On UE3 and Unity

If you haven’t heard already, there have been some exciting events for game developers lately, specifically the new accessibility and usability of the Unreal Engine 3 and Unity engine that have been getting a lot of attention. From what I’ve read, the general thought among developers and those reporting on the topic, is that it will be a boon, a brand new opportunity for the general of mass of game makers. And so it would seem, but exactly what effects will it have on independent developers as a group?

There are a few things that I wonder about, and I’d like to hear your thoughts too. First, while the Unreal Engine 3 is undoubtedly a powerful and excellent engine, how easy is it for the typical indie team (or even lone developer) to make something of quality with it? It’s a monster of an engine, and to benefit from anywhere near all of its many facets would take a sizable team. Teams like that do exist, but they’re usually already working on big projects on heavyweight engines. More commonly in the independent game development world, teams are small, or even single people. Secondly, independent developers that are serious enough to make quality games have used the Unity engine before. Will it be a big jump for independent development, or just something that people tinker around with because it’s there?

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely see value in both of these engines’ new statuses. At the very least, it will open some new doors for serious developers, and be another learning tool for beginners. Please leave your comments.

Interview with Mike Kasprzak

Mike Kasprzak, also known as PoV, is the man behind Sykhronics Entertainment. He offered an enlightening talk with me about his games, Ludum Dare and more.

Entar: Please introduce yourself, in whatever fashion you deem necessary, and describe some of the projects you’ve been working on.
PoV: Hi there, I’m Mike Kasprzak. I’ve been making games most of my life, and professionally for the past 10 years. I’ve worked on numerous console and mobile games, the majority for Nintendo platforms, but am diversifying. More recently I’m better known for my iPhone game Smiles, which launched almost exactly a year ago today (yesterday actually).

Entar: How did Smiles get started? What sources of inspiration did you have for the game?
PoV: Smiles started as one of several game prototypes I was making. When iPhone OS 2.0 was announced along with the SDK in early 2008, I started experimenting with some game ideas. I iterated through several concepts, and came to the conclusion that “Pattern Trade” (later renamed Smiles) would be the quickest of the more interesting prototypes to finish.

World of Goo Birthday

World of Goo, the excellent indie puzzle game by 2DBoy recently turned one year old! Congratulations, 2DBoy!

To celebrate, this week only (until October 19th 25th), they are selling the game for whatever price you think it’s worth. It’s normally sold for $20. It’s an awesome deal for an awesome game, so I thought you’d want to know.

Left 4 Dead Review

Left 4 Dead by Valve Software is a first-person shooter that fits into a lot of categories. First-person, action, survival, shooter, and, of course, zombies. The player is put in one of many environments, each overrun by zombies, with three other survivors trying to fight their way to some means of escape.

From the brief description I’ve given so far, if you were one of those few that hadn’t played this game, you might have thought that the quality of such a game could go either way. I mean, we’ve seen lots of zombie survival games before, with mixed results. Fortunately, Valve nailed almost every quality in this title. Left 4 Dead shows a careful design toward teamwork and cooperative play, and as such, the game is best played with 3 other friends. Survivors may be healed by other survivors if they become injured, or revived in the case of being incapacitated. If your team is being rushed by a two-hundred zombie horde and some 10-foot monster (and I mean “rushed,” you will find very few snail-paced stumbling zombies here), you all had better use your weapons and explosives together, and to great effect. In moments like these, the action becomes quite intense, and players quickly become wrapped up in the action.

Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is the first episode in Telltale Games‘ new Tales of Monkey Island adventure series. The player is given control of Guybrush Threepwood, the Mighty Pirate, during his swashbuckling adventures which involve all manner of piratey plot elements, such as cannons, voodoo, bombs, and… glass unicorns?

I haven’t been that big of a fan of the third-person adventure puzzle genre, and it’s still probably not one of my favorite types of game, but I did like this game in general. It has a great sense of humor to keep things fresh; the main character is fairly witty, but all of the contents of the game are filled with humor. I mean, what other game are you going to find where you try to cover a cutlass with root beer in order to enchant it and vanquish the evil demon/zombie pirate LeChuck? The puzzles in the game were, for the most part, reasonable in terms of difficulty. In some games of this type, when I encounter a particularly annoying and/or vague puzzle, I see the gameplay degrade until I eventually wander around the game world, randomly clicking on things. In Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, I didn’t find myself in that situation so much. One slight disappointment was that at the very start of the game, the setting is exciting and interesting, but shortly into the story, I was met with the usual slow atmosphere that most games of this genre display. By the end of the game though, I hoped a little that the game would be a bit longer, but it’s the first episode of a five-part series which is cheaper than most single new games, so I can’t really complain.

I never played any of the older Monkey Island games, so I may have missed any nostalgia that other players may enjoy. That aside though, Tales of Monkey Island is casual, silly fun. Nothing groundbreaking or exceptionally awesome so far, but fun.