Learning flixel (Again!)

It seems like the past few times I've tried to learn flixel I have stumbled across a seemingly simple obstacle and put it down to finally figure out later. The first time I tried to pick it up I was following a simple platformer tutorial as it was going out of date and the discrepancy between the tutorial and the newest release of flixel made it too hard for me to follow along. The second time I tried to pick it up again was when I was in Japan, and I don't actually remember what prevented me from getting the hang of it then...

Anyway, I've started again and I think I've got it this time! There's a quote about persistance beating talent or something like that and I wholeheartedly believe [in] it! This time I started from scratch like usual, but I followed a series of tutorials by a classmate written for the introductory Interactive Media and Game Development course here at WPI. I think my past experience with flixel, although limited, combined with these tutorials has given me the basic understanding of flixel that I've been looking for. Hopefully I'll get to know as much about flixel as I learned about Game Maker back in high school.

To begin familiarizing myself with the flixel library, I'm going to be implementing an idea I came up with while in Japan. The player controls a traveler trying to reach his bullet train in a Japanese train station and the only thing in his way is millions of businessmen. The gameplay is similar to that of a bullet hell game except the player is pushed around rather than killed. Score is based on how quickly the player reaches the train and a time limit determines how long the traveler has to catch his train. The game itself if fairly simple and easy to expand upon. I have ideas for different types of obstacles, such as faster moving businessmen and a foreigner that follows the player around, as well as some desired features, like posting scores to Facebook/Twitter and some others.

I plan to record my progress and update my blog fairly frequently while creating this game. Although I won't post everything, I'll try to write about big milestones and have demos of my progress. Stay tuned!

Global Game Jam: Day 3 + Conclusion

With only about 6 hours left we put (almost) everything together and packaged it into a game. Like usual, scope was an issue with out limited time and resources. Despite lacking some of our desired features, we do have two levels with enemy dodo birds and collectable eggs along with the basic movement of a platformer. The psychology aspect we were hoping for is absent at the moment, but we'll hopefully be able to add it in later.

On the last day I created a few more assets as they were needed, such as a title screen, background image, and "to be continued" screen. Some of the time was more or less wasted because there was more art than tech due to having two artists and one programmer. I wish I could have helped code some of the game but I am still not that familiar with how to make games with flixel. This game jam has definitely sparked my desire to finally buckle down and learn it, though.

Although we submitted an incomplete game to the Global Game Jam site, we will be fixing it up and extending it in the hope to submit it to the Intell AppUp store to win $200. The deadline for submissions is February 28th, so we have a decent amount of time to finish and polish our game. I'll try to post some of my work on the game and our progress in the coming weeks.

And with that, go play our game! You can find it here. You can also play it in your web browser here but probably only for a limited time (as my only storage space may expire tomorrow D:).

Global Game Jam: Day 2

Saturday was our longest work day of the game jam, and we got a decent amount accomplished.

I finished up making tiles for our platformer and also created the player character and animations. Later, I worked on a base boss sprite and animation that we can recolor and decorate to make different bosses. So far we have one boss and four total design ideas. Josh came up with the idea to name them all after US presidents, so we have Dodoham Lincoln, George Washington (or Dodoington), George Bush, and The Dodo Formerly Known as Taft.

Jeff has been working on all the code himself using some platformer code that he has been working on before. I'm not sure the exact status of that, although I'm told we have basic platformer mechanics and jumping on enemies implemented. Hopefully we have a decent amount to show at the presentation at the end of the jam!

I'll be writing a Day 3 and wrap-up combination post later to recap what happens today and to hopefully show off our game!

Global Game Jam: Day 1

And we're off! I meant to write this last night but the beginning of today is good enough.

After watching the keynote and getting our theme, we started discussing game designs. Our theme this year is "extinction," which leads to several obvious routes. Two obvious ones are "everyone is [going] extinct and you have to prevent/solve it" and "make [insert species here] extinct." There's also the psychological definition which is to make a certain behavior extinct by gradually removing positive reinforcement to a stimulus or giving negative feedback to a stimulus that was once positive. Our group decided to do a combination of both the biological and psychological definitions in one; a sort of double-extinction.

The basis of our game is that the player is told that they are to make a species extinct while our game design [hopefully] makes a certain behavior of theirs (collecting coins, for example) extinct at the same time without them noticing. After throwing ideas back and forth we decided that our game would be a platformer that consists of a vengeful man in a dinosaur suit (dino-Batman, as he is currently being called) who travels back in time to kill all the dodo birds, one of which who traveled forward in time and killed his parents. The player will be told to kill all the dodo birds and presented the option to collect dodo bird eggs, which make tasty omlettes. Ultimately, the player will be killing dodo birds and forgetting/subconsciously choosing not to collect eggs.

Our current plan is to do a little research into the psychology behind extinction so that we can successfully implement it in our game. The platformer "game" part that the player sees and comprehends as the full game is fairly straightforward. It's a basic platformer with movement and jumping, enemies, and hopefully bosses. The player can jump on dodo birds to kill them and can only progress when all the dodos in an area are killed. Levels will be broken up by highly-characterized bosses that will be entertaining and fun. Dodo eggs will be placed in easily accessible areas but not right in the player's path. There will be environmental hazards like death pits and potentially one other that the player should avoid. The game will keep track of score as an aesthetic classic game feature, but lives will be infinite. The art style will be happy and colorful, and also somewhat comic. Our hope is that the game will be silly and fun enough that the player will keep playing until the end, where we reveal the psychological extinction that has hopefully occurred.

I think that's it for now. I'll try to get another post up tonight or tomorrow morning to summarize Saturday's work.

Global Game Jam 2011 Begins

I'm going to be on top of the ball this time and actually update my blog as stuff happens! This time, I'll be blogging about my experience at this year's Global Game Jam. The Global Game Jam is an event that takes place worldwide, where sites around the world host a game jam at roughly the same time as everyone else who's participating. Jammers have about 48 hours to complete a game and submit it online for the world to see. Last year there was a theme and some constraints, as well as some fun achievements for jammers to shoot for. As far as I know, there aren't any constraints this year, just a theme and optional achievements.

Anyways, the WPI Global Game Jam site will be in the IMGD Lab and we will begin at 5:00PM tonight. I've already talked to someone about a game jam idea (one that sort of fell through last term) so hopefully we'll be able to crank it out and put it online by Sunday! I'll be writing a new blog post each day of the game jam to detail what we got accomplished and hopefully have a playable game on my portfolio by the last post.

Sonic 4 vs. Sonic Genesis Games (A Design Analysis)

(It's been a while since I've made a blog post and I still have some Japan ones backlogged but I wanted to write this one while it's still fresh and relevant.)

Sonic 4: Episode 1 was released a little while ago and it's been receiving mixed reactions. Some say that it is truly a step in the right direction for Sonic while others say that the game's issues prevent it from being a redeeming outing for the hedgehog. I downloaded it and have been playing it on my Wii and I wanted to do a little design analysis of it compared to the original games that debuted on the Sega Genesis. I don't mean for this to be a game review, although it may be used as one. I hope to compare and contrast some of the elements from Sonic 1, 2, 3, and Knuckles to those in Sonic 4. I will also try to offer some changes that might make Sonic 4 more of the "New Super Mario Bros. for Sonic" that fans have been clamoring for.

A Return to Sonic's Roots

Sega had a great concept when coming up with Sonic 4: making a new Sonic game with classic gameplay elements and throwbacks to the old games. Fans (me included) thought this was great; finally, a Sonic game that's won't be terrible! Of course, there was the Sonic Cycle in the back of our minds, telling us that this is just another game that will be overhyped and that will never live up to our expectations. Some fans embraced and accepted the Sonic Cycle, saying that no Sonic game that Sega puts out will ever be good. Ever. Well, Sega became aware of the Sonic Cycle and were determined to break it. Sonic Colors, a new 3D Sonic adventure, will be out in November and may break the cycle (or so they say).

But was Sonic 4 able to finally do away with the Sonic Cycle? Yes and no, in my opinion. While Sonic 4 was able to do away with useless game mechanics, superfluous new characters, and silly storylines, it didn't quite fully capture the essence of the original Genesis games. Sega did an excellent job reimagining classic enemies and level design, but they missed with the physics and overall feel of playing a classic Sonic game. Sonic doesn't seem to move as he would have in the original games, and it's confusing how they could have neglected this key part of the game. Some of the level art seems overly gaudy as well, and some of the music, while having a familiar sound, doesn't have the same magic that the Genesis tunes did (maybe it's the lack of assistance from Michael Jackson?). Nevertheless, Sonic 4 is an enjoyable game that fans and newcomers can both have fun with; it's just not the Sonic game that it could have been.

Who is the Target Audience?

A common game design question that is asked is "Who is the target audience? Who are we making this game for?" Sega had a few different options for this question. They could have taken the route Capcom did with Mega Man 9 & 10 and restricted the target audience to the hardcore players and fans. This would have been the best option if they had wished to please only the hardcore by using sprites and 8-bit music, but they would have neglected the rest of the gaming audience. Instead, Sega took the "safer" route (from a marketing standpoint) and made Sonic 4 accessible for all players. This is evident by the 3D graphics and the stage selection screen, which lets you choose specific stages as well as special stages.

If Sega really wanted to make it a true classic, they could have opted for 2D sprites over 3D art, and made chiptunes instead of newer music that borrows 8-bit elements. They could have also eliminated the stage selection screen all together and just made the level progression linear like in the Genesis games. (They could have also gotten rid of saving if they were super hardcore.) It's understandable that today's games should be made for today's audience rather than yesteryear's, but it seems like fans would want something more geared towards the past than the present. In my opinion, these aesthetic choices can be overlooked by focusing on the main gameplay of the game.

The Mechanics Matter

So what about the gameplay? The basic elements take off from where Sonic 3 (& Knuckles) left off. Sonic can run (obviously), jump, and spin dash. He has also gained the Homing Attack that was introduced in Sonic 3D Blast, which is a rather decent addition. The controls are simple and familiar, which helps fans feel at home and allows new players to jump right in. The main issue, however, (which has been noted by many reviewers and players) is Sonic's physics in the game. There are several quirky problems which seem to stem from the apparent lack of inertia. Sonic will stop immediately if the player is not holding down a directional, especially during a spin dash or while Sonic is in the air. This flies in the face of hardcore players' expectations; Sonic is supposed to be somewhat "slippery" and glide over slopes easily instead of stopping dead. There are also some issues with running fast vs. spinning that just don't feel right. These issues can be ignored to an extent, and it is possible to enjoy the game despite these flaws. Classic players will be fairly annoyed with these inconsistencies to the Sonic gameplay of the 90's.

In terms of level design, Sega managed to deliver. The level layouts are very reminiscent of the classics and don't merely focus on pure speed (some people complain about the excessive placement of speed boosters, but I found them to be sparse enough to not be a problem). Multiple paths and hidden routes and items are a definite plus that are consistent with the Genesis style. I even found that the "cheap" enemy placement in some levels (where you are almost guaranteed to be hit and lose all your rings) to be somewhat reminiscent, albeit annoying. Some areas seemed dependent on the incorrect physics, which could be tweaked if the physics were changed. One instance was the mine car track in the Mad Gear Zone, where at one point you would fall to your death if you weren't holding right on the D-Pad. If the mine car is moving on it's own, how should I know to hold a directional? Where's the inertia? Even with these minor flaws, the layout of the levels is definitely something that was done right.

Sega, notorious for adding too many mechanics into Sonic games (Sword fighting? In my Sonic game?), managed to keep the mechanics fairly basic in Sonic 4. Sonic himself was only given the additional Homing Attack, and the levels maintained a good level of unique mechanics. Some of the level mechanisms are borrowed from the old games, like the teleporting tunnels from the Metropolis Zone and the slot machines from Casino Night, but others are brand new, like the swinging vines in Splash Hill. Zip-lines and running-powered gears are reimagined level mechanics that make Sonic 4 new but traditional. Of course, loops and springs are a main aspect of the level design, and rings are placed just where you would expect them.

One design that I don't agree with is the special stages. Sega decided to reinvent the special stage from Sonic 1, this time allowing the player to control the rotation of the stage directly. Sonic 1's special stage was the worst of the three, in my opinion; it didn't give the player enough control and seemed more luck-based since they couldn't really directly control Sonic. In Sonic 2 and Sonic 3/Knuckles the outcome of a special stage was directly effected by the players actions and they could directly control Sonic: the player needed to collect enough rings in Sonic 2's stage and all the blue spheres in Sonic 3's stage to be awarded the Chaos Emerald. Sonic 4 combined these two ways of attaining a gem by allowing the player to control a maze similar to a Sonic 1 special stage and unlocking doors when the player collected enough rings. I feel that a special stage where the player directly controls Sonic to complete a task to get the Chaos Emerald would have been more effective, rather than have him bounce around a maze, but that's just my opinion.

The Nostalgia Factor

In a game targeted at all players, how to you please the hardcore? Obviously, the core of the game should be easily recognizable and familiar to hardcore players while being accessible to newcomers. Sega was successful in making a game that everyone could play and enjoy, but the faulty physics detract from a hardcore's complete enjoyment of the game. Another way to please longtime fans is to insert little nuggets of nostalgia into that game. Sega was pretty successful with this aspect of the game, but they could have done much more. I'm fairly sure that all the enemies were borrowed from the Genesis era, with a few new twists. The level themes are almost direct copies of old Zones: Splash Hill is the obligatory Green/Emerald Hill; Casino Street is the popular Casino/Carnival Night; Lost Labyrinth is pretty much the Labyrinth Zone from Sonic 1; Mad Gear is the Metropolis Zone from Sonic 2. Some of the sound effects are directly taken from the classics, most notably the 1-Up sound effect from Sonic 3 and the sound played when getting a Continue. I would have liked to hear the "warp" sound when entering and leaving a special stage, but that's the only one I could think of that was missing. As mentioned earlier, the music sounds like it belongs, but doesn't quite capture what the original themes had. They pull from old songs and have familiar sounding parts but they aren't as lively as some of the music from, say, Sonic 3.

One of the major ways Sega could have improved the nostalgia factor would have been to make the entire game 2D with sprites instead of 3D models. Capcom was successful in doing so with Mega Man 9 and 10 and I think Sega would have experienced similar success by following suit with Sonic 4. Like I said before, this may have shrunk the audience, but the hardcore gamers who did buy it would have thought more highly of it. It is really a debate over sales numbers and the impact of the game on classic fans, and Sega seems to have chosen the former. The impact of this decision may be small, but it is still a noticeable decision among fans. It may seem illogical to make such a large art decision for a small subset of the audience, but it's possibly that Sonic 4 could have been received with more open arms if it had been 16-bit.

Anyone who has played Sonic 1/2/3/Knuckles to an extent will be able to pick out the nostalgia elements from Sonic 4, but the hardcore fans will feel uneasy with this new outing because of the faults mentioned previously. The artifacts of the present that exist in Sonic 4 convince fans that Sonic will never reclaim his previous glory that he experienced in the 90's. But why does he have to? Why can't Sonic evolve to fit into today's game industry as Mario has? I believe that he can, although it will take some convincing of the fans from Sega.

Where to Go From Here

Since Sonic 4 is episodic, Sega has a chance to learn from the fans' response to Episode 1 and address the issues in Episode 2. There isn't a final count of how many episodes there will be, but hopefully Sega will be able to distill the gameplay with each iteration into a pure Sonic formula that can be used in future games to finally redeem Sonic. As long as Sega listens to the fans and uses the iterative process with each new Sonic game, Sonic will be able to rise through the ranks to a place where he once stood proud.

(That's it for now. I may edit this later if I think of anything else, or if there are some glaring issues.)