Robot in the Corner Podcast interview

So about a month ago, I gave an amazingly fantastic interview with the boys at "Robot in the Corner" (Titus, Wes and Dean) who do a podcast for Game Informer's website.

I was on fire. I was hilarious (if I do say so myself), I was doing voices, I was telling stories... and at the end of the 2 hour interview, the RitC guys told me the show didn't record.



Flash forward a month and I finally got around to take 2 of the interview. It's a fun interview in which we learn, we laugh... dare I say... we love video games.

Listen to it HERE! NOW!

Game, Set, Watch is already a great video game blogsite, but its sister site is the one I'm currently excited about.

FingerGaming is one of the better sites I've found on tablet gaming - and considering how many titles are out there, it's good to have a resource that helps you track down cool and interesting games.

Check it out!

Great sci-fi that would make great games.

Once in awhile, a website's post inspires me to write up a very long response. This time, it was io9's "10 awesome science fiction stories for gamers" - which was based on the premise that the list included 10 awesome sci-fi stories that had yet to be made into games.


However, I felt that their list didn't really cut it.


So I offer up my own "10 awesome sci-fi stories that would make a great game and haven't really been done justice if they already have been":

Ender's Game: Sure, every space-faring RTS feels like Orson Scott Card's book, but what hasn't been done is the "Zero-G strategy/shoot-em-up" that composes the first half of Ender's school daze.

Logan's Run: By William Nolan and George Johnson. Sci-Fi Survival Horror. 'Nuff said.

I am Legend: While Richard Matheson's book strattles the line between Sci-Fi and Horror, this is another candidate for a Survival Horror game. Or, howabout a "Tecmo's Deception" style game where you build traps to lure the vampires to their demise...

The 10th Victim/Hunter Killer: The 10th Victim was a pretty poor movie based on Robert Scheckley's book series, but while the competitive nature of "The Big Hunt" has been often imitated in many FPS death match modes, no game has ever quite captured in the way it plays out in the book.

Dream Park: Take World of Warcraft and let you choose the genre - that's the basis of this fantastic (and predictor of MMO's and LARPing by at least 20 years) book by Larry Nivens and Steve Barnes.

Snow Crash: IIRC there was one attempt to make Neil Stephenson's book into a game, but it never captured the Saint's Row meets Neuromancer vibe the game should have. At the very least, sword-fighting melee combat is a must.

Sunshine: Danny Boyle's 2007 would make for a great survival horror game in the tradition of System Shock. Hard Sci-Fi, IMHO, is pretty overlooked in gaming.

The Lensmen: E.E. "Doc" Smith's Galactic Patrol of "cops and robbers" in space (and pre-cursor to the Green Lantern Corps) would make for all kinds of great gaming experiences. "Grand Theft Auto in Space" is the obvious choice.

The Automatic Detective: A. Lee Martinez's hard-boiled noir story with the detective cast as a killer robot with a heart of gold would make for a great adventure game.

Flash Gordon and/or Buck Rogers: Other than the Colecovision "Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom" and the Commodore 64 "Flash Gordon" game, I don't remember any video game based on either of these two classic sci-fi properties since the mid-80's. Laser blasters and swordplay, cigar-shaped rockets, jetpacks, space pirates and evil space dicators? Count me in!

Got any of your own suggestions? Post them in the comments section!

Dorks in the forest!

Hey all,

You can hear me talking about video game design, Level Up! and other junk on the Dork Forest Radio internet show today at 2pm.

Just follow the link to the Dork Forest!

Why can't I combine Warrior and Ship to get a Pirate?

Is it a game or merely a pass-time? The puzzle game DoodleGod presents an interesting dilemma.

First of all, it has nothing to do with Doodling. And you aren't really God in it - more like an Alchemist. And yet DoodleGod is fun and very addicting. Think of it as a simple (and free) Scribblenauts where logic plays a bigger part in solving the puzzle.

The goal is start with the four elements (Fire, Water, Earth and Wind) and create natural and technological advancements by combining them together two at a time. What makes this work is the great graphics and presentation.

It's not a bad way to kill a couple (or several hours)

Who's the Boss?

Bossrush is a great fun internet game and idea that I'm surprised no one thought before now. In it, you play as the boss in a top-down shooter.

Go play Bossrush now!

Warstorm!!

Back in the late 90's I became addicted to crack. Not actual crack that you smoke, but crack that some men call "Magic the Gathering."

If you don't know what Magic is, I'll wait while you Wiki it.

Ah, you are back. Good. I started playing Magic around the year it came out. I was a pretty early adopter. I didn't have a Lotus or a Mox, but pretty much everything else. The problem was, I have a little problem. Call it a personality disorder or an addiction. I had too much disposable income and not enough sense. I bought booster packs all the time. You see, games that have additional buyable content - Heroclix, Warhammer 40K, any CCG - they are all made to suck money out of my pocket. I had so many cards that a friend and I (another game designer - co-incidence?) used to play what we called "Iron Man" Magic - whenever a card was destroyed, we ripped it up. WE HAD THAT MANY CARDS.Then I had no one to play against. (even the Iron Man guy) Then I moved. Then I had no friends that played Magic. Then I had lots of boxes of Magic cards sitting around my house for over 10 years. Then I grew resentful of those boxes. Then I gave those cards away to a kid I knew who was interested in Magic. No more Magic for me. (By that time I was into Warhammer 40K)

So no Magic for me for about 12 years. I was cured.

Then came Warstorm. It looks like Magic, there are cards with elves and fighters and demons and orcs and they line up real nice and they even fight the game for you. And oh look, you can buy packs of cards or individual cards or decks just like Magic. And you can use "fake" in-game money or you can USE REAL MONEY to buy more cards. And you don't have to worry about storing them - because they aren't real! And I know have friends all over the internet to play against - and they don't even have to be on-line for me to play against them.

The end (or the beginning) to this story is that I am re-addicted to crack. It is virtual crack, but crack none the less.

Who wants to play?

Pac-Man World!

Thinking about working on Pac-Man World fills me with pleasure and pain. It was a very difficult process and we had almost no idea what we were doing, but I made a lot of great friends and we made a hell of a game.

You can read all about it at the Playstation Museum where they have great article and a whole mess of my game designs too!

Another blast from the past!

Pac-Man Ghost Zone was the first version of Pac-Man World I worked on for Namco.

It was canceled (technically, it morphed) into Pac-man World but you can read all about in this great article at Playstation Museum.

You find some interviews and lots of drawings by yours truly including these:

Just add code and art!

Another fun site I found on the interwebs: It's a "make your own Atari 2600" label. Just import your art and viola! Instant cart art!

Sounds like the perfect tool for those awesome 2600 homebrewers I've read about.

Why not make one yourself?

Sadly, no Barbara Crampton... but...

I am constantly amazed at the little gems that are stashed all over the interwebs. I found one tonight called "Deanimator" based on Lovecraft story "The Strange Case of Herbert West" (aka the "hero" in the movie Reanimator)

Skinny little Herbert has nothing between him and a horde of undead but his trusty six-shooter - which seems like it always need reloading. It also features some very nice animation. Pro-Tip: Use your mouse cursor to select the zombies rather than just "aiming" and shooting at the zombies.

It's very simple, very moody and very effective.

Pay $400 to read this post.

I just played Upgrade Complete, a very amusing shooter over at Kongregate - in which you have to buy and upgrade EVERYTHING in the game - including your ship, the graphics and even the copyright screen. It's a great statement on the state of micro-transactions.

I hope they do a second version as the game play is a little unchallenging - the enemies don't even fire back and there are no sound effects and I would have liked to see the graphics get really ridiculously detailed as they got upgraded but then again, it's just about you obsessing about getting more coins.

All-in-all a fun concept.

"Why didn't anyone tell me about these?"

Sometimes I feel like Henchmen 21 from the Venture Brothers. Howcum no one told me about the "Awesome" series of cartoons? If you haven't seen them yourself, they're damn funny and incredibly accurate. (but not for the kiddies)





Their creator Egoraptor obviously had the same experience with "Shadow of the Colossus" as I did. }:P

Yeah, I know... it's obnoxious but...

Everyone's doing it. And now, so am I.

mrbossdesign@twitter

Join the fun!

BLURST!

Thanks to the fine folks at Kotaku, I have discovered a new game site. http://www.blurst.com/ has several fine looking games with themes that only games on the interwebs can provide.



Minotaur China Shop (from Flashbang studios) might be the first "Man vs. himself" game I've ever played. You play a huge Minotaur who owns a china shop, helping other anthropamorphized customers buy the mug or grecian urn of their dreams. However, you move around like... well, like a bull in a china shop. Each time you accidently blunder into a cabinet and break something, you get more incensed with rage. You can either give into the rage, destroy the place and collect the insurance, or calm yourself with deep breathes and continue with your day. Something I think many of us can relate to.

An absolutely fantastic concept that reaffirms my idea that you can make anything into gameplay. Well done, Flashbang!