Game Design Challenge: The New Sound

This was my submission for 2009's December challenge. It is not that bright, mainly because it was a last minute improvisation. My original idea, which had nothing to do with this one, became too ellaborate (and awesome). I'll revisit it soon and post the final version, which I hope to turn into a game in the relatively near future.
Instead of re-writing the whole composition, I just gave a shot at this different approach. I had been thinking of a subway mobile shooting game, similar to Virtua Cop 2's train section. In the end it turned out a little more like a simplified graphic adventure.

At least, I'm glad I didn't make a game like 80% of the nominees, which just used input commands as both control and sound. Rythm games have a lot more potential.

Proposal: NOISE ATENUATION SQUAD

 The situation in public transport is getting out of hand. Portable music players are people's biggest worry today: either they want to travel undisturbed or they want to listen only to their own music. Attacks have been triggered by this and the government fears a riot might explode soon.
 Only one solution would work, but the budget for the Omni-Happiness Machine did not pass the latest votings. A cheaper proposal, however, was approved: an untrained, unequipped, almost unsalaried squad has been built to make sure noise is kept to acceptable levels, preventing further violence outbursts.

Career Planning & The Knapsack Problem

A few days ago, in a students meeting, the Big Question for every game developer wanna-be was raised:

Which [programming language/audio software/whatever] should I learn to work in the video-games industry?

My relationship with game development is, at best, second hand*, as, although I know people who have made it into the business, I am myself trying to open that door. So I explained which would be the answer for me and which was for those I know who are now developing video-games as a job. Afterwards, I made clear that the actual response, although dependant on many factors, is in the end always a personal choice. But I kept trying to find a better answer for the future.
As of late, I have also given some thought to the knapsack problem. In my mind both met and produced a (mostly irrelevant) revelation:

A career path towards any desired position can be represented as a variation of the knapsack, known in gaming circles as the most common and recognizable of RPG mechanics: "the Diablo inventory system".

Only that, instead of weapons, potions, robes and scrolls, you store subjects studied, software mastered and projects finished. Each takes a certain space and time, and has an associated value of "usefulness" towards reaching the goal.

What is the equivalent of a seal? Beating John Romero at Quake?

On Game reviews, part 1 - To Score or not to Score

Note: For an interestingly concise, yet deep analysis of the scoring system and its issues, as it is currently implemented in the video-game industry, you'd do yourself a favour checking this post entry I found by sheer chance.

Now you're done with that, I will add my two cents to this too-long-going clusterfuck. And, please, let me disregard the whole public relationships point of view and focus on the players. They are the target, the interested party, the beginning and end of games review. The review's sole purpose is to indicate whether a game is worth being played or not. Even the quality/price threshold must be left out of the review, as it changes from one person to another.

What are game reviews for?

In the previous draft of this post I went into a rant about how much I loved the old Insert Credit reviews and how no site comes close to them. But, in the end, I can answer the question without getting into that sad story: a review is only a way to tell a gamer if a game rocks or not.
And how do we know if we are going to like something? As with everything else, by comparing it to what we know already. This is the role the final score in a review plays. It charts a game against an perfect ideal, which would achieve succesfully everything it tried, while trying to do something interesting in similar terms than the reviewed game. The problem is that, really, nobody knows what this perfect game looks like, as it changes depending on the reviewer, the reader and the game. The decission of whether a game is actually any good or not is based on, first of all, trying to guess what the ideal it is being compared to is. Second, if the reviewer would like that ideal, or has even thought of the same image of perfection. And, then, determining what the score means in all that mess.

Game Design Challenge: Sidekick

I've decided I will post my past submissions to the Game Design Challenge, while I finish writing and editing the stuff I have pending.
My first submission, according to my mail search engine, was for 2009's November challenge, in which participants were asked to create a sidekick to breath new life into an old franchise.

My idea was based on Doom, and offered the possibility to play with Pinky as a demon companion. I'd love to have the chance to, sometime, create this as a mod for DooM 3. Or see someone else do it.
It got an honorable mention when the results were published (yeah!), and the Game Career Guide staff was nice enough to add a picture of Pinky to my submission. I must admit I didn't consider that people not too familiar with the Doom universe would have no idea who Pinky is.
Lesson learnt: adding some art can clarify things you did not know need clarification.

Series: DOOM
Sidekick name: Mr. Pinky

"You killed its brothers, destroyed its master and melted its home. Thrice. This time, it wants to share the fun."

In Hell, waiting for the next Earth invasion, demons are dead bored. Craving for some more fun and a chance of survival when The Marine comes, one of them has decided to change sides in the coming war.

Game Design Challenge: A Holiday

EDIT: We Damn the Night! made it into the Honorable Mentions! Yahoo! I really, really need to work on some art for these things, though...

As every month, GameCareerGuide issued its challenge, with an unbelievably original holidays theme. It's been months since I last ssubmitted a proposal, but I gave it a try again today.

So, wihtout further ado, I present We Damn the Night!. I hope you enjoy it.

Title: We damn the night!

The Winter Solstice has always been one of the most important dates in the year, marking the return of light to the world and banishing evil for another cycle. Although not as common as in the Summer Solstice, it is still usual in different parts of the world to light bonfires, helping the forces of good recover their strength.
In We Damn the Night! you have to build up a flame hihgher than any other in a given time (2-10 minutes), to receive the favour of the new Sun. But to do so, you must confront your rivals and the forces of evil.

We Damn the Night! is a 2D game played from a typical beat'm up perspective, with 2D graphics in a pseudo-3D environment (think Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Scott Pilgrim). The player must pick up/break objects from the scenary and throw them into its fire to make it bigger. Different materials burn at specific rates and produce lower or higher flames. There are also objects than can reduce the strength of a bonfire, like water bottles. These can be thrown at a rivals' conflagration.
Players can only carry one object at a time, and meanwhile can do nothing but move and throw the load.