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Ari Kangasniemi released announcement "Prototyping project completed" for Battles (VG)
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Battles2010_thumb
Battles (VG) > Art style > What we have done, what's up for the next..
Kinda generic task on the thoughts on art style. I am thinking 3D all the way since it can actually be easier to polish than 2D. Original battles concept art style was bright colored, cartoonish style. One option to go for was also "toy soldiers" or "tin soldiers" type of art. One game that came way after our original concept that has a great style is the new Live Arcade title Toy Soldiers. http://marketplace.xbox.com/fi-FI/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841099e/ I will upload the original concept art soon for discussion.
591 days ago | 0 Comments | 0 Thumb-ups 

I think we have progressed step by step to the next level in this game project. We have a basic concept idea what the game should look like but the main game idea is a little bit open yet.:D We have created art asset list and now it's interesting to see can we get some advices or maybe some music for the game.

Now we have a fancy 3D-terrain where the user can shoot explosive balls to the different targets. Could the balls be like own units like in Angry Birds?

Next where are going to do some buildable buildings and units with some AI. The game is a casual game and thus it should be more fun than realistic. The game tries to avoid serious violence by its cartoonish outlook.

The appearance of the units is caricature like and somewhat non-stereotypical. For example the caveman is skinny and on the other hand the cavewoman is muscular. The meaning of this to get the game a little bit funnier by turning the basic stereotypic setting upside down.

The game has a cartoon look with funny characters We have planned to have 5 different "races". What the races "should be"? At this point we are using cave people and medieval categories.

Players have cartoon avatars from different historical eras with different stories. We have now wrote a background story for the game. Most of the game art is in 3D, but the avatars and menus are in 2D. Could someone have the idea what menus should look like?

A link: Fat Princess video with menu

Fat princess have a story with different chapters. We could use that concept as well?

The huge question is that: "What makes the game even more funnier?" Is it that the cavemen could have rougher voices or could it be otherwise? Could there be more some mixing up with the weapons for example?

At this point we haven't talk much about the audio style. But it sure would be nice to have some background music for example digitalized samples which gives the right mood for the game. These samples could be 30s long at this point for example.

The mood and atmosphere for the music could be something like this.

A sound link: Greatest Battle Music Of All Times: Avenger (No Choir)

Ari_thumb
Ari Kangasniemi gave a shot "Stickmen" for Battles (VG)
Battles2010_thumb
Battles (VG) > Art style > Stickmen
Kinda generic task on the thoughts on art style. I am thinking 3D all the way since it can actually be easier to polish than 2D. Original battles concept art style was bright colored, cartoonish style. One option to go for was also "toy soldiers" or "tin soldiers" type of art. One game that came way after our original concept that has a great style is the new Live Arcade title Toy Soldiers. http://marketplace.xbox.com/fi-FI/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841099e/ I will upload the original concept art soon for discussion.
625 days ago | 0 Comments | 2 Thumb-ups 
Daniel_logo_thumb
Daniel Saarimäki gave a shot "Stickmans! XD" for Battles (VG)
Battles2010_thumb
Battles (VG) > Art style > Stickmans! XD
Kinda generic task on the thoughts on art style. I am thinking 3D all the way since it can actually be easier to polish than 2D. Original battles concept art style was bright colored, cartoonish style. One option to go for was also "toy soldiers" or "tin soldiers" type of art. One game that came way after our original concept that has a great style is the new Live Arcade title Toy Soldiers. http://marketplace.xbox.com/fi-FI/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841099e/ I will upload the original concept art soon for discussion.
627 days ago | 0 Comments | 0 Thumb-ups 

What does the title say XD

Ari_thumb
Ari Kangasniemi gave a shot "FB games" for Battles (VG)
Battles2010_thumb
Battles (VG) > Competitive research > FB games
Task is to find similar games to compare and study.
629 days ago | 0 Comments | 0 Thumb-ups 

Its hard to find anything similar from FB games. Is there a reason why there are no "duel" games in FB? Need to figure this one out.

Ari_thumb
Ari Kangasniemi gave a shot "Variants" for Battles (VG)
Battles2010_thumb
Battles (VG) > Concept re-design > Variants
First task is to innovate on the possibilities of new game concept. Old Battles concept was based on classic turn-based cannon fighting in different eras (medieval, musketeers, modern etc.) with infantry and special units on the side. The main concept lacked a killer twist and a novel game idea. For new concept we should develop somekind of USP and make the game playable in Facebook/MySpace and in modern mobile handhelds (iPhone,Android and MeeGo).
629 days ago | 0 Comments | 0 Thumb-ups 

Instead of doing just turn based "worms" type of shooting, the game could also be a "crush the castle" or "tower defence". However these are quite common nowadays.

http://www.mousebreaker.com/games/crushthecastle/playgame

Ari_thumb
Ari Kangasniemi gave a shot "Top FB apps" for Battles (VG)
Battles2010_thumb
Battles (VG) > Competitive research > Top FB apps
Task is to find similar games to compare and study.
629 days ago | 0 Comments | 0 Thumb-ups 
Battles2010

This is a side task for reporting the different aspects of community based game development.

It is likely that all commercial productions must have a legal owner. In Finland a limited company (Oy) or osakunta ("nation") are likely choices.

In theory it should be possible to arrange the model so that after a commercial launch is made or there is substantial revenue to be had, the community can arrange itself into a company or osakunta and the original owner of the concept and IP will sell or transfer the rights to the new legal entity.

Similar model is used by the finnish media and games fund "Mediatonic". Mediatonic makes an investment into a production together with other financiers and all IP is transferred to a new company.

One interesting model is the Kajak Game Studio model in Kajaani polytechnic, where students are also workers of the osakunta.

Battles2010
New task: Art style

Kinda generic task on the thoughts on art style.

I am thinking 3D all the way since it can actually be easier to polish than 2D.

Original battles concept art style was bright colored, cartoonish style. One option to go for was also "toy soldiers" or "tin soldiers" type of art.

One game that came way after our original concept that has a great style is the new Live Arcade title Toy Soldiers.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/fi-FI/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841099e/

I will upload the original concept art soon for discussion.

Battles2010

Identify potential technologies and tools to be used in the game prototyping. While the original idea has been to produce a facebook/mobile concept, the prototyping tech/tools do not have to support launching in these platforms.

The most important thing in prototyping tech/tools is to be able to test game mechanics as early as possible and easily make changes to the mechanics.