Categories
Projects

BattleGrid

So I’ve been working on a game for about a year and a half that is tentatively called “BattleGrid”. It’s what I call a “casual RTS” game – it has most of the components of a traditional RTS game like building bases and commanding units, but without a lot of the micromanagement of resources and units.

I started this blog to show off some of my personal projects and get feedback, so I’ve just posted the first public image of my game. I think up to this point, only a few friends and family have seen it. It’s not a full screen shot (since I’m planning on redoing most of the UI, anyway), but it shows the art style and some of the effects.

Here goes…

A missile turret attacking an outpost

Eventually, I’ll be doing some testing of the game through this website – the game is made in Unity, so it’s easy to build a browser-based version for testing.

I’m aiming to have the game playable on the iPad by April. My plan is to solicit feedback from random people at PAX East and release sometime later this year.

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions (because I almost never try to stick to them), but my one serious one this year was to complete this game. We’ll see how that goes, and this blog will track my success or failure.

For more information about the game, I’ve got a project page available here. Over the next few days/weeks, I’ll provide more details about the game and add more screenshots and videos.

Categories
Games

Kinect Sports Season 2

So I’ve been playing a few new Kinect games lately and I’ve been pretty impressed with how far they’ve come. I’ve always been impressed with Kinect from a technical standpoint, but I’ve been a bit wary of the games for it – after all, how much can you do without a controller?

Fruit Ninja was the first Kinect game I played and thought, “Wow, this is perfect.” It’s a simple mechanic, but the game is really fun – usually the only thing that stops me is the extreme pain in my arms from flailing them about spastically for half an hour (if I last that long). I had played Kinect Adventures, Kinect Sports, Dance Central, and a few other games, but a $10 XBLA game put the $50-$60 Kinect games to shame – and I expect to see more of that as more Arcade and Indie Kinect games pop up. (Note that I still enjoy all those games) I’ve been playing Kinect Sports Season 2, and the football and baseball games are really impressive. They’re not as detailed or complex as a full-fledged sports game, but they’re perfect for the format and audience.

In Football, you only play offense (defense is handled automatically and you’re just presented with the results). You start the game by receiving the ball. Once you’ve returned the ball as far as you can, you switch to the quarterback. You have four downs to score a touchdown – there are no more first downs. First, you pick a play (or let an AI coach pick one), then you crouch (like a quarterback) and can say “Ready, hike!” to snap the ball. Once you have the ball, you can pass to one of three players by throwing forward or to the left or right. If the player catches the ball, you take control of them and have to run in place to run down the field. You can’t really dodge tackles – you will be tackled at some point – but how fast you run determines how many yards you gain. If you score a touchdown within the four downs, hooray. If not, you kick a field goal.

This is a lot more complex than the original Kinect Sports, where most sports really only had a single “action” it was tracking. Bowling used your arms, soccer used your legs, etc. With football, it incorporates your entire body – throwing, kicking, running, and crouching. The closest the original got to this were a few of the track & field games like javelin.

Another big improvement in Kinect Sports Season 2 is that everything can be controlled with your voice. You can activate every menu item with your voice, so you don’t have to use the “floating hand” to select buttons. You see this in the new dashboard, but it’s really nice in a Kinect game.

I’m looking forward to seeing some new games that are a bit more immersive. As fun as Kinect Sports is, you still feel like you’re playing a Kinect game, and the action comes in spurts – extremely brief periods of exertion. I’d prefer to see something that keeps a moderate pace up for a longer period of time. Child of Eden almost does this, but it’s just not very fun with Kinect controls.

Categories
Games

Games of 2011

These aren’t ranked or rated, but they’re some of my favorite games from last year.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
This game should probably be on most people’s “Top Games of 2011” lists. It’s a massive world with so much to do, multiple ways to play it, and so many chances for unintended hilarity. The story is entertaining, the gameplay is great, and the world is absolutely gorgeous.

Saints Row: The Third
Fun from start to finish. I played the majority of the game with a friend, and it was so much fun to do random, crazy stuff whenever the urge struck us. The unlockable “cheats” (invulnerability, unlimited ammo, etc) as you reach higher levels turn the game into an incredibly fun sandbox when you’ve beaten it. I was never bored with the game, and if there was ever any downtime I could always start wreaking havoc.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I described this to friends as the first game in a long time that I wanted to get home to play every day. Adam Jensen is amazingly badass, whether he’s snapping necks or knocking people out. A great return for stealth gameplay.

Trenched (NOT Iron Brigade)
I absolutely refuse to know this game by any name other than Trenched. It’s fun, frantic at times, and a blast with friends. The entire world is so interesting, despite only getting a small glimpse of it within the game. Naval carriers that can walk up on land are pretty awesome, too.

Portal 2
Portal 2 is so thick with personality it would be hard not to enjoy it. The additional puzzle elements (gels, aerial faith plate, thermal discouragement beams, etc) made several interesting new puzzles, and co-op mode was fun even when you failed.

Dragon Age 2
I loved the original Dragon Age, and I enjoyed this one just as much. I still love the story and the world, and the shift to more action-focused combat didn’t hurt anything.

SkyDrift
Airplane racing with guns. I played the demo for this on the 360, then bought it during Steam’s holiday sale. I even enjoy the multiplayer, which is unusual for me. That’s probably because I’m pretty good at it, though.

Split/Second
So this game was released in 2010, but I didn’t play it until 2011. I originally passed it over for Blur (also very fun), but after renting it, I regretted not getting it sooner. Every race in this game makes me feel like I’m in a spy movie. You’re constantly dodging explosions, debris, and miscellaneous objects in the environment. There’s a game mode where you’re being chased by a helicopter and dodging its missiles. It’s fantastic.

Death Rally (iOS)
Apparently a remake of Death Rally from 1996, though if I played it, I don’t remember it. This is the best racing game on iOS. Cars with guns are always awesome. There’s enough in the game to spend hours unlocking new cars and weapons.

Ascendancy (iOS)
Ascendancy was one of my favorite 4X strategy games from the mid-90s. As a point of reference, I like this game as much as, if not more than, Master of Orion. It was released for iOS in January and I got to play it all over again. The interface has obviously had some changes for the touchscreen, but all the original music and art survived, so the nostalgia surfaced pretty quickly. It’s a deep strategy game with some elements that even newer games don’t implement (like a “next turn” button that runs until something happens). It also has one of the coolest tech trees in any game of its kind, and a ton of playable species with different special abilities.

While I’m on 4X games…
Distant Star (iOS)
This is the 4X strategy game for casual players. It boils down the elements to their basics. You build a few structures on planets, you build colonizers and fleets, you attack enemies. That’s about it. It simplifies the genre, but it’s also very pretty and easy to play on the iPad.

Categories
Miscellaneous

My first blog post ever.

I’ve never had a blog before, so that makes this my first post ever. I’ve entered a whole new world of telling The Internet things that no one cares about. Wheeee!

I’m not sure how I’ll end up using this blog, but my plans are to write about the various projects I’m working on, miscellaneous ramblings, and probably random things I find interesting.