Buggy Shifts Gears

I've not-so-good news, and then Awesome news.

Our current 'big' task is to get Grapple Buggy signed by a publisher to release it for Xbox Live Arcade. Oh that, and actually making the game. We want to release the game through XBLA rather than XBL Indie Games as there's more much download traffic, and higher price points.

Faster, faster!

We've been talking to various publishers and have made good headway with them, and all of them really like the look at feel of the game. But, they've all been very sluggish about actually handing out money or guaranteeing a slot for release. We've heard several responses, but the general feel is with the economy still sluggish, it's taking a lots and lots of time and back-and-forth discussions to get companies to agree to a deal. Regardless of all of that, we've been working on Grapple Buggy off and on for some time now and can't wait till gamers get to play it and have it pay off.

I hear an echo! ... an echo.... an echo...

Unfortunately that will have to wait a little while longer. After looking at the MBG coffers, we decided we needed to take a break and work on something more immediate as way to raise money for continued development of Grapple Buggy. First, thanks for purchasing Weapon of Choice and Shoot 1UP. I'm glad you liked the games and we had fun making them! As such we got to work more on Grapple Buggy, which has been looking really cool lately.

Escaping the jaws of death!

Finally, what does all this mean for you, dear gamer? That was the Awesome news: we're making another cool game! Yes! I consider asking for donations for Grapple Buggy development to be sort of lame. I mean, we make video games; we're not a charity. How about we make a new, fun game for you to play and sell that?!? Yeah, I realize it's a crazy idea.

So there you go, you have to wait longer for Grapple Buggy, but we get to hopefully remain financially solvent, and you get a new game to play. The new game will be revealed shortly, and of course after it's released, it's back to Grapple Buggy development!

Vertical Slicing to Efficiency

Before game developers can get a publishing deal, sometimes a publisher will request a "vertical slice" of their game to show them what the game will be really like. It can tell them a lot of things, such as if the game is fun, what the minute-to-minute gameplay is like, what the "higher design" ideas are like (do you have continues, is there dialog branching, what is the main goal for a player, how long is a good chunk of gameplay, etc.) It can also show the publisher that the dev team can complete the designed game, and also how long it takes them to complete the work. Plus it's awesome, smarmy marketing-speak.

It often feels unrealistic though, from the developer's perspective, to create a perfect slice of your game right up front--something already polished and fun. Sure the publisher is supposed to understand that Quality Will Improve, but I've heard many developer woes about publishers "not getting it". They can't see the vision that the developer does.

One thing a vertical slice can do for the developer, though is hone their own work. I'm looking to show several publishers a portion (one might call it a vertical slice if one were feeling marketing-y) of Grapple Buggy to try to get funding and a 'deal'. In the game, inside the buggy itself are your two main characters who deliver spoken dialog furthering the story and also giving the player hints.

We recorded a good portion of the dialog about a year ago, and it took a while to process for the actual game. That was because of the amount of the dialog, but also because the methods used to process it and the design direction were all in flux. Everything's pretty nailed down at this point, and when we had to record a few new lines to make the flow smoother for the demo, it went really quickly. I knew what compression to use, resampling quality, the volume levels, and the post-processing effects that would make it all sound great. Figuring those things out earlier took forever and caused a lot of angst. But now, adding new content to my "vertical slice" went really fast and with total confidence.

I love bashing publisher-marketing talk as much as the next dev, but in this case the concept can work out. Taking it beyond just a prototype, and polishing a portion of the game right up to near-finished can really show you how you want to do everything and how good the game will be. It can not only show the publisher you know how to do it, but you and your team as well.

HUD and Map Transformations

As Grapple Buggy continues to mature in time for a sweet E3 publisher demo, one thing that had to change was the HUD. Originally, I tried a simple, 'futuristic' look that might be something like what the pilots of the buggy were seeing inside:

I pulled those HUD elements directly from screenshots (thus the errant graphics around them). I definitely didn't hate them, but the map in particular was too simple looking, and primarily the theme just didn't seem to perfectly fit the game in particular.


I was difficult to decide to change it but things got a boost when an intern, Justin Kaffenberger, started working on a redo of the map programming. We worked on a new, more organic design for the map layout which then required new graphics for the map and mini-map.

Once the internals of the map started changing, and looking better, I felt inspired to change the main HUD.

I found additional direction playing God of War. Its HUD was in the theme of the game, it wasn't tied to "what Kratos may be seeing". And thus, they have lots of chains, and rocks, and swords and such. I liked that idea and decided to frame all the art with high-res versions of the grappling arms, claws, and gears.

The map itself and all menus are now framed by large metal claws, with gears rotating on the sides.
The actual map reflects the game goals and landscape. Instead of strict "Metroidvania" style cells in a matrix, in which you are supposed to visit each one, now the areas are organic blobs. As you visit an area, those areas are present on your map. Your path is shown by a pulsating trail. There will likely be less backtracking in Grapple Buggy than in Metroid-style games, and it's still simple enough figuring out where to go next. Sprites for save points, level transitions, and powerups are floating on top of the map area shapes.

The graphics may still undergo some change, but so far I like the crisp new look and feel good about finally finding a strong direction for the HUD design.

Grapple Buggy playtest results

"Wait, wait, wait, Shoot 1WHAT? Where's Grapple Buggy? How can you be working on two games at once? Are you still working on it or what?"

Fear not! Grapple Buggy is alive and kicking! It's doing just fine, it's simply a big game that needs a lot of time in development. The best thing to do with an atmospheric action/adventure is ensure it has plenty of time to properly percolate and coalesce. I definitely don't want to rush things and end up with Brundlebuggy.

About a month ago Grapple Buggy went through it's first big playtest and the good news is it was really well received! The bad news is there's plenty of bugs to be fixed. Let's check out just a few of the quotes (good and bad versions).

From the creator of the upcoming Dust: An Elysian Tail:

"I just had my first combat encounter. I love how it's a bit like Ghostbusters in that you have to wrangle your prey in, and then use it as a projectile. Very original."

"I used my newfound ability to reanimate a big blue 'walking' type machine in the first outside area (with the two buttons on top). However, I was on top of it as it came to life, and then got stuck in its 'body'."

From the creator of Kuchibi, and the upcoming Your Doodles are Bugged!:

"Very interesting game! Very fun to play! I dig the exploration factor! :-)"

"Got a code 4 crash. Let's see if I can describe where... "

And finally from the creator of the ground-breaking In The Pit and the quixotic Crosstown:

"I like the mechanics! It's much more "loose" than any other "metrovania", or any other platformer I can think of, for that matter. I can fling myself around fairly accurately, so I think it works very well. It also looks wonderful!"

"The map is frequently totally wrong."

What does this all mean for the big, ole gnarly Grapple Buggy? Well other gamers and developers are clearly enjoying it (big cheers!) but they are plenty of bugs and issues needing to be addressed (anxious murmuring).

Before playtest began I had a giant list of things to do and fix for the game. After playtest that list just got a lot longer! It was extremely beneficial to have many other gamers try out the game and point out issues.
I'll be working on bug fixes through the holidays and into the beginning of next year. After that, it'll be time for new content! Yes, the game in it's current form is only about 60%-70% content-filled, so there's plenty more monsters, grappling weapons, and alien vistas still to be created.

This is the hearty, flavorful middle of a game's development cycle. Pessimistically one can think of it as having "no end in sight". Too far from the beginning, and still too much to do before it wraps up.
Optimistically I really enjoy this part since this is where all the development fun really happens. The game is still subtly changing, and growing and it's a blast to be making it. All this is to ensure of course that when it's ready, you have a blast playing it!

Fun Can Wrap

The results are out for the 2009 Dream Build Play contest and sadly Grapple Buggy didn't win. In fact Grapple Buggy didn't even place in the top twenty!

Questions filled my mind:

• Did the game somehow crash immediately? Did they never even get to start playing it?
• Was the "sci-fi buggy with grappling hooks exploring an alien planet and a mature story" genre completely saturated?
• Did the notion that the alien co-pilot, "Drozo", eats puppy dogs as a snack turn off the judges?

At last the answer seemed obvious. The fun wrapped. As described in the well known, and ground-breaking white paper "Exploring Sensory Perceptions of Polarizing Satisfaction Elements" by Haag and Vormann, I think the judges had so much fun with Grapple Buggy that it actually crossed the maximum threshold and started over, at the bottom of what is "fun".

Dr. Haag called this theoretical threshold of fun the grenzespasse and examined how if some entertainment media actually caused a person to cross it, they would feel that the media was actually not fun. While I'm thrilled that it's possible Grapple Buggy would be the first media to do this, it's unfortunate it could have cost us the contest.

Just a word of warning to other developers out there: mind the grenzespasse. Make your games fun... just not... TOO FUN. And if Dr. Haag or Dr. Vormann would care to comment on our humble dev log I'd certainly be honored to hear their perspective on the situation.

Grapple Buggy story trailer

At last it's time to check out the newest game trailer!



The big deal for us, with this trailer, is to reveal the spoken dialog dovetailed with the intriguing science fiction plot. It's ambitious for our tiny studio, but so far it's turning out really well. We're working to create a "big boy" story with room for moral choices by the player, and elegantly present it in a 2D side-scroller.

The player controls the buggy driven by a human and an alien, working together but, because of their natures, at odds with one another. The characters comment on things as they happen, discussing the action and the puzzles, the story itself, all without bogging down the game.

Right now we're still figuring out if the game will be released via Arcade or Indie Games, but it will hopefully show up on the Xbox 360 in some fashion, in 2010.

New trailer eminent

Begin holding your breath... now.
I'm still balancing the audio levels and fine-tuning the music to line up with the gameplay action.

You'll probably die by the time it comes out some time tomorrow, but it'd be a nice show of support. Tell you what--cheat a little and take a new breath just before you go to bed. Thanks! You're the best.

Trailer construction

With a solid build of Grapple Buggy safely sent to the contest, backed up on stand-alone harddrives, and solid-state CDs now hidden throughout the country, it's time to make a new game trailer.

Yes, I really wish I had created a new trailer before the contest but that would have removed precious time from polishing the game. The contest was effectively more than a month sooner than last year, and Grapple Buggy needed all the love it could get. Fortunately I think the Dream Build Play contest submission turned out great, but I still had to use the original teaser trailer for the contest submission.


I captured gameplay footage today using Fraps and am currently composing a custom animation to fill in the 'story' for the trailer. The trailer's story will actually include an overview for the story for the game itself, but probably one of the most exciting new elements revealed (among several) will be the spoken dialog from the game.

Grapple Buggy features two pilots within the buggy who effectively have a running dialog and comment on the action. They help the player relate to the mechanical buggy but also provide important context-sensitive tips with the action. You've already met Commander Javeya. With any luck I'll soon have the portrait finished of the other pilot.

Locked In

Finally! It was a little close for comfort, but Grapple Buggy is officially entered into Microsoft's Dream Build Play 2009 competition. We submitted the game about three and half hours before the deadline and fortunately didn't run into any problems. Apparently other developers did have some problems at the last minute. While it's not like I want more competition, I hope the contest admins can cut various devs a little slack. The tough part is, there has to be a cut off time drawn at some point.

Regardless, Grapple Buggy is now leaps and bounds ahead of where it was during E3. We now have all sorts of audio and graphical improvements and the game story is completable from beginning to end.

But that's just the half of it! Yes, the game's a little over halfway finished, that is to say, about only half of the gameplay content is completed. While the story is completable there's a lot more designed for aliens, levels, and powerups. There's more story as well, but at least what's in there makes sense.

Currently we're looking to finish Grapple Buggy for some time in the first part of 2010. Sure I could release it sooner, but I'd like a more substantial experience for everyone. I do plan on releasing a new trailer fairly soon to show off some of new fancy features. Some new screenshots will also be forthcoming. In the meantime, enjoy this capture from the contest submission!

Must keep programming...

I'll be honest. There's a lot to do still before we submit Grapple Buggy to DBP. But that doesn't mean it all won't get done.

Somehow I'll find the will and the organizational umph to keep it all together. In the meantime, I'll let the lolcat get across my scattered state of mind.

How can a cat communicate human feelings so well? It's practically scary.

Picking the details

We are planning to submit Grapple Buggy to the Dream Build Play 2009 competition in August. Weapon of Choice won third place in last year's contest, so we're certainly hopeful of winning, but there's plenty of solid contenders already swirling about such as Elysian Tail: Dust and Duality ZF.

While Grapple Buggy is far from complete we'll be submitting a subsection of the final game. This will include a full story with multiple endings, lots of enemies and bosses, and all the Mommy's Best fixin's such disgusting aliens and their viscera.


There's only a few weeks left which presents some interesting polish(not Polish) challenges. On what details do we focus now and what do we decide to fix after the contest submission? Sure all these things will be made great by the time the game ships, but we have to sculpt an amazing game now.

One example came about recently between the TrailFly and the LoogeySnare, two examples of the xenofauna within the game. Both need some extra polish, but there won't be time to commit before the contest to address everything. The LoogeySnare is a 'flavor' enemy for later in the game. His attack is currently too powerful and needs some serious time to rebalance a fight with him.

The TrailFly is nearly ubiquitous enemy which inhabits all sorts of caves and passes on VALD-END 317. The work required to improve him centers around making him attack more often, making his attack more obvious, and then rebalancing his flocking behavior to counter-balance the new attack.

I generally consider how often the player will encounter the gameplay and how long it takes to implement as most important. Sure it's probably more fun and cooler to fix the LoogeySnare, but he's encountered much less frequently. The changes to the TrailFly will be seen by the player constantly, and the improvement, while small will cumulatively pay off the most.

When it comes to gameplay optimization and polish, if there's a timeline, I balance ease of implementation with the impact of the change. And I almost always pick how frequently the player encounters the change as the motivating factor when picking which details on which to focus for a deadline.

Layers and Layers

I wish there were a super fast viewer for Photoshop files. A nice portion of the world map for Grapple Buggy is shaping up and it'd be great to be able to make layers for it and have them quickly viewable. Honestly I don't know of a program like this, but I wish there were the ability to open a PSD file in a fast viewer (like IrfanView or Windows Picture Viewer), then page through the layers themselves, in a simple fashion like pressing the arrow keys up/down or something.
Sure programs like IrfanView can open a PSD and display it 'flattened', but the trick would be flipping through the layers. It'd be really nice to have monsters on layer, level actions on another, written notes on another layer, and the environmental surroundings on another layer, for example.

Photoshop is great to use and create the images, but for simply viewing it's expensive, slow loading, and not everyone has the program. Most PC users have those simple file viewing programs. Maybe that's the problem, those are too simple and I'm looking to do something complicated. Regardless it be great to use such a program with the rest of the Grapple Buggy team, sharing the world map with them and flipping through layers to see how the levels fit together.

In the meantime, do know that things are chugging along at a good clip, with plenty of game assets swirling about, being carefully put into place by knowing hands.

Three point one lives

I was scared to make the change to XNA Game Studio 3.1 merely because ... who knows what could happen? I've been waiting a while to upgrade just to make sure the kinks were worked out and thankfully everything went rather smoothly.

For those developers still waiting to upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1, the only issues I had were the following:

• It asked that I uninstall 3.0. When I went to Add/Remove Programs it also showed I still had GS 2.0 installed. It never asked to uninstall that, and I never did... so I guess that's good? Uninstalling 3.0 requires a reboot.
  
• As I installed 3.1, it 'got stuck' on installing Games for Live Redistributable stuff. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and the progress bar never moved. After that didn't work I started shutting stuff down via Task Manager. I then restarted the installation, and it jumped past that point. Everything seems to work, so again... I guess that's good.
• At first I forgot to actually upgrade it since the 3.0 to 3.1 shift is not automatic--silly me! Here's the helpful article on that.
  

Other than that, it was very smooth and I'm glad its finished. It does take a little while... maybe 20 minutes total. Or 30. To wait through all the updating and installing and such.

After that I made sure Grapple Buggy still runs on the Xbox 360--and looky there--it does!

Okay, so this is my standard-def-test mega TV. It's huge, ugly, and blurry, but this helps me figure out what text is unreadable to us 'second class' TV viewers that haven't upgraded to HDTV. The faint red lines in the middle of the screen are actually debugging text for framerate, objects updating, and other programming stuffs. (But the orange-red, sausage thing to the right is really in the game and looks pretty interested in the buggy.)

Thankfully I have recently acquired a smallish HDTV to do further testing, so hopefully Grapple Buggy won't come out all stretched on rich bastard TVs like Weapon of Choice woefully did/does/dain.

Detailed Files

As work continues on Grapple Buggy, I thought I'd plop in a design for one of the levels. For those Weapon of Choice fans, the levels in Grapple Buggy will be quite different and much more in number than what we've done before. This particular level is sandwiched between others, and will be encountered as you're exploring later through the opening area of the game.

This is a technical illustration of the level, with the slightest pixel conveying intense meaning and intentional direction.
Okay, I'm kidding, it's a really loose sketch that serves to guide the construction of the level. The final level won't end up exactly like this so I'm trying not to spoil too much by showing it!

And finally say hello to a hearty bin of Grapple Buggy shirts on their way out to the lucky winners. Congrats shirt winners!

Everyone Wins!

Giveaways are fun.
What's more fun than giving one shirt away?
How about giving one to everyone that participated!

That's right the shirt Giveaway is over, and after reading all the funny comments, and checking my mega-stash of Grapple Buggy shirts, I decided everyone that made an effort would get a shirt!

I'll be emailing the comment-writers soon, and I hope everyone enjoys their prize.

In Grapple Buggy development news, I will be working on getting the game to work using Game Studio 3.1 so everyone hold their breath! Assuming anyone's still alive, I'll do an update when it's okay to release said breath.

And speaking of Game Studio 3.1--it seems like Christmas in July has come early because apparently Xbox Live Indie Games will be getting user ratings!
(You know... this news is like a Christmas gift... but in July. I have no idea when they'll actually implement the user ratings.)
User ratings--wow! Finally, a way in Xbox Live Indie Games to separate the wheat from the chaff... but without all the chafing.
Now if we can just get a simple path for finding the games on the dashboard. What do you think Microsoft--maybe something for Christmas in December?

Story time & T-Shirt Giveaway

Hooray, E3 is over and it was spectacularly not sucky! Great job guys!

I took a super-special demo of Grapple Buggy to the show and managed to wrangle a few daring members of the press to take the titular (giggady) buggy for a ride.

And guess what--no one died! They also seemed to like the game. Hooray for hummus!
Here's some of the stories:
http://kotaku.com/5278854/grapple-buggy-hands+on-swingin

http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/990/990398p1.html

http://www.destructoid.com/nathan-fouts-grapple-buggy-impressions-135318.phtml

I wore and handed out fancy new Grapple Buggy T-shirts at the show. The shirts look similar to this but more 3D in person:
Grappley, eh?

Well I'd like to give one away at random to those that play along!

All you need to do, to enter this particular giveaway, is post a comment to this blog post, and include a synonym loosely associated with the word 'grapple'. (In other words, have fun coming up with the word or words.) It could be as a verb, noun, etc. So for instance your comment could be "This game looks so amazing! I can't wait to *grab* it!" Or you could just leave a comment that says something like "clutch" or "clasp" or "seize", for instance.

The drawing will be randomized but you simply have to post a comment here, and email me at nathan@mommysbestgames.com so I have an email with which to contact you, if you win.

Oh, and only one email per entry/comment. You can comment all you want, but that won't effect your chances of winning past your first comment. Play fair, make a comment, send me your email and we'll all keep doing just fine. And I won't be spamming your email something like that. This only for this giveaway. Unless you want some spam--in which case I can forward some your way. Sadly (sorry) I'm only willing to mail a shirt within the Continental 48 states of the US. Finally, I only have medium, large, and XL T-shirts, so I hope one of those will fit you.

To review: make a comment on this post about the game for this post, including a loose synonym for the word 'grapple', and email me so I have your email address to contact the winner. If I can't get a hold of you, you won't win.

Let's say this ends in about two weeks, so some time after June 22, 2009, I'll announce the winner. Good luck!


UPDATE: Looking good everyone, thanks for the funny comments! Keep 'em coming, there's still time before the random drawing.

Crunch the FUN

I'd like to pretend that "crunch time" has finally started as E3 draws near, but honestly that's been going on for about a month now at least. Thus, with all there is still to do, this update will be kept short.
The good news is the Grapple Buggy E3 2009 Press Demo is looking and sounding freaking great!

I added the emphasis on "sounding" because I'm working on sound effects right now and that's about all I can think about. Earlier in the week it was level design. Whenever I saw something I wanted to interact with in real life (like grab a cup or move a chair) I imagined myself box-selecting it and dragging it with my imaginary mouse. It's probably about as healthy psychologically as it sounds.

Now that it's sound effects time, I'm completely in tune (Ha! Not intentional but it made me laugh afterward) with each little, tiny detail of the sounds of every day life. Well, I'm in tune with normal sounds, but I have to imagine them exaggerated.. since most everything to do with the Buggy needs some sweet whooshing or whirring noise associated with it to make it seem more future-y.

I've been to a lot of E3's before but this is the first one that I will personally be showing off my own company's game. I think with the show moving back to the LA Convention Center it could turn out to be as good as the 'old E3'. Either way, E3 is right around the corner so here's to a really big shoe!

Grapple Buggy: Ser Awesome Ut!

We've been fortunate to land some great announcement press for the new game!
Here's a few of the stories:
http://kotaku.com/5251491/gorgeous-grapple-buggy-looks-like-bionic-car+mando
http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/981/981942p1.html
http://tigsource.com/articles/2009/05/13/grapple-buggy-trailer
http://www.offworld.com/2009/05/grapple-buggy-nathan-fouts-bla.html

This twitter really made us laugh because we're immature, only speak one language, and thought this was funny to pronounce:
http://twitter.com/farbroratlas/statuses/1793239263

And I'll close with this blasphemous, but great impression of the game:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/15/cruncharcade-indie-game-preview-roundup/
"Mother of god. It’s a cross between Blaster Master and Bionic Commando, two of my favorite games of all time. "

Grapple Buggy

We're proud to announce our second game:

Take control of the prototype Grapple Buggy piloted by Nova Commander Javeya, and her alien co-pilot Drozo to explore the newly discovered VALD-END 317. The distant planet seems to house massive amounts of Tetravaldisae, known to its harvesters as ‘Vald’. Used to create fuel for faster-than-light travel, Vald is the single most valuable commodity in the known universe.

The New Homeworld Armada and the Drozo Empire have formed a strained alliance to confirm these portentous readings sending the Grapple Buggy and its team into action for the first time. Can the Drozo Empire be trusted? Has Javeya’s government thrust her into a compromised situation? Will VALD-END thwart both species schemes?

Swing into action with Grapple Buggy!
Features:

• Sumptuous blend of buggy-driving craziness and grapple swinging glee!
• Upgrade your buggy with new wheels, jumping abilities, and devastating new grapple arms!
• Fight or befriend—explore VALD-END to encounter both terrifying xenofauna and sentient aliens!
• Features dynamic decision branching, and multiple, story-driven endings!

And we'll leave you with the image of one of the co-pilots of the buggy itself: Commander Javeya of the New Homeworld Armada.
(Click for the wallpaper image!)

You'll poke your eye out

Good news--in the next game this thing is on your side! In fact, you're in control of it...
What is it?

A Bionic Backscratcher?
Nose Hair Remover from Beyond the Stars?
Automatic Car Detailer?

Stay tuned!