Development Blog for Project Vega

This past week I’ve been working on the second redone map for our publishing demo. It’s been coming along great, but along the way, I’ve hit a snag or two. A couple of areas… no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get them to look good! One of the areas in particular was a long hallway. No matter what I did to it – no matter what kind of ceiling/wall decoration I added, no matter how intricate…

… it still looked boring.

So I decided to do something different. I decided to break the hallway up into different sections, and shape it differently overall, while still keeping the same basic idea. I added a couple of inlets to a curved room with some steps, which ended up being a lot more interesting than a hallway. See for yourself:

I don’t know about you, but I think that looks a lot better!

So what’s the lesson here? Sometimes a design idea can be so flawed that no amount of detail, texturing, lighting, etc. can save it. All you can do it scrap it and start over. If you find yourself frustrated while trying to make something look nice, ask yourself if the underlying idea is fundamentally flawed. (Is it too simple? Too complicated? Is it not consistent with the rest of the map?) If it is, scrap it and start over, and quit banging your head against the wall trying to make something work that can’t! You’ll free yourself to come up with something much better, and save yourself lots of frustration.

EDIT: You can now click on the shots for a higher resolution version!

… well, not exactly. But I had to get your attention somehow, right?

If you follow me on Twitter, you may be aware that I recently picked up a new Diablo-like game called Torchlight (which was actually made by the creators of Diablo). The game is absolutely fantastic – it looks great, and has been a total blast to play – and I’ve been playing it off and on over the past week or so (okay, mostly on!). For someone who’s been anxiously awaiting Diablo III, this game has really hit the spot, given that it’s VERY similar to Diablo (gems, randomly generated dungeons, champion monsters, etc.), and might even – dare I say – be better! It’s certainly more colorful and more interesting looking at this point than Diablo III is.

I’ve been intrigued by a few aspects of Torchlight in how they relate to Vega. For starters, it’s bright and colorful, and just plain great to look at. Also, it was developed fairly quickly, mostly due to the use of great tools. Anyone who’s gotten to take a peek at Vega’s editor will tell you that the rendered view represents your level almost exactly how it will look in the game (well, minus shadows at this point – but that will change!). This allows mappers to work on their levels more without having to pause and load it to see how it looks, letting you create maps much faster, and with fewer annoyances.

Finally, it’s smaller in scope (no multiplayer), which has allowed them to get it out the door a lot faster (read: you get to play it a lot sooner), and has allowed them to sell it for a mere $20! That’s pretty similar to what I’d like to do with Vega – release something that focuses on giving you great single player/co-op so we can release it faster and more cheaply, and then focus on other aspects (deathmatch) later on.

Anyway, if this sort of thing is of interest to you, check out the interview with Max Schaefer (the CEO of Torchlight developer Runic Games) for more great insights, and for more information about a great game:

http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/225/max-schaefer-talks-torchlight/1

So I’ve been working on the first map of Vega’s QuakeCon demo, and have finally gotten to use one of the features implemented some time ago: shadows! Why am I bothering to write an entire new blog on shadows? Well, clearly it’s because I want to show off this new map lighting is tremendously important, and can make a huge difference in a game.

For instance, take a look at this shot without shadows:

And then look at this shot with shadows:

Makes a big difference, doesn’t it? Anyone who’s played Doom 3 can understand just how important lighting is. Without lighting, most Doom 3 maps would appear to have simple architecture and simple texturing. However, the lighting brings the rooms to life, making them look very 3D, and is almost solely responsible for setting the map’s overall mood.

It’s amazing how much of a difference one little checkbox can make.

So last week, Mechadon, The Doom Freak and I were discussing the weapons I had come up with in the design documents. After discussing some of their concerns over the weapons, as well as listening to their ideas, I began to think about what makes for a good FPS weapon. After all, with so many ideas, how can one tell if they’re any good or not without implementing them all and trying them out (which would be very time consuming)?

Here’s what I came up with for what makes a good FPS weapon:

• Simple. This eliminates confusion. When weapons have multiple attacks, and work differently in different situations and against different monsters, that creates a lot of confusion for the player. If a player is confused, they don’t feel in control because they don’t know what the weapon is going to do, and nothing is more frustrating than the feeling of not being in control of your environment.
• Balanced. If a weapon is completely dominant in all situations, there’s no variety, and more importantly, there’s less skill involved. If all you have to do to win is “grab the best weapon and start shooting”… that’s pretty boring. Not mention that there’s not as much skill involved in that as getting multiple weapons and picking the right weapon for whatever situation you’re in. So, to be balanced, the weapon should be dominant in specific situations… not *all* situations.
• Great aesthetics. Great looks and sounds. Come on – this one’s a no brainer!
• Based in reality. This goes back to the whole theme of people enjoying skill-building when playing games. If the weapon is completely out there and completely defies the laws of physics, you’re not going to feel like you’re developing any skills. It’ll just feel silly, and like a big waste of time!

If you look at a lot of Doom’s weapons, which I think have largely been successful, they fit almost all of these criteria. Take the SSG for instance. It’s simple, balanced (slow-burning, mid-range, “default” weapon), looks great and feels great to shoot, and has some basis in reality.

So what do you think? Do you have anything to add to the list? Did I completely blow it? Let us know what you think!