Guess what kiddies, sometime early next February i along with 4 others (the team) are making an actual game level using the Unreal Engine, specifically for Unreal Tournament 3…

i’ve never played Unreal tournament before, so guess what i bought?

It seems like a very standard fps, and im actually quite excited for it, as i really enjoy’d my little play through. If i’m allowed i’ll upload some screen shots of what we’re making sometime in 2010. I’ll even try and sneak out some sketches so you guys can give me a pre-development opinion.

On the subject of University work, im finally starting to understand C#, hallelujah. On another University related subject; due to some stupid recent purchases i have £35 left to last me until January 4th, hell yes.

Also i’ve planned a nice expensive secretive buy after Christmas. Some of you will be jealous. Turns out these days im more of a gamer, infact im enjoying playing through games now more than ever. Gameplay videos will be uploaded in there dozens over the festive period, why? purely because that bug has been up my arse for too long. Another little thing that is going to happen on this little blog will be a completion list, so you knwo what i’m playing, and all the games i’ve completed, its coming 2010.

Retrojc is a man thinking, Retrojc is going to a party.

P.s i know this blog doesn’t really have much reason to check back to, but to all the subscribers/continuous ‘check backers’ thank you, as it really makes me happy that this blogs is read by you, and makes it seem worth while. If you ever have a question or a suggestion of what you’d like to see, or how i could improve…just leave a comment i guarantee to reply.

Bioshock: Purchased Saturday, completed by Monday…and i must say what a brilliant game it is. It’s very rare for me to get into a modern generation game, as for me the majority of  modern day  games are more like playable films rather than games. But for once, i was quite gripped, at its release this game got great reviews across countless sites and magazines, and i will agree and say it is marvellous. I really just kept with the story line and didn’t explore to much, but still so so good. The game wasn’t overly scary either, infact I was slightly disappointed by that, but none the less i soldiered on. 525 Gamerscore was accomplished from it too. Not bad at all for a maximum of 10 hours work. Cost £10- lasted 10 hours – £1 an hour – much cheaper than going to the pub all day – good buy.

This game was also made on the Unreal Engine, which meant shit to me, untill i look up and notice the book “Mastering Unreal Technology” – Its next years final project, designing a level using Unreal Engine. Now i’ve seen what it can do, i am quite scared, as i can guarantee mine will look bad.

As for BIOSHOCK 2, I think i’ll waitawhile  before i buy it, actually i will just rent it. As truth be told; I am more excited to play Fisherman’s Bait 2 for the PS1 this Wednesday.

Also i really must say before i go…
The ending was beautiful, and for me thats how all games should end.

Retrojc out.

Το Unreal Dev Kit ξεπέρασε τους 50.000 χρήστες – Gameover.gr

Η Epic Games ανακοίνωσε ότι το δωρεάν Unreal Development Kit ξεπέρασε τους 50.000 χρήστες, μόλις μία εβδομάδα από την κυκλοφορία του. Το Unreal Development Kit παρέχει πρόσβαση στα ίδια tools της Unreal Engine 3 και στην ίδια τεχνολογία που χρησιμοποιούν διάφορα παιχνίδια, όπως τα Gears of War 2 και Unreal Tournament 3.[next]

 

Leer la noticia completa en Genbeta:
http://www.genbeta.com/imagen-digital/unreal-engine-developer-kit-en-descarga-gratuita

Her gencin elinin altında bulunması gereken müthiş oyun motoru Unreal’in geliştirme ortamı. 3D oyun yapımıyla ilgilenenler için bulunmaz nimet. Üstelik bedava. Birçok oyunun Unreal motoruyla yapılmış aşmış grafikleri var. Unreal Tournament 3′ü de oynayanlar bilir. Unreal Engine 3, hem yıllanmış bilgisayarlarda çalışabilecek grafikler üreten iyi bir optimizasyona sahip hem de çok kaliteli görüntüler üretebilme kapasitesine sahip.

Bir tane de siz neden yapamayasınız? Belki Türkiye’den de kaliteli oyunlar çıkar bi gün. Olur olur. Neyse indirmek isteyenler için:

Download Unreal Development Kit Beta Installer (November 2009) (Boyut: 559.95MB)

Download The Ball Unreal Development Kit Demo (Boyut: 358.57MB)

Download Whizzle Unreal Development Kit Demo (Boyut: 128.98MB)

Download Unreal Development Kit Launch Trailer (HD) (Boyut: 81.25MB)

Download Unreal Development Kit Psyonix Trailer (HD) (Boyut: 345.74MB)

This is very interesting news for game programmers.  Epic recently made the Unreal Engine available for free and now joins Unity in the land of free engines.

The UDK has all you need to develop a game powered by Unreal Engine 3: editor, animations framework  and physics powered by NVIDIA’s PhysX. This is very useful not only for programmers willing to develop personal projects but also for professionals who want to get a grasp on the technology.

Careful though, the UDK is only free for non-commercial purposes. Anyway, I know where I am going for my next personal gameplay project.

See you space cowboys…

Epic Games, creators of the popular Unreal engine and technology, have just released a free, standalone version of the Unreal 3 Engine. Anyone and everyone now has access to the Unreal Development Kit. The full feature list in the kit is listed here, and it is impressive.

“I’m excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don’t otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours. UDK is Unreal Engine 3, which has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more. Users are only limited by their imaginations.”
- Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games.

Naturally this is for creating game worlds and mods that are free of charge. Any commercial use will obviously result in royalties and associated terms of service agreements. Sorry console modders, the kit is only available for the PC. Although Epic is entertaining the idea of expanding to include consoles.

So get crackin’!

Links:

• Epic Games
• Unreal Development Kit

From/De: Epic Games

Epic Games Announces Unreal Development Kit, Powered by Unreal Engine 3

Industry Leading 3D Game Engine Toolset Now Available for Free

CARY, N.C. (November 5, 2009) – Epic Games, Inc. announces the launch of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the award-winning toolset like never before. This software release is available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers. Anyone can start working with the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at www.udk.com, where detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more are also available.

An unprecedented milestone in game development, the release of UDK awards free access to the same world-class tools and technology used by many of the world’s best video game developers and publishers. Unreal Engine 3 is a constantly evolving game engine, and UDK contains all the most recently added features and technological enhancements, including many that have yet to be seen in an Unreal Engine game. Furthermore, Epic Games will release ongoing, upgraded builds of UDK for free.

There is no charge for noncommercial or educational use of UDK. Over 100 academic campuses currently use Unreal Technology as part of teaching game development-related courses, and colleges with plans to incorporate UDK into their curricula include the University of Pennsylvania, North Carolina State University, The Art Institute system of schools, Drexel University, Westwood College, DeVry University and Atlantic College, with many others to be announced.

Individuals and companies wishing to develop software for commercial purposes should refer to licensing terms at www.udk.com/licensing. Commercial terms have been structured to make it easy for independent developers, start-up firms and seasoned professionals to use UDK with minimal financial barrier from concept to deployment. UDK is currently for PC use only, although console support is under consideration. Developers approved to make games for Xbox 360® and PLAYSTATION®3 may inquire for more information by emailing udklicensing@epicgames.com.

Benefits of UDK include the following:

• Immediate access to Unreal Engine 3, the critically acclaimed 3D game engine technology for cross-platform game development.
• Easy content creation with the Unreal Editor, a fully integrated suite of top-tier development tools, which comes complete with:
o Unreal Content Browser, a revolutionary tool for browsing, searching and organizing game assets with collaborative metadata tagging system.
o UnrealScript object-oriented programming language and Unreal Kismet, a visual scripting system that enables rapid prototyping on the fly.
o Unreal Matinee, a powerful tool with movie director-class controls for building in-game cinematics and gorgeous cut scenes.
o Unreal Cascade, an advanced particle physics and environmental effects editor that aids the creation of fire, fog, explosions and other visuals.
o NVIDIA® PhysX®-powered physics system with Unreal PhAT visual modeling tool for creating character and object physics rigs.
o Unreal Lightmass, a global illumination system that dramatically lights and shadows with minimal effort required by artists and designers.
o AnimSet Viewer and AnimTree Editor, which give animators precise control over every muscle and bone movement.
• Time saved thanks to technology integrations with leading game development middleware tools including SpeedTree®, Bink Video®, and FaceFX®.
• Output of standalone applications: Games created with UDK run entirely on their own with no additional software required. This means anyone can make UDK content and distribute it for free.

“I’m excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don’t otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “UDK is Unreal Engine 3, which has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more. Users are only limited by their imaginations. Go ahead make something Unreal!”

Psyonix Studios (www.psyonix.com), a game studio based in San Diego, Calif., created the first proof-of-concept game using UDK in less than two months using a two-man team of one artist and one programmer. “Whizzle” is a downloadable vertical scroller in which players swim through underwater levels as an adorable sea creature that collects items and frees allies from captivity. To read more about “Whizzle,” view the developer diary video, or download technical documentation, visit www.udk.com/showcase-whizzle.html.

Until now, noncommercial access to the Unreal Engine 3 toolset has been available only through the PC versions of games such as Epic’s “Unreal Tournament 3” and “Gears of War” games. Users made new game experiences, called modifications or “mods,” by changing existing game assets or creating original content through the Unreal Editor tools that ship with every game copy. Many of these mods have been showcased through the $1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest (www.makesomethingunreal.com), which awards over $1 million in cash and prizes to aspiring game developers. While mods require running the original game for interaction with user-created content, UDK provides a standalone experience every time, meaning a smaller digital footprint and no additional software requirements.

“The Ball,” an award-winning “Unreal Tournament 3” mod by Toltec Studios (www.toltecstudios.com), is available now as a free UDK-powered download at www.udk.com/showcase-the-ball.html. Anyone authoring mods for Epic’s PC games can port their original content over to UDK.

Support for UDK includes over 200 pages of newly unlocked documentation at the Unreal Developer Network (udn.epicgames.com), dedicated forums (www.udk.com/forums), as well as other resources available through the UDK web site, www.udk.com. 3D Buzz also hosts hundreds of free video tutorials for using Unreal Engine 3 technology at www.3dbuzz.com.

Furthermore, Sams Publishing and 3D Buzz recently published two definitive guides for learning the Unreal Engine toolset, “Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3” and “Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume II: Advanced Level Design Concepts with Unreal Engine 3.” Both books are bundled with a free, downloadable copy of “Unreal Tournament 3” for PC.

About Unreal Engine 3
The award-winning Unreal Engine is known for cutting-edge graphics and its best-of-breed toolset. Unreal Engine 3 maintains those features in addition to multi-core processor support, Xbox 360® and PLAYSTATION®3 optimizations, massive world support, and a highly mature tool pipeline. Unreal Engine 3’s consistently evolving toolset is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for PC and console games, visualization applications, training simulations, and linear animated content. Additional information on Unreal Engine can be obtained through the Unreal Technology Web site at www.unrealtechnology.com.

About Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and cross-platform game engine technology. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in its “Unreal” series, including “Unreal Tournament 3” for PC, PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360®. Epic’s “Gears of War” won over 30 Game of the Year awards, and the sales of “Gears of War” and “Gears of War 2” have eclipsed 11 million units. Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 is the three-time consecutive winner of Game Developer magazine’s Best Engine Front Line Award and is this year’s Hall of Fame inductee. Unreal Engine 3 has also been recognized as the number one game engine by Develop magazine. Additional information about Epic can be obtained through the Epic Games Web site at www.epicgames.com.

© 2009, Epic Games, Inc. Epic, Epic Games, Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Unreal, AnimSet Viewer, AnimTree Editor, Unreal Cascade, Unreal Content Browser, Unreal Development Kit, Unreal Editor, Unreal Engine, Unreal Kismet, Unreal Lightmass, Unreal Matinee, Unreal PhAT, UnrealScript and Unreal Tournament are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

###

Download mirrors for the Unreal Development Kit include:
NVIDIA, FilePlanet, BeyondUnreal, FileFront, GamersHell, FileShack, AOL Big Download

These are from a school project. The majority of the content is custom made. We decided to go for an outdoor environment set on a glacier. We also wanted a fairly large vehicle map. I may rework this into a Warfare map at some point.
I was the lead designer for this project. In addition to the overall design I did all of the blocking, terrain, implementation of assets, collision, generated Normal Maps using Nvidia’s photoshop filter, lighting, unwrapping and a bit of modeling.

“Egy speciálisan kiképzett osztag vezetője vagy. Az osztagod legelső, legfontosabb célja: A küldetés sikeres végrehajtása, minden áron, még akkor is ha a legnagyobb árat is kell fizetnetek…”

Star Wars, csak más szemszögből

A Star Wars eddig sem volt happy festésű, de tény, hogy teljesen más az egész. A Republic Commando egyik nagy erőssége, a sajátos, teljesen egyedi és gyilkos, sötét hangulata. Egy osztag vezére vagy, 3 katona áll a rendelkezésedre. Mind a testvéreid. Néha a rettenetes egyedülléttel kell az ellenfelekkel szembeszállnod, de az esetek többségében az osztagod kíséretében. Mindegy melyik helyzetben vagy, a józanész elengedhetetlen, elég ha te, vagy a testvéred kerül a földre(majd elmagyarázom), az egész küldetés veszélybe kerül. Nem szabad hibát ejteni. A terep felmérése roppant fontos.

Taktikai FPS

Nem a legkomolyabb, de az. A katonákat külön felállásba, egy kijelölt területre elküldheted, vagy ha nincs olyan, akkor ők keresnek fedezéket. Küldheted őket előre, egy pontra, fedezhetnek téged, vagy abbahagyhatod az összes eddig kért parancsot. A kijelölt helyek között van Sniper, Gránát(többféle) és páncéltörő pozíció. Mindezek mellett utasíthatod őket gépek feltörésére, bombák lerakására, hogy egy ellenfélre koncentráljanak, vagy hogy gyógyítsák magukat.

A parancsokból talán nincs sok, de bőven elég egy ütős taktika kidolgozásához. Néhányan azt mondják, nem kell ide ez, pedig szerintem ez nem igaz. A játék Hard módban a legjobb, ahol bizony kell egy kis taktika, hogy hogyan intézd el a droidokat, trandoshanokat vagy Geenosisokat. Van egy pálya, ami időre megy. A pálya végére muszáj hagynod legalább másfél percet, hogy oda küldj valakit a panelhez, lerakjátok a csapdákat, és kitakarítsátok a terepet az ellenfél erősítésének megérkezése előtt. Mindezek mellett ügyelned kell arra, hogy senki se esik el a csapatodból, ha még is megtörténik, sürgősen segítened kell neki, ugyan is rajtad kívül mindenkinek fontos a pozícióján maradni.

Történet…?

Nem azt mondom, hogy nincs, de tény, hogy nem sok, pont elég. Mint az elején meséltem, egy kommandós osztag vezetője vagy a Klónok Háborújában, és van három testvéred: Sev, Schorch és Fixer. Sev a mesterlövészed, aki minden ellenfélnek nekiront, Schorch a bombaszakértőd, ő tartja mindenkiben a lelket, Fixer pedig a szakink, ő figyelmezteti a csapatot, hogy mindenek előtt a küldetés.

“Quit the Chatter, Deltas!”

Fixer a többieknek, mikor a rádiót használják.

Szerintem a játék nagyon összpontosít a testvéri összefogásra, meg amúgy érezzük is, hogy milyen közel állnak egymáshoz. Mindenki egy egyéniség, Sev és Schorch folyton egymást szívatják, Fixer pedig pont ezt akarja mindig megakadályozni. Te, Boss (38-as) Jango Fett-re hasonlítasz a legjobban, de ez lényegében rajtad áll hogy mennyire vagy kedves hozzájuk, és a többi és a többi.

Grafika, Zene, Hang

A Republic Commando az akkor híres, divatos Unreal Engine 2-t használja, egész szépen. Szép, gyönyörű fémes, olykor nyirkos, lehangoló színek, és tökéletes modellek. Az animáció magáért beszél, persze, itt is van tesztbábu effektus. A játék legszebb grafikai pontja a bump mapping, ami az új videokártyákon nem működik.

A játé zenéi és hangjai kiemelkedőek, öröm őket hallani. Minden helyszínen felcsendül az ismert Star Wars zenék egyike, vagy a Republic Commando saját költeményei. Hangulatosak, és tényleg, a játékos fölkapja a fejét hogy “ACTION VAN!” , és lelket önt belé. A hangeffekteket ötletesen oldották meg, mint pl.: a geenosis fegyver hangját. A fegyver kemény, és kopogó hangot ad ki töltéskor, ezért ezt úgy oldották meg, hogy a hölgy fölvett öt hosszú (fém?) körmöt, amit egy műanyag, üreges labdán kopogtatott.

Extrák

Mert ezek is vannak, sajnos igen kevés. A játék kipörgetése után (közben) kapunk kis videókat, hogy hogyan készült a játék. A videók között ott van hogy hogyan vették föl a hangeffekteket, a zene, a karakter desing (amiben maga George Lucas segített!) és hogy hogyan csinálta az animációs csapat a dolgokat. Minden animátor egy teljesen igazi, vérbeli kiképzésen vett részt, ugyan is muszáj volt átérezniük, pontosabban megtudniuk, hogy hogyan mozog, és mit tesz egy kommandós.

Végszó

A Star Wars Republic Commando egy felejthetetlen élmény, igazi, eredeti, verhetetlen hangulattal, és szórakoztató játékmenettel. Egy rossz pillanata sincs játéknak amire azt merném mondani, hogy nem volt olyan jó. A játék mind végig tartotta a színvonalát, egyszer sem hagyott az akcióból, és végre igazi klón kommandósnak érezhettem magam!

komment: a játékból nem tudtam képeket csinálni, nem tudom miért…

There will be plenty of headlines today saying Epic Games VP Mark Rein declared all future Epic Games releases will include some level of support for Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal. Rein either misspoke or became too excited in an interview with the UK’s Official Xbox Magazine, however, as Epic’s business guy released a much more tempered statement to me.

The confusion stems from Rein’s comments to OXM where he wavered back and forth between talking about Natal support in future Epic Games-developed products (of which none have so far been announced) and simply being part of the standard developer tools for Unreal Engine 3.

“I think any future Xbox games we make will have some Natal support,” he told the publication. “We always want to have something that exploits the unique capabilities of a platform.”

Rein backed off from confirming a mandate for future Epic Games (such as a hypothetical Gears of War 3) releases to include Natal features when I contacted him this morning, however.

“At this point I’m only speaking for the engine,” he said to me over e-mail. “I was speculating on the kind of things I, as a gamer, could see implemented in Natal for shooter-style games. Sorry if there was any confusion there.”

In an interview with Xbox Magazine UK, VP of Epic Games Mark Rein had this to say about the company’s plans to use Project Natal with it’s Unreal Engine.

“We are going to work with Microsoft to make that available to Unreal Engine licensees who want to make Natal games. So, if you want to make a game on Natal, you want to get a big headstart and use the same tech as Microsoft, come talk to me. We are the unofficial engine of Natal, or maybe the official, I don’t know. In other words, we consider ourselves the “economic engine of Natal”. You want to make money with Natal, come talk to us, we’ll help you.“

He also commented on the FPS genre and if Natal has a place in it.

“I can totally see myself sitting in front of my TV using Natal to play games like Gears of War, Call of Duty, or whatever first-person shooter with my buddies. I want to do a hand signal that tells my friend, “Go over there.” Instead of even saying it on Live, I just want to motion, “Go over there.” Or if I want to throw a grenade, I just lift my right hand off the controller, throw the grenade, then put my hand back on the controller.

I don’t think we’re going to change the hardcore experience that so many people love so well. Look at Gears of War, we sold over 11 million games – people clearly like that kind of experience. Call of Duty sells millions every time it ships. People clearly enjoy that experience. You wouldn’t change Halo, but you could, if you had Natal, at least to simplify some of the controls.

In other words, you could get away with a simpler control scheme, as it’s really easy to remember throwing a grenade when it’s really throwing. I can see that working in multiplayer games, then you get your hand right back on the controller and keep playing, stuff like that, maybe a wave, maybe a taunt. I’m sure that when more people have this technology you’ll see some of the hardcore games adapt to it.

But I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think that’s their goal, I don’t think you need Natal for that kind of game. The thing I like is selecting your movies by swinging your hand, right and left, that just seems so natural and obvious, and that’s kind of what you do with your own DVDs, you go, “Uhh, which do I want?”

You can read the whole interview here

This project was developed over a 6 month period by “Team Excelsior” with the help and direction of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and several of its employees. Our goal: To create a next-gen quality level in the Unreal Engine that fit with the Everquest2 fantasy theme. Not only did we think we were successful, but SOE’s executives were “flabbergasted” and “blown away”

Team Excelsior was a handpicked team of 7 individuals: Andres Rodriguez (team leader), Lee Meza, Anthony Vacarro, Jim Barnett, Jeff Berry, Gene Pablan, and myself. Everybody contributed to the concept, then we were assigned tasks based on our strengths. Everybody did their part and it was a pleasure working with everyone.

You can see the project’s outdated blogspot here: http://excelsior-nightmare.blogspot.com/

While I writing a story for End of Dream, I was playing many horror game, inspired by one, creating one new Horror game story,

and that’s a Start for Blue Rose.

The Story about  John Carmack that assigned to reporting a story for some occult magazine about a cult in a place called Blue Rose.
Blue Rose is a amusement park that was only shown when midnight rises, and full moon shown.
Blue Rose known as a place of Unending game, every player that play at the park, never come home, or survived.
Some of them are dead. Some of them came out alive, but secretly hiding somewhere.

The game hopefully will be on FPS, or Over The Shoulder. It should be using one of most promised Source Engine, Unreal Engine, or id Tech 4

If anyone interested in this project. Join our team for more info! (http://lonegamestudio.wordpress.com/join-lone-gamestudio/)

One Vogster Developer Post Termination

Crimecraft launched on August 25th, and today being September 17th, that would make it not even a month after the title’s release. So it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that Vogster Entertainment, the creative minds behind the lobby based, third person shooter title, has made some cutbacks to the development team. After some cooking today, the story originally appearing as a rumor that Vogster had shut down completely, the story was clarified to reveal that only the Chicago studio closed, with significant cuts elsewhere.

“We regret the necessary staffing changes and the talented employees that this impacts, but it is an unavoidable step in moving to the operational stage of CrimeCraft and optimizing for the development of yet to be announced titles.”

Now is a good time to point out that, although layoffs are never a good sign for a company, such a move for a small company isn’t exactly uncommon. If history is any sign of the future, the layoffs involve primarily a group who were hired temporarily, for the purpose of being the development team, rather than part of the launch team who will go on to maintain the game post-launch.

That being said, players of Crimecraft wouldn’t have much to worry about, even in a worst case scenario. MMOs succeed, and MMOs barely scrape by, but they rarely shut down until they are no longer profitable. Crimecraft, with its instance format, is on the lower end of the spectrum of upkeep, aside from content development, when compared to the upkeep that, for example, Eve Online’s one shard requires to keep running. As many cutbacks that Vogster might do in the future, it is likely that Crimecraft will be profitable for a long time to come.

The Good

The new Batman: Arkham Asylum is easily the best comic book/ video game adaptation released to date. The story is interesting (written by legendary Batman Scribe Paul Dini); the voice acting is mind-blowing (most of the voices are provided by veterans of the 1990’s Batman the Animated Series), and the fighting is fluid.

By providing a simple attack/ defend method, the game designers created a superb fighting system that is easy to learn, but takes some art to master. I also love the variety of ways you can take down thugs… which is also my favorite part of the game. The planning that is necessary to take down a room full of armed thugs on hard is certainly challenging. One room in particular where the Joker has seven armed thugs wire the ceiling with bombs (essentially removing your ability to go vertical) took me a number of tries to triumph. I can’t remember the last time I had to work so hard to conquer a puzzle in a game; it was intellectually refreshing.

The scenes where you get fear gassed by Scarecrow, and have to escape your own madness, are really trippy and quite cool.

The Not So Good

My only substantive complaint is regarding the boss battles. On one hand, I have to give them some credit because no two boss battles are alike. On the other, they never made me feel like I was Baman beating the hell out of my crazy, ostentatious rogues. The boss battles were never as enthralling as the rest of the game.

One other graphic design issue bugs me just a bit. In cut scenes, Batman looks like he’s sweating buckets. This is probably because the game was created using the Unreal Engine. It’s not a huge issue, but it’s something I noticed.

The Ugly

Nada

Bottom-line

I typically don’t feel the need to complete all of the side challenges in a game, but something about the Riddler’s taunting has compelled me to go back and finish answering his riddles… so I’m not done with Batman: Arkham Asylum.

All-in-all, this game is a triumph. It looks good, is fun to play, and it gives you a reason to play some more after the main story is over. What more could you want out of a game?

We finally got the Batman game we’ve always wanted, with the superb Arkham Asylum from Rocksteady dropping this week.  The reviews are glowing, with some lofty comparisons and even “Game of the Year” buzz surfacing.  Going back to last summer with the The Dark Knight movie, we’ve seen two projects take on the Batman license and absolutely nail it.  Great!  The only hiccup is DC’s completely missing the opportunity for comics sales.

Anyone that picks up and plays Arkham Asylum this week would be completely and hopelessly lost if they were to read any of the flagship Batman books on the shelf of their local comic shop this week.  For the love of God, Bruce Wayne’s not even Batman right now*!

Dick Grayson and... Damian Wayne are Batman and Robin

I’m not saying they should retcon all the events of Infinite Crisis just for the sake of Rocksteady’s game, but would it have killed DC Comics to align the current story arc in the ongoing monthly bat-books with something that resembled Arkham Asylum’s continuity?  I suppose it’s a bit of the tail wagging the dog, but last time I checked COMICS were facing some serious readership issues, while games have an abundance of players.

Marvel took a lot of flack for a similar issue with the core X-Men books around the release window for the first Bryan Singer X-Men movie in 2000.  Only a few characters from the movie were active in the books at that time, and the ones that were looked nothing like their silver screen counterparts.  The House of M has since learned their lesson, and got Spidey back in black just in time for Spider-Man 3.  They even got the last few occurrences of Free Comic Book Day to coincide with the release date of tentpole summer blockbusters starring a Marvel character.

I can’t wait to see the NPD numbers on Arkham Asylum next month.  I’m willing to bet at least the Xbox 360 SKU charts in the top 3.  Too bad none of those buyers could sustain their Batman fix with a nice, tidy jumping-on point into monthly Batman comics.

*For all the lapsed comic book nerds reading this, Bruce Wayne is dead.  In the comic book sense.  As in ‘nobody every really dies in comics**’.

**The REALLY lapsed comic book nerds will recall that this phrase use to read ‘nobody ever really dies in comics except Bucky.’  But he actually came back in 2008.  So, really, NOBODY dies in comics now.

Swego czasu lider formacji Iron Maiden, Bruce Dicknson śpiewał: “I’m not a prisoner, I’m a free man!”. W podobnym tonie mógłby wypowiadać się niejaki więzień nr 849 gdyby nie fakt, że zerwanie kajdanów z jego kończyn okazało się równoznaczne z podpisaniem aktu o wzajemnej agresji w stosunkach ze Skaarj, mało sympatycznymi najeźdźcami Na Pali.

Poszło o surowiec…

Skaarj pewnie nigdy nie zaprzątaliby sobie głów planetą Na Pali oraz jej mieszkańcami nazywanymi Nali gdyby nie fakt, że zasłynęła ona z bogatych złóż Tarydium, kryształu o cennych właściwościach. Pacyfistycznie usposobieni Nali szybko dali się zniewolić, a kontrolę nad Na Pali przejęli Skaarj, którzy – chcąc, nie chcąc – na Na Pali nieco zabawią, gdyż ich statek uległ zniszczeniu… zresztą nieopodal gęstych złóż wspomnianego Tarydium.

W tym spopielonym klimacie odnajduje się nasz bohater, więzień nr 849 statku kosmicznego Vortex Rikers. Trudno o domysły co też uczynił on niegodziwego w przeszłości, ale kierunek Vortex Rikers to więzienie, oddalone o miliony lat świetlnych od Ziemii. Gdyby nie fakt, że Vortex uległ awarii nieopodal Na Pali to naszego bohatera czekałaby kosmiczna katorga. Zresztą… patrząc z jego perspektywy naprawdę trudno przypuszczać co byłoby lepsze, bo po drugiej stronie będzie musiał zbawić Na Pali i przeżyć wiele spotkań bliskiego kontaktu ze Skaarj…

To właśnie te agresywne kreatury stoją za sponiewieraniem resztek załogi Vortex Rikers. Więzień nr 849 tylko cudowi zawdzięcza to, że uszedł z życiem. A przynajmniej do czasu, bo właśnie w tym momencie rozpoczyna się nasza rola, naczelnego rozpierdalatora Na Pali.

Ile Skaarj zmieści się na główce od zapałki?

Podczas naszego tournee po Na Pali spotkamy całe mnóstwo postaci i poczwar.

Do naszego tyłka dobrać się będą chciały liczne odmiany Skaarj, a wśród nich m.in.  Skaarj Assassin, Skaarj Lord, Skaarj Sniper czy Skaarj Berseker (zresztą mój ulubiony, bo zupełnie odmóżdżony – czyt. atakuje nawet swoich), które zgodnie z hierarchią posiadają inne umiejętności (hierarchia kończy się na Królowej…). Na samych Skaarj lista naszych przeciwników się nie zamyka, bo te pomysłowe stworzenia albo werbują w swoje szeregi inne jednostki (np. UMS Space Marine), albo idąc tropami dra Mengele sami je tworzą, hodując rozliczne wymyślne twory.

Poza tym chęć na nasze życie będą miały jeszcze potworki, które ze Skaarj nie mają zbyt dużo wspólnego. Ot, drapieżniki jak Devilfish, Gasbag czy jaszczurowaty Slith.

Jednak Na Pali to również zupełnie neutralne jednostki, a także sporadycznie takie, które gotowe są nieść nam pomoc (rdzenni mieszkańcy planety). Jest ich nieporównywalnie mniej od naszych przeciwników, ale nikt przecież nie mówił, że Unreal to spacerek.

…a czym będziemy robić z nich padlinę?

Czym byłby dobry FPS bez całej palety giwer? W Unrealu takiej nie zabrakło!

Do dyspozycji mamy 10 typów broni. Zaczynamy co prawda ze skromnie wyglądającym pistolecikiem na wiązki elektryczne, ale już kolejna broń do dyspozycji – AutoMag – to prawdziwy niezbędnik każdego twardziela. Strzela szybko i celnie. Równie użyteczna jest wersja Stingera rodem z Na Pali, ładowana… kryształami Tarydium.

Znacznie ulepszoną wersją pistoletu jest ASMD, który wypluwa całe mnóstwo wiązek elektrycznych odrzucających rywali na duże odległości albo tworzy ogromną chmurę elektryczną, której nie sposób się oprzeć. Kolejne w dyspozycji: Eightball Launcher i Flack Cannon to już klasyki broni ciężkiej, potężne w użyciu i idealne na, odpowiednio, dalekie starcia i starcia z bliska.

GES BIO Rifle wypełnione jest zieloną masą powstałą w wyniku przetwarzania Tarydium. Nie jest to bynajmniej masa do upieczenia placka, ale śmiertelna, fantazyjna broń. Zresztą fantazyjności nie można odmówić też Razor Jackowi, kolejnej broni, w której amunicję stanowią elementy słynnego surowca, który przy tej broni stanowi rolę noży do wycinania… głów.

Minigun to udoskonalony odpowiednik Auto Maga, a nasz bohater do dyspozycji ma jeszcze klasyczną snajperkę.

Cały ten arsenał, czasami wspomagany pojazdami bojowymi (swego czasu – absolutna nowość w grach FPS) ułatwi nam dogłębną penetrację nieprzewidywalnego świata Unreal. A bęcie co penetrować, bo przyjdzie nam walczyć w ponad 35-ciu misjach!

Kolory Unreala

Tak zwany Unreal Enigne zaoferował całą masę zmian w FPS-ach. Fakt, że straciły one klimat walki w betonowej dżungli, ale za to zyskały niesamowitą grafikę i niezliczoną ilość bajerów, które z każdej karty graficznej potrafiły wycisnąć ostanie poty i spowodować krótkie spięcie. O grafice Unreala i silniku tej gry mówi się jako o przełomowych, które popchnęły elektroniczną rozrywkę ku ewolucji.

Pierwszy Unreal to także zmiany w udźwiękowieniu. Fakt, że muzyczki nie były tak zajebiste jak w mającym się ukazać niedługo  Unrealu Tournament, ale co ważne były już zapisywane nie w klasycznych midi, ale w nowym typie plików mod.

I to wszystko, zarówno nowy unikatowy silnik i nowa jakość muzyki w grach, jak i wciągająca historia oraz bogaty wybór giwer i różnorodni przeciwnicy, sprawiło, że Unreal podbił świat i stał się inspiracją dla przyszłych FPS-ów. Aż trudno sobie wyobrazić co by było gdyby Unreala nie było…

Stare, dobre czasy w wydaniu XXI-wszo wiecznym?

Musisz sięgnąć jeśli… chcesz wiedzieć w jaki sposób ewoluowały FPS-y.

Skaaarj!

Screeny pochodzą z:

www.gry-online.pl

Neboli herní “motory“ , dalo by se o nich říct, že se vlastně jedná o software, který slouží k programovaní a designové úpravy hry. Herních enginu existuje celá řada a buď si je herní studia programují sama, anebo koupí licenci a použijí již předem připravený „motor“. Například takoví Japonci, ti si donedávna na většinu titulů programovali vlastní enginy.

Herní Enginy u nás

I české hry běží na enginech a jestli si myslíte, že jsou odkoupené, tak se pletete. Pro Mafii byl speciálně naprogramován LS3D engine, který byl poté použit ve hrách jako Hidden and Dangerous (2003), nebo Chameleon (2005). A co nyní vycházející novinka ARMA 2? Ta je postavena na Real Virtuality Enginu 3,jehož základ už je 10 let starý!

Slavné enginy

Tyhle enginy zná snad každý hráč her. Zde vám uvedu několik příkladů opravdu revolučních enginu, které byly použity v hodně hrách.

Unreal Engine (1998) byl vytvořen firmou Epic Games, poprvé byl použit ve hře Unreal. Od té doby byl vylepšován.

Ve verzi Unreal Engine 1.5 vyšla další hra, jednalo se o vynikající multiplayerovou střílečku Unreal Tournament.

První hra, který vyšla na Unreal Enginu 2 byla America´s Army

Co je však zajímavé je fakt, že EA games si koupili licenci na tenhle engine (přesně nevím, kterou verzi, ale z těch starších) a dělali na něm docela dost známých her (např. první tři díly Harryho Pottera)

Poté vyšlo několik dalších verzí Unreal enginu, které nejsou až tak zajímavé vás však asi bude zajímat Unreal Engine 3, na kterém běží řada aktuálně úspěšných her (Gears of War, Amerca´s Army 3, Unreal Tournament 3, Turok aj.)

Source engine (2004) vyrobilo Valve a byl použit např. v Counter- Strike: Source, Half-life 2, Zeno Clash, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2 aj. V aktuální době Valve svůj engine neustále upravují a jedná se o můj nejoblíbenější, protože na to že se jedná o 5 let starý výtvor, zvládá docela dost super věcí.

CryEngine Jste mohli prvně vidět ve známé hře Far Cry od Cryteku. Zajímavé je, že tento engine byl vyvinut jako technologické demo pro Nvidii a když viděli, co všechno dokáže, rozhodli se na něm postavit celou hru. Aktuálně se na CryEnginu pracuje na MMORPG Aion. Veškerá práva má aktuálně odkoupené UBISOFT.

CryEngine 2 se může pochlubit fotorealistickou grafikou, která patří k nejrealističtější na světě. Poprvé jste mohli okusit vlastnosti toho enginu ve hře Crysis od Cryteku, který byl vydán pod křídly EA games. CryEngine 2 byl první engine, který spolupracoval s DirectX 10.

Slavných enginu je určitě více, ale tohle jsou ty nezákladnější! V současné době vypadá parádně CHROME 4 Engine (viz. video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edN28Wsqs9Q

OpenSource enginy
Chcete-li si naprogramovat hru nemusíte utrácet šílené sumy peněz za enginy, stačí se porozhlédnout po internetu a vybrat si open source alternativu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Free_game_engines

Doufám, že se vám můj článek líbil a zase někdy příště.

Článek byl napsán pro r-magazin.cz