Particles - It's What I Do

Hey, everyone. If you haven't been following my blog or haven't looked at the "about me" section on the side of the page, I am a Game Design student at SCAD. This also means that I make games, but I haven't really posted anything about that on the blog yet...so...why not start now, eh?


Over the past month, I've been helping with a senior project that a few of my friends were doing. We were making a mobile game using UDK. My job on the team was the Technical Artist. As the Technical Artist, I was in charge of some of the more complex materials like water and others that involve glowing, moving, pulsing, or anything else really cool. Along with that, I was also in charge of the particles in the game. Particles are basically the special effects in a game including fire, water spraying, explosions, and other similar things. Rather than describe all of these, I have posted a video of the particles I did to make it more interesting.



Also, Dead Island releases on the 6th...which is actually in about an hour. And that's when it unlocks on Steam. I am personally pretty excited about the game because its a zombie game on a tropical island. Since tropical islands are awesome and zombies are fun to kill, this game sounds like it might be promising. But you can't judge a game until you have played it, so I will post later with my review of it.


Another thing that needs to be pointed out is a new "project" I'm going to be working on over the next few weeks or so. It can be found here http://thezombievacationjournal.blogspot.com/ . So keep an eye on that page for an update in the near future.


That's all I have for now. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to let me know in the comments. Also be sure to follow the blog and twitter. Thanks for reading and happy gaming!

Owning Words?

Hey, everyone. To start off with, I would like to remind everyone of Dead Island coming out in about two weeks. The trailer's are making it look like plenty of good zombie-slaying action, which is two thumbs up from me. Another few upcoming games I want to mention are Stronghold 3, Battlefield 3, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Bethesda, the company developing Skyrim, is actually the main course of this post. I'm sure if you have read any previous posts of mine, you can see that I'm a fan of Minecraft. The endless digging in hopes of finding something other than dirt and stone never seems to get old. And recently, Bethesda (the owners/developers of The Elder Scrolls Series) are trying to sue Mojang for making a game that they plan to call Scrolls.

I personally think this is ridiculous! To me, it sounds like a big company is getting jealous or feeling threatened because of a smaller company and is looking for a way to calm their nerves. Mojang has even specifically stated that their future game is not related to The Elder Scrolls Series in any way.

That's all that I have for today. I just hope that everything works out fine with both companies. I have nothing against either company and think that this is all just a big misunderstanding. I, myself, respect both companies and their games and wish the best for both companies in the long run. Good luck to both sides.

There's not too much other news going on right now that I feel everyone should know about. If you want to share some news, please do so in the comments at the bottom of this post. Also, let me know what you guys think about this whole situation between Bethesda and Mojang in the comments. Until next time, happy gaming!

An Incredible Indie Game - Terraria

Hey, everyone. It's been far too long since my last post. I usually get busy with school but right now is the summer so there is no excuse for taking so long to post...and for that, I apologize. I keep saying that I will keep posting more often but that always ends up making me post less, so I'm gonna skip that part this time around.

Before I get into the main topic of this post, I'll start out with my list of upcoming games I'm looking forward to.

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2. Dead Island
3. Battlefield 3
4. Star Wars: The Old Republic (Which has also recently been available to pre-purchase...and has a release date for THIS year!)

In other news, Dungeon Defenders is still not out yet. And there is still no release date set in stone. Maybe it will come out before November, the month that it was originally supposed to come out last year.

Also, for those of you who love cheap games, Steam is a great way to get a variety of games for cheap. Especially since they started having a daily sale that changes each day in addition to their usual weekly sale and weekend sale. Sometimes they will even have special sales events (like a summer sale) in which many different games are on sale for a week or two. In the summer sale that just passed, I bought an incredible indie game for only $2.50 (it was actually supposed to be a $5 sale but someone goofed when it went on sale.) Some of you may have heard of this little game called Terraria.

When I say little game, I mean in terms of hard disk space. But this game has an enormous amount of content packed into a little package. It's even more incredible when the game took less than 6 months to make and has been one of the most played games on Steam since it's release. Another added bonus is the free content updates that the developers have promised.

I like to describe Terraria as a mix of 2-D Minecraft and the old side-scrolling Castlevania games. It's also, in my opinion, really well designed because it rewards the player for exploration at just the right intervals to keep the player interested and satisfied without getting bored or tired. There are also events that happen throughout the game, some by chance and others by using certain items, and these events also keep the game exciting and, at times, intense.

Another great aspect of the game is the social aspect. This game can be played completely in single-player, but the developers really wanted it to be experienced as a multi-player game. The multi-player can support up to 8 people on the same world by default and as many as 24 or more if server mods are used. Lately, I have been playing with a few of my friends and have had a lot more fun than I probably would have if I had stuck to single-player.

The whole point of the game is to mine (or dig), explore, create, and fight monsters. The creating can be anything from buildings to furniture to weapons and armor and many other things. It's these different activities in the game that all work together to make something that feels very rewarding when you play it.

I recently had an event happen in the world that my friends and I play on called a Goblin Army in which we received a message at the bottom of the screen telling us that a Goblin Army was approaching. After a few minutes, we were surrounded by goblins on both sides of our house (that we built) and had to defend ourselves until we had defeated the entire goblin army. It's events like this and others that really keep me from getting bored quickly.

The screenshot below is one that I took while fighting the goblin army.


(click on picture for larger size)

If, after reading this post, I have given you any interest in Terraria. I highly recommend checking out this piece of indie gold. The original price of the game is $10 which is very cheap for a project of this quality. Until next time, happy gaming!

Hidden Gem

Hey everyone. It's been a while. I was very busy with finals the past few weeks. Anyway, it was a good quarter and I'm glad it's over.

When the quarter was finished, I purchased HOMEFRONT. Since I pre-ordered it via Steam, I also received a free copy of Metro 2033. HOMEFRONT had a good story but it was a bit short. The single-player can be finished in about 5 hours but the multiplayer is the addicting part of the game.

But this post isn't about HOMEFRONT. This post is about Metro 2033. For those of you who don't know, Metro 2033 is a game set in Russia in the year 2033. An apocalyptic event has occurred and mutant demon creatures have taken over the surface. Radiation is everywhere and humans have been forced to live in the subways and tunnels underground. Sound like a pretty solid concept, right? Well it was released about a year ago and it was one game I feel did not receive enough attention.

I had heard of Metro 2033 when it came out but did not see too much about it. Probably because some big title belonging to a well known franchise had come out and stolen the attention. Or perhaps it was the lack of multiplayer in today's market of competitive gamers. Either way, I'm gonna give this gem what it deserves.

I know I already said that it had a lack of multiplayer, but Metro 2033's single-player experience makes up for it. The story is an interesting concept but perhaps a little bit cliche or similar to other stories from books, movies, and other games. The way the story is told is incredible though. Immersion plays a big part in helping to tell the story because you never leave your character's view. You may not always have complete control over your character but you never completely lose control either.

For the most part, there aren't many cutscenes in the game. Most of the scenes that help to drive the story along are scripted events in which NPCs talk to one another but you still have control over your entire body and/or your head, depending on the event. The game doesn't really break immersion, which really gets me into the game's story.

The graphics are also impressive, with support for DirectX 9, 10, and 11. The lighting and environment effects help to improve the games atmosphere. The tunnels underground have an interesting haziness about them which prevents seeing things from far away...which, in turn, provide for some spooky moments.

The sound also adds to the experience with more ambient sounds than music. The sound definitely creeps me out with growls of mutants coming from far off in the smoky distant tunnels and ghostly sounds of anomalies and other supernatural things.

Most people are probably thinking that no game is this good without a little bad. Well, the game isn't perfect. The AI are a little slow sometimes but most of the time they are pretty challenging. Though, my main issue are the bugs. Sometimes the game will mess up if an animation or cutscene is skipped or interrupted, leaving the player with no ability to use any weapons, look at their objective journal, or do any other actions. However, there are many checkpoints in this game and players can load any checkpoint from any chapter in the game to play through (granted the checkpoint has been reached at least once). Loading the game from the previous checkpoint will fix this bug and I've only had to do this one time.

All in all, Metro 2033 is an interesting, worth-while single-player experience that is a bit of a hidden gem. I recommend checking it out if you are looking for an immersive experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat. And it's only $20 on Steam!

As always, thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

Updates

Hey everyone. Just a short post today. It's a new year and that means a lot of games can come out in the next 12 months.

To start off, Star Wars: The Old Republic might come out this year. The developers have announced that they are anticipating a spring 2011 release but I would not be surprised if it is later. However, I know that BioWare will only delay it to improve it.

The Nintendo 3DS might also come out this year. I am really curious as to how well it will sell. I would like one but will most people be able to switch to a 3D gaming platform? As long as there has been 3D games, there has been the debate about whether or not it is good. The 3DS has also been given a early 2011 released date.

As far as Diablo 3 is concerned...there is not a release date yet. Many fans are speculating at summer 2011 but all that Blizzard tells us is "When it's done".

Minecraft entered Beta on December 20th which means the game is closer to completion! The game can be purchased for 25% off while it is in Beta and all future updates will be free. I recommend everyone to try out the free creative mode at www.minecraft.net. For more info on Minecraft, check out my previous posts or just click on the Minecraft tag at the bottom of this post.

There were a ton of great sales on Steam over the past two weeks. Today is the last day so if you haven't seen them, go check them out now. Not all the games are on sale but there are enough for everyone to find something they like.

My stomach is telling me that it's dinner time. Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

Are Games really "Survival"?

Hey, everyone. It's been a little while since my last post. I was discussing video games with some people yesterday who do not really play video games and it made me think of an interesting concept.

The Resident Evil series and the Silent Hill series are categorized as survival horror. I was playing Left 4 Dead 2 and some friends asked what kind of game it is. One of them compared it to Resident Evil and asked if it was similar. I told them I suppose because you are shooting dead things, but it is still a very different game. Then I tried to explain it and realized that I was describing a survival game except with more action.

This explanation made me think of an interesting question. What really makes a game classified as the "survival" genre? Almost any game I think of has a common goal...do not die. This goal can also be described as survive. Left 4 Dead, Oblivion, Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, and many other games all share this goal. Even simple casual games have the basic idea of surviving as long as possible to get the highest score or whatever else. The only games I can think of that stray from this goal are a few strange flash games on the internet.

So what allows Resident Evil to be a "survival" game? Perhaps it is in the horror genre and horror movies are usually about surviving the "horror" in the movie. Or perhaps it's because you can get scared to death...HAHA! But really, in my opinion, I think that many games could have the category of survival attached to them. What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks!

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me if you liked the post (you can find that off to the right side). Also be sure to follow me on my Twitter if you use Twitter. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

New GoldenEye Site

Hey, everyone. Just a quick update. I have a twitter account now for my blog.

In other news, the GoldenEye website in my last blog post has had a major update. Everyone should go check it out. If you look carefully, you will find small puzzles and hidden objects around the site. On top of that, there is more to come in the future! So click here to see the awesome new website for the upcoming Wii exclusive. Also be sure to see the new Multiplayer trailer here.

Steam is having a weekend sale this weekend. You can get the Stalker bundle for 75% off this weekend. That's 2 games for only $10!

Here is the link to my twitter account. Please follow me. Thanks!

Lately, I have been playing Oblivion...again. If you have never played it, check it out. You will thank yourself for it.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me if you liked the post (you can find that off to the right side). If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

Diablo 3

Hey. So my last post was a list of the top 3 games I'm looking forward to most. The top game is Diablo 3 from Blizzard Entertainment.

Even though there has not been much information on this game yet, there is enough for me to get excited about it. I think it also helps that Diablo 2 is one of my favorite games of all time and the third one is looking to bring back the hack and slash gameplay that everyone loved about Diablo 2. It also looks like it will be bringing in some fresh new gameplay, too. This time around, the environments will be interactive. For example, you can break pillars to crumble down on your enemies or simply just push enemies off a ledge into darkness.

For anyone who enjoys cinematics, go to the official Diablo 3 website, click on media, and scroll down to watch the cinematic trailer. This cinematic is and excellent example of the cinematics seen in the Diablo series of games.

I will bring more updates about this game when more information is released. Blizzcon 2010 is coming up in October so there may be more updates about this game around that time.

On a side note, Steam is having a different sale everyday for the next few days in celebration of QuakeCon 2010. Today's deals are The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition and the Deluxe Edition. Check back everyday for new deals on games from Bethesda and Id.

Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

Top 3 Future Games

Hey. I know it's been a while since my last post. I have been away but I am back now so the posts should become more frequent. I thought it would be a good idea to preview some games that I am going to be keeping my eye open for. So here is a short list of the top 3 games I am looking forward to most.

1. Diablo 3 - Made by Blizzard Entertainment and it's a sequel to Diablo 2. There hasn't been too much information released about this game yet but it's looking promising so far. The gameplay looks like it will have the same feel as Diablo 2 but with a few tricks, such as objects in the environment to interact with.

2. Star Wars: The Old Republic - A Star Wars MMORPG made by Bioware (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, Dragon Age...). It has lots of planets to explore, a light side and dark side to choose from, force powers, lightsabers, and it's FULLY VOICED! What more could you ask for from a Star Wars game?

3. GoldenEye 007 - A remake of the original GoldenEye game for Nintendo 64. Not a sequel, not a prequel, not a different game...the same game with a major facelift. Some of the missions may vary from the original game but they will still fit the storyline. The best part? Online multiplayer!

I am still currently addicted to Alien Swarm. Haha! If you want to play together, let me know. If you want to find out what Alien Swarm is, read one of my previous posts in which I described it.

I am keeping my eyes and ears open for updates about each of these games and will post them here if I find anything of importance. Thanks for reading. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

Comic-Con 2010

Comic-Con 2010 just finished a few days ago and it was a pretty interesting year. It was the first Comic-Con where someone was stabbed. STABBED?! Yep, that's right. Stabbed. Apparently some convention attendees got into an argument about sitting too close together while waiting on a panel featuring Seth Rogen. I think this is the first person I have ever seen wearing handcuffs and a Harry Potter shirt. Haha.

Ok. Enough about crazy fans. Not only does Comic-Con have comics, costumes, and fans, but it also has movies, shows, and now stabbings. And the best one...GAMES! One of the game showcased at this year's Comic-Con that I have been curious about is the new Assassin's Creed game.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the next game in the Assassin's Creed series. The second one came out last year so why does this have a November release date? This game is being produced by a very large company. One of my professors, who was in the industry before teaching, told my class that there are 1,500 people working on this new Assassin's Creed game. 1,500 PEOPLE! That's a lot more than most game developers have. I'm not too interested about the single player part of this game. It takes place in the same Renaissance time period in Rome and follows the same main character.

The aspect of the game I'm looking forward to is the multiplayer. The multiplayer in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is similar to the real-life game Assassin in which many people play and you try to hunt down your target while, at the same time, you are being hunted by someone else. The last man standing wins. In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, everyone will play an assassin and can choose their appearance. Then everyone is given a target that is displayed on the screen. Each player tries to get rid of their target without attracting too much attention. If you give away your position while killing your targeted player, they player who is hunting you will have no trouble finding and killing you. It sounds like it's gonna be an awesome addition to the series.

I am still addicted to Alien Swarm. If you want more info, I explained about it in my previous post. If you haven't tried it yet, do yourself a favor and go try it! It's free so you have nothing to lose!

Thanks for reading. I probably won't have any new posts for the rest of this week because I will be out of town, but I will post new stuff soon. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

Alien Swarm

About a week ago, Valve released Alien Swarm for free through their Steam client for PC and I've been strangely addicted to it since I downloaded it. Alien Swarm is a tactical, co-op shooter with an overhead view.

Normally, I don't play too many tactical shooters, but this one is fast-paced so I don't fall asleep while team members are planning everything out. It is also easy to get into the action and plenty of variety becomes available early on. The missions are pretty short with each one lasting about 10 minutes on average. In fact, the whole game is pretty short and can be played through in an hour or so with a good group, but the game is free so there shouldn't be any complaining. Even though it is a short experience, there is a lot of replay value with 4 different difficulties, 4 different character classes, and a ton of weapons and items to unlock.

In the game, you will begin to see more items and weapons become available as you play. Your Steam account saves your progress in the game as you level up. When you level up, more stuff is unlocked and you can use it. This becomes useful because there are items that are improvements upon standard equipment (i.e. the medic can unlock an item that heals group members faster). The difficulties are similar to those of Left4Dead2 if you are familiar with another great game from Valve. Normal difficulty will provide a nice challenge for new players and the higher difficulties will do the same for more experienced players who have unlocked more equipment.

My favorite part of Alien Swarm is the co-op aspect. I love games that involve working with other players to accomplish an objective, and this game does it very well. The co-op aspect of this game also helps to shorten the learning curve because other experienced players can tell you what weapons to use and when to use them. I highly recommend trying this game. It is a great product from Valve. And why not try it? Since the game is completely free, you have absolutely nothing to lose.

Thanks for reading. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

Is EA Crazy?

In my last post, I talked about the free third-person shooter, Battlefield Heroes, released by EA. Is EA crazy?! Why would a huge company like EA release a game for free?

Well, EA is not crazy. The game is free but they are still making money from it. The money is being made through the ads and through micro-transactions. Micro-transactions are small purchases within a game using real money. For instance, you may pay $1.00 of real money for a better weapon or some unique armor. The game industry has seen a lot of micro-transaction activity lately and it will only get bigger.

Blizzard Entertainment is a large company we see beginning to use micro-transactions. They are allowing players to spend real money on unique mounts but they also have the subscription fee in place which might stop most players from using their micro-transaction system.

On the other hand, Dungeons & Dragons Online from Turbine was a subscription based MMO but they have stopped charging a subscription fee. Instead, they have switched to a completely free game with a store where you can buy things for your characters using real money aka micro-transactions. According to the MMO Report on G4TV.com, Turbine has found that they actually make more money now using the micro-transaction system than they did when it was a subscription based game.

Facebook is another large market for games with micro-transactions. Farmville, one of the most played games on Facebook, has a micro-transaction system and it actually makes a decent amount of money. There are many other Facebook games that use a similar system. In fact, most every game I have seen on Facebook uses a similar system.

I don't think that micro-transactions with be the only thing in the future of the game industry. I do, however, think that they will become a large part of the future of the industry, and we should get used to seeing them and maybe even using them because it looks like micro-transactions will be around for a long time.

Thanks for reading. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. I am still working on the design of the blog so please just give me some time. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

First Post

Hi. I'm new to this blogging thing so I thought I would give it a try and see what everyone likes about it.

Everyone always says to blog about something you know about or you enjoy. Well I know about games and I enjoy games. It doesn't matter if it's a video game, a board game, a card game, or a yard game, I enjoy them all. I'm even studying Game Development in college so I learn more everyday. My focus on this blog...along with my thoughts about different games...will be many aspects of games from design to mechanics to market to one of the most important questions..."Is it fun?"

I am still working on the design of the blog and the color schemes and stuff but I will try to post things fairly regularly. I hope you enjoy my post today and my posts in the future. If there are any questions you have or if you want to know what I think about a game, I will do my best to tell you.