dannylv100.com
  • Projects
    • A Game In the Dark
    • Flat Kingdom
    • Aero
    • Freeze-E Frosty's
    • 3rd Person Shooter
  • Blog
  • Resume

Divercast Ep.1 : Duke Nukem Revisited

7/7/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture

   In this episode, I talk about the character of Duke Nukem and what he meant to me. From growing up as a kid playing Duke Nukem 3D to being an adult playing Duke Nukem Forever. Please be advised, mild language is used in this episode.

Divercast Ep.1: Duke Nukem - Revisited by Divercast on Mixcloud


   Do you have questions, comment or concerns? Email us at deepdigitaldesign@gmail.com
Follow us on Tumblr, IndieDB, Twitter, Mixcloud,Soundcloud

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
​

0 Comments

In Defense of: Resident Evil 5

3/26/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture

Back in Action

   Resident Evil 5 launched in 2009, four years after the critical and commercial hit Resident Evil 4. I was completely enthralled by RE4 and I played it over and over again, the GameCube and PS2 version. When I heard that they were planning on making a sequel to one of my favorite games of all time, needless to say, I was very excited.

  
When RE5 finally came out I was just as thrilled. The game stayed faithful to everything that I loved from RE4. Now Resident Evil 5 wasn't the perfect sequel, it did have some bad spots here and there but overall I couldn't complain.

Picture
Picture
   This game came out when I was still learning the basics of game design and for the most part I wasn't looking at it with my designers eye. I read a lot of reviews that complained about the game focusing on action, not being as scary or just simply being a rehashing of RE4. I couldn't really explain it at the time but I knew people were being too critical. They were putting RE4 on a pedestal and they weren't focusing on the positives that RE5 was doing. I mean after all, RE4 was a departure from the “survival horror” genre and focused more on action over just straight up scares.
   In true "In Defense of" fashion I will talk about why I believe Resident Evil 5 is not as bad as some people think. A few points I am going to go over is A.i, gameplay mechanics and tone.

Ai Companion vs Ai Partner

Picture



Picture
Picture
   In Resident Evil 4 the player is put in a role where they must protect the president's daughter Ashley Graham. Most the the time this involves keeping enemies away from her, and hiding her in crates. She does a good job of staying out of your way. Although there were those occasions when she would pop up right in front of my gun...and get herself shot.
   When Resident Evil 5 came out, many people were quick to bash the A.i. controlled partner. A lot of complaints were made about how the A.I. was cumbersome, or wasteful of ammo (and we all now how scarce ammo is) and more often then not it got in your way.
Picture
Leon is looking for another crate to hide Ashley in.
   From my experience, I never really saw a problem with the A.I. When I played RE5 solo I just made sure to equip Sheva with a few good weapons and some healing items. I knew that I couldn't rely on her to completely wipe out enemies but Sheva was more than ready to help distract a boss, stun an enemy and heal me when I was injured. When you play with the A.I partner on you just have to take the lead.
Picture
Sheva has your back.
    I understand that Ashley is not supposed to be a soldier. She is just a normal person that can't defend herself. Sheva on the other hand is a BSAA agent. When I played RE4 I didn't think less of it for having Ashley, that wasn't a negative aspect of the game. The same goes for when I played RE5. Having an A.i partner wasn't a hindrance to me or my experience playing through the game.

   When it comes down to it, I just can't really see a reason why people would just completely hate the campagin. So you have to walk around with an A.i. that can at times be mildy frustrating.
The same thing happened in RE4. If anything having your A.i. companion help you in battle is a plus.

Gameplay: 4 vs 5

Shots Fired! Ammo, not so scarce

   One of the things people would associate with the survival horror genre is a lack of ammunition. Resident Evil 4 never left you completely dry. Through all of my playthroughs I found that I was always handed out just the right amount of ammo, I never found myself high and dry.

  
I remember watching a friend of mine play RE4. He was only using his pistol, despite having 45 shotgun shells, 20 sniper bullets and 100 TMP bullets. He just used the pistol. He kept playing RE4 as if he was playing RE1! As if ammo was a problem. It drove me crazy! If you were reckless with your bullets/accuracy you would be in a world of hurt but for the most of the game the only gun that was ever hurting for ammo was the magnum! Bullets for the pistols and TMP were plentiful and the shotgun had a decent amount sprinkled about. This, to me meant that RE4 was moving into a more action oriented direction.
Picture
  Ammo isn't abundant but it can easily be found inside of crates/barrels/chests and off of the corpses of defeated enemies. RE5 has the same melee combat that RE4 had. You could fire a bullet into the leg of an enemy and cause him to fall to a single knee, when this happens they are open to a melee attack that will usually defeat them. A smart player can conserve a lot of ammo this way.

    Resident Evil 5 kind of operates in the same way. You do need to play smart, but you are rarely in a low ammo scenario. During my play through I did run low or out of ammo during some of the more challenging boss fights, but this was a rare scenario. 
   The only main difference with RE4 and 5 is that in RE5 you have to split your ammo consumption with the Ai or human partner Sheva.

   Having to split ammo in RE5 adds a new dynamic that brings a new level of strategy and tension that wasn't in RE4.  This mechanic leads to some interesting player choices. When I played through the game, my brother and I took roles, he would use the sniper rifle and I would use the shotgun. We would split pistol ammo since it was
plentiful.
Picture
    This mechanic adds a layer to the Co-Op gameplay that other Co-Op games just simply do not have. Having to split ammo, weapons and health items adds a meta-game that makes the game a much deeper and engaging experience.
Picture
A wide variety of enemies keeps players on their toes.
   One thing that both games do an excellent job of doing is introducing different variety of enemy types. Different creatures and monsters require different approaches and certain weapons are best suited to deal with certain enemy types. So if a player was foolish enough to burn through all of their shotgun shells they might find themselves quickly overwhelmed by crowds of enemies. If a player used up all their sniper ammo taking out lesser enemies, the mini-bosses will quickly make them regret that. Different enemy types are plentiful in both games and they make the player vary up their strategy and approach. 
Picture
Buying ammo in Dead Space 1.
    The flip side of this is that you can make the argument of there being "too much ammo", and we can't have a lot of ammo since this is a "survival horror" game and not an action game. A lot of people will tell you that having plenty of ammo would make the game “less scary”.

  
I never really understood why people used that as a way to critique RE5 when RE4 followed the same formula. In fact, Dead Space 1 had a similar thing going on, except you could go to the in game store and simply purchase more ammo if you were careless enough to waste it all. And yet, Dead Space 1 (which is also one of my favorite games) is considered to be very scary even though ammunition is always in stock.

No time for Quick Time

   Another complaint people had with RE5 was it's use of QTE. RE4 was my first time being introduced to QTEs and at the time I thought they were brilliant! I mean, you could never put the controller down during a cut scene anymore! Well when RE5 was coming out QTEs had already overstayed their welcome and a lot of people were getting tired of them.
   The thing is, RE5 carries over many of the same QTEs that RE4 had. For example, when the player is grabbed by an enemy they must shake their left joystick to break free or they must dodge sideways to avoid being a hit by an enemies attack.

   People might say that having to press a button to execute a melee attack is a QTE but it is more of a "context sensitive action".
Picture
A common QTE in RE4.
  * Video of Leon escaping the giant statue was uploaded by youtube user Pizza-Hero.
   In fact, there is a sequence in RE4 which has Leon running away from a giant robotic(?) statue as a bridge collapses. I didn't think anything of it at the time but in retrospect, what?
Picture
The infamous QTE where Chris punches a boulder.
   A lot of people don't seem to remember the giant statue thing from RE4. Everyone I know remembers the infamous "Chris punches a boulder" scene from RE5.

   This has to be the best/worst used of a QTE ever. I am not sure what the creators were going for but I was laughing the entire time.
   The QTEs aren't intrusive. If an enemy grabs you you shake the left joystick...which is the same joystick that you use to walk/move. It isn't a three button combination or some other nonsense.

   To keep this section simple. Quick Time Events are present in both games. Resident Evil 5 does it no better and no worse than what RE4 has established. The bar was set and RE5 made not attempt to improve on it.

Tone - Survival Horror vs "Tense Action"

Picture
The Executioner ominously approaches Chris.
   People seem to categorize Resident Evil 4 into the “Survival Horror” genre. As I mentioned before I never felt like this made a lot of sense. You had access to weapons, either by constantly discovering them or by simply purchasing them from your friendly local merchant(s?). You have a decent supply of ammo and for the first time ever in a Resident Evil game you're not fighting the controls.

    Personally, I always hated the controls to the first few games. I felt that the games have a forced horror element because the controls were so bad. I mean, you try to run from and you begin to spin in place....Some people might not agree with me but I always felt that poor controls were not and should never be considered an element for a horror game.
Picture
You can cut the tension with a chainsaw.
   So what genre would I call RE4 and 5? Well I have been referring to these games as “Tense Action” games. The  way the game operates it is all about tension.

  
When you aim your weapon, your field of vision narrows. Enemies can quickly overwhelm, surround and corner you. There are plenty of tight corridors that funnel enemies toward you. The Action focuses on tension and not on horror. Everything in the world is about applying pressure, making you feel confined and cornered, that pressure is where you start to feel scared.

   I wouldn't categorize these games as survival horror because survival would imply that these scenarios that you are placed in may be too overbearing to overcome and that the best scenario is to avoid enemies and escape without engaging the enemies. With the tools you are given you can overcome the challenge, you can free yourself from being cornered and defeat any enemy that gets in your way. Resident Evil 4&5 give you enough tools to overcome every scenario it places you in.
Picture
Chris and Sheva are quickly encircled by a pack of infected dogs.
Picture
This DLC plays more like a traditional survival horror game.
Note: I just wanted to mention that Resident Evil 5 has an excellent DLC that plays more like a traditional survival horror game. On the hard difficulties the enemies are nearly impossible to defeat and you must solve puzzles and survive in a mansion that is a recreation of the Spencer mansion from Resident Evil 1.

Level Design

   If we were to look at the design of the level known as Public Assembly we can find lots of tight corridors and bottlenecks. These are not here by mistake, they are meant to be there so the enemies can swarm and surround the player to apply the pressure.
Picture
Topdown view of the map "Public Assembly".
Picture
Topdown view of the map "Public Assembly" with all of the tight corridors highlighted.
   So how tight are these corridors? I went back and played RE5 and found that the narrowest of these corridors to be about 2 character sizes in width (I was using Chris BSAA costume). Now, compare this to a game like Gears of War where most stair ways, door ways, hallways are spaced to be 3 to 4 character sizes wide (mostly to support the combat) or bigger.

  
Tight corridors in combination with enemies that swarm or block your path (enemies such as the Reaper, Executioner act as living blockades that force a retreat) really bring that tension home.


No Longer the Black Sheep

Picture
The only real crime this game is guilty of was trying to shoehorn a cover system that was dead on arrival.
   Resident Evil 5 will always be one of my favorite games. I came to the conclusion that the game isn't just a simple rehashing of it's predecessor, it is a natural evolution to the series.  From it's enemy designs, game mechanics and gameplay this game was a step in the right direction, despite some of it's flaws.


- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
0 Comments

In Defense of: Duke Nukem

9/24/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
    I have been wanting to write about this for quite some time. Duke Nukem is an Iconic character, an amalgam of 80's action heroes. He is full of one liners and bravado and in his most recent iteration something went horribly wrong. Duke's status of "All American Action Hero"  has metamorphosed into something vulgar and generic.I am here to say that all is not lost, there is still hope. I am hear to defend Duke Nukem's character.

Duke 64

    It all started when I was a kid. I was just about eight years old when I first played Duke Nukem 64. It wasn't my first experience with a First Person Shooter (FPS), I had played games such as Doom and Wolfenstein on my cousin's PC countless times before, but Duke was different.

   Duke had personality, he wasn't a silent protagonist. He spoke, he reacted and he interacted with everything in his world. He would play pool, flip on light switches and when he took the bad guys down he had awesome one liners.
Picture
Shooting pool.
Picture
I hated those "purple windows".
   I was too young at the time to get a lot of the references to classic 80's movies but it didn't matter. I was blown away, I was hooked. Now, you might say that Duke is just a muscular idiot but he didn't come off that way at all. Every level and puzzle that he conquered, every "Babe" saved was just building him up higher and higher as a legend.

   Duke easily became one of my favorite videogame characters as a kid. He was right up there with Mario and Link.

    From my 8 year old perspective Duke Nukem was a strong, smart, witty, lone wolf that was systematically taking back LA from an alien menace. Now you might be saying “Well you played the 64 version of the game. The drug references and sexual innuendo were really toned down”. You're right about that, I didn't get that "Vitamin X" was supposed to be steroids or that the women covered in goo was supposed to be suggestive of anything. At the time all I understood was that Duke Nukem was saving these women and kicking alien. I loved this game because it let me play the action movies I loved watching as a kid.

   When Duke Nukem 3D was released on Xbox Arcade I replayed the entire game. As you may know this version of the game is the uncensored version that was originally released on PC. Even playing through this time around Duke kept it pretty tame. The game is focused on fast paced action and combat. Anything suggestive is more or less in the background.

Modern Duke

   Duke Nukem: Forever made the sleaze the forefront of the game. I am not going to link you anything but you probably already heard just how the game starts. Really not sure why they went in this direction. Who thought this was a good idea? Now I know I am a "male gamer" but by no means did I want the game to start like this.

  Throughout most of Duke Nukem: Forever he just stumbles around tossing out poorly constructed one liners such as "I am from Las Vegas and I say Kill them all". What? Duke no longer conveys any sort of wit or intelligence. Where before I loved to hear what he had to say I began to cringe at everything he said.

   Duke does try to crack jokes here and there about modern games. Yet he does everything modern FPS games do but worse. I actually didn't mind the regenerating health system. It made sense and worked with the character, after all the more of an ego Duke has the more powerful he is. The more of a beating he is taking the less ego he has. The Ego/Health mechanic works with the character and probably the only thing I liked about this version of Duke.
PictureThis game...
 

Before He Self Destructs

Picture
Yippee-ki-yay...
When designing a game a lot of it comes from the character. How would a character react if they were suddenly propelled into an alien invasion? What would they say? From here we can determine how they solve their conflicts and what direction the game/story should go.

  
   If I were to redesign Duke I would hire some writers that can bring Duke's wit. We need to make him into a ladies man instead of a womanizing misogynist. He needs to be akin to James Bond.

   I would take out any of the low brow jokes and go for something that is more clever. Uninspired parody is the lowest form of comedy (Ex: Meet the Spartans).
Picture
The premise DNF had was great, we had aretired Duke Nukem making his way to the battlefield for another adventure. He should essentially be the Master Chief of this world. The Earth's greatest Champion ready for his greatest challenge yet, his triumphant return. This game should have showed us what we were missing all these years. 
   The new Duke Nukem needs to be more like a Brock Samson (Venture Bros.). He needs to be humanized. Brock is a great character and for so many reasons. Not once in the series do you think of Brock as an idiot or a jerk. Everything he does is for a reason, he has a purpose and he has motivation. Duke needs to update his resume a bit, just going out there to Kick ass and save babes just isn't going to cut it anymore. 

Not A Complete Meltdown

   Duke still has some good in him. He can still be saved and I know that there are plenty of talented people out there that can make it happen. I just hope that if they ever do decide to make another game they can right the wrongs of Duke Nukem. Don't take the low road with the humor, don't just ignore that fact that women also play video games and don't want to be objectified. People have given up on Duke Nukem but I haven't.
- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
0 Comments

    Dannylv100

       I am an Indie Game and Level designer, Consultant and host of Divercast.

    Space Image
    Picture

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Picture


    Submit a Question
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Picture
    Dannylv100 on Twitch

    How to support Dannylv100

    Popular Podcast Episodes:

    Episode 21
    Episode 24
    Episode 25

    DLC Episodes

    Ep1 - Misc Movie Talk
    ​Ep2 - Gears 4 Impression
    ​Ep3 - A-plaque-alypse​

    Popular Indie Arcade:

    Indivisible
    ​The Night That Speaks
    ​Greedy Guns
    ​

    Popular Posts:
    Frosty's - Now on Itch.io
    How to make checkpoints....
    The Wanderer: A New Infe...

    Monthly Blog Archive

    WWP Appearance
    E3 Survival Guide
    ​Gears 4 - COG Hammerburst ​
    Knights vs Ninjas (Part 1)
    Halo 5: Warzone Accessibility 
    Halo 5: REQ Card Redesign
    ​
    New The Last of Us Enemy
    GDC 2014 Video Roundup
    ​Mass Effect 3: Tracker Class
    Mass Effect 3: DLC classes 
    ​Frosty's: Lost Levels
    ​
    Frosty's: Soundtrack
    ​Importing to UDK from Max
    ​Basic Checkpoints (UDK)
    ​
    Physics vs Scripted Events
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Blog Post
    E3
    FF Level Design
    Flash Game
    Forge
    Forge Creation
    Freeze E Frosty
    Game Design
    Game Design Doc
    Gears Of War
    Halo 5
    In Defense Of
    Indie Arcade
    Indie Dev
    Iphone
    Iphone Game
    Itch.io
    Level Design
    Level Design 101
    Lost Chapters
    Podcast
    Steam
    Support This Site
    Thoughts
    Tutorial
    Twitch
    Udk
    Unity
    Youtube



    Archives

    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.