[Ikaruga]

Aside from the companies that Gimmy mentioned, Treasure also has a very similar workflow. From what I've heard, they assign roles on more-or-less a per-project basis. So if, say, one of their background artists has a game idea and everyone else approves, he then becomes the lead designer for that project.

And that happened. And the result was Ikaruga.

Granted, that model only works because Treasure is a very small company (fewer than 20 people), all of their members are insanely talented, and each member usually handles multiple roles. Compare that to your preferred cross-section of the indie community. Here, we've got IGF winners conversing with people who have never made a game in their life; we've got people who measure development time in hours working alongside those who measure it in years. We've got lots of people, each with their own different ideas about what a game should be.

And that's great! Diversity is great.

However, trying to force homogeneity out of diversity usually leads to disaster. Even going into a project like this, you have to make some firm (and alienating) decisions, such as the engine you're gonna use, and the minimum level of asset quality. There's also the problem of idea overload. Since everyone has a slightly different vision, you're gonna get a lot of conflicting ideas. You could solve this problem by requiring that everyone who proposes an idea to also provide its implementation, but you're still alienating a lot of "idea guys" there (who might have some genuinely interesting things to say).

But I don't know. It could work. Come to think of it, Four Leaf Studios sounds like they're doing something along the lines of what you're talking about. While they do have a core group of members, allegedly anyone can join that core group, as long as they have the drive and talent and willingness to actually work. And those on the outside can still make suggestions and stuff, and the core group is open and responsive to that because they themselves were once on the outside too.

I shot it a few times and then it died.

Then I didn't shoot it a few times and I noticed that the boss is weird. Sometimes it shoots out slugs. Sometimes it shoots out slugs that don't spawn. But mostly invisible objects hit me a lot and then I die.

Then I respawned and shot the boss a few more times and the game died.

So maybe action games aren't her thing. What about, say, RPGs and strategy games? Maybe even some non-timed puzzle games? With those you usually have a near-infinite time window to input the correct action, and it'll still give her experience with a traditional controller.

[What.]

Every day I listen to college radio, and every other day I am admonished by somebody for doing so. But I don't care. It has opened my eyes to the diversity of music, and also to the diversity of stammering.

Today my commute was accompanied by the soothing sounds of the scheduled hiphop DJ. I have a fair amount of respect for this DJ, because unlike the others, he's fun and charismatic and usually has good taste in music. Usually.

The last track finishes up. It's now 20 after and, well, we're gonna throw on a little Sonic the Hedgehog here...I think you guys will like this one.

What.

So this song...it's pretty much the stuff creepypastas are made of. It was a remix of Green Hill Zone, but only used the middle eight measures. And the instruments were all pulsewaves. And every so often the song would try to break into a dubstep beat, but none of the dubstep instruments would show up and the whole track would just kind of putter around before going back to the main theme.

Worst of all, the song liberally used sound effects from Super Mario Bros. The coin sound. The jump sound.

HOW DO YOU EVEN MAKE THAT MISTAKE.

Suffice it to say, this song perfectly embodies everything that is wrong with chiptune. And dubstep. And fan remixes, and geek culture, and you could probably blame most of the world's problems on this one song if you try hard enough. I know I have.

After a few minutes of searching, I found the song online. I'm not going to post it. I don't want to be responsible for somebody's suicide.

I enjoyed this game enough to play through it with three of the different classes (screwed myself over when playing Duelist and Spy just ain't my style). And right now, there is a lot to like about the game. The levels are focused, and feel labyrinth-y without having the backtrack-laden, "twisty little passages" tripe that many other games of this sort have. I also really enjoyed the layout of the room right after you get the first gem; it was a really neat way of trying to teach the player the effects of the gem through level design alone.

Really, the only complain I have is about the graphics. See, if you're going to go with the vector style, you're gonna need some antialiasing on those sprites. I'm fine with the vector look, and it does give it a unique aesthetic, but the chunky pixels on the sprites sort of defeat the purpose. Also, the pixel font clashes too.

Other than that, though, the game plays really well, and I'd like to see where you decide to go with the idea!

...wait, don't Japanese people already eat with chopsticks? Wouldn't chopsticks work just as well, and at a fraction of the cost?

[we've got a game to make!]

Pass me the 22nd, Theo, we've got a game to make!

What the crap is a Totoro?

animu something or other

That explains. Not an anime fan. At all. In fact, a little more negative towards it.

Sometimes I wonder if you're a fan of anything. I think it's your avatar. Those eyes just pierce through the screen, man. Judging my posts, judging my actions, judging my worth as a human being.

...I haven't felt this much disapproval since that time I moved back in with my parents.

It's complicated.

My main dev computer is a Mac Pro, and I use it to code and art. I also have a Windows laptop (a Sony Vaio something-or-other from '07) that is used for testing (like Richard Kain) and writing music (because Windows has my favorite VSTs).

So I have this giant sombrero. It was a birthday gift from a friend. I plan to use it as an impromptu umbrella, Though whenever it rains I end up unable To work up the courage to wear it outside. As a kid I wore a bucket hat. I used to wear it everywhere. I was the kid who wore the bucket hat. That's how my friends knew me. They couldn't see my pain. They could only see the bucket hat. Stupid hat.

Within my body there are two forces that are constantly at war. One half of me abhors all fanworks, considering them uniformly childish and puerile. Yet at the same time, the other half of me really wants to see the Shubibinman franchise revived.

Therefore, I have begun taken the steps necessary to begin work on a new Shubibinman sequel. I already have a vague idea of how the game will play, so now it's only a matter of acquiring the business acumen to build a megacorp from the ground up, learning enough Japanese to convince Nippon Computer Systems to sell me the rights to the Masaya label, purchasing development kits for the major consoles, assembling a team of designers and programmers, then annihilating all of my previous efforts under the crushing weight of my own perfectionism.

Because why bother unless it's gonna be canon?

It's a parabolic curve, but it works a little differently than you'd expect. Basically, when Mega Man jumps, his vertical speed is set to a number (roughly 4.875). This number controls how many pixels Mega Man travels up the screen. However, this number decreases by 0.25 every frame (at 60 frames per second). Eventually, over the course of so many frames, the number hits 0 and starts going into the negatives (he's falling). Finally, the terminal velocity is set at -12, so the counter stops once Mega Man is falling faster than that value.

For more information please visit this TASVideos page. It has all the information you should need, including even the subtle physics changes between games. There's even one for Mega Man X too!

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle! Good luck!

(also, keep in mind that this method will only work if your game has a fixed-timestep!)

Not too long ago, my brain doctor told me that I needed a passion in my life if I were to make it in this world. So after a few hours with just myself and the rocks upon the quarry, I decided that the only accomplishment in life worth pursuing is to hug Edmund McMillen. Since that point, every action I have taken has been squarely aimed at achieving that goal.

See, when that special moment comes, I want it to be genuine. Sure, I could just fly out today and glomp onto 'em, but that would be weird and rude. No, the magic must be mutual. I need to instill in him the same passion to hug me as I have held for untold days.

So every day I work on my games to enhance my reputation. Every day I try to post the best posts I can, in order to prove that I am a worthwhile person. One by one I build relationships with other people, so that one day the social circle will close in upon him. Pretty soon, he just might recognize my existence. We will begin a correspondence; develop a deep friendship. He will be mine, and I will be his. The only barrier left between us will be one plane ticket, and after all the effort I've made to get to this point, doesn't that seem so trivial?

Games are rule systems by definition. Nothing else. Even the graphics and sound are part of the rules (to simplify, positioning an enemy sprite and playing a sound is just the difference between writing to one RAM address and writing to another), even if they don't directly affect the game's possibility space, and computer programs by definition run based on rules. There's no such thing as a game without rules; ToT is still making videogames, even if they'd love to segregate themselves into their own special category of Games But Not Games.

So I'm wearing pants. Right now. My legs went through the two holes at the bottom, and my waist fits snugly inside the hole in the top. The zipper even is located near the front side of my body, and the belt goes through all the little loops!

Yes, if you really want to go there, sure, let's agree that writing a freakin' sprite to the screen is based on a rule system. But where do you stop from there? Assembly code is a rule system. Electricity is a rule system. We (organic life!) are a rule system. The textile workers followed a rule system when they made my pants!

I don't know. I really don't want to drag this whole argument into the realm of semantics, but I'm afraid your position isn't really helping the cause. Yes, there are rule systems all around us, many of which we take for granted. Do those matter? Yes, if you want to be a pedant. However, they're talking about the big kahuna here, the one that gets up all in your face and says "EXTEND EVERY 1,000,000 POINTS." Not the one that determines whether a blit to the screen is successful.

Yes, it would be refreshing for games to embrace a player's agency, rather than their ability to follow directions.

If you're referring to true roleplaying (I think Gilbert calls this "attitude," usually written in all caps or bolded), that's the opposite direction of where these guys are heading with their games. Though "agency" and "following directions" aren't mutually exclusive.

Maybe I was incorrect. Pardon me if it sounds belittling, but I really can't parse what they write. To me, the notgame movement seems like just a giant Rorschach blot that is interpreted in different ways to different people.

But see, the sad thing is that the notgames people have a point. Sure, you have to wade through an ocean of prose to get to that point, but it exists. Yes, it's kind of upsetting that there's this subconscious belief that every game needs a strict rule system. Yes, it would be refreshing for games to embrace a player's agency, rather than their ability to follow directions. But come on, having a different viewpoint doesn't mean you've transcended humanity!

(i guess i don't know...it's one thing to have a different opinion, it's another thing to become so absorbed in your opinion that you can't see any other options...this applies to us too)

Hello, my name is Noah! and I would love to program for your game! I am an experienced programmer, having spent many years using C++, Perl, Java, and countless other languages! I specialize in writing secure, stable, maintainable code that is as bug-proof as code can g--

[Psyvariar 2]

Welcome aboard! It's always great to see another composer around here!
(p.s. if you haven't already, it might be worthwhile to post a little hello in the introduction thread!)

Anyway, here's my list. It's roughly 50% personal Top 10, 50% guided tour through the wide world of VGM. Let's go!

Psyvariar 2 — Beautiful piano-based electronica, and one of my greatest musical influences. (see also: cloudphobia, Hellsinker.)
Gradius 2 — One of the best shmup soundtracks of all time. (see also: XEXEX, Violent Storm)
Cho Ren Sha 68K — FM synth goodness. Plus the soundtrack is a 5-CD mammoth. ( n o t h i n g c o m p a r e s )
Viewpoint — Awful game, great soundtrack. Funny how that works out. (see also: Battle Garegga)
Gimmick! — This game pushes every chip in the NES to its limit, and the soundtrack is no exception. (see also: Journey to Silius musically, Recca technically)
Streets of Rage — YUZO KOSHIRO. (see also: Bosconian X68000)
Golden Sun — MOTOI SAKURABA. (see also: Gikyokuonsou)
Dynamite Headdy — Surprisingly diverse and creative in each and every track. (see also: Earthbound, Clean Asia, Katamari Damacy)
Sonic CD (J) — FUNKY FRESH. (see also: Sega Rally Championship, Metal Slug, Viewpoint)
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu — Seriously. Seriously! (see also: McKids, Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf)

Maybe it isn't the most fair metric, but I judge RPGs by how far I was able to make it through them before losing interest. After all, what good is a story if the game can't compel me to slog through to the next part?

That being said, I'm saddened that there's no love for Hourai High here. Not surprised, mind you, as that game doesn't deserve love, but still saddened nonetheless. Yes, it was buggy. Yes, its neat ideas weren't really carried through to execution. Yes, the fan translation pretty much had to rewrite all the jokes because none of the original ones would've made sense in English.

But I finished it, and that's a feat that the likes of Xenogears, Chrono Cross, and Phantasy Star IV couldn't accomplish.

(also tentatively supporting ffx and the golden sun series, though that might be because they were my gateway rpgs...)

[The Earth Shattering Money Making Battle Royale:Team Blue VS TeamRed]

The Earth Shattering Money Making Battle Royale:
Team Blue VS TeamRed

I'd love to see this happen. We've got a lot of talented, creative people here and I think it's likely that this compo could pump out a couple of really amazing games.

Of course, there's also the possibility of the community collectively pulling a Zybourne Clock and never living it down. That could likely happen as well.

Ooh! Glad to see the Cho Aniki series is still alive and kicking.

But yeah, like John-to-the-John Sandoval said, Japanese game developers have been doing this kind of thing since, well, they first started making games. For historical reference, see Parodius (1988), Trio the Punch (1990), PuLiRuLa (1991), the aforementioned Cho Aniki (1992), etc etc. Give me an hour or so and I could probably wrangle up a few dozen or so games that fit your criteria. And those are just the games; mentioning all the weird anime, manga, live-action TV series and so on would take a very long time.

Fortunately for us, this culture of perpetual weirdness/surrealism is starting to make its way to the western world, with shows like Tim and Eric and whatever crap Cartoon Network is throwing at us nowadays proving that weird is a viable good. So it's very likely that it won't be long before game companies start capitalizing on this culture shift.

Also, Cactus has been doing it to it for years now, and he's like one of the freakin' figureheads of the indie scene!