mozidesign.com Unorganized Thoughts of a Game Designer

New UDK Level Released

Just finished my new UDK level entitled Reclamation. Basically, nature has reclaimed this factory as it has not been used in many years. For those who are familiar with my levels, this seems fairly close to a map I did for UT3 entitled, DM-Iron Maiden 2, wherein a factory was consumed by natural elements. In a sense it is similar but, different mainly in the scale of the level and lighting schemes.

As with Solitude, which I released not to long ago, this another visual level to practice some of the new features within the UDK.

Anyways, here is a short video showcasing sections of the level as well some screens for you all to enjoy. For additional screens head on over to the level design page.

Till next time, cheers!

Solitude-UDK Level Finished

It is hard sometimes to say a level is finished, as there is always room for more tweaks and iterations but at some point you have to let go and just release it. Well, after working on my map for a number of days in to late hours of the night I think I have reached the point where the level feels done. So I’ll stop talking now and show case the screens and video flyby of the level.

For additional screens, visit my level design portfolio page.

To watch the video flyby of the map click here!

Now I need to do two things, one of which is to get some sleep now since this project is over (though I doubt that will happen as I usually stay up late playing games) and the other is to compile all the old screen shots and do a ‘making of’ blog post of how this map was made. Till then enjoy the screens and the video.

On side note this map is not playable as standard DM map, this more of an artistic map giving me a chance to practice and showcase some visual work using the latest features offered within Unreal Engine 3.

Cheers!

Assassin’s Creed 2 Impressions

I just beat Assassin’s Creed (AC2), I pretty much having nothing else to do with my spare time so I just play video games and beat them. Mind you, AC2 is not a short game by any means, unlike another game *cough…MW2*, I just have not slept that much the last few days as I was totally immersed into the world of Ezio Auditore, the main protagonist and assassin in this game.  Feel free to keep reading as there are no plot spoilers ahead.

The dev team at Ubisoft did a great job of removing content from the first game that was not that much fun. For the record I really enjoyed the first game but I agree with most of the comments that it gets repetitive. The first game had a formula, get a target, investigate the target, and kill the target. Rinse and repeat that nine times. Aside from that the fun part of the first game was the aspect of free running across the roof tops of ancient cities.

Unlike the first game, AC 2 follows a more linear path,  putting the players into the shoes of an assassin, rather than (for a lack of a better term) errand boy as was experienced in the first game. There are plenty of side quests to do but none of them directly affect the core path of the game. No need to investigate targets, or find view points to access sidequets. All of that is gone; AC 2 is just a straight up linear, and excellent single player game.

The best part of AC 2 is swimming. Seriously, it’s annoying has hell in any video game where water equals instant death, really? Swimming just adds new means of traversal to the game; no longer do you die instantly when you fall into a small lake or large body of water. Plus swimming is an excellent way to evade multiple enemies when you are on the run.

AC 2 also has a bit of a Vice City gameplay mechanic, where you get to own your own town. This town provides the player with income to spend on various things such as buying armor, weapons, or paying the doc to get healed (mental note need say something about the healing mechanics in a bit). At times if player has enough money they can re-invest back into their town to make it better and get more money in return. As the saying goes to make money you got to spend it right. Well by the end of the game or nearly halfway you’ll probably end up with more money than can possibly spend. Basically you can become the wealthiest assassin ever. Once you have too much money there are two very easy achievements to get by wasting it.  Though now that I think about those means of wasting money are actually quite helpful.

Money can buy you allies such as thieves, soldiers, and prostitutes. Yes, you read that correctly prostitutes. However, unlike our favorite game GTA, you can’t beat these prostitutes with a bat to get your money back. Anyways, these allies come in handy to distract guards or provide you with cover on your escape. To get them on your side simply find any of the aforementioned groups, and press a button to hire them. Money can also be used to distract large crowds and annoying street performers. The street performers are the equivalent of the crazy bums and begging women of the first game. However, this time around you get rid of them without killing them. At anytime during the game you just toss money freely out on to the streets, doing so gets rid of the annoying street performers and provides another option to escape past some guards.

Another great mechanic improved from the first game is blending. In the first game the only ways to blend in with a crowd included following the monks, sitting on a bench, or walking very slowly. In AC 2 the bench sitting mechanic is still there but blending overall has greatly been improved. Now at anytime during the game you can simply walk up to a crowd of people standing or walking and immediately become blended and invisible to the guards.  No more do you have to find the monks or bench to hide! Also your allies provide another means for blending. Simply hire them and stand next to them for a bit and you blend in as the guards run right past you.

However, there are times when the guards may spot you in a crowd, and not that it is a bad thing, in fact seems more realistic. In the first game you could have a high threat level (or whatever it was called) run and hide on a bench. The AI would be confused, saying things like “where is man responsible for this”, totally ignoring and not thinking the one dude in the white robe armed to teeth could not have done a heinous act. This time if your threat level (also known as notoriety) is high the guards will find you, unless you hide really well. But once you come out of hiding chances of them finding you again are high. To avoid be found again, there are three ways the player can lower their notoriety. Either they can kill a corrupt official who according the game has put money in front of honor, tear down wanted posters, or bribe town heralds to stop their slander against you. Once your notoriety is low you can explore the cities without being hassled by any of the guards. The only guards that will hassle you, regardless of your notoriety, are rooftop guards. These guys have nothing better to do than hassle you for running on the rooftops. Either you can easily kill these dudes (which increase your notoriety) or just run away as they rarely ever catch up to you.  Basically in a nutshell if none of that made sense think of it as GTA cop stars, the more you have the harder shit gets. The less you have, do whatever you feel like doing, but doing more stupid shit will bring back the cops, or in this case the city guards.

So yeah about healing, in the last game it was automatically regenerated once you went into hiding or had a low threat level. This time around it kind of regenerates if an entire health block is not lost. If a health block or multiple health blocks are lost the only way to get them back is either by taking meds or getting healed by a doctor (which there are plenty of). Either way both cost money, but as I mentioned earlier if you play the game you’ll end up with too much money, thus the charge for healing is nominal. But still I kind of miss the auto regeneration system from the first game.

Overall I’ll give this game 8.5 out 10. I would have ranked it higher but the three crash bugs causing me to restart my xbox brought the score down. No game is perfect, but considering how much fun I had in this game, I can forgive Ubisoft QA for not finding those bugs.

Now the important question of all, “should I play AC 2”? If you were a fan of the first one you are doing yourself a serious disservice by not playing the sequel. If you did not like the first one due to the repetitive gameplay or other reasons, I highly recommend trying out AC 2, due the fact that “crappy” parts of the first game are gone. However, the core essence of the game remains the same, you will have targets to kill, and getting to those targets requires a little work, but nothing as repetitive as the first game. Every target was a unique experience to tackle and hopefully once you try the game you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Step Aside MW2…

Left 4 Dead 2 is fucking awesome! The game was unlocked about an hour later than scheduled but damn it was worth the wait! Played quite a few VS. games with my co-workers and some random people. So much fun! The new infected are really evil if you can plan some good attacks with your teammates!

By far my favorite infected is the Jockey, nasty little bugger. Get the jump on some poor survivor and misguide them into danger such as spitter  goo, fire, or the best so far, off ledges from the hotel mission. Absolutely hysterical to see survivors run off the edge of a building with a Jockey on their back!

A quick note about the level design. It’s just brilliant! The start of Dark Carnival is just an invitation for the survivors to get owned as they weave through quite a few abandoned cars on the freeway. A standing ovation to you Valve! You guys are pretty much the last beacon of hope for PC gaming and you guys do it right! Bravo!

I have now forgotten about all of my frustrations with MW 2, thank you Valve.

Brutal Legend Impressions

Today I beat Brutal Legend. Was it Brutal? For the most part yes but only at the start (which is featured in the demo) and the end of the game (which I won’t spoil). Everything else in the middle is good, but not ‘brutal’ by any means. Now what I mean by ‘brutal’ (I’ll stop saying that) is that from the E3 and xbox live demo I got the impression that the game was a comical hack and slash with a heavy metal theme. Well as I am sure most gamers know by now, the game has hidden RTS elements.

I enjoy RTS games (Starcraft 2 where are you!), however it’s not hardcore RTS as in build a base, expand the base etc. It’s more like Overlord, as long as you have enough resources (in the case of the game ‘fans’) you can build units. This concept is expanded into something known as “Stage Battles” your crew vs. one of the other factions. The end goal, destroy the other stage! I have to say, stage battles were a lot of fun, even though I was hoping that the game would offer up more hack and slash sections. I could write a lot more about stage battles but watch this clip. Hopefully it will make more sense.

Oh yeah and you can fly (slight spoiler…my fault)

On to visuals, basically they were pretty solid. As Tim Schafer said in some interview, the world resembles and is  inspired by the art work of metal albums. Nothing says, “METAL” like a pile of skulls!

Finally the music. I have to say hands down this game has the best soundtrack ever. And yes I am being totally biased as I am a metal head!  There were times where I did nothing in the game except sit back and listen to the sound track on my speaker system. Full soundtrack list here.

Now for what I did not like. The game is lacking some serious player communication elements. For one, a mini map would have been nice, half the time I could not find my quests. The only way to figure out where to go in the world was to look up in the sky and find the big ass beam of light. Or open up the map screen. Both felt very disconnected and unhelpful when I needed to get from A to B.

Now this next point is sort of a 50/50 split. I am all for HUDless gameplay. Less bars and meters showing me everything on screen the better. However, in Brutal Legend one thing that is hard to tell is your health. You can take a serious ass kicking before the feedback kicks in. The feedback given to the player is that screen turns red and you hear a loud heart beat. That means your boned. Does it work, yes. But a little more could have been done. Gears of War has the same thing no health bar, however the skull icon at least shows you how much more you can push your limits before you die. Brutal Legend lacks that one missing piece of feedback. But like Gears of War as long as you run and hide from the danger your health comes back. So not totally frustrating but hard to gauge. So I can’t say it’s bad but the health mechanics could have been better.

Overall, I’d recommend trying out Brutal Legend beyond the demo, it’s a good game. If you don’t want to buy it, rent it or borrow it from someone that has it. In the end I am sure like me you’ll have a good time with the game.

Borderlands…

Do I need to say anything else? I’ll give it the award for best game ever! Will it dethrone my long time admiration for Deus Ex as the best game ever? In two weeks I’ll find out…plus check back later in two weeks, I’ll have some big news.

Shadow Complex

Go get it! As many reviews have said online, Shadow Complex, is hands down one of the best XBLA games out there. For $15 bucks, it delivers quite a punch, with classic Metroid style gameplay with Unreal Engine 3 graphics!

Just in case you have no idea what I am talking about, then check out this video.

So far I have clocked in about five hours of gameplay and still have a lot to explore within the world. In terms of pacing the game is well thought out and has a neat method of teaching new mechanics.  For example at the start of the game the player needs to make a high jump, but you can’t. Near by is a backpack, once you get that you can make the jump.  Similarly like Metroid, some doors and vents require different weapons to be used in order for them to open.  Just like the backpack example, if you can’t open a door of a certain type and there are a lot of them in the area, look around and the weapon you need will be nearby to continue on your quest.

I can go on and on talking about this game but it would be full of spoilers! Thus I will end on the fact that you should go get this game if you haven’t already done so. You won’t be disappointed! Once I am done with the game I may do a proper review if I have time.

Cheers,