SiN Episodes - Updates
All of the 17 blog posts published by Ritualistic Entertainment regarding Sin Episodes from the timespan of late 2005 to late 2006 on their official now archived website is moved here for further preservation, clarification and organisation.
2006
March 22, 2006
Exciting times ahead. Emergence is barreling towards the finish line and preproduction for Episode 2 is starting to gear up. GDC is this week, which is very cool conference. The games industry has a few really big "events" E3 being the most recognizable. GDC is a really different beast. E3 is all about the games, while GDC is all about development. Different mindsets, but both are very important for the industry.
One of the really cool facets of our current zeitgeist (yes, that's actually a word, and man-oh- man, it's even pretentious to look at) games, computers, and technology are becoming more and more mainstream. As this occurs, we're seeing more and more interesting technology that's tangential to the game industry things that are not directly game focused, but might have ramifications on how perceive and play games in the future.
Related to this, I'm doing a hand-off for this particular Blog to Tom Mustaine, who had a very interesting experience with a company called IO2Technologies.
The floor is yours, Tom
If you're like me, you are always looking in the "high tech gadgets" section of Wired magazine, or constantly searching the internet for stories about high tech devices of the future, from the next crazy PDA Phone to the next high definition display. About a year ago, an unbelievable video was released from the folks over at IO2technology, depicting what can only be described as a semi-holographic floating image of Google maps, where the user was using his hand to manipulate the Google maps interface. The video was amazing, it was like something straight out of Star Wars. My technolust now in full swing, I dug a little deeper in the IO2 webpage and came across their display device for the future, the Heliodisplay!
SiN Episodes: Emergence characters running on the Heliodisplay.
The Heliodisplay projects video into mid-air using any standard computer input, so of course, my first thought was "What would SiN Episodes look like on this thing!" Recently, my question was answered, the guys at IO2 were kind enough to let me into their research and development facility and hook up SiN Episodes: Emergence to the Heliodisplay. The results have to be seen to be believed!
Watching Emergence on the Heliodisplay was a wild experience. The video is compelling, but doesn't really do it justice. I expect we'll see the Heliodisplays appearing all over the place in the future, first in trade-shows, then in retail, and finally at home. The applications are limitless.
Being the first game to run custom content on the Heliodisplay is quite a milestone for us, and I want to thank the guys at IO2 once again for giving us a peek at this awesome technology. I can't want to get my hands on one!
March 1, 2006
Using Context Look to Expand the Story
I wanted to take a little bit of time today and talk about one of our features, and how it relates to the story in Emergence. Those of you who have been following the game closely have probably heard about our Context Look system. We haven't talked a whole lot about this thing, which is too bad, as it's actually pretty slick. One of the things that's always problematic for games FPS games in particular is how to convey the story yet not interfere with the game play. This is tough because you have two different camps. You got the gamers that LOVE story and want to know everything, and you have the gamers that just want to blast things in the face. So, we came up with a system that lets us have the best of both worlds. Like HL2, throughout Emergence, the player will encounter in-game choreographed scenes; these are the scenes that are "Mission Critical" to the story. Everything else, though, is completely optional. The Context Look system allows players that are interested in the deeper aspects of the story to dig in a little further, but allows players that just want to get on with the destruction to do exactly that. The system works pretty much as you would imagine. All over the world are things that have associated dialog. If gamers look at one of these objects the Datacom will chirp, and if they want, they can activate the Datacom and get additional information. Context Look elements go far beyond just the expected datapads or prop. We wanted to extended it to the characters as well, so if you stare at Jessica too long well, she just might have something to say about it. Now, given that the critical elements of the main storyline are conveyed through the choreographed scenes, what kind of information can a gamer expect to get through the Context Look system? Ah That's where it gets exciting. Just like great episodic television, like Lost or 24, SiN Episodes has an overarching storyline that stretches beyond any single episode. Expect lots (and I mean LOTS) of twists and turns in the future. I can tell you now, no one in the game world truly knows what Elexis is planning and what she has done. But, just because none of the characters know, doesn't mean that YOU can't. Embedded within the Context Look elements are hints and clues. Some foreshadow events to come, some throw light on events that have already occurred. Many may not make sense yet. Each and every one of these pieces, though, has a purpose each is a small piece that reveals a bit of the overall story tapestry. It will be interesting to see how gamers react to the elements they find; and even more interesting to see how everyone thinks they tie together.
February 23, 2006
It's official. We're Beta.
This is a very exciting time. As of Monday, we've shifted entirely to bug fixing and preparing to launch this thing.
It's been a hectic week as well. On Monday we had a company-wide playthrough of the entire game. Everyone was looking for problems and places we could add that last little bit of polish. I got back volumes of feedback, and the Design Team has been locked away for the past two days sorting through it all, prioritizing issues, and slamming stuff into the Bug Database.
The above paragraph might sound a bit like whining, but trust me, it's not. I was ecstatic at the feedback we got. As I've said before (ad nauseum by this point) the game we have right now is already great. All the feedback was just minor little things that we can do to really make it stellar.
Now, in an awkward segue from the game to the industry at large, I'm very excited about the idea of episodic gaming. Granted, I have a bias, but I think we're at the start of growing trend, and this same idea was espoused at DICE this year. Society is moving towards a "customized for me" sort of paradigm. Look at the popularity of iTunes, or the growing movement for a la carte cable channel selection. In more gaming relevant terms, you've got the phenomenal success of Steam, Xbox Live, and of course, the heavy weight precursor of customized games Mods.
Episodic gaming, because of its faster turn around, offers the ability to react to consumer feedback (this has been talked about endlessly already) but it also offers flexibility to try new and really innovative ideas. I can't see this as anything but great for gamers, and it ties directly to the "customized for me" ideal I discussed above. Basically, it's giving all gamers more choice. Gamers can pick and choose titles, options, and gameplay that really appeals to them.
Now, I don't for a minute think that traditional full length games are going away. Nor would I want to. I'm a gamer, just as I'm a developer. I still want epic RPGs, large scope RTS games, and gorgeous, video-card melting, technology pushing FPS games. Just as movies and television provide entertainment in a complementary fashion, I see a similar balance unfolding between full length and episodic gaming as the episodic trend continues to unfold.
February 8, 2006
Well, hopefully by now you've seen the official Emergence video released today. There's some pretty tight stuff in there, and huge credit needs to go to Tom Mustaine for cranking with the crazy editing skills, and of course Zak Belica our resident sound and music genius.
The video shows much of the progress we've made since the shaky-cam CES videos. There's a lot more polish, nearly all the HL2 placeholder assets are gone, and the gameplay is much much tighter.
Of course, the video is still showing some footage from an older build of the game, in the time it's taken to get everything squared away with it, we've dumped in a phenomenal amount of additional content. Overall though, it's a pretty solid look at what we've got going.
We're days away from being content complete now, so the last few days and the next few days the game is going to be slammed with a deluge of additional assets as we get ready to lock down. Right now our big focus is on choreography sequences, skyboxes, and the little details that make the world feel more "real."
The exciting thing is that we're actually wrapping this thing up. Once we hit our content complete (aka Beta) milestone, all we'll be doing is balance tweaks, bug fixing, and prepping for release.
February 1, 2006
I want to talk a little bit about how one of our characters have evolved, both in terms of visuals and gameplay as the game has progressed.
We knew from the early design phases that we were going to need a rock solid human enemy to fight. Given the way the story was evolving, we zeroed in on Radek's mercenary army.
Visualization
In early concepts we wanted to stay away from a traditional military look, so we started off with a stylized black combat outfit. We were still learning the tech at this point, so we weren't solid on what could and could not be pulled off easily so we went with something a little on the safe side. We actually went forward with this concept, getting it modeled, skinned, and in game. You can even see it in some of our very early screenshots. But, like many things in game development, you often don't see the problems until you get an asset in the game -- Which leads to the key word of the day: iteration. First off, we realized that the face mask wasn't working. So we made some adjustments and variations, finally landing on a black face mask, which was a marked improvement. As time went by and the environments began to get more fleshed out, we realized we had a much larger problem: Namely, the black combat suits made the mercs blend in with the back ground, making for a decidedly unfun combat experience. They were thus dubbed: Space Ninjas. Failure. So, we went back to the concepting stage and started again. This time applying all the lessons learned from the first effort.
As you can see, this outfit is more military looking. In a fit of irony, the slight camouflage pattern actually makes them easier to see, which was exactly what we wanted. Additionally, by this point, we had 3 primary styles of Mercenary, so we designed the outfit to allow for color coding. Trim and "pieces of flair" elements on the skin are specific colors based on the Mercenary type. It's a subtle thing, but given the strides we were making with Dynamic Difficulty, we wanted something that will help players pick out different enemies and be able to adapt their strategy to whatever they were facing.
Gameplay
We started with the basics. We wanted a mercenary to shoot at us; that came online very quickly, and we started iterating from there. One of the first additions we made was the ability to "cap" the AI in the knees, forcing them to drop in place. To give you a little taste of the chaos, this feature was actually designed to help facilitate another, player-centric, feature we were prototyping. We ended up cutting the primary feature, but left "capping" because it was cool. Next we began playing with cover behaviors. We actually have a good foundation in there now. The mercs are pretty smart, but this is one of the features I really want to push and expand on in upcoming episodes. The helmet system came on a little while after. This is one of my personal favorites. Basically, as we've stated before, if you get a lot of head shots, the AI starts coming in wearing protective helmets. Of course, if you're a good shot, you can blow that off, which is really great player reward. I will say, as of yesterday, we've got a few more surprises up our sleeves for this system as well. I won't spill it here, but you guys will definitely be pleased. Most of the merc behaviors(the ones described here and many others) are in place now. We're mostly fixing bugs and playing with their reactions. For example, after the shaky-cam footage at CES, we were inundated with feedback that our mercs weren't responsive enough to explosives. This was flagged as a bug, but do to all the great feedback we got, we took a long look at it, making sure we really solved the problem. One of the great strengths of episodic content is our ability to react to community feedback -- this is a great example of that.
Conclusion
It's amazing how much more you know about a project at the end of it than the beginning. While this is applicable to learning the tech, it's even more apt in terms of the project itself. The fact is, you have to start with something - your best guess - but you have to go in it knowing it's going to have to change. A game is an organic beast; it evolves, grows, and changes. As such, any assets you make at the beginning often times just won't quite fit when you get to the end. It's best if you just dive in knowing that, and keep yourself flexible. After all, in the end, it's about what's best for the game and the player.
January 25, 2006
We're getting close.
For the most part, we have our game now. There's still some additional polish and tweaks that need to be done, a few assets still need to trickle in, and of course, we need to wipe out our bugs. At any rate the game is stable, looks great, and most importantly, is fun. We had a lot of excellent coverage from our appearance at CES. We got a lot of great community feedback from the videos as well. The game has made significant progress since then. I think all but one or two of HL2 placeholders have been replaced with their final assets, we've done additional work on the AI and dynamic difficulty systems, and we're getting more and more of our choreography complete. One of the things I'm getting real excited about is our music. Zak Belica, our sound and music genius, has been dropping in the new music tracks. The game is sounding fantastic. It always amazes me what a difference a good soundtrack makes, it adds to the overall atmosphere and helps accent the player emotions. Right now, our major push is on finishing this thing, but small changes are still bubbling up. We're really trying to focus on those few places in the game that were just “okay,” and push them until they're really fun. Thankfully, at this point, these changes are usually pretty minor, but the sum total of all the changes really adds up and increases the quality of the game. Now that we're closing in on the end, I'm hoping to be able to update this blog a little more often. In the near future I plan to do some updates on the story, the writing process, and talk a little bit about our characters; so as the development winds down I'll be talking less and less about the process and more and more about the game itself.
2005
November 16, 2005
The voice recording is done. Next stop - choreography town.
Last week we got the VO (voice over) work done, and it came out fantastic. The experience was amazing - as were the actors. Now, I'll take credit for the words. I put a lot of work into those. But I'm not going to even pretend that my direction helped the actors that much - they really didn't need it. This was my first time working with actors like this, and I think I got extremely lucky to work with such an incredible group. These guys and gals just nailed it. I would continue gushing, but I already sound like some half-crazed fanboy, so I'll hold my tongue for now. Besides, all the proof you'll need will come when this thing is released. I'm sure by now you've seen some of the new screenshots; I believe all are from one environment, you'll be seeing more as we continue pushing out media. So, basically, you can consider those shots an appetizer. The art is really coming along in all the levels - we're rapidly hitting all the remaining "dev" textures and placeholders that are still in place. Beyond that we're continuing to polish gameplay. There's a couple of AI characters and some gameplay sequences that need some tweaking before I'll be satisfied with them, but for the most part the dust is settling on the design front leaving us in a real polish phase. Our next big big focus, now that the VO is recorded, is to get all the choreography elements in the game. This is a big milestone for us. Once these scenes are in place, the story will really pop, and the entire game will take on a rough form of its final incarnation.
October 26, 2005
Ah ha! Two updates in a month. Bet you weren't expecting that.
Approaching Alpha
Things are really cooking here; we're so close to Alpha that you can taste the blood in the water - or some other analogy that's far more lucid and apt. At this point we're trying to get the final assets in the game, continue to art the levels, and iron out the last few design wrinkles that have reared their heads in the last few weeks. The upside is that we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Before I get any further though, I want to talk about the team working on this thing. These guys are some of the most dedicated and talented guys I've ever worked with. They're putting in re-dumb-donkulious hours right now as we make the final push towards Alpha. The effort is really paying off too, the game is really starting to look and play great. Many times as I'm playing through our current build preparing feedback, looking for issues, or generally doing any of the other hundred things I do in the game while not actually "playing" it, I find myself slipping into "gamer" mode, simply enjoying the experience. This team is busting everything they got, but it's really making a difference. I feel this is one of the best games we've ever made.
Scripted Drama
I have finished the heavy-lifting on the script now, I've still got a few straggling lines I need to address but for the most part that beast has been slain. I've written the scripts for a few other games, and this was by far one of the most interesting and challenging I've ever done. The fact that there are no "cut scenes" makes conveying story a delicate operation. Nonetheless, I think it works out pretty well. It keeps everything very very immersive, allowing you to really feel like you are Blade, instead of just playing Blade.
State of the Media
We should have new media very very soon. Yeah, yeah, I know we've been saying that for a week or so, but it's coming. Overall, we're on track and teamwide everyone's shifting into "completion" mode. B, C, and "wishlist" items are getting sliced away and we're focusing everything on tightening and polishing the gameplay.
October 12, 2005
It's alive!
Okay, so it's been a while - Sorry about that, but here it is. The latest and greatest. We're making steady progress, and it's unbelievable watching everything coming together. Of course, we're going with a real iterative design process this time around so sometimes it feels like we're taking two steps forward and one, two, or even three steps back. That's really starting to taper off, though. With our last big review of the game, we picked up some real solid forward momentum, so, as I mentioned, things are really starting to progress.
Dynamic Difficulty
One thing that's really starting to take off is our dynamic difficulty system. There's been some mention of it on FAQs and whatnot, but nobody's really seen what this thing can do yet. I want to give a big kudorific hats off bow down to our lead programmer Ken Harward for both coming up with the idea for the system and spearheading its implementation. Now, for the curious, this isn't just a run-of-the-mill autobalancer. This thing is incredible. We're polling statistical data on just about everything: When a player shoots, when a player jumps, how long a player's idle, when a player "uses" something, all kinds of in-game interactions. We'll use some of this to balance the game on the fly to a degree never seen before; that way we can ensure a solid challenging experience for the entire episode.
Playtesting - With a Twist
Where things get really interesting though, is during playtests. We're able to generate a file that the LDs (Level Designers) can pull into the level editor and actually see all the major player actions for a particular run. With that data we essentially have an unbiased timeline of exactly what happened. We can then use that data to further tune the level. It's unbelievable. I can't overestimate the value of fresh playtester eyes on the product. As developers we look at the thing all day everyday, and to be honest, we lose perspective. When we're able to watch a new "fresh to the game" player run through the game, you get to see the game play out in a whole new way. You get to see when the stuff is good, but more importantly, you can't hide from something that's just not working. You're forced to face it and fix it - All which leads to a stronger product.
August 31, 2005
Gameplay Complete!
Well, as of a couple days ago, all the levels for Episode 1 are gameplay complete. However, there's still a big chasm between that and "done." There's all kinds of art that needs to be added and additional polish and balancing that will continue to occur until we lock down right before shipping. Even still, it's a very exciting milestone.
Balancing the Game's Script
In a few days, I'm going to be writing the second draft of the dialog script for the game. I'm looking forward to this, as the dialog is my way of contributing real content to the game. Programmers get to add features, Artists get to add models, Level Designers get to add levels and gameplay. I get to add the story and dialog. There's a lot to a game script. I'm sure many of you out there have seen a movie script, or are at least familiar with how they look. If not, you can use the inter-google to find some. At any rate, when I write a game script, I start with something like a movie script. This is what I call the Narrative. Basically, it's the key sequences and dialog that tell the story. Of course, there's always A LOT more dialog than just that. For SiN Episodes, I'm also on tap for providing the "use" dialog, ancillary conversations, and all the dialog for our Context Look system. But it's that stuff that makes the game world feel like a living place. And that's why I'm excited to do it. One issue that's tough to crack though, is dialog length. Gameplayers are playing the game to PLAY THE GAME! They want story, but most don't care to hear characters drone on in endless exposition. So, more than even screenplays, Game Scripts have a very very tight economy of words. In every case, the message must be conveyed in the fewest possible syllables. Of course, it has to be more than, "Blade, go to the tower!" Each character needs to be an actual character, meaning they need their own way of speaking. These opposing requirements make for some very interesting writing challenges.
August 19, 2005
Gameplay Complete?
Well, it's an interesting time to begin a design journal. We're due to have all the levels gameplay complete by the end of this month. We've got a work cut out for us, but I think we'll make it. Some of you may be wondering, what the hell does "gameplay complete" mean? Well, it doesn't mean "done," not in the sense of what you would see in a store. What it means is that the levels are playable - all the enemies, pick-ups, puzzles, and everything else are placed. It's sort of the first-draft of the game; we'll spend a lot of time polishing and perfecting it after that, but for the most part the game is playable.
Iterative Design
I've played through all the levels we have "under construction" at the moment, and I've got to tell all the readers out there, this is going to be something cool. We're taking a new (at least to us) approach to the level design, working up the levels in smaller sections planning out everything, and then testing and reworking it until it's fun. We, as designers, want to ensure that the entire experience is going to be great, and we're well on the path to that right now. There's a multi-disciplined group that meets (usually twice a day) to review where the levels are and to design out where they are going. Any of you aspiring developers out there, be prepared, design is all about meetings. In this case, the meetings are well worth the time, though. Everyone (Art, Level Design, Programming, and Game Design/Production) is all on the same page.
Fighting Feature Creep
This method is also helping us fight off feature creep. We haven't defeated that particular monster yet, but any features we're discussing now are directly applicable to the gameplay at hand. Feature Creep, for the readers out there, is a Software Development term that basically means that the project keeps getting delayed or bloated because features keep getting added to the product. Now, I realize from the above definition it seems like it would be an easy thing to stop. The problem is, Feature Creep can be both subtle and seductive - Especially when you're working on your own project. There's an intense desire to keep adding elements to your product, some of these elements are small, but they do add up - That's the subtly. Also, many of the features you want to add are really great ideas, so it's hard to let those great ideas go, and honestly, sometimes you don't - That's the seduction. At any rate, it's always better to go for depth rather than breadth; meaning pick your core gameplay features and polish, polish, polish. It ends up being much more fun for the game player, and that's the audience we need to please.
Designing Bosses
Like everything in game development, designing bosses is always more difficult than it sounds. We had a long discussion regarding the functionality of our boss character today, the meeting was a success in that we walked away with a good idea of the approach we are going to take including putting in hooks for additional behavior that may or may not come online. Here's the thing about bosses, it's so easy to overcomplicate them. Many times the character themselves or their environment will lead to an avalanche of good ideas, so you start piling one atop another and eventually instead of good cool boss you have an over-designed, bloated mess. In our meeting we went down this path - I'll admit it - but thankfully we realized the error of our ways and pulled back, but pulled back in such away that we're allowing ourselves some growing room. This, at least at the moment, appears to be the best methodology.
Sources
- SiNEpisodes.com (archived)