I'm taking Source down... gently.

Pretty much playing around a little with the Source SDK, but just today I finished the basic level creation for the Alien Swarm (AS) SDK. Phew!

The AS SDK has a couple more steps, so don't expect it be a breeze with it, but nothing impossible to accomplish really.

Gonna keep working hard though. :-)

The Swarm of Alien-like thingys

As you've probably known, I'm a scaredy-cat at horror-style games. Well, apparently in the case of Alien Swarm, by the way you can get it for free on Steam, it wasn't an issue which is a big plus for me.

This might have been you. Er, no, I don't mean the alien bug.

I believe it's the fact that the view is from a third-person, top-down view that allows me to focus more of the game-play rather than being freaked out as one of the players. But still, I could also say the same when I played my second session of L4D2 with JJ, Neo, and WJ, in which in this case was intense and exciting but I don't feel as scared of it when there's actual people playing with me. Guess strength in numbers.

Anyway, about Alien Swarm I have to say that using the Source engine for it is pretty impressive, which I think that this title might be in the Indie genre but I'm not sure. Still, the game-play is straightforward and didn't try to bore you with the overall story as it immediately sets you down in the game's environment, your instinct already telling you that there's some serious problem going on. The dialog and the occasional iPad-like consoles helps to build the plot along as you play the game, which assist to maintain the pace.

The dynamic four-coloured rangers, ready to take on the evil aliens.

Next, the control mechanism is also pretty straight-forward. Even when there's no tutorials to be found, when encountered with either an item or an obstacle the game helpfully hints at what keys to press in order to interact with it.

The camera does it job relatively well, though my negative observation was that at some point the camera would kind of shake rather violently from left to right and back, which seems to have happened a few times. I was not able to discern the reason behind it but unless the some dialog or event justifies it, it's pretty much a bug. Even so, this will not negatively affect your overall game-play experience. At least, not for me.
If you didn't play close attention, the background music is almost non-existent considering that the foreground sound effects pretty much drown it out, so no comments so far regarding about it.

Wicked graphics. For a free Steam game, that is.

Multi-player has always been a bitch when one goes down to the levels of lag time and frame rates. With the most recent multi-player match I had just a few minutes ago there were times when the game does lag to a certain point where control is greatly affected. Eventually the game resumes pace and you're on your way again. Unfortunately, this problem has always, and will always, be an re-occurring problem. The only solution? Get your local friends together and play it in the same region as you are. But even this couldn't fend away the possibility of lag.

Finally, my overall rating of the game itself. Though only played for, what? About 2 hours at best, I feel confident that my initial review of it won't changed even with further game-play, which I intend to by the way, so I'm giving a 7.5/10, giving it the grace as both of a free Steam game as well as possibly in the Indie genre. I cannot see any more playability value as a single-player though so play it with your friends. :-)

P.S. Hee hee, I didn't realize that I could manipulate the positioning of the image but alas I did just that. Please do let me know if this looks better.

Steam's On. So am I.

As you might have already known, I've finally got my new DIY PC. We can share the specs later but more importantly I'd like to share something with you.

First off, Shank. Or at least, the Shank Demo readily available on Steam. Shank is an indie game by Electronic Arts in the style of a 2D action-platform. You take control of a skilled, but angry, man on the quest to find a lubre wrestler who kind of crashed into your home, beat up your avatar really bad, and to top it off even kidnapped your girlfriend/wife for who knows what sort of, er, 'evil' deeds that's in his sleeve.

So, off you go and first stop is a typical scene from a wild-west genre, a bar. Yup, a bar. And without much of an ado the opening sequence starts off with you handing severe punishment on the customers who clearly went after you banishing an assortment of weapons namely a 2-piece blade, a 2 pistols, and a chainsaw, which you expertly took control and becomes your primary choices.

Though on a keyboard the control mechanism is smooth and quick, though clearly the game was designed more for the gamepad in mind. Nevertheless, keyboard players are in no significant disadvantage. The graphics are pretty close to what you might see in a Flash animation. Likewise, smooth and fluid. Colour scheme matches the atmosphere and the era that the game might be taking place in, which I presume most likely in Mexico.

Sounds are pretty standard though I felt that the voice-acting could use some buck-up. The main actor's voice sounded non-chalent despite the avatar's pissed-off facial features. But if the story build-up is not going to bother you, chances are these little hiccups are gonna pass by you without as much of a notice.

Overall the experience with the Shank Demo is in the positive zone and I could see myself investing some hard-earned cash on this, but with the advent of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood in the horizon, I'll keep content with the knowledge I enjoyed at least the demo for the time being.

Right after this, I checked back my progress with Steam on my download progress with Alien Swarm, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Demo, and my first bought game Left for Dead 2.

Clearly Left for Dead 2, or L4D2 as more commonly known to my classmates, my new PC fortunately handles it well and I could only hope that my scaredy-cat guts could take the strain as I plunge into this unknown world. Already, what was immediate evident is that for best experience L4D2 is best enjoyed with friends, specifically if via Co-Op campaign gameplay or multiplayer slaughter for all.

My first session was with JJ and Neo, who kindly accomodated my invitation for my first game into a co-op mission. My mouse, though, was giving me problems as the cursor would jump to a random direction or angle and I would struggle to resume control of it while the other players patiently wait for me (thanks, guys!).

As like any other FPS, my first link to this title was Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Twisted monsters of shapes and sizes, wide variety of weapons both melee and long-range, as well as the vast stages that runs from a rooftop to a safe house some distance away. Though not surprisingly since the game IS designed by the Valve Team, but my initial experience has to be in the positive light.

As I mentioned before, I can't really take things that just rushes towards you with inhuman speed and start gnawing your virtual flesh off, no... Personally, I hate horror and monster survival games, which is why initially I'm particularly fond of this title.

But with the inclusion of friends joining in the fight with you? Now that's a different story.

On the technical note, the atmosphere with the game scene is pretty good, though I did got to some stages with pretty dense smoke or maybe it's something else that the designer did not intend, I am unable to discern.

Still, clearly the game demands that one should have a pretty decent piece of machinery in order to bring out the best eye-candy of this game title.

Finally, the experience in online multiplayer. The initial gameplay with JJ and Neo is actually quite impressive. I am unable to pick out any significant lag during the play though it did eventually stop due to the server that we were on. Oh, and one note I did not expect was that the game starter can let the game choose the best possible server around so as to provide the best possible experience. Nice one, Valve!

So, that's it for now. I think that this post is already a little too long for most and so I'll leave it here for now. See ya this coming Monday and have a nice Deepavali!

Game Arcade Observation

As per my visit to a local game arcade today, despite the availability of today’s current game consoles and personal computer systems I was under the impression that the presence of people for these venues would be rather scarce.

Contrary to that thought, the scene of the local arcade appears to be standing strong, both young and old customers can be seen playing, specifically on a few selected ones that I noticed that the adults seem to be paying lots of attention to.

For instance, there were several table-like consoles with multiple controls on its edges, providing several available playing seats of seemingly up to 8 players at one time. The players’ objectives was to use the control stick provided, guide their avatar’s cannon tube in the right direction and fire a torpedo which explodes into a fishing net, capturing any fish that comes into its path and the points rake up. Surprisingly, the prize of the game actually dispenses more arcade coins for the players to collect and they continue their streak.

On the other corner, was a section of the arcade room space reserved for a row of game stations that utilizes special playing cards when being played on a Infra-red sensitive panel, and the player controls their virtual army seen on the screen before them, engaging in a battle involving historic Chinese characters from the story of the Three Kingdoms.

Not surprisingly the said game is in its third season, clearly indicating a successful run with this game strategy. But what really caught my attention was the fact that the players me and my classmates encountered were seemingly from the ages of 30 or 40 years old and above. As far as 10 years ago, the arcade was usually a place where children, teenagers, and young adults make up the bulk of the arcade’s financial staple. But now, one of the older customers that I have spoke to even claimed to have taken part in major competitions, having a mass collection of the cards, and even being knowledgeable about the cards’ market.

With the gaming industry dishing out their punches with Microsoft’s XBOX360, Sony’s PlayStation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii, not to mention the handhelds and the ever improving Personal Computer, one would have thought that the only external establishments that continues to rake the cash would be the local Local Area Networks (LAN) shops.

But from the more recent additions to the arcade’s selection, I could tell that it might not be as far-fetched as I thought. For example, from what I have observed a couple of times when I was in a casino I noticed that there were rows upon rows of electronic slot machines, amounting to perhaps hundreds as far as I could see. Even more so was the number of patrons playing those very games.

When being compared with the ones I see in the arcade, I could not help but notice a similarity between the two. Take the machine that looks like a arcade coin jackpot for example, players place each coin on two rotatable slopes that the coins can roll into the glass case, land on a space made possible by a mechanical piece of plate, that continues to push any coins until excess coins drop into a waiting dish below for the players to collect. Though these machines have been around for quite a long time, the additions include slot-machine-like bells-and-whistles and special bonus stages on a compact LCD screen inside the case.

The players? Clearly people in their forties.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier that the LAN shops are certainly here to stay as long as popular multi-player PC games continue to be published, which was also what I discovered as part of the arcade’s premises.

Besides the new additions, I too noticed that old arcades titles like the fighting series King of Fighters and shooting ones like Time Crisis 4 are visibly around though not as crowded as before. Even so, I could still spy players putting in their coins for their fighting or shooting rush. Though not as popular now, I see it as a reasonable choice.

Normally for titles like these it is hard to find them in the current market, even if a handful does get ported over to the consoles. But the feeling that player experiences in an arcade might greatly differ from playing it on a home console or even on a handheld and that could be the main reason why some players still return back to the arcade.

Additionally, large gaming machines like Time Crisis 4 that comes with the gun controller and the feet pedal, though being ported into a PlayStation 3 title, simply trying to recreate the feeling and atmosphere in one’s home might not be possible, considering the lack of space and considerations for the neighbors, for people living in HDB flats.

Like LAN shops, the arcade can also be a social location in which friends can gather and play together, or one could even make new friends when playing a new attraction.

Thus, as long as the arcades’ management foresees the need to attract the older audience, continue to update and upgrade their selections, and the occasional attempt to set new benchmarks in terms of environment experience, the video arcade scene will not be going away any time soon.