Post by Adam Schmelzle on Mar 15, 2007 9:50:10 GMT -5
I want to do something new. It's easy to take a pre-existing concept and remake/improve it, but that's just not as much fun as doing something new.
For instance, "Attack Chopper" as far as I'm concerned, is NOT derivitive of any other game. It took me just shy of a whole d**n year to finish the game, but I learned a lot about mobile development, and ended up with something unique.
The next game I spent a significant amount of time on was "Attack HQ". As anybody who's reading this will already know(since it's just me), that game never got released. I started it with the idea that "Metal Marines" style games really needed to make a comeback. I worked hard on the AI in this game an I came up with something that works really well. I did not however feel that it was any better than the original game, or added anything new. To make it 'worthy' in my eyes, it needed a compelling multiplayer component, which meant my AI work was almost a waste of time. I saw this as needing a huge overhaul, which would take a lot of time. So I started working on "Attack Chopper : Unlimited"...
"ACU", was simply the original "Attack Chopper", with downloadable levels. This way I could always add on new levels, and players would have something new all the time. Unfortunately, I had a hard time coming up with new levels on the mission based design. Those levels are fairly small, and you can't do a lot of different things with bite sized levels. Also, for downloading, the levels HAD to be small, since they take up a pile of bandwidth and save-space on the phone. This alienates everyone without unlimited internet connections on their phones. That alone, made me drop it.
So I decided I'd eventually go back to "Attack HQ", but needed something out in the meantime to generate enough money to at least feed myself, which spawned "Attack Paddle". I like brick-breakers. I really do. I played DX-Ball a pile as well as Arkanoid, and one of my favorite all-time games was something called "Warlords" on the Atari-2600. Every single brick-breaker I'd played on my mobile was total crap. I mean it. They all suck. So I thought I could make a total basic not-quite-as-crappy brick-breaker, and have it out in under 3 weeks.
So I had a crappy basic fully functional and not-so-ugly brick breaker done in under a week. It was honestly better than all the other ones I had played, but I hated it. The problem was, I didn't think it was special. It wasn't. So I spent almost a month truing to come up with different things that would make the game "different" from all the other brick-breakers out there. I tried many things, but had to fall back to the same formula as everyone else. I was really depressed about making that decision. It really bothered me, that I couldn't come up with anything new in the "brick-breaker" genre. But there's the problem right there: it's a 20+ year old genre than hasn't changed since the start. It's a big clue when a game hasn't changed in 20 years, that there isn't much else to do there. So I went ahead and took everything to the extreme. I know it wouldn't be 'new', but at least I could make the best brick-breaker possible.
In the end, I think "Attack Paddle", later "Attack Breaker Pro", ended up a very solid game. Sure it's not unique, but I think I did every individual aspect of that game better than anything else out there. ABP runs faster, has a zillion statistics, huge levels (for a brick-breaker), and I packed in 213 of them, where most have 20.
"Attack Brain" fits into this timeline somewhere in the middle of "Attack Paddle". This is a complete knock-off of "Mastermind" the old ligic puzzle board game. It was a suggestion by a friend of mine, whi is a big fan of the board game, and I decided to use it to teach him how to develop mobile games. It was a joint effort, and I only did about half the code. It was never intended to be any kind of money-maker, so I don't feel bad about it being a remake. Some people REALLY like it, and you can see for yourself by checking the scoreboard in-game. Darryl and I worked on it during the odd weekend until it was done, so it ended up taking a long time to finish.
So anyway, after finishing "Attack Paddle" I went back to my internal debate about what to start next. I toyed with finishing "Attack HQ", but again shelved it. I've had a lot of positive feedback about AC. People seem to really like it. It showed me the difference between something new, and something that is just a remake. Even if it's just a simple shooter like AC, people love to try new concepts. So I thought I'd spend a few weeks on AC2, and have some free money. I was wrong. AC2 took me months to finish. Despite having a fully functional engine, I wanted a new experience with the sequel. So the seconds game has a pile of improvements over the first, while maintaining the EXACT same gameplay. This si important. There are a lot of games that I loved when they first came out, but with every new gameplay feature, got further and further from what mad ethe game fun to begin with.
So here are some games that I loved at the start, but are indfifferent / angry about now are....
Super Monkey Ball. The first game was amazing. Roll ball to exit. You can't shoot, you can't jump, you just tilt the level. It's 100% skill based. There is NOTHING in the first game that is random. The better you are, the further you get. It blew me away. Then comes SMB2, which was still alright, but started to introduce anoying things that got in the way of the original 'pure-skill' approach. Now the levels moved a lot, and there were switches that sometimes affected things you couldn't see when you hit the button. The second game with still a lot of fun, but was easier, and kinda gimmiky. "Super Mokey Ball Adventure", was awful. This must have been outsourced, since there is almost nothing positive I can say about this game. The only enjoyment I got out of this game was playing the "forts" minigame. I had a lot of hope for "Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz" on the Wii, but again was completely dissapointed. If we ignore "adventure", this was the worst traditional monkey ball game yet. Adding a jump button was the worst decision they could have EVER made. Also, there is no optino to use the analog stick for control, and you can't even hold the controller flat to play the game. It's the first Wii game my brother and I returned. We wanted to take it back on launch day, but EB would only give us $20.00 trade in, so we TRIED to enjoy it. My brother just traded it in and used the $20.00 on God of War 2. What a fantastic game.
OK, that was a bit lengthy, I'll just list some more games that now suck or almost suck... Tony Hawk, Burnout, Any RTS made in the last few years, Doom, Any 'freeform' game made since GTA2, Anything that has the word "sudoku" in it.
I'd love to have a lengthy debate about any of these games. Anybody else read this? I may be making an MMO game next, but still have to work out the details in my head.
For instance, "Attack Chopper" as far as I'm concerned, is NOT derivitive of any other game. It took me just shy of a whole d**n year to finish the game, but I learned a lot about mobile development, and ended up with something unique.
The next game I spent a significant amount of time on was "Attack HQ". As anybody who's reading this will already know(since it's just me), that game never got released. I started it with the idea that "Metal Marines" style games really needed to make a comeback. I worked hard on the AI in this game an I came up with something that works really well. I did not however feel that it was any better than the original game, or added anything new. To make it 'worthy' in my eyes, it needed a compelling multiplayer component, which meant my AI work was almost a waste of time. I saw this as needing a huge overhaul, which would take a lot of time. So I started working on "Attack Chopper : Unlimited"...
"ACU", was simply the original "Attack Chopper", with downloadable levels. This way I could always add on new levels, and players would have something new all the time. Unfortunately, I had a hard time coming up with new levels on the mission based design. Those levels are fairly small, and you can't do a lot of different things with bite sized levels. Also, for downloading, the levels HAD to be small, since they take up a pile of bandwidth and save-space on the phone. This alienates everyone without unlimited internet connections on their phones. That alone, made me drop it.
So I decided I'd eventually go back to "Attack HQ", but needed something out in the meantime to generate enough money to at least feed myself, which spawned "Attack Paddle". I like brick-breakers. I really do. I played DX-Ball a pile as well as Arkanoid, and one of my favorite all-time games was something called "Warlords" on the Atari-2600. Every single brick-breaker I'd played on my mobile was total crap. I mean it. They all suck. So I thought I could make a total basic not-quite-as-crappy brick-breaker, and have it out in under 3 weeks.
So I had a crappy basic fully functional and not-so-ugly brick breaker done in under a week. It was honestly better than all the other ones I had played, but I hated it. The problem was, I didn't think it was special. It wasn't. So I spent almost a month truing to come up with different things that would make the game "different" from all the other brick-breakers out there. I tried many things, but had to fall back to the same formula as everyone else. I was really depressed about making that decision. It really bothered me, that I couldn't come up with anything new in the "brick-breaker" genre. But there's the problem right there: it's a 20+ year old genre than hasn't changed since the start. It's a big clue when a game hasn't changed in 20 years, that there isn't much else to do there. So I went ahead and took everything to the extreme. I know it wouldn't be 'new', but at least I could make the best brick-breaker possible.
In the end, I think "Attack Paddle", later "Attack Breaker Pro", ended up a very solid game. Sure it's not unique, but I think I did every individual aspect of that game better than anything else out there. ABP runs faster, has a zillion statistics, huge levels (for a brick-breaker), and I packed in 213 of them, where most have 20.
"Attack Brain" fits into this timeline somewhere in the middle of "Attack Paddle". This is a complete knock-off of "Mastermind" the old ligic puzzle board game. It was a suggestion by a friend of mine, whi is a big fan of the board game, and I decided to use it to teach him how to develop mobile games. It was a joint effort, and I only did about half the code. It was never intended to be any kind of money-maker, so I don't feel bad about it being a remake. Some people REALLY like it, and you can see for yourself by checking the scoreboard in-game. Darryl and I worked on it during the odd weekend until it was done, so it ended up taking a long time to finish.
So anyway, after finishing "Attack Paddle" I went back to my internal debate about what to start next. I toyed with finishing "Attack HQ", but again shelved it. I've had a lot of positive feedback about AC. People seem to really like it. It showed me the difference between something new, and something that is just a remake. Even if it's just a simple shooter like AC, people love to try new concepts. So I thought I'd spend a few weeks on AC2, and have some free money. I was wrong. AC2 took me months to finish. Despite having a fully functional engine, I wanted a new experience with the sequel. So the seconds game has a pile of improvements over the first, while maintaining the EXACT same gameplay. This si important. There are a lot of games that I loved when they first came out, but with every new gameplay feature, got further and further from what mad ethe game fun to begin with.
So here are some games that I loved at the start, but are indfifferent / angry about now are....
Super Monkey Ball. The first game was amazing. Roll ball to exit. You can't shoot, you can't jump, you just tilt the level. It's 100% skill based. There is NOTHING in the first game that is random. The better you are, the further you get. It blew me away. Then comes SMB2, which was still alright, but started to introduce anoying things that got in the way of the original 'pure-skill' approach. Now the levels moved a lot, and there were switches that sometimes affected things you couldn't see when you hit the button. The second game with still a lot of fun, but was easier, and kinda gimmiky. "Super Mokey Ball Adventure", was awful. This must have been outsourced, since there is almost nothing positive I can say about this game. The only enjoyment I got out of this game was playing the "forts" minigame. I had a lot of hope for "Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz" on the Wii, but again was completely dissapointed. If we ignore "adventure", this was the worst traditional monkey ball game yet. Adding a jump button was the worst decision they could have EVER made. Also, there is no optino to use the analog stick for control, and you can't even hold the controller flat to play the game. It's the first Wii game my brother and I returned. We wanted to take it back on launch day, but EB would only give us $20.00 trade in, so we TRIED to enjoy it. My brother just traded it in and used the $20.00 on God of War 2. What a fantastic game.
OK, that was a bit lengthy, I'll just list some more games that now suck or almost suck... Tony Hawk, Burnout, Any RTS made in the last few years, Doom, Any 'freeform' game made since GTA2, Anything that has the word "sudoku" in it.
I'd love to have a lengthy debate about any of these games. Anybody else read this? I may be making an MMO game next, but still have to work out the details in my head.
I could imagine apps are boring,games are more appealing to me too 
They want "un-published" games, but what the heck does that mean? Like, I TRY to sell my games though a few sites myself, but does that count as "published"? Does gamejump.com count as published? I don't have a "publisher", and all the sites I sell though treat ME as the publisher... so if I'm the publisher, does that mean anything I make is already counted as "published"? I'm just totally confused over that issue.