Evening Reading

GDC 08 continues with a fairly steady stream of info coming. Nick had to cancel at the last minute which kinda screwed up our plans for coverage...

GDC 08 continues with a fairly

steady stream of info coming. Nick had to cancel at the last minute which kinda screwed up

our plans for coverage but hopefully Faylor can kick a few more things our way while he is

there.

As for the the videogame news around these parts for today:

Lastly, everyone give a whut whut to Maarten for being so sassy around these parts and

getting a lot done behind the scenes around here. WHUT WHUT!

Steve Gibson is the cofounder of Shacknews.com. Originally known as sCary's Quakeholio back in 1996, Steve is now President of Gearbox Publishing after selling Shacknews to GameFly in 2009.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 21, 2008 6:01 PM

    Shack XNA Attack

    Str8Dog drafted me into helping a small team create an XNA game from start to finish.

    http://shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=16320708#itemanchor_16320708

    In order to focus the team, the first thing that needs to be decided on is the base game design. I've gone back through the design vault and selected five basic game designs, each one based on a popular game, and Shacked them up. Any one of these could be completed by a co-located team over a 48-hour period, but given that the team is going to be spread out, I'm thinking 10-14 days is a viable timeframe.

    Basic schedule is prototyping for three days, development for four days, integration for two days, bug fixing and playtesting for the rest of the scheduled time.

    All of these are going to be 2D only, with the only 3D effects being scaled/rotated/skewed sprites. Basic Xbox 360 development tenets will be followed to ease future porting to the Xbox 360, but the PC will be the primary development platform.

    Please jump into each of the subthreads and give feedback and most importantly vote. Your votes will determine the path this team follows.

    The * rating is how hard I believe each one would be to do.

    Voting closes tomorrow when Evening Reading kicks over. At that point, we'll begin.

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      February 21, 2008 6:01 PM

      1* Hunt the WTFHorse

      Single player, based on "Hunt the Wumpus"

      Essentially a Shackified port of one of the "Wumpus" games.

      Old "Wumpus" source is here:
      http://www.atariarchives.org/morebasicgames/showpage.php?page=178

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      February 21, 2008 6:02 PM

      2* Clear the Tubes (PRL'ed, rest up shortly)

      Single player, based on "Gyruss"

      The Internet tubes are clogging up with filth! Take your legislative power into the tubes and blow away the filth!

      A demo of "Gyruss" is available on Xbox Live Arcade.

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        February 21, 2008 6:07 PM

        Would this be like a lifeforce / galaga type tube cleaning?

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          February 21, 2008 6:08 PM

          Consulting youtube, looks like Galaga in a circle.

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        February 21, 2008 6:12 PM

        This sounds like the best option to me. I like it, and it sounds like it'd actually have a chance of being fun.

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          February 21, 2008 6:14 PM

          off the brief descriptions, absolutely

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        February 21, 2008 6:17 PM

        Love the Gyruss music.

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          February 21, 2008 6:17 PM

          I think that's why "Gyruss" sticks in my mind more than other games of the era.

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        February 21, 2008 6:24 PM

        This sounds the most 'game-worthy' of the options. It gets my vote. Plus, I loved Gyruss (or a Gyruss compatible) growing up.

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        February 21, 2008 6:34 PM

        I think this idea has merit.

        Even after you get a 2D version working, turning it into something 3D would be relatively easy and would look pretty sharp if you had half decent artist types working on it.

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        February 21, 2008 7:01 PM

        This I like and more things could be added later to give it more content. Also, I loved Gyruss when I was little on the original NES (though I had a Famicon). I got all the way to Mars before dying, but that was pretty impressive for me back then.

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        February 21, 2008 7:07 PM

        I like this one the best

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          February 21, 2008 7:08 PM

          This seems to be the one most of the team members are leaning towards. I'll start fleshing out the design a bit more.

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            February 21, 2008 7:38 PM

            "Clean the Tubes" Design Document

            Base Requirements
            -----------------
            All assets will be rendered to look best at 1280x720x32.
            The game will be scaled up or down to match the horizontal resolution, but will always maintain the same aspect ratio.
            At the base resolution, all fonts shall be a minimum of 24 pixels tall.
            No critical information shall appear in the outer 5% of the screen.
            A color-blind friendly palette should be adopted for all enemies.
            Where possible, enemies should be created in black and white so they can be colored by code.

            Main Game States
            ----------------

            Intro
            Main Menu
            High Score List
            Game
            Enter Name

            State Descriptions
            ------------------

            Intro
            -----

            Animated background with title in center of screen with the text "Press ENTER or START to Begin" at the bottom of the screen.

            If ENTER is pressed on the keyboard, then the keyboard will be the input device of choice until the game is exited.

            If START is pressed on any of the connected Xbox 360 controllers, that device will be the input device of choice until the game is exited.

            Main Menu
            ---------

            On the main menu, there are four options. Pressing A or ENTER will activate that entry.

            NEW GAME --> Starts a new game.
            WARP < 1 > --> If the player has played before, pressing left or right will allow the player to skip to a
            later level. Once the level is selected, pressing A or ENTER will go to that level.
            HIGH SCORE --> Displays the top 10 scores.
            EXIT GAME --> Exits to the Windows desktop.

            High Score List
            ---------------

            Displays the top 10 high scores on one half of the screen.
            On the other half of the screen, the game credits will scroll on an infinite loop.

            Pressing any key or button on the controller will return to the main menu.

            Enter Name
            ----------

            Displays the top 10 high scores on one half of the screen.
            The entry that is being filled in by the high score is highlighted.
            If the gamepad is the input device of choice, the other half of the screen is occupied by a virtual keyboard where they can enter their initials.
            If the keyboard is the input device of choice, the other half of the screen just has an entry blank and instructions.

            Game
            ----

            Game is a seperate state machine.

            Game States
            -----------
            Game Start
            Level Intro
            Level Populate
            Level Attack
            Level End
            Game Win
            Game Lose

            Game Flags
            ----------
            Paused (returns Active Controller Disconnected || isPaused)
            Tame (returns Player Spawned < 3 seconds || State == Level Populate)
            When Tame, enemies do not attack

            Game Start
            ----------
            Sets base flags.
            Determines base level from main menu entry path.
            Moves to Level Intro.

            Level *
            -------
            On Level * states, player can move.
            Pushing an arrow key, thumbstick or a D-pad direction will cause the player to move towards that direction using the shortest possible path. If the player reaches that direction and the D-pad/arrow key is still pressed, the player shall continue traversing the circle in the direction the player pressed.

            Pressing A or SPACE fires. If enemies are not currently in an attack pattern, they cannot be hit.

            Pressing START pauses the game and brings up the in-game menu, which has two options:
            RESUME GAME
            QUIT TO MENU (passes the game to the Main Menu state)

            Level Intro
            -----------
            No enemies appear.
            Level title appears screen center.

            Level Populate
            --------------
            Enemies fly in from screen borders. Patterns decided by level. Recommend using level number as a bitflag to determine potential patterns that are randomly selected.

            Bit 1 = Straight in.
            Bit 2 = Loop from left.
            Bit 3 = Loop from right.
            Bit 4 = Swoop in, attack, swoop out. Do not join center.
            Bit 5 = Swoop in, attack, survivors join center.
            Bit 6 = Add to center.

            Level Attack
            ------------
            One to three enemies are pulled from the pool in the center and moved into the attack ring where they are vulnerable to attack, but they can attack as well. Attack pattern depends on enemies.

            Level End
            ---------
            Level end occurs when all enemies are dead.
            If there is another level, changes to Level Intro; else changes to Game Win.

            Game Win
            --------
            Game win occurs when all levels are complete.
            After showing victory screen, game goes to Enter Name state if score > lowest high score, otherwise goes to High Score List.

            Game Lose
            ---------
            Game lose occurs when all player lives are lost.
            After showing "Game Over" screen, game goes to Enter Name state if score > lowest high score, otherwise goes to High Score List.

            • reply
              February 21, 2008 7:46 PM

              Is it 'Clear' or 'Clean'? I kinda like 'Clear' since that's sort of what you are doing...clearing the clogs?

              • reply
                February 21, 2008 7:47 PM

                Which leads to more visual thoughts for you?

                "Clean" means suds for attacks, dirty, filthy enemies, maybe a sponge for a main player, etc.

                "Clear" could mean more of a digital-style attack, etc.

                • reply
                  February 21, 2008 7:52 PM

                  I was thinking retro blocky stuff, like taking internet meme's and represent them abstractly in a retro form.

                  • reply
                    February 21, 2008 7:53 PM

                    Well, you're the art peep. Your decision.

            • reply
              February 21, 2008 8:14 PM

              If you still need level soundtracks I'll be available

            • reply
              February 21, 2008 9:15 PM

              is this going to be an "open source" project? I'll be kinda peeking into the source code and checking out how you guys solved game problems and see if i came up with the same solutions / how I implemented them compared to you guys.. I think it'd be a great learning experience if you could make the source public in "stages" (ala: day 1 source, day 2 source, etc)

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 9:27 PM

        I would love a game like this (not to mention it's my dad's favorite game) lol.

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 6:06 PM

      Pls to be making a M.U.L.E. clone.

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 6:07 PM

      3* Containment

      Single player, twitch-action hybrid of "Pong" and "Kaboom"

      Requires the Xbox 360 controller.

      Player controls two sets of "shields," each one controlled by either the left or right thumbstick. Both sets of shields rotate around a center point and move where the sticks are moved. Slowly, atoms are added into the playfield that bounce around. Players move their thumbsticks to move shields to bounce the atoms back into play. The more atoms in play, the higher the score multiplier. Once all atoms leave play, players lose one shield.

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 6:12 PM

        This one seems interesting, easy to implement, and would make a good flash game.

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 6:25 PM

        Is this playing Pong with yourself, but in a circle?

        • reply
          February 21, 2008 6:25 PM

          And more balls get added on a regular basis, balls speed up, etc.

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 6:07 PM

      4* Workout Club

      One to four player local multiplayer, "Track and Field" style

      If players need motivation to run, can always have a nude Korban sprite chasing after them.

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 6:32 PM

        That was my initial Cockboat Racing idea. Just have a bunch of cockboats and button-mashing would take the place of rowing to get the boats across the screen.

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 6:09 PM

      do gears of chore. have a bunch of gears you have to place to make things work. only make it hard and with no pay off at the end of the long game.

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 6:10 PM

      5* Guitar Loser

      One player, based on "Mastermind"

      Party is nearly over, and you've got a drunk hottie who isn't hooked up yet. Find the right chords to get her out of her clothes and into your bed before she sobers up and gets out of your life.

      Control would be through either the Xplorer 360 controller, Xbox 360 controller or PC keyboard.

      Four note combos for the keys. On easy, only three keys would be used. Medium, four. Hard, five. Expert, five plus the four nearby chords. Insane, five plus all two-note chords. The more notes you have right, the less clothes she is wearing. The more that are in the right location, the closer to the bed she is.

      I think this one would be most difficult because of the amount of content required.

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 6:13 PM

        you fuckers got to do this one!

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        February 21, 2008 6:17 PM

        Chris Remo must do the music for this one

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 6:22 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          February 21, 2008 6:25 PM

          I agree that it sounds complex, but the code for "Mastermind" is actually very simple.

          Again, the difficulties here are on the code side handling three different input devices, but with proper abstraction that is fairly simple. On the art side, it's just the amount of content that makes it a challenge.

          • reply
            February 21, 2008 6:27 PM

            iirc correctly remapping between various controllers w/ XNA is obscenely easy

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 7:34 PM

        this sounds pretty cool

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      February 21, 2008 6:14 PM

      Combine Peggle and Pinball into andultra combo multiplier whizbang mad score attainment (you should have an average score in the trillions) point perfect addiction madness!

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 6:20 PM

      if you all could release the source as you all go along, that would be really cool for those of us watching from the sidelines. I would enjoy seeing that side of it, since I really have no idea how you approach a project like this.

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 6:21 PM

        I'm hoping to do nightly releases.

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          February 21, 2008 6:22 PM

          cool beans

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          February 21, 2008 6:25 PM

          Or a public SVN perhaps? It might inspire otherwise-lazy people to contribute.

          • reply
            February 21, 2008 6:28 PM

            I'll throw up a trac site for it

            http://trac.edgewall.org/

            wiki + defect tracker + svn web frontend

            • reply
              February 21, 2008 6:28 PM

              (if that's what the project team wants)

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              February 21, 2008 6:31 PM

              trac is great, used at work before we went to FogBugz

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              February 21, 2008 6:33 PM

              How hard is that to get set up? I'd love to throw what I'd work on for people to grab at their leisure.

              • reply
                February 21, 2008 6:36 PM

                really really simple actually :)

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                  February 21, 2008 6:37 PM

                  as long as you've got the right stuff installed (python and crap)

                  you can either run it standalone or run it through apache

            • reply
              February 21, 2008 6:35 PM

              Can you recommend a standalone SVN client for Windows? VC2k5EE doesn't support a built-in source control client.

              • reply
                February 21, 2008 6:36 PM

                SmartSVN (if you want a standalone app) or TortoiseSVN (if you want Explorer integration)

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                  February 21, 2008 6:39 PM

                  TortoiseSVN is awesome. I can't recommend it enough.

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                    February 21, 2008 6:48 PM

                    TortoiseSVN is what I've used on several projects, it is good, and easy. If an artist can use it, then it's OK.

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                  February 21, 2008 9:02 PM

                  TortoiseSVN is hella sweet

              • reply
                February 21, 2008 7:04 PM

                Tortoise

              • reply
                February 21, 2008 9:08 PM

                Tortoise tortoise tortoise. You cannot beat it.

          • reply
            February 21, 2008 6:31 PM

            I'd love to get in on some xna development, I just don't have the creativity to do something pretty from scratch

        • reply
          February 21, 2008 6:38 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            February 21, 2008 6:39 PM

            This is a spare-time type thing. I think my role is going to be more integrator/designer/motivator than anything else...

          • reply
            February 21, 2008 7:43 PM

            oh fuck, that sounds too much like my work day

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 6:32 PM

      Heroin hero??

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 6:42 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        February 21, 2008 7:01 PM

        The game I'm working on using XNA is a Robotron/Geometry Wars/Kenta Cho-style game.

        • reply
          February 21, 2008 7:06 PM

          [deleted]

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            February 21, 2008 7:08 PM

            After-hours. I don't think Stardock is really a developer of twitch games.

        • reply
          February 21, 2008 9:29 PM

          everyday shooter is still the best one of these i've played. good luck!

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        February 21, 2008 7:17 PM

        A robotron game would be great fun.

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      February 21, 2008 7:30 PM

      hehe I make small games for a living and I laugh at 48 hour turnaround for people who don't know what they're doing. Its pretty hard to be that fast when you do know what you're doing

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        February 21, 2008 7:37 PM

        I used to participate in game jams all the time where a 48-hour turnaround for a small game was commonplace. They were never very polished, but it was a fun experiment.

        • reply
          February 21, 2008 7:50 PM

          how many actual hours would you spend on it? are we talking all-nighters? or 16-20 hours work?

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            February 21, 2008 7:50 PM

            Some were all-nighters, some were about 36 hours total (18 hours a day).

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 7:44 PM

      Electric VI - a game where you help the band in hell get to the green building to defeat the dance commander. After ordering a rock and roll evacuation you conjure up electric demons and Jimmy Carter to brave high voltage and pink flamingos to pull the plug on the party and return to McDonnelzz to buy the drugs.

      The final level is in a GAY BAR GAY BAR GAY BAR

    • reply
      February 21, 2008 8:57 PM

      I can't believe how fast this came together... This is going to be awesome.

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      February 21, 2008 9:53 PM

      Dumb XNA Question

      I want to screw around with this thing. I understand the need for recompiling and having certain things change between a PC and 360 version of a game, but what's involved in switching between the two once I get it to the point where I want to take my PC game and move it onto the 360 to start doing testing on there?

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        February 21, 2008 10:39 PM

        supposedly it is as simple as setting the compiler to xbox 360...

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          February 21, 2008 10:48 PM

          Why do they have you make that decision at the beginning then? I should probably read a book or something on this stuff, but I'd rather just screw around with it.

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        February 22, 2008 4:25 AM

        There are some interesting performance quirks between the x360 and the PC to do with the in-order cores on the x360. There are some articles up on the MS site you ought to look at.

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