software.dev

This links been going around a lot recently, but I wanted to throw it out there again: wiicade.com. Basically, the idea behind the site is that since the Nintendo Wii’s Opera Browser (which we’re STILL waiting for) can supposedly do Flash, it should be possible to make Flash-based games specifically for the Wii. How would these differ from other games? Considering the Wii’s controller, it would make sense to have ‘pointer’ style games, and not to use any keyboard inputs. Even though it won’t be possible to use the controller to its full capacity, I’m still very excited about the prospect of ‘Wii development’.

It’s made me wonder… why don’t any companies ever release even very basic tools that would allow developers to create content on the system? Can you imagine what creative developers might come up, given full access to the capabilities of the Wiimote? I suspect the reason it’s never been done is that if the free software is too good, no one will pay for the actual games; nevertheless, hopefully we’ll see a more open system in the future.

Meanwhile, I’ll be playing Twilight Princess while I wait for the Opera channel to come out and I can get to developing.

Been awhile since I’ve written, but I have certainly not been idle! This past weekend I read up on ActionScript classes, and have sort of gotten the hang of how they work out. I made a Missile Command style game without using classes, where each object had its own ActionScript (without a specific .as file; it was written write into the object). While this was certainly easy, and apparently, some people work like this, I did not really like it at all. I think this approach might be more intuitive to someone with less of a programming background but for me, I much prefer to separate out the ActionScript from the Movie Clips.

There are two things I really like about Flash for game development. Firstly, it’s really easy to get into. There aren’t dozens of lines to get a blank window on the screen, I don’t need to write routines to load graphics, playing a sound is simple, etc… Basically, Flash abstracts all the boring stuff, and lets you get into the actual ‘game’ part very quickly. Secondly, it’s very easy to distribute your game. Getting people to download a .exe can be difficult; getting people to view your game on a popular Flash game site is really easy. Certainly, Flash is less appropriate for ‘epic’ games, but I think it’s superb for quick, fun games.

Right I’m currently working on what I call a ‘Swarm Game’. Think those games where you’re in the middle of the screen, and progressively powerful enemies continue to attack you in greater numbers until you’re swarmed to death. That’s basically what I’m making. You are controlling a turret in the middle of the screen and can swivel your gun to fire at incoming enemies. The game starts out pretty slow, and quickly picks up. Of course, I love power-ups, so there will be a multitude of power-ups (the usual suspects: rapid fire, score multipliers, limited invulnerability, etc …) as well as several different types of weapons. I hope to have a demo, at the very least, up in a week or so.

Until then..!

A few days ago on Digg, I saw another Flash game that inspired me to try one myself.  It wasn’t super impressive, yet it had a certain fun quality that attracted me to it.  I’m talking about the ‘Gladiator’ Flash game that you can try here:

 http://www.gamefudge.com/Swords-and-Sandals

I decided I was going to make a similar game, though I’m more of a fan of ‘magical’ games, so I opted to have dueling wizards as the central theme of my game.  The game ‘flow’ in my game (if it goes as planned) will be very similar.  Basically, you’ll fight a series of battles, winning gold and experience if you win, that will give you access to new weapons, armor, spells, etc…  I’m a sucker for games with items and power-ups.

The kicker is that you will cast spells using a ‘Lost Magic’ interface; that is, while you’re running around with the WASD keys trying to blast the other wizard, you can hit Shift  to bring up a ‘casting rune’ where you trace out the shape of the spell you want to cast.  If you’re successful, the spell is ‘activated’ and clicking the mouse button will fire the spell.  Currently, I have about 20-30 spells planned, spread out across six schools of magic: fire, arcane, temporal (space/time related), disruption (kind of a twist; spells that burn mana, reflect spells, etc… ), light, and shadow.  The magic is laid out in a ‘tech-tree’ of sorts, so some spells have prerequisites.  It should be pretty cool once it’s done (assuming I finish )

I’ll post some pictures soon because right now, it’s pretty hard to describe the gestures used for the spells in the game so far (there are 3).  You can see what it looks like currently, at any time, at http://www.ericfarraro.com/flash.  It’s a WIP, obviously.  WASD is movement, and you can see the ‘casting rune’ by hitting Shift.

Check back soon for screenshots and more instructions!

Now the fun part — deciding what type of game to make   I’ve been doing some thinking about what kinds of games I’d like to see [more of] and here’s what I came up with:

- RPG styled like Megaman: Battle Network.  I didn’t really like the feel of MM:BN, but I think it has a lot of potential.  It takes a little more twitch skill than, say, an FF style RPG.  I also absolutely love the idea of ‘cards’.  I never played any TCG seriously because they’re too expensive, but I like the idea of customizing a ‘deck’ and drawing abilities from that deck in battle.  There was a pretty cool Gamecube game like this.

- ‘Reactive RPG’, ala Mario RPG.  Again for similar reasons as above.  I like the idea of using a little twitch skill every now and then to increase / avoid damage.

- I recently played a cool little Flash game called ‘Nevermore’, which apparently, is like Hapland (I didn’t really think so, but they both have cool art styles).  In any case, Nevermore is basically a ‘puzzle platformer’.  It has a kind of mysterious, surreal feel to it that I kind of like, almost like Myst.  I’d like to see a game like Nevermore, but longer, and with more point and click interactions instead of straight platform jumping.

- A turn-based strategy game where, when units meet, they are controlled in a real-time battle.  You probably notice a trend here.  There was a game like this on PS called ‘Unholy Wars’; it was a turn-base strategy game with a really simple resource model, and maybe… 8-10 different units with different abilities.  You could attack adjacent units, entering a battlefield where each player controlled their unit, and had four different abilities to attack with.  This was presented in a third person view.

- Stylus (mouse drawing) game.  The Wii and NDS have really got me thinking about ‘drawing’ games.  It’s certainly not as fun to draw with a mouse, but I think there is a lot of untapped potential here.  More on this later.

- Puzzle platformer, centered on a mage-like character.  Possible ‘color’ theme, or more specifically, ‘ elemental’ magic.  Maybe you could pick the type of mage you wanted, or would have to use several types of mages to solve puzzles… not sure yet.

- Generic Flash ’survival’ game.  I like the idea of a mage character here as well… learn spells, get gold, buy defenses, keep playing until dead.  I’d like to see a game like this with a bit more strategic depth than is normally themed… more options.

- Fantasy-themed Worms game… specifically with base-building.  One of my favorite ‘house-rules’ ways to play Worms was to set the amount of girders allowed to infinite, with which my friend and I would build huge fortresses and put our Worms inside before we started the match.  We also built ’sky bases’ (girders in the air in the shape of say, an airship) and boats (girders in the water); the other person had to siege the base.  I think a game that actually included a mode like this would be a ton of fun to play.

- Some other union of genres that doesn’t really fit.  I played a side-scrolling RTS awhile back (I forget the name, but it was kind of Steam-punkish).

I’ll continue this later, but I think I have an idea I might go with… currently thinking of a ‘Gladiator’ type game where you control a mage from a top-down view to blast opponents with magic.  Specifically, drawing runes on the screen ala Lost Magic, but hopefully implemented better.  Several schools of magic should make it interesting.  We’ll see!