Archive for the ‘Developer Corner’ Category
FINISH HIM: How to Make a Killer Fatality for Mortal Kombat
Posted by Steve Beran in Developer Corner, Inside PlayStation, mortal kombat, netherrealm studios, PlayStation Games, PS3 on February 15th, 2011
Fatalities are back and better than ever in the new Mortal Kombat! Ever since 1992’s Mortal Kombat, fatalities have gotten a HUGE fan reaction. The new game’s fatalities are the most lethal, elaborate, and quite simply the best we have ever made. We are sure that the fans are going to love what we have come up with in the new Mortal Kombat.
Ed Boon and the rest of the MK team knew that returning to a Mature game rating – PLUS the tremendous graphic improvement and new technologies we now have access to – would let us take fatalities to an unsurpassed level of unimaginable brutality. Additionally, we wanted to make sure there were a ton of fatalities for all of the iconic warriors in the game (with two fatalities, minimum, for every character) as well as fatalities for some of the dynamic environments. There is a looot of content for players to uncover – and we finally had plenty of time to build it all!
The fatality development process is extremely collaborative. In the past, we didn’t start designing and implementing fatalities until the majority of the game was finished. But with this game, the team began working on fatalities early in the development cycle in order to have the maximum amount of time to come up with ideas and polish them. Fatalities are born in the dark recesses of the designer’s minds – each fatality always starts with a general idea from [Mortal Kombat co-creator] Ed Boon and the designers. They basically lock themselves in a room for hours and lay out all of their ideas. Once the meeting begins, one brave soul is the first to share a sick and twisted way for the player to finish off their opponent, and the process begins.
Inspiration can come from anywhere – gruesome murder news stories, old horror movies, and actual nightmares have spawned more than a few of our most disturbing fatalities. There is a usually a lot of “You know what would be cool…” and “What if…” The designers pantomime many of the motions for that fatality and the reaction of the other team members in the room determine whether a fatality is good enough for inclusion in the game. Ideas with the strongest team reactions are the ones we all build on and polish into a final concept. Ed then goes on to storyboard each fatality for the motion-capture session.
The motion-capture sessions are a dynamic experience involving two people that act out each fatality over and over until they perfectly capture the movements needed to make the fatality look as realistic and awe-inspiring as possible. From there, our magicians in the animation and cinematics groups add the look, feel and special effects that take the fatalities from a motion-captured wire frame to a graphically intense piece of in-game content.
As a team, we review each step of the process many times in order to make sure each element looks as impactful as possible. Once the fatality meets our quality requirements, we pass it along to our audio group so that they can take the piece to the next level and create horrifying sounds to add the final touch of atmosphere to the piece. Finally, it is given back to the designers who embed the fatalities in the game in preparation for players around the world.
Fatalities are truly one of the most collaborative development efforts and are a great reflection of the vast amount of talent we have working on the game. We want to ensure that fans get the Mortal Kombat they have been waiting for come April 19th. I wish I could show you some examples of our new fatalities, but because we’re bound by certain advertising guidelines we are only able to show them after you pre-order at GameStop. Once you pre-order, you will be emailed a code that you can enter that into a widget in order to view some of the great fatalities in the final game. You can see more details here.
Jenova Chen Explains Journey: Social Relevance and Artistic Inspirations
Posted by Sid Shuman in Developer Corner, Featured Post, journey, PlayStation Games, PS3, PSN, thatgamecompany on January 11th, 2011
I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Jenova Chen, the creative director of thatgamecompany and designer of flOw and Flower. Chen’s latest project, the upcoming PSN exclusive Journey, may be his most enigmatic project yet. In talking with Chen, I was most interested in learning what drove his unique, minimalistic vision, as well as the challenges in creating a drop-in, drop-out online multiplayer game without the use of industry-standard matchmaking lobbies and voice chat.
Sid Shuman: Journey’s got a certain mystique. Who are you in Journey? Where are you?
Jenova Chen: I want the player to find it out, it’s part of the fun. This is a world where there are no plants, no animals, and not even a single water drop to be found. The only things that are moving are these things, these characters, made out of cloth.
SS: Journey’s a multiplayer game, but there’s no matchmaking or online lobbies. Would you say it redefines multiplayer? Is it a co-op game?
JC: We’re not really redefining. We make games for PS3 owners, but we also make games for their relatives or children. I don’t think your grandma is going to know what a [multiplayer] “lobby” means. I don’t think most children will understand what [internet] “latency” means. So after we eliminated the lobby concept, we had very few choices — other players have to be able to connect at any time, not just the beginning of the game, and a player has to be able to finish the game by himself he can’t find someone. All these technical issues came in with that one decision to get rid of the online lobby.
A lot of games design co-op for co-op play only. The best game I’ve played this year was Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. It’s very well designed, like a designer’s jewelry box. But it wouldn’t work for Journey. What if the other player wasn’t there? So we have to come up with other ways to make co-op more meaningful. We wanted something very primal, which forced us to make innovations.
We didn’t try to redefine multiplayer, we just wanted to create a more intuitive experience. If your grandma asked, “what’s Journey?” I’d tell her “Journey is just like hiking. You go to hike a mountain, and there are other hikers you might meet and if you like them you can hike with them.” And that’s it.
SS: What’s the core gameplay goal in Journey? What activities will I be engaging in?
JC: You will be…Journey-ing. Moving from point A to point B. [laughter] The problem is, moving is very boring. In World of Warcraft, you’re always moving…and waiting. So in Journey, we have things to spice up the moving. You can surf the sand dunes, collect cloth to fly over larger distances, cooperate with another player to get faster travel…sometimes you can ride things.
SS: It also looks like you’re collecting cloth patches, which seem to open up bridges or paths to other areas…
JC: Usually, players think about collecting as a “level up” experience. But we wanted to make the player feel small and weak. So initially, we did have a level up experience — if you collected 20 patches, you would jump higher or fly further. But that felt too empowering, which is the opposite of what we wanted. So instead of acquiring power, we made this metaphor for borrowing power. There are patches in the world, and when they hear your call, they come to help you out. Once you use them, they return to where they were. It’s not an ownership situation.
It also has to do with multiplayer. People would say, “I don’t want to play with you, I don’t want you to take my precious resources!” We tried various ways to eliminate that, but in the end, we decided to not give you [permanent] possession of them.
SS: Surfing on waves of sand looks like an interesting way to get around this very dynamic, shifting environment. It’s such a simple pleasure — a bit like Flower, actually.
JC: We had problems with walking. It’s frustrating, but there’s no easy way to make walking fun. So we tried surfing, because as a gameplay mechanic it’s fun — you know, SSX. But you could surf on the slopes but not on the flat surfaces, and most of the game is flat. So we had to come up with a reason why you could surf, so we made the sand have waves.
SS: Does Journey use any buttons?
JC: There are two buttons right now. “Calling” lets you collect patches and communicate with another player, a very primal form of communication. And then there’s a “Fly” button.
SS: I noticed that the camera is controlled by the DualShock 3’s Sixaxis motion sensor, not the analog stick.
JC: I have seen various non-hardcore players try a first-person shooter, and they couldn’t even aim. The two-stick camera system, using them at the same time, is just very difficult. It takes time to train. And every time I see a player struggle with that, he just puts the game down. So I wanted to think about a more intuitive form of camera control. The other problem with a stick camera, particularly in a third-person game, is that people tend to adjust the camera very often and very rapidly. When I watch them play, I get dizzy. And I want people to be able to watch others play Journey.
SS: Why does jumping not require a button press?
JC: We used to have a jump button, but we wanted to simplify the game. When you can jump, during the boring walk [laughs] people would keep jumping. And that’s not what we wanted to see! After we removed the jump button, people said “we want to jump!” So we added an automatic jump, and it’s working pretty well. I do miss pressing the X button sometimes when I’m walking, though!
SS: Are there enemies in Journey?
JC: There is something like an enemy, there is. [laughter] Nature is your enemy. If there is an enemy, you can’t do anything about it. You’re small and weak. You can’t slay the Shadow of the Colossus!
SS: Did an artist inspire the visual style of Journey?
JC: Do you know Chirico? If you see the original Japanese cover art of Ico, it’s an homage to Chirico. At an early stage, that was an inspiration.
SS: Journey is a very different kind of multiplayer game. Is it important for developers to challenge preconceived notions about what makes a multiplayer game?
JC: It’s important because your brain can be stimulated intellectually, emotionally, and socially. When people design online games, they often do lazy work. They bring an existing single-player game — an RPG, an RTS, a fighting game, a shooter — and duct tape on some online technology. They say, “okay, there’s multiple players, now do something cool. Here, play a kid’s game like Capture the Flag.” That’s the level of design. “Why don’t you kill each other until the last guy is left standing.”
If you really wanted to stimulate a social activity, you need to re-think it from the ground up. What is the skill they’re supposed to acquire? Accuracy? Or is it the ability to convince others? If the skill is social, it’ll be very relevant and useful. People still play poker. Why? Because the skill of deception is useful for real life. Look at online games. How many skills are based on social elements? Most games are based on grinding, accuracy, physical dexterity. They are not social games. They’re just old games with online features.
SS: Now, you’re saying this as a Call of Duty player, aren’t you? You like shooters.
JC: Yeah. I like fighting games too.They’re fun. But as I get older, what’s the point in pulling off another infinite combo? What does that do for your life? It’s not useful. People still play chess because strategic thinking is useful. Brain training games, fitness games…these have relevance. People don’t have much time to waste, so they want relevance. Whether it’s emotional relevance, like experiencing joy or sadness, or intellectual relevance, or social relevance.
SS: What other developers do you think are challenging gaming, perhaps in other areas?
JC: Quantic Dream. Team Ico — everything they make is very rich and deep emotionally. I think LittleBigPlanet is also very interesting. It’s not so much emotional as it is a different frontier. I also really appreciate whoever makes the best first-person shooter. Blizzard is always great, they have a lot of craft. We need those things too, because the game industry has to cover all sides. It’s not that I’m against fighting games or shooters — they need to be there, and they need to be good.
SS: Are you looking forward to BioShock Infinite?
JC: I liked BioShock but I didn’t finish it. I think I didn’t appreciate it as much as the fans, but I totally get the philosophies. I will try [Ken Levine’s] new game…it’s relevant. It’s not just about being strong and killing enemies. I appreciate that.
Jenova Chen Explains Journey: Social Relevance and Artistic Inspirations
Posted by Sid Shuman in Developer Corner, journey, PlayStation Games, PS3, PSN, thatgamecompany on January 11th, 2011
I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Jenova Chen, the creative director of thatgamecompany and designer of flOw and Flower. Chen’s latest project, the upcoming PSN exclusive Journey, may be his most enigmatic project yet. In talking with Chen, I was most interested in learning what drove his unique, minimalistic vision, as well as the challenges in creating a drop-in, drop-out online multiplayer game without the use of industry-standard matchmaking lobbies and voice chat.
Sid Shuman: Journey’s got a certain mystique. Who are you in Journey? Where are you?
Jenova Chen: I want the player to find it out, it’s part of the fun. This is a world where there are no plants, no animals, and not even a single water drop to be found. The only things that are moving are these things, these characters, made out of cloth.
SS: Journey’s a multiplayer game, but there’s no matchmaking or online lobbies. Would you say it redefines multiplayer? Is it a co-op game?
JC: We’re not really redefining. We make games for PS3 owners, but we also make games for their relatives or children. I don’t think your grandma is going to know what a [multiplayer] “lobby” means. I don’t think most children will understand what [internet] “latency” means. So after we eliminated the lobby concept, we had very few choices — other players have to be able to connect at any time, not just the beginning of the game, and a player has to be able to finish the game by himself he can’t find someone. All these technical issues came in with that one decision to get rid of the online lobby.
A lot of games design co-op for co-op play only. The best game I’ve played this year was Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. It’s very well designed, like a designer’s jewelry box. But it wouldn’t work for Journey. What if the other player wasn’t there? So we have to come up with other ways to make co-op more meaningful. We wanted something very primal, which forced us to make innovations.
We didn’t try to redefine multiplayer, we just wanted to create a more intuitive experience. If your grandma asked, “what’s Journey?” I’d tell her “Journey is just like hiking. You go to hike a mountain, and there are other hikers you might meet and if you like them you can hike with them.” And that’s it.
SS: What’s the core gameplay goal in Journey? What activities will I be engaging in?
JC: You will be…Journey-ing. Moving from point A to point B. [laughter] The problem is, moving is very boring. In World of Warcraft, you’re always moving…and waiting. So in Journey, we have things to spice up the moving. You can surf the sand dunes, collect cloth to fly over larger distances, cooperate with another player to get faster travel…sometimes you can ride things.
SS: It also looks like you’re collecting cloth patches, which seem to open up bridges or paths to other areas…
JC: Usually, players think about collecting as a “level up” experience. But we wanted to make the player feel small and weak. So initially, we did have a level up experience — if you collected 20 patches, you would jump higher or fly further. But that felt too empowering, which is the opposite of what we wanted. So instead of acquiring power, we made this metaphor for borrowing power. There are patches in the world, and when they hear your call, they come to help you out. Once you use them, they return to where they were. It’s not an ownership situation.
It also has to do with multiplayer. People would say, “I don’t want to play with you, I don’t want you to take my precious resources!” We tried various ways to eliminate that, but in the end, we decided to not give you [permanent] possession of them.
SS: Surfing on waves of sand looks like an interesting way to get around this very dynamic, shifting environment. It’s such a simple pleasure — a bit like Flower, actually.
JC: We had problems with walking. It’s frustrating, but there’s no easy way to make walking fun. So we tried surfing, because as a gameplay mechanic it’s fun — you know, SSX. But you could surf on the slopes but not on the flat surfaces, and most of the game is flat. So we had to come up with a reason why you could surf, so we made the sand have waves.
SS: Does Journey use any buttons?
JC: There are two buttons right now. “Calling” lets you collect patches and communicate with another player, a very primal form of communication. And then there’s a “Fly” button.
SS: I noticed that the camera is controlled by the DualShock 3’s Sixaxis motion sensor, not the analog stick.
JC: I have seen various non-hardcore players try a first-person shooter, and they couldn’t even aim. The two-stick camera system, using them at the same time, is just very difficult. It takes time to train. And every time I see a player struggle with that, he just puts the game down. So I wanted to think about a more intuitive form of camera control. The other problem with a stick camera, particularly in a third-person game, is that people tend to adjust the camera very often and very rapidly. When I watch them play, I get dizzy. And I want people to be able to watch others play Journey.
SS: Why does jumping not require a button press?
JC: We used to have a jump button, but we wanted to simplify the game. When you can jump, during the boring walk [laughs] people would keep jumping. And that’s not what we wanted to see! After we removed the jump button, people said “we want to jump!” So we added an automatic jump, and it’s working pretty well. I do miss pressing the X button sometimes when I’m walking, though!
SS: Are there enemies in Journey?
JC: There is something like an enemy, there is. [laughter] Nature is your enemy. If there is an enemy, you can’t do anything about it. You’re small and weak. You can’t slay the Shadow of the Colossus!
SS: Did any particular artist inspire the visual style of Journey?
JC: Do you know Chirico? If you see the original Japanese cover art of Ico, it’s an homage to Chirico. At an early stage, that was an inspiration.
SS: Journey is a very different kind of multiplayer game. Is it important for developers to challenge preconceived notions about what makes a multiplayer game?
JC: It’s important because your brain can be stimulated intellectually, emotionally, and socially. When people design online games, they often do lazy work. They bring an existing single-player game — an RPG, an RTS, a fighting game, a shooter — and duct tape on some online technology. They say, “okay, there’s multiple players, now do something cool. Here, play a kid’s game like Capture the Flag.” That’s the level of design. “Why don’t you kill each other until the last guy is left standing.”
If you really wanted to stimulate a social activity, you need to re-think it from the ground up. What is the skill they’re supposed to acquire? Accuracy? Or is it the ability to convince others? If the skill is social, it’ll be very relevant and useful. People still play poker. Why? Because the skill of deception is useful for real life. Look at online games. How many skills are based on social elements? Most games are based on grinding, accuracy, physical dexterity. They are not social games. They’re just old games with online features.
SS: Now, you’re saying this as a Call of Duty player, aren’t you? You like shooters.
JC: Yeah. I like fighting games too.They’re fun. But as I get older, what’s the point in pulling off another infinite combo? What does that do for your life? It’s not useful. People still play chess because strategic thinking is useful. Brain training games, fitness games…these have relevance. People don’t have much time to waste, so they want relevance. Whether it’s emotional relevance, like experiencing joy or sadness, or intellectual relevance, or social relevance.
SS: What other developers do you think are challenging gaming, perhaps in other areas?
JC: Quantic Dream. Team Ico — everything they make is very rich and deep emotionally. I think LittleBigPlanet is also very interesting. It’s not so much emotional as it is a different frontier. I also really appreciate whoever makes the best first-person shooter. Blizzard is always great, they have a lot of craft. We need those things too, because the game industry has to cover all sides. It’s not that I’m against fighting games or shooters — they need to be there, and they need to be good.
SS: Are you looking forward to BioShock Infinite?
JC: I liked BioShock but I didn’t finish it. I think I didn’t appreciate it as much as the fans, but I totally get the philosophies. I will try [Ken Levine’s] new game…it’s relevant. It’s not just about being strong and killing enemies. I appreciate that.
Subscribe and Listen to PixelJunk Radio Now!
Posted by Ariel Angelotti in Developer Corner, pixeljunk shooter 2, PlayStation Games, PSN, q-games on January 3rd, 2011
Hey there! This is Ariel Angelotti reporting from Q-Games headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, and I have some great news! PixelJunk Shooter 2 is nearly ready for launch, getting that final coat of paint before it takes off to the sky. While the release date is still hush-hush at this point, I can assure everyone of its complete and total awesomeness, so keep a keen eye out for more information shortly.
Until then, we’ve prepared something special to keep everyone entertained As a regular consumer of videogame podcasts, I thought it would be a great idea to round up a rather reluctant Dylan and two other Q staffers, Bear Trickey and Duncan Flett, to record our own. Thus, “PixelJunk Radio” was born. Well, our podcast has finally been released, so join us over beverages and discussion of life in Japan, videogames, and yes, the ever mysterious Japanese toilet by clicking the following link and subscribing to our podcast on iTunes.
Or you can catch a video version on the PixelJunk YouTube Channel which features images of the cast to watch while you listen here
Be on the lookout for more podcasts in the future!
Insomniac Games’ Full Moon Show: Behind-the-Scenes on Resistance 3
Posted by James Stevenson in Developer Corner, holidays10, insomniac, PlayStation Games, PS3, resistance 3 on December 29th, 2010
Hey folks! The Full Moon Show has been relatively quiet this year, focusing on retrospective episodes and bringing you bigger insights into our previous games, and even a cancelled one. We will be trying to ramp back up next year, to bring you all the latest info on Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One and Resistance 3.
During our PlayStation.Blog takeover, we wanted to bring you a behind-the-scenes look at Resistance 3, what we’ve been doing the last two years and what the last year of development will bring us. We also discuss our Resistance 3 “war room” at our office, as well as the making of the GamesCom and VGA trailers. You can download the episode here or stream it right here via this embedded flash player:
If you want to make sure you never miss an episode of the Full Moon Show – subscribe to us via iTunes or subscribe to our RSS feed here. You can always reach the podcast team with your questions or comments at podcast@insomniacgames.com.
That’s it for our takeover of the PlayStation Blog. We hope you enjoyed our favorite games of the year, the retrospective of our Insomniac Holiday Cards and this very special episode of the Full Moon Show. Make sure you Like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter for all of the latest and greatest about Insomniac and our games!
From all of us at Insomniac Games, have a Happy New Year!
Insomniac Holiday Cards
Posted by James Stevenson in Developer Corner, holidays10, insomniac, PS3 on December 29th, 2010
Getting into the theme of this holiday takeover of the PlayStation.Blog, we wanted to share with you some of our cool holiday cards. We’ve continued our tradition to send special holiday cards to our partners – each card featuring special exclusive artwork from our artists. Here’s a quick look at the holiday cards from the PS3 era:
2006 – Resistance: Fall of Man
The 2006 Holiday Card celebrated the release of Resistance: Fall of Man and the PlayStation 3, with the Chimera building a Hybrid snowman, right before noticing the Dragon Flamethrower (albeit a red one, instead of the game’s green flames) pointed at them. This card probably would have been banned in Germany.
2007 – Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
The 2007 card celebrated the Drophyd enemy in Tools of Destruction, small goldfish like creatures that controlled death robots. One of my favorite features in that game to this day was the ability to squish the drophyds by stepping on them. Notice the Insomniac moon at the base, and the Lombax doll in its arm.
2008 – Resistance 2
The Splicer was one of our favorite and goriest weapons in Resistance 2, and doing a 1950s style holiday ad for one of the best weapons in the game seemed like a no brainer.
2009 – Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
This card came out at the end of 2009 to celebrate the release of A Crack in Time. It was drawn by Insomniac North Carolina’s Dave Guertinand was the very first tease image we ever released of some of the updated art style being used for Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, as well as showing the four characters together in a way we hadn’t yet. Now you know!
2010 – Resistance 3 / Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One reveals
While we didn’t release a game in 2010, we did show the fully-grown Widowmaker on the cover of Game Informer. Keeping with the 1950s setting of the Resistance franchise, the Widowmaker sits on the Insomniac moon while 1950s-style spaceships attack it.
Insomniac’s Favorite Games of 2010
Posted by James Stevenson in bayonetta, Developer Corner, dragon age: origins, heavy rain, holidays10, insomniac, modnation racers, PlayStation Games, PS3, red dead redemption, rock band 3, uncharted 2 on December 29th, 2010
As part of our fantastic year-end takeover of the PlayStation.Blog, we wanted to share with you some of Insomniac’s favorite games from 2010. At first, we got a wide variety of responses… as you’ll see below.
ModNation Racers
My choice would have to be ModNation Racers. I played that game all night long, collected all the outfits, stickers, and whatnot, and made a ton of characters. I also posted a few tracks online – “A Night On Bald Mountain” and “Alice In Wonderland.”
-Giac Veltri, Engine Programmer
Rock Band 3
I really enjoy the challenge of playing songs in pro mode. The new keyboard, cymbals, and pro guitar are great additions to a game that was already amazingly fun.
-Herman Miller, Senior Programmer
MineCraft
The experience it gives you, you can’t get anywhere else.
-Joe Valenzuela, Engine Programmer
Super Meat Boy
It is unforgiving, unrelenting and unapologetic. It’ll grind your nose to the ground and make you feel insignificant. It does all this while staying fair to the player, no cheap deaths, and the feedback system showing the player where they jumped, landed and were mutilated by massive-death-blades(TM) creates a comforting and addicting “no, I can do this” feeling in the player.
It not only revels in a past era of super hard games, it refines it to near perfection. Super Meat Boy is everything anyone could ask for from a pure run-and-jump platformer.
-Chaz Wilke, Scripter
Starcraft II
I’m kind of embarrassed that it’s so mainstream, but Starcraft II. This was a surprise for me, since I’d always considered myself no good at RTS games, but apparently that’s all changed as I continue to charge through the Platinum 2v2 league 6 months after its release. It’s definitely an intense yet enjoyable challenge for me, and I love playing Zerg! (I chose to play Zerg for a highly strategic reason: they are adorable.)
-Lisa Brown, Designer
Bejeweled Blitz
My favorite game of 2010 was Bejewelled Blitz on Facebook. Despite a weekly @$$ kicking by my wife I keep coming back for more. (Lead Designer Jake) Biegel bows before me.
-John Fiorito, Chief Operating Officer
Bayonetta
Bayonetta, easily. The game really surprised me with its amazingly fast combat and unique (and kickass) soundtrack. It also had some of the best boss battles I’ve seen this entire generation.
-Scott Michalek, Engine Support Technician
Heavy Rain
Although other games like Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption captured me for longer periods of time this year, Heavy Rain is the game that most stands out in my mind. I really loved its depiction of fatherhood, a rarity in games. Heavy Rain gave me a new type of experience I hadn’t had before in any other game, and it made me really excited about the possibilities for interactive fiction in future games.
-Joel Bartley, Gameplay Programmer
If you guessed that our writer’s favorite game from 2010 would be the game where you played a writer… well, you’d be right:
Alan Wake
My favorite game of 2010 was Alan Wake. It was dark, atmospheric, with a compelling narrative and a really unique combat mechanic. It also satisfied my insatiable hunger for lumber mill-centric gameplay. As an added bonus, Alan Wake brought to light the gritty truth about writers: that we are all badass action heroes you want to align yourself with should possessed beings ever invade your tranquil summer burg. Unless you’re married to one of us – then you should probably run.
-TJ Fixman, Senior Writer
Sometimes we don’t get to play new games during the holidays, and they slip to the next year. That’s the case with the next couple of selections:
Uncharted 2
I liked the platform/parkour aspects of the level design. If Uncharted 3 has more of the platforming and jumping around I’ll be calling in sick until I complete it.
-Frank Lafuente, Lead Programmer
Dragon Age: Origins
Primary reason is that on my list of favorite game titles it was one of the only new titles, the others being sequels/new installments of a previous franchise.
I think that Dragon Age is an excellent example of bringing old school DnD style RPGs into the current generation. It was refreshing to see them revamp many of the traditional RPG standards while maintaining many of the same themes. It’s also one of few games that really delivers on content and epic story telling.
-Josue Benavidez, Associate Designer
Despite the wide variety of selections, as the response continued to flow in, it was clear that a vast number of Insomniac’s favored one game above all others during 2010: Red Dead Redemption. As our own (in?)famous cos-playing Senior Animator Ben Van Dyken writes:
- It was an emotional experience. You had real empathy for the character over the course of the game…. And not just in the main storyline, but I also got very attached to my horse, and when he died, I felt real loss…had to go through almost a mourning period before getting another. And these were never ‘canned’ experiences either…they usually happened so dynamically, that it never felt like an event ‘forced’ upon me by the designer….which gave it that much more impact.
- I also remember back when the game came out, each morning people would gather in the kitchen and tell their “RDR stories” from the night before. “…and right after that, I was wrestling this bear with only my bare hands…when all of a sudden, a cougar jumped out and mauled my horse…” It was great.
-Ben Van Dyken, Senior Animator
Other praise for Red Dead Redemption:
As repetitive as many of the quests could be, they created a world I enjoyed being in. They nailed the visuals and sound design of the west, from the time crickets swap with grasshoppers as the primary insect noisemakers to the way dawn casts nearly white light over deserts. The Morricone-esque soundtrack made me feel like I was in a western movie; It just felt good to ride around and experience that world.
Add to that the sheer number of things to do (skill rankings, outfits, primary story missions, mini games, bounty quests, etc) and amazingly entertaining ambient behavior (watching people get mauled from their horses by mountain lions, hearing the prostitutes around town say things like, “I hate to see a dry pecker” and trying to line-up the perfect sniper shot when suddenly being attacked by a Grizzly…) and you had a game that truly defines an era. Would anyone even want to try to make another western game?
Oh, and their “Undead Nightmare” DLC kind of ruined DLC for the rest of us. Best $9.99 I’ve ever spent!
-Marcus Smith, Creative Director on Resistance 3
My love of Spaghetti Westerns was beautifully recreated in this game. I loved the story lines and the fire fights felt like a cross between the Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. John Marston, the main character is well defined and carries all the emotion needed to connect with him. Rockstar did an amazing job and they continue to set the bar for sandbox games.
-Carlos De La Torre Jr, Tester
From cattle rustling to coyote wrestling to bandit killing, this game really drew me into its world. Playing co-op with some fellow Insomniacs is also a blast.
-Chris Edwards, Engine Programmer
The level of difficulty in making a Western game of the year is epic – yet they managed to nail it. The level of immersion and gorgeous environments leaves me awestruck – it’s a world that I love just being in.
-Joel Goodsell, Senior Designer
My favorite game of 2010 would have to be Red Dead Redemption. I expected it to be GTA4 with horses, but it turned out to be a sprawling, profound, emotionally moving experience centered around one of the absolute best characters in video games (John Marston). Easily the greatest Western video game ever made, and possibly the greatest Western ever made, period.
-Josh Leman, Tester
Sounds trite, but I loved, loved, loved Red Dead Redemption. I love the desert. I love hiking in the desert, camping, and driving through it. I think the Red Dead team nailed the feeling of the lighting, the topography, and the natural plants and cacti. I’m also a huge fan of westerns, and to me, this was nothing less than the definitive western video game–besides Boot Hill, of course. :)
I’m not sure I’ve seen better looking horses in a game either. It’s the kind of game I like playing just so I can ride around watch the sunset… before I smoke some outlaw gang from their shack. It’s truly a world I feel like I can escape into.
-Steve Ratter, Environment Artist
I loved the openness and the fact that you could finally be a bad-ass gunslinger. First western game to really capture that and it was awesome. And let’s face it, who didn’t always want to skin a bunch of bears.
-Tim Salvitti, Web Developer
So Red Dead Redemption is definitely the favorite pick of Insomniac Games for 2010. Congrats to everyone at Rockstar: San Diego for making such a fantastic game, that sucked up so much of everyone’s time here at Insomniac Games. If you haven’t played it yet, we can’t highly recommend it enough.
Insomniac’s Favorite Games of 2010
Posted by James Stevenson in bayonetta, Developer Corner, dragon age: origins, heavy rain, holidays10, insomniac, modnation racers, PlayStation Games, PS3, red dead redemption, rock band 3, uncharted 2 on December 29th, 2010
As part of our fantastic year-end takeover of the PlayStation.Blog, we wanted to share with you some of Insomniac’s favorite games from 2010. At first, we got a wide variety of responses… as you’ll see below.
ModNation Racers
My choice would have to be ModNation Racers. I played that game all night long, collected all the outfits, stickers, and whatnot, and made a ton of characters. I also posted a few tracks online – “A Night On Bald Mountain” and “Alice In Wonderland.”
-Giac Veltri, Engine Programmer
Rock Band 3
I really enjoy the challenge of playing songs in pro mode. The new keyboard, cymbals, and pro guitar are great additions to a game that was already amazingly fun.
-Herman Miller, Senior Programmer
MineCraft
The experience it gives you, you can’t get anywhere else.
-Joe Valenzuela, Engine Programmer
Super Meat Boy
It is unforgiving, unrelenting and unapologetic. It’ll grind your nose to the ground and make you feel insignificant. It does all this while staying fair to the player, no cheap deaths, and the feedback system showing the player where they jumped, landed and were mutilated by massive-death-blades(TM) creates a comforting and addicting “no, I can do this” feeling in the player.
It not only revels in a past era of super hard games, it refines it to near perfection. Super Meat Boy is everything anyone could ask for from a pure run-and-jump platformer.
-Chaz Wilke, Scripter
Starcraft II
I’m kind of embarrassed that it’s so mainstream, but Starcraft II. This was a surprise for me, since I’d always considered myself no good at RTS games, but apparently that’s all changed as I continue to charge through the Platinum 2v2 league 6 months after its release. It’s definitely an intense yet enjoyable challenge for me, and I love playing Zerg! (I chose to play Zerg for a highly strategic reason: they are adorable.)
-Lisa Brown, Designer
Bejeweled Blitz
My favorite game of 2010 was Bejewelled Blitz on Facebook. Despite a weekly @$$ kicking by my wife I keep coming back for more. (Lead Designer Jake) Biegel bows before me.
-John Fiorito, Chief Operating Officer
Bayonetta
Bayonetta, easily. The game really surprised me with its amazingly fast combat and unique (and kickass) soundtrack. It also had some of the best boss battles I’ve seen this entire generation.
-Scott Michalek, Engine Support Technician
Heavy Rain
Although other games like Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption captured me for longer periods of time this year, Heavy Rain is the game that most stands out in my mind. I really loved its depiction of fatherhood, a rarity in games. Heavy Rain gave me a new type of experience I hadn’t had before in any other game, and it made me really excited about the possibilities for interactive fiction in future games.
-Joel Bartley, Gameplay Programmer
If you guessed that our writer’s favorite game from 2010 would be the game where you played a writer… well, you’d be right:
Alan Wake
My favorite game of 2010 was Alan Wake. It was dark, atmospheric, with a compelling narrative and a really unique combat mechanic. It also satisfied my insatiable hunger for lumber mill-centric gameplay. As an added bonus, Alan Wake brought to light the gritty truth about writers: that we are all badass action heroes you want to align yourself with should possessed beings ever invade your tranquil summer burg. Unless you’re married to one of us – then you should probably run.
-TJ Fixman, Senior Writer
Sometimes we don’t get to play new games during the holidays, and they slip to the next year. That’s the case with the next couple of selections:
Uncharted 2
I liked the platform/parkour aspects of the level design. If Uncharted 3 has more of the platforming and jumping around I’ll be calling in sick until I complete it.
-Frank Lafuente, Lead Programmer
Dragon Age: Origins
Primary reason is that on my list of favorite game titles it was one of the only new titles, the others being sequels/new installments of a previous franchise.
I think that Dragon Age is an excellent example of bringing old school DnD style RPGs into the current generation. It was refreshing to see them revamp many of the traditional RPG standards while maintaining many of the same themes. It’s also one of few games that really delivers on content and epic story telling.
-Josue Benavidez, Associate Designer
Despite the wide variety of selections, as the response continued to flow in, it was clear that a vast number of Insomniac’s favored one game above all others during 2010: Red Dead Redemption. As our own (in?)famous cos-playing Senior Animator Ben Van Dyken writes:
- It was an emotional experience. You had real empathy for the character over the course of the game…. And not just in the main storyline, but I also got very attached to my horse, and when he died, I felt real loss…had to go through almost a mourning period before getting another. And these were never ‘canned’ experiences either…they usually happened so dynamically, that it never felt like an event ‘forced’ upon me by the designer….which gave it that much more impact.
- I also remember back when the game came out, each morning people would gather in the kitchen and tell their “RDR stories” from the night before. “…and right after that, I was wrestling this bear with only my bare hands…when all of a sudden, a cougar jumped out and mauled my horse…” It was great.
-Ben Van Dyken, Senior Animator
Other praise for Red Dead Redemption:
As repetitive as many of the quests could be, they created a world I enjoyed being in. They nailed the visuals and sound design of the west, from the time crickets swap with grasshoppers as the primary insect noisemakers to the way dawn casts nearly white light over deserts. The Morricone-esque soundtrack made me feel like I was in a western movie; It just felt good to ride around and experience that world.
Add to that the sheer number of things to do (skill rankings, outfits, primary story missions, mini games, bounty quests, etc) and amazingly entertaining ambient behavior (watching people get mauled from their horses by mountain lions, hearing the prostitutes around town say things like, “I hate to see a dry pecker” and trying to line-up the perfect sniper shot when suddenly being attacked by a Grizzly…) and you had a game that truly defines an era. Would anyone even want to try to make another western game?
Oh, and their “Undead Nightmare” DLC kind of ruined DLC for the rest of us. Best $9.99 I’ve ever spent!
-Marcus Smith, Creative Director on Resistance 3
My love of Spaghetti Westerns was beautifully recreated in this game. I loved the story lines and the fire fights felt like a cross between the Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. John Marston, the main character is well defined and carries all the emotion needed to connect with him. Rockstar did an amazing job and they continue to set the bar for sandbox games.
-Carlos De La Torre Jr, Tester
From cattle rustling to coyote wrestling to bandit killing, this game really drew me into its world. Playing co-op with some fellow Insomniacs is also a blast.
-Chris Edwards, Engine Programmer
The level of difficulty in making a Western game of the year is epic – yet they managed to nail it. The level of immersion and gorgeous environments leaves me awestruck – it’s a world that I love just being in.
-Joel Goodsell, Senior Designer
My favorite game of 2010 would have to be Red Dead Redemption. I expected it to be GTA4 with horses, but it turned out to be a sprawling, profound, emotionally moving experience centered around one of the absolute best characters in video games (John Marston). Easily the greatest Western video game ever made, and possibly the greatest Western ever made, period.
-Josh Leman, Tester
Sounds trite, but I loved, loved, loved Red Dead Redemption. I love the desert. I love hiking in the desert, camping, and driving through it. I think the Red Dead team nailed the feeling of the lighting, the topography, and the natural plants and cacti. I’m also a huge fan of westerns, and to me, this was nothing less than the definitive western video game–besides Boot Hill, of course. :)
I’m not sure I’ve seen better looking horses in a game either. It’s the kind of game I like playing just so I can ride around watch the sunset… before I smoke some outlaw gang from their shack. It’s truly a world I feel like I can escape into.
-Steve Ratter, Environment Artist
I loved the openness and the fact that you could finally be a bad-ass gunslinger. First western game to really capture that and it was awesome. And let’s face it, who didn’t always want to skin a bunch of bears.
-Tim Salvitti, Web Developer
So Red Dead Redemption is definitely the favorite pick of Insomniac Games for 2010. Congrats to everyone at Rockstar: San Diego for making such a fantastic game, that sucked up so much of everyone’s time here at Insomniac Games. If you haven’t played it yet, we can’t highly recommend it enough.
Greetings from the New Sucker Punch Headquarters
Posted by Ken Schramm in Developer Corner, Inside PlayStation, sucker punch on December 27th, 2010
It’s no secret that in inFAMOUS 2 Cole has to flee Empire City and head to New Marais after his first encounter with the Beast. Well, Cole’s not the only one changing scenery. Although we didn’t have an ultimate showdown, we did move 24 floors down in the same building but tripled our square footage. Yes, we may have lost our great views, but to rid the sun glare we closed the blinds anyway. Besides, as you’ll see in this little photo tour… the new diggs are really cool.
We start off by coming out of the elevators to our welcoming lobby (see above). Julie, our office manager and Meagan, studio recruiter, will be the first to greet you. Our interview room for new recruits and main conference room featuring a 60″ 3D TV completes our lobby area. Moving in a circular rotation the next open space would be the environments team (environments team) who are all hard at work making New Marais look awesome. Next is our huge kitchen/dining area (see below). It easily handles all of us and Julie ensures that all the snacks and drinks are well stocked. There is even a huge balcony for use during those 30 days of Seattle sun :)
The kitchen flows into the game design, animation (see above), lighting and character areas. The character and animation teams are working hard on the game-opening sequence now. FX and lighting are vastly improving elements from last game. Design and gameplay teams are full tilt at this point — making and balancing missions, powers, and AI.
Upon leaving this area, you’ll walk down our long, long did I say long hallway. If you look closely you’ll see the Cole halo neon sign at the far end and all our Sly Cooper art (above). Looking towards the other end of the hallway shows off more inFAMOUS art from past events and a Sly Cooper Mask neon sign (above). After trekking parts of the hallway you’ll find yourself in the software engineer’s wing (above). Offices are decorated in a variety of ways (below) and we still have plenty of room to grow.
To finish off our tour, we take you to the QA area (above). We went from three QA staffers to over 25 in this group as we continue to ramp up production. Oh, and we also have many conference rooms that are actually named after our beloved characters including our chill conference room appropriately named “Zeke” (below).
Hope you enjoyed the tour of our new offices. We leave you with a little bit of our art that are splashed around the offices.
Enjoy!
Sucker Punch Productions: Our Favorite Superheroes
Posted by Ken Schramm in Developer Corner, Inside PlayStation, sucker punch on December 27th, 2010
The inFAMOUS storyline tells of a classic superhero origin: Boy meets explosion, boy gains superhuman powers, boy must choose between hero or villain. As we’re readying Cole MacGrath for his big encore this year, a collection of us here at Sucker Punch wanted to share with you who our favorite superhero is and why. Feel free to share your favorite superhero below in the comments. Enjoy!
Chris Zimmerman – Director of Development, Co-Founder
When I was growing up, my favorite superhero was the Flash. I was a DC kid, and all the other DC superheroes were pretty boring as far as my ten-year-old self was concerned. Superman? Boring. Batman? This was the 70s, which was about ten years before Frank Miller made Batman cool. For me, Batman was Adam West, and even at ten, I didn’t think Adam West was cool. And don’t even get me started on Aquaman.
The Flash, on the other hand, I loved. I think I loved him because he had to be clever to win. It wasn’t just a matter of using his super breath, or firing up a magic ring that could do just about anything. He actually needed to think his way through things, to figure out ways to use his super-speed to get things done. I liked being surprised by what he came up with.
Bob Mowery – QA Lead
Magneto. I realize that choosing a villainous character may somewhat violate the spirit of the question, but let me explain. As a child, my favorite superheroes were solely based on a suite of powers. Green Lantern would probably top my childhood list as he could do just about anything with that ring. The older I get, the more interested I become in the fallibility of heroes and their more “human” characteristics. Magneto’s history is quite profound, being a holocaust survivor. This tortured past guides his character to great lengths. Magneto constantly wrestles with the question “what does it mean to be a member of a hated minority?” His past informs him that this means captivity, torture, and death. As a powerful member of the mutant minority, Magneto takes it upon himself to use his powers to fight for that minority. Magneto is a heroic character, but not to the greater power-lacking populace. Magneto fights for mutant-kind much like the United States fights for democracy around the world. His assistance and methods are often not welcome, but he fights passionately for his mutant brethren in the way he sees fit. I must also shamefully admit that the influence of my childhood is not completely absent from this equation. I still think it would be awesome to rip a building from its foundations, use its girders to tie up someone, and send bullets back to their source with an unnecessary wave of my hand. Parting the Red Sea that is Seattle gridlock would just be an added bonus.
Billy Harper – Animation Director
Any one that knows me, and probably those who’ve seen me talk about inFAMOUS 2 on the internet, know that I think Spider-Man is the best superhero ever. I’ve felt that way since I was a little kid and would try to get spiders to bite me so I could climb walls. However, it didn’t stop there. As I grew up, I continued to find reasons that I liked him that fit with my age and life.
Originally, I liked him because he had the coolest toys and was on one of my favorite shows, The Electric Company. As I got older, I liked him because his powers somehow seemed “accessible” and had inherit weaknesses that sometimes tested his REAL courage because he had to deal with things that his powers couldn’t really help with. I also liked the fact that he still remained true to himself after becoming a hero. He was still a geek. He still used his brain to solve problems. Plus, at the end of the day, he had to figure out how to live a real life. He had to make rent. He had to go to class. Now, as an animator he’s great because his motions are so interesting and difficult to flesh out in my head. It really challenges me to think about how he moves through the world and what exactly he would do and how he’d do it.
Plus, he always has the coolest theme songs!
Darren Bridges – Game Designer
Daredevil. If you asked me five years ago, it probably would have been Spider-Man or Batman or Green Lantern or someone cool. Acrobatics, radar-vision, and “willingness to deal with lots of pain” are definitely not the coolest super-powers in the world. So why the ‘Devil? I read a lot of graphic novels, and a few years ago I got hooked on a Daredevil storyline by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Like lots of Marvel heroes, Daredevil gets dragged through a horrible mess… his identity is exposed, his life starts to crumble, and he and his friends all suffer. He’s pushed so far that he starts to skim the edge of what is acceptable for a hero, defeating the crime lord of his district and declaring himself the “New Kingpin.” Daredevil encompasses my favorite aspect of superheroes – that they are human people with super powers. They are powerful but still vulnerable; they are aspirational but still relatable.
Rebecca Mayfield – QA Lead
Batman will always be my favorite. He is a complex character that I can identify with in some way or another… minus the super-awesome gadgets, of course. The closest I can get to a utility belt packed with Batarangs and Thermite Grenades is my cell phone. But that’s beside the point. Batman is the whole superhero package.
He is human through and through. He bleeds and feels pain. He can experience great happiness one day, and feel the sink hole of loss the next. Yet he is super human, possessing things that allow him to surpass the restraints that we are bound to. This was something I always admired as a kid. Batman is such a powerful figure because of what he has enabled himself to do, but he is also like me in the sense that he can be hurt by a car accident, or a scraped knee. He gave me hope that I could achieve more than I thought was possible by just trying my best. He shows us that even someone who is ordinary can be extraordinary.