EuroGamer Expo: My First Ever Gaming Expo
So here’s my confession: I’ve never been to a gaming exhibition. I know it’s strange considering I’ve been passionate about games for most of my life, but alas, it is true. I’ve never got around to planning one out, so after seeing @the_rami tweet that prospective game developers need to go to as many expo’s as possible, I jumped in at the deep end, browsing countless websites that grouped all gaming conventions together. The big one’s like GDC and E3 are both exclusionary, and extremely expensive, meaning there was no way in hell I’d get around to going to one of these within the next few years. I started looking for more consumer friendly shows, one’s that needed no certification to attend; that’s where Eurogamer came in. It was big enough that I’d get a feel for gaming conventions, but extremely cheap: £15 for a day pass was a drop…
Gaming Week 39: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix (PS3)
Kingdom Hearts was released back in 2002, to critical acclaim. Finally, a game where one of the biggest developers of the time (Squaresoft) joined up with one of the biggest entertainers in the world (Disney). It became a hit success, and multiple spin-offs came a plenty for every platform on the market. Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix is the latest release from Square Enix, grouping many of the titles into one blu-ray disc, many of the titles for the first time outside of Japan. I got the collectors edition for £28, a fantastic deal for the amount of content on board, and considering I never got the chance to play the original, it’s a great start. After a few scenes in which the game asks you a few questions to get you started (Do you prefer the sword, wand, or the shield?), Kingdom Hearts starts you off on a island,…
Gaming Week 38: Plants vs Zombies 2 (iOS)
Plants vs Zombies 2: It’s about time, is the sequel to the hit franchise, Plants Vs zombies, a game that came out of nowhere but left a lot of gamers, casual and hardcore alike, wanting more. PvZ 2 has already changed in big ways compared to its predecessor, being a iOS exclusive for the foreseeable future, and changing the way the game is bought, and in turn, played. Is this sequel a fantastic instalment in Pop caps ambition to become the best casual developer out there? Or have they over-reached their mark? The premise of PvZ 2 is simple: Zombies continue to bombard your house, wanting to eat brains, but the main antagonist this time is Dave, the crazy shop merchant from last time. Dave just ate the best taco he’s ever eaten, and instead of making another, decides it’s easier to travel back in time to eat the exact…
Gaming Week 37: Game Dev Tycoon
Game Dev Tycoon has been out for a while, but it only came out on Steam on August 29th, meaning it now has full Steam integration. Achievements, steam in-game layout, means that the popular game for pirates has now become a official down to earth proper game. I’ve been looking forward to this version of the game for a while, and finally getting it on release day I spent the next 2 days playing 8 hours of the game. Game Dev Tycoon gives you control of a lone man who must make games for a living from his garage to start becoming a major part of the games industry. As you make more and more games, you can start renting out bigger buildings and more employees, which in turn makes bigger and better games for reviewers to give great reviews. It’s an endless cycle, one which’ll span 35 years of…
Ouya’s FTG’s campaign loses one project due to suspension.
The following post is a follow up to my previous post on Ouya’s Free The Games campaign which can be found here: Why I call Bullshit on Ouyas Free The Games campaign successes Today, a marvellous victory has been won for all indies everywhere that want to one day use Kickstarter as a valid investment source. Elementary, My Dear Holmes (made by Sam Chandola), has recently been suspended due to unusual activity on its account (this was the Kickstarter project that had many fake profiles, included a poor lady that has been missing for months and many fake celebrities). Sam Chandola, the creator Elementary, My Dear Holmes has stated in the Kickstarter comments: “We love point-and-click adventure games and this will, by no means, stop us from pursuing Elementary, My Dear Holmes. We are devoted towards the project and will be seeking private equity to finish this up. And I’m…
Gaming Week 36: Trauma (PC)
Trauma is a strange and uniquely beautiful game that has you solving problems of a lady who’s been in a car crash and is experiencing trauma. It’s a wonderfully original concept, and one that has you trawling through as much of the game as possible to explore every nook and cranny the games levels have to offer. Trauma starts with a cutscene of a lady and a man walking down a ordinary street and getting into a car. After some lovely art work, the game makes a crashing noise, indicating that the couple have been in a car crash. The game takes place around the red haired girl recalling her life and moments through puzzles relating to the traumatic experiences in her life whilst she is in hospital undergoing treatment with a psychologist/doctor. The gameplay of Trauma is akin to that of a point and click adventure game, one that…
Gaming Week 35: Kairo (PC/Mac)
Kairo intrigued me purely from the screenshots on Steam alone. I was in America and needed some games (preferably indie titles) to play on my Mac to continue my one game review a week New Years resolution. Needless to say, I was absolutely blown away by Kairo and as Thomas Was Alone proved a while back, graphics have nothing to do with how deep and involving a game can be. Kairo starts as it means to go on: it gives you no context of anything and gives you the world itself to explore; for you to find your place and reason for why you’re there. You start on an island with a throne to your back, with nothing but white all around you. Walk forward a bit and you can see a glimpse of another island in the distance. You explore, hoping that this next island will give some meaning…
Why I call bullshit on Ouya’s “Free The Games” Kickstarter successes
This morning, I awoke to some seemingly good news coming from my Flipboard news app. Polygon reported that Ouya’s “Free The Games” fund had been successful twice on Kickstarter. I was amazed, astounded even, as never in my wildest dreams would I imagine any game prospect would actually be able to raise $50,000 in funds for an Ouya exclusive game. The news article I read can be found here: http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/27/4664654/first-ouya-free-the-games-campaigns-surpass-funding-goals To summarise, it states that 2 kickstarter campaigns (Gridiron Thunder and Elementary, My Dear Holmes) have successfully got their needed money, and so Ouya will give them 100% extra funding over the course of their development. This is all well and good until you actually take a look at each Kickstarter page: The above, for example, only has 126 backers that have seemingly managed to be the most charitable backers in the entire world. Upon inspection it’s very suspicious: 110 of the 126…
What I spend my Saturday doing.
So today I spent the whole day watching The Wire (A fantastic TV show from HBO) whilst also working on my main playable character. The screenshot above is the outcome, which I’m quite pleased with. It’s now just a case of working it into my project, which will require me learning how to properly export the player so that my character collides with the world like before (Previous attempts at importing objects always led to physics and rigidbodies not properly being implemented).
Gaming Week 34: The Wonderful End of the World (PC)
I bought The Wonderful End of the World on the Steam Indie sale a few months back as it reminded me of Beautiful Katamari from the Xbox 360. This, coupled with its cheap price made it so appealing that I bought it in a heartbeat, without really reading anything about the game and mainly judging by the screenshots alone. This past week, I managed to play the game from start to finish, and got every achievement, making sure I explored every nook and cranny this game had to offer, so without further ado, here’s what I have to say about The Wonderful End of the World. You start the game with the main menu screen (see above). From here you can change the settings if you desire, check out your trophies (they’re the same as the steam achievements), or play the game. Once you start the game, you’re presented with…
Gaming Week 33: Torchlight 2 (PC)
I have fond memories of Torchlight on the 360, but after playing it for 14+ hours and 100% the game, I couldn’t help but feel a little deflated that there wasn’t more. Torchlight 2 came out 6 months after my first review, but due to other games and other things happening in my life, I gave it a pass as I knew I wouldn’t be able to give it the time and attention it deserved. Finally, I got Torchlight 2 for £4.99 when it was on sale in March, but even then I put playing it off until I had someone else to play with. I can safely say, that as of this week, I have played Torchlight 2 from start to finish. You start Torchlight 2 as you did the first game: selecting a class and a pet to go on your adventure with. From here, you get introduced…
Gaming Week 32: Reus (PC)
I started Reus with an open mind; I was never into God sims as a kid, and could never get into Black and White, the absolute king of the genre. But something about the promotional material and friends playtime peeked my interest in Reus, and in turn made me give the God Sim genre another go. I’m glad I did. You start of Reus with a few tutorials to get you used to the basics of the game. You control giants which all have special, unique abilities, and you must use these abilities to the benefit of the humans inhabiting your world. There are 4 giants in total, which are as follows: The Ocean giant, swamp giant, rock giant and forest giant. Each of the giants have abilites that are quite self explanatory (£100 to anyone that can guess what each giant specialises in) but also have abilities that compliment…
Help and Advice from Reddit
So the other day I asked the great community of Reddit for help and advice on where I should go next in terms of optimisation for my current project; Project Dandelion. If you want to try the current build, click the link below and install the Unity web player: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55177814/project%20dandelion.html I do apologise on the quality of the current build. There are 2 different types of level to be generated, one with trees and one a open field, but due to the frequency of the instantiating, it may take you a while to see both levels. Everything also needs to be tweaked, so try not to hit the booster too many times. The one great thing about this build though is that most of the core mechanics are there and working, they just need to be tweaked and expanded upon, so bare with me as I continue to progress in…
Gaming Week 31: Organ Trail (PC/Mac)
Organ Trail is a fantastic inventory management sim, one that scales back all graphics and polish to be as raw as possible. It’s a strategy game at it’s best, making sure you’re not distracted by anything else but the task of keeping your party alive. You start Organ Trail shooting down zombies from the safety of a sandbag wall, mowing them down one by one until you run out of ammo. This triggers for a man to come out of the shadows and help you run down the last of the danger. You’re told that he can help you get to Washington DC, a place where your friends probably are. (A lovely side note here, you get to name your friends, which is hilarious further down the road when things start happening.) Once there, you’re tasked with scavenging items that will try and last you the rest of the game,…
One of my biggest strides in a long time
So I’ve been working on my game today, and I haven’t made any progress in a while, until today that is. I’ve finally been able to make my level randomly generated. I mean it’s rudimentary at the moment, and looks like crap, BUT it’s just a case of art assets not being up to scratch. In theory the logic behind the level generation works and is perfect for what I need. I currently only have 2 levels to choose from, a open field and a forest. My game object travels at a set pace in front of the player, and generates content far enough ahead that the world looks like one continuos level. Once this content is used and goes off screen, it is destroyed and frees up space in the ram. Next I’m going to work on getting the physics of my player set up. Currently the player can…