Viridian Games

So.

I’m looking at my SVN repository.

I’m supposed to be working on Zeta.

But instead I open the Inaria project. See, back before I started working for Stardock I was making an iPhone version of Inaria. I had greatly expanded the game, with new maps and NPCs and…well, everything. I didn’t get a chance to finish it before I lost access to the Mac Mini I used for Mac development, and I started to think that it was a real shame I never got to publish the new version of Inaria.

So I will Zeta’s on hold. Yes, I’ll get back to it, but in the end we game programmers are crazy. We have to work on what draws us.

Plus, I think you guys are going to love the new version of Inaria.

It’s out in both the normal and lovely collector’s edition. Go! Go, my minions and purchase copies!

Now it’s possible I might be able to sleep soon.

Well, I’m big and fat. I’m also a liar. I guess that makes me a big fat liar.

This poor game…ahead of its time, developed by a small, easily-overlooked company, with a couple of absolutely cripping design decisions…everything that makes for a great tragedy.

Name and developer, please! If you win, I’ll mention you in my next video!

There was this guy, see. He went by the handle Arkiruthis, and he was going to do a remake of Powermonger. He had a blog and everything, and some excellent screen shots and video. This got me really excited, and I did some work to help him out.

Then real life intruded and his blog went defunct. And I was sad.

But now he’s back, baby! Tanned, rested, and ready for another go-round! And you can see what he’s doing here.

Now, I have to reveal that one of the reasons he became disinterested in the project was because he got some flak from people when he revealed he was going to update the game rather than do a “straight” remake. Most of those people found out about his project from the Retro Remakes forums…because I posted about it there.

So, I’m sorry Nick if I brought unwanted pressure upon your project and maybe gave it more exposure than you were ready for at the time.

Work on Elemental has slacked off slightly, so it’s time to ramp this blog back up again!

I’d like to talk about Stardock and Elemental; I really would. But…well, if you want information about Elemental, you should be going to the official website, and while Stardock is an excellent place to work, I don’t have lots of goofy stories about working there yet.

Except one.

Once Brad took us out to look at some of his abandoned beehives, which were being scavenged by other bees. Because these bees weren’t defending their hive, they completely ignored us – we were standing right in the middle of a cloud of them and never got stung. Then I reached into the hive and pulled out a handful of just-made honey and ate it, just like Winnie-the-Pooh.

That sure as hell never happened at any previous place I’ve ever worked.

No, I worked more than three hours on Zeta this weekend, but a lot of work was done on the map editor. Just like with Inaria, any work I do improving my framework doesn’t count towards my time.

Basically all I have to do is make the map editor a little more flexible and I’ll be set. I eventually want an excellent map editor, with variable map size, lots of data for each cell, and lots of extra features, but that’ll be in the future.

Here’s a more detailed look at how I intend to pursue Zeta:

DESIGN OVERVIEW

TIER 1: Must be completed within the 40 hours or the project is a failure.

Each “zone” in Zeta will be 64×64 tiles, so we can use our existing editor.

Our character will be able to initially run, jump, climb ladders, and shoot left and right.

We will have at least one enemy type for our character to overcome.

We must have at least two zones with a zone link between them.

Our goal must not be accessible until the player finds an upgrade of some sort. (Probably double jump.) This is what makes it a metroidvania.

All graphics should be ripped from Wizard for now, for speed’s sake.

At this point, a playthrough of the game will probably take about ten minutes.

TIER 2: Bring the game closer to feeling like a full game.

A menu.

Save/load.

More zones.

More powerups, and more areas to explore.

More enemies. Steal attack patterns from other games.

Add at least one musical track.

Sound effects from SFXR.

At this point, a playthrough of the game will probably take about half an hour.

TIER 3: Finalize the game.

Start replacing the Wizard graphics with Zeta-style graphics.

More music.

Add a conversation system that will allow us to tell our story.

Add some boss fights.

Testing to make sure the basic gameplay is sound and the game can be completed.

At this point, a playthrough of the game will probably take about 45 minutes to an hour.

Okay. I think he’s crazy, but Brad has just given us all a four-day weekend for the 4th of July.

Which means I can actually work on something OTHER THAN ELEMENTAL!

So, a quick poll. What would you guys most like to see me finish? Or at least make significant progress on?

1. “Planitia. I’ve been waiting almost four years!”

2. “Zeta. A metroidvania sounds cool!”

3. “Let’s Play Starflight. I have to know how it ends!”

4. “Something else. The three above are old news.”

I can’t wait to hear what you pick!
No, really, I can’t wait. I’m actually going to be working on stuff in the meantime

Let’s say you’ve downloaded some (perfectly legal!) video from a website – one of the recent E3 conferences, let’s say, and it currently resides in a shared folder on your computer.

Now, being the savvy type, you’ve already set up your PS3 to play videos over your network, and it can see your box just fine.

But let’s say that the PS3 is downstairs and you want to watch the video upstairs.

Woe, woe is you.

Unless you have a PSP.

The PSP has an absolutely incredible feature that few people know about. It’s called Remote Play, and it will allow you to remotely control your PS3 over the internet. You must first link your PSP to your PS3 and then put your PS3 into remote play mode. Then, if both devices have an internet connection, the PSP will connect to it.

Once the connection is made, you will see a cross menu on your PSP. But this isn’t your PSP’s cross menu – it’s your PS3′s. The PS3 will stream its current video across the net to your PSP, meaning that you can watch any content your PS3 can access anywhere you have your PSP. You can even play games that are remote-play ready (though unfortunately, few of them are).

Let me re-emphasize this. Remote Play will allow you to use your PSP to watch or listen to content from your PS3 anywhere you have a wireless internet connection.

Add in a $20 cable that connects your PSP to a TV and things get even more awesome.

Last night I had a video on my computer upstairs. It would only play on the PS3 downstairs. But by streaming the video wirelessly to my PSP using Remote Play and connecting the PSP to my TV, I was able to watch it where I wanted to.

Crazy.