tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32698997025187494352024-03-05T11:06:50.439-08:00Colonel Ratticus' gaming blogColonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-29051793939921517662014-08-25T15:37:00.001-07:002014-08-25T15:37:21.883-07:00Albums and B sides<div class="MsoNormal">
Hello internet. I’m
back once again with another random musing on what I’ve learned from making
games. This time round I’m going to set up an analogy and then torture it to
death: Putting a game together can be a lot like mixing an album!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I have pretty much completed development on our latest
game, right now it has a grand total of 14 levels, each one of them with
different mechanic or twist on the main game.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Individually I’m happy with each of these sections. They’re all debugged and tuned up to be as
good as they can be on their own merits but now it’s time to think of how they
hang together as a whole.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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…and that’s where this whole album business come. What I have is a set of pieces: some easy,
some hard, some (hopefully) funny and so on.
Also the mechanics are all over the place, some just pop out of nowhere whereas
others are pretty boilerplate to the game’s main theme.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If I just chucked them out in the order that I’d written
them then it’d just come across as a disjointed mess. Instead the idea is to
arrange them in such a way that they flow seamlessly from one experience to
another along an overall arc. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It turns out that doing this is one hell of a balancing
act. Here’s a sample of the decisions
that I and the rest of the team have been wrestling with:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
Difficulty:</h3>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The game should get harder over time. You want a relatively straightforward opening
level to get the player in to the swing of things but then what do you do next?
The player is naturally going to get better at the game the more they play so
you have to move with them. Keep the
levels too easy and they won’t perceive a challenge and wander off… make them
too hard to quickly and they’ll hit a brick wall, get frustrated and again
wander off. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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So you have to judge the difficulty curve right but even
that isn’t enough… if the curve itself is smooth then that in itself becomes
predictable, it can make you feel like you’re on a treadmill – progressing but
not actually going anywhere. MMO players
reading this will be nodding right now <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>. Instead I think that the ideal solution is to
generally follow a curve but to spice it up a little! Every so often chuck in
something solid for the player to chew on and then afterwards maybe give them
an easy level as a breather.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Finally there’s a kicker to this. I’m in the privileged position of intimately
knowing exactly how the game works. I
know how the baddies think, I have played every level tens of times, I am the
best person in the world at my game – so how the hell do I accurately judge
difficulty for anybody else? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Well I’ve no idea. I’ve
gotten a bunch of people to playtest it but to be honest it’s mostly
guesswork. I’ll be fascinated to see how
close to the mark I was when the game comes out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
Variation:</h3>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just as with difficulty, the actual experience of the game
needs to be moving all the time. If you
stick with the same mechanics over and over again then you’ll slowly drain all
the fun out of the experience. Most
games solve this by drip feeding in new weapons/mechanics/tools/etc. over time
to keep things fresh. To be honest this
is pretty much the approach we’re taking here.
We’ve already got a mixed bag of easy/hard/funny/zany/straightforward
levels so we’ve made an effort to shuffle them around so as to keep the player
on their toes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
The Cut:</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is where the ‘B sides’ part of the title of this post
comes in. Out of the 14 levels I started
this process with, right now it looks like only 9 of them will make it in to
the main game. So what’s wrong with the
other 5? Well. Nothing really – they all play fine individually and they’re all
fun and challenging in their own way… they just don’t fit in to the overall
experience that I’m trying to achieve. It’s
painful to let them go but as football pundits say: there is no I in team! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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On the plus side all these redundant levels can be
repackaged as bonus content. If you get to the end of the game then you can
take a crack at them as a semi-sadistic reward. Did I mention that some of them
are really hard?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h3>
Quality:</h3>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Games take fekkin ages to make. We’ve spent maybe 6 months
on and off working on this one and a lot of the time we’ve been wrestling with
where to set the bar in terms of production values. Take the intro sequence, that took Mungy over
3 weeks to put together. Yes it looks
really good but if we polished the rest of the game up to that level but if we
did then we’d still be building it next Christmas. So I’ve been trying to walk a tightrope
between making things nicer and wasting unnecessary time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The result, I think, is that the presentation is sketchy in
places. Hopefully though it won’t ever drag you out of the experience, and the
time we saved can be used to get to work on the next game <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><br /></span></div>
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It’s also part of the learning process we’re going
through. We’re still very much in our
infancy as a team. One of the things
that we’ve still got to nail down is how to produce and present a coherent
vision of a game when we’re all running off doing our individual bits separately. Turns out it’s quite hard to pull off!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
Ratticus’ final comment</h3>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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Anyway, how we did on all of these points is ultimately up
to you! I hope you’ll all have fun playing ‘The Python Pythoff’ in a couple of
weeks when it’s out there in the big wide world. Maybe you’ll enjoy it maybe you won’t, either
way please leave me some feedback – I’m dying to know!<o:p></o:p></div>
Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-80830862655070269162014-02-06T15:22:00.002-08:002014-02-06T15:22:34.672-08:00Finding FunHi internet,<br />
So far on this blog my posts have tended to fall in to 2 categories. I'm either moaning about something or other that’s pissing me off… or cheering up and getting all excited again. Well luckily for you, this one’s taking a different tack. Instead I'm going to talk about something odd I've noticed. <br />
<br />
<b>Put bluntly: the difference between fun and not fun is bloody minute!</b><br />
<br />
I've been prototyping a lot recently, i.e... knocking up quick and dirty builds to test out various gameplay ideas I've had… and in almost every case they don’t just emerge as a fun experience on the first attempt. Instead I normally have to go through a process of tinkering and testing over and over again until something entertaining emerges.<br />
<br />
If a level is too short then a player will feel unsatisfied, too long and they’ll get bored. Make it too hard and you’ll piss ‘em off… too easy and you’re back to boredom again. Also how fast should the character be? How about the relative speed of the enemies? What should the time limit be? How much damage can they take without dying? And so forth… Even on a purely mechanical level there are dozens of these factors that have can have an effect on a player’s enjoyment of the game.<br />
<br />
More than that if I build a level and it isn't quite working it’s normally a combination of the above that I need to tweak to get the gameplay where I want it.<br />
<br />
And the tweaking itself is a fascinating process, it can go something like this…<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Build the basic game – not fun<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make it a little harder – still not fun<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make it a little faster – still not fun<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Add more enemies – FUN!<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Add a few more enemies – not fun again<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make the game slower – MORE FUN!<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Slightly tweak the controls – no fun at all<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Paint everything green – BINGO! Fun for breakfast, lunch & tea!<br />
<br />
And so forth. The point is that it’s not a formula that I'm working to at this point- it’s a semi-guided game of trial and error. Sometimes I have no idea what the magic combination will be, other times I may think I do and end up with an unplayable piece of crap. Even if I hit a fun combination how do I know if it’s the best possible version or that some more tinkering wouldn't yield an even better solution? – I don’t!<br />
<br />
Add to that the fact that at the same time I'm losing my objectivity by playing it so intensively and even then, fun is a subjective experience, (i.e.. if I do make something fun for myself there’s no guarantee that the next guy will), and it’s enough to give me a bloody big headache!<br />
<br />
So there you go kids, fun is a crap shoot. Admittedly it’s not completely blind, (I do generally have an idea of the areas I need to tinker with), but it’s fascinating to see that moment when it all clicks together and I know I've got a game on my hands!<br />
<br />
<h3>
Ratticus’ final comment.</h3>
I've taken a few things out of this: nothing I didn't really know already but in future I’ll put more emphasis on:<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Getting more playtesting done<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Prototyping quickly and often<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Making anything that might need to be adjusted easily configurable<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And so forth – you've heard it all before no doubt…<br />
<br />
I don’t really have a silver bullet solution for this. I'm sure experience will also help hugely as time goes on, but I don’t think there exists a way of honing in on a fun experience by design, you've just gotta chip away until something nice pops out!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-16461969930559811432014-01-16T13:47:00.002-08:002014-01-16T13:47:51.889-08:00Creativity Catharsis<h2>
Hey internet. How've you been?</h2>
<br />
Last time we spoke I spent most of the post whining on about how depressing it can be to be creative when making games. It’s a contains a lot of whining so don’t bother to go and look it up but the main gist is that you’ll never have a chance to realize all the ideas you have for games because they take too bloody long to make. I.e. you think up games far quicker than you can make them.<br />
<br />
At the time this was getting me down, knowing that most of the kick ass concepts I have floating round in my head will have to stay there because I’ll never find the time to turn them in to ones and zeroes.<br />
<br />
Well a few months have passed and things are different, I've got the spring back in my step and I’m full of programming. So what’s changed?<br />
<br />
<h4>
No. It wasn't drugs.</h4>
<br />
We've made a few changes around here and right now they’re all working out for the best… here’s what happened.<br />
<br />
<h3>
1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mess about</h3>
Basically I was burned out on most of the stuff I was working on back then. We had a couple of long running projects and, to be honest, I was sick of the sight of both of them. Development had slowed to a crawl and it was hard to find the motivation to even load them up to work on….<br />
<br />
So put simply I kicked them in to touch. I dropped everything I was working on and started a new project, one that I could do quickly, be creative with and have a little fun. <br />
<br />
The core concept is very simple, and based on a classic game you’ll all know, it’s a template that I could rapidly build on. Instead of hand crafting a complicated engine for it I built something very straightforward – the idea being that I could bang out a new level or piece of content in a day or two rather than months…<br />
<br />
From there I went nuts: Every level has a different central mechanic and requires a different play style, thematically they’re also all over the place. It’s not a particularly polished or deep experience but its great fun in a tongue in cheek sort of way and is an absolute blast to work on!<br />
<br />
In about a month of on-and-off weekend and evening coding I’ve gone from nothing to a fully working and 90% complete game. You lot will have to wait a while before you can get your grubby hands on it but it’s already succeeded in its main goal… getting me engaged with making games again!<br />
<br />
<h3>
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Democracy</h3>
We also started looking at a new project as a team. It’s at a very early stage at the moment so I don’t want to talk about it… instead I want to wax lyrical about the process we’re following.<br />
<br />
We’re trying a new collaborative approach for it. We picked a genre that we’re all interested in and from there on out we've discussed everything as a group and evolved the design together. <br />
<br />
It’s actually really difficult to stop yourself going off and working on it individually but we've put in a couple of rules: all design decisions are group decisions.<br />
<br />
Now none of the above is rocket science but previously we’ve tended to have one person take the lead in terms of the design. This means that you can get a very good picture on how the game’s supposed to work… but on the downside it’s harder for the rest of the guys to keep motivated on the project. Because they haven’t been involved in coming up with the idea, they’re not as invested in it… which can be a real drag if it involves several months of their time and effort.<br />
<br />
So the new approach then: downside is that it’s a lot slower. Obviously it relies on us being able to regularly meet up (which is not always possible) and sometimes you can spend ages debating a point which you would have decided in 5 seconds if it was just up to you. <br />
<br />
The benefits, though, far out way all of that:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Everyone is fully engaged from the start.</li>
<li>We’re all fully up to speed on the development and direction of the game.</li>
<li>We’re having to articulate, defend and justify our ideas…</li>
<li>….which we have plenty of, because we’re all thinking about it separately then bringing what we’ve come up with to the table at meetings.</li>
<li>Also, the discussion is making us want to research a hell of a lot more. Example: right now we’re hoovering up episodes of Horizon and Stargazing Live to pin down the fundamentals of interstellar travel (yes, the game’s based in space)</li>
<li>Finally, there’s a snowball effect: As the design develops we are all getting more and more enthused with the whole project. When the time comes to actually crack on with production then we’ll be chomping at the bit to get going.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Now: I'm not saying that we won’t be using the autocratic approach for some games going forward (my experimental muck about game being a prime example), but: I do think that we’re starting to come up with a trademark Caper approach for collaboration.<br />
<br />
I'm beginning to get an idea of what working on Caper games is going to be like in the long term.<br />
<br />
And it feels great!<br />
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-11903764379547632882013-10-27T13:20:00.003-07:002013-10-27T13:22:26.659-07:00Creativity ConundrumGood afternoon Dr Internet. <br />
<br />
Normally I like to use these blog shaped therapy sessions to throw out some info on what I've been up to and discuss whatever’s on my mind. I find it cathartic; we all like to get things off our chest occasionally. But recently things have changed, I've realised a few home truths, and it’s doing my head in.<br />
<h2>
I keep thinking up new game ideas!</h2>
Some are better than others (I’ll admit that) but they’re all at least partially original, do-able with my current knowledge, exciting to me in some way and I can’t wait to get started on them!<br />
<br />
So where’s the problem? Let me explain…<br />
<br />
In the last few weeks I've been working on Newgrounds and Kongregate integration for Bedlam. Now that we’re finished with the damn thing we want to shove it in front of as many people’s noses as possible.<br />
Even though it’s still being rolled out, in my mind it’s already old news...the next game in the pipeline has been in development for almost 10 months now and is about 80% complete.<br />
<br />
So from here I have to finish post production on Bedlam, then complete the next game, then do the post on that, plus probably some website updates and all the socials… all of which before I can get cracking on anything new.<br />
<br />
And in that time, (not the whole development cycle – just the last couple of weeks)… I've come up with plans for another 3 games!<br />
<br />
Now I’m sure I’ll get faster at coding… and I'm only part time so I could chuck in a bunch more hours if I wanted to… And we could get some more guys in to help us… but even with all that (and the best will in the world), I’m never going to make all the games I want to.<br />
<br />
Boom.<br />
<br />
There it is right there.<br />
<h3>
Big sad face :-(</h3>
So the vast majority of the games I come up with are never going to be made… Every time I hit on (to me) a great new idea then I’m fully aware that the chances are that it’ll end up filed away in an imaginary storage warehouse in my mind, guarded by imaginary top men. Top Men.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://www.myromanapartment.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Indiana-Jones-Warehouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://www.myromanapartment.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Indiana-Jones-Warehouse.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I guess it goes with the territory of being a game developer. It takes so long to make a game compared with the amount of time needed to conceive one, it’s practically inevitable.<br />
<br />
I don’t have any answers on this… only a pearl of wisdom: From now on, no matter how drunk I am, I’m never going to pitch an idea that I have at another game developer. It’s something I try to avoid as a rule: typically when you start gushing at people they can get pretty defensive anyway…<br />
<br />
But now I know another reason: When you start banging on about an interesting new game concept you’re not offending them, but you are reminding them of all the great games they have in their mind that’ll never see the light of day.<br />
<br />Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-11609601368825098292013-10-06T15:49:00.000-07:002013-10-06T16:01:12.780-07:00Indie game: the momentWell internet, the last couple of days have been a bit of a roller-coaster. As things are all tied up on Bedlam I decided that it was time to release it in to the wild and see what’s what.<br />
<br />
To date it has been up on our website and playable for over a month but: given that we haven’t actually told anyone about it OR the website, the chances of it being actually played by anyone are practically nil.<br />
<br />
So this brings us on to the Indie game: The movie moment referenced in the title… Anyone who’s watched the film knows the one I'm talking about: It’s the part where Super Meat Boy gets released and Tommy and Ed are glued to their monitors seeing how it goes down with gamers.<br />
<br />
To be honest it totally swept me up! For about 2 hours after the game went up for review I was refreshing my browser every 5 minutes, reading all the comments and agonising as the rating went up and down. And before you ask: No I didn't log on anonymously and up vote the game!<br />
<br />
So how are we doing? We’ll it’s been just under 3 days now and the stats are as follows:<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The game’s been viewed 1657 times<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It’s passed evaluation and been accepted on to the main site<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We've had 4 comments – all reasonably constructive and positive<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We’re hovering at a rating of just over 2 out of 5.<br />
<br />
This may all seem pretty underwhelming to you but I'm ecstatic! The game’s getting played! WOOOOOOOO! It’s not gajillions of people, We’re not making any money off it, but we've entertained a bunch of random people around the world for a few minutes of their lives… and I find that immensely satisfying!<br />
<br />
And as for the rating… Well I’m not to disheartened by a 2/5: After all it’s our first game, it is really limited in scope and (due to the fact I haven’t figured out the Newgrounds API yet), It hasn't got a working leader-board… which is a big point of the game. So yeah I’ll take 2/5 for a first punt all day – It gives me a target to aim for with the next game!<br />
<br />
Also a side note: Loving newgrounds so far! I’d heard some pretty disparaging comments about it but so far it’s all sweetness and light. The developer area is straight forward, the terms are really generous and pretty much all of the users who've commented have left constructive feedback :-) - I think it’s going to be a second home from now on.<br />
<br />
Find out how it's doing now at <a href="http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/626144">http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/626144</a><br />
<br />
..just make sure you vote :-)<br />
<br />
Peace<br />
<br />Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-42391729027034320732013-06-27T17:00:00.001-07:002013-06-27T17:00:53.711-07:00It lives!<h2>
Woooooooooooooooooooooooo!</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
Hi Fives all round!<br />
<br />
At last dear internet, we’ve got something new to show you!<br />
<br />
It seems like ages since we’ve released anything new: I’ve hated having to write dev update after dev update banging on about how swimmingly it’s all going without being able to show you guys anything tangible to back it up... Well it turns out that we weren’t slacking after all!<br />
<br />
Here’s what we’ve been up to…<br />
<br />
<h3>
New game – Bedlam!</h3>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Yes we’ve talked about it before – but now you can go play it!<br />
<br />
Well what are you waiting for? Head over to <a href="http://www.caper-republic.net/PlayGame.aspx?Game=bedlam" target="_blank">http://www.caper-republic.net/PlayGame.aspx?Game=bedlam</a> right now and give it a bash… go on, I’ll wait…<br />
<br />
Back so soon? Ok well let me talk about it a bit then.<br />
<br />
Students of this blog will of course be aware that we’ve already talked about this game quite a bit during its’ development, so I won’t go over anything that’s been previously announced. Instead I want to talk a bit about the latest developments.<br />
<br />
In the last few weeks the game’s really come together. First off Mungy’s completely redone all the backgrounds and a lot of the other assets. I think the new art style looks awesome and is a real step up from the previous versions, so well done there munginold! <br />
<br />
Also we’ve completely reworked the score system and how infected patients react when they’re not cured. These mechanics feel a lot more solid than the previous arbitrary lives system that we had in place. It also fits in with the overall plan for the game now as you lose a grip on the game you also become infected and lose your mind!<br />
<br />
The final big late addition was sound. Mostly we begged it from around the internet but unsurprisingly there aren’t any sound libraries out there which cover effects for quaintly insane Victorian mental patients! Therefore we grabbed up some beers and recorded them ourselves. This was of course hilarious – it’s hard to gurgle and shout the word Bedlam over and over again with a straight face! We eventually got through it though – judge the results for yourselves in the game!<br />
<br />
<h3>
Our shiny new website is live!</h3>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
Awww ain’t it pretty</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
Go have a look: We have a kick ass new design and a bunch of extra content for you guys to enjoy!<br />
<br />
Well there you go, welcome to the new home of Caper! Why don’t you settle in, create an account and join our community? Right now you’ll be able to play our games, log high scores and join in the discussions on the forum. In future we’re going to add a bunch of extra features to it like being able to brag to your mates when you beat their score, detailed gameplay stats and a bunch of other cool stuff.<br />
<br />
So why not join up now and buckle up for an awesome ride!<br />
<br />
<h3>
What next?</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
Well there are still a few things we need to tidy up with both the game and the site first off. Also we have launched it all but we haven’t actually told anyone about it yet – so when the rough edges are sufficiently smooth we’ll start advertising and hopefully drum up some traffic.<br />
<br />
After that the good news is that you shouldn’t have to wait all that long until the next game comes along. It’s already about 75% built!<br />
<br />
It is, in fact, built on top of the engine we developed for Bedlam. Although we've enhanced it a great deal and twisted the mechanics to make it in to something that looks, and plays, very different!<br />
<br />
Look out for future blog posts on that subject and everything else we’re up to. But in the meantime why are you still here? Get over to our website and start playing our games!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
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Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-43638058327096977902013-04-29T04:51:00.001-07:002013-04-29T04:51:35.230-07:00Please take a seat, we have much to discuss<br />
<h3>
Hellooo there internet me old chum!</h3>
<br />
Want to know what we’ve been up to? Well here are the deets!<br />
<br />
Well we’ve been working hard in three areas…<br />
<br />
<h2>
1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bedlam!</h2>
<br />
Mungy’s been hard at work in the art cave. He’s created a bunch of assets for the intro sequence and the other cut scenes as well tarting up the game in general. He’s come on a lot during the development of this game and so I guess it was inevitable that his earlier work wouldn’t match up to the par he’s working to now. He’s pretty much finished this now and the end result should be a more coherent look to the game.<br />
<br />
Here are some screens of his recent work:<br />
<br />
<img height="200" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/168853_10152792682300721_315948284_n.jpg" width="134" /><br />
<img height="126" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/903214_10152765827205721_349172785_o.jpg" width="200" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Adam’s also been getting stuck in to the sound. We've worked up a brief and an asset list that’ll meet the requirements and feel of the game so he’s working through that to pull it all together. I have to say, I have no idea what music should go with a game set in a Victorian mental institution, so good luck there Ad! – It’ll be fascinating to see what he comes up with.<br />
<br />
I expect both will have completed their bits & bobs in the next week or so. Then it’s just a simple case of putting all their good work in to the game and we should be ready to rock!<br />
<br />
<h2>
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Website!</h2>
As I’m waiting on the others to get their stuff done for bedlam I've been using the free time to crack on with the website. We really want to be more than just a portal for the games – instead we’re shooting for a nice friendly community portal. Somewhere where you guys can hang out, interact with us and talk gaming as well as play our games. So far I’ve implemented the following:<br />
<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A forum<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Facebook integration<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Twitter feeds<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Blogs – so you’ll be able to read this whilst playing!<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>User system<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>News feed<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Stat tracking / leaderboards – so you’ll be able to brag to your mates!<br />
<br />
That’ll probably be about it for version 1. We’ll get it out there and then use it as a foundation to build more features on going forward.<br />
<br />
As a side note: Web development is what I do in my day job – Therefore I’m finding it really boring! Don’t get me wrong: I’m chuffed with the way it’s taking shape and I think it’ll be awesome when it’s done… but it’s just not the same as making stuff that blows other stuff up!<br />
<br />
<h2>
3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Polishing up the back catalogue:</h2>
<br />
No, this isn’t a euphemism… go wash your mouth out.<br />
I need to go through all the old games to get tem working with the website, so while I’m at it I’m also enhancing them a bit as I go. I’ve just finished CardBastard (still the best game name ever!) and it’s been a fun exercise to do. <br />
<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’ve added in a bunch of new art assets for the tiles. So now they’re all made out of characters / art from our games rather than being 30% sketches and 30% dodgy facebook images.<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’ve changed the music and sound effects. It’s now using some tracks that Adam wrote a while back – good to get some of his stuff in to one of our games!<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Some tweaks to how it plays and fixed a few bugs – mostly boring stuff though so I won’t bang on about it here.<br />
<br />
Next I’m going to focus on D-Day Minesweeper (add sounds & music / then do some tidying up) – and then on through the rest of the games til I’ve done the lot.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Getting ready for launch!</h2>
So that’s what we’re up to, so what’s next? Well if we time it right then we should get all the above done at roughly the same time… this is not a coincidence!<br />
<br />
So far we haven’t publicised anything we’ve made, apart from a select group of friends who’ve been helping us with our testing we’ve mostly been keeping it under our hats.<br />
<br />
So we wanted to do a big launch to kickstart this project in to life. With the new website and a couple of extra games we feel that we’ll finally have enough content to make it worthy of your time. <br />
<br />
Therefore in the near future our baby will finally be born! There will be fanfares! Parties! Celebrity guest endorsements! – well actually none of that… but we will be plastering ourselves all over the internet like shameless whores to try to get some traffic to the site.<br />
<br />
To be honest its kinda scary! I’ve got no idea how people will react, or if anyone will even bother showing up… fingers crossed!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-51494960092585137312013-04-06T14:46:00.000-07:002013-04-06T14:46:01.614-07:00How to become a programming god!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
What up internet?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today I want to talk to you about a difficulty curve: not
the one that you experience when playing games – but the slope that I'm climbing learning how to make the bloody things!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you've played our games so far then you may have noticed
a thing: every released game is a little bigger and more complex than the last…
and they've all got something new about them that the others do not. This is deliberate!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I'm trying to say is that this is one of those rare
occasions in my life where I'm actually following a plan! In each project I'm setting myself a new challenge or two, with the idea being that I’ll expand my
knowledge of games programming a little each time and also add a few new tricks
to my toolbox.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what I thought I’d do with this post is lay out where I
think I am with it all and also what I’m thinking of tackling in the future…
and why!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
The story so far…</h3>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s what I’ve conquered so far (on top of learning how to
deal with general Flash BS):</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Basic game AI & logic</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Cut scenes / movie clips</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Sprites / animation</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Sound controls</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Faking 3d & depth</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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There’s a bunch of other stuff you need to know to get to
this point, but I’m already an experienced programmer so most of it wasn’t new
to me… I won’t bother boring you with the details!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So that’s where I am, here’s where I’m headed..<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
Next steps on the path to enlightenment:</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As well as official collaborative project with the other
guys I’m also going to keep cracking on with personal learning projects. From where I am I have a rough roadmap that I
want to follow. Each of these games will
teach me a new thing that I want to learn and hopefully let me grow a little as
a game developer. Here’s the list of
projects I’ve got in mind – and what I think I’ll get out of it:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
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<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> A bullethell game – Dealing with a player avatar on screen</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> Top down racer – direct twitch input</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> A platformer – It kinda covers all the skills
I’ll have under my belt at that</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">An adventure game – Mungy wants to remake dizzy...</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> A multiplayer game – duh multiplayer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">A Roguelike – It’s a great way of providing a
lot of content efficiently</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> New platform / something in 3D - dunno</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">If I get this
far then it’ll probably time to move on from Flash…</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along with these I also want to dick around with the
following features in my games:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> Doing an android game</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Integrated leader boards, achievements &
player stats</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Facebook game</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> Getting on a game portal like newgrounds / kongregate
etc.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Making a game that works with a game pad</span></li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I’m probably going to mash up these two lists and see
what comes out <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway that’s the plan, let’s see how it all works out…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-19760486463257568312013-02-26T16:06:00.003-08:002013-02-26T16:09:06.403-08:00What Up G?Hey there internet.<br />
<br />
We’ve been quiet for the last few weeks but do not fear! We’ve been busy!<br />
<br />
We currently have two games in production and they’re both going great guns:
‘<br />
<br />
Bedlam’ is the game that came out of our game jam a few weeks back. It’s a simple puzzle/reaction game based on a mental hospital (!)<br />
<br />
We came up with the core game engine and idea at the jam itself, since then Rich has been hard at work on the art and animations. We’re now at a point where we can put it all together and see what’s what.
After that Adam with the sound and a bit of general polishing and then that’s it. So it’ll still be a little while before it’s available to play but we’re getting there!<br />
<br />
The other game in the works currently has no name… we haven’t found one snappy enough yet.
Also boo-urns, I’m not going to give any details out now as it’d spoil the surprise.
What I do want to say is that it’s already pretty far down the line (it’s actually closer to completion than Bedlam) and I’m getting really excited about it. We’ve added some nice mechanics and it feels really fun to play… I’m so proud!<br />
<br />
It’s also nice that we’re starting to develop games built from original ideas and not based example code or tired old table top games. It feels like we’ve stopped crawling and we’re starting to make our first baby steps :-)<br />
<br />
Anyway both these games will be up in the not too distant, so keep half an eye out!<br />
<br />
<h4>
This month I have been mostly eating… </h4>
<br />
I thought it might be nice if I start talking about what I'm playing. Here goes!<br />
<br />
Well it’s all been about zombies! I’ve been playing through a couple of hours of The Walking Dead of an evening followed up by a Left 4 Dead 2 campaign. The combination’s awesome! – Some atmospheric scene setting and then all out gun blazing action. If only there was a way to stick the two together….
Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-45409431122398537002013-01-07T14:03:00.004-08:002013-01-07T14:03:56.134-08:00NEW GAME WOOP! WOOP!I’ve finally found a bit of time to get my shit together and finish a game!<br /><br />
<h3>
ladies & gentlemen…</h3>
<br />
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<a href="http://www.caper-republic.net/connect-fighter-4/Connect4.html" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWR2o2nBTwnGN01mX54qiXFCu79DGqQGdEplrsEpYoI3GwVxStsWIHv_T-gA_zhMJNhl0jyi3ESIvaA8bwNPSIIbC83MXSTdwcqNHWq-vpBTg7keLlG1p3djDRt_0nGl1pFr166FUDcQ97/s320/connectfighter4.png" title="Connect Fighter 4" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.caper-republic.net/connect-fighter-4/Connect4.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSCKkfJxUxWNQuU4MSEPzilxgjkIGshM2j-Vr4ZtMnUbYT6Ap-P29ZTf2WqSlP2GqcG63NEOhD8DOSwj5C4MIbYwKxtxk8xDhRJi8GBd4ZHE7iSsXXcz9jxXhXU2NE3b6fNTr42VSCqohF/s1600/ConnectFighter4.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This one’s the biggest we’ve attempted so far. If you’ve played any of our earlier games then hopefully you’ll notice a step up in quality. <br />
<br />This was the first time we played around with things such as animations, AI, cut scenes etc. so we’ve added a few new strings to our bow. It may not be very big or ambitious but we’re moving in the right direction… We’ve still got our training wheels on at the moment :-)<br />
<br />Anyway: enjoy! And check back again soon for more gaming goodness!<br />
<br />
Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-25733729635990401032013-01-06T15:52:00.000-08:002013-01-06T15:52:41.461-08:00Lies lies lies!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Well internet, yet again I have to write a grovelling post apologising
for being late!
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I promised a game for you before Christmas and also we were
going to hold a game jam and make yet another game and it’s now 2013 and neither
of those things has happened… which technically makes me twice the liar. So
what happened?</div>
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<br /></div>
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The short answer: Christmas </div>
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<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
The long version… </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Firstly there’s the Connect 4 game I’ve been working on
since October: I did genuinely have it completely finished about a month
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, just before launch, I decided
to get my missus to play test it...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
beat the AI 8-0 without breaking a sweat :-|</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Watching that happen made me realise something: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the single player game, difficulty is
everything! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The AI I had written was pretty simplistic and didn’t offer
much of a challenge. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result of that
she found it boring as hell despite the fact that she was winning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So therefore, all the time I’d poured in to animations,
sound & music, etc. was wasted, I mean: who gives a shit if a boring game is
presented well – it’s still boring…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since then I’ve completely gutted the AI and rebuilt it from
scratch, I made it lot cleverer (in the rematch my wife couldn’t beat it once)…
then realised that I’d hit the same problem from the other end (i.e. I have to
let you guys win sometimes!) So now I’m concentrating on making it more dynamic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end I’m hoping it’ll be dynamic so
that it changes and gets harder to beat as the matches progress.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I’m not going to make any promises for release as I keep
breaking them – but I’m just doing this final balancing now so let’s settle on ‘soon’</div>
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<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
Game Jam: </h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well we did indeed hold the jam and it was awesome. We spent
a day locked up at Rich & Ads house working on a new project from
scratch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As well as consuming large
quantities of beer and pizza we put together a rough design, art assets, a
sound track and a from-scratch game engine in a single session!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So where’s the game?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well we didn’t get enough done before ran out of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After much discussion we decided that we’d be
better waiting until it’s coherent and playable rather than just releasing
something half baked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The objective of the jam was always more about being a good
learning experience anyway, so as far as I’m concerned I think it was a huge
success!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll leave you with proof of the above in the form of some pictures
of the crew hard at work<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"> :-)</span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
Happy New Year!</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Adam getting his mac on:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPz1HQeZHNFWVcDAP4zrXaTrJbAUXRcw9MFfjJS8WD07rvGiNCz_EbfPichx1j2XSJpADZ1Lf8C3dxy-78d6-iTltssoe1aw7YVR30yXRCODE3vMYQAyJoW7JK7lQ73ZAZWd_TJlZxLv9/s1600/adrock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPz1HQeZHNFWVcDAP4zrXaTrJbAUXRcw9MFfjJS8WD07rvGiNCz_EbfPichx1j2XSJpADZ1Lf8C3dxy-78d6-iTltssoe1aw7YVR30yXRCODE3vMYQAyJoW7JK7lQ73ZAZWd_TJlZxLv9/s320/adrock.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Mungy being all artistic n' shit <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbn8oNu9mPjlm0Zv1G2TwJ0pJufdDHKtQFAkhlWibcgakX2ZGu3w-WmJTe0tBmOglh2P9ALzTdfctPrNCgC0yIzNQTxZlvSv5vRI1QNT1QplheV3HXlwJFpW8ShLzg-DO1PBbPbniYeGR-/s1600/mungatron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbn8oNu9mPjlm0Zv1G2TwJ0pJufdDHKtQFAkhlWibcgakX2ZGu3w-WmJTe0tBmOglh2P9ALzTdfctPrNCgC0yIzNQTxZlvSv5vRI1QNT1QplheV3HXlwJFpW8ShLzg-DO1PBbPbniYeGR-/s320/mungatron.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-57639874127623155842012-12-23T15:12:00.000-08:002012-12-23T15:20:29.630-08:00Yay! Christmas!Well internet, we've got a new game almost finished and ready for you perusal. Keep an eye on the website over the next few days!
I'm not going to tell you anything about it now, you'll have to come back and see for yourself ;-)<br />
<br />
Instead I want to give out a general update on some exciting new developments. So BONG! Here is the news!<br />
<br />
<h3>
We have a new team member: </h3>
Take a bow Adam Tustian! Adam is Richard’s bro and also a kick ass composer / sound engineer. Like most of the rest of us he has no prior games experience but he’s been messing around writing tunes in Reason & Cubase for years. Expect kick ass beats in all our games from now on!<br />
<br />
It also means that team Caper is now complete, between the 4 of us I believe that we’ve got all the skills required to make a game covered.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Game Jam: </h3>
I’m really excited about this – next Saturday we’re going to hold a game jam! For those who don’t know: a game jam is where you hole up somewhere and try to make an entire game from start to finish in one bash.
We’re going to start from nothing and go through the whole process of coming up with an idea, and then designing, building and launching the game in a single day. The plan is that we start at midday and don’t stop until the finished game hit’s the website.<br />
<br />
I think it’ll be a great experience for us, and we’ll learn a lot about working together as a team. Also it means you guys get another game to play, Merry Christmas!<br />
<br />
<h3>
New concept art:</h3>
Here's something Richard knocked up this week. No idea if we'll use these guys for anything but it showcases a new art style that Rich has been working on... looks rather nice I think! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiquKu1rj9suAAMVhrJ4-wX0n5bZ3R0AKATbE5E8v9IQxDcU-tX8sTlcG1Re-fAT3F9POKtRxjTCbEXBrnPtsj-x_wRQEJr5_EfiiWh8NwyItVqDzkPxzForTw_B2k8F_lZL80QKZCTYwd7/s1600/men.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiquKu1rj9suAAMVhrJ4-wX0n5bZ3R0AKATbE5E8v9IQxDcU-tX8sTlcG1Re-fAT3F9POKtRxjTCbEXBrnPtsj-x_wRQEJr5_EfiiWh8NwyItVqDzkPxzForTw_B2k8F_lZL80QKZCTYwd7/s320/men.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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That’s all for now folks, remember to keep half an eye on the website and enjoy your mince pies :-)
Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-22179507539801567192012-11-01T14:57:00.002-07:002012-11-01T14:57:38.222-07:00<h2>
Hello Internet!</h2>
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It's been a while since my last post so BONG! here is the news! <br />
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First off a game update!</h3>
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As mentioned last time I've been cracking on with Minesweeper. I've gotten an alpha build up and running so I thought I'd whack it on the website for people to play with. At the moment it's all my work but a lot of the text / images / etc you can see are just placeholders. Rich and Mike are beavering away at coming up with some proper assets for the game. Anyway enjoy: <br />
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<a href="http://www.caper-republic.net/d-day-minesweeper/DDayMinesSweeper.html" target="_blank">http://www.caper-republic.net/d-day-minesweeper/DDayMinesSweeper.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.caper-republic.net/d-day-minesweeper/DDayMinesSweeper.html" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEyTUbegiJzYf_fl89xKotVB6BCCF-yM_aKg097vwPSe6pjvr1SwjPwzruawe4EBCHvthMvk5grNXIHl51Wf1tji9HQwRp4nSltjTtzq1RvbqKLh73OUWo-JU_IHYtOs1o2y9v2xeL1OWI/s1600/minesweeper.png" title="D-Day Minesweeper - Play it!" /></a></div>
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Also, we still want to put a twist or several on it - at the moment it's pretty much vanilla minesweeper - so I'm looking forward to creating a whole new version of it later on with some new mechanics and game modes.<br />
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In the meantime though, I want to give Rich the time he needs to operate so I'm going to move on to the next chapter in my book... Connect 4.<br />
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Great...<br />
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Well I can't think of anything interesting to do with Connect 4 so I expect I'll just read the chapter and knock out something completely vanilla. The upside is that it won't take me any time at all and I can do it solo, obviously on the other hand it'll probably be bland as hell but oh well - it's all good experience:-) <br />
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If you have any ideas why not shout them into the comments box below :-)<br />
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Other general news</h3>
(In no particular order...)<br />
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Work sucks! </h4>
my main job has been taking all my attention for the last couple of months :-( But I'm back to pretty much normal hours now until Christmas so I'm planning on getting a bunch of games cranked out by then.<br />
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eLearning is boring!</h4>
I've given up on the lynda.com flash course I was working through. It's pretty good and I would recommend it... but sitting watching hours and hours of videos has very nearly destroyed my will to live. As therapy I've been actually doing rather than reading about it... So there you are: making games is officially better than reading about making games when it comes to making games.<br />
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Games are good!</h4>
With work and all the time I've been putting in to making games I haven't really played any for a while. So I've been going through my steam library and playing all the games I bought in sales and didn't get around to. So far I've played Bastion, Metro 2033 and I'm having fun with Borderlands (yes the first one...). Rich has also blagged me a key for The War Z - Good man!<br />
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That's all folks!</h3>
See you in a couple of weeks with either a new game or an updated minesweeper :-)<br />
<br />Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-74626664201477826292012-09-12T02:49:00.000-07:002012-09-12T02:49:37.837-07:00<h2>
Baby Steps</h2>
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Well we're a couple of weeks in, here's an update:<br />
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My Bro's helping out:</h3>
He's a producer for a big UK game studio, so we'll be able to pick his brains for sagely wisdom and advice. I doubt he'll get too involved in the nuts & bolts of our work but it'll be great to have him around to bounce ideas off etc.<br />
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He's also younger than me by several years... so that puts him on tea duty!<br />
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Training's going OK:</h3>
Rich and I have been cracking on with learning Illustrator and Flash respectively. <br />
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On my side I've ditched the boring training videos. I feel I know enough of the basics now to actually start making some games!<br />
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I'm working my way through a book on flash game design, it teaches you by showing how to make a bunch of classic games, (pairs, bejewelled, minesweeper, etc). My plan is to go through each chapter and then, when I've got the gist of the game, start fucking about and try to make it a bit different.<br />
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With that it mind let me introduce our first ever game: <a href="http://www.caper-republic.net/card-bastard/CardBastard.html" target="_blank">Card Bastard!</a><br />
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You can play it at: <a href="http://www.caper-republic.net/card-bastard/CardBastard.html" target="_blank">http://www.caper-republic.net/card-bastard/CardBastard.html</a><br />
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As you'll find out, despite the awesome name, it's a pretty boilerplate rip off of the card game pairs.but it lives! and we made it! we're off the mark :-)<br />
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Also a disclaimer! We're going to publish a bunch of games over the next few weeks of a similar ilk... but these are just training exercises for us - they're not part of our overall plan. We know the first 'proper' game we're going to make and we're already quietly working away on it. So by all means go play these games, but don't judge us on them yet! <br />
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The website is starting to take shape:</h3>
If you clicked on the link above you'll have already noticed :-) I've added a simple colour scheme and some info about our blog / twitter / etc. There's still not much content on it, but it's a great jumping off point for all things caper - and that's where our games are, so go play!<br />
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<a href="http://www.caper-republic.net/" target="_blank">http://www.caper-republic.net</a><br />
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This is by no means final (we'll tart it right up at a later date when we have the time) - but at least it looks a bit better than a white page with a couple of sentences of Times New Roman text....<br />
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Next step:</h3>
Well the next chapter in my book is on minesweeper... so expect a caper version of minesweeper in a couple of weeks!<br />
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We've already started brainstorming the design and have hit on a few ideas that should add a twist to the old formula.<br />
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Also I want to get everyone else involved, the last game I just got my head down and made in a couple of evenings. I grabbed a few art assets that Richard has developed for other projects and also raided our band's mp3 collection for sounds, but neither the visuals or the sounds were designed for the game, I just picked whatever fitted.<br />
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Next time we'll do things the proper way round: starting off with a plan and then designing assets specifically for it. Hopefully it'll make the end result more polished.<br />
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Well that's the plan anyway...<br />
<br /><br />Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269899702518749435.post-24231693923208214022012-08-22T16:34:00.002-07:002012-08-22T16:35:10.603-07:00Hello , WorldSo here’s the state of play, I’ve had a couple of chats with Rich (designer and also my best mate) and we’re on! We’re going to set ourselves up and have a serious crack at making computer games for a living!<br />
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This should be fun: neither of us has ever made a game before, right now we don’t really have a clue what we’re doing and also we have no website, no money and no support. What we do have though is a love of gaming and a naïve excitement about starting something new that we REALLY want to do! <br />
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Here’s the current state of play…</h4>
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Rich & I are in training!</h3>
Rocky lifted rocks and ran about in the snow, Bill & Ted buggered off to the 70s in a time machine, for us it breaks down like this:<br />
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<li>Video training on the tools of the trade (Flash, Illustrator & Photoshop). I hate it: there’s frickin’ hours of the stuff to wade through. To make it worse the narrator in the series I’m watching sounds just like that yappy annoying slag who runs the general store in Megaton in Fallout 3 :-@ </li>
<li>Working out how we’re going to work together: This one sounds easy but it’s actually causing us quite a few headaches – what format should Rich be designing in? Should he learn Flash as well as Illustrator? Should we even be using Flash at all? Etc. Etc. – It’d suck royally to put hundreds of hours in to learning something that doesn’t end up being used…</li>
<li>All the other crap: website, twitter, this blog, and so forth.</li>
<li>We’re hovering up general industry wisdom. The great thing about the gaming scene is that it’s so open, everyone’s happy to chat about their work. The best sources I’ve found are:</li>
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<li>Extra credits (weekly show on general design topics)</li>
<li>Design3.com (great interviews & a ton of articles)</li>
<li>All Your History Are Belong To Us (History of leading game companies & franchises)</li>
<li>PC Gamer (UK guys especially are awesome – keep flying the flag dudes!)</li>
<li>Double Fine Adventure (It’s an awesome opportunity to see how some of the greats approach making their games)</li>
<li>Of course Indie Game the movie</li>
<li>TotalBiscuit (He always explains in great detail why he hate’s something before mercilessly bludgeoning it to death in front of its children).</li>
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Actually I’d like to Segway a little on this: As well as some really good tips & information, there’s also a common ethos to game design that all these indie guys all seem to have. Listening to the way they talk about their games really reminds me of musicians and other artists talking about their work. It’s something I can resonate with and be inspired by. They really are the good guys, I want to buy beers for all of them! Also: games <b>ARE</b> art, end of.<br />
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We know the first game we’re going to make:</h3>
The idea started life as a straightforward 5 minute flash game, a dude walks down the street and you shoot bad guys who are trying to attack him. So far so generic…<br />
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Here are some pearls of industry wisdom for you: the first game anyone ever makes will be shit, projects always take longer than you think they will, don’t bite off more than you can chew, etc, etc. <br />
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So given all that we were going to just try and quickly bang out a bunch of quick & dirty sheds to learn the ropes & get the ball running. Problem is we’ve had many beers and many discussions and now we’ve gotten all keen about it! <br />
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A simple couple-of-week project is now bloated with all sorts of silly mechanics & fancy features: Do we need to rip off the Driver 3 leaping about mechanic? No! Will anyone give a crap about integrated leader boards, no, monetisation, no, I could go on…<br />
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So, against the best advice, we’re going to be ambitious and try and do things properly from the start, I know it’ll make things much more painful, but I’m kinda proud of that fact.<br />
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We have a cunning plan!</h3>
Our overall plan involves much more than spitting out games. I’m really excited about the ideas we have for the website, community and a bunch of stuff that we’ll keep up our sleeve right now ;-)<br />
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Caper-republic.net is going to evolve in to much more than a games portal, it’ll be great to see how it takes shape – and how it goes down with you guys!<br />
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So what should you expect?</h3>
For now: not a lot. Being realistic I expect our first game will come out around Christmas time, and the website will be pretty empty til then too.<br />
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By then we’ll obviously be experts(!) at the whole process, so we’re hoping both the size & speed of production will ramp up.<br />
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For now though, we’ll be keeping this blog and twitter etc up to date with our progress so anyone who’s interested can keep tabs on there :-)<br />
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Happy Gaming !</h4>
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<br />Colonel Ratticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221588581142317260noreply@blogger.com0