100 game maker games in 10 min!

100 Game Maker Games in 10 Minutes from Paul Eres on Vimeo.

There is a list of the games on the vimeo page. This is a great video that shows how versitile the simple tool really is

The horror...

I want to make a survival horror. There havent been many lately and I want to make one. I am in the middle of another project with a few more on the backburner and college around the corner but I want to make a survival horror.

It's not a good idea to be doing this much extra curricular activity when you are competing for a carrear path that defines the rest of your life but I want to make a survival horror.

I have decided on implimenting the book.

The book, is a simple filofax system with catagories such as Characters, Weapons, Items, Levels, Game Mechanics, Puzzels and Games. By using one of these books you create an organised grouping of content that you can mix and match to allow your creativity to flow and develop origional games "how would this character use that weapon in these circumstances" I could also have a USB drive slot and tilesets or 3d models stored on it. It is simply a way to output creativly without interfearing with life. It manages creativity and prevents it from going overbord.

It is time to implement the book.

Bed didn't happen

So I played wipeout. It's better than I remember. It is so good. I am glad I bought it... that said it prevented me going to bed for about 2 hours. Then I dressed up like a pirate, see...

Don't ask, it's probably to do with haloween comming up. I am planning on being a pirate and that is the start of my costume...

I am sleepy but I dont want to go to bed or do anything that could be regarded as work. I could do some Gemini project but I just am too tired to think straight.

It's freshers week in college tomorrow so I can go in and join all my societys again. or not, I dont really care. I have to get up tomorrow though, otherwise I may end up having to collect my tablet from a center and god knows where that would be! no, its time to stop being a pirate and go to bed... soon...

Fast and Pretty

So Wipeout is out. I bought it. It is installing right now. My tablet hasnt come yet so I have to be up early tomorrow in case of delivery but I want to play a bit. A mate of mine has been playing it for the last good few hours. That said I had a lot of fun playing games in a way I havent for a long time. bits and pieces.

In a single gameing session of about 2-3 hrs I played GTA IV, MGS4, Eden, Bionic Commando, and Tekken: Dark Resurection. It was good. I was also planning on a bit of Assassin's Creed but decided against at the end.

I think I'm going to play wipeout now. Finaly get to see it in HD... fast and pretty!!

Aditional staff... aditional fun?

So Gemini was a larger project than I first anticipated. Much larger. Like I thought "2 weeks work" it thought "I will take your life away". Because of this megalomanic game idea trying to remove my nights out and strolls in the park I decided to ask for help, cue my mate...

No online colab for me. This is 2 people, working on a story, battle system and art style in the same country! The bonus is no lag and I can go to his house if he decides to disapear!

In all seriousness though, he and I got into game making together and have always wanted to colab. We have had various ideas but never gone all the way through. This time we have a foundation layed so I know we will get the job done.

in the real world....

We got a new shead today. It is made of wood and moderatly smaller than our old shead. It is also at the other side of the garden. That said it does have a lot less rot than our old one and as such I beleive it is a safer place to protect our rusty tools and neglected bicycles. 

Also the day I get my Graphics tablet draws ever near. I dont want my hopes to raise for fear of dissapointment but it could be tomorrow... on the other hand it could be monday... monday would be worse but as long as it gets here. As soon as I get it configured to the gimp I am going to start doing Gemini concept work, possibly painting sprites, and making a tile set. I can also use it in inkscape If I choose to keep the vector sprites that took SO long to make... A graphical style I would like to use is that used in the concept art for Street Fighter. That would be awesome.

untill my next blog

Gemini revived!

So I started working on Gemini again last night. For the moment I am going to say the project is revived. I actually enjoy working on it, I just find it hard to get motivated enough to get back to it when I take a break

I added a new character, a new location and defined one of the key characters that I had been skimming over. I now have the first act scripted, well keyed. I need to write the dialogue and all that but for the better part I have the overarching story for the first section complete. I also have the start and end points of the middle act which is more game based than story based anyway but I need to fill it in to get it right.

The concluding act I have an idea of in my head but I'm not sure how things will pan out yet. I'ts a wait and see type of moment

Embeding videos!

So I'm officialy blind, I couldnt figure out how to embed videos from youtube and I was trying for about half an hour yesterday so I could post this Dead Space trailer. Well now I have it... I'm an idiot but Dead Space looks cool so It's ok... sort of.

It shipped!!

So My tablet finaly shipped! After a bit of trouble with the address (there always seems to be a bit of trouble!) it is in the post and on it's way to my doorstep. It could be here as early as Friday or as late as monday. I can't wait to begin drawing and painting with my new toy!

I was playing MGS again today and I really have to get on finishing all my current games. The problem is my dad is home at the moment and while he is arround I cant play games in place of sleep and exercise. He likes me to do work!

I think I will use the tablet to make a tileset and begin putting together the contents for my RPG. It may still come to fruition. if it does however it will probably be with the old 2d style characters, 3d is a bit too much of a chore at the moment. I would still like to have a fully pre-rendered FMV opening and closing as well as my styalised opening story. I'm thinking pre-menu FMV, styalised opening, Key moment FMVs and ending FMV. no more than about 20 min in total.

I'm going to have a look at my wall now and add a few little things to it. This RPG will be a good opertunity for me to get used to using the tablet. I only hope I manage to apply myself.

Wacom Bambo Fun

I Just ordered my graphics tablet. I know I just posted but I finaly ordered my tablet so I had to mention it and it didn't fit into the last post.

It cost me €164.49 and could be here as early as Friday. It is the medium size (the largest available size...) and is about A4 in drawing area. I cant wait to get it and hope I will learn how to use it well. I am a decent skecher and have practice drawing in GIMP when creating concept art. Combining the two should produce some nice results!

In theory I should be able to use it when sculpting (and possibly modeling) in Blender as well as using it to create vector art in Inkscape. I am looking forward to seeing how I can apply it.

I also just re-discovered my love of the classic megadrive title, GoldenAxe. I downloaded the Rom and had a quick play. I'm as bad as ever but I loved it. Oh, and I'm alowed download the rom as I own a copy of the game and the console I just didn't feal like going up into the attic, hunting for the two, bringing them down, setting up the console and then playing it. That said moraly I am oposed to pirating software but am for "pirating" games that are no longer available through the usual channels. There are times it is the only way to experiance classics.

Finaly Ali won the biggest loser and I was happy. Watching the show has inspired me to try to get into shape once again. I still go to the park on nice days but I am starting to do a bit of strength training aswell and will swim when I go back to college in october.

PS3 games courtasy of IGN

Thanks to IGN here is a list of most of the upcomming games for PS3 and I added a little bit about what I think of them.

BioShock
Developer: 2K Marin
Publisher: 2K Games
Release Date: October 21st
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Rorki says: It is criticaly aclaimed and credited as being both terrifying and brilliant. I am interested but it is probably a rental.

 

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: September 23rd
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Rorki says: I dont play these identikit war FPS games, colour me un-interested

 

Call of Duty: World at War
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 11th
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Rorki says: See above, and to think they re-invented themselves with huge critical and comercial success... 

Dead Space
Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: October 14th
Genre: Third-Person Action Adventure

Rorki says: I will be buing this game. The animated comics got me intrigued and when a friend showed me gameplay and explained some of the features I fell in love. 

 

Fallout 3
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Release Date: October 28th
Genre: RPG

Rorki says: It looks like a good game but not what I usualy play. Since Final Fantasy VII is holding my attention so well it might get a look in but it's not guarenteed

 

Far Cry 2
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: October 21st
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Rorki says: Far Cry had many re-releases, I bought none of them. I won't be buying this

 

Guitar Hero World Tour
Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: October 26th
Genre: Music

Rorki says: They are fun to play but I only play these games at friend's houses

 

James Bond 007 in Quantum of Solace
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 4th
Genre: Action

Rorki says: A Bond game that didn't suck...? ok, since GoldenEye

 

LEGO Batman: The Videogame
Developer: Traveller's Tales
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Release Date: September 23rd
Genre: Action

Rorki says: I like the lego games but they are too short and too easy. I will play the demo and decide wether or not to complete on rental

 

LittleBigPlanet
Developer: Media Molecule
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: October 21st
Genre: Platformer

Rorki says: YES YES YES!! This game has delighted me since it's anouncement. I want bad!

 

Mega Man 9
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: September 25th
Genre: Action

Rorki says: Never been into Mega Man but am a huge supporter of the Retro Revial (with new games of cource) I may buy this just in support of the cause

 

Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Developer: Rockstar San Diego
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Release Date: October 21st
Genre: Racing

Rorki says: Aheh... no.

 

Mirror's Edge
Developer: DICE Sweden
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: November 11th
Genre: First-Person Action Adventure

Rorki says: Intriguing game with great visual style. I will play it, I may buy it

 

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Developer: Midway
Publisher: Midway
Release Date: November 10th
Genre: Fighting

Rorki says: Mortal Kombat without the gore. All the batman in the world cant make that right

 

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
Developer: Evolution Studios
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: October 28th
Genre: Racing

Rorki says: Not a racing game fan, that said I do still load up the MoterStorm 1 demo. Probably wont buy

 

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm
Developer: CyberConnect 2
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Release Date: November 4th
Genre: Fighting

Rorki says: Visualy stunning... but I never watched this anime and the combat is too full of gimics 

 

NBA '09: The Inside
Developer: SCE Studios San Diego
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: October 7th
Genre: Sports

Rorki says: My friends love this series. I play it sometimes at their houses. Still, Not going to buy it.

 

NBA 2K9
Developer: Visual Concepts
Publisher: 2K Sports
Release Date: October 7th
Genre: Sports

Rorki says: No

 

Prince of Persia
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: November 18th
Genre: Platformer

Rorki says: Great art direction. If only they didn't have that blue woman following you and saving you from nasty falls. A bit of hardcore platforming with the prince and this beautiful visual style I want. Hard Core this is not. I will finish it on rental

 

Resistance 2
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: November 4th
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Rorki says: R:FOM was my first PS3 game. I love it. It is in my PS3 right now. Single player, great. Online multi, Great. 2player ofline coop, great. This has all that, bigger and better with a separeate 8player online campain aswell. Sold!

 

Rock Band 2
Developer: Harmonix Music Systems
Publisher: MTV Games
Release Date: October 19th
Genre: Music

Rorki says: Guitar Hero my friends have, Rock Band they want. I want neither but won't object to trying out a song or two

 

Saints Row 2
Developer: Volition
Publisher: THQ
Release Date: October 14th
Genre: Action

Rorki says: Another resounding no.

 

Shaun White Snowboarding
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: November 16th
Genre: Extreme Sports

Rorki says: SnowBoarding is a fun minigame to throw into a bigger game. Ape Escape, Final Fantasy VII and many others have proven this. I have as much fun with the minigame as with these games. Coupled with having WiiFit's skiing minigame and Go!Ski available on PS3 for €10 this doesent make sense.

 

Silent Hill: Homecoming
Developer: The Collective
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: September 30th
Genre: Adventure

Rorki says: I love Silent Hill. I prefer SH2. I enjoyed the latest PSP relese a lot. This one has checkpoints. This one has no grain filter. This one doesent look like Silent Hill to me. I want it to be good. I want to buy it but will prob rent it. Siren: Blood Curse I know is good. That I will buy... on BD if it ever lands

 

SingStar Vol. 2
Developer: SCE Studios London
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: October 28th
Genre: Music

Rorki says: I would concider this. Maby. I cant sing but SS is great at a party and with the SingStore it means I can get a lot of songs I know and like. Still i probably wont as I cant afford it just to mess around.

 

SOCOM: Confrontation
Developer: Slant Six Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: October 14th
Genre: Online Shooter

Rorki says: The game that defined online on the PS2. I didnt buy onine for my PS2. This game just dosent intrest.

 

Sonic Unleashed
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: SEGA
Release Date: November 18th
Genre: Action

Rorki says: Why do you taunt us so? You show footage of classic Sonic speeding along. Sonic fans rejoyce. Then you show us the "werehog". Slow brawling streachy-armed gameplay at night. It mars the beautiful game you showed us. Why, when It was going so well. All that needs to be done to revive sonic is to do a 2.5D game that plays like the Megadrive/Genisis games but looks like this. instead you give us the WereHog. Fail. I will rent it for the fun Sonic bits though...

 

Valkyria Chronicles
Developer: SEGA
Publisher: SEGA
Release Date: November 11th
Genre: Action RPG

Rorki says: How nice that they make games for people besides me.

 

WipEout HD
Developer: SCE Studio Liverpool
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: September 25th
Genre: Racing

Rorki says: Pretty! Oh so pretty! A friend and I were watching the trailer and I slowed it down to 50% so we could admire the graphics. After a while we were like this game is so fast. Then we realised it was still in slo-mo. Pretty and Fast. Want.

 

WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009
Developer: Yuke's Media Creations
Publisher: THQ
Release Date: November 9th
Genre: Wrestling

Rorki says: I always loved making characters on my friends copy. It has a versatile person maker. still, you can get character editors for free on the net and I have been making 3D models for years. I dont play the actual game so I have no interest in this

I shouldnt care but...

Tomb Raider is a cruel love of mine. I have never gotten the same experiance from TR1 from any other game. Uncharted: Drake's fortune came close. The fealing of adventure was there but the fluidity of combat and sense of exploration didn't measure up. Nor did the feeling of confidence that you had with leaps of faith in the old games thanks to the grid based system.

I loved every TR title on the PS1. I played them all to death. Then the Angel of Darkness came out on PS2. The controls were changed. The grid was gone. I wasn't happy.

Strangely I look back on AOD with fonder eyes than I used to play it. It is by no means a good game. Nor is it a TR game. That said, it had decent length and was closer to being a TR game than the next game in question, Legend.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend decided to keep the naming system used by the now ousted Core Design (the origional dev was replaced by Crystal Dynamics). This should have been my first sign. AOD's story was long winded and over the top. If the game play was better it could have worked though. What the two games have most in common is a desire to focus on Lara rather than the tombs.

It's all in a name. "Lara Croft Tomb Raider" as oposed to "Tomb Raider featuring Lara Croft". The tombs had precidence before the character out grew them.

Legend was a bad game. It was short, buggy, easy and most of all, It wasn't Tomb Raider. Even on hard mode a decent gamer can finish the game in about 2 hours. The game has decided to keep the 2D type controls of AOD but loosen them up a bit so as to make the game more "fluid". Instead they made them slippy and sloppy.

In the origional games the "clunky" controls gave you precise control over how you moved and with practice you could pull off complicated manovers that required skill and dexterity. In Legend there is always the element of chance that the camera will decide to swing around, changing what up on the analogue stick means and causing you to plummet off a cliff. I died a lot in the old games but at least then it was my fault.

Legend was a critical success. A "return to form" for Lady Croft. Alas the core gameplay that created the legendary adventurer was left by the wayside. Because of the Lara fans far outnumbering the TR fans the game went on to spawn a remake, no, a "Re-Invisioning" of the 1996 title that started it all. All the "key moments" were there. What wasnt there was the bulk of the tombs, (some levels like the Cistern were condensed into a single room. It wasn't even concidered a level in "Anniversary"), The exploration, the origional character that delighted fans.

These "unimportant" features were replaced with the dodgy controls of legend (with more bugs!) A plethora of check points (some of which were looping as in the Midas level), Arena boss battles  and of cource the "new and improved" Lara Croft.

Allow me to explain what I mean by this. In the origional game Lara was tough. She was a mysterious character who displayed small snippets of her personality in the short, action packed cutscenes. She was a strong and independant character. In the re-invisioning she was softer, more afraid and less intriguing. The story is altered and expanded changing beyond recongition the classic character. What we are left with is a warbaling character who bursts into tears after gunning down one of her assailants. Why? This is not explained. All we know is that the Lara that set the world on fire, inspired girls to become stronger and taught boys that women can be heros while retaining their femininity is not present in this game. We are instead left with a stumbeling mess who wouldn't have made a dent in the gaming industry if she hadnt the 7 other console games, 2 movies, comic book series, books, and hand heald games behind her to hold her up.

I should be content with the still vibrant TRLE community that to this day releases several levels a week using the Tomb Raider 4 engine. But I want a title that I can buy. I want to feel like respect for the classics still lives on. I want to play a full, official Tomb Raider game.

This brings me back to the origional point of the post, Tomb Raider Underworld.

That is it's name. Tomb Raider. Not Lara Croft Tomb Raider, just Tomb Raider! It could be a return to what a community that still uses a game engine for a game released in 1999 wants. A revival of the grid, or at least the true exploration. Now the trailers for the game do little to comfort me in my hopes but a part of me cant help thinking this time, after moving on from a PS2 era of atrocious games that this time the new Tomb Raider game could be good.

So it's been a while...

Havn't bloged in a while due to real world busyness. (Havnt any more progress on the game either. Hope it gets done!) the main reason is that I have been going out more than I should and when I'm at home I am honing my GIMP skills. (I have fallen in love with photomanipulation again)

I suppose tomorrow I will try to get some progress made on the RPG.  I may end up having to gimp the origional vision because of time constraints and general lack luster feelings towards it. I like the story (what I've done so far) and the character progression. I still have the "wall" up aswell and all my little character sheets. I may end up using a simplified battle system becuase it is the most difficult coding in the game. it would be a shame though as it is also the core gameplay.

I want to start making tutorials for youtube on blender and GIMP and how to ust the two (maby inkscape too) to create videos, images and even games.

I guess I should upload one of my latest pictures to stop this blog being a total waste of time so I'll go pick one... Here we go, this is a test of playing with colour balance and also an attempt at enhancing eyes in GIMP. they look a bit fake but are quite good I think. 

Dramatic Composite

So there is admitadly little progress on the game (I blame the flu...), but I did put together another image. I was watching a video on youtube about emo and scene kid makeovers in photoshop. I decided to load up the gimp and give it a shot. After a bit of fun I decided to take it a bit further and make some real art.

I ended up going a bit Andy Warhol on the photo. I watched factory girl last night, must be the reason. Anyway, It is a nice shot that has quite a bit of drama in it and I am proud as always. The central photo is the origional colours and the surrounding are different hues. 

Anyway, here is another self portrait:

"Drama"

Hair is hard to render

So I have been doing some test renders in advance of the FMVs for Gemini and I have to say that despite all the time it took me it has payed off. I have finally managed to get blender's hair system to give me realistic results. the secret was sub surface scattering, something I had never tried to touch before now.

Not only that but styling the hair proved more difficult than originally anticipated. that said I finally have it down and It looks great. I am putting together a video to show what the game and movies will look like but it is a bit away yet. I still need to get a good, rigged human model. I might make my own or just rig the makehuman model but I would like something a little lower poly. all this rendering will kill my computer dead!

Lip synching is going to give a bit of trouble as well. the models exported by the software I'm using doesn't leave space for movement data. only a few characters will be speaking in the FMVs so I can rig them for speach manualy with no bother.


I'll post the test video when I get the chance, until then, happy blending

Goodbye cruel world... well not really

Oh noes! its teh endof da wrld!!1!


Today an experiment will take place in the LHC. It is a large hadron collider (I know its juvenile but its one letter swap from being hilariously innuendo filled... fine I'll say it, Large Hardon Collider, HaHa)...

Ok I'll try that again. It is a hadron collider, similar to smaller ones in the same general area. The experiment is basically a repeat of one that has been repeated a thousands times before only on smaller scales. In other words I am not getting into the bunker just yet...

Not much else going on, I was unconscious for about the last 7 hours so not much news yet. just wanted to get one last blog before I get sucked into a black hole.

See you on the other side

The wall is a wall, pre-rendered cutscenes and 3d me!

I have finaly begun the arduous process of compiling the story of Gemini for scripting. I have post-its on my wall. I have to say the process is quite fun to do once you get started. Crank up the volume on a youtube playlist, grab a drink and start writing and sticking. It even helped me come up with some great new characters and a cool baddie. I have noticed that even the wall is limited in space so I may end up building the story in the 3 acts seperatly. (you have to have heard of 3 act story structure in english class...)

I have also decided to consider possibly making 3D prerendered cutscenes for the intro and ending. I am already decided on doing a styalised opening cinematic but I may wind up creating a cool "realistic" video opening with nice looking characters.

The final thing I want to mention is the FREE face generating software I discovered today. It lets you easily make a 3d head model that looks kindof like a pair of source photos. The only problem is that I have been having trouble getting blender's hair system to work on them. If I can I will use it to render cutscenes and possible the in game sprites... and I went to all that trouble on the vector sprites...

Sticky notes... billions of them...

So I am still looking at my sticky notes, blank and yellow like wafers of butter... (was that supposed to be poetic? lets just let it slide)

The problem is that it's half past one in the morning and I am in the mood for working on the story but I know that if I start I wont stop before five and then I'll sleep all day tomorrow. I might start filling in some baddie sheets for my fix but I wanted to leave that until I had them on the wall so I could fit them in with the map and story well... gah life is complicated!!

I still haven't decided weather or not to make different character sprites for the battles or just up-scale (and add a few frames) to the map sprites. Given the upload limit I don't want to include too many pictures. I also tried out this cool pre-rendered logo intro idea I had for the game but when I converted to logo to polygons blender's fluid simulator refused to bake the settings... didn't crash, didn't bring up a message, just refused... stupid brilliant blender :S

Anyway, tomorrow is another day... well not really as its after midnight but you get my drift... so tonight I sleep for in the morning I have a wall to populate.

Still planning and a creepy portrait

So I have a pack of sticky notes and I am going to use them to sort out the main story events. The basic idea is that they can be moved, replaced and seen easily and clearly. I wonder if there is a 3d version... I also adjusted the colours in the sprite and decided that when I have the spritesheets done I am going to do some batch processing in GIMP so I can alter the atmosphere of the game a bit making it slightly more gothic. It will also make the sprites more coheasive.

I was sick (flu!) and feeling creative today so I decided to make a picture. It turned out rather creepy and kind of scary but I think it conveys the message I was trying to put accross. Despite morbidity I am proud of my picture.... though it is very morbid!

"The world was here"

Template finished, lots of rules

So I have finaly finished working on the template for the RPG I am working on. Boy it took ages,  and I was only tracing someone's pixel art template to get a nice vector one! I think it is quite good and am very proud of it. After I have filled in a few more of my character sheets I will start vector spriting my characters.

The sprite to the left is an example of what a character may look like. It is my first attempt at drawing the lead character. His likeness will probably change quite a bit but this should give a gist of the style of graphics I am going for.

I finaly got round to reading the rules and boy are there a lot of them! Many of them I would expect but I was suprised to learn that I would have to include a splash screen at the start of the game (and they are strict about its presentation, very!). Not only that but there is a file size limit. Not overly suprising and It realy just presents a bit more of a self limiting challenge but I hadn't even concidered it. It looks like some of the fancyer looking sections I have been planning are out. The limit is moderate, 50MB, not tiny but not cutscene and audio friendly. I was planing to include some of my "dream scenes" set to songs that I love and that have inspired me over the years to make games/ other art but now it would be a true challenge to fit them in. Hopefully I will get to keep a couple of them. 

Well I have a lot of planning left to do. I cant start map design untill I have the story cemented so I will begin on cementing tomorrow. I also need my list of items, attacks, baddies and party members so I can finish designing the battle system.