The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Designing To a System: Ninja Gaiden DS

Following up on the other day's Designing To the DS article comes todays post on Team Ninja's masterpiece en route, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword.

I posted on Ninja Gaiden back in march. But much new information has surfaced since then. According to Itagaki, players will be able to fight just as fast and with as wide a set of maneuvers as previous Ninja Gaidens. He has also stated that this is the fastest Ninja Gaiden title yet. And after seeing this gameplay demonstration, I'm convinced it is.

If you aren't able to watch the video then I'll summarize for you. Ninja Gaiden plays almost entirely with the touch screen. Every actual button, face, directional, trigger or otherwise, causes Ryu to block. And thats it. When playing Dragon Sword, the DS system is held book style, ala Meteos: Disney Magic, Hotel Dusk, and Brain Age. Of course the game will allow for left or right handed play, but for the sake of simplicity lets assume we're all right handed. Players hold the main half of DS with their left hand and the stylus with their right. The left screen shows a map of the area along with the requisite indicators such as player location, and the right screen shows all the action. The whole game is played via touch screen implementation and supposedly allows for all the complexity of Ninja Gaiden Black or Sigma. Since I love control schemes so much I've created a convient description for your perusal.

Players move around by tapping and holding any area on the touch screen. Block by pushing any button on the DS. In so far as we know, Ryu is unable to roll. Tapping the screen quickly will cause Ryu to throw a ninja star to that location. Swipe the stylus horizontally across an enemy and Ryu will dash into that enemy and slash horizontally. Same goes for downward vertical swipes. Upward vertical slashes will launch enemies into the air, uppercut style. Double tapping anywhere will make Ryu jump. Double tapping again while in the air will double jump. Swiping across while airborn and Ryu will slash too. Swipe downard while airborn to perform a powerful slam. Tap the screen while in the air and Ryu will throw a ninja star. There are also two special moves. One is the ultimate techinue. To perform this, hold block and scribble the touch screen wildly to charge a strong attack. Continually scribbling will power up more and more. Releasing block will release Ryu's awesome power. The second attack is Ninpo. When enemies fall they drop Ki orbs. Collect them to fill your Ninpo meter. When full, players can tap a "sanskrit" icon in the top right corner of the touch screen to start the attack. A japanese character will appear on screen. Trace the character to unleash the attack. Players can guide the direction of the attack by dragging it across the screen.

Those are the controls. Simple, but effective. And that's really the whole point. A couple of quotations from a Gamespy interview with Itagaki, lead designer at Team Ninja:

The challenge for me is to make the number-one game in the genre. Whether it's fighting or action, I want it to be the best.

First of all when I looked at the DS I wanted to create something where I play while touching the screen, obviously. It could have been anything -- it could have been DOA for that matter. But I decided that it should be Ninja Gaiden.

Itagaki had a couple of goals in mind when creating Dragon Sword: It should be designer for the DS, and it should use the touch screen. The touch screen is a very important part of the DS system. Itagaki is taking advantage of the DS's best and most unique feature. Furthermore, he is not using the touch screen for the sake of using the touch screen. Itagaki is capitalizing on the touch screen's capabilites. He is using the swift input method of the touch screen to create quick-paced, action-heavy gameplay. The various stylus swipes allow for just as much comboing as more traditional controls, and, the control is more intuitive and tactile, always big pluses.

The other thing I should mention is the graphics. Developers have a hard time putting 3D graphics on the DS, I think, ismply because their are very few games that actually do them well. Dragaon Sword is an exception. The way they pulled off the amazing visuals is by making completely 2D backdrops. Not only are the backgrounds great looking, but this allows for more processing to be allocated towards character models and particle effects, which are 3D. And viola, great graphics solved on the DS.

Lastly, a choice quotation. Itagaki:

I’d like to show everybody some of the new stuff that we’ve been working on in the near future. The only problem with that is that when the other developers see what we’re doing, they’re going to lose all of their motivation to create any game in the same genre, because there’s no way they can beat it.

You gotta love the guy.

Sources:
IGN Preview
1up Preview
Gameinformer Interview
Gamespy Preview
Gamespy Interview

Slash and Dash
Do you think that Dragon Sword would play as well with a button control system on the DS as opposed to a stylus control system?

Designing To a System: Nintendo DS

After too much ado, I finally bring you the first Designing To a System article, previously espoused upon. Today's topic is the Nintendo DS.Nintendo DS is a very special system. The handheld is not original, as most probably think. Its neither the first handheld to have two screens, nor is it the first touch screen system. However, the DS is the first successful system to boast these features. The reason for this success is another story. Right now we want to look at what the DS has to offer, then figure out how to make a game specifically designed to it. The most important aspects of the DS, to me, are the touchscreen and the hinge space between the two screens. The touch screen is important for obvious reasons, its literally integral to the system. Touch screens are by nature tactile experiences, more so than buttons or triggers or even remote waving. The reason for this is because their is so much feedback to the player. Touching allows players to feel the screen, see the result of their touching on screen, and hear the touch through both the physical tap and the system's speakers. The stylus brings the game outside of the screen, serving as a bridge between game and player.
On the left we have Yoshi's Island DS, making use of the dead zone. On the right we have Sonic Rush, which pretends there is no gap (note the mesh).

The second aspect of the DS, which I find to be critical to a game's success, is the gap between the top and bottom screen. The fact that the DS has two screens is negligible when considering the hinge strip chasm that separates them. But the blank spot should not be thought of so negitively; just the opposite, think of the hinge as white space. Most any artist will tell you that use of white space is pivitol to painting well. The DS is the same. Designers must be wise to use both screens as effectively as possible while taking into account the space between them. Let us make another analogy: just like with a sonnet or villanelle or any other poetic form, designers must work within the bounds of a systems strengths and weaknesses. The DS's white space is known as the dead zone, there are two ways to use it. One way, the more popular of the two, is to split the two screens by showing distinct and separated images on each. The other way ("using the dead zone") is to fill in the gap between the screens. The latter is to my knowledge exclusively seen in games that play across both screens, like Metroid Prime Pinball and Yoshi's Island DS. To be clear, not all DS games using a single play field across both screens use the dead zone, Sonic Rush is an example of a game that skips the gap.

Yay! The best DS game ever...except for one other. Can you guess my favorite DS game? If you know me personally your excluded from the competition. P.S. Who ever is play stinks.

Whether or not to use the dead zone or the touch screen are not the questions you want to be asking yourself, not even close. We must design in cooperation with the features of the DS in order to create a game that truly fits. When making a game for the DS, one must take the correct approach. Think, "The DS has a touch screen, two screens, and a space between them (among other things that are also important). How can I craft a game that takes advantage of these opportunities?" Design to a system. Otherwise you'll just end up making a square peg for a round hole. And that wouldn't do at all.

I had originally intended to talk about Ninja Gaiden DS in this post, but the post got kind of long. So that's what you'll be getting next, sorry to spoil it for you.

Touching Is Feeling
What other aspects of the DS do you find most important?

Heroes of Mana Design

Heroes of Mana is a real-time-strategy title for the Nintendo DS. The game is set in the Mana universe but follows an original story. Square-Enix is publishing, naturally, whereas Brownie Brown is the development house. Brownie Brown also developed Magical Starsign for the DS, released last year. Heroes of Mana is arguably the first true RTS for the DS, meaning Brownie Brown had no previous template, so to speak, to work from. Regardless, the game supposedly has a good storyline, and does have very nice graphics, in my opinion. But the true concern is, as always, the gameplay. Fortunately, the team has designed Heroes to play simply and effectively, while still leaving room for strategy.

But first, I need to get some other information out there. Hereos of Mana contains all of the basic RTS necessities: a minimap, fog of war, base building, resource gathering, and of course, combat. Each player can have a maximum of 25 units at a time. Units on different teams are indicated by the color of their health bars above their sprites. Allied units are green, enemy units are pink, neutral are blue.

Units are divided into four types: ground, heavy, flying, missile. Additionally, there are special units and hero units. Brownie Brown has implemented a standard rock-paper-scissors system with the basic four unit types. Each unit type take half damage from another type, and deal double damage to a third. For example, flying units deal double damage to heavy types, but take double damage from missile units. Also, flying units only deal half damage to missle units. This system works throughout all four types. Its an interesting design scheme because some unit types will take eight times as much damage as they are giving. An example is if a flying type is fighting a missile type, the missile type will deal eight times as much damage as the flying is giving back. A balance will be required in building armies. Players will have to see what their enemies are building and counter with the stronger unit type.

On to control. Alright, this is how it works. Heroes of Mana is all touch controlled. Which is a very good thing for a genre designed for the PC. There are a variety of ways to select units. Here is a list of all the control inputs:

• Tap a single unit to select it
• The bottom of the screen has four indicators, one for each unit type. Tapping these will select all on-screen units of the designated type.
• A "select group" icon is off to the right of the screen. Tapping it will allow players to draw on screen and lasso any specific units they want. Then players can command those units as a group, ordering them to travel or attack as needed.
• A touch screen icon allows the minimap to be switched to the bottom screen for stylus input. As far as I know, units can also be manipulated using the minimap.
• Heroes of Mana has eight super abilities that can be activated with touch screen icons. These abilites are automatic CG animations and will deal area of effect damage, among other things.
• Base building is all done within the home base airship, called the nightswan. Buildings will not be physically present on the battlefield.

Speaking conceptually, I think Brownie Brown has created a great RTS for the DS. The game system is very simple compared to other RTSs, which is good for a handheld game that can only handle so much information, graphics, and doesn't have much screen space. However, the combat is still complex enough to allow for strategic gameplay.







Touch Design
What do you like or dislike about the design of Heroes of Mana?
What would you change, if anything? Why?
The rock-paper-scissors scheme, by now, could be considered cliche.
-Is this scheme still a valid methd to balance units?
-What other balancing formats could be used?
The game terrain is 3D, the units meanwhile are 2D sprites.
-Why or why not is this a good design decision for a DS game?

Sources:
Gamespot
1up
IGN

Itagaki-Interaction

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword was recently announced for the Nintendo DS. In development by Team Ninja, the game is in full 3D and played mostly from a top-down perspective. It is also real-time and as action oriented as any other Ninja Gaiden game. Most importantly, though, Dragon Sword is controlled almost exclusively via the touchscreen with a stylus. Itagaki is an amazing game designer, one of the very best. In addition to Ninja Gaiden, he created the Dead or Alive franchise. In an interview with 1up, he says the following on Dragon Sword and game design (bold effect is mine).

As I am sure you know, when I create a game I place the utmost importance on interactivity and responsiveness. Why does Ryu Hayabusa accept every input the player makes, without fail, and move exactly the way you want him to? Why do all of the game elements in DOA react instantly to player control in all situations and give instant feedback on the screen? This is because I take the primary raison d'être of video games, interactivity, and give it the highest priority during the development of my games.

Itagaki understands the primary purpose of video games: interaction. He also understands that
control is critical to gameplay. As he says, interactivity is given the highest priority in game development. According to Itagaki, Ryu Hayabusa will be able to perform all of the action-heavy maneuvers as in previous games, and with as quick a response. Thats pretty impressive for the dual-screened handheld that could.

It is unkown weather or not Dragon Sword will use the dead zone. This screen suggests it will not, however. This makes sense for an action-heavy game, as the player will need to be aware of all enemies at all times.

Interact
Why is interaction important to video games?
Why is responsive controls important to video games?