Hi guys, here's one of the many projects we are working on.
A group made by Vincenzo Lettera with a bunch of Italian indie developers (Ciro Continisio, Federico Fase, Marco Di Timoteo, Santa Ragione), me included, is trying to build a Winnitron in Italy!
The Winnitron is an arcade cabinet, playable by anyone, which runs a number of fantastic exclusive independent games from all over the world. The first one came from a idea of a group of Canadian developers known as BitCollective, and there are only a few in the entire world.
So we started a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo to have the minimum amount of money to build it and to transport it around Italy to the various game development related events.
Here's the link to IndieGogo.
If you donate you will receive awesome perks, such as an exclusive NaaC wallpaper or (this is a) a META game soundtrack. There are also t-shirts, other soundtracks, the preorder of the strategic shooter Syder by Studio Evil, a chiptune EP... well, a lot of things.
Go donate! :D
A group made by Vincenzo Lettera with a bunch of Italian indie developers (Ciro Continisio, Federico Fase, Marco Di Timoteo, Santa Ragione), me included, is trying to build a Winnitron in Italy!
The Winnitron is an arcade cabinet, playable by anyone, which runs a number of fantastic exclusive independent games from all over the world. The first one came from a idea of a group of Canadian developers known as BitCollective, and there are only a few in the entire world.
So we started a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo to have the minimum amount of money to build it and to transport it around Italy to the various game development related events.
Here's the link to IndieGogo.
If you donate you will receive awesome perks, such as an exclusive NaaC wallpaper or (this is a) a META game soundtrack. There are also t-shirts, other soundtracks, the preorder of the strategic shooter Syder by Studio Evil, a chiptune EP... well, a lot of things.
Go donate! :D
I'm heading toward Cologne (Köln), where I'm attending my first GDC Europe! :D
It's just the right time to announce our first iOs game... I'll go just with the title and a artwork. We are working hard on it, and you will have soon other info.
It's just the right time to announce our first iOs game... I'll go just with the title and a artwork. We are working hard on it, and you will have soon other info.
This year I've been to No More Sweden in Stockholm, er, Sweden, from 5 to 7 August.
It was an amazing experience, great games and great people, and I wrote something about it togheter with Ciro.
It's in Italian, but there are tons of cool pics:
http://www.indievault.it/2011/08/11/storie-dalla-no-more-sweden-2011/
I also had the opportunity to show a card game/tool inspired by the Gameplay Deconstruction theory that I'm developing with Kurai... I'm gonna talk about it another time.
It was an amazing experience, great games and great people, and I wrote something about it togheter with Ciro.
It's in Italian, but there are tons of cool pics:
http://www.indievault.it/2011/08/11/storie-dalla-no-more-sweden-2011/
I also had the opportunity to show a card game/tool inspired by the Gameplay Deconstruction theory that I'm developing with Kurai... I'm gonna talk about it another time.
We are glad to announce thati (this is a) META game has been selected as a finalist in the II International Videogame Festival hóPLAY'11 in the these categories: best original idea, best sound-music and best design (or best graphics? not sure)
You can find us in Bilbao on 16-17 September :D
Here's the list of the selected finalists:
http://hoplaybilbaoenglish.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/selected-videogames-for-the-second-hoplay-videogamedev-contest/
You can find us in Bilbao on 16-17 September :D
Here's the list of the selected finalists:
http://hoplaybilbaoenglish.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/selected-videogames-for-the-second-hoplay-videogamedev-contest/
First of all I want to thank all the people I follow on Twitter (and my followers too!) because every day they share something incredibly interesting/worth reading.
In these days I was suggested some very useful articles; I'm going to write a comment upon them, one at a time. The first one is a great article written by Bobby Arlauskas.
A Metronome For Everyone
Abstract: "What I really want to get across is how the metronome event system can help unify the timing of many elements in games, making them feel complimentary."
Link: http://gl33k.com/blog/
This is RAD. It's something I was completely missing when I've been working on my games... even if I perceived exactly this method (before reading the article) some weeks ago, while playing Bit.Trip Fate by Gaijin Games.
In the Bit.Trip series, rhythm plays a very important role and sound effects timing is fundamental to achieve this rhythm. In Fate, every sound (enemy killed, bonus taken) is played exactly in time with the music, using the metronome Bobby Arlauskas is talking about.
When an enemy is hit, it trembles for some moments, waiting the next beat; only then the death animation is played and the melodic sound effect is played.
Actually, however, I found this idea a bit disturbing, while playing. That's why I was able to notice it, because there was something that "didn't feel right". The problem I found is that to kill the same kind of enemies takes different time (and probably a different number of bullets); it could be that the gap between two subsequent beats is too wide.
Anyway, from the same actions of the player, a slightly different outcome was resulting... that caused my disorientation.
In the end, the metronome system is great, but I would pay attention to use it in direct player feedback... I see no problem, instead, to use it in cut-scene, enemy patterns and every other opportunity you have to determine a time interval.
In these days I was suggested some very useful articles; I'm going to write a comment upon them, one at a time. The first one is a great article written by Bobby Arlauskas.
A Metronome For Everyone
Abstract: "What I really want to get across is how the metronome event system can help unify the timing of many elements in games, making them feel complimentary."
Link: http://gl33k.com/blog/
This is RAD. It's something I was completely missing when I've been working on my games... even if I perceived exactly this method (before reading the article) some weeks ago, while playing Bit.Trip Fate by Gaijin Games.
In the Bit.Trip series, rhythm plays a very important role and sound effects timing is fundamental to achieve this rhythm. In Fate, every sound (enemy killed, bonus taken) is played exactly in time with the music, using the metronome Bobby Arlauskas is talking about.
When an enemy is hit, it trembles for some moments, waiting the next beat; only then the death animation is played and the melodic sound effect is played.
Actually, however, I found this idea a bit disturbing, while playing. That's why I was able to notice it, because there was something that "didn't feel right". The problem I found is that to kill the same kind of enemies takes different time (and probably a different number of bullets); it could be that the gap between two subsequent beats is too wide.
Anyway, from the same actions of the player, a slightly different outcome was resulting... that caused my disorientation.
In the end, the metronome system is great, but I would pay attention to use it in direct player feedback... I see no problem, instead, to use it in cut-scene, enemy patterns and every other opportunity you have to determine a time interval.
