tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14079636522174604142024-03-14T11:18:15.977+00:00Randomly Accessed Memoirs | The Blog of Sean Noonan, Video Game and Level DesignerThe blog of Sean Noonan, a video game and level designer working at Ubisoft Montréal and at home on a bunch of indie titles.
Previous works include Far Cry 4, Watch_Dogs, Jack B. Nimble, Crackdown 2 and Wheelman.Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-26399308057249511072016-01-01T13:37:00.000+00:002017-07-28T23:52:05.052+01:00I have started Noonan.Design<div style="text-align: center;">
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For all future updates, please head to <a href="http://noonan.design/">Noonan.Design</a>.</div>
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Thanks,</div>
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<i>Sean Noonan</i></div>
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Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-44798584861731356192015-10-11T13:37:00.000+01:002015-10-11T21:44:43.744+01:00I’m home!<p><font color="#ff9900"><em>It's been a while...</em></font></p> <p>My <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2015/07/montreal-game-jam-2015-pwrong.html" target="_blank">post mortem of the 2015 global game jam</a> very much hinted that it would be my last jam in Montreal, and with good reason - in July I announced that I would be leaving the Ubisoft Montreal studio as well Ubisoft as a company. I’m happy to reveal that I accepted a role at Foundry 42 (as part of Cloud Imperium Games) as a senior designer on Squadron 42, the campaign component of Star Citizen. This meant my return to the UK, in early August.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BSABuy2vxHA/VhrJnKfRaMI/AAAAAAAAAkA/wiO8ZLe_p_4/s1600-h/panel-45000342-image-b56dbc3e87e636f.png"><img title="panel-45000342-image-b56dbc3e87e636f4-320" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 10px auto 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="panel-45000342-image-b56dbc3e87e636f4-320" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y_kuHOoCT0I/VhrJnhK3vmI/AAAAAAAAAkE/E5elr47K97I/panel-45000342-image-b56dbc3e87e636f%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" height="73" /></a></p> <p>That's right, I'm home! </p> <p>It’s been a big change for me; after three years a routine begins to form and comfort sets in, but I felt like the time was right and the opportunity was too good to turn down (more on that later).</p> <p>I’ve left behind a good group of people; the expats that put up with my frequent spam over internal company email/messenger, friends that I’ve met through various Ubisoft projects, and the handful of people I’ve met in the indie game development scene. As I hinted in my <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2015/07/montreal-game-jam-2015-pwrong.html" target="_blank">last post</a>, a significant number of my coworkers from Watch_Dogs have already left Ubisoft, and I’m still in quite frequent contact with them, so I don’t think too much is likely to change in that department with the rest of my ex-comrades.</p> <p>I enjoyed my time in Montreal and certainly won't be leaving empty handed. After my 3 years at the studio, I had a designed level and mission content for huge titles such as Watch_Dogs, Far Cry 4 and the recently announced Far Cry Primal.</p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:053713e7-584f-4969-b915-87755a4d4fdd" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LJ2iH57Fs3M?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LJ2iH57Fs3M?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <p>My portfolio has never looked better, and I can safely say that I have a lot of pride in the work that I contributed to those projects, especially Watch_Dogs.</p> <p>Perhaps more important to me though, were the experiences that lead me to creating solo projects in my free time; even going as far as to release my first indie game, <a href="http://jackbnimblegame.com" target="_blank">Jack B. Nimble</a>. This indie revelation opened my eyes to markets outside of traditional "AAA" console productions and definitely expanded my skill set. It was during this time that I also discovered game jams; a practice I hope to keep up once I am fully settled back in the UK (I'm still eagerly waiting on a container of my possessions to be shipped next week)!</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9xTQ0biaR5k/VhrJoKCz4kI/AAAAAAAAAkM/irqd56H12nk/s1600-h/panel-45000342-image-d7cc9209a8ba9cb%25255B1%25255D.png"><img title="panel-45000342-image-d7cc9209a8ba9cb1-320" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="panel-45000342-image-d7cc9209a8ba9cb1-320" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JtBOmUh4slU/VhrJon7NezI/AAAAAAAAAkU/8joVcG_6yUU/panel-45000342-image-d7cc9209a8ba9cb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" align="right" height="240" /></a>So Star Citizen; a huge Kickstarter success, a crowd funding poster child and potentially the ultimate space sim. So yeah, a new adventure; I'm not treading the same ground or following the same formula as previous games; Star Citizen is genuinely something new and ambitious.</p> <p>While it's an exciting project, I'm just settling in, so I don't have much to say right now other than to comment on the fact that I'm working with really talented people and some excellent technology. It's amusing how many connections I have to my new coworkers... It really is a small industry.</p> <p>This weekend we had Citizen Con in Manchester (UK), and it went pretty fucking well if I do say so myself. You can watch the full stream <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5sRUYwgWGI" target="_blank">here</a> or check out the playlist of features <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEH2GpV8Ua4&list=PLVct2QDhDrB2kIxmg7ZanJVOXOdlgd9V8&index=2" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:b78f3b89-4408-4fc0-a25f-1cecc5e19430" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8EC4WHPxnrk?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8EC4WHPxnrk?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <p>A lot of what was shown was very much work in progress but that didn’t seem to taint the reception any. The cast announcement went down great with the audience and the online response seems pretty great too.</p> <p>It's strange adjusting to a company that has such a public and open development; the amount of secrecy surrounding my previous projects was insane. It's a refreshing change, as is working for a company that encourages free time game development without questionable restrictions. It's great having the freedom to spend more time on my independent efforts without fear of legal ramifications, etc. </p> <p><font color="#ff9900"><em>So what’s next for me?</em></font></p> <p>Based on the fact I have a little more freedom to work on my own projects, I’ll be doing a lot of personal game development. Obviously Star Citizen and Squadron 42 will be my highest priority in the realms of game and level design, but I will continue to develop my coding and art skills in my free time via my own projects.</p> <p>The first of these projects will be the 4.0.0.0 update for Jack B. Nimble, currently planned to release before the end of the year (potentially with ports to other platforms than iOS too). Some have said that it might seem in vain to continue to develop this game any further, but it’s my first, you know? I want my first title to stand as an example of things to come. A high quality piece for my back catalogue.</p> <p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=918891211&mt=8" target="_blank"><img title="Jack B. Nimble" style="float: none; margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block" alt="Jack B. Nimble" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ronTUdsNO-A/VhrJrMZIc2I/AAAAAAAAAkg/iorl2lRTibk/jackbnimble_4000%25255B4%25255D.gif?imgmax=800" width="240" height="160" /></a></p> <p>Whether it sells or not is somewhat irrelevant; I have a fulltime job that pays the bills, so I have the freedom to create something that I am happy with before moving onto the next thing…</p> <p>That being said, my second project, a collaboration with Scott Morin is slowly starting to ramp up again. We’re looking forward to getting stuck into this again – the response to the Vine I released on my 30th birthday (no significance) was excellent.</p> <p><a href="https://vine.co/v/eBzAZIHJ6tb" target="_blank"><img title="NEW GAME" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="NEW GAME" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PuOloNDSgRY/VhrJsD4LQVI/AAAAAAAAAkk/7CBss8S-ZYo/ss_101015_01%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" height="135" /></a></p> <p>It’s clear that we have a game that people would like to play. All we need to do now is make it!</p> <p>The third project is my attempts to create pixel art every day – something I’ve failed at. This hasn’t been easy with the move across the world, new job, being spread thin across projects, etc. </p> <p><a href="http://pixeldailies.tumblr.com/post/129667966142/clouds-lets-see-if-i-can-keep-this-up" target="_blank"><img title="Happy Cloud" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Happy Cloud" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Hk8sCn3XWz0/VhrJsdE9_gI/AAAAAAAAAko/ccMuMLaja1c/happy_cloud%25255B6%25255D.gif?imgmax=800" width="192" height="192" /></a></p> <p>However, I’m going to try and do at least one piece of pixel art a week. Practice is the only way to improve, so I need to be strict on myself. You can follow my pixel art at <a title="http://pixeldailies.tumblr.com/" href="http://pixeldailies.tumblr.com/">http://pixeldailies.tumblr.com/</a></p> <p>And finally, game jams. I plan to do so many more of these, but hopefully more collaborations than solo efforts. I need to start creating art for other people’s specifications or designing games to showcase art for other developers. I guess the next Ludum Dare might be my first real opportunity to do this. One game a month is a little much for me while I’m creating my own titles intended for release, but I’d like to increase my frequency a little.</p> <p><font color="#ff9900"><em>In closing…</em></font></p> <p>This will also be my final post to this blog - at least in it’s current form. In more recent years, I’ve found tip toeing around NDA’s and the overall paranoia of saying something “wrong” whilst working for a publisher to be a huge put off when writing anything really - especially if what I want to write borders on criticism. It’s also rather pointless to just blow the company trumpet when there are paid professionals already doing that (and better than I ever could). What’s a couple views on my personal page going to do? To be honest, it’s just wasted effort on my part - I’d be better off just spending the time making games.</p> <p>Some of you may have noticed I removed the majority of the video posts/vlogs too - this is down to the fact I couldn’t maintain the momentum and therefore improve/respond to criticisms (of which there were many). It’s not so much that they were awkward (I was aware they were), it was more that I don’t believe their posting was truly serving anyone, and that’s just against the intention of this blog. I always wanted to offer some transparency into what it’s like to develop games and a peek into the window of the life of someone who does just that. I feel I’ve failed to deliver on that, so I’d like to step back and rethink my approach in order to better serve this potentially fictional audience. </p> <p>My goal is to come back and maintain an open presence in the future, to perhaps offer some insight and encourage future developers to join the industry. I’m still working out what to do next, but until then, you can keep up with me on <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanNoonan" target="_blank">twitter</a> or <a href="http://sean-noonan.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">tumblr</a>.</p> <p>The next update you will see on here will be when I know what’s coming next, but until then, 'ave a good one.</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-74518568703496961122015-07-04T18:37:00.000+01:002015-07-04T21:32:46.753+01:00Montreal Game Jam 2015: Pwrong<p>Some of you may have seen that I’ve been participating in a number of 1 hour game jams as of late (held at <a href="http://weekjam.com/" target="_blank">weekjam.com</a> / #1hgj on AfterNET). They’re super short jams, so there’s not a lot to say about them – I might get around to doing a mass post mortem for them. Maybe. Until then, I am going to look back at a previous jam from earlier in the year and write a bit of a post mortem for it. This time I’m going to talk through my experiences at the <strong>2015 Montreal Global Game Jam</strong>, where my team (known as “Not Enough Laptops”) entered for a third year running (this time with an additional programmer). <br /></p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:b5fd28a4-3fc6-4a48-bc1e-eb8439917892" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NVl8o85YGNE?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NVl8o85YGNE?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <h3>The Team</h3> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_MvDSyV5VNw/VZhA___T2CI/AAAAAAAAAh4/hSdG20EMLJY/s1600-h/TEAM4.png"><img title="Not Enough Laptops" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Not Enough Laptops" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VWJIgYe3U8g/VZhBA35nEmI/AAAAAAAAAh8/y_UVviA2eI0/TEAM_thumb2.png?imgmax=800" width="450" height="253" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/goyalanshul" target="_blank">Anshul Goyal</a> (Programming) <br /><a href="https://twitter.com/SeanNoonan" target="_blank">Sean Noonan</a> (Art and additional design) <br /><a href="https://twitter.com/pjs_dev" target="_blank">Pete Smith</a> (Programming) <br /><a href="https://twitter.com/A_R_Green_00" target="_blank">Aidan Green</a> (Design and audio) </p> <h3>The Theme</h3> <blockquote> <p> <br />What Do We Do Now?</p> </blockquote> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:073c68f3-5e1f-4b4f-b9bb-b2a98375afec" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/N1W5VxdNyNk?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/N1W5VxdNyNk?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <p>Here was a theme that filled our minds with possibilities. It almost seemed “too easy”; it was hard <em>not</em> to come up with ideas. However it was not an easy task to decide which of these many ideas we should settle on. It was also when I noticed that we had matured as a group.</p> <p>This was our third year jamming together and we weren’t as wide eyed, inexperienced or perhaps even as excited as we once were; we basically knew our limits, specialties, and we knew that we could succeed. We weren’t cynical by any means, but the ground felt familiar, and I feel our comforts resulted in an inability to decide on what to make.</p> <p>Our first night had us pitching, scrawling, debating and scribbling out numerous game ideas; an adventure game of sorts where you wake up alongside a body with the police are banging on your door, a narrative heavy game where you play as a child dealing with the impending divorce of your parents, an isometric prisoner of war escape action game, and a bunch more… but nothing we could all fully agree on.</p> <p>That is until midnight rolled around and we engaged full panic mode before thinking; what if we go with Pong, and the ball just vanishes? What could we do from there?</p> <p><em>Pwrong</em>.</p> <h4>The Jam</h4> <p>In essence, we planned our game as an homage to arcade games roughly spanning the generations; starting with Pong, moving through Pac-Man, switching to Akranoid, then R Type, in to Geometry Wars and finally teasing with a platformer.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jM-klgXqhyU/VZhBBiEz35I/AAAAAAAAAiE/rurjRf1fa-k/s1600-h/pong_render_example%25255B5%25255D.png"><img title="Pwrong Pong" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Pwrong Pong" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_w7uUXiYcVQ/VZhBCG7bz-I/AAAAAAAAAiM/3fac146Gyyk/pong_render_example_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="450" height="321" /></a></p> <p>Once we had finally decided on a rough concept we took our leave and slept on it some… as well as cramming in some last minute work - for example, I did a couple of colour scheme/interface mock ups, the first of which set the visual direction for the project.</p> <p>The morning came and went – not that I saw it (I generally don’t rise during daylight on weekends). By the afternoon we realised that we were running behind our planned timeline. We should have had our first playable prototype, but were still not ready. It was around at this point I decided to cut myself off from the team and focus on the art.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tItGKpCbFgw/VZhBDGE2ojI/AAAAAAAAAiY/uYJJJEP_iGY/s1600-h/art5.png"><img title="Sean Noonan Pwrong" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Sean Noonan Pwrong" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qdirowrSdYE/VZhBDl_srkI/AAAAAAAAAic/fIDC0MlCubU/art_thumb3.png?imgmax=800" width="450" height="253" /></a></p> <p>I wasn’t used to working at such a high resolution, and the game type was something I’d never built art for. By the evening I’d managed to deliver the bulk of assets – I’d even over delivered by the scope of the game, as we had decided to cut the Geometry Wars game type and severely scale back the platforming section.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VeXMRTBwW3g/VZhBEpaVqBI/AAAAAAAAAio/eB6Qm6iECkQ/s1600-h/seats4.png"><img title="Montreal Global Game Jam 2015" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Montreal Global Game Jam 2015" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yApUVio_fzo/VZhBFSCp4wI/AAAAAAAAAis/SpUCFP3-eas/seats_thumb2.png?imgmax=800" width="450" height="300" /></a></p> <p>We pulled an all-nighter to just get it done. There was a bit of crankiness and we all felt awful, but as the sun rose and we tested the build, it felt worth it.</p> <h4>What went wrong</h4> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">1. Brainstorm took far too long</span></p> <p>As mentioned previously, this really took longer than it should have. I feel like I should shoulder the blame on this one. I personally had a hankering to create something pixel heavy; either something sickeningly cute or fast paced action with lots of explosions and screen shake. I was basically trying to steer all of the brainstorms towards one of these two forms. I simply wasn’t allowing for an organic process.</p> <p>On top of this I also feel like I may have been on my own in that I was extremely resistant to anything narrative heavy. I wanted to create tight loops with high replayability; score attack, procedural generation, etc.</p> <p>Basically, I feel my personal agenda got in the way on an early solution during brainstorming. I’ll try to be a little more aware of this in future jams.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">2. The game was quite buggy</span></p> <p>Though we fixed a bunch of issues post jam, we had a lot of bugs, most likely down to the scope of the game. I’m not sure what we could have done other than shrinking the scope, but with that being our unique feature, as it were, we were resistant to cut any more than we did.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">3. Multiplayer only</span></p> <p>Same story as with “<a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2015/01/ubisoft-montreal-game-jam-2014-no-evil.html" target="_blank">No Evil</a>”, multiplayer games, especially local, don’t always find an audience. They’re excellent games at the event locations, but once they’re released to the greater public, it’s easy for them to be ignored. Although we were low on time, it might have been preferable to drop the scope of the game a little in order to support solo play.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cuSe_GHw0d0/VZhBGB7e_eI/AAAAAAAAAi4/6AM-d9XEfnQ/s1600-h/pacman_render_example%25255B4%25255D.png"><img title="Pwrong Pacman" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Pwrong Pacman" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MhLO6wPdoE4/VZhBG-r2LtI/AAAAAAAAAi8/bBSZ7PbHHjk/pacman_render_example_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="450" height="321" /></a></p> <h4>What went right</h4> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">1. Two programmers helped with our scope</span></p> <p>Our game was a collection of games – the increase in programmer count certainly was one of the driving factors in allowing us to achieve this feat. One of the programmers (Anshul) also wrote a post mortem where he discusses this in more depth – you can read that <a href="http://funwithgames.tumblr.com/post/109459617666/how-did-we-spent-48h-answering-the-global-game-jam" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">2. We cut early</span></p> <p>We cut the twin stick geometry wars clone early enough for us to continue to have a working flow, and for me to have not spent too much time creating new assets for it (though in the end, I had created most of them anyway).</p> <p>Realistically it probably wouldn’t have been too difficult to implement the cut twin stick section post jam, but as is the case in most of these group game jams, the project is as it is on the final day, never to be returned to.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">3. Tried a different visual style</span></p> <p>A very personal positive from the jam – I tried a different style and scale and managed to pull it off. I never work at HD resolutions and always use pixel art as a crutch.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4YwFohWq2Uw/VZhBHXgrpVI/AAAAAAAAAjI/IPXwqQcJ1-M/s1600-h/shmup_mockup%25255B12%25255D.png"><img title="Pwrong Shmup" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Pwrong Shmup" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z9E2d2s7bpU/VZhBIL4UmBI/AAAAAAAAAjM/xxi_bwr52Bs/shmup_mockup_thumb%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="450" height="321" /></a></p> <p>This really highlighted the need for me to start using Illustrator – using raster graphics to fake vectors is a huge time sink, especially when you consider that I have a program as powerful as Illustrator installed on my machine. I have already started learning Illustrator for future work.</p> <h3>The Game</h3> <p>Pwrong was well received, especially in it’s scope – we didn’t “win” anything as such but were name dropped amongst a list of honourable mentions. It was definitely one of the best jam games I’ve been a part of and it set me on a path of exploring vector art for future games.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CmfvhJH3qX0/VZhBIwz2ZHI/AAAAAAAAAjY/XsVPxf8DU7E/s1600-h/test4.png"><img title="Anshul Goyal Pwrong" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Anshul Goyal Pwrong" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y1QHIKcOz6g/VZhBJ38mtkI/AAAAAAAAAjg/ShN4ia5zEy4/test_thumb2.png?imgmax=800" width="450" height="253" /></a></p> <p>Pwrong can be played over at GameJolt here: <a title="http://gamejolt.com/games/pwrong/45763" href="http://gamejolt.com/games/pwrong/45763"><strong>http://gamejolt.com/games/pwrong/45763</strong></a></p> <h3>Final Words</h3> <p>Over the last couple of years “Not Enough Laptops” have followed up the Global Game Jam with the Ubisoft Game Jam under the name “Titanic Conspiracy”. However, with half of the members leaving Ubisoft and the other half wanting to participate in Ludum Dare instead, we decided to retire the name and sit out of the third Ubisoft jam.</p> <p>Perhaps this was the final “Not Enough Laptops”/”Titanic Conspiracy” game, but I owe a lot to the various members for the opportunity to make games that I would never have on my own.</p> <p>Here are the developers I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside in the jams over the last few years:</p> <p><font color="#ff9900">Aidan Green</font></p> <p>I met Aidan at Ubisoft when working alongside him on Watch_Dogs; it was here where he introduced me to Construct 2, as well as the Montreal IGDA demo night. The demo night acted as an inspiring kick up the arse to participate in the global game jam. I strongly recommended anyone reading this to go to one of these IGDA nights in your area, or even travel  if needed. Very inspiring stuff.</p> <p>In our game jams, Aidan was our primary designer and sometimes audio creator. Though we often had conflicting opinions on where to focus our time on design, I think resulted in richer experiences – with Aidan’s focus on mechanics and mine on details, we created games I don’t think that we’d have been able to create alone.</p> <p>Aidan left Ubisoft Montreal after shipping Watch_Dogs and a stint on Far Cry 4. He’s now at Eidos Montreal working on Deus Ex - Mankind Divided.</p> <p><font color="#ff9900">Anshul Goyal</font></p> <p>A coding machine, Anshul was another Ubisoft employee. I never had the pleasure to work professionally alongside him, but rather met him through Aidan. Anshul was responsible for the code side of all of our jams.</p> <p>Seriously, a machine. We couldn’t have done any of our jams without him.</p> <p>Anshul is still at Ubisoft Montreal.</p> <p><font color="#ff9900">Scott Morin</font></p> <p>Scott and I started Ubisoft on the same day and quickly became design pals, despite his love for Blizzard and World of Warcraft (<em>what a massive nerd</em>).</p> <p>Scott was present for our Ubisoft Montreal jams and responsible for design and art duties.</p> <p>Scott left Ubisoft Montreal after shipping Watch_Dogs and now teaches level design at Vancouver Film School. Scott and I are also working on this…</p> <p align="center"><iframe height="300" src="https://vine.co/v/eBzAZIHJ6tb/embed/postcard" frameborder="0" width="300"></iframe><script src="https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js"></script></p> <p><font color="#ff9900">Pete Smith</font></p> <p>I met Pete through Aidan just before the 2015 global game jam. I don’t think we’d have been able to finish Pwrong without him. Not only did he bring code, but really solid design feedback.</p> <p>Pete left Ubisoft Montreal a couple months ago and is now <a href="http://ludogear.com/" target="_blank">going it alone</a>.</p> <p><font color="#ff9900">Jean-Sébastien Caron</font></p> <p>JS joined us for the 2013 Global Game Jam providing art. There was a wee language barrier at times, but that’s not unusual for game development in Montreal.</p> <p>I’ve not heard from JS in a while, but a quick Google shows that he’s currently an animator at FAKE Digitial Entertainment. Nice.</p> <p><font color="#ff9900">David Baron</font></p> <p>Indie warrior and fellow level designer on Watch_Dogs, David was present during our first couple of jams, providing design input and feedback.</p> <p>David left Ubisoft in the later days of Watch_Dogs and is now at Eidos Montreal working on Deus Ex - Mankind Divided.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p align="right"><strong><font size="3">Many thanks to you all.</font></strong></p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-18239953444255897792015-01-21T18:37:00.000+00:002015-01-22T08:34:52.656+00:00Ubisoft Montreal Game Jam 2014: No Evil<p>Early last year, Ubisoft Montreal held it’s second internal onsite game jam, and as per usual, I didn’t blog about it whilst it was happening. With the 2015 Global Game Jam on the way I thought I’d write a few words about that last experience. However, it is worth noting that I have left it a lot longer than I should have – the old brain doesn’t retain information like it used to, and 2014 is already becoming a bit of a blur. That said, I managed to write up a couple of notes during the tail end of the jam, so at least I’ve got something to work from and write up…</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-p5gLQePBO_g/VMC0b5AF29I/AAAAAAAAAdE/RjsbEMaefSg/s1600-h/header_gamejam28.png"><img title="Ubisoft Game Jam" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Ubisoft Game Jam" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/--wvOje2mUcg/VMC0cKcYHSI/AAAAAAAAAdI/iDoa686NI-4/header_gamejam_thumb21.png?imgmax=800" width="457" height="238" /></a></p> <p>It seemed that everyone involved in the <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/04/ubisoft-montreal-game-jam-2013-spring.html" target="_blank">first Ubisoft game jam</a> was itching to participate in another – upon announcement, the seats were filled and registration closed rapidly. It’s not like we couldn’t all just do a game jam whenever we wanted, it’s more the organisation – it’s having a site as a central location for participation. It’s having multiple teams around you, giving that sense of a community and proximity. And this is why I’ll be at the Global Game Jam this weekend.</p> <p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:8a157d2e-606b-4827-a4b0-711781ff4cf7" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4x3L8XtJ1zs?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4x3L8XtJ1zs?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> </p> <h3>The Team</h3> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/goyalanshul" target="_blank">Anshul Goyal</a> (Programming) <br /><a href="https://twitter.com/A_R_Green_00" target="_blank">Aidan Green</a> (Design and audio) <br /><a href="http://twitter.com/scottymorin" target="_blank">Scott Morin</a> (Design and audio) <br /><a href="https://twitter.com/SeanNoonan" target="_blank">Sean Noonan</a> (Art and design) </p> <h3>The Theme</h3> <blockquote> <p>You and I. </p> </blockquote> <p>We basically took this to mean “co-op”, or at least making a game with more than one player. From this, we decided that we wanted to push the theme as a real world constraint rather than an in game or narrative one. From early on Scott and I talked about using the jam as an opportunity to create an “installation” style game - something that would likely only ever be played on the weekend of the jam. Whether it be from physical constraints, hardware setup, or indeed Ubisoft-centric legal issues, we set out with the possibility in the back of our minds that our game may only ever be played <strong>once</strong>.</p> <p>Unlike the Global Game Jam, the Ubijam provides the theme a couple days ahead of the event – this is where Scott and I did some brainstorming and wrote up a couple of ideas matching the “You and I” theme with our self-imposed “installation” constraint.</p> <p>We came to the conclusion that we would use the philosophical maxim of the three mystic apes, known as; “see no evil”, “hear no evil” and “speak no evil” – directly serving as the source of inspiration for our real world constraints.</p> <p><img title="No Evil Document" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="No Evil Document" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-VxsFm4rsBxw/VMC0dMinLjI/AAAAAAAAAe0/QeKmeLUHNbQ/docs%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="458" height="216" /></p> <p>I wrote small first pass pitch document ahead of time to help cement the ideas that came about from our discussion…</p> <h3>The Jam</h3> <p>We started out our brainstorm with some debate. The private discussion between Scott and I before the jam, unsteadied the usual balance in our team – we were seemingly coming to the table with many of the angles already covered and there was a sense that much of the design was already done. In reality it was more that we’d established the treatment of the theme as well as imposed some additional constraints, and it wasn’t long before we were brainstorming the core design of the game with the approval of the rest of the team.</p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:461977ab-b6dc-4266-b001-64985f86d3a1" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S7rBsJBZliM?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S7rBsJBZliM?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <p>For the longest time we were confusing ourselves over which sense would be deprived from which player and how that would effect the game. Whiteboards were used heavily throughout these discussions as a constant reminder as to what each player could perceive and do. We agreed that to keep the game accessible and easy to read, we’d be willing to break the 4th wall and have the real world constraints not truly represented by a player’s in-game character.</p> <p>Oddly enough, we had some heated discussions over the merits of elevators rather than ladders and vice versa – little did we know these would come back to bite us in the ass throughout development…</p> <p><img title="monkeys" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="monkeys" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-YStfpW29agM/VMC0d9-QoCI/AAAAAAAAAe8/y3PizMVwv5k/monkeys%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="243" align="right" height="109" />We left the meeting room with a design for a platform-puzzle game not too dissimilar to The Lost Vikings; with one player wearing a blindfold, another wearing noise-cancelling headphones, and another unable to speak (no ball gag present) – all puzzles were to be completed via communication that respected these constraints. This meant some communication had to be done within the game, and some in the real world.</p> <p>Knowing that one of our players would be blind-folded, we quickly settled on tile-based movement in order for a blind player to be told to move X number of steps by the deaf player (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBQL4zsyKLk" target="_blank">Knightmare</a> flashbacks) allowing them to tap a direction a number of times. The deaf obviously acted as the blind’s navigator – there was a clear partnership here. Our problem was the relatively autonomous mute player, whom couldn’t verbally help with direction, nor respond to audio from the game in the real world. The mute player naturally became the defender, fighting enemies around the other two players and participating in time based visual puzzles, allowing the deaf player to relay the action of both themselves and the mute to the blind. It was an interwoven design and difficult to summarise, but after a level or two we would drip feed the mechanics slow enough to teach players at a safe pace. Perhaps too safe…</p> <p>Game production started fast, and we were able to see the game shaping up quickly thanks to the heavy use of placeholders. We were sticking to “form follows function” and were strict on that, we didn’t have a form until the end of the first night – after the game had already reached a playable state. This was completely down to me. I had a bizarre set of seemingly random ideas that somehow linked together in my head, but not when I said them out loud.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-4inX4RkAERI/VMC0eEP1TdI/AAAAAAAAAdw/OzTf6RusPTo/s1600-h/story4.png"><img title="A story of sorts..." style="display: inline" alt="A story of sorts..." src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-M0hago6tNUA/VMC0e4bjYWI/AAAAAAAAAd4/iGPAToXOT48/story_thumb2.png?imgmax=800" width="453" height="213" /></a></p> <p>By morning I’d come up with a means to tie all of the disparate elements together. You’d be playing as souls of the dead in a series of challenges placed upon them by Death as a means to escape Purgatory. </p> <p>There was never really a point when the game didn’t seem ‘weird’<img title="Our lost souls" style="float: left; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px; display: inline" alt="Our lost souls" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-5TBqc9PJSyk/VMC0feF_yJI/AAAAAAAAAfE/rlOzkhzD_so/cast%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="192" align="left" height="192" /> – what with having a 17th century fusilier alongside a world war II field hospital nurse, that communicated via a gramophone, whilst an 18th century general sat on a gravestone with a hidden pressure switch to open a door…</p> <p>Yup!</p> <p>It made sense to me, alright?</p> <p>All in all I was quite happy with the visuals, and the strange world I had concocted. I spent a little too long early in development with animation tests, not really thinking about the tile-based nature of our in-game movement. Animation would just add noise to the proceedings. We ended up just having the characters, or ‘pieces’, slide along the ground between tiles.<img title="enemy" style="float: right; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" alt="enemy" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-5CPG5BzQ5q4/VMC0gAV_81I/AAAAAAAAAfM/3HBUXYQmjLs/enemy%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="192" align="right" height="192" /></p> <p>Scott and Aidan really hit it out of the park when it came to the level designs – they had a full plan and level progression with design patterns in place. A huge volume of content. By the end of the second night we had all of the art in the game and most of the levels fully playable. It was a pretty smooth jam from there…</p> <p>…except for those FUCKING LADDERS. I’m not the code guy, that’s Anshul, so I can’t really shed any light on why they caused us so many problems, but they really did a number on us. We were basically screwed over by ladder bugs for the bulk of the (playable) production – many of which caused full on walkthrough breaks in the game. Some of these bugs were never fixed, halting progression through the levels at the midpoint of the final game.</p> <div id="scid:66721397-FF69-4ca6-AEC4-17E6B3208830:cf9622fa-6954-4907-a069-3903af63b15d" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 405px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px"><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:400px;border-collapse:collapse;' > <tr> <td colspan=2 style='outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:5px 0px 5px 5px;width:157px;vertical-align:bottom;' > <a href="https://onedrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=4b5d55e34e3ed2f2&page=play&resid=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2076&parId=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2075&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=!AKoxUKqGumjxlqA" target="_blank" border="0" style="outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;"> <img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" alt="View album" title="View album" width="157" height="157" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QRHzhTanEbI/VMC2JI-AsLI/AAAAAAAAAgE/nmvWtgRzl_g/154606990903A824ED.png?imgmax=800" /></a> </td> <td colspan=3 style='vertical-align:middle;margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 5px 0px;outline:none;border-style:none;width:223px' > <div style="margin-left:10px;top:-3%;" > <div style='width:223px;overflow:visible;'><a style="text-decoration:none;" href="https://onedrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=4b5d55e34e3ed2f2&page=browse&resid=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2075&parId=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!103&type=5&authkey=!AKoxUKqGumjxlqA&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos" target="_blank"><span style="line-height:1.26em;padding:0px;width:223px;font-size:26pt;font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" defaultText="Enter album name here">“No Evil” Presentation</span></a></div> <div style="padding:10px 0px 0px 0px;margin:0px;"> <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style="margin:0px;padding:0px;outline:none;border-style:none;border-collapse:collapse;width:auto;"> <tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:10px 15px 6px 0px;"><a href="https://onedrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=4b5d55e34e3ed2f2&page=play&resid=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2075&parId=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!103&type=5&authkey=!AKoxUKqGumjxlqA&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;">VIEW SLIDE SHOW</a></td> <td style="vertical-align:top;outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:10px 0px 6px 0px;"><a href="https://onedrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=4b5d55e34e3ed2f2&page=downloadphotos&resid=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2075&parId=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!103&type=5&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=!AKoxUKqGumjxlqA" 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src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-vdFiZZRCdAw/VMC2JcEk-xI/AAAAAAAAAgI/EtcA72m3hOE/15460698783CBF01EF.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:76px;height:76px;' ><a href="https://onedrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=4b5d55e34e3ed2f2&page=play&resid=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2078&parId=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2075&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=!AKoxUKqGumjxlqA" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="76" alt="View album" title="View album" height="76" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-h8LdXkhGaXo/VMC2J6UD54I/AAAAAAAAAgU/LUgfikcUg_8/15460701036AAC54A7.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:76px;height:76px;' ><a href="https://onedrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=4b5d55e34e3ed2f2&page=play&resid=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2079&parId=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2075&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=!AKoxUKqGumjxlqA" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="76" alt="View album" title="View album" height="76" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Bi2Os7zUbcY/VMC2Kc-pSZI/AAAAAAAAAgY/2JmkcjCV13Y/15460700726AAC54A7.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:76px;height:76px;' ><a href="https://onedrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=4b5d55e34e3ed2f2&page=play&resid=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2080&parId=4B5D55E34E3ED2F2!2075&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=!AKoxUKqGumjxlqA" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="76" alt="View album" title="View album" height="76" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Il1x7otBC6I/VMC2K1sZ5WI/AAAAAAAAAgg/hE-TMXWjB14/19582833451899A760.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:76px;height:76px;' > </td></tr></table></div> <p>Just some images of us playing the game…</p> <h3>The Postmortem</h3> <h4>What went wrong</h4> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">1. Brainstorming without the full team</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>Scott and I had discussions about the design before the jam and without the rest of the team. This meant we were going into a brainstorm session at the start of the jam with a pre thought-out plan. This perhaps alienated the other team members and resulted in a slightly slower conclusion being formed around the design in the early hours. If you work in a team, it’s best to have every member of that team involved from the outset. This is something I’ve seen happen in professional development also – the withholding of information in the early stages of production can leave an air of animosity or rebellion for those not on the “inside”. Games production is a collaborative effort and their conception should be also.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">2. Unity still sucks at 2D</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>…or at least it did for us. Without good grid snapping and scale options, a tile-based game can be a real pain in the ass to build levels for. I’d made quite a lot of art for the game including purely aesthetic clutter that had specific layer and placement requirements – this slowed the polish phase down to a crawl, and caused some last minute friction as tiredness set in within the team.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">3. Too much content, not enough testing</span></p> <p>While our drip fed mechanics and level progression were admirable for a full production – they just killed pace in a demo environment. The difficulty curve and mechanic progression was far too slow. We had the game paced like a AAA retail title, not the installation style jam game we pitched at the beginning. Any time spent creating a lot of this content that went unseen by most players should have been spent on testing and polishing the content they did get to see.</p> <h3>What went right</h3> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">1. We used placeholders</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>This was a massive improvement for us as a team, and a particularly huge benefit to me. With placeholders it meant whenever the rest of the team demanded assets from me, it was out of aesthetic desire rather than functionality - a great spot to be in, though sometimes the pressure to create something "not shit" can get to me and make my confidence waver (not difficult). Somehow up to this point I keep lucking out...</p> <p>Anyway, this process was super smooth from my point of view, though I did witness the aforementioned Unity specific woes regarding grids, snapping and layers – from a distance (Disclaimer: I generally didn’t leave Photoshop) it appeared that the issues weren’t with the functionality of the tools, but rather the usability of them. This isn’t the first, second or even third time we’ve had issues with Unity in 2D.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">2. Feature complete early</span></p> <p>The majority of our code base, and most of the art placeholders were in good shape on the first night/second day. This gave us a clear idea of the amount of content we were going to be able to create and gave Anshul some time to work through any bugs (LADDERS) that were already scuttling about.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">3. We all had a place</span></p> <p>This was our fourth or fifth jam together, so we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and therefore didn't need to spend time deciding roles. Knowing a person’s abilities, preferences and limitations can really help with communication, especially mid jam to late jam as tensions build. And possibly for the first time since we’ve jammed together, all of us were working up to the wire. We all had an essential role and could continue to contribute until the very end.</p> <h3>The Game</h3> <p><img title="noevil_title" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="noevil_title" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-0218-gdYeOU/VMC0g7btxlI/AAAAAAAAAf8/aaXK_WMkjZE/noevil_title%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="380" height="224" /></p> <p>While the game isn’t available for download anywhere, it’s real world requirements would make it an unlikely sell to most people anyway. Not many people have a blindfold, noise-cancelling headphones, <strike>a ball gag</strike>, three people and three Xbox 360 controllers handy…</p> <p>However, you can enjoy the trailer!</p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:1d09ac63-b556-42f4-95ad-06e5d1855a7a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/O-eHFDXJK3Q?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/O-eHFDXJK3Q?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <p>So that was a fun jam! Here’s a list of post mortems from some of the other jams I worked on…</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2014/04/montreal-game-jam-2014-bad-mood-rising.html" target="_blank">Global Game Jam 2014: Bad Mood Rising</a></li> <li><a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/11/game-boy-game-jam-2-jack-b-nimble.html" target="_blank">Game Boy Game Jam 2013: Jack B. Nimble</a></li> <li><a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/04/ubisoft-montreal-game-jam-2013-spring.html" target="_blank">Ubisoft Montreal Game Jam 2013: Spring Break</a></li> <li><a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/01/montreal-game-jam-2013-day-3.html" target="_blank">Global Game Jam 2013: Hjarta</a></li> </ul> <p><em>I had <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-obligatory-far-cry-4-post.html" target="_blank">previously stated</a> that I would be going back to do a post mortem of Bad Cloud (Game Boy Game Jam 2014) but now that the full version is on hold and likely cancelled, I won’t be talking about it any further. Sorry.</em></p> <p>I hope you find those post mortems either useful or interesting. If you’d like to follow the development of the development of our next game jam game this weekend, then you can check my <a href="http://sean-noonan.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">tumblr</a> or go to <a href="http://gamejolt.com/profile/seannoonan/129273/" target="_blank">my GameJolt page</a> where we will be posting updates and test builds throughout development.</p> <p>Wish us luck!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-35326568608489975212015-01-01T18:37:00.000+00:002015-01-02T05:54:50.460+00:00Games I played in 2014<p>So as stated in a <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2014/11/3-games-1-year.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>, I’ve achieved a hell of a lot this year – shipped two top 10 AAA games with Ubisoft (Watch_Dogs and Far Cry 4) as well my own first indie game, <a href="http://jackbnimblegame.com" target="_blank">Jack B. Nimble</a> (yes, this is me giving myself a pat on the back).</p> <p>Somehow I even managed to play through and finish a bunch of games too – less than I was planning from <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2014/01/games-i-played-in-2013.html" target="_blank">last year</a> (and mostly different), but still a healthy chunk of gaming. One observation is the large increase in indie titles that I’ve gobbled up over the year – significantly more than last year anyway. Another thing that is clear is how I’ve shifted my focus from almost exclusively Xbox 360 to PC and PS4. I’ve barely touched the Xbox One this year, something I think is down to Killzone: Shadowfall being my multiplayer game of choice rather than Titanfall – it just meant my PS4 was switched ‘on’ more often.</p> <p><strong><font color="#ff9900">Xbox One</font></strong></p> <ul> <li>Super Time Force </li> </ul> <p><strong><font color="#ff9900">Xbox 360</font></strong></p> <ul> <li><font color="#ffffff">Gears of War 3</font> </li> <li><font color="#ffffff">The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct</font> </li> <li>Metal Gear Solid 2 </li> <li>The Walking Dead: Season 2 </li> <li>The Wolf Among Us (Episode 1)</li> </ul> <p><font style="background-color: #ffc000"></font><strong><font color="#ff9900">Playstation 4</font></strong></p> <ul> <li>Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare </li> <li>Call of Duty: Ghosts </li> <li>Wolfenstein: The New Order </li> <li>Watch_Dogs </li> <li>Watch_Dogs: Bad Blood </li> <li>P.T. </li> <li>Flower </li> <li>Games of Thrones (Episode 1)</li> </ul> <p><font style="background-color: #ffc000"></font><strong><font color="#ff9900">Playstation 3</font></strong></p> <ul> <li>Uncharted 3 </li> <li>Journey </li> </ul> <p><strong><font color="#ff9900">Playstation Vita</font></strong></p> <ul> <li>Thomas Was Alone </li> </ul> <p><font style="background-color: #ffc000"></font><strong><font color="#ff9900">PC</font></strong></p> <ul> <li>Quake </li> <li>Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon </li> <li>Half-Life 2 </li> <li>Half-Life 2: Episode One </li> <li>Half-Life 2: Episode Two </li> <li>Home </li> <li>Gunpoint </li> <li>Gone Home </li> <li>Savant – Ascent </li> <li>Jazzpunk </li> <li>Dear Esther </li> <li>Organ Trail </li> </ul> <p>While I didn’t finish <em>FTL</em>, <em>Don’t Starve</em> or <em>Heavy Bullets</em>, their rogue-like nature had me pouring hundreds of hours into them between them (especially FTL).</p> <p>So yeah, I basically didn’t even touch my pile of shame or do even a tenth as many game jams as I wanted – as a result my plans for 2015 are a little more restrained than last year (but still probably too much).</p> <ul> <li>Start working on a new indie game (!!!) </li> <li>Finish the final content updates for Jack B. Nimble </li> <li>Port Jack B. Nimble to other platforms <ul> <ul> <li>Android </li> <li>Windows 8 and Mobile </li> <li>PC, Mac and Linux </li> </ul> </ul> </li> <li>Submit something to <a href="http://bp.io/pd" target="_blank">Pixel Dailies</a> at least once a week</li> <li>Participate in the following game jams <ul> <ul> <li>EVERY One Game A Month jam </li> <li>Global Game Jam 2015 </li> <li>Ubisoft Game Jam (if there is another) </li> </ul> </ul> <!--EndFragment--></li> <li>Play through the following games <ul> <ul> <li>Quake Mission Pack 2</li> <li>Portal 2 </li> <li>STALKER </li> <li>FEAR </li> <li>Battlefield 4 </li> <li>Far Cry 4 </li> <li>Metal Gear Solid 3 </li> <li>Assassin’s Creed Revelations </li> </ul> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>There are a few things that I totally dropped from last year; I decided to stop taking part in Ludum Dare/One Game A Month in favour of shifting my focus to Jack B. Nimble. Even taking part in a weekend jam had consequences on development, so around April I just stopped jamming. I also put One Day From Retirement on ice; I wasn’t very happy with the progress I was making and again, couldn’t give up time that I needed for other projects. It may come back in some form…</p> <p>It’s rather unlikely that I will experience the same level as achievement in 2015 as I did in 2014, but I will be hitting the age of 30 – which is pretty good going, aye?</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-87243090219993626852014-12-31T18:37:00.000+00:002015-01-01T01:37:24.782+00:00Jack B. Nimble Winter update and Happy New Year!<p>Although I didn’t get it out in time for Christmas, the latest update to Jack B. Nimble has been released on iOS in time for the new year.</p> <p><img style="float: right; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/jack_cover_xmas_tiny.png" align="right" /></p> <p>The update features a brand new Winter-themed level, “Bitter Bluffs”, much requested Game Center support for leaderboards, a number of big fixes and a couple of performances tweaks.</p> <p>While the initial sales spike from the update wasn’t exactly mind blowing, the number of updates was really healthy (more than a third of the user base) – hopefully we’ll see a lot more players on the leaderboards in the new year.</p> <p>Speaking of leaderboards, I am aware that previously scored scores are not being submitted to Game Center – I’m going to look into putting out a quick patch to redeem this. It was definitely a major oversight of mine, and I’m sorry to those that lost their scores in the latest update – take comfort in the fact that these updates are free and always will be.</p> <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="http://sean-noonan.com/development/dev_noonanrun/jack_chrimbus_update.gif" width="450" height="300" /></p> <p>I know I still need to write up my first month post mortem, I didn’t get a chance due to working on the Winter update. You can expect it early next year, I need to run some analytics and speak with some of my contemporaries. Until then, here’s a <strong>very early</strong> glimpse of the next new level…</p> <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="http://sean-noonan.com/development/dev_noonanrun/jack_watertest_lg.gif" width="450" height="300" /></p> <p>Oh, and happy new year!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-66683385298777872642014-11-18T18:37:00.000+00:002014-11-19T02:38:45.824+00:00Far Cry 4 Released!<p>Another game in the bag! Pretty happy with this one too – I came to the project quite late, so there’s a hell of a lot of the game I’ve not seen or played yet. I’m really excited to get stuck into it myself.</p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:7b952496-eaea-4d5f-8ac7-bb3f4d382e57" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dYdjb10JcxU?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dYdjb10JcxU?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Far Cry 4 101 Trailer</div></div> <p>So far the reviews have been pretty strong and the word of mouth has been great. I’d argue that the initial reception and buzz so far is exceeding that of Watch_Dogs – a pretty good sign, seeing as last I heard, that game sold somewhere in the region of 10 million copies. Here’s hoping that same fortune will spread to Far Cry 4.</p> <p>Oh, and while I was looking for an image/video to link I found this little thing – a Far Cry 4 branded Cannon Fodder eh? Quite the coincidence, just today I was talking about potentially making some form of Cannon Fodder homage/prototype…</p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:d67af26e-01a9-4612-aded-b1d4fc34559d" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1DcCoxhttq4?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1DcCoxhttq4?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Far Cry 4 X Cannon Fodder</div></div> <p>Until next time!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-39860191307870578802014-11-11T18:37:00.000+00:002014-11-11T18:37:01.056+00:003 games, 1 year<p>By the end of 2014 I will have shipped my first two cross-gen console games. The first was Watch_Dogs, a <a href="http://blog.ubi.com/watch-dogs-breaks-records/" target="_blank">record breaking</a> open-world title, which narrowly missed the next gen console launch window, but has since gone on to sell over 9 million copies and holds a healthy <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/watch-dogs" target="_blank">80 on Metacritic</a>. The second, is Far Cry 4, a first person action/adventure game, which has recently been seeing a good fan reaction from recent press events and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Kcsd4Han4" target="_blank">YouTubers</a>. A couple of weeks ago I also took part in a <a href="https://soundcloud.com/farcrygame/far-cry-comdev-podcast-1" target="_blank">podcast for the game</a>…</p> <p><iframe height="450" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/171058631&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" frameborder="no" width="100%" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <p>With Far Cry 4 a week away from release, I thought I’d address the fact that I’ve also released my first indie game, “Jack B. Nimble” (you can grab it on the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=918891211&mt=8" target="_blank">App Store</a> for $1.99). I’ll write up a post mortem shortly, containing sales figures, my experiences with iOS, learning Construct 2 and my CocoonJS woes… but until then, I’ll summarise the coverage that I got and leave an update on what’s been going on with my other games.</p> <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByCBdnHIEAAbZ1O.png" width="440" height="213" /></p> <p>As this is an English blog, I’ll just link to the English coverage, though of note, I did get <a href="http://www.swipe.jp/jack-b-nimble-release/" target="_blank">covered by a Japanese news outlet</a> – something the child inside me takes great pride in! Oh, and it’s worth mentioning I updated Jack B. Nimble with a free Halloween content update – which garnered it’s own coverage…</p> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/halloween_small_icon.png" align="right" /></p> <h5>News (post Halloween)</h5> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/Junk+Jack+X/feature.asp?c=62232" target="_blank">Pocket Gamer</a> </li> <li><a href="http://toucharcade.com/2014/10/31/ios-game-halloween-updates/" target="_blank">Touch Arcade</a> </li> <li><a href="http://indiegames.com/2014/10/ios_pick_jack_b_nimble_sean_no.html" target="_blank">Indiegames.com</a> </li> <li><a href="http://www.appspy.com/feature/9211/genre-busters-top-5-best-halloween-game-updates-on-ios" target="_blank">AppSpy</a> </li> </ul> <h5>News</h5> <ul> <li><a href="http://indiegames.com/2014/10/mobile_pick_get_whipped_in_aut.html" target="_blank">Indiegames.com</a> </li> <li><a href="http://toucharcade.com/2014/10/01/new-iphone-and-ipad-games-october-2/" target="_blank">Touch Arcade</a> (new releases list) </li> <li><a href="http://www.gamazoid.com/2014/10/jack-b-nimble-youve-gotta-start-somewhere/" target="_blank">Gamazoid</a> </li> <li><a href="http://gamegeeks.net/jack-b-nimble-is-here/" target="_blank">Game Geeks</a> </li> <li><a href="http://pixelatedparadise.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/ios-roundup-300914/" target="_blank">Pixelated Paradise</a> (new releases list) </li> <li><a href="http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2014/10/01/new-game-jack-b-nimble-is-a-game-boy-looking-endless-runner-for-ios/" target="_blank">Retro Gaming Magazine</a></li> </ul> <h5>Interviews</h5> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Jack+B+Nimble/news.asp?c=61790" target="_blank">Pocket Gamer</a> </li> <li><a href="http://eftgaming.com/jack-b-nimble-indie-game-interview" target="_blank">EFT Gaming</a> </li> </ul> <h5>Reviews</h5> <ul> <li><a href="http://toucharcade.com/2014/10/14/jack-b-nimble-review/" target="_blank">Touch Arcade</a> – 4/5 </li> <li><a href="http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Jack+B+Nimble/review.asp?c=61880" target="_blank">Pocket Gamer</a> – 7/10 [Bronze Award] </li> <li><a href="http://e-rapidgames.com/jack-b-nimble-retro-endless-runners/" target="_blank">e-Rapid Games</a> – 8/10 </li> <li><a href="http://epn.tv/all/spotlight/jack-b-nimble-review/" target="_blank">EPN.tv</a> – 6/10 [Video Review] </li> <li><a href="http://appadvice.com/review/quickadvice-jack-b-nimble/" target="_blank">App Advice</a> – No Score </li> <li><a href="http://barancezayirli.com/2014/09/game-review-jack-b-nimble/" target="_blank">Baran Cezayirli</a> – 80% [Blogger] </li> </ul> <h5>Lets Plays</h5> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iq35rlWM0w&feature=youtu.be&t=13m29s" target="_blank">AppSpy</a> </li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8LlnzwNtts" target="_blank">GigaBoots</a> </li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jvYbHAEooA" target="_blank">Phonecats</a> <ul> <li>Also a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce_mC4VKYJM" target="_blank">second video</a>! </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBYrPSrERkc" target="_blank">TouchGameplay</a> </li> </ul> <p>If you’re a news outlet or youtuber and still want a review copy to cover or review the game, then drop me a line at <a href="mailto:mail@sean-noonan.com">mail@sean-noonan.com</a></p> <p>I’ve not been working on a lot else outside of future content updates for Jack B. Nimble. The game mentioned in <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-obligatory-far-cry-4-post.html" target="_blank">my last post</a>, “Bad Cloud” has been put on hold while the programmer settles into his new job. I really liked the direction we were going in with Bad Cloud, so I hope there’s still a future for it. However, whether or not we come back to this game is up in the air right now, so I’m free to maybe start something new or pick up one of my older <a href="http://sean-noonan.com/development/dev_wlbtf/laddergym.gif" target="_blank">prototypes</a> or <a href="http://gamejolt.com/games/shooter/cybergunner-2-guns-of-cyberia/20623/" target="_blank">game jams</a>.</p> <p>I’d also like to go back and write up the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-eHFDXJK3Q" target="_blank">last Ubisoft game jam</a> I took part in - maybe after my Jack B. Nimble post mortem…</p> <p>Until then!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-83735104464653350152014-08-17T18:37:00.000+01:002014-08-17T18:48:00.035+01:00The obligatory Far Cry 4 post<p>It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted here, and while I’m sitting on a couple of half written blog entries (some of which I will get to later), I thought I’d address what I’ve been doing at Ubisoft for the last few months…</p> <p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:5fa202e5-859f-4499-ae05-293dd6ba9aa4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pzVH9AF5LY4?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pzVH9AF5LY4?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> </p> <p>I joined the Far Cry 4 team! Everyone has been great so far and I really hit the ground running. Coincidentally there’s two of my old Wheelman pals on the team and although I only work with them indirectly, I’d like to think the spirit is there. As a slight tangent, a bunch of my old Wheelman buds who formed Pitbull Studios from the ashes of Midway, just got <a href="http://www.pitbullstudio.co.uk/" target="_blank">picked up by Epic Games</a>. Great news!</p> <p>Back to Far Cry 4 – my role has had me designing and implementing a couple of levels/missions from early in the game’s main campaign – similar to my work on Watch_Dogs, but this time an overall shorter mandate and straight into full production.</p> <p>…and speaking of Watch_Dogs, I have yet to mention it’s record-breaking status as the <a href="http://blog.ubi.com/watch-dogs-breaks-records/" target="_blank">fastest selling new IP in videogame history</a> at 4 million sales in its opening week. Quite the feat, and I hear that total sales are estimated to be somewhere in the region of 7 or 8 million. That one title has outsold all the games of my career so far, combined. Incredible.</p> <p>Outside of Ubisoft, I’m putting the finishing touches on my first indie release, “Jack B. Nimble”. This is the full version of my game jam game of the same name created for <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/11/game-boy-game-jam-2-jack-b-nimble.html" target="_blank">last year’s Game Boy Game Jam</a>. <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-iL3JJpozjuo/U_BiYNxxfUI/AAAAAAAAAbw/fm1lN36ivCc/s1600-h/game%25255B2%25255D.gif"><img title="game" style="float: right; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" alt="game" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UF7lW2T6_J8/U_BiY4GSO2I/AAAAAAAAAb0/37CnU05QEGE/game_thumb.gif?imgmax=800" width="240" align="right" height="192" /></a>The full release will contain improved visuals, widescreen support, an enhanced soundtrack and numerous bug fixes. Expect that in the next few weeks.</p> <p>I have also teamed up with another ex-Watch_Dogs designer, <a href="http://scottmorin.com/" target="_blank">Scott Morin</a> to create another Game Boy styled game called “Bad Cloud”. It’s a horizontal shmup full of cuteness and over the top action. I’ll be doing a post mortem of it’s failed game jam entry and subsequent rebirth as a full title soon.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Hsy17g_FKcM/U_BiZj3o3JI/AAAAAAAAAb8/Fc8Yp9WG5IQ/s1600-h/Bad_Cloud_MedBanner%25255B9%25255D.png"><img title="Bad_Cloud_MedBanner" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Bad_Cloud_MedBanner" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Mk9FsqRMDqQ/U_BiaEhfhsI/AAAAAAAAAcI/pHeb5-d312E/Bad_Cloud_MedBanner_thumb%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="451" height="254" /></a></p> <p>I’m also sitting on my write up and post mortem of our second Ubisoft Montreal game jam entry, “No Evil”. I’ll get around to finishing that, even if it’s a little late…</p> <p>Until next time… and for those of you that are interested, I’ve just started a tumblr at <a title="http://sean-noonan.tumblr.com/" href="http://sean-noonan.tumblr.com/">http://sean-noonan.tumblr.com/</a> – it’ll be a place where I put all of my indie game screenshots and reference material.</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-31507682589912420222014-05-26T18:37:00.000+01:002014-05-28T00:21:08.696+01:00Watch_Dogs Released<p>It’s finally here! After a slight but much needed delay we’ve got it out of the door and into a box or digital download if that’s your thing…</p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:9425983d-eade-4a46-b5cc-c95cb889dab6" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e_q-s3QdmU8?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e_q-s3QdmU8?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Watch_Dogs Launch Trailer</div></div> <p>This’ll be the first game I’ve worked on with this level of anticipation and hype - it may even be my last, but that’s for another time... right now, I’m enjoying reading the last waves of speculation, monitoring the excitement (on GAF) and eagerly awaiting the reviews.</p> <p>I realise I never really blogged a great deal during the production of Watch_Dogs, or for that matter any AAA game I’ve worked on, really. It’s down to a number of factors; not having time due to the fact I am busy working on said game, perhaps not having the permission to do so, and to be honest, not knowing whether or not people will want to read anything I have to say about it.</p> <p>…but that’s all going to change a little as I increasingly talk about my indie efforts, but again, that is for another update.</p> <p>Anyway, enjoy Watch_Dogs and wish me luck for whatever it is I end up doing next!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-69299581067082231262014-04-24T18:37:00.000+01:002015-01-22T08:38:33.250+00:00Montreal Game Jam 2014: Bad Mood Rising<p>I didn’t blog about this at the time, but felt like I should go back and document my 2014 global game jam experience, having participated two years in a row (and get it out of the way before the second Ubisoft Montreal Game Jam begins tomorrow).</p> <h3>The Team</h3> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/A_R_Green_00" target="_blank">Aidan Green</a> (Design and audio) <br /><a href="https://twitter.com/goyalanshul" target="_blank">Anshul Goyal</a> (Programming) <br /><a href="https://twitter.com/SeanNoonan" target="_blank">Sean Noonan</a> (Art and additional design) </p> <h4></h4> <h3>The Theme</h3> <blockquote> <p>We don't see things as they are, <br />we see them as we are.</p> </blockquote> <p><iframe style="height: 261px; width: 454px" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uLz4cAOZB8w" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <h3>The Jam</h3> <p>The theme really threw us at first, and we struggled with a couple of weak ideas in our initial brainstorm session. However, it wasn’t long before Aidan piped up with a more personal take on the theme, the gist being…</p> <blockquote> <p>When someone becomes angry things that would otherwise seem perfectly harmless can be perceived as hostile, and they can lash out at things and people around them.</p> </blockquote> <p>Once we decided this was to be our take on the theme, we quickly hit the ground running – this would be our third organised game jam together, so we had a good idea where our strengths were; Anshul got his head stuck into the code, Aiden wrote up the design and I worked on a visual style/form proposal. <br />With our team smaller than last year, we attempted to keep the scope super tight by limiting the number of player actions and the amount of planned content. In retrospect I was probably a little too confident in my ability to nail the style early and use all the time remaining just churning out content – this didn’t exactly go to plan… </p> <h3>The Postmortem</h3> <h3></h3> <h4>What went wrong</h4> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">1. Art was a bottleneck</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>At <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/01/montreal-game-jam-2013-day-3.html" target="_blank">last year’s game jam</a> we went too far pushing “form follows function”. We did this to the point that we lacked the visual charm that was needed to attract people to play the game/keep playing. I really, really wanted to redeem that this time around, but we didn’t anticipate how much of a bottleneck I would become when it came to asset creation.<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-xD2r6WWdNoI/U1ntC9buA-I/AAAAAAAAAaA/JPKONxYs4ac/s1600-h/Dali_The_Persistence_of_Memory%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="" style="float: right; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-VGbJPUq-ELE/U1ntDfSp8XI/AAAAAAAAAaI/Rw-C-ZALcWo/Dali_The_Persistence_of_Memory_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" align="right" height="177" /></a> I took a long time up front planning how the game would look as well as choosing a colour palette, spending my time getting inspirations from some of Dali’s abstract works, but in the end I didn’t have the confidence to deliver anything with that level of creativity in the time we had. <br />I ended up settling on a muted crate paper look/feel that drew a small amount of inspiration from that initial research. <br />While I was quick to provide placeholders for environment assets, I was slow on the character and animation front, and I feel this held the game back from my next point…</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">2. The game was playable late</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>Just like last year, the game wasn’t playable until the final hours, so we had very little time to playtest. I feel we just lucked out that we had something playable and reasonably fun at all. That said, had we playtested I feel we would have just reduced the amount of time the player was “aggro’d” for and probably reworked some of the enemy paths… basically that would have just been tuning, which to be fair, is a nice situation to be in. <br />With this being the second year in a row that this point was an issue though, I am going to do everything in my power to get future games playable earlier.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">3. My hardware wasn’t suitable</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>This was a personal issue for me, but developing art on a Microsoft Surface Pro for extended periods is extremely uncomfortable. There’s the small (and low down) screen, reduced keyboard and a not so optimal mouse. This really slowed my progress down and didn’t help with my temperament when dealing with sleep deprivation and general development frustrations. This meant that the majority of my best work was done at home before bed and in the morning before I left to return to the jam location – not an ideal situation. <br />Next time I will be sure to either use my MacBook or perhaps use the Surface again, but with a USB keyboard and mouse as well as HDMI out to a monitor. <br /></p> <h4>What went right</h4> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">1. We achieved a (relatively) polished game</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>Early on we decided to focus on quality over quantity, but kept our plans relatively generous with a lot of “nice to have’s”. When we discovered that art was becoming a slight bottleneck and the game still wasn’t playable, we cut our level content to a quarter of our original plan – something short and sweet was preferable to something long and broken. <br /></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-yo1qBS0koiw/U1ntD0noObI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/nW94kTUwuNA/s1600-h/jamwin%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Bad Mood Rising Team" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QipPS4x6hD8/U1ntEVJWM9I/AAAAAAAAAaU/MrJE3LfHLw4/jamwin_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="452" height="254" /></a> <br />It paid off, we had nothing but positive feedback from people at the jam and online as well as the <a href="http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/bad-mood-rising/21627/" target="_blank">game’s GameJolt page</a>. We even won a judge’s choice award at the end of the jam!</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">2. We had a full team contribution</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>It felt like everyone made a really solid contribution to the project, and there was a really good feeling that we’d achieved something by the end. Aidan even put together a bunch of music – something which wasn’t initially planned. <br />I have referenced the project several times since and it will likely influence how things go ahead at the Ubisoft Game Jam tomorrow.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900">3. We used social media</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff9900"></span>Whenever there was a moment of down time I took to Twitter, Facebook and GameJolt (my indie game portal of choice) to talk through development and show work in progress shots. Said media was getting hundreds of views within minutes of being uploaded - it was a real confidence boost and gave us a much needed second wind before the end. Upon release, the game quickly amassed 500 unique plays on GameJolt, which was nice to see.</p> <p><img style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_badmood/bad_mood_rising_walk.gif" width="16" height="32" /></p> <p><img style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_badmood/bad_mood_rising_attack.gif" /></p> <p><img style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_badmood/bad_mood_rising_stomp.gif" /></p> <p><img style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_badmood/bad_mood_rising_crab.gif" /></p> <p>Never neglect social media…</p> <h3>The Game</h3> <p>"Bad Mood Rising"</p> <p><a href="http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/bad-mood-rising/21627/" target="_blank">Play it here!</a></p> <p>Bad Mood Rising was an experimental game for us. It’s a game about how different the world feels when you are angry. We represented this by having the player attempt to make their way through a dangerous environment whilst avoiding obstacles. Said obstacles would take the form of enemies or hazards and would act as the instigators of the player’s anger. If the player collides with an obstacle their rage becomes unbearable and the creatures in the environment would turn hostile. The player would have the chance to defend themselves against the onslaught of incoming hostiles for the duration of their anger, which depleted over time as they calmed down. Only while calm can the player progress through the game. <br /></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tsbygKQTYBE/U1ntE4SGWoI/AAAAAAAAAag/whrUvyJQuZc/s1600-h/badmoodrising%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img title="" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Bad Mood Rising Title" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GR3wRnqQ8XQ/U1ntFRLxLrI/AAAAAAAAAao/N4Fn_AyOrkI/badmoodrising_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="452" height="254" /></a> <br />You can play it in your browser or grab a download over at the link below…</p> <p><a href="http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/bad-mood-rising/21627/">http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/bad-mood-rising/21627/</a></p> <p>Here are a couple of screenshots of the game too…</p> <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="" src="http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/39509.jpg" width="452" height="255" /> <br /><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="" src="http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/39508.jpg" width="452" height="254" /> <br /><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="" src="http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/39510.jpg" width="452" height="254" /> <br />Wish us luck for the Ubisoft Game Jam tomorrow!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-25355945417881958312014-01-22T18:37:00.000+00:002014-01-23T06:43:00.821+00:00Games I played in 2013<p><font color="#ffffff">Over the past year my time was mainly devoted to development of Watch_Dogs with any remaining time spent participating in game jams. So with time so limited, I didn’t get to play anywhere near as many games as <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/01/games-i-played-in-2012.html" target="_blank">last year</a>. On top of that, this year I grabbed both of the new consoles; the Xbox One and the PS4, so they had my attention for the holidays – a time I would usually dedicate for finishing in-progress games. So what did I finish?</font></p> <p><strong><font color="#ff9900">Xbox One</font></strong></p> <ul> <li>Ryse</li> </ul> <p><strong><font color="#ff9900">Xbox 360</font></strong></p> <ul> <li><font color="#ffffff">Bioshock Infinite </font> <ul><font color="#ffffff"><!--EndFragment--></font></ul> </li> <li><font color="#ffffff">Far Cry 3 </font></li> <li><font color="#ffffff">Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon </font></li> <li><font color="#ffffff">007 Blood Stone </font></li> <li><font color="#ffffff">007 Legends </font></li> <li><font color="#ffffff">Spec Ops: The Line </font></li> <li><font color="#ffffff">Max Payne 3 </font></li> <li><font color="#ffffff">Assassin’s Creed II </font></li> <li><font color="#ffffff">The Walking Dead: 400 Days</font> </li> </ul> <p><em><font color="#ff9900">Xbox Live Arcade</font></em></p> <ul> <li>Limbo </li> <li>Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet </li> <li>Smash TV </li> <li>Castle Crashers </li> </ul> <p><font style="background-color: #ffc000"></font><strong><font color="#ff9900">Playstation 3</font></strong><font style="background-color: #ffc000"></font></p> <ul> <li>Grand Theft Auto V </li> </ul> <p><em><font color="#ff9900">PSN</font></em></p> <ul> <li>Metal Gear Solid </li> <li>Hotline Miami </li> </ul> <p>That still leaves me with a killer pile of shame, and one that doesn’t seem achievable given my recent schedule which contains the following…</p> <ul> <li>Ship Watch_Dogs (pending ship date) </li> <li>Participate in a bunch of game jams</li> <ul> <li>EVERY One Game A Month jam </li> <li>EVERY Ludum Dare competition </li> <li>Global Game Jam 2014 </li> <li>Ubisoft Game Jam (if there is another) </li> </ul> <li>Polish up my previous game jam games as standalone releases</li> <li>Get back to One Day From Retirement </li> <li>…and have at least the following from my pile of shame finished <ul> <li>Final Fantasy XIII </li> <li>Dishonored </li> <li>Sleeping Dogs </li> <li>DMC </li> <li>Devil May Cry 4 </li> <li>Skyrim </li> <li>Mass Effect 2 (and 3) </li> <li>Metal Gear Solid 3 (and 4) </li> <li>Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (and Revelations)</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>In the best (and unrealistic) case scenario, 2014 will have me completing development of up to 20 games… obviously this is extremely unlikely and the number will be somewhere closer to half of that (I do have a head start with some of those games). Even so, it’ll be double my output of approximately 5 this year.</p> <p>Wish me luck!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-81492995482971010822013-11-19T18:37:00.000+00:002014-04-25T06:41:37.669+01:00Game Boy Game Jam 2: Jack B. Nimble<p>So just over 2 weeks ago there was an interesting little idea known as the “<a href="http://0hgame.eu/" target="_blank">0h Game Jam</a>”. This game jam had participants create a game within the hour where the clocks go back (as part of the DST time shift) – effectively allowing someone to complete the production of a game in negative time. I thought I’d try my hand at this, but not before trying some tests in Construct 2 first.</p> <p>I failed miserably.</p> <p>The quickest I could get anything playable and at a state I was happy with was around 5 hours, and that was with some preparation both mentally and in regard to resources. This just wasn’t my jam. It didn’t seem to be many people’s jam to be honest; naturally, <a href="http://0hgame.eu/games.php?year=2013" target="_blank">most of the games</a> sucked. However, there was one stand out to me, “Hotline Trail”, a top down, mouse driven, driving game with a Hotline Miami aesthetic. Very polished considering the time available.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/166ff5bf536e_559/hotline_trail.png"><img title="hotline_trail" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="hotline_trail" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/166ff5bf536e_559/hotline_trail_thumb.png" width="412" height="232" /></a></p> <p>Give it a try here: <a href="http://rezoner.net/labs/hotlinetrail/">http://rezoner.net/labs/hotlinetrail/</a></p> <p>After my 5 hours or so of work trying to make something playable, I realised that the second <a href="http://www.gbjam.net/" target="_blank">Game Boy Jam</a> was gearing up to begin. I was a little disappointed I missed this the first time around, so I put my work from the 0h Game Jam towards that to avoid future disappointment. I began work on an infinite runner, or auto runner, or run and jump game… I didn’t know what the genre was, but I wanted to make one. Outside of Canabalt and Jetpack Joyride, I think they’re all pretty shit – generally appearing on touch devices and host to on screen dpads or buttons. Disgusting. So I wanted to try my hand at a control method I felt allowed for a little more than just ‘auto run + jump’. I wanted to add an attack, and I wanted that attack to steer the focus away from ‘distance traveled’ as the sole score provider.</p> <h3>The first 5 hours</h3> <p><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_0/" target="_blank">0.1.0</a></p> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_1.png" align="right" />This first version was simply an auto runner and represented those first 5 hours from my 0h Game Jam tests; complete with fixed jump height, fixed speed, and randomly generated platforms with varying widths and heights. The player’s distance was displayed on screen and the Game Boy aesthetic already in place.</p> <p>The game was called “Noonanrun”.</p> <h3>Castlemania</h3> <p><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_1/" target="_blank">0.1.1</a></p> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_2.png" align="right" />With the base in place I needed to add the attack. I had already decided that the input method had to be a single tap or key press, so I thought the best implementation was to add an attack that happened whilst the player was mid jump. This is where I started to think about Castlevania with it’s strict jump heights and whip mechanics. So I gave my character a whip and something to hit, in the form of candles.</p> <p>Whilst testing the whip I thought I’d give myself moving targets, further continuing my homage to Castlevania. I added a bat, though quickly decided against the inclusion of enemies both due to the purity of scoring within the game and the scope of the project – I only had a week, after all. So the bat became my Duck Hunt dog, taunting players upon failure.</p> <p>In this version I increased the speed and made a ridiculously hardcore hitbox for the whip, whereby I was only detecting collision on the tip of the whip rather than the full length. I was already too close to the game and making it increasingly more difficult in an effort to challenge myself.</p> <p>The game was still called “Noonanrun”, had a “Sean Noonan” title screen much in the style of the original Game Boy boot sequence and a huge picture of my face as a loading screen. Seriously.</p> <h3>Fork handles</h3> <p><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_2/" target="_blank">0.1.2</a></p> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_3.png" align="right" />After sending the build around some friends and coworkers I realised my mistake in making the game to suit my personal difficulty level – it was barely playable for other people and nobody really understood how the whip worked or what the candles were for. So I added a tutorial in the title screen. I was determined to avoid throwing up controls or instructions for the player. I wanted players to work out how to play for themselves. The tutorial forced players to jump due to it being their only possible action. Then at the height of their jump they were required to hit a candle to start the game. It was pretty successful for the most part.</p> <p>I updated the art a little and added an on screen counter for candles whipped, which resulted in an obscure reference to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ" target="_blank">British comedy</a> of old.</p> <p>The game was now called “VIDEOGAME !!! by Sean Noonan” and I removed my face. Getting slightly better.</p> <h3>Numbers</h3> <p><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_3/" target="_blank">0.1.3</a></p> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_4.png" align="right" />At this point my confidence was growing and I knew where I was going to go with it next. I added jump heights based upon the amount of time the player held their jump input for and made the game increase in speed over time. This resulted in the game feeling pretty tight - the player had an increased level of control but was also being challenged over time. It started to feel like a game.</p> <p>I also added the score system to the game in an effort to include replayability and challenge. Basically the score was calculated as follows…</p> <p><em><font color="#ffffff">Distance + (Distance * Candles) * Accuracy / 10</font></em></p> <p><font color="#ffffff">The idea was to keep the player wanting to get as far as possible, but for their run to mean anything they had to hit candles. Now when I was testing, some people would whip during every jump… turning the game into an auto runner and whipper(?). I wasn’t overly happy with this so added accuracy as a means of discipline for the player to focus and be more precise – the accuracy would basically determine how much of their final score they would receive. The 10 at the end was just to keep the score at a manageable number of digits.</font></p> <p>Still no name for the game.</p> <h3>The art pass</h3> <p><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_4/" target="_blank">0.1.4</a></p> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_5.png" align="right" />I updated the football headed main character with something a little easier to animate (the hat in particular), the placeholder “FIRE” effect was replaced with a small explosion and an animated melted candle, and I added four new layers of parallax and an animated background to look as though there was lightning flashing at different points.</p> <p>The title screen adopted grave stones with “RIP” for this version only. Stupid idea.</p> <p>The “Sean Noonan” Game Boy boot screen was changed to better match it’s Nintendo counterpart with “Noonan”. The game still lacked a name.</p> <h3>Ridin’ on cars</h3> <p><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_5/" target="_blank">0.1.5</a></p> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_6.png" align="right" />At this point minor changes started to take a lot longer than expected. All vector fonts were removed and replaced with pixel fonts. That process took a lot longer than I had hoped it would, but it was uncharted territory.</p> <p>I added rain, though this became a huge performance hog due to me not removing any drops that had been created.</p> <p>The game was now known as “Jump ‘n’ Whip Man”, an homage of sorts to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM" target="_blank">that video</a>.</p> <h3>Jack B. Nimble is born</h3> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_7.png" align="right" /><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_6/" target="_blank">0.1.6</a></p> <p>I finally came up with a name, theme and anchor for my game in “Jack B. Nimble”. I added a variant of the children’s nursery rhyme to the title screen and a small animation of the character walking in. All very cute.</p> <p>I also added the dog laughing sound from Duck Hunt for when the bat passes the screen sound as a placeholder for…</p> <h3>Barry’s sound</h3> <p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_8.png" align="right" /><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_7/" target="_blank">0.1.7</a></p> <p>I had been talking with Barry Topping (of <a href="http://gamewank.com/" target="_blank">Gamewank</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/nostoppingepoch" target="_blank">Epoch</a> fame) to do some audio work for <a href="http://onedayfromretirement.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Retirement</a>, but with that somewhat on hold I asked if he was interested in working on my jam. He agreed. He fucking nailed it.</p> <p>I also polished up some of the art and added some foreground parallax.</p> <h3>The polish pass</h3> <p><img style="float: right; display: inline" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/noonan_run_9.png" align="right" /><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/1_8/" target="_blank">0.1.8</a></p> <p>The game was pretty much ready at this point, just polish remaining and the possibility of a score board.</p> <h3>Release</h3> <p><a href="http://seannoonan.co.uk/games/jackbnimble/" target="_blank">Version 1.0</a></p> <p>With the final addition of some title screen art, some parallaxes and minor animation tweaks, the game was ready. I added a personal best score to local web storage and created a Game Boy overlay to surround the game in the web player.</p> <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="http://seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_noonanrun/jack_b_nimble_box_art_small.png" /></p> <h3>Postmortem</h3> <p>Working on Jack B. Nimble was an excellent learning process and a great way to meet people in the indie/enthusiast community. I’m incredibly proud to have made a game on my own (with a little musical aid from 'Barry of course) and I plan to make another soon. I realise this hit TLDR territory long ago, so I’ll finish with some bullet points.</p> <h4>What went right</h4> <ul> <li>Visuals – both the cute and ‘dark’ features </li> <li>Polish – responsive control, easy to understand mechanics </li> <li>Audio – Barry's music was phenomenal and the sound was on par </li> <li>Time management – I rarely felt rushed or the pressure of the deadline </li> <li>Stuck to the theme – I never needed to compromise the design to meet the jam rules or restrictions </li> </ul> <h4>What went wrong</h4> <ul> <li>Visuals – there wasn’t a defined style; whilst fine themselves, my flat shaded characters and level art didn’t marry that well with the dithered more realistic backgrounds </li> <li><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/166ff5bf536e_559/chet_walking.gif"><img title="chet_walking" style="float: right; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline" alt="chet_walking" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/166ff5bf536e_559/chet_walking_thumb.gif" width="240" align="right" height="216" /></a>No online leaderboards </li> <li>I wasted some time early on to include an easter egg featuring <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8gX6OXyMf4" target="_blank">Chet Speedrider</a> from the <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/04/ubisoft-montreal-game-jam-2013-spring.html" target="_blank">Ubisoft Montreal Game Jam</a> </li> <li>Too great a focus on minor technical problems that ultimately didn’t matter (I’m looking at you, Construct 2 scaling issues) </li> </ul> <p>All in all a great jam. Cannot wait until the next one…</p> <p>You may have noticed that I’ve intentionally skipped over anything new or interesting about Watch_Dogs, Ryse, Streets of Rage, One Day From Retirement or anything my grubby hands have touched in the past – that’s for another day. I plan to address at least some of these soon!<a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/166ff5bf536e_559/chet_toss.gif"><img title="chet_toss" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="chet_toss" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/166ff5bf536e_559/chet_toss_thumb.gif" width="74" align="right" height="24" /></a></p> <p>Now I have a PS4 to go back to… <a href="https://vine.co/v/htMqvWuetJ3" target="_blank">ahem</a>.</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-53889324096554196072013-06-11T18:37:00.000+01:002013-06-12T03:30:36.610+01:00Watch Dogs E3 Footage<p>As I promised yesterday, here is a direct feed video of our Watch Dogs E3 presentation including footage of the companion app in action!</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; width: 448px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:1b2eb5e1-3eb9-4cc5-bb9d-49144a65a740" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="115f5960-c932-4050-9abc-649f92506bb4" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0v22TUGG_8" target="_new"><img src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch-Dogs-E3-Footage_138D3/video346696bab2a0.jpg" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('115f5960-c932-4050-9abc-649f92506bb4'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/y0v22TUGG_8?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/y0v22TUGG_8?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>Also, today it was revealed that back when I was at Ruffian Games, I worked on a multiplayer prototype for the Microsoft published and Crytek developed, “Ryse”. There’s some footage of their E3 presentation and a pretty lengthy article over at <a href="http://www.polygon.com/e3-2013/2013/6/10/4395790/ryse-seven-year-development" target="_blank">Polygon</a> that details it’s development history. It was a project that I was really fond of and I was more than a little gutted that it lost it’s way (from my grasp). I’m just glad that it’s finally seeing the light of day in some form.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; width: 448px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:f77603f0-70af-4e6b-89d9-7fa01e487342" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="9f633908-37f0-45ee-b4c7-f51aae63a74b" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MfYuP6L44k" target="_new"><img src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch-Dogs-E3-Footage_138D3/video289a54c3cf12.jpg" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('9f633908-37f0-45ee-b4c7-f51aae63a74b'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/4MfYuP6L44k?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/4MfYuP6L44k?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-11881252073963704752013-06-11T05:00:00.000+01:002013-06-11T06:28:21.087+01:00Watch Dogs E3 Trailer<p>The response to Watch Dogs at E3 has been great so far. There’s been a super a positive reaction to the CG trailer shown at the Ubisoft conference and even more buzz over the gameplay footage that followed at the Sony conference.</p> <p>I’ll link to the CG trailer as there’s no direct feed footage of the gameplay footage yet. Until then, enjoy!</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; width: 448px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:17106406-34b8-4b35-8838-2c1025e01777" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="ed01fb92-c375-4feb-9194-3964fd1e1488" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nt78aTSnTY" target="_new"><img src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch-Dogs_1171/video4658072cff7d.jpg" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('ed01fb92-c375-4feb-9194-3964fd1e1488'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/8nt78aTSnTY?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/8nt78aTSnTY?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>…and there was also the added surprise of Tom Clancy’s The Division. Definitely worth a look!</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; width: 448px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:b864ba5f-df63-46a0-9d1b-77a0bf999687" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="d56469d5-9cf7-465e-9900-aa3bf77cc58f" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWJD8DMasCU" target="_new"><img src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch-Dogs_1171/video059c2f8e97f1.jpg" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('d56469d5-9cf7-465e-9900-aa3bf77cc58f'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/EWJD8DMasCU?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/EWJD8DMasCU?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>More tomorrow!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-54695222633648554632013-06-09T18:37:00.000+01:002013-06-10T02:09:32.340+01:00Watch Dogs at E3<div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; width: 448px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:031d8838-7bcd-4a6e-b56c-90911b76aecb" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="37588715-1b57-440b-8704-78fc79790f78" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sckeWWGWxU" target="_new"><img src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch_1259D/video6d4f23d78640.jpg" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('37588715-1b57-440b-8704-78fc79790f78'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/4sckeWWGWxU?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/4sckeWWGWxU?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>As well as Watch Dogs, we’ll also be showcasing Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, Splinter Cell Blacklist, Rayman Legends, South Park: The Stick of Truth and a bunch of other stuff…</p> <p>…and you can watch it at this link <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29uRvifupqQ" target="_blank">here</a>, tomorrow!</p> <p>_/|</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-1620062123280433212013-05-23T18:37:00.000+01:002013-05-24T07:08:22.829+01:00Watch Dogs on Xbox One<p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch_Dogs_1C8E/watch_dogs_xbox_one.jpg"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="watch_dogs_xbox_one" alt="watch_dogs_xbox_one" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch_Dogs_1C8E/watch_dogs_xbox_one_thumb.jpg" width="422" height="264" /></a></p> <p>That’s just us announcing that we will be releasing Watch_Dogs on Microsoft’s new console, Xbox One. Or Xbone. Or Xbo. Or whatever the kids are going to call it in the future.</p> <p>Not long until E3!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-84504597955080939522013-05-12T18:37:00.000+01:002013-05-13T07:06:51.313+01:00Watch Dogs Trailer and Press TourThere’s been a metric fuck tonne of Watch_Dogs news in the last few days, all thanks to our recent press tour and media blast – the most important of which, is our first cinematic trailer! You can catch that below.<br />
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There’s also a bunch of previews showcasing our systemic demo that was recently demoed to the press. I’ve listed a couple below.<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/12/4323980/ubisoft-watchdogs-gameplay-footage-ingame-video" target="_blank">The Verge</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/10/4317314/watch-dogs-voyeurism-moral-choices-and-clever-ai" target="_blank">Polygon</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-10-inside-watch-dogs-ubisofts-new-open-world" target="_blank">Eurogamer</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ca.ign.com/videos/2013/05/10/watch-dogs-free-roaming-preview" target="_blank">IGN</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ca.ign.com/videos/2013/05/10/game-scoop-we-need-to-talk-about-watch-dogs" target="_blank">IGN (Game Scoop)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://tv.revision3.com/rev3gamespreviews/watchdogs-new-interview" target="_blank">Revision3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/405286/previews/video-brand-new-watch-dogs-gameplay/" target="_blank">CVG</a></li>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/the-best-ideas-in-watch-dogs-a-game-that-should-be-on-499661922" target="_blank">Kotaku</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.digitalspy.ca/gaming/news/a480124/watch-dogs-preview-new-details-of-ubisofts-connected-open-world.html" target="_blank">Digital Spy</a></li>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/10/watch-dogs-creates-an-open-world-morality-preview/" target="_blank">Venture Beat</a></li>
</ul>
On top of all that media, a development diary highlighting Watch_Dogs and the PS4 was also made available. That video can be found over at the Playstation blog, <a href="http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/05/03/watch_dogs-ps4-development-details/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/85a4891ade11_B999/Watch_Dogs_Alex_Ross.jpg"><img align="left" alt="Watch_Dogs_Alex_Ross" height="240" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/85a4891ade11_B999/Watch_Dogs_Alex_Ross_thumb.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" title="Watch_Dogs_Alex_Ross" width="186" /></a>We also had Alex Ross’ take on the Watch_Dogs box art. His artwork is available in poster form for those who pre order Watch_Dogs at GameStop. A video featuring the Alex Ross promotion can be found <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Zbt7-doE4" target="_blank">here</a>. For more on the art front, a number of exclusive wallpapers can be grabbed over at the <a href="http://watchdogs.ubi.com/" target="_blank">Watch_Dogs website</a> for those that sign in via Uplay.<br />
The response so far has been amazing. It’s really quite awesome to work on a game this anticipated and that generates such a huge amount of hype. It’s a shame I can’t really talk too much about development or share any of what I’m working on in particular, but there will be more revealed in the run up to release on <strong>November 19th</strong>.<br />
<em>I’ve been playing a bunch of Xbox Live Arcade games lately, namely FarCry 3 Blood Dragon. After that’s done, I’m probably going to go back to my thousandth play through of Metal Gear Solid.</em>Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-84141386184291546592013-04-28T18:37:00.000+01:002014-04-25T06:46:26.819+01:00Ubisoft Montreal Game Jam 2013: Spring Break<p>2 weeks ago I took part in Ubisoft Montreal's first game jam. The game jam was 48 hours and held at the Ubisoft Montreal studio. The rules of the game jam were simple, participants had 48 hours to make a game with a maximum team size of 5 and following the theme of “Spring”. Games were also intended to touch on “high emotional impact” (whatever that means). There was the added bonus over other game jams whereby workstations and software were provided – this would have been extremely useful at the Global Game Jam.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/ubisoft_horiz_logo.png"><font color="#5b739c"></font><img title="Ubisoft" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Ubisoft" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/ubisoft_horiz_logo_thumb.png" width="374" height="99" /></a> <br />The group we usually refer to as “Not Enough Laptops” (Anshul Goyal, Aidan Green, Scott Morin and myself) got together again to form “Titanic Conspiracy”. We decided to take the theme of “Spring” by creating a game parodying the American tradition of getting wasted and being a general douche over the Easter period. Thus "Spring Break” was born.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Spring-Break-Movie-Poster.png"><img title="Spring Break Movie Poster" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Spring Break Movie Poster" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Spring-Break-Movie-Poster_thumb.png" width="374" height="210" /></a> <br />With our team small, we decided each of us was to craft a mini game based on a different spring break activity. This split didn’t go much further than brainstorming as Anshul had to focus on code and I had to focus on visuals, leaving Aiden and Scott to work on base mechanics and each double up on activities.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Chet-Speedrider-Dancing.png"><img title="Chet Speedrider Dancing" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Chet Speedrider Dancing" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Chet-Speedrider-Dancing_thumb.png" width="374" height="210" /></a> <br />We had a white board’s worth of planned activities ranging from driving to fighting (there was even an homage to hot coffee at one point). We settled on getting ready, surfing, dancing and fighting. We managed to finish the project with all activities in place each with their own unique assets, however a last minute bug prevented us from including the fighting mini game – arguably the activity that took the most time to create. We rolled with the punches though and presented the game without the activity. To be honest, it wasn’t really missed.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Chet-Speedrider-Clothing.png"><img title="Chet Speedrider Clothing" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Chet Speedrider Clothing" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Chet-Speedrider-Clothing_thumb.png" width="374" height="210" /></a> <br />We had an awesome time coming up with the design and quotes of the idiotic and debaucherous protagonist, “Chet Speedrider”. <a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/image.png"><img title="Chet Speedrider" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Chet Speedrider" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/image_thumb.png" width="147" align="right" height="256" /></a>Characterised by his bouncing quiff and oversized head, he was one of our first attempts at eliciting humour – our own attempt at “high emotional impact”. I actually sketched the character on paper during the initial game jam meeting, and that was the character we “shipped” with. Scott and Aiden came up with the quotes that Chet would spout as he was rated within the various mini games (“YOLO” seems to be a popular one). <br />We stuck to a relatively consistent style that I feel gave us the tightest “look” that we’ve managed to achieve in the game jams that at least I’ve participated in so far. The idea was to keep the character sprites simple and colourful as well as maintaining a low frame count in the animations to ensure the project was achievable whilst providing a retro aesthetic. We juxtaposed the characters with photo realistic backgrounds treated with a simple “cut out” filter to minimise the workload and give the characters a “pop” on screen.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Chet-Speedrider-YOLO.png"><font color="#5b739c"></font><img title="YOLO" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="YOLO" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Chet-Speedrider-YOLO_thumb.png" width="374" height="210" /></a> <br />Getting validation from our peers was extremely satisfying on this project, because making something funny is actually rather difficult. It’s hard to know whether or not one’s sense of humour will resonate with other people. I was so relieved when others laughed and enjoyed what we had created - it meant we were successful in what we had set out to achieve.</p> <p><u><font color="#ff9900"></font></u><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Chet-Speedrider-Boarding.png"><img title="Chet Speedrider Boarding" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Chet Speedrider Boarding" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Chet-Speedrider-Boarding_thumb.png" width="374" height="210" /></a> <br />Although Ubisoft now owns the game and as such remains unplayable to the public, it has been immortalised on the Internet in the form of a trailer that I created one night before we released our game to the company. <br /></p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:2550ab31-2c22-4f80-b828-1a2cd1c3e444" class="wlWriterSmartContent" style="width: 448px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px"> <div id="c2d35993-3031-4c23-9eeb-9e379c48d9b1" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"> <div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8gX6OXyMf4" target="_new"><img onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('c2d35993-3031-4c23-9eeb-9e379c48d9b1'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/g8gX6OXyMf4?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/g8gX6OXyMf4?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" style="border-top-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-left-style: none" alt="" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/video9c269e09b8f7.jpg" galleryimg="no" /></a></div> </div> </div> <p>There were a lot of awesome games created over the game jam; some single player, some multiplayer, some 2D, some 3D, some serious, some humorous… quite a range. We didn’t “win” but we were one of the judges’ honourable mentions, and as stated previously, we made people laugh – that was our goal, and we achieved it.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Speedrider-II.png"><img title="Not actually coming soon..." style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Not actually coming soon..." src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/46f9a6260513_203/Speedrider-II_thumb.png" width="374" height="210" /></a> <br />We were asked a couple of questions about what advice we might give to future game jam participants. This is what I said…</p> <h3>DO</h3> <ul> <li>Ask for help if you're stuck on something. Your time is limited, d3on't let pride slow you down.</li> <li>Have a contingency plan. Things often go wrong last minute. Having a group agreed, planned list of potential cuts will help if something unplanned occurs.</li> <li>Have fun! Don’t take it too seriously.</li> </ul> <h3>DONT <br /></h3> <ul> <li>Don't be too precious of your own ideas, enjoy and embrace the collaborative process!</li> <li>Don't be afraid to use placeholders. Always make sure your game will be functional. Asset creation is a huge time sink.</li> <li>Don't forget about areas of development that maybe outside of your team's experience.</li> </ul> Until next time, and look out for more Ubisoft news soon! Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-63620531560481636212013-04-09T18:37:00.000+01:002014-04-25T06:50:03.948+01:00One Game A Month: A Shadow From Beyond<p>So last month our little group that we refer to as “Not Enough Laptops” finished our second group game, “<a href="http://www.moddb.com/games/a-shadow-from-beyond" target="_blank">A Shadow From Beyond</a>”. Like our first game, “<a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/search/label/hjarta" target="_blank">Hjarta</a>”, we created it in Unity, though this time it took over a month rather than a weekend. It started out as an attempt at the <a href="http://7drl.org/" target="_blank">7 Day Rogue Like</a> challenge but the scope was too wide for that time frame, so we turned the focus more towards <a href="http://www.onegameamonth.com/" target="_blank">One Game A Month</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_title.png"><img title="a_shadow_from_beyond_title" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="a_shadow_from_beyond_title" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_title_thumb.png" width="400" height="277" /></a> <br />A Shadow From Beyond is a rogue like. The player takes control of an old man and must wander through randomly generated streets, filled with enemy cultists and monsters. The player’s goal is to dispatch cultists and unsummon as many monsters as possible. Simple, except for the fact that monsters are invulnerable to attack – the player must therefore piece together how the monster was summoned in the first place and oppose it’s elemental properties…</p> <p>You can get a little more information about the game and give it a download, over at it’s indiedb page, <a href="http://www.moddb.com/games/a-shadow-from-beyond" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <h3>Screenshots</h3> <h3><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_shop.png"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Shop" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Shop" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_shop_thumb.png" width="240" height="135" /></a></h3> <h3><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_book.png"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Notebook" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Notebook" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_book_thumb.png" width="240" height="135" /></a></h3> <h3><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_light.png"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Light Monster" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Light Monster" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_light_thumb.png" width="240" height="135" /></a></h3> <h3><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_fire.png"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Fire Monster" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Fire Monster" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/a_shadow_from_beyond_fire_thumb.png" width="240" height="135" /></a></h3> <h3>Personal Postmortem</h3> <p>I took a more “additional design” approach on this project and opted to work more on the art front - something I have a few regrets about. By taking a back seat on the design side I felt that I lost interest and focus on the project rather rapidly. At times it almost felt like I wasn’t working on the project at all, just polishing art that may or may not matter because the context of the assets that I was creating had become unclear to me. I’m not entirely sure if it was a product of working remotely or not, but I know the lack of face time definitely would have played a factor.</p> <p>I feel that my motivation was nixed as I wasn’t able to keep up a consistent visual style across the project, simply because I couldn’t create assets fast enough. My selfish focus was more towards improving my skills rather than completing the project. I spent far too long trying to perfect the monster sprites and their associated animations – something that in the grand scheme of things wasn’t actually that important, though it was an excellent learning experience. I found that working with sprites that large and that complicated was easier said than done. If I was to go back I would have suggested working half the resolution and upscaling by double (or quadruple) – we could have achieved much more detailed visuals in a much shorter time frame (see the example below). <br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/oldman.png"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Sprites" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Sprites" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/oldman_thumb.png" width="283" height="112" /></a> <br />I also feel that even the slightest bit of my input on design may have helped the game be a little clearer for new players, simply because more eyes on a project is almost always a good thing - especially where tutorials or signs and feedback are concerned. I was just too distant from the design when it really mattered. That being said, the resulting game is pretty cool and although I wasn’t happy with the quantity of my contributions, I’m glad to have worked on it and hope to pull off something of this quality in the future.</p> <p>Here’s a bunch of assets I created for the project – I’m rather happy with some, but embarrassed about others. Either way, it was a hell of a learning experience. <br /><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/oldman_walk.gif"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Oldman" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Oldman" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/oldman_walk_thumb.gif" width="64" height="64" /></a><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/oldman_rune_carry.gif"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Rune" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Rune" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/oldman_rune_carry_thumb.gif" width="64" height="96" /></a><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/oldman_attack.gif"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Attack" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Attack" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/oldman_attack_thumb.gif" width="64" height="64" /></a><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/roaming_cultist.gif"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Cultist" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Cultist" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/roaming_cultist_thumb.gif" width="64" height="64" /></a> <br />The attack animation didn’t make it into the final game on account that it was a little slow and we ran out of time to alter it. We had planned to have multiple colours of cultist, but again ran out of time to create and implement them. <br /><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/monster_flesh_eye.gif"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Flesh Monster" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Flesh Monster" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/monster_flesh_eye_thumb.gif" width="256" height="256" /></a><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/monster_ice_teeth.gif"><img title="A Shadow From Beyond Ice Monster" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="A Shadow From Beyond Ice Monster" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/bc739a25e3d7_8BF/monster_ice_teeth_thumb.gif" width="256" height="256" /></a> <br />There were 12 monsters in all, but you’ll have to play the game to see them!</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-11528740750111515762013-03-28T17:37:00.000+00:002013-03-29T01:03:58.958+00:00Watch Dogs updates<p>So there's been quite a lot of Watch Dogs news as of late. Here's a wee round up of the main updates…</p> <p>Firstly, we have released an analysis video of the footage we released at the <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/02/watch-dogs-shown-at-ps4-reveal.html" target="_blank">PS4 reveal</a> from the perspective of ctOS.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; width: 448px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:a02fdfb9-cbcb-41b8-b026-890c39322ad4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="a500fc61-a2a4-4159-a0d3-7e459eafe134" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQJH7055MFQ" target="_new"><img src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/ff7209ad394b_1190A/video75f7dc0c4f8b.jpg" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('a500fc61-a2a4-4159-a0d3-7e459eafe134'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/jQJH7055MFQ?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/jQJH7055MFQ?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>There's some really positive reactions from the community - something that I'm rather happy about. It's fun to read all of the speculation and a genuine joy to see fans pick out specifics such as profiler entries and other living city elements. I hope people get to see more soon!</p> <p>Secondly, we revealed the box art for the various versions of the game.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/ff7209ad394b_1190A/watch_dogs_box_art_no.jpg"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="Watch_Dogs Box Art" alt="Watch_Dogs Box Art" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/ff7209ad394b_1190A/watch_dogs_box_art_no_thumb.jpg" width="385" height="540" /></a></p> <p>I like it, and more importantly, the interweb seem to like it too! I also chuckled at <a href="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=48122770&postcount=235" target="_blank">one particular gaffers take on it</a>. Heh.</p> <p>Thirdly, we announced that Watch Dogs will be powered by a new in house engine, built specifically for the game. We call it "Disrupt", and it's pretty awesome. Hopefully that should put to rest the amusing rumours that we were making an Assassin's Creed mod.</p> <p>And last but not least, we've announced that the game will be heading to Wii U! I know that'll please a great many people out there!</p> <p>If you're crazy eager to secure a copy of the game, you can now preorder through the Watch Dogs <a href="http://watchdogs.ubi.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-84868029882672445622013-02-23T18:37:00.000+00:002013-08-16T03:04:05.727+01:00John Die Hard: Police Cop - Starring John Die HardFollowing the fun of the Montreal Game Jam and the creation of our little game, <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.ca/search/label/hjarta" target="_blank">Hjarta</a>, I decided I’d try my hand at making something else. Pushing myself to learn as much as I can – a solo effort of sorts. <a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/0869dbbeed06_EDD0/construct2.png"><img align="right" alt="Construct 2" height="240" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/0869dbbeed06_EDD0/construct2_thumb.png" style="display: inline; float: right; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px;" title="Construct 2" width="205" /></a>After seeing the quick iteration time in a friend’s project, I decided to use <a href="http://www.scirra.com/construct2" target="_blank">Construct 2</a>, an HTML5 game engine.<br />
Working in Construct 2 is pretty smooth, you have a number of pages within a project that either contain a layout or an event sheet. The layout contains what the player will see on screen (a level editor of sorts), and the event sheet contains the script that will power the game and layout. Each layout can reference multiple event sheets and I’ve yet to hit a limit on how much I can place in one layout (not that I’ve tested it’s capacity or maximum size). The engine is quite well documented and the community around it keen and friendly. There are some great tutorials to get through and after a few hours you’ll have something playable, though nothing innovative or likely to blow the world away.<br />
<a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/0869dbbeed06_EDD0/johndiehard.png"><img align="left" alt="John Die Hard" height="156" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/0869dbbeed06_EDD0/johndiehard_thumb.png" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px;" title="John Die Hard" width="104" /></a>Anyway, for my first effort in this engine, I’ve decided to try my hand at an old idea. For a while I’ve wanted to do a tribute to action movies and video games of the 1980’s and early 90’s. Die Hard in particular lends itself well to video games of that era – a lone hero, an iconic location, high action, a voice in the ear (Alan) and set at Christmas. Scrub the last point, but it’s something I’m rather fond of. I was actually pushing to have Streets of Rage 4 set at Christmas but that’s another story…<br />
<a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/0869dbbeed06_EDD0/mission_impossible_nes.png"><img align="right" alt="Mission: Impossible NES" height="210" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/0869dbbeed06_EDD0/mission_impossible_nes_thumb.png" style="display: inline; float: right; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px;" title="Mission: Impossible NES" width="240" /></a>There were a bunch of awesome top down games back then, in particular I’m talking True Lies on the Game Boy and Mission: Impossible on the NES. Two random licensed titles that I ploughed hours into. So I’m going to try and build a game a bit like those.<br />
I’ll be leaving any updates to the game using the following tag; <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/search/label/one%20day%20from%20retirement" target="_blank">One Day From Retirement</a>, the working title for the game.<br />
Here’s what it looked like after a day. <a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_retirement/010/" target="_blank">Day one</a>.<br />
Here’s what it looked like a few days later. <a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_retirement/021/" target="_blank">Day three</a>.<br />
And just over a week later, the latest version, <a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/development/dev_retirement/027/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
It’s worth bearing in mind that Construct best supports Chrome. Internet Explorer is flakey at best and Safari struggles with some features (such as audio). I’ve no idea how Firefox performs (let me know?). I’m going to keep working on this daily, something I’ve managed to stick to so far… but I’ve been a little slower since having my wisdom teeth wrenched out.Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-18389730080861973372013-02-21T01:20:00.000+00:002013-02-21T02:14:51.204+00:00Watch Dogs shown at PS4 reveal<p>We finally got to show some open world content for Watch Dogs at the PS4 reveal.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:85dfb362-f198-4dc0-a901-21a1cbc74c06" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="bf0dc489-33a6-4182-bee4-bde6fe96f8ed" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtBh4QzZKz4" target="_new"><img src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch-Dogs-shown-on-PS4_1222D/video09cd7eb58383.jpg" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('bf0dc489-33a6-4182-bee4-bde6fe96f8ed'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/EtBh4QzZKz4?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/EtBh4QzZKz4?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>So now there’s more footage out there for people to piece together what kinda game Watch Dogs will be when it releases later this year.<a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch-Dogs-shown-on-PS4_1222D/aiden_pearce.png"><img style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline; float: right" title="Aiden Pearce" alt="Aiden Pearce" align="right" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Watch-Dogs-shown-on-PS4_1222D/aiden_pearce_thumb.png" width="180" height="180" /></a></p> <p>There’s also another video featuring commentary by our Creative Director, <a href="https://twitter.com/Design_Cave" target="_blank">Jonathan Morin</a> available <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LZM3_wp2ps" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p>Can’t say much more that that. I’m honoured to be a part of something so anticipated, and can’t wait for people to see more.</p> <p>You can keep up to date on Watch Dogs news at it’s <a href="https://twitter.com/watchdogsgame" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watchdogsgame" target="_blank">Facebook</a> pages.</p> <p><em>I’ve been working on something of my own in my spare time (not <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/search/label/hjarta" target="_blank">Hjarta</a>), but I will show that when it’s a little more ready for public consumption. Now back to the sofa to watch Breaking Bad and nurse my jaw, post <a href="http://instagram.com/p/V7H3qvA5f4/" target="_blank">wisdom teeth removal</a>…</em></p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-86113356914083598472013-01-29T04:23:00.000+00:002013-01-29T13:44:41.894+00:00Montreal Game Jam 2013: Day 3<p>Done!</p><p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-3_142FA/hjarta_title.png"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="Hjarta" alt="Hjarta" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-3_142FA/hjarta_title_thumb.png" width="400" height="60" /></a></p><p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/downloads/games/Hjarta_GGJ2013_Win_Mac.zip">Download Link (Mac and Windows)</a></p><p><a href="http://www.nerdtron.com/gamejam2013/Hjarta/Hjarta.html" target="_blank">Web Link (Unity Web Player)</a></p><ul><li>W,A,S,D to move </li>
<li>E to pick up/drop hearts </li>
<li>Shift to run </li>
</ul><p>The Montreal Game Jam ended with a 24 hour "crunch". Granted, my personal input was initial paper design and moral support, but still, we were all pretty tired by the end of it.</p><p>Our game came together a little earlier than planned. We made some sensible cuts in order to finish with something fully playable. One of our cuts drastically changed the design, and as it happens wasn't even necessary… but anyway, as basic as it was, we had something playable start to finish. <a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-3_142FA/hjarta_game_player.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; display: inline; float: right" title="The first public tester of Hjarta" alt="The first public tester of Hjarta" align="right" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-3_142FA/hjarta_game_player_thumb.jpg" width="180" height="240" /></a> <br />
The submitted build of what we called "Hjarta" differs somewhat to our intended design, though primarily the changes were in presentation and aesthetics.</p><p>The original design and brainstorm document is available to view <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ztPm8HRXGW1jqR4Nbn7onpHR2Tj17hcl85eCv93Zr3E/edit" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>I feel I should address what went right and wrong for us at the game jam so maybe anyone reading this can learn from our experiences.</p><h4>What went wrong</h4><p><font color="#ff9900">1. Not all of us had laptops</font></p><p>This wasn’t as big of a deal as we initially thought. With David and I focussing purely on game design we were able to come up with some new ideas and nail down existing ones whilst the rest of the team focussed on implementing content. We did briefly do some <a href="http://noonansean.blogspot.com/2013/01/montreal-game-jam-2013-day-2.html" target="_blank">hands on work remotely</a> to help out, but the team being together in one room really kept the ideas flowing, so that was short-lived. We could have made something a lot more polished had David and I been hands on for the whole project. More people <em>generally</em> means more polish – something I feel we lacked in our end product.</p><p><font color="#ff9900">2. We playtested too late</font></p><p>By the time we were all playtesting, there wasn’t really an opportunity to make changes that would benefit the game. As I alluded to earlier, this was exacerbated by the fact that we didn’t find out that we couldn’t achieve the original vision of the game until late into development. One of our big mechanics was also a little late so we didn’t know that it needed a lot more work to reach what we had originally planned for it. This also effected our ability to see what signs and feedback were lacking, quite possibly one of our weakest areas.</p><p><font color="#ff9900">3. We went too far pushing “form follows function”</font></p><p>We barely even had a form by the final product. We started out with a simple idea but ended up scrapping it entirely after we switched the design, never to offer a suitable replacement. The original idea had an old man wandering around a dark lonely house with only a small lantern to light his way. The lantern would project light in a small radius around him that matched his heart beat – the faster he moved, the higher his heart rate, and the larger the radius. The house would be inhabited by monsters that the player could see only by their heart beat, emulating the same behaviour of the old man’s lantern. The rest of the house would be in plunged into darkness, only to be revealed by the player’s or patrolling monster’s heart beats. The old man would navigate the environment trying not to cross his light with that of the monsters… this idea was scrapped mid way through development due to technical constraints. We ended up reversing the concept somewhat, having the levels fully visible but the enemies invisible except for their heart beats, an idea we never really gave a form to…</p><h4>What went right</h4><p><font color="#ff9900">1. We had realistic goals</font></p><p>We didn’t set out to make something new, unique or crazy in scale, just something that we were likely to achieve in the time we had with the people we had, all the while sticking to the theme and making something that we could enjoy. Even with realistic goals we managed to create a fully working game that was mechanically sound. We even achieved a difficulty curve in our level design as well as managing to offer multiple solutions to complete levels for more skilled players. We had fun playing the game too.</p><p><font color="#ff9900">2. We delivered with time to spare</font></p><p>Unlike a lot of groups around us, we were ready for the deadlines and had a first build uploaded as soon as the submission process had begun. We had enough time to test on multiple platforms and adhere to the submission rules then and there. We were also pretty tired by this stage so any more work on the game could have led to mistakes or erroneous decisions.</p><p><font color="#ff9900">3. We rolled with the punches</font></p><p>Even after huge technical setbacks and the fact that two of us lacked laptops, we still kept high spirits and rapidly found solutions to every problem we came up against. We worked really well together, I’d work with any of these people again (that’s cheating a little, as I work with most of them already – but in my eyes, this is better than any <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/noonansean" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> endorsement). </p><p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-3_142FA/hjarta_level_1.png"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="Hjarta Level 1" alt="Hjarta Level 1" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-3_142FA/hjarta_level_1_thumb.png" width="436" height="327" /></a></p><p>Should we ever return to this little game to clean it up, I’d like to attempt to put a form to it…</p><p><em>You play as an ex-archaeologist trying to make a quick buck by raiding the tombs of fallen empires. You get a hint that this tomb will be the biggest score yet, however these riches come at a price… the tomb is inhabited by ancient evil spirits that patrol the crypts and hallways.</em></p><p><em>Using an ancient artefact that you “borrowed” from a local museum, you are able to detect the locations of these ancient spirits.</em><em>You also learn that these spirits are dangerous but can be evaded if angered by seeking solace in blessed fountains.</em></p><p><em>Your task is to avoid the ancient spirits and use the hearts of those from fallen empires to pass through gates to get to the final treasure.</em></p><p>As well as a form, there are mechanical improvements I would like to make. If everyone on the team is interested in finishing it off I’d love to give it another try.</p><p>See you next game jam!</p>Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1407963652217460414.post-30838631804090042362013-01-27T06:01:00.000+00:002013-01-27T06:01:00.178+00:00Montreal Game Jam 2013: Day 2<p>So the theme was…</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; width: 448px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:b8df8484-1c2f-48d9-af45-5f580ee64f80" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="c8c969ef-0d41-4930-9b87-55e162379929" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_lTq6XL-AE" target="_new"><img src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-2_13C7D/videod89fd7abb0d1.jpg" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('c8c969ef-0d41-4930-9b87-55e162379929'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/h_lTq6XL-AE?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/h_lTq6XL-AE?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>…which we interpreted as…</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-2_13C7D/hjarta_brainstorm.png"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="Hjarta Brainstorm" alt="Hjarta Brainstorm" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-2_13C7D/hjarta_brainstorm_thumb.png" width="444" height="394" /></a></p> <p>…so now we’re working on something we’re calling “Hjarta”…</p> <p><a href="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-2_13C7D/sean_noonan_video_game_designer_hard_worker.jpg"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="Sean Noonan, Video Game Designer, Hard Worker" alt="Sean Noonan, Video Game Designer, Hard Worker" src="http://www.seannoonan.co.uk/blog/Montreal-Game-Jam-2013-Day-2_13C7D/sean_noonan_video_game_designer_hard_worker_thumb.jpg" width="444" height="444" /></a></p> <p>…at least some of us are.</p> Sean Noonanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016479380110318498noreply@blogger.com