gonna need to know a few things.

Your portfolio
Your portfolio sells you in the first 15 seconds. This needs to be your BEST work and when I mean best, I mean something you would cry about if it ever got deleted because of how f#$% AMAZING it was.
Some tips for artist that I've come across on are : show your strengths. If you are good at characters and not environments, show your BEST characters. If you do animations , show that. Another good tip was to know what kind of style the company does more or less. For example : Rockstar Games make realistic looking worlds and if your art is stylized and cutesy then it just isn't gonna fly! You need to tailor your portfolio to the studios best interest and style. So if you think the work you did in school is gonna cut it, you're highly mistaken! If you are looking for that dream job then prepare some time to create new content for your portfolio that will awe and bedazzle your employer!

As for programming portfolios, the big thing is clean, cohesive, and disciplined code, so follow good coding standards and be consistent. AND COMMENT YOUR CODE RAWR RAWR RAWR ! Dont forget to comment your code well so that the people reading it don't get frustrated trying to figure out what the hell you just wrote and then toss it aside as some amateur attempt at wasting their time. The demo/project you show off does not have to do anything with what the company does so don't worry too much on that. But do show off your best work, whatever that may be, it most likely should be a side project that you have worked on with your friends or by yourself or a school project that you have extended to do much more than what it was intended for - still following cohesion. You dont want to show a tile editor that can also play pong for it doesn't make sense whatsoever. If you did work in a team make sure you HONESTLY detail what you did work on and  reflect that in your header comments.

For designers... it's a bit more difficult.Why the hell did I want to be a designer... So to prepare for a game design portfolio, you should have a few things : The Design Doc - basically a run down of EVERYTHING that will be in your game, from story to gameplay and art style to marketing. This is going to be a lot of writing but you should enjoy it for the most part because it is in fact your game. This needs to be as detailed as possible and really convey to the reader what your core gameplay, how to play it, and ultimately how to beat it. Every nook and cranny needs to be explored. Things like component interaction matrix or CIM - which detail all the objects in the game and how they would interact with one another - are vital to a good document. Weapon breakdowns such as: range, rate of fire, damage, piercing value, weight, how many inventory slots it takes up, and ammo are also good to have (if you have weapons of course). Basically everything, and I do mean everything, needs to be broken down and described in as many ways as possible. Numbers and Statistics on the other hand do not need to be final at all , but need to at least be reasonable within the scope of the game and to what you detail in the descriptions. If you say that the pistol is stronger than the Uzi in damage, then show it in the numbers as well. 

STEP TWO! this step usually all designers falter in and I can see why, it is to actually prototype your game idea. Pen & paper, some quick C# , or even dice and index cards will work. So long as you follow the rules to the best of your ability and stick to the design you laid out. Once you prototype the damn thing and you will find out that maybe making the dragon have this cool acid spray AOE was actually too difficulty for a LVL 1 paper boy to take on with his +1 bicycle of haste and +2 rolled up paper tube of dismay. Now's your chance to fiddle with the numbers and find out if your game works and is ultimately fun to play. Don't think your design doc is a solid piece of concrete, think of it as a malleable piece of gold that will be polished as you work on it and chiseled into something grand... like say a sculpture of me....*ehem*... just note that this is a live thing and you will be making changes cause if you are not then you are either brilliant or a bloody idiot (always wanted to say that). Once you think you have prototyped your game to a point where you enjoy it, test it with a friend, and if its multilayer then get more people on it and get feedback. Test your market audience as well. See if your 17-33 year old male category can actually attract 12-45 year old males and females. Do some basic statistics: write a survey with a few questions on the quality of your game and a simple scoring system say 1-10 , 10 being extremely extreme and 1 being not so extreme, you just might get a 9.5 and eat that extreme cheddar doritos you've been craving...wait what the hell am I saying? Aside from the Harold and Kumar references... these statistics will help aid you in the long term development cycle and perhaps focus your design and to eventually learn your audience. Throughout your prototype development, remember to write down the things that went right, and things that went wrong so you know what to repeat and what not to. It seems obvious but you'll be surprised how often history's mistakes repeat themselves. 

Once you have your portfolio set up , glimmering nicely and proudly, you must find a place to host your work. Spend some time on spiffing up an online blog or webpage. Google offers free hosting and so does many other sites like blogspot and other blogging webpages. Sites like Wix offer amazing flash designs and even let you customize your own flash page to spiff up your portfolio a bit and make it stand out. Just don't get to wild, too many buttons and levers can confuse anyone. Make it simple and to the point. And make more than just one depending on what kind of job you are marketing for.

Your Resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV)* don't
If you are a noob, this is going to prove it... but  be ashamed to put in what you worked on over the years in school. You did in fact work hard on them and should feel comfortable in detailing the things you did in your school projects.

Problem is, this is a AAA job. So if all you have is school projects you don't show passion for what you're doing. So send off what you have now so as to make contact with your employer but make sure to keep doing what you love and write down all your side projects on your resume. Even if you have things in the works , just write them down and remember to date them. Note : Do finish your projects, nothing frightens an employer more than a lack of commitment to work and a half finished project is just that. So don't jump from project to project tell yourself "I'll get to that when I have more time" and convincing yourself that you have a new better idea you want to flesh out.. it's going to be a terrible cycle that will never end. In situations like that, just write down an idea and where you want to go with it and resume the project you were working on.

Research your job. See what you are going to be working on and try to formulate your resume in such a way to reflect that. The more you research the easier the interview will be and the faster you will connect to the employer, elevating your chances of getting hired.

Failure

Do not take it personal when your AAA dream job says NO. They might not even tell you that they wont hire you or why they didn't, and if that's the case then do not be spammy about it. Don't go squaking tons of emails asking if you were hired or not, that's an easy way to get black listed in this industry where everyone knows one another. So just take it slow and in a few weeks post a message that you are still interested and keep that distance. Stay invloved in the forums and be active. Keep updating your portfolio and never stop learning! Eventually a spot will in fact open and you have been spending your time refining your skills to a point where you are a candidate and may even get the job next time around. Dont think that your emails get deleted right away, employers keep track of this stuff, and in the future you probably will be on their list to see if you are still interested and see how you have improved.

I REPEAT: NEVER STOP LEARNING!! Always stay in the loop and up to date. Keep researching new topics and learn what the industry is doing.

Network
In an industry where everyone knows each other, it's best to be nice. So be on your best behavior and be cool. Play it strait. Don't be the prick who stinks (literally). You will find yourself climbing the food chain faster and faster by getting recommendations and offers from people who like you. Keep phone numbers of colleagues who have potential in getting hired and stay keep in touch regularly by sending an email or two or a facebook poke... whatever your fancy is. Social sites help this process by making it easy to stay connected and respectable sites such as LinkedIN allow an even more professional networking experience. Just watch out for those drunk images of you passing out in the corner holding a bottle of Jagger in one hand and a pink flaming lawn ornament in the other getting out on the internet. Keep those things on the DL (that's down low for you less hip folk).

Network the shit out of yourself...seriously its the best thing you can do. Random stuff happens in life and what better than your best buddy getting hired as the lead of a team and needing teammates to hire. Network, Network**, NETWORK RAWR RAWR!

So in conclusion,  I realize these "few things" really meant lots of little details and determination. Once you follow these steps, you should be on your way in working on a AAA title making mega money and having a somewhat secure job... at least if you get laid off you have something to put on your resume!

*(CV) - this is basically a long winded resume with more details about your background, certifications, education, and jib jab like that.

**NETWORK NETWORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Game Design Challenge : The Letter

"

Game Design Challenge: The Letter

[08.12.09]
- Christian Nutt

GameCareerGuide.com's Game Design Challenge is an exercise in becoming a game developer, asking you to look at games in a new way -- from the perspective of a game creator, producer, marketer, businessperson, and so forth.

Every other Wednesday we'll present you with a challenge about developing video games. You'll have two weeks to brainstorm a brilliant solution (see below for how to submit your answers). After the two week submission period elapses, the best answers and the names of those who submitted them will be posted, along with some commentary.

The Challenge

Come up with a concept for the game The Letter.

Assignment Details

Though paper letters aren't such a big part of our lives anymore, they were once of tremendous significance. Email, Twitter, blogs, instant messaging, cell phones, and Facebook have all drawn us closer, but there was a time when momentous information would come in a letter; information that could change the course of someone's life.

This design challenge deals with such a letter.

You will design a game called The Letter which opens with the main character receiving a very significant letter. What's the content of the letter? Where does he or she go from there? That's up to you. Setting, content, genre -- those are the decisions you will make. The only restriction is that your game's story must begin with the protagonist receiving a letter.

It worked for Silent Hill 2, didn't it?

To Submit

Work on your ideas, figure out your strategy for coming up with a solution, and ask questions on the forum. When your submission is complete, send it to gamedesignchallenge@gamecareerguide.com with the subject line "Design Challenge: The Letter." Please type your answer directly in the email body.

Submissions should be no more than 500 words and may contain up to three images. Be sure to include your full name and school affiliation or job title.

Entries must be submitted by Wednesday, August 26

Results will be posted Tuesday, September 1

" I know its late but I started the blog today so give me a break. I'll post the next challenge as soon as they show up. The design challenge is found on GameCareerGuide every other Wednesday I believe.

Here's my entry.

Name : James Gonzalez

Job : Seeking

The Rift

The game has 3 chapters with 1 character for each chapter: 1^st a thief, 2^nd an archeologist, 3^rd an Orion Agent, each receiving part of the same letter. Each piece contains markings and symbols that eventually when connected reveal a map and instructions to devices around the world that will open rifts to other dimensions (but the characters don’t know this). The corporation is called “Orion Corp” and they develop all the leading technology of the present day. Their main goal is to obtain the three pieces and receive its power. They currently hold one piece.

The game is in a top down view and room based much like the old school game PC “Yoda Stories” and “Indiana Jones : Desktop Adventures” but in 3D like in “Shadowgrounds.” The player can interact with the environment and most objects such as grabbing and pulling boxes and operate buttons and consoles.

(Sources: Thief, Indiana Jones, Agent Smith)

1^st character: Thief. In this chapter the player focuses on sneaking. The player robs an old mansion turned museum that used to belong to an explorer. When the player robs the vault, while avoiding security patrols and laser defenses by clever gadgets such as mirrors and smoke bombs, he finds a piece of the letter. As he escapes, the alarms turn on and he must make a mad dash to the exit while avoiding getting caught by guards.

2^nd character: Archeologist. The archeologist player focuses on puzzle solving (Goof Troop), trying to figure out how to open ancient Egyptian doors with all sorts of levers and floor weights. Eventually the player finds the 2^nd piece to the letter and is self propelled on the quest to finding the device which he thinks is inside the very structure he is excavating. This leads him through more difficult traps involving sequenced floor weights that need to be pressed in a specific order (and different tools to cross gaps and ledges, such as grappling hooks to swing across bottomless pits.

3^rd character: Orion Agent. The Orion player focuses on puzzle solving and sneaking around. He must sneak around the compound and find the letters by stealing passcards and ID badges to go into restricted levels of the base. Some puzzles involve hacking computers like “Fallout 3” but more simplified and opening a 3-step door with buttons that control 2 doors and some that control 1 (randomizing each time the game is run)

Eventually the Agent gets in contact with the other two members and head to Egypt. They merge the pieces together, the archeologist reads it with the help of the Orion agent and the thief stumbles upon the very device they were looking for. In the end the archeologist realizes the Agent wants to destroy it takes it upon himself to activate the device and starts the devices opening the rift. It ends with the pyramids shooting a beam of light into space.

(sources: Goof Troop, Yoda Stories)

The White Rabbit

Hello web-denizens (or simply put webizens),

I started this blog mainly to pour out all my game design ideas and finally flesh them out. If you're wondering why the name White Rabbit it is because of its connotation. "Follow the white rabbit" or "Down the rabbit hole" are usually terms used to explain going out from the norm into something much more extraordinary. I'm simply fed up with the cookie cutter games that are coming out and want to redesign old styles and create new original ideas.

Most blogs are painfully difficult to digest and hopefully this will not be the case for what you have somehow stumbled upon. I'll try to post relevant facts of today's game culture while posting Game Design challenges and any ideas I come up with. If you would like to participate , by all means go ahead! That's the whole point. I would love to have a discussion on game design topics that can go on for hours!

So go ahead, and follow the White Rabbit.

(Art By : Mirror Cradle )