Building Living Worlds
By Ravenhawk | June 21, 2008
A “Living World” is something that many game designers would love to claim to have created. It’s a common problem that many designs try to solve; How to create the illusion of a dynamic, living world on a mostly static platform?
Many games try to achieve this lofty goal, a dynamic, apparently ever-changing world which players can become truly immersed in. MMORPGS like to make this claim often and while it is true that the games are very active and alive, can they truly claim to have built a living world?
I would claim far from it. Most MMORPGs have more static and boring NPCs than most games. While there is much movement, the only non-players which move are the ‘invading monsters’ or other such attackables. The reason the game seems alive is because it is full of living people. The world itself is lifeless, dull.
NPCs are one of the largest problems. While developing various entertainments for the players, NPCs are largely ignored. What attention is given to them is put purely in a utilitarian sense; What do they need to provide for the players? Equipment, Items, Quests; Environment is woefully left off of the list.
I recently acquired a Wii Ware game called Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles; My Life As a King.
The entire purpose of the game is to build a kingdom. this kingdom starts off quite empty with just yourself and a few citizens. However as you build new houses other people are shipped in and quite quickly you have a rather bustling city under your charge.
The game itself has no adventures or “action” which your King directly takes part in besides talking to your citizenry. You delegate this work to your adventurers who busily scurry about doing various errands before each of their missions. The towns people will carry about on their normal business, walking along to inspect your new stores and parks, shopping for their meals, buying things at the market, and talking to each other. You can talk to them as you please and they enjoy talking to their little king, but in general, they go about their business regardless.
This, when paired with the oft varied and changing dialogs when you talk to them creates a very dynamic feel to a world in which little is actually happening.
Tags: Game Design, MMORPGS, FFCC, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, game design, Living World, MMORPGs, My Life As a King, NPCs
Topics: Game Design, MMORPGS | No Comments »
Government Forms and the Gaming Guild
By Ravenhawk | December 11, 2007
These days it is finally being seen as important by game developers to allow players to easily form groups. This is something that has been needed since the early online games, and I’m quite glad to see finally becoming a norm. However, I have personally found an issue with the forms of governance allowed by these groups. Most games only have one form of governance: Complete Autocracy.
For many games, this isn’t a problem and it is often the most efficient in order to get a particular action done. However, when a group gets to any reasonable size, a guild leader is going to, at the very least, require delegation of authority. Most of world understands that authocratic governments don’t work. So why is it that game designers feel that it is the only form of government that gamers need?
Now, to be fair, not all games have this great flaw.
Puzzles Pirates has a couple other forms of government, however, the implemented them in such a manner that you’re being sickeningly inefficient to get anything done unless you’re autocratic or have all your members with voting rights on a very regular basis.
Dream of Mirror Online has an interesting system for it’s guilds. In order to create the group you need 5 people over level 20 and like.. 40k. The person who creates the guild is the guild chairman and the others are the elders. Elders have the ability to recruit, etc. So far it’s pretty run-of-the-mill.
However, DOMO also allows you to create smaller, sub-guilds within your main guild. Then, you can set managers for these sub-guilds, which gives them complete control over the sub-guild. This allows not only delegation of power, but the setting up of specialized sub-groups within your guild. For instance, my friend’s guild is called Radical Dreamers. Within this guild he has a subguilds for the following activities: One for teaching new players the ropes of the game, one which runs guild events, one for PVP players, One for merchanting for the guild, and one for resource farming.
While still technically autocratic, the sub-guild system allows for some delegation of power, splitting the hold from the hands of one, to the hands of a small group.
I’m still waiting for a game which finds an efficient way to implement a democratic form of government for the guilds. If I work out exactly how I would see it working, I’ll of course post it here.
Posed Question to the Readers: What do you see as the ideal form of governing a gaming group?
Tags: Game Design, MMORPGS, Autocracy, Clans, Democracy, DOMO, Dream of Mirror Online, Games, Government, Guilds, Politics, Puzzle Pirates, PVP
Topics: Game Design, MMORPGS | 7 Comments »
The real world can be inspiring
By Ravenhawk | June 18, 2007
A lot of gamers dream of being in game development. Or at least think of an idea or two that they think would be an awesome game, book, or D&D campaign.
But how many of them really would make a great game? At least a great game that isn’t a clone of something else they’ve played. If you really want to come up with ideas that are truly unique, you need to be getting your inspiration from places other than the medium you’re going to be working from.
You want to make a great RPG? Don’t just play RPGs. Play FPS, Fighting Games, Racing Games, Adventure Games. Then get out of your house. Look for inspiration in strange places. Go to the mall. Watch the people, watch the way they interact, what they do. Walk down random isles that you’d never normally go down in the store. Look at all the weird stuff and just think to yourself other uses that shape could go to, strange things the item could be used for…
There are a million ways to gain inspiration, but the best way is to go out and do things that you don’t normally do. Putting yourself out of your element forces your brain to work. Sure, you can come up with the best new clone of FF3 ever made just by playing all the RPGs out there.
Or you could play other types of games, and come up with something truly original…
What interesting places have you found inspiration?
Tags: Game Design, Games, Inspiration
Topics: Game Design, Games | 1 Comment »
Welcome to the land of Perry
By Ravenhawk | March 25, 2007
David Perry is a name I would expect to be at least vaguely familiar sounding to a lot of gamers. He’s been in the biz quite awhile and made a lot of games including the Earthworm Jim series, smash TV, and (one of my favorites) Cool Spot. (You played the 7-UP dot).
Currently, he’s moved his works completely into the Massively Multiplayer Online spectrum. He’s running 2Moons, which is your typical clicky MMO, Bots, which is kind of like Medabots, only MMO, Dance (think MMODDR) and a project known as “Top Secret Project.”
Top Secret Project is basically, a community designed project. Everyone gives input and ideas and eventually, one person will be selected to actually run the creation of this MMO. Its like a big “Who wants to be a Gamer Designer” contest.
It’s pretty cool, the ideas going around are pretty rad. He decided to make the theme a “racing” mmo.
You could check it out over at http://topsecret.acclaim.com/
He’s also got a rather cool wiki for those of you who want to be game developers. Like all Wikis, its open source. It’s a collection of articles, resources, and tips for would-be game developers of all types. Designers, Programmers, Graphics, etc.
If you want to check it out, head HERE. (Emphasis obvious enough?)
You probably have a good idea what I’ve been looking into the last few days, eh? I doubt I’ll win the Top Secret Project, but it might be a nice place to make some contacts. And I’m always pumped to get good programming tuts.
Until next time, comrades.
Tags: Game Design, Programming, Acclaim, David Perry, Top Secret Project
Topics: Game Design, Programming | No Comments »
Railroads! Developer Chat log.
By Ravenhawk | February 11, 2007
Here it is ladies and gents, as promised, the chat log for the dev chat. I made a few minor edits, in order to make it more readable, and cut out all the people entering and exiting the room. I also had to cut out all of the less than symbols because blogger was complaining. I haven’t editing any of the Q&A, though.
Sadly, none of my questions were answered, but a few times people ripped off my question and then got answered, so I guess its the same thing.
Ravenhawk entered chat room ‘Central Command’: Wed, Feb 07 14:55:52 2007
[15:00] [Xfire] matteox: if you are ready, let me hear it in the unofficial chatter room!
[15:00] [Xfire] matteox: OK ENOUGH
[15:00] [Xfire] matteox: Time to start :-)
[15:00] [Xfire] matteox: Welcome to the Railroads! chat
[15:00] [Xfire] matteox: We are very excited to have with us 4 members of the Firaxis development team behind the awesome Sid Meier game.
[15:00] [Xfire] matteox: Ask your questions in the question room and stick around for the end where will be giving away 10 signed copies of the game!
[15:00] [Xfire] matteox: So now, a virtual round of applause, and we will get started.
[15:01] [Xfire] matteox: If you all could introduce yourselves now, we will get started!
[15:01] [Xfire] matteox: …
[15:01] fxsbucknaked: Greg Foertsch LEAD ARTIST
[15:01] [FXS]SLewis: Hey everybody! I’m Scott Lewis and I worked on the interface for Railroads!!!!1
[15:01] [FXS]DMagaha: Hi, I’m Dan Magaha, Producer
[15:02] [FXS]DWuenschell: Good evening. I’m Don Wuenschell, Lead Programmer.
[15:02] [FXS]DMagaha: As you can see Greg LIKES TO SHOUT HIS TITLE
[15:02] [Xfire] matteox: and now for the questions !
[15:02] fxsbucknaked: nice
[15:03] [Xfire] matteox: Remember to not spam the question room! Have fun!
[15:03] fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Jubjub: Gamefreak: One thing I really enjoyed about the demo was the theme and overall feel of all the game’s components. To me, it seems like this game really meshes well with Pirates! and Civilization IV. Were you concerned about keeping the same art design cohorent across all of these games?
[15:04] fxsbucknaked: The art direction between Pirates Civ IV and Railroads, just sort of evolved
[15:05] [FXS]DMagaha: ComradeGeneral: Why made you choose railoads? Why not shippings or trucking, etc?
Good question — this was pretty simple actually, Sid visited a really interesting model train museum in Germany a year or so ago and it really reminded him how much he enjoyed making the original Railroad Tycoon.
[15:06] [FXS]DMagaha: 5Ronin¦ ïmķřǻžịә ®: Will you be making any expansion packs?
That’s really up to Take Two, but we’d love to! Be sure to let them know you’re interested!
[15:06] [FXS]SLewis: -[aBn].NetGhost^: How long did the developement cycle for this game last?
A little over a year.
[15:07] [FXS]DMagaha: That was a year of a full team’s production time. Sid had been working on his prototype for a while before that, and there was some pre-production time as well.
[15:08] fxsbucknaked: Gamefreak: One thing I really enjoyed about the demo was the theme and overall feel of all the game’s components. To me, it seems like this game really meshes well with Pirates! and Civilization IV. Were you concerned about keeping the same art design cohorent across all of these games?
It wasn’t a conscious decision necessarily, but our worlds tend to be very bright and vibrant. It has started to evolve into a bit of a Firaxis style now.
[15:08] [FXS]SLewis: Gamefreak: What was the hardest part of creating this game? The easiest?
From a design point, balancing the expectations of established players of the Railroad Tycoon games and making it accessible to new players. From a programming point, I’d say the train routing code was incredibly hard. :)
[15:08] [FXS]DWuenschell: What are your thoughts on developing for DirectX10 and Vista?
We’re looking forward to what DX10 has to offer, especially where it concerns all video cards having the same base specifications. :) We’ve been working as hard as we can to make our games compatible with the “Games For Windows” requirements which falls nicely into the Vista area. The thought is that the next couple games we make will be more fully integrated into the Vista shell.
[15:11] [FXS]DMagaha: BigSchnitt: Do you anticipate making the game more in depth into the realism of railroad operations, meaning switching, yards, Some of us train fans would like to see a more realistic approach to laying out the tracks and signalling system, also, do you plan ot incorporate the advent of the trucking industry and the effect of that dynamic on the RR industry?
That’s not really the focus of this game — and one of the key reasons we decided NOT to call this “Railroad Tycoon 4″. I kn
[15:12] [FXS]DMagaha: That’s not really the focus of this game — and one of the key reasons we decided NOT to call this “Railroad Tycoon 4″. I know a lot of people have questioned our decision to make this a more “mass market” title, but we really wanted to try to make something that would appeal to an audience from kids up to grandparents, without overwhelming anyone with complexity. I think it’s hard to maintain the game’s focus if you throw too much in there, so we tried to resist the urge in that regard.
[15:12] fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Jubjub: Gamefreak: What was the hardest part of creating this game? The easiest?
The hardest part of developing the game was finding a zone graphically between the need for realism and being able to present the game in a stylistic way.
[15:13] [FXS]DMagaha: Daryl: Is there any intention of adding a “speed” setting (similar to what is in Civ4)? A lot of people are upset that the new engines come and go too quickly and the game overall is over with in a flash.
Not in the core game, but we’ve exposed the variable that controls this to the XML in the latest patch, so users can create their own scenarios and control how fast time passes.
[15:13] [FXS]SLewis: ^HCDD^Sgt.Maj.LeClair: Is your studio just going to stick with Stratigy games??
Well, Pirates! wasn’t exactly a strategy game, but we feel that creating strategy games is one of Firaxis’s best strengths. While we may make some games in the future that aren’t all strategy, don’t expect a rhythm game from us anytime soon.
[15:15] [FXS]DMagaha: Ed: Was multiplayer a key point during the design of this game? Was it regarded as an important feature that needed to be perfect before release?
We had a lot of success with Civ IV in leveraging multiplayer as a tool to help get a game up and running early for playtesting and balancing purpose — you don’t have to have a fully functional AI to see how much fun the game is, because you have REAL intelligence! A nice side benefit was that all that early MP showed us how much fun it was.
[15:15] fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Jubjub: Gamefreak: Can you all talk a little bit about what its like working with Sid? Is he really the rockstar people think he is? ;)
Sid is really great to work with and is even a better person than he is a designer. The past 12 years working with him have been great.
[15:16] [FXS]SLewis: chuckaroo05: Did you enjoy working on “Railroads!” and did you have an interest in the setting of the game?
Railroads! was the best experience I’ve had making a game. I got to work with a fantastic team and I feel we made a fun game that we hope you enjoy. I’ve played the other RRT games, but I’m not a full on model train guy. I mainly enjoy strategy games, and where I saw Sid and the team going with Railroads, I started reading books about railroads and paying more attention to the train
[15:17] [FXS]SLewis: chuckaroo05: What was the best part about working on “Railroads!”? The worst?
The best part I’ve mentioned (the team and the design), the worst part was all the stuff that we wanted to get into the game but didn’t have the time.
[15:17] [FXS]DMagaha: Daryl: What drove you to use such small maps? …
That was one of our first design directives from Sid, very early on. He didn’t want the typical RTS with sprawling maps you had to scroll all over the map to see what was going on. It also comes from the merging of model scale and real-world scale. Landscapes at Real-world scale can be quite empty and boring, and we wanted the screen packed with cool stuff.
[15:18] [FXS]SLewis: Admiral Yilla: BUCKNAKED mentioned that he has worked for the company for 12 years. That is a lot of experience, how much time have the rest of you spent at this company?
I’ve worked at Firaxis for around a year, been in the industry around 4.
[15:18] [FXS]DWuenschell: “…how much time have the rest of you spent at this company?”
I have only been at Firaxis for four years but I worked at another developer for 10 years before that.
[15:18] [FXS]DMagaha: Adm. Yilla: I’ve been here nearly eight years.
[15:19] [FXS]SLewis: [ZiiP]Lazzars: with this new take on the Tycoon series, will there be any chance of another Alpha centuri game?
Unfortunately, EA owns the rights to Alpha Centauri and we’re owned by Take 2.
[15:19] fxsbucknaked: fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Jubjub: ComradeGeneral: Did the team visit any actual trains, railroads, train stations, etc. to get a better feel for the game?
Yeah, we did a ton of research. The B&O museum in Baltimore is awesome and has a ton of reference. We have stacks of books and videos as well. We also have a guy here (Todd B.) from Poptop that is an absolute Train guru.
[15:20] [FXS]DMagaha: EkaInfinitos: While developing the game, how much research was done into the accuracy of the portrayed enterprise?
We do a lot of games with a historical basis, so we try to keep things, in general, as historically accurate as we can, but we are also not shy about taking creative liberties if we feel it makes the game more fun. We ALWAYS believe realism takes a back seat to fun. But on this title we did plenty of research into the time periods, trains, people, and so on.
[15:20] [FXS]SLewis: kaInfinitos: In your opinion, how important to the overall experience is a game’s soundtrack?
I think it’s incredibly important, as important as graphics. Unfortunately it’s hard for people to hear how the cool the game sounds from picking up the box.
[15:20] fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Jubjub: Parsia: What do you suggest as an entry point into the game industry? I personally am a grad CS student mostly working on Information Retrieval .. but I don’t guess haveing CS education would be the main factor
Internships! and go to GDC
[15:22] [FXS]SLewis: 5Ronin¦ ïmķřǻžịә ®: How did you guys design the interface?
Lots of iteration and user testing. We’d mock stuff up in powerpoint, get a feel for what we’re doing, then get it into the game and see how it played. Sometimes things would go in without radical changes, but most of the time it went under a number of revisions.
[15:22] [FXS]DWuenschell: What is your favorite aspect of “Railroads!”?
There are a couple things that I like about “Railroads” but I guess my overall favorite is the ability to steal…er…deliver the goods that another player is bringing to a city. :) I also enjoy doing nothing but creating lots and lots of track.
[15:22] [FXS]DMagaha: Fat People Die Young (UK): What your be your tips to become a game designer??
Play as many games as you can. Practice writing up critiques of what worked and what didn’t, be disciplined. Try to put yourself into the shoes of a first time player. Learning to program helps, because you can try your own ideas out and find out what works and what doesn’t. Joining mod groups is a great back-door into the industry these days that did not exist when many of us started.
[15:23] fxsbucknaked: Xfire] Jubjub: Chugg-Vodka: What programs did you use for the modeling in the game?
We use 3D studio MAX for modeling as well as some zbrush (though not on Railroads). Photoshop is a texturing staple and we used World Machine to help generate the terrain height maps.
[15:24] [FXS]DMagaha: Gamefreak: In brief: What’s Next?
We’ve got several projects in development, but none of them are announced so I can’t tell you or we’d have to kill ya! We did just release Pirates! for the PSP, though, and it’s great!
[15:24] [FXS]SLewis: Anach. ISDP: do u guys play alot of PC games?what kind RTS,FPS,MMORPGS?
Yes. Company of Heroes is fantastic and I still play Civ4. I thought Defcon was excellent and love Nethack. I played World of Warcraft for a weekend until I realized I hadn’t spoken to my wife for over three days and decided to stop.
[15:24] fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Jubjub: Anach. ISDP: do u guys play alot of PC games?what kind RTS,FPS,MMORPGS?
I tend to play a lot of team based FPS and RTS’s most of the time.
[15:25] [FXS]DWuenschell: What editing tools do you provide for the user? Will it allow us to create our own custom scenarios and maps?
When making the game, we had an in-game editor that our map builders were using. It wasn’t all that nice for the general public to use. With the latest patch, we cleaned up the interface and we now allow anybody to create their own maps. There is also the option to create larger maps as that was something that people were asking for.
[15:26] [FXS]DMagaha: Anach. ISDP: do u guys play alot of PC games?what kind RTS,FPS,MMORPGS?
I play a lot of games on my 360 to see what’s out there. On the PC I really enjoyed Titan Quest and Heroes of Might and Magic IV, and if I could ever get my copy of Company of Heroes back, I’d love to play it. It’s a popular game here. I still enjoy playing Soldier of Fortune II and the original Half-Life multiplayer, TeamDM only. Shotgun justice ftw.
[15:27] [FXS]SLewis: Gamefreak: What games are you looking forward to in 2007? Spore? Crysis? Supreme Commander?
Spore could be sweet; I really want to try it out. I was a huge TA fan back in the day and I want to get Supreme Commander soon. I’m also looking forward to Fire Emblem on the Wii, but that’s not a PC game.
[15:27] [FXS]DWuenschell: do u guys play alot of PC games?what kind RTS,FPS,MMORPGS?
I’ve been playing a lot of Wii and DS games lately. Currently playing Rayman on the Wii and Hotel Dusk on the DS.
[15:28] fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Supercop007: What editing tools do you provide for the user? Will it allow us to create our own custom scenarios and maps?
Other than world machine and photoshop, you guys have access to all of the tools that the artists used to make the maps. World Machine is actually a really inexpensive piece of software as well, and you could use MSpaint in place of Photoshop.
[15:28] [FXS]DMagaha: Gamefreak: I see from your comapny’s website that you’re just now shipping Pirates! on the PSP. Do you have any more plans as far as porting games to the consoles (hand-held or not) or developing new games specifically for them? Any chance we’ll see Civ on the Wii? (Hey, a man can dream, right?)
We’re all gamers here — I think we’d love to make DS and Wii games. It’s largely a matter of finding the time and getting people at Take Two excited because they know the market is clamoring fo
[15:29] [FXS]DMagaha: We’re all gamers here — I think we’d love to make DS and Wii games. It’s largely a matter of finding the time and getting people at Take Two excited because they know the market is clamoring for those games! Write your congressman! :)
[15:29] [FXS]DWuenschell: Alot of Firaxis produced games aare often long timescaled games, especially civilization. Do you plan on releasing any shorter time games that can be easily played online without having to save games or reload them or play overnight?
Well, Railroads! is one of them! ;)
[15:29] [FXS]DWuenschell: Do you have any “dream” games that you would like to develop?
[15:29] [FXS]DWuenschell: Sorry.
[15:30] fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Jubjub: EkaInfinitos: Do you have any “dream” games that you would like to develop?
I’d love to do another version of Alpha Centauri or an RPG, maybe even another version of Pirates
[15:30] [FXS]SLewis: Ed: I’ve noticed a lot of Firaxis games are purchasable on Steam. Do you see the ability to buy games online and download them as the way of the future or is it something you do to simply reach a wider audience?
I think Gettysburg! (or maybe Antitum) was available for download years ago long before Steam. Buying games online is a great way to go.
[15:30] [FXS]DWuenschell: Do you have any “dream” games that you would like to develop?
I’m an old-school gaming guy at heart so I would love to find a way to bring some of the older adventure game ideas into current gaming styles.
[15:30] [FXS]DMagaha: EkaInfinitos: Do you have any “dream” games that you would like to develop?
I want to make a TBS based on the 70’s cult classic sci-fi flick “The Omega Man”, which in turn is based on Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend”. I’d combine that with elements of “Lucifer’s Hammer” and everyone’s favorite badass Apple II game, Oregon Trail. It would be awesome. It would sell 5,000 copies.
[15:31] [FXS]SLewis: Chugg-Vodka: Do you all love your Jobs?
I’m not a big Mac guy. (ok, that was bad, sorry.)
[15:31] fxsbucknaked: [Xfire] Jubjub: Chugg-Vodka: Do you all love your Jobs?
Absolutely! Most of all the team on Railroads was the best I have ever worked with.
[15:32] [FXS]DWuenschell: Do you all love your Jobs?
I couldn’t think of doing anything else. The people here are great.
[15:32] [FXS]DMagaha: EkaInfinitos: When you hit a “slump” in development, does the team do anything special or crazy to refresh themselves?
Yes. I flog them. Either that, or play ABBA over the PA system. You’d be surprised how quick that makes a “slump” disappear.
[15:33] [FXS]SLewis: Gamefreak: How do you all feel about episodic gaming? Is this something Fireaxis is interested in or no?
Most of the games we make don’t fit well into an “episodic” setup, but what Telltale and Valve are doing are great in that area and if we ever have the chance I think it would be fun.
[15:34] [FXS]DMagaha: Chugg-Vodka: Do you all love your Jobs?
I grew up playing Sid’s games on my C64, so being able to be here working with the man and making games is quite literally a dream come true. And, the guys I’ve been fortunate enough to have on my teams here have been unbelievably good.
[15:35] [FXS]SLewis: Ravage|Toukichiro: Have you ever mod popular rts games such as warcraft 3?
I haven’t modded WC3 , but I played quite a bit of DotA. Does that count?
[15:35] fxsbucknaked: EkaInfinitos: When you hit a “slump” in development, does the team do anything special or crazy to refresh themselves?
Sid works so fast, as an artist, there is no time to slump. You are so busy making art for him that there really isn’t a slow time. The artists do get competitive, especially the guys that were modeling the trains, always trying to out do each other.
[15:35] [FXS]SLewis: Daryl: Can I send you guys doughnuts next time I’m in Maryland?
Yes, please! I like Krispy Kreme.
[15:36] fxsbucknaked: Daryl: Can I send you guys doughnuts next time I’m in Maryland?
Doughnuts are great, but beer is better :)
[15:36] [FXS]DMagaha: [WNx]OçüLt: Do any of you have kids ?
Yes, my son is 18 months old, and my wife and I are expecting a baby girl in June. We have a lot of other parents at the studio, but in general, I think this industry is growing away from the “20-something single nocturnal dweller” stereotype :)
[15:37] [FXS]DWuenschell: Do any of you have kids ?
No kids. My wife says that one kid in the house is enough for her.
[15:38] [FXS]SLewis: Ravage|Toukichiro: What type of college degree does it take to break into making games? Where did you get yours?
For a programmer, I’d recommend a computer science degree. I have a CS degree from Georgia Tech, and I have a masters degree in human-computer interaction.
[15:40] [FXS]SLewis: Baku de chef(Rae): What was the funniest experience, while gaming this game?
When we didn’t check to make sure you couldn’t delete other player’s trains lead to one very funny multiplayer experience.
[15:40] fxsbucknaked: Ed: Recently I saw a video of a Red Bull contest the Firaxis team joined in which they constructed a flying train. Were any of you on that team and aret here any memorable events not captured on that video you’d care to share?
Several guys from the art team were involved with that (The Train modelers and one of the Animators). Most of the team went down to the harbor to watch the event. The guys involved were all sick for several days after going into the harbor as well.
[15:40] [FXS]SLewis: Ńєєβ§™: What do all feel about easter eggs? Any in Railroads
We’d love to have time to put them in.
[15:41] [FXS]DWuenschell: What type of college degree does it take to break into making games? Where did you get yours?
To go along with what Scott recommended, something that will set you above the normal CS degree candidate is if you have created a small game of your own that you can send to the company when you send in your resume.
[15:41] [FXS]DMagaha: Daryl: Firaxis has been revisiting Sid’s older, much-beloved games, … I remember an old bundle … that also included Covert action … This is a great game that needs to be revisited, and could help Firaxis move out of the pure strategy game if you want to.
Speaking as a fan, I would love to work on Covert Action! I think it would make a great DS/Wii game.
[15:42] [FXS]SLewis: [ZiiP]Lazzars: do you feel your well suited to make games for the (lets face it) young gmaing audience or are your games aimed more towards the more gown up gamer?
I think almost everyone on the team is kinda old, but also completely immature. We can do anything.
[15:44] [FXS]DMagaha: im a baker!!>>>>>>>: you say you’ve been looking forward to DX10, but other, more controversial, progressions in the gaming idustry include ingame advertising, datamining and anti-piracy systems like starforce., what’d you’re stance on consumer rights?
Though probably not politically correct, I’m a big fan of consumers owning the box they bought. I don’t like copy-protection in general, because the casual copying it stops seems like a pyhrric victory compared to issues legit customers hav
[15:44] [FXS]DWuenschell: ” you say you’ve been looking forward to DX10, but other, more controversial, progressions in the gaming idustry include ingame advertising, datamining and anti-piracy systems like starforce., what’d you’re stance on consumer rights?”
I, personally, don’t like the in-game advertising. I think that’s as bad as the blatant product placement in movies. If there is any information that the game is to give to the publisher or maker of the game, it needs to be told up-front to the player and..
[15:45] [FXS]DWuenschell: …should also allow the player to NOT send that info.
[15:45] [FXS]SLewis: Parsia: do u bring in fans for a small preview to accumulate their reactions or do u go out and face the wind with your own assumptions of the game ?
We bring in people from around the area to try out the game. Almost everyone at Firaxis is a hardcore gamer, so it’s difficult to get a good read unless we get fresh people in and watch them play and struggle with the game sometimes. In my opinion, it’s the best way to make your games easily playable.
[15:47] [FXS]DMagaha: Neither Ninjas nor Pirates. ZOMBIES, duh!
[15:47] [FXS]SLewis: Ya, Zombies.
[15:48] [FXS]DMagaha: Or, Giant Robots. I think it’s a tie between Zombies and Giant Robots
[15:48] [FXS]SLewis: Strategist: WHen you have made the game, do you have a strong sense of accomplishment when its become a success, or do you just enjoy playing the game and finding bugs that you really think you should have fixed during production, or thinking up new idea’s you really should have implimented before you put the game on the shelves.
It’s a mix of all of those things. The game always could have been better, but it’s the best feeling when someone enjoys something you worked on
[15:49] fxsbucknaked: im a baker!!>>>>>>>: which stereotype suits you’re workspace more? super clean areas with high tech hardware, widescreen plasmas and the like, or the opposite end, a tower submerged in crisp packets and empty soda cans, with a crt poking or somewhere in the mess?
The second option, lets face it,my office is a mess. But I do have the best monitor set up in the studio. So a bit of both, but I am mainly the second.
[15:49] [FXS]DWuenschell: “the pathing and ability to get many trains going between citiesis more difficult than ever before. Are there any reasons for this and will there be a fix for it?”
This was an on-going struggle throughout the whole game as different people build different track layouts. To get the trains going at their optimum, you would want linear pieces of track. Making multiple loops and multiple connections to everywhere gives the trains too many ways to go and may end up going in a direction…
[15:49] [FXS]DWuenschell: … you don’t want it to go.
[15:49] [FXS]DMagaha: ^HCDD^Sgt.Maj.LeClair: You always take bold moves in directions that no one else has dared, how do you feel your games always appeal to gamers and are mostly always successful?
Sid is really focused on the experience of the new player, who has never played your game before. I think we choose to focus on the most important elements of the game and let the rest take place in the player’s imagination. In a lot of cases, I think games try to show the player everything…
[15:49] [FXS]DMagaha: … and I think that makes your brain shut off :)
[15:49] [FXS]DWuenschell: …We are continually working on ways to improve this.
[15:50] [FXS]SLewis: EkaInfinitos: When you play competittively with each other, does it result in a fearsome battle of ultra doom because you know every aspect of the game?
Yes. Always a fearsome battle of ultra doom, but with more cursing and name calling.
[15:51] [FXS]DMagaha: [=NA=] §àrgôn: What was the most sucessful game that you helped create ?(could be Railraods soon!)
In terms of sales, Civ IV, though I believe Pirates could have outsold it had it been released under a different publishing situation.
[15:51] fxsbucknaked: EkaInfinitos: When you play competittively with each other, does it result in a fearsome battle of ultra doom because you know every aspect of the game?
I’ll admit it, I am not so good at this game, and am by far the worst of the devs. I am always to busy looking for art issues.
[15:52] [FXS]DMagaha: So for Greg, there is a lot of doom, but usually it’s HIS Doom
[15:53] fxsbucknaked: very true
[15:53] [FXS]DWuenschell: “what do u think of the problem (of) not mature games released and then bombarded with patches (e.g. some RPG games involving NIGHTS )?”
We do what we can to eliminate the need for this but there are always configurations and ways of playing a game that our internal and external testers do not find.
[15:54] [FXS]SLewis: -[aBn].NetGhost^: Do you end up bringing your work home with you or are you able to keep the game development to office hours, and have you ever been in a situation where you get a break though and are not at the office?
During crunch time, you spend most of your time at the office. Usually you get a bit of a break after the game ships or as the next one is ramping up, but there is typically a big long night at the end to get everything done.
[15:54] [FXS]DMagaha: Parsia: Games in essence are programs, we need to spend time to optimized them . what do u think of the problem in today’s games? Not mature games released and then bombarded with patches
That’s a very tough question. Gamers continue to demand bigger, more complex games, and the cost of games has remained relatively flat relative to inflation. Yet time and schedule pressure have never been higher. Something has to give. Right now, we as an industry compensate by having people…
[15:54] [FXS]DMagaha: … work unbelievable amounts of hours
[15:54] [FXS]SLewis: (The long night for Railroads lasted about 2 1/2 months)
[15:55] [FXS]SLewis: mattycat9000: Who is your favorite baron?
Jay Gould! He looks like a hobo!
[15:55] [FXS]DWuenschell: “In any point in production, did the trains crash into each other? (now sometimes they go through each other, like ghosts!)”
Actually, throughout all of the development, the trains always stopped for other trains. The ghosting trains was added in later in development so that the player didn’t have to worry about track configuration.
[15:56]
(BigSchnitt) (Peon (Mute)) has entered the room>
[15:56] [FXS]SLewis: [Xfire] MasterRen: [WNx]OçüLt: during your years in college what games intrested you?
Mario 64, Command & Conquer, NiGHTs, The Sims. . .
[15:56] [FXS]DMagaha: A little personal soapbox about patches, btw: when I started playing games, a lot of them shipped with fatal bugs and there WERE no patches. There were ways you could botch a session of Wasteland and flush 30 hours of gameplay forever. So I think we as gamers have a selective memory when we talk about how awful things have gotten. The fact is today, games are supported better and longer than ever before.
[15:57] [FXS]DWuenschell: during your years in college what games intrested you?
Any adventure game that came out from LucasArts. The writing was always top-notch and the graphics had a very nice style to them.
[15:57] [FXS]SLewis: Oh yeah, Lucasarts adventure games were fantastic.
[15:57] fxsbucknaked: -[aBn].NetGhost^: Do you end up bringing your work home with you or are you able to keep the game development to office hours, and have you ever been in a situation where you get a break though and are not at the office?
I tend to work a lot at home. It is pretty hard to turn it off and therefore, I often do a lot late at night. Most of my break throughs happen when I am not here.
[15:57] [FXS]DMagaha: [=NA=] §àrgôn: In any point in production, did the trains crash into each other? (now sometimes they go through each other, like ghosts!)
We wanted to have train crashes, but we ran out of time. We weren’t going to do it unless we could get full physics implemented and really do a mushroom cloud :) I suggested making that the basis of an expansion called “Train Wreck Edition” but for some reason marketing thought better of that one…
[15:57] [FXS]SLewis: 5Ronin¦ ïmķřǻžịә ®: When tension ran high at the office, who relieved the pressure with a funny joke or comment?
I typically put things on my head and spoke about coupons.
[15:58] fxsbucknaked: mattycat9000: Who is your favorite baron?
Without a doubt, Vanderbuilt
[15:59] [FXS]DMagaha: [WNx]OçüLt: during your years in college what games intrested you?
Fallout, Planescape Torment, NHL ‘95, Mortal Kombat II, Shining Force, etc…
[15:59] [FXS]DMagaha: Unfortunately Greg never did learn how to spell Vanderbilt.
[15:59] [FXS]SLewis: ComradeGeneral: Any chance of having a space-based trains type game? Like Sid Meier’s Transport Shuttle!
You heard it here first; preorder your copy of Transport Shuttle today!
[16:00] [Xfire] matteox: OK We are about out of time
[16:00] [FXS]DMagaha: That’s right, all ten of you who would buy that game, email Scott directly for details.
[16:00] [Xfire] matteox: i will let the guys finish up here
[16:00] [FXS]DWuenschell: “Do you end up bringing your work home with you or are you able to keep the game development to office hours, and have you ever been in a situation where you get a break though and are not at the office?”
There were many times when I took work home and, yes, I would get breakthroughs at the worst possible moments. Waking up at three in the morning, getting out of the shower, in the middle of a 4 hour car ride to visit the parents. When I could…
[16:00] [FXS]SLewis: (I was kidding, though that did make me laugh)
[16:00] [FXS]DWuenschell: … I would call my office phone and leave myself a message.
[16:01] [Xfire] matteox: OK…
[16:01] [FXS]DMagaha: Thanks XFire guys and fans. I gotta get home and catch Gilbert Arenas light up the Spurs. HIBACHI!
[16:01] [FXS]SLewis: LATER!
[16:01] [Xfire] matteox: Nice…thanks Firaxis!
[16:02] [FXS]DWuenschell: ” Do you think your codeing is efficent because my dad is always saying that nowadys programs are less efficent do you think that this is true?”
I would like to think my coding is efficient but I know that’s not the case. The overall speed of newer processers has allowed programmers to get sloppy with their code. I’ve done work on Commodore 64s and early Intel machines so I do what I can to keep my code fast but readable.
[16:02] fxsbucknaked: Bye guys
[16:02] [FXS]DWuenschell: Enjoy!
Tags: Game Design, Firaxis, Railroads, Sid Meier, Xfire
Topics: Game Design | No Comments »
Game Making and the Importance of the Design Document
By Ravenhawk | October 22, 2006
There are many people out there who wish that they could create video games. While many of those are two lazy, or don’t have the resources or time, to go out and learn any programming language, a large variety of game making programs are out there to help them.
And so they download such programs as “RPG Maker 2000″ and “Game Maker” and attempt to go forth and make a game, armed only with a brilliant idea and some sprites ripped from a SNES rom. Not that I have any problem with RPG Maker. Some quite entertaining games have arisen from it.
The problem that arises with many of these would-be game makers is that no real planning has gone into what their game will look like. Or how the mechanics will work. What they lack, is planning.
The amature games that do end up being brilliant, the ones that you play and they’re just as good the professionals, often hold but one thing over the games that really bite: Meticulous planning.
Not that this lack of planning exists only with those making games without programming skills. Those who learned programming are just more likely to have learned to plan out their projects. Writing out what you need your program to do in psuedocode helps you put together a project a lot easier.
It’s what is known as the Design Documents. Within them are not only drawn out how you want your town to look, but what your npcs are going to say, how your plot is going to evolve and the mechanics behind your clever little fishing minigame.
Only once this is done does the programming, or drag and drop depending on your media, begin.
When this are clearly planned out in the beginning, your end product is going to be a lot cleaner. Lets face it, Gamers can tell when a game was sloppily put together. So if you want your audience to enjoy your games (And why else would you make them?) you have to make sure to put some solid planning into it.
While this won’t gaurentee your game is the next best thing since sliced bread, it will help make the end product a lot closer to the super awesome idea in your head.
Until next time comrades,
Tags: Game Design
Topics: Game Design | No Comments »