Determinance screenshot

Archive for October, 2008

Gamecity 3

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Thanks to all who came to see me talk this afternoon – very cool.

I’m now watching a broken video chat with David Jaffe in Gatecrasher.  Yes.

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Thursday afternoon

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

I’m doing altogether too much waiting for Canadian coder support this week.  There’s hardly much point in me starting work before they get up at the moment, so I actually got around to playing Crysis Warhead.  Crysis looks… a LOT worse than Far Cry 2 on my 8800 GTS, but it’s still more gun to play.  Apart from anything else, the gunplay is skilled – when you shoot someone in the head, they die.  I don’t think any game has made me feel powerful the way Crysis does; and I also personally love the schlock action/horror flick aesthetic.  I like bombast in my cutscenes, and Crysis has it in spades.

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F*** you EA

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Hello omroth,

Your Electronic Arts account has been suspended for 7 days for violating
 the Electronic Arts Inc Terms of Service. We believe that the violation
 or behavior is serious enough to suspend your access to the service.

Violation: Inappropriate Profile text
Violation type : Language
Asset Name:Fuckhead
Asset Creation Date:09.07.2008 

Understanding the EA Terms of Service is extremely important,
 should you have any general questions or concerns please review 
the Terms of Service here: http://legal.ea.com/legal/legal.jsp?language=en.
 Should you then need additional assistance, or wish to appeal a violation,
 you can contact us here:
 http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=17.

Sincerely,
Customer Support
Electronic Arts, Inc.

EA.com Customer Relations

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Wednesday afternoon

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

TV stuff today, which means a lot of waiting around for Canadian programmer support.  It’s going ok in general though, I’m definitely getting a better handle on everything each day I work on it.

We’re going to be releasing our first game development resource soon, the Cloth Pack for Torque.  It basically adds Determinance’s cloth stuff into Torque and is very easy to apply and use. We’ll be charging something for it, but not too much, and there’s been a lot of demand for it over at Garage Games.  I’m quite excited to see how this turns out.

Lot’s of Synapse design going on too.  I’ve got a couple of ideas I’m pretty excited about and when they’ve finished baking in the oven of my mind I’ll put them in and see how they go.  I’m thinking of having a Synapse day at the office on Sunday and getting some feedback, hopefully from Thomas and Clacy, on what people think of the 1-unit missions.

I haven’t yet decided whether I’m going to go to Nottingham (Game City).  If I do, it’ll be because I’m bored tomorrow afternoon.  I’ll drive up and crash on Tim’s floor and probably just get wasted at one of the evening events.  I’m not going to tell EC whether I’m going or not because that will just make it more entertaining for the both of us.

People keep aluding to some big shake-up that happens about half way through Far Cry 2.  I might try and get to that stage… although I’m not holding my breath.  To be perfectly honest, the only thing I need to really enjoy that game is a mod which makes headshots kill every time.  That’s it.

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So what the hell is it with me and betas?

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Yeah, it’s actually ludicrous the number of times I’ve announced a Determinance or Synapse beta and not followed through.  The basic reason is that I always get to the brink of doing it and then I decide there’s new stuff I have to put in.  Then the new stuff breaks and it’s no good as a beta.  Ho hum.  There will be a beta, and you guys will like it.

I’ve just read the GameShark reviewer’s opinions of Fallout 3, and I’m finally ready to call the game.  I think it’s going to be very competent and enjoyable/compulsive enough to finish and enjoy most every minute of.  And I think the plotting is going to be just plain uninspired – ticking all the right boxes but somehow completely failing to draw you in.  As such, I’m actually very much looking forward to spending the weekend with it.  But I have a feeling that the final verdict will be quite simply: “considerably less than the sum of it’s parts”.

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I am speaking at Gamecity 3

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Bit late with the announcement but if you’re at Gamecity in Nottingham this year please come and see my talk…

12:30 – 1:45 THURSDAY OCT 30th

The Curry Sessions #1
Mode 7

Mogal-e-Azam Curry House

(£3.50 Buffet Lunch)

I will be talking about what motivates indie developers to keep making games in the face of adversity!

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Update

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Yes, I’ll probably be lynched (with indifference) at this announcement but we have decided again to delay the Synapse beta.  Early testing showed it wasn’t ready at all.  Hopefully I can get it out in the not-too-distant.

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Far Cry 2 Addendum

Friday, October 24th, 2008

I’m pretty sure I have Far Cry 2′s number now.  I think that its missions aren’t interesting enough.  There isn’t a strong plot that I’m eager to find out the next episode of.  Whenever I get a new mission I know it’s just going to be a “go here and blow up this” mission and because the AI is a little dense that’s just quite boring.

Everything else about Far Cry 2 is exceptional.  Unfortunately, the hole is a pretty big hole.  It’s good enough that I still recommend you buy it and I’m going to go play it right now.  But I think I know why it’s a 4 star game and not a 5 star game.

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I bet you guys think I’ve failed!

Friday, October 24th, 2008

The beta has, officially, started.  As in, two people have it.  I’m going to wait until they’ve reported before I hand out more but I’m afraid all of you naysayers should understand that it’s out!  In some form.

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Far Cry 2

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

I played four hours straight today, which is extremely good going for me.  After an hour I was really ready to switch it off, but then I just started pissing about – throwing grenades and rockets and things – and then it hit me that that’s actually what the game wants you to do.  After that, I bought into it completely and I rather wish I was back in the office playing it right now.

Most of the critiscms I’ve heard I don’t agree with.   The milleria is a plot device which doesn’t affect the gameplay at all.  The constantly-respawning check points are just things you’re supposed to find a way around.  The weapons breaking is actually a mechanic to occasionally give you a more advanced weapon than your current “level”; without giving it to you for good yet.  All the weapons you get from your caches work perfectly.

The AI on the other hand is pretty bad.  My silenced pistol doesn’t seem to work for instance (the enemies all hear it), and they stand about a bit too much.  But my main problem is that the guns aren’t powerful enough.  A head shot should ALWAYS kill in one shot.  I’ll see how it progresses when I get better guns.

The game is impossibly beautiful too.  I definitely recommend it so far,.

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