Mar

Dev Diary 29: Inspirations, Part 1

Yac on March 16th, 2009

As mentioned last week, when I face design challenges, I routinely turn to games that inspire me. I believe it’s worthwhile to share some of these games here, to give you a window on what I strive to achieve, and to recommend some amazing titles to the readers who may be unaware of them.

Today, I’ll focus on Everyday Shooter, Flow and the aforementioned Flower.

Everyday Shooter (ES) is a 2D shoot’em up game available on the PC, PS3 and PSP. ES is an independent game through and through, developed by the one-man team Jonathan Mak. Aside from the technical achievement of creating all the art, design, programming and audio himself, ES is a fantastic little game, which pays homage to the whole genre of shoot’em up, drawing inspirations from a number of classic games.

What stands out for me personally is the use of audio. Each level has a unique gameplay mechanic, and a unique track (composed by the author himself). Adding to that, all the in-game sound effects (such as explosions) are dynamically generated guitar riffs which layer on top of the background track in a cacophonous yet harmonious manner. You have to play it to experience properly, but you can also check out the trailer. The other inspiring aspect of this game is that it was completely created by one man. It’s motivating to see someone produce such an achievement on their own.

Flow and Flower are both creations of thatgamecompany, a small indie studio working out of the Sony offices in Santa Monica. You can find a free, earlier version of Flow here, but the PS3 version is something to behold.

In Flow, you take the shape of an aquatic micro-organism and travel through different depths of the ocean while consuming other organisms, allowing you to evolve as you advance (thank you Wikipedia). The game is marked by beautiful visuals creating a serene environment. Even while you are chased by enemy creatures, the game still creates a relaxing atmosphere. Flow (and perhaps the earlier title Cloud also) was the first attempt by designer Jenova Chen to tap into Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory on Flow.

Flower was thatgamecompany’s follow up to Flow, and the similarities are immediately obvious. Again tapping in to the feeling of fluidity and freedom, the developers managed to create a beautiful, engrossing and completely relaxing experience where you control petals floating in a breeze.

Both games are beautifully designed, but it’s the attention to details in the visuals and the auditory experience that inspires me. All the effects are carefully balanced to maximize the experience of freedom, and emphasize the relaxing atmosphere. Like for Everyday Shooter, the sound effects produced by collecting the petals gently layer on top of the background piece, guiding you through a crescendo of notes until you reach your final petal to complete the level.

A game developer can learn a lot about creating an absorbing audio-visual experience from these three titles.

Work Done Last Week

Productivity was improved last week; it seems like things are back on track on that front. I’ve made some more progress on the gameplay adding some new features to the editor, and the corresponding in-game support.

I’ve improved the basic controls of the character. It behaves better and it feels more natural. I’ve also improved the camera support to smoothly track the player’s avatar. I think I’ve got that working well now, as I no longer notice the camera’s movement.

I didn’t make significant progress on the game’s structure. My focus remains on making the sandbox a fun area to play in and trying out new features.

Work Planned This Week

More experimenting, more testing, more iteration. I really do wish it was more clear-cut than that, both for the reader’s sake, and for my sanity. This is the most challenging period yet. I’m right on cups of something, but not there yet.