For the last past months, time has not been my ally. Projects have stacked, my daytime workload has grown but days haven’t extended at all. Where does time go? While sitting in front of the glowing box, crafting virtual worlds and experiences, it feels as if everytime I pull my head out from my work, hours have passed and I haven’t noticed at all. Too bad the world is not a videogame.
Where does time go?
March 6th, 2010Nuovo Honorable Mention
January 6th, 2010IGF’s Nuovo jury releases finalists satement. Scroll down. Yeah, down there. What do you see? Yes! My game! Yes indeed, I got an honorable mention for Art of Crime. Quite frankly, I’m quite happy! I didn’t make the cut but it’s great to know that the game was appreciated to some level 
On a side note, I haven’t been posting a lot these days due to the holidays and that I’ve started working full time again. I’m working on a Nintendo DS game and there’s a lot of things to plan on this project. Of course that means more working hours and less time to write about gaming. Have no fear, I’ll be back once I get used to my working beat.
Game Cramming, Part 2
December 14th, 2009Yesterday I started talking about game cramming. So yeah! That last post talked about the concept but, as a designer, where do I begin? How do I prepare a game cramming session? We all know we can’t play all the games of a genre so which games to choose? Well, here is how I tackle game cramming.
Read the rest of this entry »
Game Cramming, Part 1
December 13th, 2009Some of you might have noticed that I’ve been posted less these last few weeks. Well, I started a new job. New challenges, new workspace, new game style to design… all fun stuff. I’m really enjoying my new job but of course that means that I have to review my schedule quite a bit to fit my blog writing in it. As mentioned in my earlier posts, it is quite impossible to play every game out there and know everything that’s been done in the industry. So what do I do when I start a new project? I do what I call “game cramming”.
The “I can’t win” malaise
November 27th, 2009Recently I was talking with a friend about the New Super Mario Bros Wii title. It seems that this new opus of the legendary plumber caused quite a stir in my little world. My last blog post was about that particular game andpeople aroundme have diverging opinions about it. Some like it, some hate it, but all seem to agree that it’s not the best Mario created. One little detail to precise here: all those people are over 25 years old. Of course, I wanted to know more about the development process behind NSMBWand found this interview on Nintendo’s Wii official website. It seems that the great game designer Shigeru Miyamoto went into enormous lengths to make sure everyone could play and finish the game. He wanted to have a high difficulty level but didn’t want players to feel frustrated enough to quit. It reminded me of a BBC show I watched a few months ago. Charlie Brooker’s Gameswipe (links can be found at the bottom of this post) was a nice, entertaining overview of the world of modern video games. During the show, the host as well as a guest player, mentions that video games are the only entertainment form where you must work to have the full content of what you bought. The entirety of the product you just acquired is locked by your own skills: if you can’t get past a level, you can never see what’s next. Also, as a game designer, it’s been clear to me for years that the industry is doing all it can to look friendly and sweet to bring in new blood in order to broaden the market. The phenomenon of “hand-holding”, a design direction that consists of giving tons of hints to the player as well as a multitude of tutorials for all actions available in the game, can be found in the majority of triple A titles, even those who are targeted at the seasoned players. Heck! The entire Wii console screams gentleness and passiveness to make sure all the members of the family can enjoy a good, clean, aseptic game environment. The numbers don’t lie: the Wii is the best selling console on the market. Still, something bothers me with this direction. Something doesn’t feel quite right.
Read the rest of this entry »
I’m not 12 anymore
November 24th, 2009A few weeks ago, Nintendo released its latest Mario game. Straight-forwardly titled New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the new game is what the name says. It’s a new Mario game, on the Wii. And yes, as you may have deduced, if they say it’s for the Wii, it means that they added “wiigling” motion-based moves into the plumber’s arsenal. Although it’s a brand new game with remixed mechanics and controls, to me, the game feels like a big “déja vu”. It felt to me as if they took all the previous major Mario games and shoved them in a blender. The best way to describe my feelings is by comparing the game’s experience to a nice tall glass of homemade fruit juice. It looks good. You just know that it’s going to be good since only good stuff have been used when making it. But as you drink it down, you feel lumps going down your throat. Your head tells you it’s okay because it’s all good stuff but at the same time, you’re not sure if you like that feeling. It leaves you wondering if you didn’t like it better before everything got blended. Well, that’s how I felt when playing the game.
Hands On: Silent Hill 2
November 19th, 2009
It was about time I got my hand on a copy of Silent Hill 2. Not that it’s quite difficult to find, it’s just that I always had other games I was looking for and ended up skipping it. In the past, I had seen a lot of footage of Silent Hill games and heard many comments from players and developers alike on the Japanese horror series. I didn’t seem to care for it as I was more into the Resident Evil games. However, the second title of the game franchise titillated my curiosity as being referred to as the best of the Silent Hills. Last week, I popped it into my PS2 to see what the fuzz was all about.
Hands on: Shadow of Destiny
November 18th, 2009
- Shadow of Destiny
Last week I got to play a neat obscure PS2 game called Shadow of Destiny. Created by Konami and released in 2001 on the PS2, later followed by a release on the PC and Xbox in 2002 and in 2009 for the PSP, Shadow of Destiny is a pure adventure game with one of the most interesting concept I have ever found in a game. The story puts you in the role of Eike Kusch, a young man who gets murdered. Before his body can even turn blue, a voice resonates asking him if he wants to live and prevent his death. He accepts and this is where the fun part begins. The goal of the game is to counter the many successful murder attempts on the protagonist by going back in time and changing the future. Read the rest of this entry »
Guest editor
November 10th, 2009This week, I’m assuming the role of guest editor on TIGSource. Hop on the frontpage and discover new indie games!
All the games in the world
November 10th, 2009Yesterday, I wrote about how I felt when I went to the game store. I scratched the surface of a topic that irritates me a lot these days. I mentioned that, when I go to a store, I end up feeling as if I’m not doing my job as a designer if I don’t play all the games I see. Am I doing my job even if I’m not playing the entire PS3/XboX360/Wii/DS/PSP/PC game catalogue? Just gazing at the amount of games available makes me wonder if it is even humanly possible to do so. So what am I suppose to do?
Read the rest of this entry »