Ben's Busy Blog
My personal online journal of daily accomplishments and setbacks
The Art of BraidTuesday, August 05, 2008
And now I'm writing about Braid, the game that's better than yours, you plebian. Of course I kid. Jonathan Blow's opinionated presentations have drawn great interest to his game, and a little antipathy to himself. But regardless of whether one's sensitivities have been inflamed by the denunciations of the auteur, the game's worth discussing. In this instance, I'm referring to David Hellman's Art of Braid article now available at Gamasutra. Hellman's display of iteration during the collaborative creative process offers useful insight into the refinement of thoughts from the idea bucket into a finished product.
The part that I enjoyed the most was the final page of the article, where Hellman broke down an individual scene by its layers. I really enjoyed seeing not only their development tool, but also seeing how they had composed the different layers. Subtle lighting effects in one layer enhanced the shadows on the grass. I want to discuss this more, but what I'd really love is to take the images and set up some rollover effects in order to better reveal the subtle differences between layers. Unfortunately, not enough time today. Too bad Gamasutra's online articles reflect their print-based roots and don't allow for advanced media.
Furthermore, I'd like to note that Hellman made several references to how during the development process, he had wanted to get parallax scrolling of multiple background layers set up in Braid. Boosted by no small amount of nostalgia, I would have greatly liked to see this effect on display, but sadly, I can't think of a single Braid video that had scrolling un-obscured. Ah well...
The part that I enjoyed the most was the final page of the article, where Hellman broke down an individual scene by its layers. I really enjoyed seeing not only their development tool, but also seeing how they had composed the different layers. Subtle lighting effects in one layer enhanced the shadows on the grass. I want to discuss this more, but what I'd really love is to take the images and set up some rollover effects in order to better reveal the subtle differences between layers. Unfortunately, not enough time today. Too bad Gamasutra's online articles reflect their print-based roots and don't allow for advanced media.
Furthermore, I'd like to note that Hellman made several references to how during the development process, he had wanted to get parallax scrolling of multiple background layers set up in Braid. Boosted by no small amount of nostalgia, I would have greatly liked to see this effect on display, but sadly, I can't think of a single Braid video that had scrolling un-obscured. Ah well...
Halo 3's graphical effectsThursday, July 24, 2008
Today on Gamasutra, there is a good but relatively brief interview with Bungie's lead effects artist, Steve Scott. I personally have met with relatively little discussion of how advanced graphical effects are produced. I enjoyed reading it.
Programming ResponsivenessThursday, July 10, 2008
Gamasutra had a great article today on "Programming Responsiveness". It was by Mick West, co-founder of Neversoft. Apparently he's got his own website, Cowboy Programming, where he comments on coding issues. Based upon how much I enjoyed his article at Gamasutra, I'm going to have to make a point of skimming that site more often. He also has a personal blog which contained a neat bit on how he wired up his condo by using the electrical outlets. A man after my own heart there, as I'm working on problems running lines in my new house. On the other hand, I'm willing to bet that his budget far exceeds mine. Until I can tap my brother's home alarm installation experience, I'm going to stick with my workaround of running coax up the handrail of the stairs and then putting a rug over it when crossing walkways, so as to better avoid killing myself.
Oh, and I did beat Bioshock. Twice actually, as I ran back through much more expediently in order to 100% the achievements for the game. This was a few months ago, so I won't try to comment on the game at this point. On the other hand, I picked up Thief: Deadly Shadows off of GameFly, so there's another potential "Late to the Party" possible. On the other hand, I'm still busy doing things like unpacking boxes and hanging medicine cabinets.
Oh, and I did beat Bioshock. Twice actually, as I ran back through much more expediently in order to 100% the achievements for the game. This was a few months ago, so I won't try to comment on the game at this point. On the other hand, I picked up Thief: Deadly Shadows off of GameFly, so there's another potential "Late to the Party" possible. On the other hand, I'm still busy doing things like unpacking boxes and hanging medicine cabinets.
Late to the Party: BioShockFriday, February 08, 2008
Inspired by this post over at Ascii Dreams, I started thinking about the games I've played. The games I finished, the unfinished and my pile of shame (Those games you never quite get to*) Why did a game wind up in one category or another? This was fruit for thought.
Of course, being your intrepid everyman, I am not reviewing your bleeding edge stuff. I'm casting my eyes backwards. In this frame of mind, I bring you Late to the Party.
BioShock - STATUS: Unfinished
Now how's this for an embarrassment? It's been out for months and I've barely left Fort Frolic! BioShock is a game I greatly respect and enjoy. I love it, and yet I'm turning it into a slog. When I come home tired from a day of work, it's just so easy to reach for a Tony Hawk or Crackdown, as opposed to the careful attentive playthrough that I feel BioShock deserves. So often, I'm loading it up like I need to punch a timeclock. Why? The rich environment and intricate narrative make it into a poundcake of a game for me. It's just heavy with goodness. When a story features the complex interplay of Randian philosophy versus selfishness and hubris, that's something that requires intensity and attention to detail. Now don't misunderstand me here. Bereft of its rich narrative, BioShock would be a pale imitation of itself, and wouldn't be a must-play experience. I wouldn't change a thing (aside from getting myself stuck inside a wall in Fort Frolic).
So things stays the same, I find myself home at the end of the day and thinking about unfinished projects, social obligations, and spending time with my lovely wife. When I can play something of my own choice, I rarely play BioShock, because when I play that game I want to have peace of mind. I want to be able to turn the sound up and the lights down. I want to know that I will not be interrupted. I don't get that enough. Oh BioShock, why are you such a selfish mistress?
* An amusing aside is that the 1UP Yours team actually managed a pile of shame squared by starting a feature about neglected games, and then neglecting that feature.
Of course, being your intrepid everyman, I am not reviewing your bleeding edge stuff. I'm casting my eyes backwards. In this frame of mind, I bring you Late to the Party.
BioShock - STATUS: Unfinished
Now how's this for an embarrassment? It's been out for months and I've barely left Fort Frolic! BioShock is a game I greatly respect and enjoy. I love it, and yet I'm turning it into a slog. When I come home tired from a day of work, it's just so easy to reach for a Tony Hawk or Crackdown, as opposed to the careful attentive playthrough that I feel BioShock deserves. So often, I'm loading it up like I need to punch a timeclock. Why? The rich environment and intricate narrative make it into a poundcake of a game for me. It's just heavy with goodness. When a story features the complex interplay of Randian philosophy versus selfishness and hubris, that's something that requires intensity and attention to detail. Now don't misunderstand me here. Bereft of its rich narrative, BioShock would be a pale imitation of itself, and wouldn't be a must-play experience. I wouldn't change a thing (aside from getting myself stuck inside a wall in Fort Frolic).
So things stays the same, I find myself home at the end of the day and thinking about unfinished projects, social obligations, and spending time with my lovely wife. When I can play something of my own choice, I rarely play BioShock, because when I play that game I want to have peace of mind. I want to be able to turn the sound up and the lights down. I want to know that I will not be interrupted. I don't get that enough. Oh BioShock, why are you such a selfish mistress?
* An amusing aside is that the 1UP Yours team actually managed a pile of shame squared by starting a feature about neglected games, and then neglecting that feature.
Labels: Bioshock, games, late to the party
XNA: Maybe I'm just not suited to engine developmentFriday, February 01, 2008
So I'm trying to get back into programming again. I want to take more risks and hopefully have more achievements. Yet as I enter back into it, I find myself running back up against the same wall that I stopped programming on before: I have no clue whatsoever as to how I should keep my things in order. SpaceHook, the first game I've been working on, is going to have lots of stuff on screen: Rocks, aliens, blackholes, power-ups, your ship, etc. In C#/XNA programming, what is the best way to keep track of all of these entities moving around the screen? How do I keep all of the little bits straight? Is there a given data storage object that's best for keeping track of all of things? How do I program this thing so that it doesn't suck up all of the processing time?
Metaphorical example: Our little white cat is bothering me for treats before I go to bed. To get her out of my face so I can type for a bit, I toss one of her toys at her. Normally this ruse works with her, but at this point of the night, she promptly places it into the "Not Chicken" category and promptly ignores it. How do I program my game so that it can ignore things? In concept, you can't use your tractor beam on a black hole. Do you just check everything in its path to see if it's a black hole and then ignore it? Or do you start checking by eliminating black holes from the pool you're examining? What's more, how do you find out what's close to your ship? Do you check every goddamned object in the game? If I throw a grenade in Halo, I don't think that the game checks every fucking object in the level to see whether or not it's eligible for getting blown to hell. How do I program that?
Keeping track of a multitude of entities and running analysis of them goes into Big O notation and other stuff that bores me to cross-eyed distraction. This sort of engineering just is... fuck all boring to me. I look at it, and I think, "Hey, shouldn't someone have already designed a better mousetrap for this?" But I'll be damned if I know the magic words to use on Google for summoning up the desired results. Object management? Item database? Entity management? I feel like I want a database or just simply a big ol' table that I can sort on demand, but I don't see that functionality as being available. If you say database, that's a magical programming term that means you're demanding an enterprise-class beast of such complexity that will require enough books from O'Reilly to devastate a rain forest. I just want my stupid data sorted and I don't even know how to do that.
All this seems to say to me that maybe I should look back into Torque or perhaps check out developing with the Source engine. I'd rather design than engineer. Give me some Legos. Don't ask me to figure out the best design for bricks with interlocking pegs and sockets.
Ugh, in the end, all I've really accomplished tonight was adding 100 more points to my Gamerscore by beating the time trials in Crackdown on Psychotic difficulty. Woo, breakin the 4000 point barrier. Put that on my resume quick. /self-deprecation
Metaphorical example: Our little white cat is bothering me for treats before I go to bed. To get her out of my face so I can type for a bit, I toss one of her toys at her. Normally this ruse works with her, but at this point of the night, she promptly places it into the "Not Chicken" category and promptly ignores it. How do I program my game so that it can ignore things? In concept, you can't use your tractor beam on a black hole. Do you just check everything in its path to see if it's a black hole and then ignore it? Or do you start checking by eliminating black holes from the pool you're examining? What's more, how do you find out what's close to your ship? Do you check every goddamned object in the game? If I throw a grenade in Halo, I don't think that the game checks every fucking object in the level to see whether or not it's eligible for getting blown to hell. How do I program that?
Keeping track of a multitude of entities and running analysis of them goes into Big O notation and other stuff that bores me to cross-eyed distraction. This sort of engineering just is... fuck all boring to me. I look at it, and I think, "Hey, shouldn't someone have already designed a better mousetrap for this?" But I'll be damned if I know the magic words to use on Google for summoning up the desired results. Object management? Item database? Entity management? I feel like I want a database or just simply a big ol' table that I can sort on demand, but I don't see that functionality as being available. If you say database, that's a magical programming term that means you're demanding an enterprise-class beast of such complexity that will require enough books from O'Reilly to devastate a rain forest. I just want my stupid data sorted and I don't even know how to do that.
All this seems to say to me that maybe I should look back into Torque or perhaps check out developing with the Source engine. I'd rather design than engineer. Give me some Legos. Don't ask me to figure out the best design for bricks with interlocking pegs and sockets.
Ugh, in the end, all I've really accomplished tonight was adding 100 more points to my Gamerscore by beating the time trials in Crackdown on Psychotic difficulty. Woo, breakin the 4000 point barrier. Put that on my resume quick. /self-deprecation
Labels: games, programming
Just bloggin'Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Cool! Bill Harris included my album cover in his blog. It's already on the first page when I vanity Google myself. I really enjoy Bill's blog and he deserves every bit of industry respect that he gets. I hope he only profits by his pastime, be it financially or via simple satisfaction.
I'm not sure what all to put in the blog tonight, but I'm trying to blog more often, now that it's all more laid back and fun. This might sound confusing, but should anybody want to check it, I want to leave something for them. It's all gratis folks.
Heath Ledger died today, an unlooked for tragedy. Inasmuch as he affects my life, I set to wondering about The Dark Knight, but that's finished filming already, so I suppose it will be his last film. It probably won't have any sort of effect similar to The Crow, as Brandon Lee died onset in what could be seen as a continuation of the mythology around his father's death.
I had a reasonably productive night. Cooked a simple dinner for Natty. Cleaned out the cat boxes. Downloaded some of the latest XNA updates with an eye towards getting back on my feet with that. The greatest motivation behind this was my discovery of the Dictionary class.
Anyway, I'm going to crash, Hope you all have a good night.
I'm not sure what all to put in the blog tonight, but I'm trying to blog more often, now that it's all more laid back and fun. This might sound confusing, but should anybody want to check it, I want to leave something for them. It's all gratis folks.
Heath Ledger died today, an unlooked for tragedy. Inasmuch as he affects my life, I set to wondering about The Dark Knight, but that's finished filming already, so I suppose it will be his last film. It probably won't have any sort of effect similar to The Crow, as Brandon Lee died onset in what could be seen as a continuation of the mythology around his father's death.
I had a reasonably productive night. Cooked a simple dinner for Natty. Cleaned out the cat boxes. Downloaded some of the latest XNA updates with an eye towards getting back on my feet with that. The greatest motivation behind this was my discovery of the Dictionary class.
Anyway, I'm going to crash, Hope you all have a good night.
Labels: just bloggin
Geek Cribs AnalysisWednesday, January 16, 2008
Maybe you've already seen it, but Kotaku posted a collection of photos of the work desks and entertainment centers of famous game designers (and some other folks). To the critical eye, all sorts of things can be discerned...
- Ken Levine's a suck up! Okay, I like GWJ too. But did you know he apparently plays guitar, likes HeroClix and needs a better iPod case?
- David Jaffe likes bobbleheads, Kevin Smith, and... hrm, just who is that mini-bust of?
- It seems like someone in the house of god-game maker Sid Meyer has got the Jesus. Is that symmetry?
- Ted Price's desk is clean... Suspiciously clean. Wait! There's a loose USB cord on the floor! Whew, for a second there I thought the marketing & PR guys had his place cleaned up and artfully placed merchandise with labels showing.
- Peter Molyneux's workspace has an empty Aeron chair, empty coffee cups, and EMPTY PROMISES! You bastard! You brokes ma heart!
- Richard Garriot's included a single picture of his house, a woeful understatement of his ri-goddamn-diculous house.
- Dan Hsu likes Sandman! And he likes the Ultimates! And he has the original Weiss and Hickmann Dragonlance soft-covers! Gasp! I'll be he thinks that Ziggy's gotten too preachy too!
- I approve your keyboard, Crecente
Labels: just bloggin
