So, over the summer, I took a Game Scripting class. In it, I made a tetris platforming game that I have since expanded somewhat upon, and am still in the process of expanding. Currently, development is in somewhat of a lull - classes are picking up, and I've gotten to a point where I'm fairly happy showing what I've got, even if it doesn't have the full game structure and all the features it will eventually have. It can be found here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45496374/Tetris%20Platformer%20-%209-30.zip
Anyway, the basic concept is Tetris - that standard falling blocks, lines clearing that we all know and love - but with the extra twist that in addition to controlling the falling blocks, you control a person inside the tetris well. That person can move and jump, and it's the person's goal to avoid being crushed by the tetris blocks. This, in itself, is fairly easy - but enemies also occasionally fall from the sky into the well, necessitating extra movement there as well. Lastly, pickups that give you points also fall from the sky, meaning that you want to shape your blocks in such a way that it is possible to get to the falling points and away from falling enemies.
It's a fairly simple concept, but it's a lot of fun to play - at least I think so, and I've gotten pretty positive feedback from others. In its current state, it has 3 modes and two difficulties - normal mode, which is a standard tetris well, lava mode, which covers several bottom rows of the well in lava, making it much more difficult for the jumping person, and water mode, where your movement is slowed, jumping ability increased, and you have to get bubbles at least once every 25 seconds or you will drown. Increasing the difficulty decreases your ability to jump, meaning that in standard and lava mode, you can only jump up 1 tile's worth of space (as opposed to 2), and 2 tile's worth in water mode, in which you can normally jump three. Your movement speed is also slowed slight in the harder difficulty.
The initial project in the class was to pick some sort of old, arcade-style game and put your own unique twist on it. I, obviously, chose Tetris. I wanted a puzzley game that wouldn't be too hard for me to make yet could be of a high enough quality - once I put more time and effort into it - to go into my portfolio. I think that I've somewhat accomplished that, but I still definitely have plans to push this game further.
I intend to add sequences of levels that you progress through one at a time, which get harder and harder. I intend to add more types of enemies - ones that shoot, notably - and powerups for the little guy at the bottom. The three modes that currently exist will become "endless" modes. Obviously, the graphics will be improved at some point in here, as will the sound.
I tried to apply the principle of putting the player in an unexpected role in a familiar situation with the design of the game - something that I've found can be quite fun. It's a basic principle of media design, after all - be predictable, but also unpredictable.
In the end, I think that I've created something here that could help me to get a job by showing off my design and scripting skills - something fun, interesting, and at least somewhat original. I hope that anyone reading this enjoys the game as well. Once I make more progress on it, I'll be posting a revised version with exciting new features.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Chibi-Robo
Chibi-Robo is a very amusing little adventure-platformer (heavy on adventure) game for the Gamecube. The basic premise is that you are a tiny robot whose duty it is to serve a family - and of course, the family is lovably dysfunctional. Not only that, but all of various stuffed animals, action figures, and the like are alive, and usually even more dysfunctional than the humans - the disturbingly nectar-addicted teddy bear, for example, really takes the cake.
Anyway, the actual gameplay consists largely of fetch quests, platforming (often in the form of exploration), and timed minigames. These are quite entertaining - the platforming is aided by the ability to hover briefly, as well as the ability to move around various blocks. You are limited in your ability to explore by your energy - your every action drains Chibi Robo's energy, which can be recharged by plugging yourself into the wall. You also are limited by the day-night cycle, which changes relatively rapidly. The people and other denizens of the house do different things during the day and night.
Your two currencies are a basic form of money, which is used to buy various things to aid and enable exploration, as well as power a very plot-important robot, and your family's love, which increases the amount of energy Chibi-Robo has. These are accumulated not only by doing various quests, but also by mundane things like taking junk to trash cans and wiping up mud. The game, funnily enough, actually manages to make cleaning fun, by offering an immediate reward of one or both of these currencies, which have quite tangible effects in the game.
Beyond the basic game mechanics, the sidequests are intriguing enough to keep you wanting to do them (especially since many of them are accomplished by exploration, taking you to fun places), the gameplay fun enough, and the characters quirky enough to really keep you interested. On top of that, the setting, a house, is a rather odd one for a platformer, and the possibilities for exploration within it keep you going.
To sum up:
-Quirkiness is good, especially if fetch quests are a large part of your gameplay. If you have relatively standard gameplay, spice up the setting and the characters.
-Unconventional settings can work quite well, especially for platformers and adventure games. Having a main character that isn't human lends itself quite well to this, so don't be afraid to run with it.
-This may seem basic, but exploration is plenty compelling if you know that you'll find things in nooks and crannies. I'm not saying that every game needs exploration, but there's a reason that adventure games still exist, even if they're a bit rarer than they used to be. This game is a great example of compelling exploration.
Anyway, the actual gameplay consists largely of fetch quests, platforming (often in the form of exploration), and timed minigames. These are quite entertaining - the platforming is aided by the ability to hover briefly, as well as the ability to move around various blocks. You are limited in your ability to explore by your energy - your every action drains Chibi Robo's energy, which can be recharged by plugging yourself into the wall. You also are limited by the day-night cycle, which changes relatively rapidly. The people and other denizens of the house do different things during the day and night.
Your two currencies are a basic form of money, which is used to buy various things to aid and enable exploration, as well as power a very plot-important robot, and your family's love, which increases the amount of energy Chibi-Robo has. These are accumulated not only by doing various quests, but also by mundane things like taking junk to trash cans and wiping up mud. The game, funnily enough, actually manages to make cleaning fun, by offering an immediate reward of one or both of these currencies, which have quite tangible effects in the game.
Beyond the basic game mechanics, the sidequests are intriguing enough to keep you wanting to do them (especially since many of them are accomplished by exploration, taking you to fun places), the gameplay fun enough, and the characters quirky enough to really keep you interested. On top of that, the setting, a house, is a rather odd one for a platformer, and the possibilities for exploration within it keep you going.
To sum up:
-Quirkiness is good, especially if fetch quests are a large part of your gameplay. If you have relatively standard gameplay, spice up the setting and the characters.
-Unconventional settings can work quite well, especially for platformers and adventure games. Having a main character that isn't human lends itself quite well to this, so don't be afraid to run with it.
-This may seem basic, but exploration is plenty compelling if you know that you'll find things in nooks and crannies. I'm not saying that every game needs exploration, but there's a reason that adventure games still exist, even if they're a bit rarer than they used to be. This game is a great example of compelling exploration.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time
Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time is a very entertaining third-person action-adventure game (or third-person shooter, both describe it fairly well), with heavy puzzle and platforming aspects. I enjoyed this game quite a bit. It was the second Ratchet and Clank game I have ever played (with the first being Ratchet: Deadlocked). The game was very clever, which I think is ultimately what I liked most about it.
First of all, I really like the guns. While I realize that most of them
are carryovers from previous Ratchet and Clank games, they nevertheless are very solid and fun. There are a wide variety of guns - ones that hit the major archetypes of guns, such as pistol, sniper rifle, shotgun, and rocket launcher, as well as such additions as the gun that opens a portal to an alternate dimension, which tentacles come out of to attack your opponents, a sonic-powered frog with a strong aoe attack, and a gun which launches heat-seeking sawblades. While they are not perfectly balanced, each weapon has its niche, and each weapon is quite unique. Even the relatively generic weapons are customizable in addition to being able to be leveled up, making them unique while still being familiar.
Secondly, the puzzles were something that I really had never seen before. In them, you can set multiple versions of your character to accomplish different tasks, which would combine to solve the puzzle by activating various switches simultaneously. You do this by recording your actions, and then interacting with the recording. For example, in the simplest one, you record yourself standing on a button, then play that recording while standing on a different button. Since your past self is standing on the first button and you are presently standing on the second, both count as being pressed and the door opens. It is, again, very clever.
Those two things were my favorite parts of the game, though other things are fairly clever about it as well - I'm particularly a fan of the hoverboots, which affords you speed at the cost of exact control (and sadly, you automatically take them off when you equip a gun) Personally, I'd love to see a game where you constantly control like Ratchet with hoverboots, except with the ability to use guns as normal. The general level design, boss design, and other accessories are fairly clever as well.
Long story short:
-Be unique. Be inventive. For instance, put interesting twists on your most basic guns - but don't sacrifice usability to do so. Same with puzzles - it's fine to just make you hit the switch, but put a clever twist on it and it suddenly becomes fun and fresh.
-Moving fast is fun, particularly in an environment that seems to exist to primarily work for slow people. This goes back to an idea I touched on in regards to Geist - breaking the rules that a game seems like it should have (even if it doesn't) is fun. Platformers are about moving slowly and carefully - make the game fast instead. That's what Sonic did, and he did it well. Play with genre conventions.
-Time manipulation in puzzles is fun, if done right.
First of all, I really like the guns. While I realize that most of them
are carryovers from previous Ratchet and Clank games, they nevertheless are very solid and fun. There are a wide variety of guns - ones that hit the major archetypes of guns, such as pistol, sniper rifle, shotgun, and rocket launcher, as well as such additions as the gun that opens a portal to an alternate dimension, which tentacles come out of to attack your opponents, a sonic-powered frog with a strong aoe attack, and a gun which launches heat-seeking sawblades. While they are not perfectly balanced, each weapon has its niche, and each weapon is quite unique. Even the relatively generic weapons are customizable in addition to being able to be leveled up, making them unique while still being familiar.
Secondly, the puzzles were something that I really had never seen before. In them, you can set multiple versions of your character to accomplish different tasks, which would combine to solve the puzzle by activating various switches simultaneously. You do this by recording your actions, and then interacting with the recording. For example, in the simplest one, you record yourself standing on a button, then play that recording while standing on a different button. Since your past self is standing on the first button and you are presently standing on the second, both count as being pressed and the door opens. It is, again, very clever.
Those two things were my favorite parts of the game, though other things are fairly clever about it as well - I'm particularly a fan of the hoverboots, which affords you speed at the cost of exact control (and sadly, you automatically take them off when you equip a gun) Personally, I'd love to see a game where you constantly control like Ratchet with hoverboots, except with the ability to use guns as normal. The general level design, boss design, and other accessories are fairly clever as well.
Long story short:
-Be unique. Be inventive. For instance, put interesting twists on your most basic guns - but don't sacrifice usability to do so. Same with puzzles - it's fine to just make you hit the switch, but put a clever twist on it and it suddenly becomes fun and fresh.
-Moving fast is fun, particularly in an environment that seems to exist to primarily work for slow people. This goes back to an idea I touched on in regards to Geist - breaking the rules that a game seems like it should have (even if it doesn't) is fun. Platformers are about moving slowly and carefully - make the game fast instead. That's what Sonic did, and he did it well. Play with genre conventions.
-Time manipulation in puzzles is fun, if done right.
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