“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.

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Myst

“The Myst franchise is still alive and kicking today, with the recent successful Kickstarter campaign for Obduction. Set to be the spiritual successor to the Myst series.”

The game started as an idea by two brothers Rand and Robyn Miller who had founded their own video game studio Cyan Inc. in 1987. The pair started out by making adventure games aimed at a younger audience, Myst however was the game that would bring their company to the attention of the industry. The initial development started in 1991 with the brothers working out the puzzles and the level design with the narrative storyline coming later. Sound was also quite low on the list of priorities with the brothers feeling that any sort of soundtrack would distract from the core gameplay. Upon play testing the game with the music added it was soon became clear that not only did it not interfere with gameplay but actually made the game as a whole better. The games most notable feature was its graphical capabilities that stood out against previous attempts at creating 3D visuals. The technique to implement the high resolution graphics was to pre-render all the games environments, the resulting images and videos linked together by scripting commands. Essentially acting as an interactive multimedia slideshow, the regular jokes over the games “slideshow” mechanics would later lead Cyan Inc. to develop a fully immersive open world version of the game in 2000. The method of pre-rendering the games visuals was not pioneered by Myst but helped popularizes the technique and influenced other game developers follow suit. Myst also helped boost the sales and popularity of CD-ROM drive that was a requirement for anyone wanting to play the game.

“The game received its very own comic parody in the form of the 1996 release Pyst, even featuring the acting talents of John Goodman.”

When the game was released in September of 1993 it was met with instant critical acclaim and financial success. The reviewers at the time saw Myst as an evolution for the medium with its engaging visuals and interactive morally driven storyline. That critical praise helped Myst become the best-selling PC game, racking up 6 million in sales to date. It record only broken in 2002 when it was surpassed by The Sims. Cyan Inc. would continue to work on the Myst series producing follow up titles over the subsequent years but none of them reaching the same commercial and critical heights as the original. Receiving various sequels and multiple platform ports the Myst series all in all would end up selling 12 million copies. Earning its place in the annals of the video game industry as a title that attempt to break new ground and usher in a new age of graphical technology for video games.

The post Compendium: The Age of 3D Myst appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“The lead designer Ted Peterson had initial worries about the games development after talking to fellow industry peers who doubted Bethesda ability to deliver on such an ambitious project.”

The original development briefs outlined an arena combat fighting style game. The player would travel around from town to town fighting with a team in gladiatorial like battles. The idea of side quest available outside the arena combat was only secondary to the initial planned gameplay. However as the development progressed these side quest started to take more precedence over the arena combat, with the explorable world expanding out to vast cities and multiple dungeons beyond in the wilderness. It wasn’t long before the idea of a medieval gladiator style fighting games was abandoned in favour of a full blown RPG fantasy title. The shift change in the games development was influenced by the games developers’ love of the dungeons and dragons series, with other fantasy games like Ultima Underworld and Legends of Valour also offering inspiration for the development team.

“The team behind The Elder Scrolls series has always seen the importance of establishing a rich and deep narrative. The backstory and lore of the games universe seen as important as gameplay.”

The game was not set to just emulate these influential titles but wanted to surpass them with The Elder Scrolls: Arena. The one design element that set Bethesda’s game apart from the competition was the sheer size of the game world. The entire map outside of the pre-set towns and cities was randomly generated populated by enemies and NPC’s. The game was one of the few in the series to allow the player to explore the entire continent of Tamriel, so large was the map that without the fast travel feature the game was near impossible to play. It could take the player several hours to walk from one town to another or several days to walk to a city in another province. The game was also known for it’s notoriously difficulty for new players, with high level enemies spawning right from the beginning unlike later titles that have enemies level up with the player.

“The Elder Scrolls series is now heading into its 20th year with the release of its latest title Elder Scrolls Online a venture into the MMORPG genre.”

Even though during development the combat fighting elements where replaced with RPG style gameplay, the original title The Elder Scrolls: Arena still stuck. Mainly due to the game’s material having been already printed using the original title. The misleading title and a missed Christmas 1993 launch date led to some early poor sales, only 3,000 units being shipped for the initial March 1994 launch. The subsequent negative reviews and high hardware demands made on the player’s machines didn’t help the flagging sales. The development studio heads worried about the future of the company if the game failed to boost sales, which it managed to do through word of mouth and a rerelease “Deluxe Edition” launching late in 1994. The game soon becoming a cult hit with plans for a sequel in the works in the same year. Bethesda Softworks now had a franchise to establish, with an expanding fantasy universe to explore and build upon.

The post Compendium: The Elder Scrolls appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“Those gamers hoping to pick up where they left off in Skyrim are going to disappointed about the lack of dragons and the powers that come with been the Dovahkiin.”

The answer has to take various factors into consideration and look at the MMO’s that have tried to emulate WOW but ultimately failed. The first aspect that has to be addressed is that this article is only taking western released MMO’s into consideration as Japan and the East Asian market has released to many MMO’s to mention. Although I would still wager that WOW holds more sway then many of these regionally released games. The most recent case sample for judging the potential success of The Elder Scrolls Online would be Bioware’s The Old Republic. The MMORPG based in the highly popular Star Wars universe and what seemed like concept that couldn’t fail. Despite the fact the game idea was not new with Star Wars Galaxies launching in 2003 to only be shut down in 2011 due to lagging subscriber numbers. Nonetheless the fanfare and anticipation that surrounded Bioware’s new game prior to launch would have more than eased the concerns of any anxious executives. Four years after its initial announcement, in December of 2011 it was launched and less then twelve months later it switch to the free-to-play model. Initially it saw its subscriber base growing to 1 million within the first three days, making it the fastest ever growing MMO to date. Those numbers failed to increase significantly enough over the following months and prompted the publishers EA to reconsider their options, eventually making the game free-to-play. Not to say that problems faced by one game will be the same for another, but those at ZeniMax Online might take heed and not count their chickens before they have a solid subscriber base.

“For a franchise that has proved so popular in various different video game genres and other forms of media, Star Wars MMO’s seem to be cursed.”

A slight advantage that ZeniMax Online might have is that their MMO is based on a game series that has a long establish history in the industry. Granted it’s not like Star Wars was new IP and Bioware had worked on the very successful Knights of the Old Republic previously. The Elder Scrolls franchise however has a twenty year long history of giving fans the best RPG experience in the genre. The question is can a series that has been solely been based on a singleplayer experience make the crossover to the multiplayer realm. From the early beta testing and tentative reviews of retail game it seems like ZeniMax Online might be onto something. It’s too early to tell if the game is a success with The Old Republic seeming like a sure bet in its first few months post launch. Other MMO’s series have even managed to maintain a solid user base without massive number. Guild Wars opted for the one time purchase subscription method, it has allowed them to maintain 400,000 concurrent users and even produce a sequel. All the same I’m sure ZeniMax Online will want to do better and compete in the big league alongside WOW.

“Once again Elder Scrolls fans will be able to explore the rarely visited corners of Tamriel, from the sands of Hammerfell to the swamps of the Black Marsh.”

The Blizzard team on the other hand are surely not wiping sweat from their brow with worry over the launch of ESO. WOW is a game that came out nearly ten years ago and still has nearly 8 million subscribers according to figures from the end of last year. The subscriber base has actually increased in the last number of months; most likely due to interest peaked with the announcement of the next expansion Warlords of Draenor. The Elder Scrolls Online beta received 5 million registered users, which is not a bad start but turning those players into long-term subscribers is another matter. This is the essential problem faced by any developers wishing to get into the pay-to-play market; the gameplay experience must live up the monthly subscription fee. ZeniMax Online is taking a risky venture by charging $14.99(€10.87) per month to play ESO. WOW only charging $12.99(€9.42) in comparison, not to mention that Xbox One users will have to cough up for an Xbox Live subscription alongside the $14.99/mo. fee. The developers stating that ‘significant’ DLC set to be regularly released post launch justifies the high price point. Bethesda Vice President of PR, Pete Hines has stated that there is no intention of using the free-to-play approach in regards to ESO. Reasoning that quality is better than quantity, creating better gameplay experiences at the expense of a larger user base. It’s a gamble that might work with the Elder Scrolls series known for its richly detailed worlds and immersive game experiences. However in the MMO game it’s all about the numbers and it will be interesting to see how certain opinions might change if ESO fails to gain any traction.

“Blizzard’s last expansion pack didn’t go down that well with gamers; however they will hope Warlords of Draenor be a hit for the aging MMO.”

It stands to reason that a highly successful RPG franchise should have no problem taking their dedicated fan base and bringing them over the MMO genre. Then again the average video game fan is a fickly beast that could easily see The Elder Scrolls Online detracting from the series. Other Elder Scrolls properties that tried to make the jump over to other genres, like The Elder Scrolls Travels games that failed to gain any favour with critics and gamers alike. All of the questions about ZeniMax’s venture into the MMORPG genre will be answered over the coming year. Will the game be able to hold the attention of its subscribers, facing tough competition with the upcoming expansion for WOW due to launch sometime this year.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post The Elder Scrolls Online 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.

“The player takes on the role of a nameless space marine fighting through hordes of the damned set on invaded the realm of man.”

The development for the game began in 1992 after the release of Spear of Destiny the sequel to Wolfenstein 3D. As with the companies previous titles it was the engine that powered the game, which would be as crucial as the game itself. Prior to the start of development Carmack had carried out some research and experimentation for the companies next engine. The result was the ShadowCaster engine that featured improved graphical elements but was too slow for their action orientated games. It was not used by id but was licenced to Raven Software and used in their game titled ShadowCaster. The experimentation would lead Carmack to build out the far superior Doom engine also known as id Tech 1. Differing level heights , full texture mapping, varying light levels and non-perpendicular walls all helped set Doom a field apart from their previous effort Wolfenstein 3D. The level designer could now implement atmospheric conditions and visual aesthetics to improve on what was in some ways a static experience in their previous 3D titles. Wolfenstein 3D was the base on which id built the far more technically and graphically advanced Doom. During the development process a level of conflict arose between the creative director of the game Tim Hall and the rest of the team. Hall was unhappy about the level of violence featured in the game and wished for the company to return to the Commander Keen series of games. Initially opposed to the games themes, Hall conceded and set out to write up a comprehensive design document known as the ‘Doom Bible’. Hall set out in it a highly detail backstory and narrative for the game, however when presented to the rest of the team it was rejected. Carmack feeling that such a detailed plot was unnecessary for what was a fast paced action type of game.  Hall left the company just months before the games release; he would later use material from the ‘Doom Bible’ in his own games such as Rise of the Triad and Terminal Velocity.

“The level of violence in Doom not only lead to the resignation of tier creative director, but also caused some in the medium to question its influence on violent behaviour.”

Hype for the game had been steadily building prior to its release, with even an unauthorized alpha build of the game find its way onto the web. Just as with its previous titles Doom was distributed through the shareware model, with the first part of the game released online on December 10 1993. Although most users just played the free version, over a million copies of the full game were sold. The popularity of Doom was in no question with the game becoming wide spread within a matter of months. It addictiveness with gamers causing some companies to set policies banning the game from the workplace. One company in particular whose employees were utterly obsessed with the game was Microsoft. So much so Microsoft’s owner Bill Gates had contemplated buying id Software, ultimately Microsoft went on to develop a Windows 95 port of the game to help sell their operating system. Bill Gates appearing in a Windows 95 showcase presentation, superimposed into the one of the games levels as part of promotional video. It marked a point at which games were moving beyond their own sphere of influence. Companies and individual not directly linked with the video game industry could now see the growing popularity in the medium. Doom helped video games breach the divide between their own industry and the wider world.

The post Compendium: Doom Knee Deep in Development appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

Titanfall

“Medal of Honor marked a turning point in video game narrative, were games could now attempt to emulate Hollywood in terms of grandiose storytelling.”

Following the release of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault some of the developers including West and Zampella decide to leave 2015 Inc. and form their own studio. The limitations imposed on them by their employers and the control on the creative process by the publisher EA, forced 22 members of the development team to break away and establish Infinity Ward in 2002. Interestingly 2015 Inc. has only produced one game since the mass departures and has not seen the same level of success as it had with Medal of Honor. Infinity Wards funding was boosted in the beginning when the publisher Activision bought up 30 percent of the company. The studio went straight to work on its first title a WWII themed FPS, following on from the experience gained with their previous game. Call of Duty was released in October of 2003 and was an instant classic, with mission structures and narrative techniques that their previous publisher EA had disagreed with. The most iconic mission of the game, forcing the player to fight through the besieged city of Stalingrad with only a clip of ammunition and no weapon. An idea that was unthinkable in the FPS genre, a reason why the game was a success and spawned an acclaimed franchise. When WWII shooters became too commonplace West and Zampella decided to shake things up and produce Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Again Infinity Ward proved to be the studio at the forefront of the FPS genre setting the trends and game design conventions that others would attempt to emulate.

 “The original title in the series received its very own rerelease on the next gen system in 2009, known as Call of Duty Classic.”

Just as the second Modern Warfare title was breaking all sales records decent was brewing between Infinity Ward and their publishers/owners Activision. West and Zampella were aggrieved about the lack of royalties afforded to them by Activision, based on the success of the latest Call of Duty release. The ensuing conflict resulted in Activision firing both West and Zampella on the grounds of “breaches of contract and insubordination”. The reason for the dismissals was in reaction to a supposed meeting that took place between the pair and EA, to which Activision was not privy too. The subsequent legal battle of lawsuits being filed by both parties would mar the establishment of West and Zampella’s new venture Respawn Entertainment in April of 2010. Just as in the case of 2015 Inc. a large number of Infinity Ward’s development team left the company, 48 resigning from Infinity Ward with 38 of them joining West and Zampella at Respawn Entertainment. Activision has tried to maintain the high level of quality and strong sales figures for its Call of Duty franchise even bringing in another development studio to help get the games to market. Although sales figures have been annually smashed with each subsequent release aside from Call of Duty: Ghosts, the critical acclaim and public opinion has waned of late. Now after four years in the making Titanfall is finally on the market, but can the Respawn team do what they have already managed multiple times before and reshape the FPS genre.

 “It’s a game of cat and mouse between the fast and agile pilots; and devastation brutal giant titans.”

The development of Titanfall has not been without its level of turmoil with long time development partner Jason West leaving the company for personal reasons. Although the nature of his resignation has been a matter of rumour and speculation, with West’s erratic behaviour and discord with Zampella possible reasons for his split with the company he co-founded. Zampella is now flying solo and we will get to see if he can do it on his own. Judging from the response of the beta released in late February and from the early Metacritic scores it looks like Respawn is on to a winner. Just as Zampella and his team have always done in the past they have not settled just to follow along with the crowd. The FPS genre of late has becoming increasingly stagnant, with little in the way of innovation coming out of the genre for the last number of years. A few gameplay tweaks and graphical improvements seem to be enough for most developers, with new IP falling by the wayside in the face of established franchises. Titanfall is attempting to draw influence from a myriad of different sources to push forward the evolution of the FPS genre. The most distinctive feature of the new Zampella title is the lack of a singleplayer narrative, with the game only featuring multiplayer gameplay. Not that this is something new in the FPS genre with the original titles in the Battlefield series featuring only multiplayer modes. However for Zampella this is breaking new ground since the singleplayer narrative has been as much a crucial part of his previous games successes as the multiplayer component. Iconic gaming moments such as the storming of the Normandy beaches and the first-hand experience of a soldier post nuclear blast, have helped Zampella earn his high ranking status in the industry.

 “Will we see a reunited West and Zampella in the future, somewhat debatable with the apparent success garnered by Titanfall under the solo leadership of Zampella?”

Probably the far more interesting point about Titanfall’s online elements is that the game relies on some of the AI components to be handled by Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform. Essentially this means that the game is online only, with the AI hosting and physics calculations handled by Microsoft’s servers. It is also bad news for gamers living in regions without the Azure service like South Africa, who have understandable become quite upset. They have even gone as far as to petition EA and Respawn to have a South African release of the game. Not helping the issue is the fact that Xbox Live experienced a momentary technical hitch on launch day. Aside from the few regional grumbles and Xbox Live outages, nothing much has been made of Titanfall‘s always online requirement. This is good news for Titanfall publisher EA who suffered a calamitous PR disaster due the resulting backlash that followed the botch launch of their always online title SimCity. It’s interesting that prior to launch nothing has been made of Titanfall’s method of offloading some of its processing tasks to the cloud. Granted from the outset Titanfall is sold as a multiplayer game so certain level of internet connectivity is expected from the outset. All the same the video gaming community was ready with torches and pitchforks at the announcement that the Xbox One would need to be connect online at least once a day. Never mind the fact that for much of the western world regular online connectivity is pretty standard. Here we are less than six months post launch and a game that requires a similar feature, no angry mob in sight. It is amazing how video game fans can go from extreme statements of vitriolic fury to quiet and subdued acceptance. Obviously Titanfall is just that good of game that such heated opinions can put aside. Gamers are clearly very enamoured by giant mech’s, to let go of such issues.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Titanfall Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“Although not the company first game it was the title that brought them to the attention of the wider industry and media alike.”

The history of Wolfenstein 3D is intrinsically linked with the fortunes of the games creators’ id Software. The company was founded by four employees of Softdisk, a publisher and developer of disk based games sold with computer magazines. John Romero, Adrian Carmack, Tom Hall and John Carmack all came together to form id Software in February of 1991. The four had developed and released their first title Commander Keen the previous year and instead of pitching it to their bosses, had used a third party publisher. Scott Miller of Apogee Software had been impressed by the teams work and offered to publish their games through his shareware model. A method were a small part of the game was released for free with the rest of the game sold by mail order. Due to the success of Commander Keen Softdisk soon realised the potential in their four employees and offered to form a new venture with them. The four declined and went their own way with id Software, publishing their future games on the shareware model with Apogee Software. The Commander Keen series would help the company establish it’s self in the early days and gain some level of recognition within the industry. A key part of the company’s business strategy has been the licensing of their game engines that power their various titles. The “Id Summer Seminar” in the summer of 1991 was an event held to find prospective buyers of id Software’s Keen engine. It spiritual successor QuakeCon is the annual event were new information on id’s latest projects and new game engines are announced.

“Commander Keen originally started out as a tech demo by Carmack and Romero, aiming to emulate the side scrolling technology of Nintendo’s Super Mario on the PC.”

As part of the breakaway deal that led to the formation of id Software the company agreed to produced future titles that their former employers Softdisk would publish. Two of these games would have a direct impact on the advancement of video game technology, that paved way for the development of Wolfenstein 3D. Hovertank 3D and Catacombs 3-D both feature a first person 3D perspective that show an evolution in the technology that would eventually lead to Wolfenstein 3D. The games developed began soon after the release of Catacombs 3-D in late 1991, Apogee Software the games publisher offered $100,000 upfront to help jump start the process. The game was based on an earlier set of 80’s titles produced by Muse Software called Castle Wolfenstein. They contained a heavily stealth based gameplay which id had originally aspired to emulate. The gameplay proved to be too difficult to implement and the game evolved into an action based shooter. As with their previous Commander Keen titles, Wolfenstein 3D was released on the shareware model.

“Mecha-Hitler is often cited as one of the seminal video game bosses in the history of the video game industry.”

By the end of 1993 after a year on the market the game had broken all previous shareware sales records, selling over 100,000 copies and garnering much critical acclaim. Even though the game was a massive success within the industry, picking up numerous awards and honours it was not without its own controversy. Due to the games depiction of a SS prison set in WWII and featuring Hitler as the main antagonist the game was banned in Germany. Nintendo decided to heavily edit the game for the SNES version sold in Germany. Removing all references of the Nazi content, including a retextured Hitler renamed “Staatmeister”. Despite this minor setback the game was an outstanding success for the company and laid the tenants that all future First Person Shooters would be judged by. It gave credibility to the shareware business model and boosted the popularity of the pc market. Wolfenstein 3D is without out a doubt a landmark title in the history of the video game industry and cemented id Software’s place within it.

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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

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