“The debut E3 trailer set the graphical bar high for the Ubisoft developers, as far as current gen is concerned they get a pass but the 360 and PS3 ports have come under a lot of criticism.”

The initial sales figures suggest that Ubisoft hopes of a new franchise to add to their development rooster might come to fruition. Over 4 million copies sold in its first week, making the game the best-selling new IP at launch. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot commented last month that they hoped to sell as much as the first Assassin’s Creed title which sold more than 6 million copies. At the current rate of 4 million in a week Watch_Dogs should easily surpass any of Ubisoft’s predictions and with a WiiU release still to come in September. With such impressive sales and generally positive reviews there is no doubt that the Ubisoft heads will be cracking the whip for their Montréal development team to get back to work on a sequel. In fact last year the Head of Sales and Marketing at the company Tony Key made the comment “That’s what all our games are about; we won’t even start if we don’t think we can build a franchise out of it. There’s no more fire and forget – it’s too expensive.” in reference to the then in development Watch_Dogs. A statement that reflects Ubisoft’s current catalogue of games that are mostly made up of sequels or games based on existing properties. Nobody can really blame the publisher from taking a conservative approach when faced with new IP, video game budgets have increased tenfold in the last decade. The likes of GTA V costing Rockstar over $250 million, with the company relying on the games accumulated reputation to shift copies and recoup the costs. Even if Ubisoft have to take a hit financially on the first release with planned sequels the can account for the initial loses in the franchise.

“A small hitch in the games release as arisen over a bug that causes players to get stuck on the games loading screen. Uplay, Ubisoft’s digital distribution service is suspected to be at fault.”

In an interesting move the publisher has also tasked their film division Ubisoft Motion Pictures to start drafting up a film script for Watch_Dogs. It seems a little earlier to planning a movie adaptation for a series that is so new but then again they are already thinking of the long term plan for this would be franchise. Ubisoft have already made plans for all their other major franchises to get the silver screen treatment, the Assassin’s Creed movie gathering steam with a late 2015 release date announced and Michael Fassbender attached as the lead. The video game industry in fact is beginning to mirror their Hollywood counterparts in some respects. At the top end of the industry the big players favour content that will be able to offer them significant return over a long period of time as opposed to a quick flash in the pan. It would be hard to envisage the pitch session for Goat Simulator with the executives at EA or Activision and the publisher drawing out plans for the game as a franchise. Disney planning out a road map for their highly successful Marvel series of films right through to 2021. The big movie producers favour adaptions over original screenplay, the video game industry taking a similar stance.  At the other end of the scale the indie scene has exploded in popularity with new IP finding great success in what can be sometimes a swing and miss sector of the industry. For as many triumphs like Minecraft and DayZ there are there are ten times as many failures among them. The indie movie scene following a similar failure success rate among the films released over the last few years.  However the more important issue surrounding Ubisoft’s movie studio is will we finally see a decent video game adaption in the cinemas, the video game community doesn’t needs another Prince of Persia movie.

“The film is still in early pre-production with no indication of what role Michael Fassbender might be taking on; Altair, Ezio or Connor?”

Taking a look at some of the other major publishers, paints a similar picture with already establish IP getting the go ahead and financial backing. EA like Ubisoft seemed to have taken a gamble with new IP Titanfall, but then again is it much of a gamble when working with Vince Zampella a proven hit driven developer. No doubt EA have plans for Titanfall to be what Call of Duty has become to Activision with Zampella the man behind that particular franchise. The same could be said of Take-Two interactive and their new IP Evolve that is set to release later this year. Not so much a gamble with Turtle Rock at the helm, the same team that was behind the highly successful Left4Dead franchise. These games also seem to be perfectly suited for a host of DLC releases and eventually sequels. It is becoming rarer and rarer that a game will be made with a definitive end point. Modern video games are developed with the sequel in the back of the developers mind or at least at the top end of the industry. When a publisher is given a hit by one of their studios they always want more. The video game fans also playing a part in this, the community endless speculating on sequels and follow ups. With E3 just around the corner the rumour mill is in full effect and rampant speculation abounds.

“E3 could have seen the big revel of the next Assassin’s Creed game if it wasn’t for those pesky internet sleuths leaking the news early. No doubt they will still have a few tricks up their sleeves for the event”

Watch_Dogs wowed fans at E3 2012 and the anticipation for the game only intensified over the following two years. The game has amassed encouraging sales in its first week of release and is surely on its way to recouping the development costs. Ubisoft might have been criticized for making such bold claims about the games future over a year prior to its launch. Most developers and publisher have future vision for their new IP but to come out and state those claims so boldly is not so common. If the games follow up can build upon the original and maintain the fans attention than their maybe hope for the future of the franchise. If not certain Ubisoft executives might have to back track on their previous statements.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Watch Dogs Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“The MOBA genre has seen a huge increase in popularity over the last few years and Hi-Rez studios will hope that SMITE can be a part of that growth.”

SMITE was launched with a closed beta in May of 2012 after debuting the game at PAX East the previous month. Although the term closed beta would denote a restricted number of players testing the game, when the game finally moved to the open beta stage the following January its player base was already up to 900,000. SMITE has been free-to-play throughout its beta stage, although like many other free-to-play games it relies microtransactions to help finance the continued development of the game. Due to the games increase in popularity it gave the development studio the impetuous to continue development and release regular content updates. No doubt development may well continue after the games official launch, to help maintain a strong player base. The games developers Hi-Rez Studios may have also noticed that the gaming community might see the SMITE launch go unnoticed. In response they have organized a LAN Tournament to be held in Atlanta over the weekend to celebrate the momentous occasion. Upholding their openness with the gaming community they have given players the chance to chip in on the cash prize on offer at the event. Initially set at $100,000, players can buy a custom skin for one of the game characters with the money going towards the prize fund. Now the cash prize is sitting at $185k, it is a question of how far will this level of community involvement lead too. Of course the contributors do receive a piece of DLC for their donation, but what’s next. If the development studio is late on the electricity bill or has to call out a contractor will there be a Kickstarter to raise funds to pay the bills or fix the plumbing. An overexertion of course but the video game industry has changed so dramatically over the last five years. From what was traditionally an obscured development process to now involving mass community engagement.

“Mojang have achieved legendary status within the industry not only because of their highly successful game but the method by which it was developed.”

The obvious example to point to as the origin of this current trend is the Swedish based developers Mojang and their game Minecraft. There is no doubt that Minecraft acted as a watershed moment for the video game industry, the extended and open development process of that game influencing many other to do the same. The game was available online to buy while the game was still in development. Players not only helped the development process by giving Mojang a few dollars to play the game, but also through community discussion and game mods gave the developers a clear idea of what the players wanted. Instead of hiring a number of QA testers to play an in house version of the game, the entire Minecraft community became Mojang’s bug testing team. The game continues to shaped by community driven feedback. In fact it’s hard to believe that Minecraft actually had an official release over two years ago at this point. For those players who bought the alpha version of the game for less than $15 back in 2010, they can still expect new and upcoming features for no additional cost. It is a question if the development process for Minecraft will ever cease, will there be a Minecraft 2 or is this game set to be in development indefinitely. Another game with a seemingly never ending development cycle is the much loved by gamers and NASA scientists alike, Kerbal Space Program.

“Squad a company based out of Mexico City operate as a marketing firm, who just happen to take a chance on a video game pitch from one of their employees.”

The game has now remained in the alpha stages of development for the past two and half years. No beta or official launch has been announced, which hasn’t stopped the game from racking up impressive game sales. Normal industry conventions would state that alpha builds of a game are for in house testing only and that releasing an unfinished buggy version of the game will hurt eventually retail numbers. This traditionally ideology surrounding the development cycle is been challenged by games like Kerbal Space Program, who buck the trend set by the major AAA studios. The move towards digital distribution spurred on by services like Steam has given developers the opportunity to offer their games for sale at increasingly earlier stages of development. What would have been financially impossible in the cd and cartridge days of the industry, selling an early build of a game can now in fact help fund the continued development of a particular project. The conversion of the ARMA II mod DayZ into a standalone title has benefited from such an approach. Released in December of last year on Steam as an early access alpha, DayZ sold over a million copies within a month. No longer do developers have to keep their fingers crossed throughout the development process, hoping that when the game is launch that it is a success. Instantaneous feedback can be received very early into the games development, reducing the financial risks that would have previously held back many developers.

“The hype surrounding DayZ was a major factor in its high number of sales, but will gamers be turned off after buying an incomplete buggy version of the game?”

The modern video game industry has caused the standard terms of alpha and beta to be redefined in a new context. No longer just versions of an incomplete game that would not be seen outside of the development studio save for a short testing period open to the public. Most AAA studios still stick to this model with information about an upcoming game only available through a few scant reports or planned media announcements. In the past it was only through unofficial leaks that gamers could get a chance to get hands on with a game prior to its official launch. Now the indie game scene has taken it a step further an offered up their games to the public from the get-go, with warts and all. The developers no longer keeping their game hidden behind the curtain until launch day but allowing the public to join them on the journey, to see that the game evolves to meet their wants and desires.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Smite Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

Anti-Piracy measures are nothing new, with a service like Steam requiring the player to sign in to authenticate their account and access their games. Nonetheless SimCity was a dismal failure as far as EA’s PR department was concerned, with the company already in a rocky relationship with the gaming community. It is no surprise then that it has been the indie game sector that of late has had a massive surge in popularity. Mainly due to its non-corporate approach to game design, where player experience is top of the list of priorities. AAA development budgets are now astronomically high in comparison to indie developers, rivalling Hollywood productions in terms of money spent on the project. Many indie developers are working on nothing more than shoestring budgets, with passion and determination the only driving factors.

“Even the most well planned out village won’t save the townsfolk from a harsh winter or natural disasters.”

Banished is the perfect game for those who have become dismayed at what has become of the SimCity series without Will Wright at the helm. Take SimCity and rewind a few hundred years, Banished is a city-building game that takes the concept and refines it down to it most basic components. Instead of managing an entire metropolis your task is the make sure a small village doesn’t go cold or hungry. That’s its most appealing characteristic, with no financial or macro management the game strategy is boiled down to a few core gameplay mechanics. The game operates on a barter and resource system where money is not present which makes sense for its pre-industrialisation setting. The balance between resources management and population growth is very finely balanced; with one harsh winter, an unexpected outbreak of disease or sudden fire can bring the village to its knees. It is this balancing act that makes the gameplay very additive. Its style of gameplay reminiscent of the Settlers series of games where the layout of your village can have a drastic effect on how the game plays. Place your villager’s homes to far from their place of work and good luck keeping your supplies stocked up. The games difficulty is as rewarding and it is frustrating, if it was too easy to build up a new settlement in the middle of the wilderness where would the fun lie. The only complaint would be that the villagers are all given randomly generated names, it’s like they say not to name the animal you kill for meat so you don’t become attached personally. When that notice pops-up that Lamberly the Miner or Sandell the Farmer died from hunger it really hits a nerve. Like an omnipotent god you’re responsible for their fate and take each death as a personal failure. The strive to do better is always present, with a harmoniously functioning village taking multiple failed attempts. The most amazing thing about this game aside from its well-crafted art design and gameplay mechanics, is the fact that it was solely developed by one man. Luke Hodorowicz is the one man team behind Shining Rock Software, founded in 2011.

“I build them a fancy tunnel but yet they decide to ignore it and walk over the hill instead, ungrateful villagers.”

Typically indie games by their nature feature small development teams, solo development is quite commonplace in this sector of the industry. However to make a comparison to a big budget title like SimCity or even some of the latest games in the Settlers series it is a wonder where half that money goes. How much marketing attributes to the over inflated budgets of these AAA titles. If a sole developer can produce a game as complex and rich as Banished, is there something to be learned by the big time developers. Of course a game like SimCity has far more complexity to it than a game like Banished, but it is a wonder if companies might consider returning to their roots and produce smaller titles. Ken Levine’s decision to close down AAA developer Irrational Games and his pursuit of a smaller more streamlined approach to game design, is an example of this. Levine commenting that he wishes to re-engage with the gaming community and a return to his development roots.

“Who knew how much food it takes to keep a small village of people alive? Apparently it’s a lot, either that or these villagers are just greedy.”

The increasing amount of openness in the development process of indie games, is a trend that doesn’t transfer easily to a major AAA game development. A multiplayer beta or early demo is as close as gamers get to the development process of typical AAA titles. Unlike the plethora of smaller indie titles that have early access builds of their game available to buy on platforms like Steam. DayZ a game not even in the beta stage of development has already raked up over a million sales at this point. Interestingly enough Banished is the one game that has managed to knock DayZ of the number one spot on the Steam sales chart, a place DayZ has occupied for the last three months. Rust another indie game rounds out the top three, with Call of Duty: Ghosts one of the biggest budget games on the list lagging behind the three small time developers. It is a clear indication that the indie game scene is thriving in an industry that is supposedly controlled by the big time publishers.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Banished Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“For a seasoned developer with a half decent Kickstarter pitch, money does grow on trees.”

Broken Age is a perfect example of this where Tim Schaffer a developer with a long illustrious career in the video game industry made a pitch for peoples support. His pitch involved creating an old school point and click adventure like the ones his known for such as Grim Fandango and The Secret of Monkey Island. Not really pushing the boat out in terms of innovation. Not to say that Kickstarter is alone in this regard to this practice, the major publishers work on the very same principle and not just in regards to video games but the movie industry as well. The point is that Kickstarter and crowd funding are not a new revolution in video game funding, in fact they are more akin to traditional publishing then most people realise. Just like traditional publishing agreement a lump sum of money will be given to get the project of the ground. The project then remains relatively closed off only open to those who invested in the project. Those investors or backers will often put pressure on the developer to complete the game and are reticent to give more money until they see a finished product. The one major difference between the two methods of funding is that a traditional publishers will receive royalties on the games sales whereas backers are left with a t-shirt, poster, signed print, etc.

“Chris Roberts crowd funded game Star Citizen has a lot to live up to with a $38 million budget sourced so far.”

Crowd funding is a good idea it will just take a number of years to work out the kinks in the system. One issues is the budgeting and clarity in the use of the finances received. In a traditional publishing deal the games budget will be worked out before hand and agreed upon between the two parties. If the budget goes over which many games do, it is accounted for in the original contact or the developer is forced to release early. Tim Schafer set an initial budget of $400,000 for Broken Age, he received over $3 million. Yet this still wasn’t enough and he was forced to spilt the game into two parts, using the sales of part one to fund development on part two. Last week’s article discussed The Banner Saga which was also a Kickstarter project. They asked for an initial amount of $100,000 and received over $700,000. A comparison of the two games that share a very similar gameplay length and an equally high level of hand drawn animations, make you wonder how Stoic achieved what they did with a budget four time less than that of Double Fine. What did Tim Schaffer spend all that money on? This is the sort of question a traditional publisher with legitimate financial control would be asking. Some have looked to help backers understand the production process such as VFX wizard Freddie Wong with his Kickstarter for the second season of Video Game High School. In his Kickstarter pitch he include a breakdown of what costs go into a major production like his. Honesty and clarity is the one thing sorely missing from many Kickstarter projects. Traditional publishers always have a contract with the developers to keep things in check, but what can a backer do if the product isn’t what they had been promised or where simple swindled out of their hard earned cash?

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Gaming Sidenote: Kickstarter Good or Bad? appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“I wonder if the creator of the Helicopter game harbours any notion of envy for Flappy Bird’s whirlwind success.”

As stated above the game is essentially the Helicopter Game, with a bird taking the place of the helicopter. The game challenges the player to fly the vertically challenged fowl through a series of green pipes that of course in no way resemble those of a certain Nintendo game. The player is rewarded for each set of pipes that they manage to pass through, the game becoming increasingly harder the longer it goes on. For most getting through the first few pipes is the initial stumbling block, with the bird’s controls been erratic at best. Flying like it’s the birds first day out of the nest not used to operating its wings. This been the main attraction of the game as it’s the difficult that is frustratingly addictive. If the player could simple pass through several pipes with ease, the appeal would be lost. Whereas a player who manages to make it past ten sets of pipes has a huge sense of achievement and wants to try again for more. Flappy Bird could be classed under the genre of a masocore game. The masocore genre of games are defined as containing trial and error gameplay with intense difficulty, which is designed to frustrate the player. The choice of platform has also served the game well as the smartphone is the new home for casual gaming. Although how many Apple and Android devices has been damaged in fits of rage over a miss timed finger tap leading to an abrupt end in flight.

“As soon as it started to climb the download charts, clones started to appear. Some looking to cash in on the craze others just creating humorous pastiches.”

The games creator similarly followed the path his games titular character and has come crashing down after a short lived ascent. Dong Nguyen a developer hailing for Hanoi, Vietnam is the focus of a media storm that has been revolving around him over the last few weeks. Interestingly the game had been on the market for the more than six months before it saw its surge in popularity. The game was released on the app store in May of last year but only came to the attention of the gaming community in early January. Its spike in the rate of downloads so long after its release has led some to question Dong Nguyen on suspicion of market manipulation. Nguyen has not made any official comments on the alleged use of shady methods to increase its rank in the app store. Not that any of this matters as the game has now been pulled from both the Apple and Google app stores. Nguyen citing the stress and unexpected attention he came under due to the games popularity, as the one of the reason for the games removal from the market. He has also stated that he is unhappy about the levels of addiction that people are experiencing with Nguyen’s intention to create a game that players would pick and play on a casual bases. It seems like Nguyen has decided to take the moral high ground and save gamers from his highly addictive game.

“$4,999 is a little ambitious by this seller. Nobody can be that desperate to play this game, can they?”

As soon as the game was taken down on the 9^th of February, outrageous offers were placed on smartphones with the game pre-installed on online auction site eBay. Some “Flappy Bird Devices” demanding in the region of $10,000 as a starting price, even though selling devices with pre-installed software goes against eBay policies. Those who missed the boat and want to experience the addictive frustration of Flappy Bird but lack deep pockets to shell out for a pre-installed smartphone. Can look no further than one the numerous clones that immediately sprang up in the wake of the games success. It’s not at all surprising to see other developers looking to leech of the success of a popular game, but now with the original off the market the clones stand a good chance to have their own moment in the spotlight. Splashy Fish an Ironpants the two apps battling it out be crowned the new Flappy Bird successor. Flappy Bird stands as a testament to our modern age, were success is instantaneous and is only present for a fleeting moment before it falls back into obscurity. With the game of the market and its creator looking to return to a private life, how long can its popularity last? It would be a surprise to hear that the game still been talked about in a few months’ time. Unless this is all just a massive PR stunt and Nguyen is going to return to the limelight with the announcement for Flappy Bird 2?

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Flappy Bird Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

Montague’s Mount

“Montague’s Mount is not lacking in atmosphere, with the intent of creating an inhospitable and creepy island setting of the Irish coast achieved.”

It’s a pity that this game is unlikely to succeed with the promised follow up probably unlikely with so much negative feedback. The Irish video game industry needs as much success as it can get, if it wants to compete with the big boys on the world stage. Unlike other game development countries Ireland relies heavily on the indie gaming scene, with the major industry players like Havok and DemonWare not directly involved in the development of games. Since PopCap pulled out of Dublin last year there is a void of high end developers making games in this country, Activision/Blizzard in Cork the only remaining AAA developer. The hope is that one of the many indie developers in the country will hit it big and generate interest by AAA studios to come to Ireland, in the same way the Canadians achieved their place at the forefront of game development. The potential for this growth was demonstrated at the recent indie developer’s event State of Play.

“Christopher Colston of PunchScreen Games talking about Dwarves with glorious beards and Polish bears fighting aliens”

The event is now in its third year with a growing number of speakers, demonstrators and attendee’s year on year. The event is a chance for any aspiring indie developers to showcase their wares to an audience of fellow game design enthusiast. It is also a chance for developers to talk about their experiences in the video game industry and any upcoming projects that they are involved in. Talks came from those who had worked in the mainstream industry and are now looking to make it on their own, others were taking their first steps into game development. Some studios like BitSmith Games and Redwind Software have already had relative success in the industry. Although referencing a comment made by one of the speakers on the night, being the most successful developer in Ireland is equivalent to being the tallest Hobbit in the Shire. As a nation in the video game industry we are men among giants. It is set to be an uphill struggle for any new development studio to get widespread recognition beyond these shores. However there is light at the end of the tunnel with studios such as Pewter Games picking up awards for their Windows App game Galactic Tactics.

The potential for growth is there, whether it can be coalesced into a sustainable and more importantly profitable industry is another question. One man on a mission to answer this is Scraggly Dog Games founder Jamie McCormick, his aim as someone who has vast experience in the industry is to help as many Irish indie developers achieve success. His company in conjuncture with the establishment of GetIrishGames.ie, a digital hub for all Irish game studios to have the ability to get their games out to as wide an audience as possible. The site is set to go live in February of next year with developers from all 32 counties encouraged to get in contact and have their games made available on the service.

“Can a site like Get Irish Games maybe one day rival the likes of Steam or Green Man Gaming?”

If the site is a success it could pave a way forward for indie game development in this country. Hopefully encouraging bigger publishers and develops to cast an eye towards Ireland as a potential market for investment. Places such as Vancouver and Montreal in Canada or Austin in the US, have managed to do just that. By cultivating and nurturing the indie game development scene in their own cities, they have managed to become hotbeds of video game development. Can the likes of Dublin, Cork, Galway etc. copy these models and attempt to emulate their achievements. Aside from the odd set back a game like Montague’s Mount has suffered it is not reason enough to draw a line in sand and give up. It is events like State of Play that give hope and breeds life into an industry that so far has remained largely dormant in this country, it is long past time for the Irish video game industry to wake from its slumber.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Montague’s Mount Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

However away from the media circus that revolves around the mainstream titles in the industry, I have being looking into the indie titles that aren’t necessarily any less popular but without the hundreds of thousands spent on marketing. A few titles that have looked to tackle subject matter and gameplay mechanics that aren’t often covered by mainstream video game culture. Games that don’t operate on the same business or development cycles as is expected in the video game industry.

The post Top 5: Indie Games of 2013 appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

Only a handful of games look to give the player an insight into the lives of those who lived behind the iron curtain. Although Papers, Please is set in the fictitious country of Arstotzka bordered by a number of equally imagined territories, it is an obvious analogy to cold war era Soviet Union. The game transports you into the role of an immigration officer tasked with protecting the borders of the motherland from those who wish to harm or exploit it. On the face of it sitting in a booth checking passports and stamping visas seems like a pretty dull concept. It seems with the plethora of games on the market that any real life task or job can be turned into a game that really shouldn’t e.g. Street Sweeper Simulator, Chemical Spillage Simulator or basically any game released by Excalibur Publishing. However unlike the others the soviet era veneer that is layered over the top of this seemingly dull concept is what makes it stand out from the rest. The graphics re-enforce this tone with the whole game taking on the look of an 8-bit grey and gloomy soviet era cartoon, with the slightly eerie and distorted feel to the faces of the games inhabitants. It’s that style that sells the game, as if it were an ultra-realistic depiction of a fully 3D rendered border station the gameplay would actual start to feel to real and thus make you think why I’m playing a game to work a job with no financial gain. Which is why an interesting moral and political sub plot is introduced were the player has to decide whether someone who spins you a sob story should be allowed into the great land of Arstotzka and risk them being a terrorist in disguise with the aim of causing harm to your fellow countrymen or deny them and risk the financial penalty of a citation for turning away an innocent visitor. As the game progresses the task of assessing those risks becomes more complex with various forms of ID and piles of documents to scan over for any discrepancies. Over all a solid game that takes a repetitive task and adds enough style and moral dynamics to make it fun and rewarding, especially when you find that sneaky Kolechian hiding a bomb under his jacket and get to send him off to the gulag.

“I think a concealed weapon is reason enough for denial, those Kolechian’s will try anything to hurt the motherland.”

Papers, Please was released last week on Steam after coming through the Steam Greenlight program, this is just one of fifty games that have come through the Greenlight program to be eventually selected for Steam distribution. There are also 90 games that have being Green-lit and are awaiting a full retail release. The Greenlight programme started just over a year ago in August of last year and since then has been meet with mixed reactions. It started as an offshoot of the Steam Workshop that allowed developers to upload mods and have user vote on the best ones. The aim of the Greenlight program is to have developers submit their games to the service were the steam community will vote for those that they want to see on the main Steam service. It seems like a valid way to promote indie games and allow interaction between the developer and their fans. Recently Valve introduced a $100 entry fee for anyone wishing to submit their games to the service, with the money going to the Childs Play charity. It was in reaction to the high number of spam and fake games being submitted, in order to deter such submissions. The new policy however was meet with a little trepidation with some arguing that such a high price would also deter small time developers who didn’t have the finances to pay the fee. There is also the issue of the selection process with the number of games getting a full release relatively small according to some. I would have to argue that the small amount of games that do get Green-lit show that Valve are taking the approach of quality over quantity. Anyone can browse the list of game awaiting approval and quickly understand why such games will continue to wait do you really want to play such gems as Sloth Patrol or Voxel Elephant Murder Simulator. Valve themselves have admitted that they would like to increase the number of Green-lit games, but I think people need to realise the amount of work that goes into getting a game ready for release on Steam. Even just purely from a server bandwidth point of view, Valve have to be sure that the game is worth the time and effort to put up on their service for retail. Some games are better just out in the wild on standalone website or on other indie gaming platform such as Kongregate. It’s a question that is asked of every user browsing the games on the Greenlight service “Would you buy this game if it were available in Steam?” it an important distinction between would you play such a game as would you hand over your hard earned cash for said game.

“7 Days to Die a voxel based zombie survival game has being gaining a lot of attention on Greenlight lately, zombies are popular who knew?”

There’s a certain similarity between Papers, Please and Steam Greenlight where your put in charge of deciding somebodies fate whether it be denying an unlawful Repbulian across the border or judging which games deserve a retail release on Steam. I think a service like Greenlight shows a way forward for developers who want to avoid the traditional publishing process and work directly with Valve on digital distribution. Although like with any form of medium it still depends on whether people like your content enough to want to buy it, this has led to some developers feeling frustrated when their game that may have been popular elsewhere fails to find traction on the Greenlight program. It seems like there are always new and innovate systems being developed for developers to find a market for their games. The well establish companies still often prefer to work within the old system, but for indie game designers there are a host of options when it comes time to reveal their masterpiece of programming and art design to the wider world.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Papers, Please Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“The game is built with the source engine which definitely adds to the Portalesque feel to the game”

The game revolves around the exploration of a rundown abandoned building that places many hazardous and seemingly impossible to navigate challenges in front of you. You start out in a room trapped with impassable pile of rubble in front of you and it would seem there is no way out, that is until you spy through your very fetching spectacles that you carry in your hand. Through the eyepiece you can see what appears to be the previous state of the room before the unexplained apocalypse caused the building to fall into disrepair. Then by using your one power you can temporarily open a gateway to the past and easily navigate the once obstructed path and that pretty much sets you on your way with multiple rooms of obstacles and challenges that can only be navigated by dipping in and out of the past. The one thing that held my attention throughout the game which is beautifully rendered, with the eerie decrepit building really setting the scene for the game but I have to say it was the looping animation on the characters hand that kept drawing my eyes away from the rest of the level. I don’t know if it some sort of lava lamp type affect, but I could not stop looking at the hypnotising motion. I’ve rarely seen such a smooth animation for a hand in an FPS game. The game was created as part of the academic course at the University so it’s only a short demo but the basic gameplay mechanics and unique visual concept could be expanded out into a fully fledged game.

“Everything looks better through rose tinted glasses or in this case magical blue tinted see into the past glasses”

The game was created by a group of student from the Singapore campus of DigiPen University under the team name Minus5 they include Zoel Gan, Ravindran Mark, Tan Chee Ming, Chan Sin Huan, Leau Tat Sin and Zou Xinru. The games creators have a little bit of a vanity streak by placing themselves in the game as portrait caricatures that hang on the walls and can be collected to unveil a hidden secret within game. The Minus5 team give some insight into the game development process in this interview which you should read if you want to find out more. You can also download the game from the DigiPen Game Gallery and see what you think about it.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Sidenote: Entering the Void appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

Minecraft is probably one of the most talked about games in the industry at the moment and its creator Markus Persson more affectionately known as “Notch” is hailed as a pioneer breaking new ground in the video game development scene. In a recent documentary that explored the success behind Mojang which is Notch’s company, many industry veterans such as Peter Molyneux and Tim Schaffer quoted Minecraft’s development process as being an inspiration for them to break away from the industry standards and attempt to emulate Notch. However both have opted to use Kickstarter to fund their projects and have not followed the same development path as Mojang did with Minecraft. It seems that many were praising Notch and his successful development process but few were looking to imitate that process until last week with the release of Don’t Starve an open world survival game that does bear a lot of similarities to Minecraft, most important of which was the development process.

In order to give some context to my argument a brief history of Mojang and Minecraft would help. Notch released the first version of Minecraft in May of 2009 with its initial title of “Cave Game”. These early indev versions of the game was more a test of Notch’s procedural generated landscape programming more than a game, however with interest in the game growing the development quickly picked up pace even with Notch still working another job at the time. When the game reached the Alpha stage of development and Notch increased the charge which had been introduced in the indev stage from €5.00 to €10.00, and with sales passing 200,000 units he had found his source of income and could leave his job at JAlbum.net and work full time on the game. To speed up development Notch used the money gained from the initial Minecraft sales to start his own company and hire his friend Jens “Jeb” Bergensten to help with programing. By the time the game reached open Beta in December of 2010 it had already garnered a lot of attention from the gaming community and reached a million sales by January 2011. It was that community that helped guide Notch with the development of the game, with updates being heavily influenced by the modding community that sprang up around the development of the game. Its sales were also driven by the huge number of content creators who used the game to film machinima series, how to guides and whole multitude of videos all using the Minecraft engine. It final release was celebrated with much fanfare at the first Minecon Event that took place in Las Vegas on the 18 November 2011. The game continues to be updated for free with ports of the game being released onto smartphones, consoles and even the raspberry pi computer. The current combined sales figures easily put the game over 20 million units sold, vindicating Notch and his development process.

“Is Minecraft the most influential game of our time?”

This brings me to question the likes of Peter Molyneux and Tim Schaffer and there supposed revelation and influence gained by watching the rise of Mojang and Minecraft. As was demonstrated by Notch with his free to play model evolving into a low cost pricing structure as the game continued to be developed, is clearly replicable to anyone with a good idea for a game. If the game isn’t popular enough then the developer can simply stop and not waste any time or money and go back to the drawing board and reassess. The Kickstarter model however doesn’t allow for that, developers our given all the money up front before any of the consumers have seen the game and then they are forced to deliver the product even if they feel the game will not succeed or the development process isn’t working out as intended e.g. Haunts: The Manse Macabre. There are claims that the community will be involved in the process but it is hard to see how with either no playable demo or a closed off beta which can hamper the creation of user created content that clearly helped in the development of Minecraft, with most updates for the game simply given a reply to what the players wanted or had already modded into the game. I know in previous articles and comments online that I have made clear my opinion and scepticism about Kickstarter and crowd funding in general, but it purely comes from the influence of Notch and his development process. He has proved that anybody in the industry can start from nothing and build themselves up with support from the community once they have a good idea and the determination to follow through with it. The various industry veterans claim that the need x amount of money to reach certain development goals which from the evidence of Minecraft is untrue. These AAA development stalwarts are still clinging to the old ways with an individual(s) haven to give them start-up money before they will risk any development time on the game. They have forgotten where they started with the likes of Peter Molyneux publishing and distributing his first game “The Entrepreneur” by himself. It seems that it takes adventurous indie developers to break the industry norms and look to establish new ways of developing games.

“How much money do developers really need when Notch has achieved success on a shoe string budget.”

Now finally onto the game in question Don’t Starve made by Klei Entertainment who have also produced other indie titles such as Shank and Mark of the Ninja. Klei Entertainment decided to copy the development cycle that Notch pioneered and apply it to their own project. The development started late last year with the game been sold on the same low cost pricing structure, as with Minecraft the earlier in the beta that the player buys the game the cheaper it will be. They have also release constant updates during the development process, given themselves the ambitious target of releasing an update every other week which they have kept too so far and just like Minecraft they have also promised to continually update the game for free after its final retail release. The game itself contains very stylized art aesthetic and is based on the open world survival genre. It might draw some similarities to Minecraft and even raise a few criticisms of plagiarism but it is more that Minecraft has now set a precedent for a new genre of open world survival and Don’t Starve just happens to fit into that category. It feature an isometric view that really enhances its gothic inspired 2D graphics that almost gives it a pop-up storybook feel. The player is tasked with traveling around the map gathering food and resources in order to survive, all the time avoiding the many mobs the litter the landscape who would like nothing more than to tear you to shreds (hounds will cause you to turn tail and run whenever they spot you). The key aspect of this game is survival unlike Minecraft which focuses more on terraforming the world and creating amazing buildings and structures out of blocks (Voxel Box will make your Minecraft creations look like playschool art projects). Both games warn you not to venture off into the wilderness at night in fear of dangers you might encounter, however once you become accustomed to dodging a handful of skeletons and creepers you can freely explore Minecraft night-time landscape, whereas if you were to take one step into the invasive darkness that surrounds your must have campfire you will find yourself at the sharp end of a unseen monsters teeth and claws. Suffice it to say you spend most of the night huddled by your fire replenishing it with logs and fuel not daring to let it burn out, this is a game that is truly about survival that even has you battle with your own characters ever failing sanity (wearing a garland of flowers seems to level him out though). There is plenty of end game content to discover once you get used to the basic survival mechanics with plenty of object and tool crafting and exploring of mysterious relics that will keep you well entertained for hours on end.

“Very dapper, now I only have to worry about the constant starvation and the treat of multiple enemies but at least I have my top hat.”

Don’t Starve and Minecraft has shown that video game developers have the ability to publish their own games and don’t need to rely on venture capital from major publishers or crowd sourcing projects like Kickstarter. If gamers are offered a cheap or free version of a development stage game and it is well received then there is no need to worry about time and costs as the fans will fund the development process through their purchases of the game. It is how many of the big time publishers like Activision starting by self-published their own games which fund the company’s future growth. This model is even easier to achieve in the current video game climate with a host of free game engines available to work with and a multitude of online distribution outlets allowing anyone to create and publish a game for little cost once they have the drive and determination.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Don’t Starve Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.