Up late talking games & writing? You're...

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Film: The wife and I watched The Road Warrior today as we were enjoying the afternoon. She had never seen it before, and although she is as close to perfect as any man could ever hope to expect, I've taken on as my own personal mission to expose her to some of ‘the classics’.
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We’ve watched RoboCop, Big Trouble in Little China, Alien and Aliens already, but we still need to get to Evil Dead 2, Dead Alive, The Thing, and Predator, among others. Anyway, today was the day for post-apocalyptic road rage.
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Although I've seen Road Warrior several times, I hadn't watched it lately and I was a little curious as to whether or not it would still hold up as well as I remembered it.
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It TOTALLY did.
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Even after all this time, that film remains an emotionally bleak, brutal masterpiece. Complete thumbs up.
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Games: As we near the arrival date of our son (still in utero) we find that we are in kind of a holding pattern… since we've got all the baby stuff and reorganized the house several times over, there's not really a lot to do but wait. Helping us pass the time today was House of the Dead: Overkill on the Wii.
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Although the game felt a little bit shallow (and took us about three hours to complete) I've got to say that I absolutely fell in love with the presentation-- Headstrong Games pulled a really genius move in positioning the entire thing as a 70’s exploitation film.
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Instead of having it be another laughably stilted ‘serious’ entry in the series, it gains a significant amount of cool by being completely irreverent and quite foul in some parts. (That final 'mommy' scene? Eccccchhhhh!) Although I wouldn't recommend this treatment for every game, it really works here. After all, light gun games on rails are slightly absurd to begin with, so why not up the ante?
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In my opinion, it made the whole thing a lot more interesting than it would have been otherwise, although if you’re not in the right frame of mind I can see how it would be fairly irritating… the f-bombs drop with unbelievable frequency and the music will either get you in the mood, or drive you completely insane.
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I had a blast with it as a rental, but considering that we were pretty much done with it in one day, I can't really recommend it as a $50 purchase. Still, check it out for the style, if nothing else.
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Misc: My job takes me lots of different places during the week. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy doing it; there's a ton of variety. However, today was something a little different because it was familiar-- I had the opportunity to revisit the school where I was originally trained myself.
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The pictures on the wall were all new and I didn't recognize many of the faces, but the thing that really struck me was that it was odd to be a seasoned professional sitting in the exact same room where I started as the greenest of greenhorns.
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I didn't have much chance to talk to the people who were there, but just setting foot in the same space sent me back. I'm still sort of digesting the experience, but I was glad (and maybe a little weirded out) to have had the opportunity to come full circle and see those who are just starting out on the path my life took thirteen years ago.
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Game: Spent most of the weekend with Valkyria Chronicles.
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Despite having a few misgivings at first, the gameplay quickly won me over and I'm now a complete convert. I've got to say, it's certainly one of the best reasons to own a PS3, and after having made it through a little less than half of the main campaign, I'm shocked that Sony didn't give it more of a push. It's far better than the majority of what's available for the PS3, it's a system exclusive, and it's got loads of both both style and substance.
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Although Strat RPGs are still kinda niche, methinks the PR folks totally missed the boat on this one… maybe if they’d STFU about LittleBigPlanet for a few minutes, some other deserving titles like Valkyria could get a little press.
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Now that the game’s been lowered to $30 brand-new, do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy. It's the most exciting and well-done SRPG I've seen in quite some time, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
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(And if you get a copy of Valkyria and like it, do yourself another favor and track down Konami’s Ring of Red on PS2.
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Last I checked, it could be had for $6-$10. Although it's a little more high-maintenance than Valkyria, it’s still damned good and there are some definite similarities in the combat system.)
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Food: The wife and I went out for lunch with a friend to a fairly new Ethiopian restaurant that opened up near the south end of Lake Union. Called Habesha, it's tucked away on Minor Ave, just across the street from the shiny silver Metro Park buildings. (1809 Minor for those of you clicking over to Mapquest…)
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Gotta say, this was a pretty good place. The interior and decor were attractive-- dark and subdued without being depressing. It was classy, but we didn't feel out of place walking in wearing jeans.
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The service was above average, and the food was quite delicious. Although the appetizer (lentil-stuffed pastry) wasn't quite as flavorful as I would've liked, the main dishes were fantastic.
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The spiced chicken breast, seasoned spinach, okra, split yellow beans, green beans, seasoned cabbage and the large injera pancake it was served on were all top-notch.
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Spicy without being too hot, savory without being salty. Although the crude American in me will likely bring a fork next time (Ethiopian cuisine is traditionally utensil-free) I would gladly eat here again.
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Entrees $9-$13 per person, four stars out of five.
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Misc: The same friend we ate Ethiopian with has a black pug, and after lunch was over she broke the news to us that this pug had gotten pregnant and had puppies since we’d last met. Neither of us had any idea, but she kept one of the pups and showed it to us in the parking lot outside.
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Wasn’t able to snap a pic, but I've got to say, a pug mommy and a poodle-mix daddy make for some awfully hideous offspring. The dog looked nothing at all like its mother save for the comical underbite. Besides that, it was gray, shaggy, and its breed origin wasn’t at all identifiable outside of the fact that it was canine. Though the little rugger looked like it had a sweet disposition, yeesh… homely doesn’t even begin to describe it.
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Baby: Quick update on the OB situation from the last post-- we went into the doc’s office today and as the nurse was doing the vitals on the wife, she asked if she was feeling all right, and what happened.
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I was a little surprised that this nurse knew about our situation, so I asked her how she knew. She stated that she was standing next to the person who had denied my wife care as the phone call was happening, and knew that this staffer was giving the wrong advice. Unfortunately, she felt as though she didn't rank above the woman on the phone and didn't want to contradict her. I appreciated her inquiry, but I would've appreciated it even more if she had stepped in to correct behavior she knew was not proper.
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A few minutes later, the OB comes in and when I ask if she's aware of what happened, she says she has no idea. I recap it for her, and to her credit, she agreed that the staff person's refusal to take my wife's blood pressure was absolutely the wrong call. I told her in no uncertain terms that I felt this particular incident reflected badly on the office, and that nothing of the sort would be tolerated in the future. She agreed.
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I don't think anyone's going to get fired over it, but the doctor said she would have a very frank discussion with that person and instruct them about what the proper procedure for a potentially serious situation like ours would be in the future.
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It was the answer I was looking for and I'm glad that the doctor was in line with my thinking, but I have to admit that although it was appropriate, the resolution was not very satisfying… nobody's head rolled (at least, in front of me) and no blood was spilled. It was kind of anti-climactic, really.
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Games: I finished Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune last night, and although I took copious notes and intended to dress it down in a formal review, after a good night’s sleep, I realized I just don't care enough to make the effort.
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will you remember me in six months? didn't think so.

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Overall, it was a shallow, trite game that brings absolutely nothing new to the table. Even worse, it swipes wholesale from other sources. The thin exploration and puzzle elements are reminiscent of Tomb Raider, although nowhere near the same level of intricacy or design. The gunplay feels a bit like a Gears of War lite, and there's far, far, far too much of it. The story and setting crib from Indiana Jones (or perhaps The Librarian instead), yet the generic white-guy main character doesn't have a tenth of Indy’s charisma, not to mention the half-baked plot never comes together.
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Honestly, I don't even understand what Naughty Dog was going for here. There's no ‘hook’ or unique identity to the game. Make a few easy jumps, kill a million mercenaries, and travel from scene to scene with very little drama or suspense. Graphically it's fairly strong, but it fails to deliver in every other category… sort of like a videogame equivalent to being a Jack-of-All-Trades. It tries a few different things, but doesn't do any of them particularly well.
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In other PS3 news, I started Valkyria Chronicles tonight, and although I'm quite early in the adventure, it's easy to see that it's definitely a quality undertaking. The action-oriented spin on traditional SRPG design is very much appreciated, and it's extremely easy on the eyes.
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On the downside, the story (so far) hews closely to the typically cliché Japanese-Style Political Conflict outline that a lot of games in this genre share, but it's not terrible. There are also a few odd things about it, like the way only certain objects can be used as cover, or the way a defensive bonus granted by a blocking stack of sandbags remains in effect even if you sneak up behind the hiding person and take a shot squarely at the back of their head.
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Even so, Valkyria remains a vitally fresh attempt in a genre that is especially stale, and it's definitely keeping my attention. One-hit-kills on my tank from behind are definitely a bummer, though.
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Writing: My co-author and I have ironed out most of the remaining kinks in the new book’s plot, and it's progressing nicely. Still need a title, though. Anyway, I should probably stop blogging and get to it… Got another 40,000 or so words to go.
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Baby: The wife woke up this morning and wasn't feeling too hot. Since we got referred to our local labor and delivery center for monitoring a few days ago, we figured we'd play it safe and take her into the OB for a quick blood pressure check, fingers crossed that preeclampsia wouldn't rear its head.
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We've been going to this OB for pretty much the entire pregnancy-- routine checkups, tests of all kinds, ultrasound, etc. The doc has been pretty good and she's certainly been taking my money for what basically amounts to nine months of “looks great, see you next week.” When we called them this morning, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal for us to pop in and have a nurse do the blood pressure. As anyone who's been to a doctor knows, it takes less than a minute. The response was not exactly what I expected.
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“The doctor’s not here right now, but you can come in this afternoon.”
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“My wife is not feeling well right now. If you can just check her blood pressure and let us know what the number is, we can take it from there.”
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“I'm sorry, but the doctor’s not here, so if something's wrong, then we can’t help you.”
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At this point in time I'm thinking to myself that there are at least five separate doctors who work in that office and share duties, so I know damn well that at least one of them is in. I'm also thinking that if my wife or my unborn child are in distress, it's better to find that out immediately rather than sitting around all day waiting for the doctor to come in. After all, even if the doctor was there, all she’d tell us to do is go to the labor and delivery center, which is what we planned to do anyway if the wife’s BP was elevated.
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“So you're saying that you're not going to do this blood pressure check for us, even though we're reporting that something may be wrong and it would take you less than a minute?”
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They didn't.
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We ended up going to our general practitioner to have it checked, which they gladly did at no cost. Start to finish, I think we were in and out of the office in less than three minutes. Luckily, the wife was fine so no further action needed to be taken in that regard, but I'm going to have a very frank discussion with the OB about the quality of care I expect, and the kind of office she's running.
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It might get harsh.
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Games: Playing Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune on PS3 right now.
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I played it for a bit when it first came out, but it rubbed me the wrong way and I tossed it aside. I was quite surprised to have that reaction, really. I was a big Crash Bandicoot fan when ND was still producing it, and had a very good time with the Jak & Daxter series. I expected great things from Uncharted, and at the time I felt like it really didn't deliver. Didn't even bother finishing it.
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While skimming through Metacritic the other day I came across the Uncharted breakdown and was a bit surprised to see it that rocked an 88. Now, although I will be the first to admit that my taste doesn't always run parallel to the majority, that number seemed a little high to me, and being the Naughty Dog fan that I am, I felt like I should give it another shot. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind, or perhaps Saturn was out of alignment, or something. Who knows?
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Still don't like it.
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I'm toying around with the idea of doing a review for it, but I'm still sort of stunned that it's just not nearly as enjoyable and well put-together as it should be. The characters are pretty generic, the puzzles and platforming are lightweight, there’s at least twice as much gunplay as is warranted (the pop-out-endless-wave-of-enemies kind), and in general, there's not really a lot of heart. I kind of get the sense that the developers were trying to bowl everybody over with the visuals, hoping no one would notice how insincere and hook-free it is. Looking at that Metacritic score, I guess their strategy worked.
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I'll definitely finish it this time just to say that I did, but I certainly wouldn't ever hold this up as an example of a great game-- although considering how weak the PS3’s exclusives library is, I can see how some people would position it as one.
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Baby: Took the wife into our local medical center today following our appointment at the OB. Nothing alarming or dangerous, but the doc felt that a little observation would be prudent. We canceled our afternoon plans and spent some time at the labor and delivery center, but it wasn't quite time for our little boy to make his appearance. The wife is resting comfortably, and no further news to report at the moment.
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Games: Spent a fun couple of hours playing PomPom's Astro Tripper on the PS3. A download available for $5, it's a colorful, slightly abstract shooter similar to one of my favorites on 360 Arcade, Mutant Storm Reloaded.
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It appears simple at first, but there is a nice level of depth to it without being overwhelming. Recommended.
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Without having anything else really juicy to sink my teeth into, I hit my to-play stack and came up with Crimson Sea 2, from Koei. I'm not at all a fan of their infinite Dynasty Warriors games, but I had an okay time with Devil Kings and I was willing to give this one a shot since it's more about aliens and guns than a cast of characters from Asian history. Although it's really simple and straightforward (and the camera friggin’ bites) it's not bad… there's something intrinsically rewarding about taking out hordes of aliens and leveling up equipment, and I greatly appreciate a game that includes a rapid-fire function so I don't need to kill my thumb. It's keeping me busy enough, though I will say that I'm glad I only paid $10 for it…
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the character design is pretty atrocious, though. More than a few times, I thought I'd be more into the experience if the characters looked more Sci-fi and less period-costume fruity.
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TV: Had a little bit of downtime over the weekend and spent it with the wife catching up on some shows that we've been recording.
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Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire: I never intended to watch this, but I saw a commercial as I was passing by the living room and after being disappointed with Legend of the Seeker for being dreadfully serious, I figured I'd give it a spin. What the hell, right? Glad I did-- I found it to be pretty hilarious for the most part.
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Basically, it's a sword and sorcery satire in the vein of Hercules or Xena, but more parodic than both of those. Although a few of the jokes bomb pretty hard, the characters are cast well and there's a good mix of personalities. I think the sorcerer character still needs some work and the evil overlord needs to tighten up a little bit here and there, but I've added this one to my regular DVR rotation.
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Harper’s Island: Over the last few years, the wife and I have really been disappointed that television programming has continued to bring series after series that are planned as indefinite runs. It's not bad with sitcoms or the occasional drama such as ER, but I'm a strong believer in having a beginning, a middle, and an end. It's hard to sustain suspense or energy in a show when the writers have no clue how long they need to keep an arc going for. Heroes, anyone?
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Harper’s Island is a murder-mystery taking place on a fictional island off the coast of Washington where a wedding is taking place. However, everyone seems to hold at least a few secrets and the people attending the ceremony are being murdered, one by one. Although I wasn't exactly too impressed with the first two episodes I watched, the big draw for me is that this is a finite series-- it's been announced from the start that it will only run for a certain number of episodes, and the mystery will be wrapped up at the end. The simple fact that I *know* everything will be over and done by the time the final episode roles makes it a little easier to watch (although it’s certainly not terrible) and if nothing else, I certainly want to support more efforts like this. The UK’s been doing this for ages and winning awards with the content… it's about time we finally caught on ourselves.
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Parks & Recreation: The new sitcom from the creators of The Office starring SNL’s Amy Poehler, the show is about a woman who works for the Parks Department and is currently trying to get a giant, open pit filled in and turned into a play area for kids. It's a shot in a style exactly like The Office; the characters often speak directly to the camera, the viewer is supposed to get the sense that the cameraman is a person following the actors along on a kind of documentary, and so on. The characters are also very Office-like. Each one is quirky in their own way, and some of the dialogue is very painfully-awkward in an attempt to elicit laughter.
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To be perfectly frank, I love The Office, but The Office is already The Office, and I don't need another one. What's happening on Parks & Recreation is far too similar to the hijinks at Dunder-Mifflin (or the newly-founded Michael Scott Paper Company) and as I watched each episode, I couldn't help but get the feeling that Poehler was constantly doing a Steve Carell impersonation. The pauses, the double takes… it all just feels completely recycled and stale. I gave this a red light and took it off the DVR recording schedule. Sorry, but lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place.
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Games: A few weeks ago, a Twitter acquaintance hipped me to a small indie game called Don’t Look Back. Although I am a big fan of small titles, I’m also console to the core… this has historically been a bit of conflict, although less so now that we've got so many download services available. However, DLB came highly recommended, so I put up with using the arrow keys and space bar for a little while, and walked away quite impressed.
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Thankfully, the game's creator was willing to speak with me for a bit about himself and his work. If you haven't played Don’t Look Back yet, you can play through the entire experience for free right HERE. It only takes about twenty minutes to complete if you don't die too often, and I guarantee that finding something that packs as much into such a short span of time will be tough to do.
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So, go check it out, and then come back to read what supercool dev Terry Cavanagh’s got to say. Go ahead, I'll wait.
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(And just for you stickers out there, heads-up that there is something of a spoiler in this interview… you've been warned!)
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Hi Terry, thanks very much for speaking with me. For starters, what can you tell me about yourself?
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Well, let's see... My name's Terry Cavanagh, I'm 25, living in Dublin, Ireland. I've been making small games as a hobby for about as long as I can remember.
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I studied Maths in college, then spent about a year and a half working as a market risk analyst. I tried to continue making games in my spare time, but I figured that if game design was ever going to more than a hobby for me I'd have to take a chance. So about a year ago I quit the job and I got a loan, and I've been living on that and making games full time ever since.
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There is a very striking sense of tone and atmosphere in DLB, and you accomplish a lot with only a little. How hard was it to design the game and maintain the sense of foreboding and menace?
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I think the style I decided to go for made it easy to define how I wanted the game to feel. I guess I never felt like I was limited by only having four colours - if anything, having a strict constraint like that made it simple to give certain areas a different feel, which I could do by making very small changes like removing a colour or using the sprite colour in the background.
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What I did find hard was composing the soundtrack - it always takes me ages to write music that I'm happy with. I tried a lot of different things before I got a sound that felt right for the game - my first attempt was all wrong; using PC Speaker music. I tried some acoustic guitar stuff after that, but that didn't really feel right either. After hearing the World of Goo soundtrack I decided to try something with 80s synths, and from there eventually ended up just using strings, which I think suits the game's feel pretty well.
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SPOILER!!!
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The ending is surprisingly weighty and poignant, yet still a bit vague… exactly what happens in the final scene?
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The entire game is a fantasy. When the player reaches the end, he is confronted with reality, and the fantasy disappears. He never leaves the grave.
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END SPOILER!!!
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What were your goals with DLB, and do you feel like you accomplished them?
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Well, the game basically came about from combining two ideas that I've wanted to use in a game for years, but had trouble finding a place for before.
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The first, and main idea was to make a game where the actual gameplay is a fantasy, as a metaphor for something else that's happening to the player.
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The other separate idea was wanting to make a game that set itself up as a silly shooter or something like that, and redeem it with a left turn that put all of your previous actions into a new, far more interesting context. I came up with the idea of retelling the Orpheus and Eurydice story while thinking about possible ways to do this, and even made a couple of attempts to make a game with this idea - none of them every really felt right to me, though, so I ended up scrapping them.
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It didn't occur to me that I could combine the two ideas until I started working on a totally unrelated project for a 48hr Mini Ludum Dare contest, which had the themes "Minimalist" and "Monochrome". I was prototyping a lot of different games at the time, but as soon as I'd come up with this I dropped everything and spent about a month working on nothing else.
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My goal was to finally do something with those two ideas, so even just in that respect I'm very, very happy with how it turned out! But more than that, I feel like the fantasy theme brought something new to the Orpheus and Eurydice story of self doubt that only a game could.
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Really, I couldn't be happier with the result.
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What are you working on now, and what goals do you have for yourself as a developer?
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I've just finished Judith with Stephen Lavelle, and right now I'm just looking forward to Ludum Dare this weekend, heh.
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I guess after that I'm hoping to finish off a few more of my flash prototypes - two in particular seem most promising right now; a strategy/puzzle game based on the rules of Overload called Detonate...
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...and a sort-of RPG that I'm working on with Tumbledrop creator Hayden Scott-Baron.
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After that I don't know for certain; I'm considering working on something new for this year's IGF.
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If you could have any job in the industry right now, where would you be,who would you be working for, and what would you be doing?
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What I'd really love is to be involved in some kind of set up like the Flashbang guys - to be in a small group of developers working on a lot of short, interesting games. The idea of working for a really big company, contributing some small part to a massive project - it really doesn't appeal to me.
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Unfortunately there don't seem to be a lot of other game developers in Dublin, so for that to happen I guess I'll have to move somewhere else.
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Favorite games?
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I got into the DROD series in a big way last year - particularly The City Beneath. I can't wait for the next installment! Other games I've enjoyed recently... hmm - I guess World of Goo, Jumpman, Mirror Stage, Teppomanto, Dead Like Ants, Space Phallus, Exploit, Spelunky, to name a few.
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I really want to play Braid (I have a feeling I'll like it), but unfortunately my laptop can't handle it!
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Favorite developers?
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I think my favourite developer is probably Adam Cadre. It's a shame that he seems to have lost interest in writing interactive fiction... I'm also a big fan of Lysander's RPGs, Nifflas' adventure games, and pretty much anything by Stephen Lavelle or Cactus.
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The eternal GameCritics question: games as art? Discuss.
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Yeah! Honestly, I don't think this really needs to be debated anymore. It's long been settled, hasn't it?
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Indeed it has, Terry. Indeed it has.
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Infinite thanks to Terry Cavanagh for taking the time, and also for letting me partake of his superb game. For more info on Terry and his work, go HERE.
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Keep an eye on this guy... he's one to watch.
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Games: I try not to whore myself out too much, but I'm a sucker for a good Atlus game in general, and doubly so for Shin Megami Tensei games in particular.
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In lieu of my regularly-scheduled blog content, instead nibble on this preview for the upcoming SMT: Devil Survivor coming to the Nintendo DS.
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Although there's not a whole heck of a lot of specific information out on it at the moment, according to my mole planted deep within the Atlus data-entry cubicles, SMT: Devil Survivor takes place in Tokyo after a surprise demon invasion. The government then quarantines the city and the player and his party members must harness the powers of the demons for survival before (allegedly) something even worse happens. I'm guessing that there's probably a really powerful super-demon as a final boss, but that's strictly conjecture on my part.
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Among the game's features, it said that there are greater character customization options (a little curious, since the series has never been known for such a quality), a new combat system, and a brand-new Demon Auction system to help you catch ’em all.
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All this stuff sounds great, but for me, the biggest draw is that it's SMT in portable fashion… traditionally, the SMT games can easily last for a hundred hours or more, so having that kind of depth and playability on the go is really appealing. I reviewed some of the earlier games HERE, HERE, and HERE, so if this type of quality carries over (and I've got no reason to believe that it won’t) then DS owners are in for a real treat, indeed.
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I'll post more tidbits on the game as they become available. In the meantime, check these new screens out, and go to the Devil Survivor SITE for more info.
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Music: I don't often write about music, but every once in a great while I get the itch. It's a bit of a struggle as the vocabulary for games criticism and music criticism doesn't exactly coincide, but I'll do my best…
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Anyway, this may not be common knowledge but I'm a huge Prince fan. He may not have quite the cachet that he did in the late 80s, but I definitely see him as a musical genius of sorts, and I've always been an admirer. In fact, the best concert I ever saw was when Prince played the Key Arena… every person in the entire building was on their feet when he took the stage, and not a single person sat down until the show was over. The man puts on a hell of a performance.
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As far as CDs go… his track record is a bit of a mixed bag.
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The most recent, ‘Lotusflow3r’ was just released a week or two ago, and comes with three separate discs: Lotusflow3r, MPLSound, and a third featuring the work of whom I assume is his latest protégé, Bria Valente. All told, it's far from his best effort.
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A strange mix of sounds, the work here has a bit of the tight funk and energetic jams he's known for, but there's also some bizarre Hendrix influence as well as a few noodly instrumentals, and some that would be a perfect fit playing inside an elevator somewhere. I usually tend to listen to every song on a CD from start to finish, but in this particular case I skipped over more than a few. It's odd, because at times I think Prince does some of his best work on his lesser-known B-sides, but in this case most of these tracks feel like throwaway filler.
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It's not all bad though. Colonized Mind, Feel Good Feel Better Feel Wonderful, Valentina, and Ol’ Skool Company are all in line with the kind of quality I expect from a Prince album, but that's only four tracks out of twenty-one. (The less said about Bria’s disc, the better…) as an overall package, this is pretty disappointing and not one that I will likely put into regular rotation. Still a Prince fan, but not a fan of this collection.
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Loutsflow3r rating: 3.5 out of 10.
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Games: The wife and I polished off Resident Evil 5 today. I've got to say that having co-op in more games these days is a fantastic option, and doubly so since players aren't required to go the splitscreen route if they've got the correct hardware.
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Each player having their own screen in a game as visually rich as this one is a real treat. That's not to say the game itself is flawless, but I will leave further comment to the review. Turned it in this afternoon, so look for it soon.
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Also finished Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure on the DS. The game was a bit of a shock to the system with the demanding old-school difficulty level, but overall it was a superior effort and one that I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a quality DS experience.
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It's obvious that the people behind it put a lot of love and attention into its crafting, and the core idea of combining platforming adventure with match-three puzzling was sheer genius. If you haven't tried this game yet, you're missing out on one of the finest titles 2009’s seen so far.
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With those two games taken care of, I'm moving on to the PSP’s Resistance: Retribution and Condemned 2: Bloodshot on 360.
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Retribution seems like a very solid title so far, though I'm still in the very early stages. That said, this is the second time that I've been completely impressed with the work put out by Sony’s Bend Studios-- and also the second time that they've got me playing a game on PSP that I had no interest in on a standard console.
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Both Syphon Filter and Resistance: Fall of Man left me cold, but Bend sure knows what they're doing on the handheld.
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As far as Condemned 2 goes… not quite sure what to make of it yet. I am a huge fan of the first game and still think that ranks as one of the 360’s best experiences, but something just seems off about this sequel. The graphical quality seems a little sketchy, and the level design of the first stage is pretty atrocious… lots of black oil over everything making it very hard to see, and starting off a little rough for my taste.
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To be totally fair, the first Condemned had an atrocious first level before the game came into its own, so I'm going to stick with it for a while and hope that it gets better.
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Writing: The work progresses, and today marked the completion of a major milestone in the plot. It's been something my co-author and I have been working towards since the start of the project, really, so finally putting the words on paper gave me a great sense of satisfaction. We've still got a lot of work to do, but at this point I feel comfortable in saying that we've made substantial progress. It's a very good feeling, indeed.
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Games: If you've been reading this blog or following me on Twitter, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that Solar has been my latest Xbox Live Community addiction. An original, refreshing title that shows a great deal of creativity and craftsmanship, I wanted to know more. After doing a little clicking, I was able to convince Solar’s developer, Australian Jay Watts, to take a few minutes and speak with me.
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Thanks for the chat, Jay. What can you tell me about yourself?
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Not much really! I started my first year of university in biotechnology and decided to pick up a bit of Flash just for fun. I soon discovered that I thoroughly enjoyed Flash so I kept with it and started making a few games. Soon I was making some really great games, and I thought to myself 'could I make this a career'? So I went to a conference for Australian Game Developers where I learned of XNA. 4 months later I had completed Solar and the rest is history.
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How did you come up with the idea for Solar, and what did you do to go about starting the project?
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Solar was conceived after I made a Flash RTS engine. The RTS engine was powerful enough to rival Starcraft and is unmatched in terms of other RTS Flash games I've seen on the web. But unfortunately, I was too ambitious, I had no chance of making an entire RTS game myself. So I decided to leave that project and make a new game with the express purpose of making something I could handle. My weakness is graphics, so I played around with Flash to see if I could create some really simple but good looking graphics. I found I could make some really neat looking planets, so I decided to stick with that. I started off making a realistic simulation and the game wrote itself from there.
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I read that the game was put together by just yourself with the exception of the music. Is that true, and if so, what did you like or dislike about being a single-man operation?
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Yes, I did all the work myself (apart from the music). Being a single-man operation means it's easy to tie everything together. In some games you see the graphics, programming and design having little communication but when the same person is doing all that you can really unify everything and make a game greater than the sum of its parts.
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But the disadvantage is that everyone has their weaknesses. I was able to mask my weaknesses with good design, but it means I'm fairly restricted to the games I can make. You won't be seeing any games that involve 'humans' or 'animals' from me because I simply can't draw them.
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Solar definitely has an identity all its own, although there are some similarities to Nintendo’s Art Style: Orbient. Have you played that game, and if so, what did you make of it?
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I've never played a Wii yet, so I haven't heard of this game. I looked it up on YouTube and yeah, it is a pretty similar looking game. It appears to be more of a puzzle type game, where as Solar is more of a sandbox type game. I also think the graphics are a little bland, the graphics in Solar are brighter and more vibrant but hey, I'm just a little biased.
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Between the time that I originally started playing Solar and now, you released an updated version with a few fixes and some new Challenges. I would definitely be eager to see more content added. Are there any plans to further expand Solar at the moment?
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No plans for the Community Games version, but I have plenty of ideas for a larger game that I may pitch to XBLA, so I'll be reserving my ideas for that.
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What was the process like getting your game to Microsoft and going through the approvals process for Community?
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It was longer than I thought but ultimately very valuable. People had a lot of good feedback to give and Solar is much improved because of it.
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What do you think of Community in general? Do you feel as though you're getting enough support as a developer?
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The community there is great. The forums are headed up by Microsoft MVP's and XNA framework developers, so there is always good support to be given if you need it. Plus there are lots of samples and mini-games you can download from the site and I found most of my learning was seeing how they did it.
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How successful has Solar been since its release?
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The purpose of Solar was to look good on a resume when I want to go for a full time job as a game developer. In terms of that, the game has been favourably reviewed by many sites and has a conversion factor of over 20% which are fantastic things to have.
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But for the people who want to know how profitable XNA can be, the game has earned about $5000 USD of profit after Microsoft have taken their cut. Although there are several games that have earned more than that on the service, they've been up for months where as Solar has just finished its 2nd week. Sales are still strong, so I'm optimistic about what that can become.
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Besides Solar, do you have any other plans in terms of developing new games at the moment?
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I have one game on the table that I'm working on. Unfortunately I'm really struggling with the design of the game but I'll get there, if game development was easy it wouldn't be as fun!
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On the player side, what Community titles do you feel are noteworthy, or which do you like?
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Community Games aren't available in Australia yet so I can't download or purchase any of the games on the service. The only games I've played have been ones I've reviewed or playtested, but since most of these aren't the final product I can't really judge on them.
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There are a few sites that review Community Games and you can find them with a few good google searches. Just like XBLA, there are some good games and some not so good games. The difference is that there are more sites reviewing XBLA to it's easier to decide which ones are the good ones. The good games are out there on Community Games, you just need to look for them!
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Infinite thanks to Jay Watts for taking the time to speak with me. If you want more information on Jay and his work, you can check out his website here. My full review of Solar will be up at GameCritics soon, but until that time rest assured that it comes absolutely recommended. Download the full version and give Jay a few bucks-- you won't be sorry.
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Writing: I'm back in the saddle and things are progressing on the new book. Chapter 17 is close to being in the can.
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Games: The wife and I are doing co-op in Resident Evil 5 right now. Haven't finished it yet, but I'd say that we are at least halfway through, if not a little further.
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Gotta say, it's fun enough and a good rental, but I think anyone who complains about the control system is justified and there are a number of other issues that just don't make any sense. For example, you can buy all sorts of guns and life-up items between missions, but not ammo? Instead, it’s somehow better to have players breaking barrels (a truly fresh idea, indeed) to find boxes of ammunition scattered throughout tribal huts and swampland?
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I don't want to talk about it too much since I still have a good chunk of the game to get through and I will likely be doing the main review for it at GameCritics, but looking past the super-spiffy graphics and general fun quotient of having a co-op campaign, Capcom is looking pretty guilty of being absurdly complacent in light of what else is going on in games development right now.
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Oh, one thing in its favor: it has the most realistic-looking alligators I've ever seen in a videogame. Pretty damned impressive. Not sure why they aren't listed on a bullet point on the back of the package, really.
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In other games news, the good people at Twisted Pixel (The Maw) have announced their next project: ‘Splosion Man. There's not a ton of info on it right now, but it is confirmed that it's coming to Live Arcade, there’ll be four-player support in addition to a traditional story mode, and lots of things will go boom.
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Based on the quality of their last Live title, this is certainly going to be one I'm looking forward to.
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One from the “wow, didn't see that one coming" department: Saints Row 2 has an upcoming DLC pack that includes new missions, new vehicles, and *ahem* well-known “film actress” Tera Patrick as one of the ride-along homies you can call for backup. Although I didn't love SR2 as much as I did the first game, it was still an enjoyable open-world experience that delivered a lot more entertainment than GTA4 did, if you ask me.
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Although Ms. Patrick isn't much of a draw from where I’m standing, going back to Stilwater for a little while isn't sounding too bad, actually.
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Finally, there isn’t a lot of new information on Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor for DS, but the fantastic folks at Atlus have released a few screens with translated English text. It's not much, but I'm definitely looking forward to this title in a big, big way, so I'll take 'em. Check their site for more, but here's one to chew on.
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Books: My friend Ann Aguirre's new book, Blue Diablo, is now out... My copy's en-route from Amazon, and I suggest you buy one, too.
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Go here to get one online, or pop into your local book retailer and tell 'em I sent you. It won't mean anything and will only confuse the cashier jockey, but it sounds cool to say.
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Games: Downloaded Burn, Zombie, Burn! On the PlayStation Network a few days ago, and I'm quite done with it now. Honestly, I really don't understand how he can be so hard to make a game about killing zombies. It seems like an absolutely simple thing to do, yet I can't think of a game that has nailed it. BZB is no different.
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Basically, the game is like Robotron 2084 or Smash TV at heart. One hero, hordes of zombies, and a bunch of weapons on one screen. The difference between BZB and those two is that that those two are classics-- I sincerely doubt that anyone will remember BZB existed in six months, let alone a few decades.
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Although I will admit being disappointed that there was only an Arcade and Challenge mode (No story mode here. Bah.) the game would have been just fine regardless except for the fact that the developers made some really unusual choices that have a significant, depressive effect on gameplay.
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For example, it's the standard these days that intense shooters implement the twin-stick formula. Move with one stick, shoot with the other. There's no denying that it works. In BZB, the developers have mysteriously avoided this control scheme and went with something completely different: a choice between shooting in the direction you're moving or computer-assisted auto-aim.
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I really don't see any benefit to this setup, and the decision to go with these controls seems more like an effort to *not* be like other games, rather than anything that really dovetails with what's happening onscreen. Shooting in the direction you're moving is a death sentence with the absurd number of zombies on your tail, and although the auto-aim is deadly effective, you can't single out specific targets with it. During my time in the game, there were endless instance when I wanted to hit one specific zombie in a crowd in order to trigger a death-averting explosion, and just couldn't do it.
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The other really bizarre choice on the part of the developers was to overcomplicate what should really be a very simple formula. I mean, killing zombies with a variety of weapons-- do you really need anything else? Instead, the game is based on score and the only way to get into the absurdly high upper tiers is to work the oddly thick system that's in place.
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(Stay with me, this gets a little confusing…)
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The point of the game is to earn a high score. Killing zombies straightaway earns next to nothing, and the only way to rack up big numbers is to get a high score multiplier and eliminate large numbers of them simultaneously via explosions.
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Killing normal zombies rewards the player with either life-ups or worthless TNT. In order to make TNT effective, TNT-ups must be collected by killing zombies that are on fire.
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Setting zombies on fire with a torch gives a score multiplier. Killing zombies on fire rewards the player with vital TNT-ups needed to take out large masses and rack up points, but it also lowers the score multiplier at the same time.
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Still following? Instead of crafting fast, reflexive action or just good, old-fashioned zombie-killing, Burn, Zombie, Burn! becomes all about running around and dispatching normal zombies to get life-ups as needed, then setting more zombies on fire, harvesting the TNT power-ups, setting more zombies on fire again, and then detonating them en masse. Keep going until you hit 25,000,000 points.
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In practice, I found that this system felt very cumbersome and tedious, and really kept me out of the game in the sense that I was constantly trying to farm power-ups and then re-farm them if I died, instead of going to that reflexive flow state that something like Geometry Wars or Smash TV can bring me to. Add in the frustration of the unconventionally ineffective controls and a real difficulty in being able to visually locate power-ups or navigate with precision thanks to the extremely cluttered playfields, and the end result is something that seems like it should be a lot more fun than it actually is.
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Still a zombie fan, but not a fan of Burn, Zombie, Burn!
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Misc: The Spring visit with my son is over. It was a good one, just like any visit with him is a good one, although as time goes by the nature of these visits change. He is seven now, will be turning eight later this year, and it's pretty amazing to see him growing as a person. The funny things he says, the small observations that only a child would make, the unique perspective on anything that comes across his path… it's all joyful and incredibly entertaining at the same time. Also, I'm quite proud to say that he finished two more games on his own, bringing the grand total to seven. Can't wait to see him again this summer.
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Fishing Master: pwned by my son

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In other child-centric news, the wife is officially nine months pregnant today, so I'm on high alert for imminent infant arrival. We spent a couple days this past week getting the house all ready; moving furniture around, decluttering, and making sure we have all of our diapers and wipes in appropriate places. The doctor’s thinking early May, but I have a feeling that it will be sooner than that. If I stop posting updates to this blog and I vanish from twitter for a little while, you can probably guess what happened.
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Games: Been spending some time playing Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure on DS lately.
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It’s been getting quite a bit of positive praise from people whose opinions I usually put some stock in, and I'm glad to report that it's as good as they suggest. I won't talk about it too much since I'm contemplating a review, but I will say that it's certainly worth a purchase for anyone who can appreciate tightly tuned platforming and some straightforward puzzle action. The game is certainly more than the sum of these parts and combines very well together, and honestly, I'm little bit mystified as to how EA ended up publishing something of such quality.
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Besides Hatsworth, I've been completely addicted to Solar on Xbox Live Community. I'm definitely going to do a review on this one, but instead of making you wait for a verdict I will say that you should just go and download the full copy right now.
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It's a little hard to categorize, but the game puts players in the role of a sun roaming the universe. While traveling through the cosmos in sandbox mode, you can absorb planets that are drawn into your orbit, crash into other planets, and generally screw around in a cosmological sense. For players wanting a little more structure, there are eighteen challenges. Things like ‘destroy eighty asteroids’ or ‘get three life-bearing planets to orbit you’, and so on. It's a perfect balance between form and function, and I'm just really in love with it right now. It reminds me a bit of Nintendo's Art Style: Orbient, but a lot more relaxed and less stringent.
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Writing: Although I had every intention of keeping up with the progress on my current novel, I've got to confess that it went by the wayside over the last two weeks. It was really hard to justify taking an hour out of my day to work on the book when my son is only here three times a year, so I put the entire thing on hold. Of course, now I'm five thousand words behind schedule and I've got a lot of catching up to do.
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On the plus side, taking that two weeks away from it and then coming back and rereading what I've gotten down has really reinforced my impression that the piece is coming along in a good direction. Even better, working with the co-author has been basically effortless since we're on the same page about 99% of the time. Overall, I've got a good feeling about this one.
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Even though the economy is lagging right now and book sales might not be quite what they used to, I take comfort in the fact that even though I have no illusions about being the next J.K. Rowling or turning out the quintessential American novel, I can certainly say that the stuff I turn out is better than a lot of books I paid $7.99 for at Barnes & Noble.

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If those wankers can get a mass-market paperback out, then us wankers can too.
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