A good space combat game..

1. .. should have a freely explorable galaxy...

To be able to explore the galaxy, to fly freely in the stars and galaxies, to find new clusters, breathtaking planets, endless asteroid belts, gas giants, nebulae, black holes and other natural occurring phenomena. In the game Freelancer (Microsoft studios) this is achieved pretty well since the player can freely explore every corner of the pre-generated galaxy.

2. .. should have a fast transit system, cruise engines capabilities and "pixel-perfect" motion ...

When exploring the galaxy there are clusters which you want to quickly transit through. When shipping materials from one sector to another, you want quick jumps to be possible to conserve time. In Freelancer this is achieved via so called 'Trade routes', which are a form of sustained worm-holes. In Freespace2 (www.hard-light.net) this feel is emulated however not achieved properly, since the sustained jumps called 'subspace jumps' are only available as a means to transit between main missions.

The cruise mode is a very useful feature since it gives a feel of 'depth' to the galaxy. Having been able to transit between large clusters via space-routes you need to experience a certain weight before reaching your goal. It forces the pilot to notice some of the phenomena going on around him, to take interest and approach them. Cruise engines are very popular in games, weather it's induced by a possibility of extended 'afterburners' or dedicated 'cruise engines'.

3. .. should have radio comm enabled and possibility to hale and scan ships in range...

If a ship comes whiting range, It should be allowed to contact it. A scan option is also useful. If it's a new ship it's status should be detected to learn whether it is hostile, friendly or neutral.

4. .. should never present space as pointless open void...

There should always be detail available during flights. Space has a purpose.. You have to see the building blocks and notice the elemental beauty of it. Weather it's a debris field of a battle long forgotten, a nebulae or an abandoned space-station: it should be there.. happening around your ship.. And whenever you stop for a moment to look around the visuals should resemble something like a screen-saver.

It is also important to show that there are entities inhabiting space, and that first contact with a new species is always a possibility.

Ancient Empires impressions

Today I will write a bit about my favorite wireless game: Ancient Empires developed by Macrospace. The game is a very nice example of how a turn based strategy game should look on a mobile phone. The graphics are great, the battle scenes offer a nice distraction and the AI is challenging (although not hard to beat).

The first thing that captivates the attention are the graphics. The game uses simple square tiles, with objects and terrain types perfectly blended. When a battle occurs between two units, a 3d 'zoom-like' view is shown where various units attack each other and this offers a bit of weight to the simple battle system. Characters and units are very neat pixel designs, with old-school gfx / 'anime'-feel.

The game has a quick learning cycle, controls are simple and the game units seem balanced (although Wyverns are very powerful creatures)

In conclusion AncientEmpires for the wireless is one of the best examples of how a mobile game should look, feel and handle. The game is fun and challenging, it features a storyline too, and is all-in-all a great distraction whether you are stuck waiting for the bus, your girlfriend or your university teacher.

Finally ! I found it ! (Nekketsu! Street Basket - Ganbare Dunk Heroes)

I've been looking after this game for a long time.
I think this game is one of the best NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) games of all times.
I played the game a long time ago on a real counterfeit NES device :) ( I don't remember the manufacturer's name, but it wasn't Nintendo for sure). Even the game cartridge was counterfeit, as it's title was NBA :). That's why I haven't found this game a long time ago on the net. I was searching for NBA, but found only lazy original NBA basketball games.
I'm saying this because this game isn't simply basketball. Contrary it mostly obeys the game's rules. You can make as many fouls (and I used a "light" word for it) as you wish. More exactly you can kick and punch the opposing players. It's like a mix of a fighting and a sports game.



The above screen shots are taken from a game between Nekketsu team (me :), the japanese white guys ) and the New York team. I'm sure most of you think: "This game looks like shit, I expected something better". Well what can I say... If you take the time to try this game, I'm pretty sure you will forget about graphics pretty soon ;). And don't forget that this game was made back in 1993 for the NES (which has very limited hardware compared to todays consoles).

Ok, enough introduction let's talk about gameplay and controls.
The game has a pretty good control mechanism. The NES gamepad had only two buttons, so the authors had to come up with some combinations, to make possible the many fancy moves and tricks you can make. If you are a beginner, and play this game the first time, you will feel that you can do nothing. The CPU is much better than you, runs faster, does tricks, hits bigger etc. and you can only punch, kick and walk with the ball, attempt shots and pass.
So if you're impatient to find out the combinations yourself (I think part of the fun the game has to offer is finding out the combinations, TIP: you can learn much from the CPU), here's a little list:

• jumping: press A+B, you can attempt a double jump (like in the cartoons) pressing A+B again in the air
  
• running: press left or right twice
• making a trick with the ball: press up or down twice, while running
  
• small slam dunk: when nearing the hoop, do a jump and when you almost hit the ground press B (shoot) button
• big slam dunk: same as the small one, just press up arrow together with B when landing
  
• super shot: I don't know exactly this one, something with holding down left or right and B together, but it hasn't worked for me every time.
  

Hitting A or B, while you're in the air, performs various super kicks or punches, depending on the character you're playing with. And when you're knocked out (or when landing) keep pressing A or B (again depending on character) and you can make another type of super kick/punch (useful when the opposing players want to knock you out again).

As you see there are three hoops, and the higher the hoop the higher the score you'll get. Also you get more points when you successfully land a slam dunk. The hoops can break, and if you aren't careful the CPU will steal them (they can be thrown like the ball), and you'll find out that on your side are 5 hoops.
The game features 8 teams with 8 different levels, each team has 4 players to choose. There are differences not only in the visuals but in some properties too (speed, shot, power, energy).
I think the Hawaii team (big jumps, strong hits, good shooting) and the Florida team (two guys can teleport wherever the ball is, and they are very strong; otherwise they suck) are the hardest to defeat.
The only bad thing I can say about the game is how passing is handled (in one player mode): you won't take control of the other character so you have to make him to pass back the ball somehow, but I dunno how to do it yet; it would be much better if you took control. I use the defending team layout, this way my buddy won't "block me" too much :).

Here are some more screenshots from the game:

Pimp my pixel

Dark_Guy (aka Robi) and Dr.X here to blog about all the latest buzz's and 'happenings on the game development scene. The articles are best described as: "the direct output of two advanced neural nets positioned between a mobile game development day-job, a gamer *slash* hacker background and the inter-net web2.0 perversion".


To write or not to write a developer / gamer blog..

Starting from the premise that yet 'another' blog is needed to make the world a better place, we are here to fulfill this duty accordingly. (ermh.. , yes, honestly )

Good morning gentleman!

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