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Wadjet Eye Games announces publishing deal with Lively Ivy Studios
Posted on July 10, 2008 by Erwin_Br
Wadjet Eye Games, the indie game studio focused solely on adventure games, today announced a publishing deal with Lively Ivy Studios, an independent game developer who won several awards in 2006 for its PC adventure, "Spooks", as well as for its more recent critically-acclaimed PC game "Nanobots." Under the terms of the agreement, Lively Ivy Studios will develop a new adventure title to be published by Wadjet Eye Games.
"When we first worked with Lively Ivy back in 2007, we knew that we found a unique and energetic talent," said David Gilbert, CEO and creative director of Wadjet Eye Games. "It has always been a long-term goal for Wadjet Eye to become a publisher for other indie developers. Now that we are in a position to do that, we knew just who to call. We are very excited to work with Lively Ivy in creating a fun, challenging game that will appeal to both adventure and casual gamers alike."
Defining dialogue systems
Posted on July 8, 2008 by Erwin_Br
Gamasutra has published an article by Brent Ellison titled "Defining Dialogue Systems". Ellison, a Master's student in Level Design, looks at the universe and history of dialogue interaction between player and NPC in games. He analyzes different styles of dialogue implementation, including the parser driven interface in Façade.
"Although input from the player comes from a text parser, Façade tries to keep conversations as natural as possible by choosing a response based on not only the player's immediate input, but also their behavior thus far and the current state of the dialogue."
Contests Starting
Posted on July 1, 2008 by ad7venture
Be sure to check out the background and game design contests in our new contest section.
Crytek CEO Estimates 20 PC Game Pirates for Every One Legitimate Buyer
Posted on June 28, 2008 by ad7venture
Crytek chief executive Cevat Yerli offered an assessment of piracy within the PC gaming industry, describing the market as "the most intensely pirated market ever."
Connect with Your Creative Writer
Posted on June 26, 2008 by ad7venture
Do you have to complete a piece of writing but are putting it off? A report, a blog article, or a letter? Are you finding that the moment you sit down to write, your mind seems to go blank? Crap! Writers block! What can you do about it?
The Game Design of Art
Posted on June 24, 2008 by ad7venture
Let's face it: Games, in general, suck. Most are repetitive and shallow. Most eat up precious moments of our lives without giving us anything more than idle entertainment in return. The really good games, the ones that we would only be half-embarrassed to show Roger Ebert as art samples, are few and far between - maybe one game per console generation, if that. This is hardly what we would recognize as an "art-full" medium. Yes, games pass the zero-utility test, but that's not enough to stand them up proudly next to a Kandinsky painting.
The Escapist digs a little deeper into the "games are art" statement.
Did New Adventure Game Swipe Oblivion Assets?
Posted on June 13, 2008 by ad7venture
Eric Franck, a reviewer at GamePlasma, noticed something "oddly familiar" about the new point-and-click adventure game from Majestic Studios known as Limbo of the Lost. That familiarity turned out to be the result of near-identical similarities between several settings in Limbo of the Lost and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. GamePlasma posted several examples, which include not just textures and architectural designs taken from Oblivion, but tabletops and bookshelves filled with identical items, set in identical arrangements.
The escapist has an article on an apparent flagrant copyright violation by a professional adventure game.
Opinion: Is Gameplay As Narrative The Answer?
Posted on June 3, 2008 by ad7venture
"How can players seriously believe Niko's on a date when his girlfriend doesn't mind that he's carrying a knife, walking her through a 5-foot-deep pond and getting in numerous car accidents? Why can a distinctive-looking illegal immigrant commit hundreds of carjackings and nobody seems to care?"
Gamasutra questions narrative in an open ended game like GTA.
Pixeljam: the art and science of browser game design. Part one
Posted on May 27, 2008 by ad7venture
With just three staff all living in different cities, US indie studio Pixeljam makes beautiful retro-flavoured browser games like Dino Run and Gamma Bros.
I recently got some questions to programmer, Miles Tilmann and artist, Rich Grilloti about the philosophy behind their design style. They have some interesting points to make on the nature of game design in the age of near-photorealistic graphics and about the role of the player's imagination in the gaming experience.
Musopen
Posted on May 24, 2008 by ad7venture
Want to put some free classical music as background for your game? Try Musopen.
Three Novice Mistakes in Game Design
Posted on May 22, 2008 by ad7venture
I've compiled my three favorite mistakes here. If you are a student of game development, just knowing that these three faux pas exist (and are repeat offenders) can help you advance much more rapidly in your early education. If you are an educator, perhaps you've shared these same observations.
Game designers, please stop playing games
Posted on May 14, 2008 by ad7venture
It's safe to say that anyone reading this column has played many, many games in their life. In fact, most people in the gaming industry got into it because they love to play games; the titles that big-name game designers fell in love with in their younger years often seem to inhabit the games they make during their professional career. The more games released, the more that is becoming a problem: we're creating an army of game industry professionals who only know video games. The snake is beginning to eat its own tail.
Next-Gen Storytelling Part One: What Makes a Story?
Posted on May 11, 2008 by ad7venture
Warren Spector did a four part series on Next-Gen Storytelling on Escapist. This is the first of the four, the rest have already been published also.
What's New in Indie
Posted on May 3, 2008 by ad7venture
Each month GameTunnel Editor-in-Chief Russell Carroll plays dozens of new downloadable games, and then opines away to bring you the best and worst of what's new in independent gaming.
How game designers cope with death
Posted on April 30, 2008 by Erwin_Br
1UP has published a feature about how game designers cope with death. The article isn't about their own mortality, of course, but about death in games. One of the interviewed game designers is Dave Grossman, known for Day of the Tentacle and the more recent Sam and Max episodes.
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