Dark Souls 2

Dark Souls 2 was announced last week! which included a CGI trailer (which can be found below) showing the new games setting & main character. Since then information has been trickling out. Recently Kotaku posted an interview from Famitsu magazine with Tomohiro Shibuya (new producer) & Hidetaka Miyazaki supervisor (original creator) to reassure fans that they will still stay true to the Dark Souls ethos. 

The first Dark Souls was my game of 2011 and also in my top ten games of all time, I got lost in the mystery of Dark Souls and kept coming back for more even after dying the 100th time. The game teaches players to be cautious, being on guard with every step you take during your adventures in this hostile world.

I'm sure many of you have had mixed views of Dark Souls 2, but until there is more information we cannot really say much else. Even though the new producer wants Dark Souls 2 to be more direct in terms of the story, the gameplay will stay intact with some welcomed improvements and a sever based multiplayer component! thank god!

Full Kotaku post can be found here:

http://kotaku.com/5970063/dont-worry-it-looks-like-dark-souls-2-will-be-as-hard-as-its-predecessors

   

The Time Has Come!

Its finally time for you guys & gals to get a taste of what DmC is all about. Enjoy it and remember, always mix it up!

Vergil's Downfall!

Check out the DmC DLC, which focuses on Vergil's Downfall!!

DmC Combos!

Designing my first multiplayer map! Stepping Stones

I thought it would be a good idea to keep a blog post on my progress through the different stages of designing my first multiplayer map.

So you can get an idea of my creative thinking processes during modification. As this is a big project for me, I feel that recording my progress is important and might be beneficial to others who are also using UDK for the first time.

I'm not going to delve too far into the nitty gritty of what I did, but if anyone wants to know anything about the things I've shown in my level, please don't hesitate to contact me :)

This image was appropriately named "the beginning" and in many respects it was!

Following some online tutorials, I managed to get a basic understanding of BSP brushes (Binary

space partition) basically brushes that allow you to create/sculpture objects inside the game world. So I created a small room, ta daa! with some basic lighting!

After fiddling around inside Unreal, I managed to get a HUD working as well as a gun!
Tip:Selecting the view>world properties>game type allows you to change the game type, selecting utgame as the default game type allows you to implement basic shooter properties inside your game.
Oh and I made a spiral stair case inside a tubular shaped room. For some reason I was fixated in creating the perfect spiral stair case.

Spiral stair case getting higher!

 

Another view!

 

I went a bit crazy and started adding lots of platforms....I thought it looked cool!!

 Another angle. As you can see I've placed many light sources into the level to allow more light coverage. I also added jump pads to each platform to get an understanding of how they work.

At this point I started thinking about the structure of my level and how it will work as a multiplayer map. I wanted to create a multiple level map which players can traverse freely. This is where I came up with the concept of Stepping Stones.

Here's a birds eye view of my progress.

Present.

I hope you found my brief progress insightful or at least cool! I'll will be posting more images as I go, so feel free to check back frequently to see the next stages of evolution, in my quest to design a great multiplayer map! OR you could just skip back to it later to see the final outcome ;) 

I also will be video capturing the map in all its glory when I complete it so stay tuned for that.

UPDATE!!

Here is a sneak peak of my level in action, including AI controlled bots.  
Music by The Prodigy-Omen

DmC Comic-Con Trailer 2012!!

UFO sighting near my home town in London!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Hands On!

I managed to get a 15 minute hands on with the game at the Eurogamer Expo, I must say that I'm very impressed with what I played. The controls seem very simple at first but as you delve further into the demo, its apparent that the combat has a lot of depth to it. I was playing the game on the Playstation 3 so the button layout was as follows:

L1: Precision attack
Triangle: Heavy attack
Square: Light attack
R1: Speed boost
Square + Direction: Parry
X: Jump

As you can see the button layout is quite simple, there are 3 forms of attack, triangle/square (which are the basic forms of attack) & precision attacks which uses L1 to activate. Attacks can vary depending on the direction of the analogue stick and also the use of combinations of both buttons in a combo. You can also perform aerial combos by jumping in the air and using the same attacks.

Precision mechanics can take some getting use to, as it can be quite disorientating when moving both analogue sticks in order to change angle and slice, but once you get the hang of it, you will be slicing and dicing cyborg ninjas like they were a watermelons!

The game still keeps the visual style of what you would expect from a MG game, with the game taking a very similar visual setting to MGS4.

The Demo takes place through a street location which you can decide to either stealth your way through or take on some of the cyborg ninjas/geckos which petrol the area.

The demo ends in a boss fight with the LQ-84i (Cyborg Dog with a chainsaw tail) The LQ-84i forces Raiden to use parrying and evading to counter its powerful fast attacks. After taking substantial damage the cyborg dog jumps onto a roof top and calls in back up.

This breaks up the encounter nicely and also gives the player an opportunity to regain some vital health that can easily be lost during the fight with the brutal cyborg canine. With each phase of the fight the LQ-84i becomes increasingly aggressive and can be quite a handful if not dealt with properly.

Just by playing 15 minutes of the demo, I can honestly say I'm a big fan! The amount of focus on the style and action is what you would expect from Platinum games, so for me this is a no-brainer. stay tuned for a full review when the game comes out early next year!

Some Holiday Pics!

I Need A Holiday!!

Well my time at Ninja Theory has come to an end, DmC is on its way (January 2013) which is shaping up very nicely and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Currently I'm concentrating my efforts on finding more work and brushing up my portfolio. Now that I have a little time to reflect on my time at NT, I can say that it has been a very productive 12 months for me and I've achieved more than I expected in such a short period of time. 

Unfortunately gaming has taken a back seat for quite sometime which I'm not very happy about, but I guess a little sacrifice is needed when there are greater priorities to be considered. I think a vacation is needed right about now, considering how bad the weather is in the UK!!

 I'm off adiós amigos!! until next time :D

 I will leave you with this hint to where I'm going ;)

DmC E3 Trailer!!

Dragon's Dogma Demo

 

First impressions of DD are positive, my main concern were the AI controlled characters, but from the demo they do not seem to hinder the experience. Capcom seem to have gone back to its roots on this game, it reminds me of the old Capcom we use to know and love!

The combat seems very action orientated, you can really sense the influence from games such as DMC and Monster Hunter which is a good thing because they are among my favourite Capcom games.

Switching weapons and attacking seems very fluid, my only gripe with the game is the cinematic camera that seems to do a 360 degree spin every time one of your NPC allies does something.

Gungrave! Brandon Heat!!!

Just finished watching the whole series of Gungrave what a brilliant show!

Resident Evil 6

 

Resident Evil 6 captivate trailer

Shaping up very nicely!

DmC 5 Captivate trailer

 

DmC 5 Captivate trailer!

Me playing DmC

 

DmC Gameplay footage

 Played by Senar Koraltan 

Game Of Thrones Season 2

 The new season of Game Of Thrones has finally begun! 

First episode was good! It set good a pace for the new season, while introducing new characters into the fray. Even from the first episode you get the sense that the season is already building up to a big climax.

Real Hero

From the Drive OST 

Film wasn't bad but this song has got me through many stressful days!

Qaulity Design

QA (quality assurance) is very important for many reasons, mainly for making sure the product is as solid and stable as it could possibly be.

I've been doing QA testing for 3 years now, I've worked with 2 major publishers and I'm currently working with an independent studio (Ninja Theory) and I've come to the conclusion that QA is very much closely connected to design.

As an aspiring designer I've been able to take advantage of my QA background in order to work in design, which I'm currently fulfilling. We all know that QA is a stepping stone for anyone to get into the industry with many testers going on to become producers, programmers, artists and designers.

I believe that the QA process is so fundamental in not only achieving stability but to ensuring enjoyment.

Many designers do not have the time to play what they've designed and that's where QA comes in, the unfortunate situation is that QA often gets ignored when it comes to the design process, this is not always the case but I believe there is far more room for improvement between QA and design relationship.

As someone who has recently made the transition between QA to design I sympathise with testers, because they play the game 100 times over. Who knows more about the game itself then they do?... the answer? not many! that's where my acronym comes in QD (Quality Design)

I believe there should be a QD role inside every studio. This role I think is crucial for many reasons mainly for ensuring that the game is fun! the advantage of merging the two roles mean that a QD can not only play the game many times over but also implement smaller changes into the design process while leaving the larger changes in design to the senior designers.

Only by playing the game many times over can you see the potential in every aspect of the game, which sometimes designers cannot see because they are too deeply involved in the design of the game.

QD is the future!!

DmC: 

A Game I'm currently working on!

Going Under!!

Going Under Performed by Evanescence

One of my favourite songs from the great album Fallen.

My First Blog Post!!

If you're actually bothering to read this then you might be interested in me and what I'm up to.

In that case welcome! :)

On this blog I will be adding my thoughts and experiences in the games industry which you may find interesting and maybe even insightful.

I will also add updates on; films,games,music and TV shows I'm watching/listening to, giving my general opinion on what I find interesting and maybe what I find not so interesting.

Feel free to agree or disagree with me! I want to hear what you guys think ;)

Well I'll leave my first blog post short and sweet feel free to leave comments!!

Sen