Manifest Blog on ModDB

In addition to my Edge blog, I have also begun a development blog for Manifest on ModDB, in an attempt to gain more visibility. Once the ModDB blog is approved, you may view it here. In addition to daily posts, I will also be hosting images and videos on ModDB.

Chronicle of Studio Shutdowns

If you read gaming industry news regularly, you may have noticed that an unusually large amount of developers have been shutdown recently. What is the cause of all of this? I'm really not sure; I'm not an economist. However, I do see the shutdowns as a fairly sad series of unfortunate events for the industry as a whole, and for the individuals within the studios. This post is a chronicle of the recent development studio shutdowns.

It all started with EA Chicago last November. EA Chicago created the Fight Night and Def Jam series'. They were develoing a Marvel Fighting Game when the studio was shut-down. The stuts of the Marvel Fighting Game remains unkown. GameSpot initially reported the studio's closing. Frank Gibeau, president of EA Games, said that the studio was shutdown because they were unable to meet "that standard," referring to game sales versus game development costs. Def Jam: Icon, EA Chicago's last developed game, reportedly did not meet sales expectations. According to Next-Gen, 350 people were laid off as a result of the closing. There is some good news in this. EA Chicago was also developing a new boxing game when it was shutdown, GameSpot says, called FaceBreaker. The game has since been moved to EA Canada, the studio behind, most recently, FIFA Street 3. However, apparently, FaceBreaker is still by-and-large being developed by the same team behind Fight Night, reports GameSpot also. The other good news is that lead designer at EA Chicago, Kudo Tsunoda, has moved over to Microsoft to work on "a future Gears of War title."EA Chicago's closing was a few months ago, but since January have six other studios been shutdown. First up was P2 Entertainment, formally known as Perpetual Entertainment. WarCry reported that their title, Star Trek Online, was being moved to another development studio. However, the company does still exist. P2 will now solely dact as the owners and licensors of their Perpetual Platform, which WarCry reports has been licensed to BioWare, among other studios.The next shutdown is, in my opinion, the most disappointing. Iron Lore gave word that they had shutdown as of February 17th. Iron Lore developed two games through completion, Titan Quest, and its expansion, Immortal Throne. Both games were recieved well by critics. Iron Lore was also co-developing the newest Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War expansion, SoulStorm. The reason for the shutdown was due to piracy, according to THQ Director of Creative Management Michael Fitch. Next-Gen reported on a forum post Fitch made at the quartertothree forums. There, Fitch states, "Titan Quest did okay. We didn't lose money on it. But if even a tiny fraction of the people who pirated the game had actually spent some god-damn money for their 40+ hours of entertainment, things could have been very different today." I think is very, very sad. Please don't pirate games. Games are an artform. But they are also commercial pieces of entertainment.The fourth shutdown in this rundown is StormFront. Gamusutra first reported their closing. Ironically, this was reported on April Fools, but alas it was no joke. StormFront, GameSpot reports [via GameCyte], had no title to move onto after completing their work on The SpiderWick Chronicles. StormFront is most known for their work on Neverwinter Nights, Stronghold, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. There is good news, however. GameSpot reported that, while all of the employees were laid-off, StormFront is currently in a state of "suspended operations." StormFront CEO Dan Daglow said in an interview with GameCyte that the studio is currently in talks with publishers to potentially develop a couple games.

The next near-closing was Castaway, initally reported as an SOS by GameSpot. Castaway was founded by a bunch of Blizzard employees in 2003. The studio reased a single game, Yaris for Xbox 360 Live Arcade. However, they did have another game in development, Djinn, made in the spirit of Diablo. A video of the game was uploaded to YouTube by vice president of Castaway, Stefan Scandizzo. Castaway closing was lack of money, mostly from recent publisher muergers effecting potential game signings. Since GameSpot's SOS, Castaway has been approached by various people and publishers, Next-Gen reports. We will have to see how this all plays out.

Djinn Gameplay Video:

The sixth recent closing was Psuedo Interactive. 1up first reported the shutdown. Pseudo developed the Cel Damage and Full Auto series of games, the first in the Full Auto series being a launch title for the 360. Next-Gen reports that Pseudo Entertainment "fell victim to a massive restructuring plan at SCi, which involved the company killing off 14 projects and laying off 25 percent of its workforce." Pseudo was reportedly developing a new Carmageddon when they were shutdown. When SCi chose to cancel the game, Pseudo eventually fell with it, having no other game to develop.The final (phew!) closing announcement comes today from Develop Magazine, Sega Racing Studios is being shutdown. The only game they had a chance to develop was Sega Rally Revo, a remake of the original. Next-Gen reported the reason for the closing:

The decision is part of a review of Sega's Western Development Studios to ensure that each studio is a profitable entity in its own right, and unfortunately the Sega Racing Studio’s 5 year plan would not result in a successful return for the Sega business moving forward. Sega would like to stress that there will be no changes within their other internal development studios.

GameSpot states that Sega Rally Revo "has sold a mere 44,000 units in the US across all platforms through February, according to the NPD Group."Its sad to see so many development houses falling down so quickly. They all work hard, do their best to secure publishing deals and make great games, but issues ranging from internal difficulties to external pressures to simply poor sales can really hurt a studio. Professional game development is risky business. Invisible Studio sends its well wishes to all of the people effected by these shutdowns.

Gryphon Mane Presents: Radii

A few days ago I started designing a simple game drawing inspirations from tic-tac-toe, checkers, Palette, and Twist It. Developed at my very own Gryphon Mane Studios, I'm calling the game Radii. Radii is still in development, to be sure though I've already passed through several concepts to arrive at the current favorite. The reason I post this is because I cannot develop further without some help, ideally, from you. Eventually I want to make Radii into an online Flash game, but for now it works quite well as a board game. Basically, I would love for you guys to test out the game and let me know what you think, while also looking for some specific things I'll point out in a bit.

But first I'll tell you what the game is. Radii is a two player game. The board conists of three interwoven circles populated by three pieces for each player. All six pieces are automatically in set places, called "cross-hatches," before the game begins. The pieces are not manipulated directly. Players take turns rotating individual rings either clock-wise or counter-clockwise. A ring can only rotate one space per turn. Every piece sitting on the rotated ring must be moved with it, regardless of piece ownership. The empty circles on the outside of each ring are spaces in the same way cross-hatches are. The goal of the game is to rotate the rings so that all three of your pieces are aligned ontop of a single ring. This of course means the pieces will be on other rings as well, but the main thing is that all three pieces are on a ring simultaneously. Their is a trick, however. To win the game, not only must all of a players' pieces be on one ring, but that ring must also be devoid of any of the opponent's pieces. A player must have all three of his or her pieces occupying a ring, while at the same time making sure that ring is free of any opponent pieces. Below are three pictures detailing the board setup and two turns.

Game Start

Turn One

Turn Two

Print-Out

Print this image to play Radii. Use pennies and dimes to differentiate players. You can also easily draw your own board by tracing something circular. . .thrice.

Alright, so now you know how to play the game. If you would like to help out, here are some things I'm looking for:

• Is the current setup configuration fair for both players?
• Does one player have an advantage over the other by moving first, or even second?
• To win, does one piece have to be on the outside of a ring? Or can all three be on cross-hatches? Does it matter one way or the other?
• What other setup configurations could or do work better? For example, all of one players pieces on the outside, and other players pieces on inside?
• Is the game fun? Why or why not?
• Is the game too complex? Is it possible to look ahead to future moves, predict your opponents' moves?
  
• Is their any skill invloved? Can a player get better by playing more?
• Is it possible for you to visualize the board and possible moves without looking at it?
  

Radii Facts:
-There are nine total cross-hatches.
-There are five total cross-hatches per ring.
-Each circle passes through the center of each other circle.
-There are six possible moves aduring any given turn.

Enjoy the game and let me know what you think-good, bad, ugly, etc. Please use the comments below so that hopefully we can get a discussion going.

Vanguard Development

Yesterday I came upon this 1up post summarizing recent happenings in the MMO world. The primary topic of discussion was Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and its development process at Sigil Games. 1up linked to two interviews at F13.net, an MMO-focused blog. The interviews are with an anonymous Sigil ex-employee and Brad McQuiad, CEO of Sigil games. Each interview casts very different lights on the development of Vanguard. One thing both agree on, though, is that development did not go smoothly. Apparently, development of Vanguard didn't kick in until a year before release, even though it was in development for four. The employee attributes this to the lead designers, including Mcquaid. Mcquaid himself attributes development difficulty to publisher funding and support. After reading both interviews, I think there is validity to each person's argument. I would highly recommend both interviews, they're enlightening. But the reason I wanted to bring this up is because, honestly, it was jarring. Its easy to get caught up in design and forget about development. Game development is the practice of game design. I love game design, but development is what causes all of those great ideas to come to fruition. Design is only half the battle to making a great game. Check out those interviews. The 1up story is really good also.