XNA + Zune...

Parfois, les grandes corporations ont des idées qui me dépassent parfois O_o

 

 

Microsoft's Chris Satchell just announced that XNA Game Studios games can also be made for Zune. He showed off a brief demo of Zauri – a topdown shooter. XNA Zune games can also support custom soundtracks (this is an MP3 player after all). Satchell promises that you'll be able to take games from Windows, to Xbox, to Zune. No word on the availability of this functionality on Zunes; more as we know it.

 

 

[ Joystiq ] 

Le futur des RTS

Pour être honnête, ça fait des années que je n'ai pas joué à un RTS ^_^ Je suis donc mal placé pour parler du futur des RTS. Mais c'est un fait que ce genre n'est pas prêt de disparaitre, loin de là:

 

The reason that RTS games become RTT games is that they ignore one simple fact: "War is the continuation of policy by other means." RTS games have done a superb job of simulating war but a lousy job of simulating politics.

 

If RTS games are to be truly strategic, then they need to simulate both war and politics. Why? Because war is politics.

 

Politics are who gets what, when, and how -- in other words, who has power and who does not. War is about precisely that, just with more drama and a lot more destruction than the everyday politics we're used to. In order to make the strategy of war meaningful, war has to be about more than simply destroying the enemy.

 

It has to be about who gets what, when, and how. Without politics, war games devolve into pointless acts of attrition.

 

Take, for example, StarCraft, one of the most popular -- and, in my opinion, most fun -- RTS games of all time. The player directs drone-like units to collect resources, turns those resources into buildings and combat units, and then directs those units to seek out and destroy the enemy.

 

 

If the player chooses, he can simply wait for the enemy to come to him, trusting in the power of defense to wear his opponent down. But he cannot win unless he finds the enemy base and destroys it.

 

 

 

In other words, StarCraft models total war, or war in which a combatant uses all available resources to the very bitter end. In total war, though, there is no second place, so a strictly defensive stance is a recipe for defeat.

 

 

[ Gamasutra ] 

Pourquoi le game design n'est pas FACILE !!!

Si les niveaux de Super Mario avaient étés désigné comme ça, Sonic ne serait pas là où il en est !!! ^_^

 

 

 

Next-Gen Narrative...

Je suis toujours surpris par le niveau d'attention qu'attire la problèmatique narrative dans les jeux ces derniers temps. Dernier en date à prendre publiquement position sur le sujet, David Braben revient sur sa vision dans son prochain jeu.

 

 

 

 

 

We've certainly seen things like Oblivion where you've got all the side quests that make the world feel a lot better.

 

The Darkness touched on that a little bit as well, and quite a few games have elements of what you might call 'side gameplay' that help feed into the richness, but they don't fundamentally alter the story: games like Deus Ex where you had branching story, and there was some slight branching in games like Indigo Prophecy. So, I think all of those things are positive, but a lot of them felt, to me, like they hadn't done the trick.

 

The problem is, I felt they didn't quite deliver on their promise. Their promise is not actually the fact that you can play it through and have a different story, because that sounds fundamentally irrelevant -- you play a game through and think, "So what, I could have done things slightly differently". That's not the point. I find that once you try playing games in a slightly contrary way, you end up finding a lot of blind alleys, things that you just can't do, which I think is tragic. If you offer that promise, you've got to deliver on it.

 

So it's not so much the fact of the story being able to go lots of different ways. It's the fact that you can try a lot of different things and you'll find a way through. It may not be what you anticipated, but there is a way through. I think it's that sort of thing -- being able to experiment with the world in a fun way.

 

I mean, there's quite a bit of variability, not in the story, but in the way a level's played in Call of Duty 3. But if you embraced that and tried playing around, you'd find quite often -- it happened many times to me -- that you'd finish a level, and it wouldn't terminate, because you'd done the wrong thing last. I found that really frustrating. You'd just run around and find that you were stuck.

 

 

[ Gamasutra ] 

Le design de Viva Pinata...

Viva Pinata fut l'un des gros titres 1st generation sur la xbox 360. Gamasutra revient sur le titre de ce titre plutôt original ^_^

 

 

On the right-hand side is the original design document written by Rare founder Tim Stamper many, many years ago. Although short, it still puts forward the core gameplay seen in today's Viva Piñata: gardening, animals and the ability to trade. During this early period, Xbox Live had not really taken off to the extent that you see today and so the chosen platforms were mobile phones and PDAs. The screenshot hearkens back to this time.

 

If you look closely at the image, you can see that there were already trees, flowers and ponds available to the discerning gardener. As for animals, a pony and a warren of rabbits play by the water's edge. The more eagle-eyed may also be able to spot a character or two borrowed from Banjo. When concepting a new product it can be prudent to borrow assets wherever possible to get things up and running quickly.

 

This second image provides a closer look at the animals in that screenshot. On the right of the image are Ryan's concept sketches. His first batch of animals was based around simple cartoon characters with a pastel color spin and, as you can see, don't resemble the piñatas that you know and smash today at all.

 

 

[ Gamasutra ] 

That Jumping Story...

J'adore lire Dan de Lost Garden. Son dernier talk commence par une histoire d'horreur d'un autre temps (enfin, j'espère), puis revient sur certains principes de GD qui lui sont cher ^_^

 

Not so long ago there was an experienced team, working with a known platform, and a known engine. They had just scored a popular girl friendly license valued at roughly $160 million. Their game had the potential to hit as big as Pokemon or Nintendogs.

The designer ignored all this. You see, he had always wanted to make a Zelda clone...one with the critical element that has always been missing from all Zelda games: Hardcore jumping puzzles.

...

 

If the team missed the milestones, the penalties were extreme. So they crunched in happy little silos of artists, level designers and programmers, all in accordance to a strict production schedule. It was the only possible way to get all the specified content done in time for the looming holiday ship date.

...

 

Uh oh. They relied heavily on laboriously constructed jumping puzzles tuned to the old jump mechanics. The last few levels of the game were massively broken.

 ...

 

Surprise, surprise, the end result wasn’t a very good game. It received miserable scores, but even worse, the core audience who would have bought it on the license alone was completely alienated by the design decisions.

 

They wanted to befriend and grow cute little animals. They didn't want to die repeatedly while being attacked by spiky monsters while scrambling through military obstacle courses.

 

When the licensee pulled out of the sequel, the team collapsed. The human cost was immense. Home were lost, families relocated, many were so burnt out on game development they left the industry permanently, their passion crushed.

 

[ Lost Garden ] 

 

 

 

5 trucs pour améliorer lees jeux...

1Up revient sur 5 problèmes récurrents des jeux qui sont pourtant connus depuis longtemps ^_^

 

1. Unskippable Cut-scenes

 

.... Maybe I already played through this thing once. Maybe the voice acting is embarrassing to the point that I want to mute the TV on the off-chance anyone nearby might suspect that I'm enjoying it. Maybe I just wanted to play the game more...

 

2. Save Points

 

...Nobody should ever be faced with the prospect of saying "right after I get to a save point" when someone is calling you to bed. Actually, you deserve whatever happens if you ever actually say that, but the temptation shouldn't exist. In the age of hard drives there aren't many sound technological reasons why I can't save my game at any time....

 

3. Quick-Time Events

 

...Seriously, this is about as minimal as gameplay can get while still technically being described as gameplay. They generally don't even contain the elegance and entertaining deaths of a halfway decent laser-disc game from 1989. Rent a copy of Clash of the Titans and get an old Simon off eBay. Congratulations, you just played through half of God of War II...

 

... 

 

[ 1UP ] 

 

La philosophie de la récompense

Ces 10 dernières années, la notion de récompense a pris une importance cruciale en game design, ayant vu d'ailleurs, son incarnation la plus spectaculaire dans le principe des accomplissements sur le Xbox Live.

 

Comme le THC est l'élément actif du canabis, la "reward" agi directement sur le système cognitif du joueur, produisant satisfaction et motivation. Du coup, donner corps et gérer les récompenses sont devenues des problèmatiques majeures ^_^

 

J'en parle dans le champ lexical des narcotiques, puisque certains types de joueurs sont litéralements accros à cette notion. Ne parle-t-on pas d'Achievement Junkie d'ailleurs ? :-D

 

 

A reward is something you receive and feel positive about.

 

...

 

What exactly that reward is, is of course subjective, but there must be something about the game you enjoy, otherwise you wouldn’t play it. Maybe you play Bejeweled because the sound of falling gems relaxes you.

 

Or maybe you play Quake because killing monsters makes you feel powerful. Or maybe you play Civilization because you enjoy the fantasy of building an empire. Then again, you might prefer to play The Sims because you like the idea that you can take out the trash using nothing but your mouse.

 

Or you might play System Shock because you like being scared shitless. Or maybe you play Paradoxion because it makes you feel smart. Whatever game you play, you play it because you want to get something out of it, something you feel positive about (even if others find it weird).

 

... 

 

In order for a game to provide a rewarding experience as a whole, it must contain certain elements that are rewarding. You can’t create a game that constantly kicks me in the shin - something I find extremely annoying - but leaves me feeling that the game as a whole was quite enjoyable.

 

There must be at least something in the game that I would consider a reward, otherwise the game won’t provide me with a worthwhile experience. Of course, that doesn’t mean everything should be a reward, or that nothing can be annoying.

 

After all, I do enjoy a game of football (or soccer, if you prefer) on occasion and that includes a bit of shin kicking, which I’ll just take for granted. But still, for a game to be rewarding, it has to include rewards.

 

... 

 

[ Casual Game Design ] 

Ré-écrire le gameplay de Street Fighter 2...

Pfiou, voici un job a haut risque: Pour la nouvelle version HD se SF2, David Sirlin a eu pour tache de refaire le gameplay du jeu pour la mettre au gout du jour (plus facile, plus accessible, etc...).

 

 

Autant dire qu'il a pas intêret à se rater O_o 

 

Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix was originally going to be a graphical update of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, but along the way some magic happened.

 

HD Remix is now a completely new Street Fighter game—the 6th installment in the SF2 series. It also includes an arcade perfect gameplay version of SSF2T with new art and music. You’re actually getting two games in one.

 

For years, I’ve been a care-taker of the franchise, helping to present the games in the best way in Capcom Classics Collection 1, 2, and Remixed. Now I have the honor and burden of improving upon what I consider the very best Street Fighter game ever: Super Turbo.

 

So many have said it’s impossible to improve upon the polished gem of ST, but as Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” so Capcom and I felt that it was worth taking a shot.

 

Here are the design goals:

 

1) Make the game easier to play—more inclusive rather than exclusive
2) Make the game even more balanced for tournament play
3) Add fun as long as it doesn’t interfere with #2.

 

[ Capcom blog ] 

Les 5 clefs du jeu d'action/aventure

Le directeur artistique du dernier Ratchet & Clank revient sur ce qui doit faire le succès du jeu d'aventure orienté Action aventure ^_^

 

 

 

1. A Beginning with a Bang

 

Nowadays more and more games are starting off with a heart pounding opening that gets players on the edge of their seats and keeps them there. Other forms of entertainment like movies, books, and theatre have been doing this for years.

 

... 

 

The first level can also serve as a technical showpiece for the game. ... Why not kick it off with a showcase of amazing graphics, physics, sound, and special effects?

 

A beginning with a bang can both dazzle and engross players by demonstrating what's in store for them. From a game developer's perspective, we think about when to schedule the level so that it can reap all of the benefits from the lessons learned during production. Planning a level based on both the technological and design discoveries results in a polished and tighter experience unlike the clunky levels that are often produced at the beginning of production. As we've found with Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, the first level can also serve as a great demo. It required no previous training and entices the player with some of the best moments of the game.

 

2. A Compelling Main Character

 

...One of the key factors that I believe separates it from other genres is a playable main character that is central to the gameplay and story. Like a great opening level, the character's visual design has a lot of influence on shaping player's first impression of a game. Great characters tell a story simply through their appearance. Whether it's their clothing, an interesting gadget, body tattoos, or an eye patch, there are aspects of the character that make them feel unique and compelling to play.

 

Of course, no matter how appealing the character might be, the real test is how they control. The camera and character are probably the two biggest challenges faced in developing third person action games. Since the controllable character is over 75 percent of the experience and ties into the moment to moment gameplay, it's critical that the character feels just right and is fun to play for many hours. There are many trade offs that developers make to ensure that the character both looks and feels good during gameplay. They must decide whether a character needs to snap into position to give immediate feedback, which does not always look good visually yet feels good for gameplay. Other times the character will have "anticipation"; they will have a wind up before following through with the action which reads well visually, yet might feel unresponsive due to the delay. A great action hero will pick the right times to be showy and when to be quick and responsive.

 

3. The Pace of the Progression

 

An engaging action/adventure teaches players new skills, gives them interesting ways to use them, and let's them feel the power of having mastered them. The player's skill progression can feel very rewarding in that each situation challenges the player in different ways and as a result they feel empowered with each new accomplishment. A game with great pacing knows when it's time to teach new lessons and when to go out for recess.

 

...

 

The communication of the gameplay elements is also important. For players to understand what's going on, the gameplay needs to be communicated consistently and clearly. If red switches open red doors, then they should be consistently red and should always open red doors. While this sounds fairly obvious, I'm amazed at the number of times games break these little rules due to something as simple as the level lighting or a game element is modified to support the story. The more the game world feels consistent and clear, the more confident the player feels in executing what they've learned.

 

...

 

4. A Strategic Meta-game

 

A meta-game is an overarching game system that ties into the player's more immediate goals. Most meta-games involve an economy or upgrade system. As the player progresses they get more money, upgrade points, and other things that can be spent or used to improve their character's abilities. This adds more depth in that it gives players strategies in how they play the game.

 

...

 

5. Fulfills the Fantasy

 

I think most people play action/adventures as a means of escape. They want to become a heroic character and act out a fantasy of being on an amazing adventure. A great game can put players under a spell and get them so immersed in the action that they forget they are playing a video game. Maintaining immersion is the result of the overall presentation and how all the elements of the story, gameplay, graphics, and sound come together to create a believable fantasy that the pl