I have a more detailed post forthcoming, but I thought it'd be nice in the meantime to give a rundown of what I've been playing.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have stopped playing SWTOR. By far the largest reason for this is not due to lack of content, or boredom with the game mechanics, but it demands too much of my attention at any given time. Having a well thought out reason and story to my quests started to bother me due to my shortened gameplay times. It's like being constantly interrupted during a movie and having to pause it repeatedly and then come back the next day. The stories were great, don't get me wrong. But it just asked too much of my attention as a player.
I suppose that would reflect poorly on me and my attention span, but when it comes down to it, if I'm not having fun it's time to move on.
Mobile games have recently taken a front seat, and I've had my eye on a few concepts, specifically the back and forth, pick up and play aspects of games like Words With Friends and Draw Something. I would love to see this kind of feature implemented in turn based strategy games, but at the moment I only see a few taking advantage of the feature.
I have returned to WoW thanks to a very wonderful woman in my life who has decided she wants to pick up online games with me, so having someone to play with has reinvigorated my interest in the game. So inbetween bits of playing with her I have been leveling my 80's to 85 in preparation for Mists of Pandaria. So far my bear druid is at 85, my Prot Warrior at 81, my Prot Paladin at 81 and my Blood spec DK at 80. Can you tell I like to tank? I cannot wait to try out Brewmaster tanking on a Pandaren.
For longtime readers, yes, I'm aware of the irony of the last paragraph.
I picked up and then put down Mass Effect 3. I was hesitant due to the bad publicity, but picked it up and do not regret my purchase. I haven't finished it yet, but it seems so many people complaining about it enjoy glossing over the fact that nearly every plot from the first two titles is wrapped up in the third. For longtime players, it makes for a very satisfying journey. I haven't reached the end, so I won't comment on it.
And I will likely have a post or two about Diablo 3. My brother received a review copy (as he is a game journalist), so I will be spending some time with it very very soon. I've always enjoyed the Angels vs. Demons stories, so I'll be interested to see this next iteration.
And lastly, I recently attended a meeting of the IGDA (Independent Game Developers Association) where we got to hear Michael Gnade, founder of Indie Game Magazine, talk about the right and wrong ways to market an indie game. Very interesting stuff. As a writer, I was aware of some of his talking points, but the whole experience of his talk and the organization gave me a lot of hope for game developers around my area. I'm looking forward to the possibility of joining a project in Philly soon. I highly suggest finding one in your area. Even if you don't want to develop a game or join a project, it was a great experience just to be in a room of people talking about design decisions and the processes that go into creating a game. Click the link up there and take a look. It was the best decision I've made this month.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
On Personas and Long Absences
Whether you are reading this because I was not removed from a blogroll or feed (whether due to forgetting or faith in my blog), or because of new initiative on my part to revitalize this blog, welcome or welcome back to Straw Fellow's Field. My life has recently been through some hectic times for me, and as of now it has both steadied and become more hectic. As of yesterday I am no longer a part of ForceJunkies through my own choice. They are a fantastic website and I wish the Rerollz network the best in everything they pursue, but I no longer play The Old Republic and no longer have the time to keep myself up to speed on it.
Due to new employment, my schedule has steadied and this blog has always been in the back of my mind. I stopped writing because it became a chore to keep it up alongside my ForceJunkies work and I apologize to all of my readers who I have disappointed. I will make no promises, but I sincerely wish to rejoin the community I enjoyed so much last year.
When I first created this blog, I created the persona "Straw Fellow" both as a means to keep my identity safe and separate the part of my life that had a passion for gaming from the everyday. Almost every game forces you to do this in some way, whether it be under the guise of Marcus Fenix or a character of your own creation. You could say it is a bit of a habit for us all. Nils, Tobold, Syncaine, Gevlon and many others all chose new names and identities to signify their entry into a different world. How much thought went into each name as well as any potential meaning behind it is irrelevant: They were setting their passion for writing about games into a separate area of their lives in a very neat package with a title.
I know for a fact that Tobold has openly stated the reasons he doesn't release his true identity, and I feel that Nils has at some point as well, though I can't be sure. I may be thinking of another blogger. My own reasons were due to a very recently recognized sense of shame. It is not a secret that having a passion for something that is commonly seen as toys for children can bring some weird looks at best, and at worst being outright shunned. That may be a bit dramatic of an explanation, but the point is made: I've never felt my passion has been respected very much.
With that, I've decided I no longer like having a persona. My passion for games is not just an enjoyment of the titles, but of examining game features, discussing trends in the industry and immersing myself in rich, well-written and designed worlds. It is a part of who I am, and not something I want to put in a box to be pushed aside when it is given odd looks. I want it to be a recognizable part of my life.
And with that, I say hello. My name is Justin Puik. It's nice to meet you.
Due to new employment, my schedule has steadied and this blog has always been in the back of my mind. I stopped writing because it became a chore to keep it up alongside my ForceJunkies work and I apologize to all of my readers who I have disappointed. I will make no promises, but I sincerely wish to rejoin the community I enjoyed so much last year.
When I first created this blog, I created the persona "Straw Fellow" both as a means to keep my identity safe and separate the part of my life that had a passion for gaming from the everyday. Almost every game forces you to do this in some way, whether it be under the guise of Marcus Fenix or a character of your own creation. You could say it is a bit of a habit for us all. Nils, Tobold, Syncaine, Gevlon and many others all chose new names and identities to signify their entry into a different world. How much thought went into each name as well as any potential meaning behind it is irrelevant: They were setting their passion for writing about games into a separate area of their lives in a very neat package with a title.
I know for a fact that Tobold has openly stated the reasons he doesn't release his true identity, and I feel that Nils has at some point as well, though I can't be sure. I may be thinking of another blogger. My own reasons were due to a very recently recognized sense of shame. It is not a secret that having a passion for something that is commonly seen as toys for children can bring some weird looks at best, and at worst being outright shunned. That may be a bit dramatic of an explanation, but the point is made: I've never felt my passion has been respected very much.
With that, I've decided I no longer like having a persona. My passion for games is not just an enjoyment of the titles, but of examining game features, discussing trends in the industry and immersing myself in rich, well-written and designed worlds. It is a part of who I am, and not something I want to put in a box to be pushed aside when it is given odd looks. I want it to be a recognizable part of my life.
And with that, I say hello. My name is Justin Puik. It's nice to meet you.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Revivification of Spriting
I hope everyone had a happy new year. I apologize that I have not been updating this blog, as my life has recently become a bit hectic, but I hope to return to a regular posting schedule soon.
Onward to the topic at hand: Sprites. To explain, sprites are the type of art work used in 8, 16 and 32-bit games. There was a surge of Sprite comics about a decade ago with the rise of Bob and George and other projects like it, and it was quite popular for fans of those comics to create their own characters and artwork. I was one of these fans back in the day, and learned a bit about creating sprite sheets for animations.
With the popularity of smart phone and tablet games, sprites have come back into the scene as a viable artistic style for designers. Angry Birds, for example, uses sprites, and is a million dollar business now. It is either a coincidence or a natural progression that those who were fans of the sprite comics ten years ago now have skills that are marketable. I wouldn't be surprised if that was how many of them started.
Not to insult sprite artists, because they do magnificent work, but this medium lowers the bar for amateur game designers. So does the entire smart phone platform, of course, but sprite work in particular is an easy style to learn.
I find myself a little sad to think that it may be phased out once more. The DS was the final handheld system to use sprites, though the PSP had them in select titles, and the smart phone platform may migrate in that direction as its gaming potential is explored. I feel as though there would be holdouts for a good measure of time, seeing as mobile games tend to lean towards casual and quick playstyles. But that doesn't change that it is one of my favorite art styles and the most memorable (in my opinion) in video game history.
I think I will return to that hobby. Certainly could be useful.
Onward to the topic at hand: Sprites. To explain, sprites are the type of art work used in 8, 16 and 32-bit games. There was a surge of Sprite comics about a decade ago with the rise of Bob and George and other projects like it, and it was quite popular for fans of those comics to create their own characters and artwork. I was one of these fans back in the day, and learned a bit about creating sprite sheets for animations.
With the popularity of smart phone and tablet games, sprites have come back into the scene as a viable artistic style for designers. Angry Birds, for example, uses sprites, and is a million dollar business now. It is either a coincidence or a natural progression that those who were fans of the sprite comics ten years ago now have skills that are marketable. I wouldn't be surprised if that was how many of them started.
Not to insult sprite artists, because they do magnificent work, but this medium lowers the bar for amateur game designers. So does the entire smart phone platform, of course, but sprite work in particular is an easy style to learn.
I find myself a little sad to think that it may be phased out once more. The DS was the final handheld system to use sprites, though the PSP had them in select titles, and the smart phone platform may migrate in that direction as its gaming potential is explored. I feel as though there would be holdouts for a good measure of time, seeing as mobile games tend to lean towards casual and quick playstyles. But that doesn't change that it is one of my favorite art styles and the most memorable (in my opinion) in video game history.
I think I will return to that hobby. Certainly could be useful.
Monday, December 26, 2011
A Christmas Update
I wanted to let you know I am alive, and currently immersed in my Sith Warrior in SWTOR. I will be composing several impressions about the game, including one about how Bioware's launch plans panned out, and they will be posted to ForceJunkies.com, with posts here redirecting you to that site.
I hope your holidays are wonderful, and I will be back in the swing of writing this week. Take care, everyone, and thank you for reading and commenting this past year.
I hope your holidays are wonderful, and I will be back in the swing of writing this week. Take care, everyone, and thank you for reading and commenting this past year.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Why Skyrim Flooded the MMORPG Blogs
A post crops up here and there, but for the most part the "Would Skyrim make a Good MMORPG?" posts have died down. It's an excellent game, and I'm not here to poke fun at anyone who spoke about it: On the contrary, I think the sudden interest in it is indicative of a larger issue in the MMORPG market at the moment. But let's briefly examine Skyrim first.
In a nutshell, it is a standard fantasy setting in a wintery climate. In comparison to Oblivion and Morrowind, you can't get more fantasy than "Destined to Slay Dragons." How it accomplished this is by having a variety of "main quests" for various factions with well written stories, a truck load of miscellaneous quests based entirely on rumors and books you pick up, and then letting you run free and do what you want. I can't recall where the quote is from, but a comment I heard about the game was that it reminded players that games are meant to be played with. Other single player games tell you where you need to go in order to proceed, where Skyrim gives you a country and tells you to have fun.
This you likely knew, but there is one part about that everyone highlights: The freedom. Going into random caves and ruins is fun, despite most of the interiors being copy/pasted and put into different order. It caters to a part of online games that has been neglected for a long time: Giving the world meaning. Exploration has been eschewed in favor of instances and set areas for questing or doing group activities.
I could continue, but bemoaning the loss of the world in MMORPG's is kind of old hat at this point. What I wouldn't give for a game like Star Wars Galaxies with huge worlds that people could create cities in and explore to find fun, iconic locations and secrets. SW:TOR is in Early Access phases and will be launching extremely soon, and it will likely tip the scales in favor of big budget games. That's the mindset I fear: Go Big or Go Home.
Salem has some good prospects for world building, I'm rather excited to see how that turns out. I have my fingers crossed that it gets enough attention to garner copycats. No matter how much we hate the slew of "Me too!" 's that followed WoW, it did quite a bit to work out the flaws of the theme park genre. Blizzard made their competitor's mistakes into their own success. Perhaps on a lesser scale this time, to avoid the mass amount of horror stories that the genre generated from its employees during that time.
I believe it will take some time before 'the world' as a concept re-emerges into the online gaming scene though. The MMO industry is notoriously slow, and we must wait until the players who are dissatisfied move into positions to enact changes in the industry. Until then, I suppose we'll all enjoy the offerings they have to offer. SW:TOR, anyone?
In a nutshell, it is a standard fantasy setting in a wintery climate. In comparison to Oblivion and Morrowind, you can't get more fantasy than "Destined to Slay Dragons." How it accomplished this is by having a variety of "main quests" for various factions with well written stories, a truck load of miscellaneous quests based entirely on rumors and books you pick up, and then letting you run free and do what you want. I can't recall where the quote is from, but a comment I heard about the game was that it reminded players that games are meant to be played with. Other single player games tell you where you need to go in order to proceed, where Skyrim gives you a country and tells you to have fun.
This you likely knew, but there is one part about that everyone highlights: The freedom. Going into random caves and ruins is fun, despite most of the interiors being copy/pasted and put into different order. It caters to a part of online games that has been neglected for a long time: Giving the world meaning. Exploration has been eschewed in favor of instances and set areas for questing or doing group activities.
I could continue, but bemoaning the loss of the world in MMORPG's is kind of old hat at this point. What I wouldn't give for a game like Star Wars Galaxies with huge worlds that people could create cities in and explore to find fun, iconic locations and secrets. SW:TOR is in Early Access phases and will be launching extremely soon, and it will likely tip the scales in favor of big budget games. That's the mindset I fear: Go Big or Go Home.
Salem has some good prospects for world building, I'm rather excited to see how that turns out. I have my fingers crossed that it gets enough attention to garner copycats. No matter how much we hate the slew of "Me too!" 's that followed WoW, it did quite a bit to work out the flaws of the theme park genre. Blizzard made their competitor's mistakes into their own success. Perhaps on a lesser scale this time, to avoid the mass amount of horror stories that the genre generated from its employees during that time.
I believe it will take some time before 'the world' as a concept re-emerges into the online gaming scene though. The MMO industry is notoriously slow, and we must wait until the players who are dissatisfied move into positions to enact changes in the industry. Until then, I suppose we'll all enjoy the offerings they have to offer. SW:TOR, anyone?
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Onlines Worlds, First-Person Shooters and DUST
Combining MMORPG's and Shooters is always a difficult procedure. Striking the right balance between long-term progression and the fast-paced, drop-in and drop-out action of the modern shooter can lead to some disastrous results. DUST is going to be facing these challenges by integrating itself into EVE. I think the best way to figure out how they may accomplish this is by examining other games that have approached this style and see how they did it.
Firstly, let's look at Call of Duty: Black Ops, a game my roommate played much of in college. Playing with friends or dropping into a completely random game, you still were in for short, 10-20 minute matches with fast-paced action an clear objectives. Team Fortress 2 shares this, and will likely be more familiar to PC players, but I chose Black Ops because of their progression system. Besides choosing your weapons and customizing your character, you have three enhancement slots to slot perks in. You can level up these perks by completing certain achievements to get better versions.
So, FPS players are not strangers to any sort of long term progression. But we find ourselves with a problem when we lean to hard on the MMO aspect. Global Agenda, a free-to-play shooter available on Steam, is an example of taking too much from the RPG department. Levels and stats are, in my opinion, not systems many shooter fans want to put up with. Achievements, unlockables and monetary systems are good things to bring in though, and Global Agenda ports this last one well by offering upgraded versions of weapons for tokens earned in game.
Match based gameplay is a tricky one. Specifically, how do you reconcile the battles in EVE with the drop-in and drop-out gameplay? Individual players could be catered to using a mercenaries style system: While a battle is raging, the corporations sponsoring each side could offer a payment for participating. Bonuses could be awarded for achieving certain goals, such as a certain amount of kills or successfully capturing a control point. Battles would be long term, but players could individually pick and choose with contracts to take based on how much money they want to earn and how long they want to play for.
In fact, ISK could form the basis of a tremendous amount of systems for DUST. Contracts could be drawn up with mercenary corporations to pay them to defend or attack, paying a premium for a guarantee on teamwork and skilled combatants. Weapons, vehicles and gear are suddenly opened up into a new market for EVE businessmen, and being able to reliably acquire the supplies you need in order to keep waging a battle could become a concern for corporations as well.
We run into an issue when it comes to the skill system, because even though the 'set it and forget it' style may work for EVE, DUST players may prefer a system that gives them more tangible benefits. EVE players know the worth of a 5% increase in the long term, but FPS players are more likely to wonder why the hell they need to wait a month for that bonus. The official website says that skill points can be earned in-combat or offlines, but CCP could really take a page from CoD in this regard and offer more active bonuses in the form of perks. The skill system would work on a smaller scale, but the perks system really shines for being able to customize your character without giving players too many difficult decisions.
Quick gameplay, money, guns and perks make up a comfortable set of systems that a typical FPS player can enjoy in his game. If they wanted to play an MMO they have many options to do so, but prefer this style of gameplay. The long term battles for planets and long term view that EVE players tend to take in their schemes and actions need to be tempered by a mercenary system that can appeal to FPS players. Though I do not own a PS3 (and pray that they consider a PC version of the title) I'm excited for the possibilities it could bring to the market and will be looking forward to watching this sub-genre evolve whether it fails or succeeds.
Firstly, let's look at Call of Duty: Black Ops, a game my roommate played much of in college. Playing with friends or dropping into a completely random game, you still were in for short, 10-20 minute matches with fast-paced action an clear objectives. Team Fortress 2 shares this, and will likely be more familiar to PC players, but I chose Black Ops because of their progression system. Besides choosing your weapons and customizing your character, you have three enhancement slots to slot perks in. You can level up these perks by completing certain achievements to get better versions.
So, FPS players are not strangers to any sort of long term progression. But we find ourselves with a problem when we lean to hard on the MMO aspect. Global Agenda, a free-to-play shooter available on Steam, is an example of taking too much from the RPG department. Levels and stats are, in my opinion, not systems many shooter fans want to put up with. Achievements, unlockables and monetary systems are good things to bring in though, and Global Agenda ports this last one well by offering upgraded versions of weapons for tokens earned in game.
Match based gameplay is a tricky one. Specifically, how do you reconcile the battles in EVE with the drop-in and drop-out gameplay? Individual players could be catered to using a mercenaries style system: While a battle is raging, the corporations sponsoring each side could offer a payment for participating. Bonuses could be awarded for achieving certain goals, such as a certain amount of kills or successfully capturing a control point. Battles would be long term, but players could individually pick and choose with contracts to take based on how much money they want to earn and how long they want to play for.
In fact, ISK could form the basis of a tremendous amount of systems for DUST. Contracts could be drawn up with mercenary corporations to pay them to defend or attack, paying a premium for a guarantee on teamwork and skilled combatants. Weapons, vehicles and gear are suddenly opened up into a new market for EVE businessmen, and being able to reliably acquire the supplies you need in order to keep waging a battle could become a concern for corporations as well.
We run into an issue when it comes to the skill system, because even though the 'set it and forget it' style may work for EVE, DUST players may prefer a system that gives them more tangible benefits. EVE players know the worth of a 5% increase in the long term, but FPS players are more likely to wonder why the hell they need to wait a month for that bonus. The official website says that skill points can be earned in-combat or offlines, but CCP could really take a page from CoD in this regard and offer more active bonuses in the form of perks. The skill system would work on a smaller scale, but the perks system really shines for being able to customize your character without giving players too many difficult decisions.
Quick gameplay, money, guns and perks make up a comfortable set of systems that a typical FPS player can enjoy in his game. If they wanted to play an MMO they have many options to do so, but prefer this style of gameplay. The long term battles for planets and long term view that EVE players tend to take in their schemes and actions need to be tempered by a mercenary system that can appeal to FPS players. Though I do not own a PS3 (and pray that they consider a PC version of the title) I'm excited for the possibilities it could bring to the market and will be looking forward to watching this sub-genre evolve whether it fails or succeeds.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Wouldn't it be Cool if...? Mobiles Games and Creativity
I have a friend who plays Words with Friends. This is not a metaphor for me being addicted to this game, I'm too busy trying to catch up with everybody who is playing Skyrim. I'll get there eventually guys.
No, I'm more interested in how its online connectivity works. Your board is saved, and you can essentially play a game over the course of a few days or a week casually.
You know what I wish I could play like that? Final Fantasy Tactics. Or any turn based strategy game. Hell, put Chess on that sucker, that'd be awesome. Fact of the matter is, we don't have enough turn-based strategy games around and the mobile platform is a perfect field to get in on this.
Competitive or versus the computer, the foundation is already in place: Short, meaningful and fun turns that have a larger effect on a battle that can take place over a larger period of time. Fun in short bursts, and in longer play sessions. And with the ability to store saved games either on your phone or iPod or on an online server that you can share with friends, you can play anything from Advance Wars to Civilization on your phone.
Of course, tweaks would have to be made to the system to suit it towards the casual gaming crowd. RPG's would have simplified stats and (in the case of FFT or Ogre Battle style games) very clear job trees. Same goes for civilization trees, though I'm sure a full game of Civilization with enough players could go on for a month or more.As cool as that sounds, perhaps ripping a page from the Civilization Revolution title and shortening the game length would be wise.
Regardless, the groundwork is laid for some potentially entertaining and big name titles. It is at this point in writing the article where I tried to go Google Civilization on Facebook in an attempt to find an example of a company branching out into new mediums with established titles. Instead, I found this. Damn you Civilization, for taking my idea 3 months before I wrote it. And bravo for taking the idea, because I like it a lot and (if I owned a smart phone) I would buy this in a heartbeat. I am disappointed in the lack of multiplayer support, but without any way of not making the games last weeks, I can't really blame them for it.
I'd love to see an Advanced Wars or Ogre Battle style game for the iPad or iPhone though. With my choices for turn-based strategy games wittled down to the Might and Magic series, I'm looking for some company to pull through for the genre.
No, I'm more interested in how its online connectivity works. Your board is saved, and you can essentially play a game over the course of a few days or a week casually.
You know what I wish I could play like that? Final Fantasy Tactics. Or any turn based strategy game. Hell, put Chess on that sucker, that'd be awesome. Fact of the matter is, we don't have enough turn-based strategy games around and the mobile platform is a perfect field to get in on this.
Competitive or versus the computer, the foundation is already in place: Short, meaningful and fun turns that have a larger effect on a battle that can take place over a larger period of time. Fun in short bursts, and in longer play sessions. And with the ability to store saved games either on your phone or iPod or on an online server that you can share with friends, you can play anything from Advance Wars to Civilization on your phone.
Of course, tweaks would have to be made to the system to suit it towards the casual gaming crowd. RPG's would have simplified stats and (in the case of FFT or Ogre Battle style games) very clear job trees. Same goes for civilization trees, though I'm sure a full game of Civilization with enough players could go on for a month or more.As cool as that sounds, perhaps ripping a page from the Civilization Revolution title and shortening the game length would be wise.
Regardless, the groundwork is laid for some potentially entertaining and big name titles. It is at this point in writing the article where I tried to go Google Civilization on Facebook in an attempt to find an example of a company branching out into new mediums with established titles. Instead, I found this. Damn you Civilization, for taking my idea 3 months before I wrote it. And bravo for taking the idea, because I like it a lot and (if I owned a smart phone) I would buy this in a heartbeat. I am disappointed in the lack of multiplayer support, but without any way of not making the games last weeks, I can't really blame them for it.
I'd love to see an Advanced Wars or Ogre Battle style game for the iPad or iPhone though. With my choices for turn-based strategy games wittled down to the Might and Magic series, I'm looking for some company to pull through for the genre.
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