Blog for Peter Robinson at GarageGames.com

Super Cell Released

Peter Robinson — 2008-03-18T01:20:25+00:00

Its been a long time since my last one of these and in that time I started a new project and actually finished it. Looking back it kinda funny how each time I tried to make a game it was a little less ambitions and I got a little closer to finishing. This time it looks like I finally got the right balance of features and managed to complete a game. I should also mention that I finally enlisted the help of a few artists, Eli Ramos and Robert Morris. I probably would have stopped at some point without them.

Anyway, if your interested in playing the game you could download it from our website.

So many resources, so little fun

Peter Robinson — 2007-06-04T16:41:36+00:00

Well its Monday again and for some reason I've decided to write one of these every Monday just to make sure I keep working on my game. This Monday I don't have much to say about my game. I made one level. That was it.

The problem was I bought Rise of Nations for five bucks on Wednesday and spent the rest of my free time playing it. And to be honest it wasn't really that great. All the levels played out mostly the same. Its like Age of Empires with less features. However, the next game, Rise of Legends, look pretty good. They cut the races down to three and the resources down to two. It seems like a lot of RTS games are going that direction. I think they're trying to copy Star Craft, which in my humble opinion is still THE best RTS ever made. The very fact that you can still find it on store shelves speaks volumes about how good it is.

Some time after Star Craft, game developers decided that more resources meant more fun, but I think they're starting to reel it back in now. I myself am all for conservative use of resources in game design. I think that resources should be used and collected in dramatically different ways. Otherwise, its really just the same resource in a different color. And besides, its really pretty hard to be strategic when you have to keep track of six resources.

Since I'm talking about RTS design (how did I get started on this) I'll go ahead and mention some other things. When playing strategy games I find that I make a decision about ever 5-10 seconds. I think game developers should really push to make those decisions matter. For instance, in Star Craft near the beginning of levels, I had to decide if I wanted to upgrade my current marines or build a new robot or more troops, and since the Zerg would be attacking in about 30 seconds the decision really mattered. I just don't find that happening in most of the RTS's these days. Typically they force you to build infrastructure for half an hour and then the fighting starts, so you don't really know if your loosing until then and you certainly can't narrow it down to one decision. "If only I had built a soldier instead of that villager!" You just don't hear that.

The other beautiful thing about Star Craft is that the races all had dramatically different units. Now I know, there are some new strategy games that are starting to do these things again, but for a long time it seemed like the differences between armies was that this one had slightly faster units and that one had slightly longer range, but it really wasn't anything you would take into account when you planned your attack. So the rule of thumb here is that if there is a difference in races, it should be a HUGE difference. In fact, it can't be too huge. The bigger the differences the better. In Star Craft if you played with the Protos the same way you played with the Zerg you would loose, quickly. And that's the way it should be.

Well, enough on that. I should probably start working on my game again, which is not a RTS. But my next game might be...

-Peter

Ah, the Summer

Peter Robinson — 2007-05-29T15:09:41+00:00

The summer has always been a good time for game development. The only thing I don't like about the summer is the way it seems to disappear so quickly. Over the years I've actually developed the bad habit of dreading every passing moment of summer just because its passing. Already I have this nagging voice in the back of my head telling me the summer is almost over. Of course its not, not yet.

So what does this have to do with my game? Well last week I only finished two levels. At that rate I'll be done with the game sometime around Christmas. I want to finish before summer ends.

I suppose I should talk a little more about my game. Let me see. I did a little work on the human baddies. And another piece of music was finish for the game. This week I hope to finish the first 20 levels and get some game testing going. If you want to test Titan Warfare just send me an email and we'll talk.

And so ends another exciting blog...

-Peter

Titan Warfare Development Continues

Peter Robinson — 2007-05-21T15:34:03+00:00

Hello Everybody!

I'm not really sure if anyone will actually read this or not, but at least it gives me an oppertunity to think out loud in public, and who could pass that up? Titan Warfare is progressing as usual. I spent the weekend implementing the split screen multiplayer mode for the campaign. I ran into the customary speed bumps, but it really didn't take much longer than expected.

In other news I now have 14 levels in the campaign! With a goal of a mere 40 I should be done in no time. Other major things left to do durring the summer include the battle mode and options. I also have a long list of particle and sound effects that still need to be added. This week I hope to get the levels all the way up to 20, polish the co-op mode (there's sure to be bugs), and fix a small problem with the human enemies (apparently everyone wants to run them over).

For those of you who want to join the one man cult following that is Titan Warfare just post below or email me or something. I'm passively looking for game testers.

Again, I want to release Titan Warfare in the second half of the summer. The website is www.titanwarfare.com. Thanks for reading.

-Peter

Titan Warfare has a Website

Peter Robinson — 2007-04-14T15:25:19+00:00

I've been working on this game since the old days when Torque Game Builder was simply known as T2D. Since I never really had anything worth while to show, I've never really needed to have a website. However, things have changed and my game is really starting to polish up. I'm at the point now where I'm finally adding particle effects, sound effects, and even music. Some of the game modes haven't been finished all the way yet, but other than that Titan Warfare is only a few months from completion. But I know you don't really care about the details. What you want is screen shots! Well like the title suggests, Titan Warfare now has a website and that website has screen shots. You can also sign up to receive an email when the time comes to buy the game. So where is this website?

www.titanwarfare.com

And just to further wet your appetite I'll throw in a screen shot here.

Titan Warfare should be done in the summer some time (probably near the end) and will go for $20. See you then!

-Peter