Wednesday 28 March 2012

The Reason I'm Entering the Videogames Industry

I've been fortunate to squeeze in about 15 hours of Mass Effect 3 over the past few weeks, and I love it. It's a bit glitchy, especially during the in-game cinematics, but those rare lapses are easily forgiven thanks to consistently pretty environments, dramatic and rewarding character abilities, and (especially) an interesting cast of characters that you can identify with. The guys and gals responsible for the aliens in ME deserve medals, both for how they look and animate, but also how they speak (good job, writers), and how they sound (good job, voice-actors). I genuinely care about almost every character in the game, and I want to be their hero.

The next paragraph is full of spoilers.

I was treated to several sombre moments during those 15 hours. I said goodbye to Mordin and watched him heroically cure the genophage while singing his version of the Major-General's Song softly under his breath—his singing provided one of my favourite moments in ME2. I said goodbye to Thane while reading scripture with his son. I wanted Legion's AI people to experience their awakening, but wasn't willing to sacrifice the Quarians for it.

My point is that in each of these situations I was genuinely feeling something that was much more far-reaching than what many might even consider is possible through this medium. I've been genuinely sad for these characters, and deeply conflicted in what choices to make. Hearing Mordin vehemently admit that he was wrong before sacrificing himself—seeing him close his eyes and hearing his characteristic sharp intake of breath as the lift took him to the top of the tower for his final act—this was cathartic and satisfying in ways that good novels and movies have only occasionally made me feel. Do you remember how you felt when Sia's Breathe Me started to play at the end of the season finale of Six Feet Under? ME3 is delivering miniature moments like these every few hours.

It's a big deal. BioWare has really achieved something here, just as they've always worked to do, and I'm pleased and even kind of absurdly proud that they're uplifting two of my passions, gaming and writing.

Anyway, to bring this ramble back around. How I felt during those moments in Mass Effect 3 are why I want to make games. I believe, like many do, that videogames are the art form of the 21st century and that these games can have enormous emotional impact. I don't think you can overstate how significant they will be over the next decades, and I'm looking forward to helping create moments that will make my players feel.

Did I mention R.O.Bit is a bit tragic? ;) In case you missed it, I provided a bunch of details about our final project over on the LiveFire Studios blog. Katie said she wouldn't play it if it made her sad, but my description of the game coupled with Grey's mock-ups might have convinced her.

http://livefirestudios.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/our-game-18/

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday 16 March 2012

My First Piece of Games Journalism

Well, not exactly.

During the four-or-so months leading up to school I was writing for GameRant.com—you can see my pieces by searching for my name directly on their home page. I had to quit shortly after school started, but it was a good experience that gave me a greater appreciation for the news cycle and for that particular gaming news site. They focus on article depth at Game Rant, really digging in to the research for any given story.

With my writing background, I've been leery of each new class in the story stream here at VFS. After all, I took years of classes at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton learning to write, and I focused on the creative streams, especially scriptwriting. As a medium, games borrow heavily from film to tell our stories. And, as an art form, the quality of a written work is often subjective; it is rooted in the audience's experience. Sure, there are best practices and rules to follow, and these tools are extremely helpful in dissecting and improving written work, but it's far from a science when other people are involved.

So I've been worried as each new class begins that my instructors will hate my writing style and harpoon my chances at graduating with honours. That hasn't happened. Quite the opposite—my average over the story focused classes since term one is hovering around a perfect grade. That still didn't stop me from being worried on our first day of Games Journalism class, however.

Our instructor introduced himself as a notoriously hard marker with decades of games-industry writing and editing experience. He looks, sounds, and teaches like he has a real appreciation for classical art, which I almost universally detest for the praise we heap on it. He's direct—which I actually really appreciate, thank you—but when you're on edge and new to a person the 'wrong' criticism might sour your impression of them forever.

It's three weeks in, and nothing has changed, though as usual my fears were unfounded. Well, sort of. Jules has made good on all of his promises—he *is* a tough marker and he is rather direct in his criticism, but none of it is personal, and all of it is targeted to improve our writing. Frankly, I should have known. After all, a writer's ongoing job and the first responsibility they need to learn is to take nothing personally. Jules probably perfected that when I was still flicking chocolate milk on the roof of our classroom during recess. I shouldn't have worried that he would hate my written voice and sink my chances. Though it's still going to be hard work to impress this guy. I'll see what I can do.

 Jules said my first piece was "publishable," though he rightfully pointed out that I was lazy and didn't cite my sources. I also let an easily missed grammatical error slip in. Can you find it?

Also, do you like the piece? Let me know with a comment.

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Bloody Memory Lane: How I Killed All of my Favourite NES Characters in one Afternoon

A bit of media made especially for you is a rare delight.

Seldom over the last decade has a movie, book, or videogame been so pitch-perfect that I felt the creators were some alternate-universe versions of me, delivering a labour of love whose goal was to make me happy. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (the movie) was one of these. Let's talk about another.

Abobo's Big Adventure (ABA) is simultaneously a free Flash game and a concentrated dollop of sense memory from my formative years, with each level more surprisingly delightful and familiar than the last. As a 29-year-old gamer raised on Nintendo but who was forbidden to play videogames during school days, ABA is a time machine. For some, I'm sure the experience might be like sitting down for a home-cooked meal; for me—for many in my generation—it's like the dimly lit, comforting weekends getting lost on Zebes, tirelessly learning the patterns of Dr. Wily's robot pawns, and the first time I could kill a blue slime with just a bamboo pole.


As Abobo, the lumpy-headed miniboss from the Double Dragon games who busts through background walls to pound on the Lee brothers, you walk, swim, shoot, wrestle, and fly through eight varied levels ripped directly from several of the most beloved games of the NES era. The core mechanics of each level are different, and no matter the superstar status of a particular game character, Abobo irreverently makes them pay for the kidnapping of his son (Aboboy)—the object of desire throughout Abobo's rampage.

These murderous interactions provide a good deal of the charm in ABA. For example, Abobo in turns punts a classic Diddy Kong off the screen, performs a fatality (or Friendship) on the Urban Champion, and eats a piece of the triforce before decisively ending a horrified Zelda. ABA is filled with sprites, sound effects, and music tracks that look and sound identical to the 25-year-old originals, and pixellated cutscenes provide the transitions from level to level. Even the ending cinematic was ripped directly from Super Mario Bros. 2, and that realization provided a real eureka flashback where I relived those final moments where I defeated Wart, the least loved of Mario's nemeses, 20 years ago.

In short, the game drips charm, graphic pixel violence, and crude humour, and it allows for many "older" gamers to relive their childhood glory days where one-hit kills and lengthy passwords were inherent to the medium. The team of three indy developers behind ABA conceived the idea in 2002, and only over the past two years were they able to finally make it a reality. The time and attention they put in pays off big dividends to a very specific audience. Do you have a fondness for the NES games of the mid-eighties? If so, you’ll love Abobo.


As brilliant and refreshing as ABA is, firing it up again after "wrapping" it, as we used to say, is bittersweet. Credit is due to a pixel- and byte-perfect re-creation of games that will, forever, occupy some small part of my brain, but as the surprises fade you see that ABA is simply a tribute. The “ultimate tribute to the NES,” in fact, where the 'what' has all been done before. Fortunately, the 'how' is mostly new.

The sweet, concentrated execution of so many classic ideas has maybe never been done so well in one title, but there's little on offer here for certain audiences. Younger gamers in particular—or at least those whose formative years were filled with the Master Chief rather than 8-bit Mario—might be turned off by retro aesthetics and unforgiving, pattern-based gameplay. In addition, the default keyboard controls, which feel backwards thanks to my console upbringing, can't be changed (though there is an option to play with a NES gamepad if you have the proper hardware).

At this point, I hope my recommendation for this game is clear. For fans of 8-bit Mega Man, Contra, and The Legend of Zelda, Abobo’s Big Adventure is a no-fail, laugh-out-loud way to re-experience your childhood, if only for an afternoon. Simply recognizing the tunes and characters as you progress is an enormous part of the appeal of ABA, but take all of that rosy pigment away and you still have a clever title that plays well, and best of all, costs nothing.

Intrigued? Check it out at http://abobosbigadventure.com/fullgame.php.


Tuesday 13 March 2012

Term 4 - Less Learning, More Application

So, I guess our final project is here. We have taken the first steps in creating the focal point of my efforts at VFS. It feels both good and bad.

If you follow the blog you know that Term 4 was hyped as the toughest term of them all, with the full pre-production cycle stacked on top of a normal class load. The truth is that most of our instructors have taken that into account this time around, and the new and improved workload reflects that we want to spend much of our time planning our final project. There is still plenty to do, but it isn't overwhelming.

This is really good news. I'm really pleased to see my skills growing, and it's pretty satisfying to look at environments in Modern Warfare 3 or Mass Effect 3 and know that I could build them in UDK. With the assets of talented artists, of course. Still, it's nice to feel like there's a bit of breathing room before we launch ourselves full-blown into production of ROBit (our final project).

After six months of concentrated learning, we are now mostly just applying those skills and building useable assets. The artists are creating 3D characters in Maya, the programmers are coding minigames, and us writers and level designers are, well, writing and building levels.

I should admit that I *am* a little behind when it comes to Kismet, the visual scripting language in UDK. I've learned that new software doesn't come to me very easily, and the standard classroom setting doesn't work well to teach me the software (especially when the classrooms are as hot as 28 degrees). I've made a number of suggestions as to how our UDK classes could be structured to encourage good planning, better learning with lessons that would stick, and more effective personal work pipelines that we will need in the industry, anyway. Things to discuss with Dave when I apply to be a TA, and if I get the job.

Did I mention that we've made our decision on our final game? We have, and I've written about it on our dev blog over at http://livefirestudios.wordpress.com/. As a side note, I will be posting a little less here as the weekly posting schedule at LiveFire takes over that time. If you forget the URL, just google LiveFire Studios or Ikesgamingblog and click the first page that it pulls up. :)

Anyway, I'm working on some exciting projects right now. I have created a shotlist for the emotional cinematic (basically an in-game movie) I hope to make later this term, and I have some mission and environment planning to do for my UDK classes, but otherwise it's just design and management on our final project.

That should cover it for now. If you really want to keep up with my activities here at school, you should really go check out the LiveFire dev blog at the link I dropped earlier.

Thanks for stopping by.