Aquaria Released

Aquaria has been released. You may remember that Aquaria was the grand prize winner of the 2007 IGF competition. The game was developed by Bit-Blot over the course of many years. You can read all about its development on the official site, where they recently did a 7 day lead-in to the game's release. The game goes for $30 but Bit-Blot was kind enough to release a demo as well.
You should definitely go play it. I've played the demo for a few minutes but haven't had enough time to really delve into the waters yet, so to speak.

Here is the final trailer for Aquaria:

Let me know what you think.

GDC 2007: Independent Games Festival Awards

The 2007 Independent Games Festival awards were announced last week. A list of the nomimations for the awards can be found at the IGF nomination page. The finalist announcment can be found at the IGF main site. The grand prize winner was Bit-Blot's Aquaria, which we featured recently. Other categories include Best Web Game, which went to Flash game Samarost 2; and best mod, which was taken by CCCP's Hal-Life 2 based Weekday Warrior. For the full list check the IGF website. In the interest of all things game design, and particularly Independent, I will likely be featuring some these games this coming week, so come on back to see what it is that makes them special.

GDC 2007: The Evolution of the RPG

What is a Role-Playing-Game? This question was asked to three highly prolific designers in the genre at a conference entitled: The Evolution of the RPG. The three said designers were Peter Molyneaux- creator of Fable, Hironobu Sakaguchi-creator of Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, and Ray Muzyka-CEO of BioWare and contributor to Mass Effect.

So, what makes an RPG what it is? Well, Muzyka named four aspects that he believes are essential to an RPG: excellent stories and characters, the experience of exploration, characterprogression that is motivational and addictive, and emotionally charged combat.

Molyneaux agreed and also added that role-playing games are just that, players in roles. He said it is necessitous for the player to feel like a hero. RPGs should be an emotionally defining journey, to as he put it, “start off as nothing and end up being a hero?”

Finally, Sanguichi stressed these points in addition to the need for the player to feel accomplishment to be felt by the player.

Blue Dragon-Designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mystwalker

The next question asked about turned-based combat, and whether it was good or bad. Molyneaux answered first, stating that real-time combat was the best choice for Fable because they felt it was more of an “immersive” gameplay experience. Muzyka however said that Mass Effect offers both real-time and turn-based, players can choose for themselves. Apparently, they don't want one gameplay type to be a barrier to the enjoyment.

Mass Effect-Designed by CEO Ray Muzyka's BioWare

Following this came character customization. Sakaguchi said it can be good but ultimately liked the RPG experience to a movie. The reasons movies can be so engrossing is because the story and characters are already defined. This moved into branching storylines and their use. Molyneaux started with a very provocative response, the problem with branching storylines is that when players choose, there is always a good possibility that they will regret their decisions and want to turn back or even lose interest.

Muzyka was more optimistic, saying that players new that their choices had consequences both good and bad, and that this would eventually lend itself to the game being more repayable.

Fable 2-Designed by Peter Molyneaux of Lionhead

The session ended with the subject of the MMORPG. Muzyka summarized all three of the panelists thoughts with this: “the story that develops between players--the social interaction--is a different kind of story, something you can't achieve in a single-player game.” He also hinted that BioWare is currently working on a game that blends the story of a single player RPG with the benefits of the multiplayer.

And that ends the roundtable.
The RPG is sometimes difficult to define, its not like the first-person-shooter, which we can easily label. But, the RPG does have a common set of characteristics that allow us to form associations. And, really, these three designers pinned it down. I'm sure everyone would agree that a true RPG features an interesting plot and good storytelling. Dynamic characters are crucial as well. As Ray Muzyka pointed out, emotional attachment is the hallmark of a successful RPG. Just look at any "Top 10 RPGs" list you can find, all will feature characters that players eventually come to appreciate, if not love.

Ico, greatest game of all time, ever.

What I like most about this roundtable though, is how Dr. Muzyka told us that combat must elicit emotion. This struck a chord with me immediately, the reason being I just finished Fumito Ueda's masterpiece, Ico. If you havent played Ico, do so as soon as humanly possible. Everytime the shadows try to take away Yorda, I found myself shouting at the screen: "Stay away from her, evil!" There is a flip-side to emotionally charged combat as well. You can feel badly about attacking or killing something. The final scene of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (spoiler) is a fantastic example of this. The player is forced to shoot the head terrorist, and it was really effective at making me upset. At the same time, I knew it was what I needed to, both to continue the game and for the fate of the world.

The last thing I want to say is about the MMO. And its just as Muzyka said, its a different type of experience, a social one. I love the concept of fusing this player interaction with the emotional story of a single-player RPG. This is especially true if, somehow, players unanimously want to play their given roles, through use of force, incentive, what have you.

Role-Play
Why is an RPG an RPG?
Think about the RPGs you've played, what elements seemed strogest to you, which do you like best?
Do you think that real-time combat is more immersive than turn-based? Why or why not?

Please post any comments you may have.

Source: Gamespot

Warren Specter: A Gamasutra Interview

Warren Specter was interviewed today by Brandon Sheffield from Gamasutra. Warren Specter is a successful game designer from studios like Ion and Looking Glass, and most popularly the creator of Deus Ex. Specter is currently the lead designer at Junction Point and working on an unannounced game.

Back to the interview, its fascinating. Sheffield poses questions that prompt extrordinary answers (I also like how Sheffield gets involved in his conversation with Specter, its more of a discussion than a Q&A). Specter knows game design like the back of his hand. He has his own opinions and philosophies, as any designer does, and some may disagree with him, but Specter really does know what he's talking about, and most importantly, applies these ideas to his games. Everyone should read this interview, but here are some excerpted Specter Words of Wisdom:

There's a philosophy that I like to apply: as a developer I want to control the overall narrative arc....In that sense, I own all the acts and why you do things. Now, saying that, it's possible to own why you do things and leave how you do them in the players’ hands. The key for me is creating linked sandboxes and letting players explore those little narrative chunks on their own. I'll determine why it's important that you get through a door, but how you get through it, what happens and whether you kill, talk to or ignore everyone on the other side belongs to the player. That concept of sharing authorship is where the sweet spot of game narrative is.

Another point is that if you're going make a game that allows players to make significant choices that puts them in control of a narrative or of a character in a simulated world, you do have an obligation. You have an obligation to show the consequences of choices. One of the biggest problems with games, especially more linear games, is they say “kill everything that moves. Good player!” “Or win this game,” and then they pat you on the back for solving a puzzle, killing virtual things or crashing a car in a fantastic way...Even saving someone, because there might have been someone who wanted that person dead and now they hate you.

Specter says plenty of cool stuff. Check it out at Gamasutra. Oh, and please comment on Specter or narrative or anything else if you find anything particularly meaningful to you. Also, Specter has a GDC presentation this week that I will most definitely be posting about. Check back soon.

On an entirely different note, check out this Heavenly Sword clip. This game will rock.

Source:
Props to 1up for pointing out the interview

Game Developers Conference 2007

Hello everyone,
the 2007 Game Developers Conference takes place this entire upcoming week, monday through friday. According to Next-Gen.biz, there will be over 400 different sessions or presentations over the course of all five days. Fortunately, editor Colin Campbell narrowed the list down for is in a feature up on Next-Gen's site. Everything sounds really interesting, including the presentations on the mobile market and game design; mobile gaming is becoming increasingly important to this industry it seems. However, if you ask me, thursdays where its at, with sessions from Cliff Bleszinski, Miyamoto, Molyneux, and on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I'll be covering as mush as possible about GDC this year, so check back for tons of interesting reports.