Balthazar Auger

DEFENDER of the Favicon is a port of the original DEFENDER by Eugene Jarvis. This version, through webdev voodoo, was made to sit in the space reserved for Favicons in browsers: a mere 16×16 pixels!

Agreed, this version is much simpler than the original DEFENDER, which could mean that Mr Jarvis had already used his available space in a very optimized fashion. Nevertheless, this minimal version manages to capture the general feel of the game un just a fraction of the original space, which is quite commendable.

I strongly suggest you play this version and then play the original somewhere, in order to compare them.

Over at the community pages of Spore, the long-awaited (at least for me) “Sim-everything”, developers have released an early prototype, probably used to develop the space-phase, since it deals with gravitational interaction of particles.

From the article:

Usually these prototypes are never seen by the public, but we thought some of the more intrepid players out there might enjoy playing around with a few of our early Spore prototypes. Keep in mind these are not tested, supported or even easily explained.

I have tested this prototype, and it’s really not player friendly. However, since I started making video games, I’ve manipulated countless prototypes or small “code toys” quickly hacked together to prove a certain point or to test an idea. These objects end up being stronger references to the team than every document you will ever be able to write, and yet they are systematically forgotten after the game has shipped. (more…)

Sorry about the short absence, work got the best of me.

What I intended to talk about earlier this week was about the latest crop of projects to come out of ENJMIN. Every year around the end of June, first year students demo their interactive pieces to the public.

This year, a grand total of seventeen works were presented. Not all of them are downloadable yet, I’ll update the list as they hit the web. Read further for the full list. (more…)

While reading a very interesting post over at Chris Bateman’s blog about player choice in games, I obviously tried to find a constraint in how much power over the game you give your player, ranging from total (sandbox games) to none (his Guitar Hero example is quite fitting).

But then, reading it again, I wasn’t so sure it could be called a constraint. Player agency is a variable you can adjust while designing, but it has no real, tangible value you can set as reference. You can say “This game gives me more choice than this one”, but it’s hard giving both games a value you can compare mathematically.

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I consider control to be the last of the constraint categories based off the physical characteristics of play. Also, it is one of the few “universal” constraints I might talk about, as it is applied to any kind of games. I would even go as far as stating that most games are determined by some form of constrained controls. (more…)

Likeliness for a media backlash and general racial and religious controversy around this game: 100%

Likeliness that many people won’t get past the first level of interpretation when playing: 100%

Actually, this looks only like cheap provocation, whereas September 12th was a little more nuanced in its delivery of the same message. Its just too easy to interpret this game the wrong way…

Update: The story ended up pulled from IndieGames.com, after generating a storm of negative comments and racist flames. I think it managed to stay up for, what… two, three hours? I guess my 100%s weren’t that off.

Anyways, you can still follow the controversy over at the Something Awful forums.

The reason I’ve been away from the blog lately is because I was attending the Paris GDC event, held at the “Coeur Défense” conference center. Let me tell you about it a little!

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A recent article by Soren Johnson states:

However, a more important (and actually true) first is less often mentioned - CivRev is the first Civ since the original to be designed and programmed directly by Sid. Every line of game and AI code (and probably quite a bit more) inside the game was written by Sid himself, for all three versions: 360, PS3, and DS.

I believe it’s great that just one man (even if it’s “just” Sid Meier) is able to program the game for three platforms at once. It is almost as if he acted like a modder of his own game.

Also, if you take in consideration the date CivRev was announced, now that we know only one person programmed the gameplay for two radically different platforms (more like two actually, seeing how the PS3 and Xbox are pretty much oversized computers), man, was that fast development or what!

Really, I would love seeing more of this: spend less time creating assets and more time creating gameplay! Please?

via: DESIGNER NOTES » Blog Archive » Sid’s Revolution

The gamma 256 contest was held by the Montreal-based Kokoromi collective in november 2007.

The requirements for entering the event were to submit a playable video game whose resolution had to be equal to or less than 256×256 pixels. The event received many brilliant submissions, amongst which were indie hits Passage, Bloody Zombies and Mr Heart Loves You Very Much.

This has “spatial constraint” written all over it!

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Space is the most logical constraint to consider after time. It is also one of the most obvious constraints I might talk about, due to its widespread use.

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