As I was preparing to write up this piece, I realized that there simply aren’t any screen shots or video online of most of the games on which I worked. Considering that most of them were intended for very young children, this wasn’t much of a surprise. So I invested in a (very) cheap video capture device. It certainly isn’t the highest quality, but it’ll do for this purpose. I’m so dedicated to this podcast! In my previous entry about my Spider-Man game, I mentioned that working with licensed properties can be a hassle. This was a point that was heavily reinforced while working with Nickelodeon on SpongeBob SquarePants Dilly Dabbler.
By the time we started working on this product, there were one or two SpongeBob TV Games out already. Nickelodeon and Jakks wanted something different for this one. Instead of a collection of mini-games, Dilly Dabbler (their name) was going to be a collection of “activities” that would be aimed at younger kids. Both companies were quick to stress that they didn’t wants “games” here. Of course, the original request was for something along the lines of 10-12 different activities, which would have been very difficult to fit on the 1MB ROM with which we had to work, especially if we wanted to use different artwork in each activity (for backgrounds and whatnot) to keep them visually interesting. Eventually, we talked them down to a more realistic seven activities. Nick and Jakks suggested a couple possible activities; my first job was to fill out the rest and implement their ideas into the design document.
This one gets a bit long, so there’s more after the jump. Read more…
This week! We talk about Sony’s Next Generation Portable announcement, Bulletstorm (demo), Little Big Planet 2 and last week’s big release, Dead Space 2. Plus lots more.
Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We’ve got an app for that–the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you’ll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.
Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don’t forget to join our forums if you haven’t already!
This week! 3DS, Steam on PS3, DKCR, Dead Space (the original), wrestling, Princess Bride and a whole heckuva lot more.
Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We’ve got an app for that–the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you’ll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.
Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don’t forget to join our forums if you haven’t already!
During our most recent episode (#221), CJ, the Gregs, and I gave a brief recap of our past experiences in the game industry. So focused was I on the various writing that I’ve done over the years that I initially forgot to mention the brief time that I spent at Backbone entertainment as an Associate Producer (at least, until the guys reminded me).
Can you blame me, though? I was only at that job for five months before I was laid off. Some of the company’s other projects had been canceled, so it suddenly had a surplus of producers. Because I was the newest on staff, I was also the first one to get the boot. Sigh. Still, during my five month stay at Backbone, I managed to ship four products on time and under budget as well as get three other projects practically out the door. So, yeah.
You’ve probably seen games similar to those that I worked on during my time there. They’re usually called Plug & Play TV Games, and they were published by Jakks Pacific. They’re the self-contained controllers that plug directly into your TV; they’re usually loaded with a handful of different games. When I worked at Backbone (early 2004…cripes, that was seven years ago?), these TV Games were huge business. Store shelves were clogged with all sorts of different TV Game titles. Not surprisingly, Jakks wanted to get as many of these games into stores in as short a time possible in order to capitalize on the fad.
Over my next few blog entries, I plan on talking a bit about the TV Games in which I was involved. Of course, when it comes right down to it, the real credit goes to the fantastic programmers and artists that really shaped these projects. The guys that I worked with the most were Anthony Vaughn (the lead engineer) and Kevin James (the lead artist). These games had extremely small teams, usually with just one or two engineers and one or two artists working on each title. In fact, a lot (most?) of the artwork on a few of these titles was handled by Kevin–and he wasn’t even officially assigned to work on them. He volunteered to help me out after working on his “real” assignment. Talk about helpful. But yes, here are the TV Games on which I worked:
Spider-Man
One of many Spider-Man related toys that was intended to capitalize that that year’s soon-to-be blockbuster movie, Spider-Man 2. The slight catch was that only movie-licenses products could feature Doctor Octopus, and this game had the comic book license. Any other character was fine to use, though.
Jakks wanted to have a “main” platform game with a few mini-games as extra goodies. In addition to coming up with the level progression and boss fights of the main game, my primary job on this project was to come up with relatively simplistic mini-games that would fit within the hardware limitations (and this was not powerful hardware). What I came up with was a whack-a-mole variant, a Game & Watch inspired game with Venom, a 3D maze game, and what is essentially upside-down Missile Command.
For what they were, I think the mini-games turned out pretty darn well. They look nice, and they’re kinda fun to play. The stiff controller doesn’t do the game any favors, but it’s workable. I was especially pleased with the tile-based 3D maze game. I always enjoyed those pseudo-3D mazes in 8-bit games, so it was fun to get to work on one. The fact that the mazes are randomly generated is cool, too.
Although the mini-games remained true to my original designs, the main game was altered a fair amount as it was finished after I had been laid off. As far as I remember, about the only thing of mine that stayed in the game was the very basic boss fight against Rhino during the first level (jump over his head as he charges, and he gets stuck in a wall…typical stuff). I had a few other boss fights that I felt would have turned out well, but I don’t believe they made it into the final product. These included a rooftop battle with the Green Goblin where you had to dodge his pumpkin bombs while repeatedly latching onto his glider with Spidey’s web. After enough hits, you pull him down far enough that he crashes.
I had also planned a subway battle against Electro that had you moving between the platform and the subway pit. In addition to dodging Electro’s lightning bolts, there was also the occasional train to avoid and the constant danger of Electro supercharging the subway’s third rail, making the pit a death trap. The best way to defeat Electro was to hit him enough to push him back into puddles of standing water to “short him out.”
Oh, and when we were in the middle of developing the title, Jakks sent us over a picture of what the final joystick would look like. We all got a chuckle about how disturbingly phallic Jakks decided to make it. I found some footage of the game on YouTube, so you can see it in motion.
Within the multiple games, you may notice a trend of enemies usings bombs against Spidey. It may seem odd that so many of Spider-Man’s foes have decided to take up explosives, but this was something that Marvel told us to do. I suppose that cartoony bombs were a weapon that kids couldn’t easily get their hands on or something. Working with licensed properties can be pretty difficult as there’s usually days worth of back and forth just to figure out the simplest of concepts. When you’re on a three month production cycle, this can be quite trying.
Since Spider-Man’s release, there have been multiple other Spider-Man TV Games, but they’re all different from this one. It’s been years since I’ve seen this particular title in stores.
This week! We talk about the games of last year as if we’re still playing them. Because we are. That includes Donkey Kong Country Returns, EA Sports Active 2, Raskulls, Castlevania Lords of Shadow, Picross 3D, Limbo, Halo Reach and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Plus who we are, 3DS, preorders, digital downloads and much more.
Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We’ve got an app for that–the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you’ll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.
Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don’t forget to join our forums if you haven’t already!
Publisher: Sony Imagesoft
Developer: Core Design
Released: 1992
I’ve probably said this a dozen times already during the WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL series, but I can’t believe how prolific Core Design was on a system that really wasn’t around all that long. Plus they covered just about every genre while they were at it.
It’s easy to mark different eras in the game industry based on the specific genres everyone is trying to cash in on. Right now it’s first-person shooters. At one point it was racers. Sports games. 3D action games. And way back in Mario’s glory days, it was the platformer. The early 90s were filled with hundreds of me-too platformers featuring cartoony little everymen or cute, cuddly, anthropomorphic creatures (with attitude, if you’re talking 1991 or later). Aero the Acro-Bat, Rocket Knight, Bubsy, B.O.B. – the list went on and on.
Before they would set a new standard with the likes of Tomb Raider, Core Design was on the Mario clone gravy train as well, and Chuck Rock was their mascot. This stupid, beer-swilling caveman with a jutting chin and ridiculously hot (read: big-breasted) wife appeared on no less than 10 different systems. And that was just the first game in the series.
The story goes like this – Chuck’s wife Ophelia has been kidnapped by Gary Gritter (the local weirdo, according to the narrator), and he’s off to jump and belly bump through a handful of different stages to get her back. Pretty straight-forward for 1992, really.
I do love that the somewhat perverted Gary Gritter is a play on real-life rock star Gary Glitter, particularly when we all learned a few years later that he was a bit of a perv himself.
Replaying this game, I can’t believe how mediocre it was. The levels are short (though there is an endless supply of them) and mostly by the numbers. The graphics are alright, but nothing special. But for some reason I remember there being a bit of hype around this series.
Perhaps it was GameFan’s fault. The magazine had a bad habit of talking up anything remotely resembling a platformer back then, especially when it came from Core Design.
Chuck Rock really goes nowhere fast, and playing it so many years after the fact is pretty painful. It has a certain charm shared by a lot of European platformers, but that never really keeps me interested past the first few levels.
Interesting tidbit? Well, as with any Core game, a lot of the folks who worked on this also helped introduce the world to Lara Croft. In fact, Lara creator Toby Gard has a direct link to the Chuck Rock series – he was the designer on BC Racers. Interesting!
This week! Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Gran Turismo 5, Tron: Evolution, Tetris PSN, Minotaur Attack, Sly 2 and more!
Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We’ve got an app for that–the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you’ll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.
Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don’t forget to join our forums if you haven’t already!
This week! We spend the entire podcast talking about our Top 5 favorite games (plus portable and downloadables) of 2010.
Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We’ve got an app for that–the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, voicemail line and more! Plus, you’ll be able to access bonus audio and video content (soon, once we figure out what that is). Click here to download.
Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don’t forget to join our forums if you haven’t already!
In my previous entry about my Spider-Man game, I mentioned that working with licensed properties can be a hassle. This was a point that was heavily reinforced while working with Nickelodeon on SpongeBob SquarePants Dilly Dabbler.
By the time we started working on this product, there were one or two SpongeBob TV Games out already. Nickelodeon and Jakks wanted something different for this one. Instead of a collection of mini-games, Dilly Dabbler (their name) was going to be a collection of “activities” that would be aimed at younger kids. Both companies were quick to stress that they didn’t wants “games” here. Of course, the original request was for something along the lines of 10-12 different activities, which would have been very difficult to fit on the 1MB ROM with which we had to work, especially if we wanted to use different artwork in each activity (for backgrounds and whatnot) to keep them visually interesting. Eventually, we talked them down to a more realistic seven activities. Nick and Jakks suggested a couple possible activities; my first job was to fill out the rest and implement their ideas into the design document.
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