Archive for May, 2007
Molyneux Talks Fable 2’s Emotional Investment With Love, Dogs
by Pedro Silva on May 25th, 2007
Microsoft and developer Lionhead have released the first in a series of video diaries giving players a behind the scenes look at the development of Fable 2 for the Xbox 360, in which the project’s creative director Peter Molyneux describes the game’s emphasis on emotional involvement by stating that “you feeling loved is really important to us.”
Illustrating his point, the esteemed game designer again revisited the concept of the game’s dog, which was first shown during a demonstration at the most recent Game Developers Conference in March.
“I don’t press a button when I go out with my dog for a walk,” commented Molyneux. “I just go out with the dog and the dog does his thing, and he knows that if I don’t like something he’s done then he doesn’t do it. That’s how you control the dog in the game.”
He reiterated, “We give you no control over the dog. Just think about that for a second… No control over the dog. You haven’t got a dog button… You control the dog by playing the game. You control the dog by worrying about you as a hero. I think that the very fact that you don’t control him makes him feel real, makes him feel like something that has a mind and that has an agenda. And that agenda, first and foremost, is his love for you… his need to please you in everything that he does.”
Building on this, Fable 2’s senior programmer Jonathan Shaw gave his thoughts on love’s importance in the game, offering that “because we deal with love everyday in our lives, and it’s something we recognize and were intimate with, if it’s faked on screen it can be vary jarring. Obviously it’s wrong, and it’s very difficult to get that right.”
He added: “As we get more processing power, the AI will indeed get more sophisticated, and you’ll be able to track a lot more variables and you’ll be able to do a lot more with it. So one of the ambitions that we had for Fable 1 which we couldn’t quite put in, we are bringing back to Fable 2.”
Source: www.gamasutra.com
Jogos eletrónicos e educação
by Pedro Silva on May 23rd, 2007
Jogos eletrónicos e educação: novas formas de aprender é o título do artigo desenvolvido por Gildeon Senaa[1] e Juliana Moura[2] que recomendo atenta leitura.
O artigo tem como objectivo reflectir os jogos eletrónicos e as suas contribuições na aprendizagem/desenvolvimento cognitivo das crianças e adolescentes. Como tal, o artigo analisa a importância dos jogos eletrónicos na educação numa retrospectiva desde a sua origem até os dias de hoje.
[1] Mestrando em Educação e Contemporaneidade pela Universidade do Estado da Bahia – UNEB
[2] Mestranda em Educação e Contemporaneidade pela Universidade do Estado da Bahia – UNEB
Nanoloop 2.2
by Pedro Silva on May 23rd, 2007
Nanoloop is a synthesizer / sequencer for the Nintendo Game Boy systems. Stored on a normal game cartridge, it allows to produce nice electronic music without further hardware, using either headphones or an external amplifier (home stereo, active speakers, etc) as sound output.
Nanoloop 2 is an 8-channel stepsequencer and synthesis package with a minimalistic and easy to use graphical interface. Besides the typical Game Boy “lofi” sounds, more advanced synthesis features, such as filters, are available.
The reduced set of controls allows to create and tweak sounds quickly, but also provides functionality needed for more complex structures.
Sound examples:
electro (0:10, 258 KB, mp3)
lo-fi (2:40, 2.4 MB, mp3)
house (0:28, 441 KB, mp3)
More info: http://nanoloop.com
2 ilustrações ludológicas
by Pedro Silva on May 17th, 2007
“power-ups”_Pedro Silva_Maio 2007
“Let´s play”_Pedro Silva_Maio 2007
Classic Nintendo 8-bit games [online]
by Pedro Silva on May 17th, 2007
LocoRoco
by Pedro Silva on May 16th, 2007
“At his Nordic Game Conference session, LocoRoco creator Tsutomu Kouno elaborated on the “simple, fun, and dynamic” design and musical objectives of his cult PSP title, and hinted at the new gameplay style of its forthcoming sequel.
Formerly a level designer on another beloved original Sony property, Ico, Tsutomo said the original concept for LocoRoco was born from humble PDA doodles he created during a train commute in the spring of 2004.
His three main objectives for the game were precise, it was to be simple, fun, and dynamic. They weren’t so easy to greenlight, though — Tsutomo said he twice pitched the concept and was rejected, which he blamed on his PowerPoint presentation. For his third-time-charm, he created a PC prototype and was given the funding.
In designing the visual style of the game, he said he went through revisions of clay, paper, and watercolor looks, but in the end favored the cartoony primary color scheme seen in the final product.
For his characters, he settled on a “silly and mysterious” design theme, basing some of the characters such as the Musukusu (pictured) on his own pet fish.
Tsutomo created style guides for his characters and prototyped their animations in Maya, which he used for the level designs as well, importing them from Adobe Illustrator originals.
Another of LocoRoco’s touchstones is its original music, with which Tsutomo said he intended to create the atmosphere of a live musical. Each of the individual LocoRocos, when split apart from their coagulated whole, get separate vocal tracks, creating a harmony more complex than their singular character.
Tsutomo also hinted at his next project in the LocoRoco universe, which will continue the tradition of physics based gameplay, and will also focus on crowd AI, more use of music as a tool to draw the player in, expanded visual effects, and, intriguingly, a new style of gameplay.”
Source: www.gamasutra.com
The Life Ending Adventure
by Pedro Silva on May 15th, 2007
The Japanese title is Jineseiowata no Daibouken and it’s a straightforward jumping/shooting platformer a la Mega Man (from which it borrows its sound effects) with minimal ASCII graphics. Rich with in-jokes, there’s a lot to discover, if you have the skills.
Game: The Life Ending Adventure
Video: 人生 オワタ play