While it's not yet available to the public, some new footage of Battlefield 3 has nonetheless made it on to the internet.
Running at just over three and a half minutes, the clip shows the the first single-player mission in its entirety.
The video doesn't give much away in the form of plot spoilers; it mostly consists of the player shooting a lot of terrorists on a train:
Showing posts with label . Blog games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label . Blog games. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Bein' a game designer ain't easy
Over ten years ago, I connected to this program called The Palace, which is this spiffy visual chat program that lets you change your appearance, move around the (graphical) room, and talk in text bubbles that come up next to your name. Thought hey, this is way better than text chat; and being a Final Fantasy fan, and with FF8 coming out at the time, I started my own free Palace server called Balamb Garden, for RPG fans.
I started off making rooms based on the areas of Balamb Garden in FF8. You could (and can still) pretty much go around and explore all of Balamb Garden and some of its outer areas, talking to NPCs, going to the classroom upstairs for information and avatars, etc. I noticed a fellow who had made some simple tic-tac-toe style games for another Palace server, and had him work with me to make Triple Triad on Palace's oh-so-insanely-complex coding language. (Eventually I would learn the language myself; and worked on 6 more card games before that's there now, called "The Card Game", which is more like a tactical RPG and bears no similarity to Triple Triad.)
The server had a population of up to 100 in those days, and I went on to create more advanced quests, one as an epilogue to Chrono Trigger wherein Crono fights to recover the Time Crystal from Magus, who summoned Lavos only to gain it. On the way he would fight Serge/Lynx, and be helped by his friends; I remember a line up 14 people waiting to play it at a time, since only three could be in that quest at one time. It was by far the most advanced thing anyone had seen on Palace at that time. (Even still, it's massively outdated and is replaced by a much more professional, full-sized, original RPG, which I had much fun making & designing, and finally completed recently.)
But when making said quest, I realized-- if I can make a fully-functional battle system on Palace, why not make an arena where players can each play their own character, and fight up to 5v5? I started off with Cecil, Terra, and other RPG characters and it was a hit, and made 81 characters playable for everyone. One member said, "if I send you a certain amount of money, will you make me a character?" I said "sure", and thus I made two more sets of 81 characters, this time specifically on member requests, even doing it for a living for a while (as opposed to simply paying to run the server, which I used to do and do now). As a result, the Colosseum now has nearly 250 playable characters; factor in all the abilities and status effects, and it's debatably the battle system with the most to it of any battle system in the world.
So now, I run Balamb Garden, this amazing server with three main features, and a lot of great operators; though over the years, a lot of the population has dropped off and we're lucky to ever get one full 5v5 these days. So with The Card Game, The RPG, and The Colosseum done, my focus shifted to bringing in new folks.
I started off making rooms based on the areas of Balamb Garden in FF8. You could (and can still) pretty much go around and explore all of Balamb Garden and some of its outer areas, talking to NPCs, going to the classroom upstairs for information and avatars, etc. I noticed a fellow who had made some simple tic-tac-toe style games for another Palace server, and had him work with me to make Triple Triad on Palace's oh-so-insanely-complex coding language. (Eventually I would learn the language myself; and worked on 6 more card games before that's there now, called "The Card Game", which is more like a tactical RPG and bears no similarity to Triple Triad.)
The server had a population of up to 100 in those days, and I went on to create more advanced quests, one as an epilogue to Chrono Trigger wherein Crono fights to recover the Time Crystal from Magus, who summoned Lavos only to gain it. On the way he would fight Serge/Lynx, and be helped by his friends; I remember a line up 14 people waiting to play it at a time, since only three could be in that quest at one time. It was by far the most advanced thing anyone had seen on Palace at that time. (Even still, it's massively outdated and is replaced by a much more professional, full-sized, original RPG, which I had much fun making & designing, and finally completed recently.)
But when making said quest, I realized-- if I can make a fully-functional battle system on Palace, why not make an arena where players can each play their own character, and fight up to 5v5? I started off with Cecil, Terra, and other RPG characters and it was a hit, and made 81 characters playable for everyone. One member said, "if I send you a certain amount of money, will you make me a character?" I said "sure", and thus I made two more sets of 81 characters, this time specifically on member requests, even doing it for a living for a while (as opposed to simply paying to run the server, which I used to do and do now). As a result, the Colosseum now has nearly 250 playable characters; factor in all the abilities and status effects, and it's debatably the battle system with the most to it of any battle system in the world.
So now, I run Balamb Garden, this amazing server with three main features, and a lot of great operators; though over the years, a lot of the population has dropped off and we're lucky to ever get one full 5v5 these days. So with The Card Game, The RPG, and The Colosseum done, my focus shifted to bringing in new folks.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Interview with Runic Games
Erich Schaefer, Brock Jones, and Wonder Russell answer our questions about Torchlight for 360 (achievements!), Torchlight 2 (new pet!), and what to do with PC gaming doomsayers.
CS: For anyone that hasn’t heard the news - Torchlight is coming to Xbox 360. How long has that been in the works and when will it hit?
RG: We’ve been working on the new game since Fall of 2010, and are very happy that it will be launching on Wednesday, March 9th 2011.
CS: What about Torchlight makes it a good game for a move to console?
RG: Xbox doesn’t have a game like Torchlight; the Action-RPG market is really underserved. Tons of fans told us they wished they could just play Torchlight on the couch instead of curled over their PC, and we agreed. The fast paced combat and the fact that it’s save-anywhere are just two reasons Torchlight is really well suited for the console.
CS: Can you tell me about what the process of getting the game on the console was like?
RG: Technically, it was a big process of figuring out how to translate the gameplay from a mouse and keyboard to a controller. We had theoretical plans for how that would work that seemed great on paper, but when we began implementation, there were many elements that just didn’t feel right. We iterated a lot on new theories for things like attack skills, skill trees, and UI to feel cohesive and like they had a natural flow.
CS: How much was done outside Runic Games, and what sort of things did you have control over?
RG: Runic had control over the whole project. We worked in part with a contractor, World Domination Industries who also helped on our Mac port, but the entire project, start to finish, is a Runic project.
CS: What will PC gamers who also want to play the game on their 360 notice that’s different?
RG: Gamers will notice a difference in UI, in skill trees, in potion stacking, and especially a difference in combat. One of the best examples are the Vanquisher’s ranged attacks. Depending on how you automap the skills, traps will be thrown either at a fixed range or a range determined by how long you hold down the button. There were also changes to AoE attacks. And, there are three new armor sets for each character and a new pet.
CS: How did the process of Torchlight on 360 affect the development of Torchlight II?
RG: We learned a lot of lessons in making Torchlight for Xbox that are being implemented into Torchlight II, so it was a great process for us internally. Some of those things are the skill trees, UI, and combat, that we found just worked better, simpler, and were more intuitive. A lot of engine optimizations also carried over. Torchlight II has multiplayer and updated graphics, but we hope it will run at least as well as the first Torchlight.
Also, Xbox system specs made us focus even more on efficiency, and we’re implementing a lot of that in Torchlight II. Specifically, better memory management and loading optimizations.
CS: What can you tell PS3 gamers wondering if they’ll get a shot?
RG: Right now, we have an exclusive publishing agreement with Microsoft.
CS: What are some of the Achievements in the 360 version?
RG: There are 12 achievements, with a total of 200 points, which is the maximum for an XBLA/downloadable game. Achievements include defeating a few of our bosses, successfully enchanting an item 5 times, and transforming your pet.
CS: Any plans for DLC?
RG: We have no current plans for DLC – the best ideas we have from now on will go into Torchlight II.
CS: How are plans for the MMO progressing?
RG: The plans are still there but are just that: plans. Right now, we’re focused 100% on Torchlight II.
CS: Has the possible 2011 release of Diablo III impacted any of your plans for Torchlight II?
RG: Nah. Not much we can do except make the best game we can. And, we’re looking forward to playing it, eventually!
CS: Can you talk some about the pets in Torchlight II? Any additional abilities and options?
RG: The new pet in the Xbox LIVE version is called the Chakawary; it’s a sort of a cassowary + frilled lizard hybrid. It pretty much has the same abilities as all the others: combat, inventory, spell-learning. We have some cool new ideas, but nothing implemented yet.
CS: Torchlight 2 multiplayer online - have you settled on a how many players?
RG: Not yet – we’re still shooting for between 4-8.
CS: About how long will the Torchlight II campaign be?
RG: We’ll have to see what makes the final cut, but it looks like it's shaping up to be about twice Torchlight's, which we estimate at 8 to 10 hours!
CS: Anything on PvP?
RG: Yep, we’ll have some form of PvP. But we’re all adults here so it will be….how do I put this? Consensual.
CS: You’ve revealed the Railman class, a tank-engineer combo, and the Outlander, a magician suited to ranged combat. What about the other two character classes?
RG: We’ll be revealing them. Eventually.
CS: What do you think of the “PC gaming is dead” doomsayers?
RG: Nonsense. They haven’t played Torchlight, I guess!
CS: You guys follow a different model - can you talk a bit about what led you to create a comparatively modest game at a lower price point than most?
RG: We know we wanted to be a small team. People work better and just have more fun when they're more than a small cog in a giant machine. Our small size means that we have to stay realistic about the scope of the games we make. We leverage things like randomized levels and loot to let us make great games with a small team. Furthermore, we don't have vast cash reserves to fund development, so we have to work fast or we won't be able to pay the rent. We set our price at a point where we hope that the value is obvious to our customers and will make it easy for them to recommend it to their friends.
We consciously made a 'modest' game as our first project, and from the very beginning we intended to charge a fair price for it. We want to deliver high value for the buck. This decision was supported by external factors like piracy prevention - why steal it when it's only $10 on Steam? - and our increased revenue share model with electronic distribution.
CS: What games distract the Runic Games team?
RG: Minecraft – that was a huge timesuck for us! Such a great game. It isn’t uncommon for us to “call in sick” the day a big game releases – we’re gamers, after all!
CS: And finally, still planning an April-May release for Torchlight II?
RG: We don’t have a launch date yet. We haven’t set one yet but we’re getting closer. Probably not Spring, though. Maybe Summer, but since it’s still in development, we’ll see. We're on a good pace.
Thanks again to Brock, Erich and Wonder!
CS: For anyone that hasn’t heard the news - Torchlight is coming to Xbox 360. How long has that been in the works and when will it hit?
RG: We’ve been working on the new game since Fall of 2010, and are very happy that it will be launching on Wednesday, March 9th 2011.
CS: What about Torchlight makes it a good game for a move to console?
RG: Xbox doesn’t have a game like Torchlight; the Action-RPG market is really underserved. Tons of fans told us they wished they could just play Torchlight on the couch instead of curled over their PC, and we agreed. The fast paced combat and the fact that it’s save-anywhere are just two reasons Torchlight is really well suited for the console.
CS: Can you tell me about what the process of getting the game on the console was like?
RG: Technically, it was a big process of figuring out how to translate the gameplay from a mouse and keyboard to a controller. We had theoretical plans for how that would work that seemed great on paper, but when we began implementation, there were many elements that just didn’t feel right. We iterated a lot on new theories for things like attack skills, skill trees, and UI to feel cohesive and like they had a natural flow.
CS: How much was done outside Runic Games, and what sort of things did you have control over?
RG: Runic had control over the whole project. We worked in part with a contractor, World Domination Industries who also helped on our Mac port, but the entire project, start to finish, is a Runic project.
CS: What will PC gamers who also want to play the game on their 360 notice that’s different?
RG: Gamers will notice a difference in UI, in skill trees, in potion stacking, and especially a difference in combat. One of the best examples are the Vanquisher’s ranged attacks. Depending on how you automap the skills, traps will be thrown either at a fixed range or a range determined by how long you hold down the button. There were also changes to AoE attacks. And, there are three new armor sets for each character and a new pet.
CS: How did the process of Torchlight on 360 affect the development of Torchlight II?
RG: We learned a lot of lessons in making Torchlight for Xbox that are being implemented into Torchlight II, so it was a great process for us internally. Some of those things are the skill trees, UI, and combat, that we found just worked better, simpler, and were more intuitive. A lot of engine optimizations also carried over. Torchlight II has multiplayer and updated graphics, but we hope it will run at least as well as the first Torchlight.
Also, Xbox system specs made us focus even more on efficiency, and we’re implementing a lot of that in Torchlight II. Specifically, better memory management and loading optimizations.
CS: What can you tell PS3 gamers wondering if they’ll get a shot?
RG: Right now, we have an exclusive publishing agreement with Microsoft.
CS: What are some of the Achievements in the 360 version?
RG: There are 12 achievements, with a total of 200 points, which is the maximum for an XBLA/downloadable game. Achievements include defeating a few of our bosses, successfully enchanting an item 5 times, and transforming your pet.
CS: Any plans for DLC?
RG: We have no current plans for DLC – the best ideas we have from now on will go into Torchlight II.
CS: How are plans for the MMO progressing?
RG: The plans are still there but are just that: plans. Right now, we’re focused 100% on Torchlight II.
CS: Has the possible 2011 release of Diablo III impacted any of your plans for Torchlight II?
RG: Nah. Not much we can do except make the best game we can. And, we’re looking forward to playing it, eventually!
CS: Can you talk some about the pets in Torchlight II? Any additional abilities and options?
RG: The new pet in the Xbox LIVE version is called the Chakawary; it’s a sort of a cassowary + frilled lizard hybrid. It pretty much has the same abilities as all the others: combat, inventory, spell-learning. We have some cool new ideas, but nothing implemented yet.
CS: Torchlight 2 multiplayer online - have you settled on a how many players?
RG: Not yet – we’re still shooting for between 4-8.
CS: About how long will the Torchlight II campaign be?
RG: We’ll have to see what makes the final cut, but it looks like it's shaping up to be about twice Torchlight's, which we estimate at 8 to 10 hours!
CS: Anything on PvP?
RG: Yep, we’ll have some form of PvP. But we’re all adults here so it will be….how do I put this? Consensual.
CS: You’ve revealed the Railman class, a tank-engineer combo, and the Outlander, a magician suited to ranged combat. What about the other two character classes?
RG: We’ll be revealing them. Eventually.
CS: What do you think of the “PC gaming is dead” doomsayers?
RG: Nonsense. They haven’t played Torchlight, I guess!
CS: You guys follow a different model - can you talk a bit about what led you to create a comparatively modest game at a lower price point than most?
RG: We know we wanted to be a small team. People work better and just have more fun when they're more than a small cog in a giant machine. Our small size means that we have to stay realistic about the scope of the games we make. We leverage things like randomized levels and loot to let us make great games with a small team. Furthermore, we don't have vast cash reserves to fund development, so we have to work fast or we won't be able to pay the rent. We set our price at a point where we hope that the value is obvious to our customers and will make it easy for them to recommend it to their friends.
We consciously made a 'modest' game as our first project, and from the very beginning we intended to charge a fair price for it. We want to deliver high value for the buck. This decision was supported by external factors like piracy prevention - why steal it when it's only $10 on Steam? - and our increased revenue share model with electronic distribution.
CS: What games distract the Runic Games team?
RG: Minecraft – that was a huge timesuck for us! Such a great game. It isn’t uncommon for us to “call in sick” the day a big game releases – we’re gamers, after all!
CS: And finally, still planning an April-May release for Torchlight II?
RG: We don’t have a launch date yet. We haven’t set one yet but we’re getting closer. Probably not Spring, though. Maybe Summer, but since it’s still in development, we’ll see. We're on a good pace.
Thanks again to Brock, Erich and Wonder!
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