Sunday, September 21, 2008

NEVER FINISHED PROJECTS – Part 3

WARCRAFT TCG


Percentage done: 40%

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is one of the greatest games of all times and I love the universe Blizzard created. Thinking in all that and influenced by the Battletech TCG I still played that time, I started to design a card game for WC3, down in 2003-2004.

The game follows the basic gameplay of the multiplayer mode. Each player starts with a settlement where he deploys building cards which, by their time, recruit units. The units can be used to gather resources (wood and food), attack the enemy settlement or make missions in the “world”, fighting against neutral creep units (controlled by the opposing player) to gain gold, items and “experience”. After each combat, the hero units can attach one “level up” card, increasing their power and adding new abilities.

After designing the most of the rules I got stuck in making the cards. Working by myself, with difficult to find someone to play test with, and at the same time busy with work and college, I left the project alone for some time. But the killing blow came with the announcement of the Blizzard’s official card game in 2005.

Here is the image of some card templates:


It would be a nice game if completed. :(

DVD REVIEW: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE



I just watched a movie called Across the Universe and it’s really a crazy experience. It’s a musical film, by the way – all constructed based on The Beatles songs.

From the excellent beginning to the more and more psychedelic scenes, the movie is a piece of visual and music delight. Although it loses its strength from the first half, becomes kind of predicable sometimes and lacks a proper ending, you need to watch it.






Pros:

- It leaves no doubt that The Beatles is the greatest band ever.
- Some interpretations are refreshing and sound even better (heresy!) than the originals (like "Hold me Tight", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Come Together" and "I'm the Walrus").

Cons:

- The second half is much inferior and predictable. Most of its scenes are just excuse for playing new songs.

Rate 8/10

Wow scene: “I Want You”

Saturday, September 20, 2008

NEVER FINISHED PROJECTS – Part 2

SEMPER FI: MOD FOR DAWN OF WAR


Percentage done: 1%

I’m a fan of Warhammer 40k and loved the Dawn of War series, specially Dark Crusade. But, as an incorrigible modder, I quickly planed some modifications to make the PC game even similar to the tabletop.

This mod is focused in the Imperial Space Marines.

Here is a list of the changes:

Recon Squad

o Increase the size to initial 4 and maximum 9 soldiers + 1 Sergeant. Increase the cost and increase the population to 2.
o Weapons: bolter (standard), shotgun (replace for no extra cost), bolter pistol + combat blade (replace for no cost), sniper rifle (no change), heavy bolter (needs to unlock), missile launcher (needs to unlock).
o New ability: Auspex (shows invisible units – temporary).
o Infiltrate (no change)
o Grenades: Frag and Krak (needs to unlock – only one can be unlocked).

Marine Squad

o Increase the maximum size to 9 soldiers + 1 Sergeant.
o Weapons: bolter (standard), bolter pistol + chainsword, flamer, meltagun (needs to unlock), plasma gun (needs to unlock), heavy bolter (needs to unlock), missile launcher (needs to unlock), multi-melta, lascannon, plasma cannon.
o Grenades: Frag and Krak (needs to unlock – only one can be unlocked).

Assault Squad

o Increase the maximum size to 9 soldiers + 1 Sergeant.
o Grenades: Frag and Krak (needs to unlock – only one can be unlocked).

Remove of the Grey Knights (allocated to a future new faction: The Inquisition).

New unit: Techmarine

o Can repair and build.
o Armed with Bolter and Servo-Arm (which can be used for melee attack).
o Can reinforce with up to 4 Servitors. The player can choose the following: Tech Servitors (repair and build faster, limited melee), Combat Servitors (armed with power fist + melee) and Gun Servitors (armed with plasma cannon).
o Upgrade: Full Servo-harness.
o Upgrade: Blessing of the Omnissiah (repair aura).

Apothechary

o Armed with bolter pistol + chainsword.
o Healing aura (no change).
o Upgrade: Reductor (can resurrect a fallen soldier).
o Upgrade: Sacred Standart (moral aura).

Dreadnought

o Armed with storm bolter and assault cannon.
o Can replace the storm bolter with heavy flamer.
o Can replace the assault cannon with twin-linked lascannon or multi-melta.

Rhino

o Armed with a storm bolter.
o Upgrades: dozer blades (melee attack), extra armour, hunter-killer missile, pintle-mounted storm bolter, smoke launchers and Power of the Machine Spirit.

Land Speeder

o Armed with a heavy bolter.
o Can replace the heavy bolter with a multi-melta.
o Can be upgraded to Land Speeder Tornado (armed with heavy bolter + assault cannon, or multi-melta + heavy flamer) or Land Speeder Typhoon (armed with multiple missile launcher).

New unit: Vindicator

o Armed with Demolisher cannon and a storm bolter.
o Upgrades: dozer blades (melee attack), extra armour, hunter-killer missile, pintle-mounted storm bolter, smoke launchers and Power of the Machine Spirit.

Predator

o Upgrades: dozer blades (melee attack), extra armour, hunter-killer missile, pintle-mounted storm bolter, smoke launchers and Power of the Machine Spirit.

Whirlwind

o The player can choose to arm with Vengeance or Castellan (mine lair) missiles.
o Upgrades: dozer blades (melee attack), extra armour, hunter-killer missile, pintle-mounted storm bolter, smoke launchers and Power of the Machine Spirit.

Land Raider

o Upgrades: dozer blades (melee attack), hunter-killer missile, pintle-mounted storm bolter, smoke launchers.
o Comes with the Power of the Machine Spirit.
The project was halted due to the lack of time and understanding of the (confusing) modding tools.

The project was halted due to the lack of time and understanding of the (confusing, unnoficial and not documented) modding tools.

Friday, September 19, 2008

NEVER FINISHED PROJECTS – Part 1

Here I will share some never finished projects of mine. 

THE MATRIX REVOLVED



Percentage done: 0%

The Matrix is one of the most influent movies of all times, with a great story, great argument, great depth, great visual effects, great action scenes… for short: great in every aspect. 

Yes, it is almost a copy of the book Neuromancer, but let me say, it’s better than the original. It’s a masterpiece and everybody knows that its genius was not followed by the sequences Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions.

The first movie is tight, with not a single frame inadequate, but the follow are spread in countless boring scenes. And I’m not telling about the lack of good action scenes (because Reloaded and Revolutions had good ones) but the lack of that intriguing plot and surprising sequence of events from the first movie.

So, I started to idealize a worth sequence for The Matrix, basically a 2 hours reunion of the best Reloaded and Revolutions have: “The Matrix Revolved”.

Well, that’s it. The project was suspended after some researching of what programs I would use for editing and some sections of the movies (to plan what to cut). After watching so many times, I just concluded whatever I did, the sequence won’t be as good as the first movie…  

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Tudors – First Season


I got on the video store the First Season of The Tudors and here is my review:

Pros:

• The plot is interesting, based on very important times and intriguing people.
• The cast is generally good and some main actors really look like nobles (for instance, the Queen Catarina).
• The series (as usual) hold the spectator episode after episode.

Cons:

• First, the CG sequences (showing cities, ships, and old landscapes) are very cheap and badly done. If you are spending millions in actors, staff, cloths and equipment, you should invest a little more in a good digital effects company.
• The Cardinal Wolsey suicide. Ok, you can say the Cardinal suicide (even if the History books claim different facts), but cutting out his own throat? As far as I know, in real life (as opposing to Shyamalan’s “The Happening”) it is very difficult to suicide that way.
• The people look too clean, beautiful and modern. The character Charles Brandon is especially all wrong (looks more like an underwear model). And the king, well, wasn’t Henry VIII fat and old at that time?
• I know concessions have to be made when adapting true events to a show, but it would not cost to be more historically accurate.

It's really good to be the king!

Conclusion:

I liked!
Could be better? Sure!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Expansions: How to improve Spore?

Overall evaluation of Spore:

It’s a good game, but when Maxis tended for a more simplified gameplay, it missed the “Game of the Decade” title. With deeper simulation, complex resource management, more design effort in each phase, and (especially) multiplayer, this game would kick the ass of the competition.

The opportunity was missed, but there are still the expansions to try to save it a little. So, they should not only bring some new creature parts, but develop each phase to a whole new level.

Being a gameless designer, I was thinking in what the expansions should bring to improve it. Some suggestions are easy to add, and some would change a lot the game mechanics, but all are intended to make the game much better.

General:
• Massive Singleplayer? I would prefer a simple Multiplayer. What Maxis has against people playing together? With Multiplayer, this game would reach a whole new level. Just imagine several creatures, controlled by players, roaming in the same giant world, struggling for survival.

Cell Phase:
• More body parts and body shapes, all with different features.
• The larger is the cell, the slower it is (for balancing).
• The phase should be longer and more complex (with some challenges, like to kill several different giant cells).
• The body parts added to the cell should really affect their development in the future phases.

Creature Phase:
• The AI creatures should eat and hunt by themselves, so there is competition for food and eventual clashes between the species. Alliances would become essential.
• The Epic creatures should be possible to kill (with a lot of effort, though). This would be necessary for defending the nest and guarantee lots of food.
• The more food your nest is eating reflects in the size of the band.
• The friendship system (imitating the other creature) is very silly and boring. Maybe, just spicing it a little with a memory mini-game (instead of just singing, several “notes” that the player need to memorize the sequence and repeat).

Tribal Phase: basically, to approach the game as possible to the Age of Empires I.
• Full resource management. Food (to feed and recruit more units), Stone and Wood (weapons and buildings) and (maybe) Fur/Leather (for clouting).
• More options for clouting (which you could save). The clouting you choose should make the difference as protection, mobility, etc.
• Seasons and weather.
• Much bigger map.
• New buildings, more freedom and slots to build them.
• The player can reclaim a destroyed village or start a new village in specific places.
• Diplomacy management, rudimentary trade.
• Wild animals (the carnivorous ones) that try to kill and eat your tribesmen.
• Communication with the allies: planning raids and acting together.
• Domesticating more docile creatures: for food and to help hunting.
• New building: house (or tent): to increase the tribesman limit.
• Several new tools and new weapons, some of them better versions of the existing ones.
• Suggestions for Weapons:
     o Sling - weaker ranged weapon. Based on stone.   
     o Bow – advanced ranged weapon. Based on wood/stone
     o Spear – average melee and ranged weapon. Based on wood/stone.
     o Club – weaker melee weapon. Based on wood.     
     o Axe – advanced melee weapon. Based on stone/wood.
• Suggestions for Tools:
     o Gather staff - no change.
     o Farming tools (advanced) – for growing up a farm.
     o Healing staff - no change.
     o Sheppard staff – to help domesticating wild creatures.
     o Pick – for collecting stone.
     o Fishing rod - now the basic fishing tool.
     o Fishing net – improved fishing tool.

Civilization Phase:
• You could build more than one option (for instance: light, medium and heavy vehicles) for each vehicle category (land, naval and air). The price of the vehicle is compatible with what it has.
• The different weapons you add to a vehicle should work different. Not just the same effect we see now in game, but weapons like anti-aircraft, artillery, anti-tank, etc (emulating the rock-scissors-and-paper dynamics).

Space Phase:
• The mission management needs lots of improvements to easy the players’ life. More than 3 missions should be “active”, for instance.
• It’s hard and confusing to find the system you want (all explored systems should have their name appearing). There should be a better HUD with information about the status of the ship, the empire, etc.
• Exploring: the player should find some dangerous and mysterious (but rewarding) places to explore. Just have in mind some episodes of the classic Startrek series or the Indie game Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space…

And, of course, for the Spore 2, Maxis should think in a Massive Multiplayer game. If you are playing in the creature phase, you can eventually be hunted by a tribesman (controlled by other player) who can be, in his turn, abducted by an OVNI of a different player. So, the Galaxy is the same for EVERY player! Evolving to the Space Phase is a matter of surviving and making the difference.

BTW, an aussie friend showed me this Spore review. This Yahtzee guy has a machinegun mouth. :P

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Hug a developer today campaign


So I just received a link for a touching video from a friend of mine.
He is a developer and he is in pain.



Send this link to your friends. Hug a developer.

Monday, September 8, 2008

REVIEW: D&D 4TH EDITION


I started to play Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition just about one month. With a long time experience with the system (I’ve being playing for more than 20 years), but with disposition for the new and open-minded, I tried to evaluate without any prejudice.

Here is my review.  

Pros:

• Class balance. Now every class has a role and can pack a punch (and survive) in combat.
• Some fresh air. With a “reset” in the system, you can just try something new. Different could be good. 
• Beautiful art, nice books. Sometimes you buy because how it looks. That’s the case.
• Improved mechanics. The tests and progression have been perfected, I have to admit it. And the combat system is ready (if not made) for adaptation to electronic games.

Cons:

• Hack & Slash. Simply throws the role-play to the trash can. It’s all about combat, damage and positioning. In other words: back to the D&D 1st edition. I wish the authors have played less Diablo and more pen-and-paper RPGs (if they ever played).
• Feats totally unbalanced. Some feats are very good, others are useless. In the end, all characters will have the same.
• Classic classes forgotten. What happened with the Barbarian, the Bard, the Druid, the Monk and the Sorcerer? Maybe they will appear in an “expansion”…
• Poor Wizards! Their spellbook was reduced to a few ugly powers...
• Multiclass: forget it. In real life you can change professions. In D&D 4th Edition, if you choose a class, your character will have no choice of actually learning something different. It’s the easier design choice (for a narrow minded people), but a bad one.
• Ridiculous powers. The powers are very repetitive and sometimes you can’t associate them with nothing. “Steel Serpent Strike”, “Griffon’s Wrath”, “Anvil of Doom”, “Silverstep”, “Exorcism of Steel”, “Vorpal Tornado”, “Storm of Destruction”… just to mention some Warrior’s powers. Come on! Where is the creativity? Anyway, I can’t see the point of all those fancy names for dozens of powers that do basically the same thing…  
• Dragonborn, Tiefling, Eladrin? WTF? How do you suppose to role play a Dragonborn? Oh, I forgot, role playing is obsolete…

Conclusion:

You better take off the dust of your old books because this 4th Edition can’t replace them. The best D&D is still the 3.5. Heritage has weight. So, Wizards of the Coast, be careful to do not kill your D&D like White Wolf killed her World of Darkness… Maybe you already did it.

SPORE: SPACE PHASE

As far as I can see, it guarantees unlimited hours of play, but lacks the charm of games like Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space.


Overall conclusion of Spore: a beautiful but irregular game. Some features are very interesting, like the construction tools. But the gameplay is very shallow and limited - if you are used to strategy games for grown up people, you will miss complexity. But if you are young or a first-timer, this is a good start.

SPORE: CIVILIZATION PHASE

Another boring phase. The construction of vehicles is fun, but the choice of parts have more aesthetics then practical effect. The major weak points are the resource management and the combat system, which are absolutely shallow. I don't know if the designers where lazy or just unambitious.

SPORE: TRIBAL PHASE

Here I started to be disappointed by the game.

This is the less interest phase of the game. Maxis should have leeched the mechanics from Age of Empires I and not just made a RTS for children.

SPORE: CREATURE PHASE

This is the part of the game I enjoyed the most. To become the ruling creature of the world is funny, challenging and addictive.

I started with a basic omnivorous creature, called Sgorpo, just came from the ocean.  


Small but with a big destiny

Then I started to make alliances with the friendly neighbors, always avoiding the hostile ones. After collecting some DNA, my creature evolved to this:


This little devil will conquer the world

Now, better equipped for a fight, I stated to eliminate some unfriendly species around. After some biting and piercing, I started to prepared him to become biped.


Sgorpo Mk III

With less fear and more freedom, I roamed around looking for allies and (mostly) trouble. Until my creature became this:


Hands and arms! Now what?

As you will see, my attitude was moving towards aggression against any hostile species. So, I invested in body weaponry, like better mouth and claws.


Help! I don’t want to be abducted!

Ruling all over the planet, I just collect some DNA to guarantee the best parts for my creature.


Almost there... 

This is the last played version in the phase. The tail was lost and the design moved to a very humanoid look.


I fell like an eunuch

After finishing the level, I was able to make a last edition in the creature. So I removed the extra eyes, every claw and body weapon (he won’t need it anymore). It is almost a human now. This is how it will look in the tribal phase:


Beautiful!


Now it's time to move to forward...

SPORE: CELL PHASE

This phase of the game reminds me a lot an old Intelevision’s game Shark! Shark! (which I played a lot). In Shark! Shark! you are a fish in the sea, eating, growing and trying not to be eaten.

As the game starts you are a weak and basic cell fallen into the planet inside a meteor. I choose a carnivorous one, so I have already a weapon.


My new home

So, I started to swim around, and eating, until I reached the first evolution step. I added some spikes to my back so I could defend against predators.

Bite this!

The spikes worked so well that in the next stage I added 2 more, in the front. Now, with some tricky maneuvers, I could kill (or at least to put on running) any menace. I also added 2 more tails for fast moving.

Intimidating cell

In my last evolution, I opened the carnivorous month in two and added a new herbivorous in the center. So I had lots of options for eating – and became omnivorous. I also added two more eyes, just for the aesthetics.

I’m the king of the pool!

For unlocking the last body part I had to kill an Epic cell. I was not easy, but after several piercings with my spikes it was done. Now finally my creation was ready to receive its legs and leave the water. I made some changes in the look, moving the spike to the end of the tail. 

The end of the Cell Phase

SPORE REVIEW