Stumbled again (i love stumbling!!) over this article about the basics of using actionscript to create a RTS/Strategy type of flash game.
I find it especially intriguing ’cause the actionscript source itself pretty much is commented about at every line, so i’ve managed to pick up and apply my own needs with various areas of that chunk of code.
It’s great reference and/or base source material for anyone that’s also into Flash game development.
The all new title in the Need For Speed franchise. Shift.
Everyone knows the Need for Speed series has been plummeting downhill with it’s previous iterations. Players just didn’t want anymore flashy street racing, and the series has been getting hit hard by critics.
But with this new Need For Speed: Shift, it definitely looks like they’ve finally, turned corners with the franchise.
It’s getting great reviews from big hit game sites like Gamespot and Gametrailers.. “9.1 out of 10″. Something this series seriously been needing..
I’ve not had the chance to check this game out personally, but I’d really love to at least find a demo for it somewhere. The in-game videos and screenshots certainly are breathtaking and, refreshing. Today’s racing games certainly look spectacular…high-poly car models/textures, awesome game rendering engines..gorgeous.
Alot of hardcore fans of the Racing genre have been putting up comments about how Shift still can’t compare to other “pure-racing” games out on the market, namely the also-new Forza 3 and Gran Turismo for the consoles (Xbox/Playstation)..but….but…Shift does hold up strong and there’s critics that claim this title is better than the other named racers.
the newly released Playstion 3 Slim, by Sony, has done an impressive 150,000+ consoles sold within opening 3 days in the Japan market.
not sure how that stands up to what it was doing previously? before the new “Slim” models of the Playstation 3 was available, something like under 10,000 consoles were selling each week..on average.. compare that to the 150,000 in just-3-days.
Compare that, with XBOX 360 weekly sales..around the same “under 10,000″.
For the U.S Market, vendors have noted sales being boosted to something like +300% with the release of the PS3 Slim.
What else does this mean? More people at home now have a ps3. More developers will start to make and push games for this platform. The Playstation 3 is finally, getting it’s limelight. Xbox fanboys…don’t be too hard on yourselves
Article i found showing just how much people are getting involved and believing in the iPhone Game Application market.
Apple, company responsible for the infamous iPhone/ipodTouch, “revealed that 21,178 titles are currently available for download from the iTunes App Store.”
Comparing with other Portable Gaming Devices suchs as Playstation Portable, Nintendo DS (modern age Gameboy)…the iPhone has at a minimum, 5x more games available than those 2 platforms combined.
Playstation Portable “has 607 titles”(games) available, and the Nintendo DS “has 3680 titles” for consumers.
Awesome eh? Apple also notes the newer models of iPhones will boast stronger hardware, allowing games to run and look better on it..meaning the games are just gonna keep coming. more, more and more.
These numbers reflects our average society today. Shows us how much we’ve accepted Gaming into our lifestyles today…and shows us that Gaming, is here to stay. Gaming has become so much a part of our lives now, be it casual or hardcore-intense gaming…we all love games.
It also shows me just how much competition there is now…i’ve “missed the boat”, and piercing into this now-humongous mobile game market is gonna be dreadful tough.
been a good year at least, since the hype for Crytek’s “Crysis” game was fed & satisfied. With just one expansion so far that’s fully built on the CryEngine2 “Crysis: Warhead”….there’s still plenty more to see just what the engine can do.
or can we.
Crytek’s already demonstrated a newer CryEngine3, but bringing only a few “wows” and “ooohs”. Reason being it’s really nothing too new, CryEngine3 is just a tweaked up version of its predecessor so consoles, like the Xbox & Playstation, can too, have their version of this mouth-watering game engine. Does it hold up? Nah. The original CryEngine2 for the PC is still just as strong, if not, still the King of CryEngines. I still haven’t seen any studio push as hard as Crytek does to put art & visuals as high a priority as say gameplay, game design, or story. Sure, sounds like they decided not to skimp on any aspect of the game, but they do lose out on market size..and, that, does, not, matter. ;D
Enjoy the video. This is what makes me proud to be a Game artist. Unreal Engine 3 still needs work, if i have to decide anything.
news around about Disney, Walt Disney, yes yes, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Disney, buying out Marvel! Marvel is the group with the famous Spiderman & X-Men series..including Fantastic Four and the Hulk and other classic child Superhero favorites.
Disney is said to be buying over Marvel in a $4billion(USD) deal..and there’s alotta comments already regarding the future of what a Disneyland-Marvelled will be. It’s a really significant and interesting “merger”. Marvel is more targeted to grown-ups, while Disney seems to be targeted to lil’ kids. So yes, the combinations of a “SuperHero Team” in the future appears to be confuzzling. “Mickey Mouse tag-teams with The Hulk to rescue Daisy Duck from the evil clutches of Venom!”
Fat Princess, a multiplayer game developed by Titan Studios, finally launched. I’ve personally been keeping an eye out for this title, and wow, it’s definitely held up to my expectations. Take a look at the video comments of this on gametrailers.com, pretty much the highest number of “i want to buy this game” comments i’ve ever seen.
This game is targeted for both casual & hardcore gamers. It’s built to be very “user friendly” so anyone can just pick up the game/controller and jump straight into the mayhem. The concept of the game is as simple as you can get, rescue your princess. You play as Red or Blue team, and battle the opposing team to get your princess.
However, the depth of the game stretches with the introduction of 5 different playable classes. It’s the standard roles you will find in any and every multiplayer game around. You have the warrior class(melee attacks), archer class(ranged attacks), mage class(magic spell attacks), priest class(healing/supportive role), and lastly the worker class(collect resources to aid your team’s overall strength). Upon choosing what role you wish to play, you’re dropped straight into battle royale…and depending on the level, it could be anything from the typical “team deathmatch” (kill all opponents), “capture the flag” (in this case your flag’s your princess), “point-control” (sieze and hold various strategic points around the level for the longest possible time). The battles can get up to 32-player huge, meaning 31(+1 you) other people around the world will be able to play together with you online..giant battles! (not to mention long battles too hehe)
What’s cool is that you can even switch roles out on the battle field. Say you’re a warrior(melee) and you’re having a hard time “doing your thing”, if you see an archer(ranged) [Hat] on the ground, pick it up at will and you’ve switched to that class. This will have significant impacts on strategies teams employ…what may be working right now might just flip for the worse! So be prepared, think and act fast
The other twist to this “simple” game design is the fact that you can feeeeeed yourrr princesss Cake! More cake, she gets heavier! Heavier, your opponents will have a harder time rescuing her! They will move slower back to their fort the bigger the princess is..
The art style for the game is my perfect cup of tea too! I digg the cartoony look, vibrant colors, stumpy characters. The level design too is amazing…clearly there’s many heavy choke points, bringing out the biggest clashes between the teams Everything comes together beautifully.
If i ever had the chance, this would have absolutely been one title i would be thrilled to work on. Every aspect of the game appeals to the type and style of work i’ve grown to love.
Check out the Developer Diary videos too! They’re a great peek into what kind of minds we need to bring forth a game like this one
Oh yes, this game is available for only the Playstation 3, on PSN..unfortunately.
Wooo … yes, again a console development, this one for the Xbox systems..
This is Bennu, for the Xbox Live Arcade. (i think hehe)
but it looks like an interesting game design. Casual, yet still seeming to offer a good depth of gameplay..it says it’s unreleased yet, but it looks great so far for a ‘work in progress’ …
check out the gameplay videos, its really cool. I digg!
hummmm … the gift of programming… or shall i say .. the art of programming.
writing code, and giving pixels, life..animating them.
3d modeling/digital Art is a different field from coding/programming. It takes alot alot of dedication and skill to become a strong Technical Artist (i belive is the name crowned for digital artist that have strong programming skills simultaneously).
i’m certainly far from that. And at the present moment, i’m beginning to truely appreciate the people that do understand coding and know how to write code.
sure i can model, texture, and maybe rig, the cutest looking piglet.. but that piglet wont oink if there’s no commands given to it to make it oink.
i need programmers..or software engineers! friends that are interested in starting programming for a game development career, please drop me a note/email
this is not a ‘game studio recruitment’ … its a casual, indie development startup project. The terms of the project are still only in pencil & sketch book, i’m just looking for a team of interested artist. Yesh, this will be a fun process, the goal is to completely build a fully playable, online/multiplayer game, current design plans include porting this game onto the iphone (granted the tools i’ve found are indeed the correct tools for such a task).
Hmmmmm …. there doesnt seem to have been much “epic” game titles released for the PC in the past couple of months.. the recent big hits have mostly been just for the console side of the industry, which is a good thing too, finally the PS3 is getting some thing worthy to talk about.
Alot of the upcoming games that has my attention are all console-based, be it xbox, xbox live arcade, ps3, ps3 network, wii … where’s the PC family at? I’m not saying there hasn’t been any new games for the pc, but there’s very very few pc-exclusives lately.. oh well .. looking forward to hear more ’bout the new Blizzard games (you guys know which titles alrady).
Wow… the classics live on. Still can’t beat the simplistic designs of the good ol’ games.. like Donkey Kong & Arcade fighting games.
It wasn’t too long ago Street Fighter IV made it’s come back on the modern home consoles, bringing back many good memories to the fans (comments/writeups are all over google). Now there’s Donkey Kong coming for the Wii, and Marvel Vs Capcom 2, another great great classic arcade game. MVC2 will be out for Xbox and the PS3, and will feature online multiplayer just like Street Fighter IV did.
Lode Runner is kicking back into the scene as well! (seems to be Xbox-Only..ew) I remember playing that game when i was in the 4th grade… oh geez. This new modern Lode Runner is all up to speed with modern 3d visuals now (byebye sprites!), and from what i see in the videos, additional gameplay twists.. i guess it’s an attempt to keep it fresh.. but i’m so excited to see these classics still live on in us, and enough for some to bring them back for us
i was doing a little research on the Torque game engine, and i stumbled(again..i love stumbling!) on this really great write up about starting a MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) game. It’s not as easy as just “getting a team” and “producing the game”! There’s sooo much more to the ‘behind the scenes’ of running a successful MMO. But, is the effort and hard work worth it? In my perspective, heck yes. $$
For those interested in starting your own MMO in the near future (or working for)…i recommend reading this writeup
After reading that, and was reflecting and digesting the information, i’m actually proud to say i do, in some sense, already have the experience of running an MMO (is it “a MMO” or “an MMO”? lol)….having hosted, maintaining, troubleshooting, upgrading, and running my own game servers for Counter-Strike back in 2003-2006. Not to mention also having run forums & managing the forums for those game communities. So this beats having no clue about “the business”, and it’s a great starter boost for me wee!
———sidenote for today————
omgosh i got an email from an olldd friend. He’s started his own studio with his girlfriend (jeff has a girl haha!) and is going to be developing a new MMO, and he requested me to be Assistant Producer/Manager! He said he tracked me down via Google and found this site, and he claims that i have potential to fit the role he envisions, based on all the writeups i’ve done on my site (haha) and his past experience working along side me. I previously worked with him to develop a modification (Game Mod for Counter-Strike, back in 2002ish), and consequently helped manage that small community, providing technical support, game support, game server adminstration work, etc. He says the position unfortunately, has to be full time, and it’s in So-Cal…so i had to unwillingly turn it down for now.
Demigod finally released, for the PC, last week. Developed by the same people that brought us Supreme Commander, Gas Powered Games, and i guess published, by Stardock (same people that created WindowsBlinds? o-o).
Word about the game been around for over 2 years now, and this was one I had my hopes for. The creature designs and visuals are simply captivating. The towering oversized Rook character is so iconic for this game, i simply love it.
I’ve managed a demo version of the game, it’s really quite cool…but, like other ‘pro’ review sites have said, this game has something lacking that does not justify it to be a commercial title, found on the store shelves. The art and environments and presentation is spot on beautiful. The audio just amplifies the experience so much more. But as i’ve said in my other posts, good art does not make good games.
If you’ve played or heard of the superbly popular “Defence of the Ancients” (DoTA) from Warcraft III, then you pretty much already have the full concept of Demigod. In this game, you pick a demigod character, and you duke it out with other demigods in a Capture The Flag or Destroy your opponent’s HeadQuarters (Citadel). Your character levels up like a standard RPG format, increasing it’s stats and unlocking new skills at each level. The maximum level your demigod gets is to 20, and along with that a whole shelf of items you can purchase to further enhance your character for that battle. And on top of having your character’s growth, your HQ also gains experience points that the Team, can use to gain enhancements for the entire team’s strength/performance..like a giant blanket.
This game has been flooded with comments like “Dota rip-off” etc…and i agree. It’s pretty much a spruced up version of DoTA. My opinion is that the developers of Demigod saw the market potential for a game like Dota, and hence decided to create their version of Dota to make a buck of it. Not sure if that’s true, but it’s just too similar to Dota to think otherwise.
Demigod is alright…just not worthy enough to justify the pricetag put on it. If you do get your hands on it, it will nevertheless be addicting the moment you sit down and start a battle. The action and adrenaline flows instantly..and remains or maybe grows, even more as the battle goes on.
Great game concept & design (though it’s not very original), feels nicely balanced and polished. Visuals and art design is oh so stunning, audio is mesmerizing. I’d still say go check this title out.
Flash game Desktop Tower Defence(DTD), now averages millions of visitors a month. The flash game itself is nothing over-the-top fancy, rich visuals, that require intensive hours of hard work to develop or produce. All you need is a good game concept, that’s simple, elegant, and, most importantly, addictive and easy to catch on to. Oh, and even better, make it the most easily accessible as you can.
This single game alone, DTD, brings in, quote “4 figures” a month, for just being a website. The revenue comes from Advertisement campaigns on the site, and being such a popular website that gets 20 million visitors a month, it’s not hard to see where all the Ad money comes from.
This is so motivating for me, personally. I’ve gone through the full process of creating a Flash-based game from scratch already, and it’s playable on this site too. Yea, my creation’s amatuer, and really not that great..just .. a start.
But, i do already posses the skills and fundamental knowledge of Actionscript(Flash) that i will need the next round to create another game. A plus for me.
After reading that article (which, is now 2 years old, so who knows just how much BIGGER the revenue has gotten by now), i am now further motivated to sit my ass down, and polish up my Flash skills and create another game.
There’s thousaaands of flash-based game websites and thousands of other flash games, and not every one is successful overnight. This is just the way of the Gaming field. You try, fail, and improve. Just remember to be humble, and listen to any critiques or feedback you get about your project..it’s the best & fastest way to grow.
this is another game that examplifies just how much room there is left, to innovate the way we play our games today.
Here’s Fez, a very very simple looking game, that’s not key on “epic visuals” like Gears of War and Crysis, but still, very epic in it’s presentation and design. Fez combines the very classic days of gaming, side-scroll platforming, like Super Mario World, with a modern “3d game” system. At first it might take a while to get a hang of “seeing” into the game world, being such a rare and, new, way of playing a game. But after getting into the mechanics, this game brings out so much creativity in the design, its not easy to mock up a side-scroller that has to work when viewed from a different perspective. Gah i’m terrible at explaining it, but once you seeeee this, you’re gonna be Wowed yourself.
I love games like these, bringing new fresh concepts to our gaming world…a good break from just another ‘blockbuster epic game’…games like World of Goo, PixelJunk Eden, Mirror’s Edge..etc..it’s not always about a super high-res high-quality artful game. Good art/visuals don’t make good games, just the same as being good at a tool does not make you a good artist.
I’m not saying there hasn’t been any new games for the pc, but there’s very very few pc-exclusives lately.. oh well .. looking forward to hear more ’bout the new Blizzard games (you guys know which titles alrady).
