Ponderings of a beatnik…...
“It doesn’t matter what you’ve got now, these *bleep* characters – they look like postman pat- they’ll change. The game you’ll finally make will be something totally different to what you’ve got now – it’s just the computer games way.”
I didn't believe it at the time - but it's true.
For the first couple of weeks, Plain Sight was a multiplayer stealth based combat game with a super advanced mêlée fighting mechanic. It was gritty, it was mean, it was “the most amazing game in the world” and we couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been made. Unfortunately, it could never work. Firstly, because it would have cost about 10 million to make. Secondly because online mêlée is, and you can quote me on this, bloody hard
Let’s take an early build of Plain Sight. You press the button, the player slashes his sword. Looks great and, on level ground, works. Now, give those robots the power to jump around a planet and move at the speed of Thor, God of Thunder. The likelihood of your player being within a certain radius of your opponent is pretty darn small. This makes it hard work for the players involved and, as work is no fun, the game is no fun.
“But but but but” I hear you say “I was playing Soul Caliber and Heavenly Sword – and they were the awesomeness”. Yes - Soul Caliber = two axis and single player games have the enemy AI throw caution to the wind and swarm you. So, it’s a problem.
Have we fixed it? Yes. We think we have. How? Sea otters. Lots and lots of sea otters, working around the clock 24/7. I guess we’ll find out tonight at the XNA:UK show and tell.
PS: The above image was the first of Declans commissioned pieces for us... the original (found here) had a girl in the image. I personally prefered it without - what do you all think?
Do you like making games also?
If so, join us at this year’s –super awesome- TIG Source TIG Jam UK
What’s TIG Jam? Well, it’s a three day event where young and upcoming game developers get together, drink beer, talk rubbish and make games.
The person/team who makes the best game by Sunday evening wins a mystery (AMAZING) prize and oodles of the stuff known on the street as “respect”.
If you haven't got what it takes to join a gang, curb stomp a stray cat or give yourself a tattoo with a rusty razorblade, you can still be the pimp-daddy. Make a game in three days. Easy.
Tickets are £25. Due to space limitations, there aren’t many of them.
Click on these words to find out more information.
Have a great weekend!
Update!
Alright folks,
As promised here’s an update of what’s going on:
Firstly, a date for your calendar. If anyone is London bound on Friday the 17th of October our friends at the XNA UK User Group have organised a ‘Show and Tell’ for Plain Sight and the incredibly awesome Sumo Squash at the Microsoft lair HQ near Victoria. If you’re poor and hungry, there will be free food and drink (perhaps booze).
Full details can be found here.
Development for Plain Sight has moved up a gear. It’s now the metaphorical 11 on the metaphorical guitar amp.
I’ll start on the tech side and move to the realms of artiness.
We’ve been lucky enough to enlist the services of Michael Lidgren. Michael is best known for his .net network library (originally named) ‘Lidgren.’ It’s totally free, open source and is now the backbone to Plain Sight’s multiplayer hootenannies.
‘Why do I care?’ you ask. Well, you should, because of the simple formula: better the networking = more killer robots – lag + other cool stuff
Lawrence has been hard at work plugging in a new and improved gravity system. Not only can you run up walls and all over the ceiling; you can now jump/fall off a platform and then run along its underbelly. Ace! Whilst working on this, we’ve been spending quite a deal of time getting the camera working just right. Not only does the game feel natural, intuitive, smooth (and similar such words) on an Xbox controller but also with a keyboard and mouse.
Although it’s not as sassy and sexy, it does deserve a mention - Alex has had the joyous task of hammering out the cockroaches from the Plain Sight code.
Thanks to The Audio Guys, the sounds are pretty much finished – there’s still a bit of tweaking and reworking to do, but this shouldn’t take long. Afraid there is still no news on the music, this is something we’re going to work on during the beta test.
Most of the work has been on the look and feel of Plain Sight. We’ve thrown in a new cartoon shader engine. This will be something you’ll be able to turn on and off in game, so if you want that classic ‘pre-beta’ Plain Sight look, you still can but you’ll probably agree with us that the new look is cooler than unicorns.
We’re now up to ten levels that we’re pretty certain are going to make the beta. Over the next month we need to play the living hell of them to make 100% certain they’re up to scratch. For a multiplayer game we feel that it’s quality not quantity; so we’re looking for as much feed back as possible from you guys during beta...
There is more stuff (like new sword slashes, spawn points etc ) but my fingers are getting tired. So, enough of me, jump over to the brand spangling new screenshots section for a gander at what we're up to.
Plain Sight to be in Eurogamer Expo
If you live in/around/out/up London and you like games and festivals, you may have heard of the London Games Festival, which takes place in late October! And if you were thinking of being all blasé about it, then you might want to reconsider because WE’LL BE THERE!Between the 28th and 29th of October you’ll be able to find us at the Indie Arcade section of the Eurogamer Expo, unified with our fellow-indies and ready to steal you away into our soft non-corporate embrace.
You won’t know what hit you.
After Lawrence has fastened your limbs together with daisy chains, Robin will strap you to a maypole and prance about like a fawn, cocooning you in long strips of Monopoly money. About 25 minutes of solitary confinement should have you emerging dizzy and bewildered, but gloriously secure in the world of independent gaming.
After these preliminaries, of course, we’ll always be ready to become appropriate friends. Luckily, the only quality we demand from our loved ones is validation, so all you need to do is play our game and go on and on about how much you like it, and we’ll follow you anywhere like an old arthritic dog.
Home sweet home
Well, we’re back.
No longer are Alex and I battling scorpions and rednecks in the horrific dustbowls of Arizona and Nevada. We’re back inside the smog-ridden rain-pit of London.
Anyway, a few bits of great news for y’all:
Firstly, we’re very proud to announce that we’re working alongside The Audio Guys for the sounds of Plain Sight. You may not have heard of these chaps but you’ve no doubt heard their work. Check out this list of their past projects. My two personal favourites are the Dizzy games and the truly awesome Overlord.
Thank you again to everyone who took part in the competition. There was a fantastic response with some truly great (and often crazy) suggestions. We’re currently racking our brains for an idea for the next competition – perhaps we should have a competition on what the next competition will be? Check back soon for more free diamonds junk.
Also, I don’t know if you guys have noticed it, but we’ve been cropping up on the press radar a bit recently. If you’re a Brit you may have seen us on the Guardian website or on the Telegraph games section. Frankly I’m really flattered that those guys reported on us – thank you!
On a side note, if you spot any press coverage please let us know. I’ve noticed that some sites have been reporting on us (which is fantastic!) without giving us a heads up. It’s a real shame to not read what people are saying about us, so, if you see anything, post it on the forums!
Finally, although it’s not confirmed, we may also be demonstrating Plain Sight at an upcoming games festival. As it’s not confirmed, I don’t want to jinx it by giving away all the details. However I will let you all know when I do – It’d be great to see some of you there...
Everyone’s a winner, except you.
I’ve been assured by Alex that there’s currently not one place on this earth that is still Friday the 19th of September.
Sod…. Just a little late.
Anyway, I do have a good excuse, for the last 24 hours I’ve been
Without further ado, here are our votes:
Sam – I/O
Hin – Rodney
Me – El Mono
Lawrence – Eke
Damien – T.Bot
Alex – El Mono
So, the winner is El Mono! Congratulations Resurrection, we’ll drop you an email.
The runner up, by general discussion, is Eke. So, if Bushofgoats (nice nickname) can track down and murder Resurrection in the next 12 hours he/she/it will win by right of conquest. Happy hunting.
As for the prize, because Alex and I are in an airport many millions of miles away, we can’t provide photo evidence. Needless to say, it is awesome, fantastic, amazing and probably has the net value of $5.
As a sign off, in an effort to be vaguely amusing, we searched for 'drunken whore' on google images and somewhat startled to find this on the front page. Enjoy.
Austin.. w00t.
The windswept traveller has found a few moments from his busy schedule of schmoozing and cigarette smoking to put a few well thought out words into blog format.
Right, lots of things are thoroughly enjoyable about Austin. First and foremostly, the fact that it’s not in New Mexico is a real plus. Secondly, the people are insanely nice. Even the hobos (especially the ones on meth).
Alex and I are riding the crest of the much talked about high and beautiful wave. This is made more beautiful by beer and the fact that the Austin GDC is fantastic. Okay, it’s not like a circus or a sea otter or some kind of revolting Victorian freak show, it’s not that kind of fantastic – but it’s damn good. Like not tipping at a lousy restaurant.
What we’re most impressed about, however, is (of course) the indie games being shown and the indie developers who gave us some good chat. A few specific shaaat aatz go to
Tom at Pillowfort Games – we had a play on his new game Goo – it rules.
And… Adam at Last Chance Media – made more games than us, all good, so lots of kudos.
Right, Im off- to leave, here’s a picture of me looking stern after I’d found a phoney London hidden in the fields of Texas.
“Turn in 277 Miles.”
The ritualistic nature of airport checkins are hard enough to tolerate without having to do two in one morning. Turns out that our flight to Texas was cancelled due to obstructions on the runway, mainly one of these:
But, of course, we weren’t told this until AFTER we had entered the airport and been subjected to all the humiliation that a bored security team demands. With a little whelping and sniffling, we attracted the pity of staff and managed to get our flights rerouted to Los Angeles with the idea of driving to Austin from there.
I feel so god damn adventurous right now. A genuine all-American road trip! I’m half giddy about living the dream of Sam and Max Hit The Road; a game I grew up on.
Lesser men would sink in despair, clutch each other and weep passionately, while the corpse of their pre-paid travel itinerary lies on the operating table, slowly cooling and greasy. Not in the ranks of Beatnik Games, though, oh no. We keep pumping that chest cavity until the ribs crack.
How this vague stubbornness translated into us bombing across the state of Arizona in a Dodge SUV the size of a small guest room, I’m not quite sure. Add that to the fact that we’re working our way through bags of prime beef jerky and Camel Lights (I favour one, Robin the other) and we’ve somehow managed to assimilate ourselves into the stereotypical southern lifestyle.
I can completely understand how they fall in love with it; some of the landscapes around here are truly breath taking in ways that you would never find in England. I knew I was hooked by desert country when I looked out of the window and immediately yelled at Robin: “holy crap, did you see that rock? It was awesome”. Slightly anti-climatic, perhaps, but classier than when he giggled saucily and informed me that he’d just seen a cactus that looked like a penis.
As for the title of this post, it was the rather cheerful verdict of our electronic sat-nav lady about an hour ago. America is big. I think I can see Mexico.
I’m [INSERT NAME]... Are you my mother?
Look up a little bit. Up this web page, in the Plain Sight banner. Now focus on the silhouette of the robot. When you pick up our game, you will BECOME that robot.Oh sure, he may look all contented and wishy-washy, but deep inside lies an unending source of pain; a whirling maelstrom of bitterness and confusion just begging to be dispersed. But no one has.
You see, that little robot has no name, no identity; it drifts aimlessly through life carrying with it a little bindle of shame, lonely and exploding.
Doesn't that make you angry? Doesn't it make you MAD (if you're American)? Doesn't it make you want to cry: "Dear God, Beatnik Games Ltd., make it stop! Can't you see he's already dead!"?
Keep that chin up, brave little Internet. We may be too uncaring and talentless to give the little critter a name, but we know you'll be able to do better. In fact, we're so sure that you'll be able to come up with something 100% satisfactory, that we will be sending out a special limited edition prize for the best suggestion received by the end of next Friday (19th September). It will be super awesome and made by us, and you know what that means, right? Give it a few years and eBay will be your friend!
Do it, do it now.
