EA

We had some great input from the guys from EA on our pitch.  We've been working hard on making the presentation work and look good, but in all reality, we are all about done with the idea.

Office Heroes (formerly Dough Joe) was a great concept, but the person whose brainchild it was is gone and those that remain on our team have all been eying some of the other games.  This has been a real learning experience in the past few weeks.  Although something may look good on paper and even conceptually, the real deal-breaker falls in the implementation.  It's been fun to work on it thus far, but we're all about ready to move on...

Brushing Up

So I've been brushing up on my skills in XNA.  My job this week is to start creating the mockup game in XNA and it's been fun to get to know the environment again.  Although, I realized that Visual Studio 2005 on my laptop just wouldn't cut it anymore so I started the downloads.  Yes, downloads with an "s."

It seems that most everyone else is using 2008, but I figure for my own personal fun, I'd get 2010 as well, so they are now both installed... Wohoo!

Theme and Goal

Possible times to meet are directly after this class.  Zack, let us know if that would work for you next week.  

Game's Theme: Aggression caused by frustration and boredom.  Escape from boredom and frustrations in an office by taking them out object characters.  

Game's Goal: Beating your opponent two times

Some possible characters:

Paperclip

Memo

Stapler

Bird counter-weight

Dust Bunny

Stressball

Mouse pointer

Whiteout

Bobble-head

Morgan and Randy: Make a simple mockup in XNA that has placeholders (simple sprites and movement with controller)

Lukas: Make a few concept-art samples of the characters.  We'll need some stuff to put into the XNA game, but we can talk about that on Tuesday when we come back.

Zach: If you could be in contact with Lukas and come up with some special moves that characters can use.  We'll meet on Tuesday and start adding what we like into XNA. 

Dough Joe

For the next pitch process, I'll be working on Dough Joe.  It's a pretty neat concept.  It's very similar to how Smash Brothers on the N64 starts out (the hand playing with the dolls and having them fight) with the fighting style of Street Fighter, (et. al) but this is based on the desk of someone who is extremely bored at work and he gets objects from his desk to fight each other.

The characters are quite clever too.  My personal favorite is Clip.  He's the paper clip like in Microsoft Office, who pops up and gives you annoying suggestions but he Clip can transform into more deadly things like an alligator mouth or a hook to grab other players.

I'm excited to get working on this project.

Dough Joe First Pitch: HERE

The Votes Have Been Cast

We got through the pitches this week from everyone.  I have to say that we seemed to have a lot of ideas and it's been fun to hear everyone's pitch.

After listening to each of the pitch ideas, we voted on our favorite (top 10) games and now we're just waiting to hear back.  I do have to say pitching a game idea is stressful.  You don't really have a lot of time to explain the ideas that have been formulating for months.

Whatever games are chosen, I'm sure they are going to be good.  I honestly just can't wait to get started on making one!

Nexus Pitch

Overview

Many casual games seem to lose their luster after a few hours of gameplay.  The game itself isn’t customizable and the multiplayer is either boring or nonexistent.  Nexus is a 2D vamped-up version of Peggle throughout space, on different worlds with different environments, obstacles and even differing gravity which includes many customizable features for free play including scenery, difficulty, gravity levels, and even multiple players. 

Players shoot balls into space trying to hit certain power spheres while also using special powers that can be gained throughout the levels.  Extra balls may be earned, but earning more balls becomes harder as the level progresses.  The player wins if all the power spheres are hit in a round before they run out of balls to shoot.  Some levels will have walls to bounce off, but others will be in space a if your ball flies off, it’s just plain old, “goodbye.”

Gameplay

Using flash-inspired art and character design, Nexus is a light-hearted game that can keep anyone entertained for hours.  It can be picked up in minutes, but can take much longer to master.  This game is split into four modes: single-player, singer-player battle, multi-player co-op and multi-player battle

Single-Player

Because gravity is going to play such an important role in the game, it seems logical that it is the thing that changes the most.  In single-player mode, the player can travel to each of the worlds, playing in varying challenging levels while learning skills to better use in battle or multiplayer games.

Single-Player/Multi-Player Battle

This is where you use your skills to win against the computer player(s) (or player opponents) who are trying to destroy your power spheres before you destroy theirs.  Each ball is given to you at certain time intervals, so timing is essential and you don’t want to be caught without a ball to use in your defense. 

Multi-Player Co-op

Nexus gives you the option to play along side your friends and try to use your combined maneuvers to outsmart the cleaver levels and tricks that are in store.

Powerups

Nexus comes with a vast array or powerups.  They can be used when a powerup sphere is hit with the players ball.  Powerups include:

• Black Hole: A force of gravity that balls are attracted to
• Space Torpedo: Your shot splits into two balls when it hits a power sphere
• Escape Pod: This returns your ball to you to use again
• Super Nova: An explosion helps hit all the power spheres in close range
• And many more!