tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56387701751373649692024-02-20T14:14:03.111+01:00Game design : Pascal Luban's blogPascal Luban is a freelance creative director and game designer. He has worked on triple-A titles such as the multiplayer modes of both Splinter Cell - Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory, Wanted - Weapons Of Fate, the UT3-Ageia Extrem PhysX mod and Alone In The Dark - The New Nightmare.Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-19906318345624111022011-03-14T12:58:00.000+01:002011-03-14T12:58:45.946+01:00Being a freelance game designer - A look at the backstage (part 3)Hello all,<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In this last part of this post devoted to my latest publication in the February IGDA neweletter, I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I will summarize my recommendations for those of you who want to go freelance.</span><br />
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<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">First and foremost, always remember that you are not doing your game but your client's game. You have the right to propose and fight for your ideas but you also have the duty to execute your client's demands, even if you believe you have better idea!</span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span lang="EN-US">Think ethics. It is very important to build a reputation as a loyal and trustworthy partner, in particular d</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">on't kiss and tell (keep for yourself what you've seen or heard while working with a client), don't give names of client's employees to head hunters, at least as long as the person is still employed by your client and never say bad things about your client, even after a mission is completed.</span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Respect what you have promised to deliver: Budget, deadline, content, etc.. If for some reason you believe you won't be able to achieve something, inform your client as soon as you see the problem.</span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Be ready to work more than expected. Always remember that a client contracted you to bring a solution to a problem, not write a document or be in his office from 9 to 5. Work until it's done. It is only if the workload really get out of control that you should tell your client and renegotiate your contract.</span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Don't be arrogant with your client's development team. Making a game is difficult; making a good game is very difficult. Respect the work done by them, even if it's not perfect by your standards. I had my own failures, so I stay humble.</span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Respect the confidential agreement you have with your client to the letter. It happened several times that I had to stop myself from giving out information that my client's employees had already leaked!</span></li>
</ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;">Hope you found this serie of posts interesting and if you want to share your own experience, feel free to do so !</span><br />
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</span>Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-45962386161858093572011-03-06T10:39:00.000+01:002011-03-06T10:39:19.458+01:00Being a freelance game designer - A look at the backstage (part 2)Hello all,<br />
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In the second part of this post devoted to my latest publication in the February IGDA neweletter, I will summarize my recommendations if you are in a position to hire or work with a freelance game designer.<br />
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Actually, working with a contractor is not much different from working with an employee. A freelance is not less loyal and trustworthy. Actually, if a freelance wants to keep getting missions, he better keep a good reputation.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">If you're going to hire a freelance to work remotely, on a concept for instance, I would recommend the following:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt;"></div><ul><li>Give clear, detailed and exhaustive design constraints. Tell him or her what you are looking for and what you don't want to see. Actually designers work better with strong constraints.</li>
<li>Give time. Creative work cannot be planned and shoehorned into a rigid planning. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An outside designer can bring fresh ideas to your development team but if you don't give enough time, he will simply mimic what already exists.</li>
<li>Don't insist on him or her to being on-site. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had clients that contracted me to design game concepts but they wanted me to be on-site, all day. That was a waste of time because you cannot be creative 8 hours a day, sitting behind a computer. Actually, I am the most creative when I jog!</li>
<li>In the contract, state how the contractor will appear in the game credits and under what circumstances he can communicate on his work with you.</li>
<li>Following the previous points, put him or her in your game credits. Creative people hate not to be recognized for their contribution. If they believe they will not be credited for their work, they will keep their best ideas for themselves... or another client !</li>
<li>If your contractor is to work with your team remotely, to follow up how his or her design is implemented, organize a face to face meeting with your team. It will create stronger bonds between them.</li>
<li>Last, but not least, pay him or her well ! A freelance depends on his mission for his living. If you don't pay him decently, he'll probably shift his time to more lucrative jobs.</li>
</ul>In the last part of this post, I will summarize my recommendations for those of you who want to go freelance.Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-80016558132904269742011-03-06T10:26:00.000+01:002011-03-06T10:26:13.467+01:00Being a freelance game designer - A look at the backstage (part 1)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hello all,</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The IGDA Newsletter's editor asked me to write a paper on my peculiar status; I am a game designer and creative director but I work freelance, an unusual situation in our industry where those positions are not outsourced. This paper has been published in the February edition of the IGDA newsletter but to my non-IGDA readers, I will share in my blog the highlights of that publication.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">A question I often get is what type of company outsources one of the key positions in the development of a game to a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">freelance. in fact, different studio profiles have different needs:</span></span><br />
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<ul><li><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">To small studios, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">, I essentially bring expertise and manpower. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Thanks to my broad spectrum of experience, I can do almost anything related to the design of a game: The game concept, the full game and level design, the tuning, etc. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Since I'm flexible, I can adapt the number of days I commit every week to the financial resources and needs of my clients.</span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">To medium-size studios, </span>I bring manpower. They often ask me to join the team, either on a part-time of full-time basis. I usually work in their studio for six to eighteen month periods. I am embedded and treated like anybody else in the team (same hours, same LAN parties at lunch time, same bad coffee, etc.).</li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">To large studios or publishers, who have plenty of internal resources, I bring a specific know-how or blend of expertise. </span></li>
</ul><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Another question I get frequently is how I work with clients who can be located thousands of miles away. I'm based in Paris, France, but I've worked with companies as distant as the US or India.</span></span></span><br />
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<ul><li><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">For consulting or coaching missions, I either go on-site or I work remotely, depending on the client's requirement... and budget. Going on-site is usually mandatory for audit missions because the game build cannot leave the studio and needs frequent debugging </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">. Furthermore, face-to-face discussion with the development team is very important if they are to use my analysis or recommendations</span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">For full design assignments, I can work remotely if the game scope is reasonable. Mobile games, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><b>Facebook</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><b>iPhone</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><b>iPad</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><b>PSN</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"> or </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><b>XBLA</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"> titles fit that description. How is it possible ? It works when my client entrusts the entire design work to me, from concept to level design. This gives me complete control over the content of the game and makes it easier for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">me to propose a coherent design that I can follow up and that's achievable.</span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Lastly, for the clients that put me in with their team, I commute between my home and their studio. I stay on-site for a few days a week and work the rest of the week from my office, in Paris.</span></li>
</ul><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In my next posts, I will give my recommendations to studio managers interested in outsourcing some of their design work </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">and I will conclude with some tips to those of you who consider going freelance.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-34844775129431916952011-02-03T13:14:00.000+01:002011-02-03T13:14:51.425+01:00The 3DS - Great 3D but what about Its potential for novel gameplays ?Hello all,<br />
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I had the opportunity to experiment the new Nintendo 3DS and I must admit I am impressed.<br />
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<ul><li>First, the 3D effect, with NO special glasses, is amazing. Most of the games I played offered a true depth of field. And when you turn off the 3D rendering, you really miss the benefit of the 3D.</li>
<li>Second, the machine is powerful enough. I played <b>Resident Evil 5</b> and it looks as good as the home console version.</li>
<li>Third, Nintendo is offering a very interesting feature that fits very well with current design trends, the StreetPass.When this feature is on, your 3DS will exchange data with any nearby 3DS.</li>
<li>Fourth, you can take good quality 3D pictures and once you have tasted 3D, it's hard to get back !</li>
</ul><br />
I predict a very nice commercial success for this machine but this blog is devoted to game design issues. So will it have an impact on the design of games as deep as the DS or the Wii had ? Here is my analysis:<br />
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3D makes games more immersive but I don't see new gameplays emerging from it. We'll probably see a few games whose gameplay takes some advantage of the extra depth of field but those will be highly specialized, puzzle-like, applications.<br />
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On the contrary, the StreetPass feature offers much more potential for novel gameplays. Why ? The success of Free-to-Play games largely relies on the player's interactions with his friends. In particular, F2P games give the players the tools to do two things he could not well before: Sharing and expressing himself, a.k.a showing off. The new 3DS feature expand that. You'll be now able to interact with total strangers nnd the fun will come from the surprise of what you get from them.<br />
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The 3DS will probably not impact game design the way its predecesors have done but it is a great machine built for success and I wish it good luck.<br />
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As usual, feel free to comment on my latest post. I'll do my best to answer all your comments.Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-81883257083274114712010-11-25T10:27:00.000+01:002010-11-25T10:27:18.586+01:00Will Kinect take us beyond casual gaming ?Kinect has just been launched along about 20 games. Nearly all of them are targeting the casual or the fitness market. There is only one title, <b>Fighters Uncaged</b>, that is targeting at a more gamer public. So, what future do we see for Kinect ? Will it remain a peripheral devoted to casual applications or will it attract mainstream gamers as well ?<br />
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In my opinion, it will be the case.Why ? Kinect forces us to design from a blank page. We cannot simply adapt existing game mechanisms to a Kinect game because the control method is radically different. As a result, I expect entirely new game concepts to emerge. That is what happened with the DS, the Wii and the iPhone. The apparition on those platforms of new control mechanisms led to new game concepts with the success we know.<br />
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Kinect offers also a new gameplay dimension to explore: The physical abilities of the players. We all have different ways to execute a given movement, depending on the speed, trajectory and amplitude we give them. There is room for design innovations and the development of new players experiences.<br />
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Last, but not least, Kinect also features vocal command. By combining motion and vocal commands, new gameplays will emerge for sure. Maybe Kinect is the key to develop strategy games on consoles ?<br />
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A last word, I had the chance to work as lead game designer on <b>Fighters Uncaged</b>, the first combat game for Kinect. We did a lot of playtest with all sort of players, casual, mainstream, even hardcore gamers and non-gamers. Nearly all of them enjoyed the game. Why ? Because it offered them a new experience. Players exhausted themselves and they enjoyed that because they were doing gratifying actions; we offered them the experience of being martial arts champions.<br />
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Designing for Kinect requires an open mind and the will to explore new paths. Games for Kinect WILL be different from what we are used to.<br />
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Let's open the debate. What future do you see for Kinect ?Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-11327354185886081452010-10-08T18:23:00.000+02:002010-10-08T18:23:06.029+02:001378 - A game among others or a preview of what gaming can bring to the society ?My attention has been caught by the controversy surrounding this upcoming title.<br />
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1378 is about the Berlin Wall (1378 refers to its length in kms). In that game you can either play as a candidate to exile, attempting to cross the wall at the peril of your life, or a border guard whose objective is the opposite: Preventing refugees from fleeing, even if it means shooting at them. The game shocked some people in Germany for two reasons:<br />
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- 200 people were killed while attemting to flee East Germany, German folks were shot by other Germans. Making a game on such a painful event is seen, by certain people, as immoral.<br />
- Letting a gamer shoot at innocent and unharmed people is seen by others as flattering the basest of human instincts.<br />
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Are there good reasons for people to feel offended ?<br />
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On the first count, I say no. Nobody feels offended by movies or books talking about painful historical events. Why would a game desserve a different treatment ?<br />
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On the second count, possibly. However, in my opinion, it all depends on the way the game is designed. If you play a guard and end up feeling disgusted by what you have to do, then the game will have become a new way to develop our civic values, a tool to show people how easy it is for a political regim to ask his own citizens to do non-ethical things. A video game would have contributed to our societes by making us better-informed citizens.<br />
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I have not played the game yet but I am curious to see how it will play. It is scheduled to be released in December.Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-36085473698175733352010-09-17T17:20:00.008+02:002010-09-17T17:54:18.910+02:00The expected price increase of the Xbox Live annual subscription : The tip of the iceberg<div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Hello all,</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">After a (too) long pause due to a heavy workload, I resume writing in my blog. Some friends told me I should post more and worry less about my writing style and that is exactly what I intend to do. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Last month, a well-informed </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2010/08/microsoft-raising-price-for-xbox-live-subscription/1">source</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">inside Microsoft hinted that the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 23px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">12-month Xbox Live Gold subscription will increase from $50 to $60 in the US. A similar price hike would also be planned for the UK.</span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >At first, I was surprised. Why would Microsoft take the risk of alienating its users when Sony is offering nearly the same service, for free, on its Playstation Network ? Then, I crossed that information with another one: The current debate on how to charge users of multiplayer games. Publishers are realizing that their players are sometimes spending far more time on the multiplayer mode of their game than the solo one ... and that does not yield a single cent. By charging more for the annual Xbox Live subscription, Microsoft might be planning to pay publishers whose titles are heavily played on the Live. That would be a smart move, probably far more acceptable to players that prohibiting the sales of used games, another hotly debated issue. Microsoft could develop thisbusiness model known as Games-on-Demand. Metaboli/Gametap is already doing it and it works.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Of course, this is only a speculation from my part but who knows ?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;"><br /></span></span></div>Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-68765065633053302962009-11-25T18:50:00.000+01:002009-11-27T16:36:44.384+01:00Adventure games are back ... are they ?Adventure games ... remember them ? We used to play them a lot: Myst, The Curse Of Monkey Island, Syberia, Gabriel Knight, the Seventh Guest, Broken Sword, ... I am sure it brings fond memories to some of you.<br /><br />Adventures games used to represent a large share of the market but over the years, they have slowly but surely faded away from our scopes. There are a few studios who make good point-and-click adventures but they are struggling to make them as cheap as possible to produce. No publisher today is ready to support ambitious adventure games.is<br /><br />The reason is simple: Publishers don't make money with them anymore. There are just not enough buyers. Interest for adventure games seems to be gone ... but is it really the case ?<br /><br />An adventure game delivers two promises to a player, two benefits: 1) It takes him or her along a compelling and mysterious story and 2) it challenges his brain. To summarize, a good adventure game must bring a story and puzzles.<br /><br />Recent successful development has shown that there is a strong interest from the public for at least one of those two components: Puzzles. Machinarium (www.machinarium.net) is a successful well-crafted flash games that relies on very smart puzzles. The first few levels are free and once you have completed them, the urge ot buy the full game is strong. The game costs $20 or 14€. It is not cheap but it good value for your money. Another well-known example is Professor Layton on DS. More expensive to develop, this game has been hugely successful. An older example on DS is Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney.<br /><br />Now, what about the other component of successful adventure games, the story ? Can we build a successful game with just that ? I see one example: The Hysteria Project on the iPhone. Developped by the french studio Bulky Pix, this game offers little puzzles but is quite immersive. It has been quite successful and follow-up episodes are in the making.<br /><br />Who could say there is no money to make in adventure games ?<br /><br />Hence my conclusion; The traditional format of adventure game is probably dead but there are still players out there who are looking for their specific thrills. We have to offer them in new formats and we have to brush up design concepts in order to renew their appeal.<br /><br />What are your thoughts on this topic ? Do you believe, as myself, in the future of adventure games ?Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-77013079156000107472009-11-13T13:14:00.000+01:002009-11-13T14:49:34.409+01:00Difficulty curve - Is there such a thing as the ideal curve?The construction of a difficulty curve is one of the key tasks in level design.<br /><br />If the difficulty is poorly tuned, the game can become either impossible or boring. We all have memories of difficulty peaks in game that led to the distant throw of a pad or a mouse. on the contrary, how many games have we stopped playing because there was no more challenge ?<br /><br />Does that mean a difficulty curve should always be smoothly upward ? Of course not. There is no ideal difficulty curve. Recent triple-A titles have shown that totally different approaches are quite valid.<br /><br />For its shooting sequences <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted - Drake's Fortune</span> follows a classical approach to difficulty curve construction . It is built like a staircase. Difficulty is flat, then it increased significantly and remains flat for a while until the next step. The introduction of a new category of enemies or the total number of them in a given firefight often trigger such steps.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gears of War 2</span> or <span style="font-weight: bold;">FEAR 2</span> follow a different approach. Their difficulty curve is basically flat. There are a few difficulty peaks from time to time but those are exceptionnal. Of course, if you change the difficulty setting, the game's experience will change but the level design does not. <br /><br />The designers of <span style="font-weight: bold;">FEAR 2</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">GoW 2</span> are not using the difficulty curve to "glue" the player to their game machine. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Epic </span>designers constantly renew the player's experience while <span style="font-weight: bold;">Monolith</span>'s designers use storytelling to achieve the same result: Getting the player hooked to the end of the game.<br /><br />I draw two lessons from my analysis:<br /><ol><li> There is no single approach to the construction of the difficulty curve<br /></li><li>The profile of the difficulty curve in the game should be planned as one of the components that build a player's experience and should not be an afterthough. </li></ol>Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-51181427264677477472009-08-31T16:24:00.000+02:002009-09-01T10:06:07.500+02:00Batman: Arkham Asylum - The proof that a license can be turned into a great gameMany attempts to develop a game after a movie license have yielded lukewarm results.<br /><br />Some games are good but don't seem to draw heavily from their source material, except for the characters and the overall graphic style. In other words, one feels like the license's characters have been pasted onto a generic gameplay.<br /><br />Other games are just too weak on gameplay.<br /><br />This has resulted in the common wisdom that games based on strong licenses are just not up to the job. Therefore, any upcoming title based on a license is ususally welcomed with skepticsm.<br /><br />The release of Batman: Arkham Asylum is showing us that one can develop a great game based on a license. What have they done that other developers have not ?<br /><br />first, the developer, Rocksteady, did not attempt to follow the script of a movie or a comic book. They did build a real story but based on the very specific constraints of a game.<br /><br />Second, they identified the elements that are most representative of the license. I am talking of the graphical style of course but also the type of actions available to the hero, the way the combats are introduced, the overall pace of the game, the combat situations, the dialogs style, etc.<br /><br />Third, they build a game system and a level design that showcase those elements. They applied good old-fashion game design recipes. They probably got great support from their publisher, Eidos Interactive: The time and ressources to polish and tune the game.<br /><br />Success did not lie in innovative game mechanisms but simply in the understanding of what makes a great license tick and the wisdom to do a well-crafted game.Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-51329366878182095862009-06-23T07:55:00.000+02:002009-09-01T09:55:09.781+02:00Direct digital distribution: Heaven or hell for independent studios ?The fast development of direct digital distribution (Steam, XBLA, PSN, Wiiware, iPhone, etc. ) is opening up a world of opportunities to small studios who don't need a publisher anymore to get their titles to the market. The internet if filled up with success stories of small studios that successfully marketed their games through this new distribution media.<br /><br />But is it as good as it sounds?<br /><br />A good friend of mine, Pedro Guanaes, the co-founder of Uacari, a young but promising french studio, pointed out to me that the very nature of digital distribution will actually decrease the visibility of new titles and therefore, will make it harder to sell them, especially without marketing support.<br /><br />Why ?<br /><br />In traditional distribution, new titles push away older ones. It does not matter if your title looks like an older one because that one will not, most likely, be present on retailers' shelves. With traditional distribution, all titles get their chances on the shelves because retailers make spaces for new ones.<br /><br />But, with digital distribution, all titles, no matter how old they are, remain available. If you release a driving game, you'll have the face the competition of recent titles and older ones as well. And since distributors are likely to promote the best-selling titles, older reference titles will eat up most of the market.<br /><br />For small studios or publishers, digital distribution makes it easy to publish a title but it will probably make it harder to promote it.<br /><br />I see several solutions to this situation:<br />- Develop games that foster a community. Players are your best sales representatives. Games that provide regular download content, free or not, games that encourage players to build their own content, games that allow players to compete against each other and to organize themselves are the way to go for studios or publishers with insufficient marketing punch. Think of game universe, not stand-alone game. Think of a game as an on-going experience that will be regularly fed with novelties that players will buy or develop.<br />- If you have to stick to one player games, be creative so your title will stand out.<br />- Lastly, don't forego traditional marketing. Communicate. Traditional publishers can be powerful allies because that's the core of their know-how.Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638770175137364969.post-18532706378526062882009-06-10T23:30:00.000+02:002009-06-12T15:41:58.579+02:00E3 2009 - The software show that was about ... hardware<span style="font-family:arial;">Greetings to all !</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Every week or so, I will share my thoughts and analysis of the video game industry from the game design perspective. I don't expect everyone to agree with everything I write but all comments are welcomed as long as they respectful. By sharing ideas and thoughts, we'll get smarter as a group.<br /><br />Today, I would like to talk about an interesting evolution in our industry: The </span><span style="font-family:arial;">development of motion-based controllers. The Wiimote has been a precursor. That peripheral is now witnessing a drastic improvement in performance thanks to the Wii MotionPlus, Microsoft is introducing its motion camera, Sony will soon have its own motion-sensing controller and let's not forget the iPhone/iTouch with its accelerometers.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;">Those improvements in hardware are no gimmick. They make games easier to play but they also create room for new skill-based gameplays. When the damage inflicted by a sword will depend on its stike angle and the positioning of the body, a whole new dimension in gameplay will open up.<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">From the commercial point of view the announcement of a new platform is a major event, but not necessarly from the design poijnt of view. However new peripherals will have an influence on game design and game concepts</span></span><span style="font-family:arial;">. That's why I believe the recent development of new methods to control games will have a deeper influence on our industry than it looks like.</span>Pascal Lubanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01598999619765877495noreply@blogger.com0