Sierra On-line and the Most Over-the-top Marketing Materials Ever

November 20th, 2008 by Paul

I spoke a bit about my fond memories of Sierra catalogues from the 90’s in my talk at Gamecity, but I’d never come across this truly astonishing video until this evening…

This probably would have blown my mind if I’d seen it at the time.  It’s just so fantastically intense, despite the slightly tongue-in-cheek nature of everything.  But seriously, live re-enactments of King’s Quest 4 and Police Quest 2?  Nothing compares.

Now, I know certain well-known fans of point-and-clicks out there will continue to protest the abject shitness of the King’s Quest series until the cows come home, but as they were basically the first games I ever played seriously, they’re always going to have a special place in my slightly esoteric heart.

I’d never heard of Gold Rush! before…and, er, now I have.

Manhunter: San Francisco…I have actually completed this game.  An utterly misguided night-long session with my university gaming companion Mr Richard Bush resulted in us achieving the dubious honour of completing this utter cack.  Don’t ever touch it, unless you have no self-respect.

The Space Quest bit is just horrible.  But good shots of the game…neeeargh.

Amazing stuff.

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Auto levelling

November 14th, 2008 by Ian

For those who don’t know, “auto levelling” is a process Bethesda use in their recent games (Oblivion, Fallout 3).  It’s a process which basically means that all enemies you come accross in the game are always levelled to be “suitable” to your character - if you’re level 8, you’ll be facing level 8 super mutants.  If you’re a combat-oriented level 8 character you’ll probably find combat in general easier, as you’ll be relatively better at combat than your “average” level 8.  If you’re a speech or stealth or whatever oriented character you’ll find it relatively harder.   Fallout 3 also introduced a new wrinkle, which is that if you visit a location at level 8 say and then leave and come back at level 12 you’ll still be facing level 8 enemies.

It’s generally pretty controversial.  Actually, strike that, it’s just plain unpopular (and I can just feel Malakian getting ready to launch his bi-monthly Morrowind vs Oblivion rant at this thread).  But I think it’s a good thing.  Oh I’m so contrary.

Let’s say you have 100 missions in the game.  If they are auto-levelled, then you can wander around the landscape at will and be able to tackle any mission you find.  You have a lot of freedom.  If they aren’t auto-levelled, then let’s say 10 are suitable.  Suddenly you’re entering missions you can’t do, or ones which are facily boring.  Don’t get me wrong, I think there should be some incredibly difficult missions (and some hugely easy ones), but I think they should be the exception.  I don’t want to find a cool mission I can’t do because I haven’t got far enough into the game yet.  In my mind, the less auto-levelling there is the more linearity there is.  “Good” linearity can come from quests - long strings of missions.  If Bethesda are going to let you roam completely freely - an attribute universally lauded - then I think it would be pretty bad if could hardly tackle any of the missions at any one time.

I do understand why people don’t like auto-levelling though.  It feels… slippery somehow.  And I also think that Bethesda don’t mix it up with enough stupidly difficult/stupidly easy missions.  But I think it’s a very important part of their games.

I’d like to go further.  I’d like to make missions come to you, instead of you coming to them.  Instead of having mission A set in an abandoned apartment building, how about having mission A set in ANY abandoned apartment building - when you wander into one and the game decides you need a mission, it’ll place that mission there.  I do like exploring in Fallout 3, but I’d also like a bit more density to the missions as I don’t have 200 hours (unlike Bin) to put into seeing everything.

I had just finished the flame-ant mission last night and I came out of the subway and this dick from Talon Company started jawing at me about having a price on my head.  I killed him and then I very quickly found a Brotherhood vs Super Mutants mission that got me involved.  And I just thought - wow, that was awesome, because it was both completely non-linear but also wrapping me in missions (which is where I’d like to be) the whole time and it felt completely serendipidous.

I think a game which allowed missions to take place in general spaces - this mission requires an apartment building, this a bunker, this an open field - could give you even more freedom by giving you an experience as polished and designed as a great fps but within a freeform world.

I have a feeling the auto-levelling deniers are going to HATE that idea.

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Income Streams

November 13th, 2008 by Paul

This week I have been working in my other life for DMS making MIDI packs for dance music producers.

Except, it’s not my other life because my work there now a part of Mode 7, just as Ian’s (absolutely sterling and semi-virtuosic) work on the TV projects is a part of Mode 7.

At the moment, we’re getting the chance to work alongside two (and, soon, maybe three) very successful small businesses, and it’s deeply inspirational.  We’ve always maintained that the best thing for indies to do is to keep their mind on the money without losing their creative soul - this is very very difficult and I think that we’re only now just starting to go about it in the right way.

Like most small businesses, we’ve alternately committed the sins of not spending enough money and spending too much money.  Money should be invested where quality cannot be compromised and quality has a direct impact on ROI: it should be used to enable the impossible or facilitate the great.  You should only spend tiny, teeny amounts on gambles, but you should spend enough on investments so you don’t get trapped.

You should not spend money without having a clear idea of when and where it’s going to come back.  It’s that simple.

If you are an indie games company and you see a robust, fresh financial opportunity (you’ll get better at spotting these) run like fuck towards it because 1.) I promise you need it and 2.) real opportunities bring real benefits.  These are the real “work hard and be nice and it will pay you back” situations that proper businesses need.

OK rant over - now we blunder onwards into the big darkness to make more mistakes and live to talk about it!

Final footnote - my ruminations come from a place of massively reduced productivity due to an epic, epic man cold.  Thanks to everyone in my life for putting up with my current array of odd clothing choices and bizarre hacking noises.

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Tuesday afternoon

November 11th, 2008 by Ian

Getting into a heavy week of TV coding now, then on holiday to Bruges with Lizzie, should be fun.  Don’t have anything else to say really right now… so I won’t.

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Little Big Planet

November 9th, 2008 by Ian

I actually have a lot to say about LBP, and I’ll start with a slightly off-point anecdote.  Lizzie - who pretty much actively dislikes all video games apart from Zoo Keeper - thinks it’s the most compellingly beautiful game she has ever seen.  She is compelled by how it looks so much that she really really wants to play it.  Unfortunately, she can’t.  It’s too difficult for her, and I don’t mean a bit too difficult - it’s a LOT too difficult.  Now, my girlfriend is a fully fledged gaming retard but it is interesting that despite LBP’s “accessible” looks, it is most definitely a hardcore game.

Now, onto what I think about it.  First the bad.

- The jumping timing is a bit off.  This is just inexcusable and no I don’t care if it’s a result of the physics calculations.  I am certain that you can cheat your way to having a responsive jump mechanic.  It’s not like it’s the most important thing in the genre or anything.

- The management of which of the 3 depth layers you’re on is annoying.  I do excuse this because I actually think the problem they were trying to solve - basically generalising “depth” in a platform game which is usually very specialised - was a very difficult one.  Try to think of rules to govern how it works in mario for instance.  Anyway, this is annoying but I think it’s perfectly possible they did the best they could.

Now the good stuff.

- The physics engine is gloriously, gloriously good.  I love it.  It’s actually made me smile more often than any other game I can think of and I don’t like smiling much, especially not at up start pop-ey games I had called being crap.  I can’t say enough about it, it’s just wonderful.  The way that everything in the game is created through simple cause-and-effect dynamics is unbelievably charming.  And again, I don’t get charmed often.  I’m really quite difficult.

- The aesthetic… well, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it personally but I do think it’s new and exciting and good.

Now, the user levels I’ve come accross are complete crap and I find it hugely unlikely that more than 0.1% of them will actually be worth playing.  Tools are not the problem when it comes to making a good platform level.  It just takes quite a lot of skill and a huge amount of time and effort.  The majority of gamers will not do it.  Having said that, I am intrigued by the tools because the physics are so good.  I’m close to actually getting in and making something with it.  I might still do it, if I can come accross a good document online that will tell me how to do what I want to do.

I haven’t managed to play online successfully yet but the levels so far, but I would like to.  I doubt it will be a big thing for me but I am going to get another PS3 controller (finally) so I can play it with EC.  He, by the way, does NOT like LBP and probably suspects I’m only liking it to be contrary.  Either way, I can’t believe we won’t find the experience of playing multiplayer with each other absolutely hilarious in a very stupid way.

Finally, I think what LBP really needs is longer levels.  They have lots of wonderful new ideas in each level but only ever use each one twice at the most.  If you want to be compared to Yoshi’s Island (and I think LBP can be in the conversation) you’re going to need to understand that good platform level design involves introducting a new concept at the beginning of a level and then using it continually throughout, rather than having fifty new ideas per level.

If they’d got the level design right then I’d actually - shockingly - agree with Edge’s 10 score.  They haven’t, but I would score it a 9.  For the first two hours I was thinking more like 7 though, so I advise anyone who’s got it to give it some time.

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Modern Technology

November 7th, 2008 by Paul

So I’m writing this on my laptop connected to my new phone which has an unlimited data contract from Vodaphone.  I’m currently able to achieve 460 kbps on a 3G connection, which is actually quite startling.  I’m downloading stuff in the background as I write this and it’s all working well.

The idea that I can be on the internet at a practically useful speed anywhere with decent mobile service is just really amazing.

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Wednesday afternoon

November 5th, 2008 by Ian

Now, I actually like the “VATS dance” because I grew up watching Thomas play Fallout 1 and 2, and his tactic was to run right up to someone and then fire the minigun at point-blank range (because he’d usually put his perception and intelligence to zero so that was the only chance of actually hitting).  The fact that Bethesda have actually managed to make that a valid tactic in the third game is pretty funny.  Which reminds me, it’s time for me to go and roll my stupid character: StealthyHitoclock.

I’d like to remind those who have forgotten that I actually plan on buying Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts.  It’s my sleeper-call for a really fun game this year.  I dunno, it might be good.

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More Fallout 3

November 5th, 2008 by Paul

I’ve only played about 4 hours so far, so my opinions aren’t totally grounded.

It really does feel like a classic game: the presentation of everything is so unified and effective; the atmosphere is unique; the mechanics are slick and solid.

VATS is chunky and great - I can’t remember which review I read that criticised VATS for being ludicrous, but shooting a mole rat that’s in mid-air flying towards you in real life wouldn’t look elegant.

My main problem with VATS is still the “VATS dance” - you run in towards an enemy to get a good shot, then you stupidly backpeddle and dodge around to build up AP, then you attack again.  It’s silly - I think it would have been good coupled with some kind of cover system - having just played Mass Effect and loved how intuitive the cover system becomes, I would like something down those lines.  Perhaps that would have been too much innovation at once: backpeddling stupidly was a big part of Oblivion (if you were a mage or archer) and may have been too difficult to sort out.

Another negative for me is the number of nag features - you have health (not that easy to maintain), equipment condition AND radiation to deal with.  It feels a little close to forcing you to pee every 4 hours or so…I think this will be dealt with by not mattering much - I haven’t had an equipment failure yet and radiation seems to be easily managed, but bleh.

Also, I’ve never played a game with a radiation-type mechanic that I’ve ever liked - I don’t see why it’s fun to go near something and hear a stupid geiger counter noise.

It’s probably my job to say something about the writing.  I haven’t hit anything that has upset me, and I actually laughed at a couple of lines (”I’m Crazy Dietrich: I’ve got everything you want, provided you want something from the collection of random crap that I happen to have”).  I think the writing is better than Oblivion’s.

Oh the voice acting is a bit rubbish - never mind.  I’m inclined to think that it’s the direction that needs sorting out - people don’t seem to know the context of their lines, and don’t seem to be injecting enough personality into them.  Even the celebrity voice actors sound flat - they need to take a look at what’s happening in those voice sessions and change some stuff.

Er, hearing Bethesda characters say “fuck” all the time is weird.

Cyrodiil was definitely a nicer place to be - there was grass and stuff.  It was one of the only games where everything seemed verdant, and Fallout feels like a step backwards in that we’re back in the sigh apocalypse again.  But, it’s a unique apocalypse and the creativity that’s been piled into the environments makes up for its inherent shortcomings.

There’s some immersion-breaking shit that happens.  SPOILERS LOL If you talk to Burke in Megaton about blowing up the town, and then report him to the mayor, the following happens: the mayor runs into the saloon and has an argument with him.  Burke kills him.  Nobody else in the bar notices.  Burke gets up, says something rude to you, then leaves.  If you go outside, he’s disappeared.  If you go back inside, the mayor’s body is just lying on the ground.  “Hi there!” says someone.  None of the residents anywhere in Megaton have noticed the mayor’s death.  You can just take everything from his corpse and sell it (I did) without anyone caring END SPOILERS LOL

That’s a really traditional Bethesda problem - the whole of that situation seemed like a quick and dirty scripted hack to get you to the next point of the plot.  The problem is that the outcome of your decision wasn’t profound enough - I personally think they should have just eliminated that choice.

I am really enjoying this game, though.  Working all day and then starting playing about 10pm until I fall asleep is very rewarding.

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Ok, I’m ready to talk about Fallout 3.

November 4th, 2008 by Ian

I’ve played about 20 hours and I’ve finished the main quest.  I think it’s a fantastic game but I’m going to start off with my negative points.

Bad stuff:

1.  The writing and voice acting are bad.  And I’m really not a writing nazi either.   I just think that almost all of the cool characters in the game are undermined by the writing, and most are further undermined by the voice acting.  I turned the voices off for a while, but as I had to turn all voices off (ie, I couldn’t keep the “incidental” voices on while having the dialog voices off) that didn’t really work.

2.  The main quest needed a lot more filler.  Bethesda are probably reacting to Oblivion’s ridiculously crap-padded main quest, but honestly they could have made the main quest really twice as good by just giving a load of postman or nest-killing missions, with tiny amounts of plot exposition each, during every major phase.  It just happened too quickly.

Good stuff:

1.  VATS is my favorite thing in video gaming for at least three years.  it’s just perfect.  The massively over the top violence, the relaxation of being able to deal with all combat encounters in pause time and without the pressure of having to actually aim (no, I don’t want to aim in a game where my aim basically doesn’t matter)… it’s just absolutely brilliant.

2.  The graphics/aesthetic design is stunning.  Just stunning.

3.  The world feels even more freeform than Oblivion even.   This is the first time I’ve felt this free to do whatever I damn well want in a game.  It really is a step up.

I love Bethesda and I want them to keep producing Elder Scrolls and Fallout games every two years for every more.   Just fix the dialog writing on the next Fallout.

As a postscript, the question of Fallout 3 vs Oblivion is a very interesting one for me.   I am really not an orcs and elves person and I like almost everything about Fallout 3 more but… I found Oblivion really relaxing to play and just exist in.    Oh, and controversially I think Oblivion is actually a measure MORE dark than Fallout 3 which is slightly amusing.

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Xbox Live Community Games

November 2nd, 2008 by malakian

This isn’t an encounter with dracula, as is customary of my postings, but I had to point out what a fabulous boon to indie gaming microsoft have provided.  The 360 Live dashboard is getting an overhaul on the 19th of this month, and with it comes a service called XBL Community Games. It is effectively what Mode 7 asked valve to do, in a certain petition that began a few moons ago.  Taking a 30% cut for themselves and turning over a generous 70% to developers, MS are letting ANYONE publish games using a free ‘XNA Game Studio’ toolset.

I really see this as incredibly positive news for indies. I’m psyched! Might we even see a glimmer of a frosty neuro-receptor in the future on here? lols.

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