›
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

GeekNights 090609 - Muse Games Interview

AprecheApreche
edited June 2009 in GeekNights
Tonight on GeekNights we talk with our friends Alex and Emily from Muse Games about their new game, Elementia, and being a game developer for reals.

Comments

  • AxelAxel
    Very good show. As a punk teenager who wants to design games, it was very cool. I already knew some things from previous question sessions, but there was lots of cool new stuff. I still hope to follow in Alex's footsteps and go to RIT for the Game Design program for programming. Ironically, my name is also Alex...And I already live in Rochester...
    Elementia sounds cool, I'll have to try it.
    Air pirates!? That's pretty freaking awesome. I'll wait for that, as that is the kind of game that I've wanted to see done well for a long time.
  • MankoonMankoon
    I got the email for this in the morning and played it immediately! Very nice game. I'm still getting the hang of it. I only played solitaire on easy. I was wondering why there was no mention about it on here. Now I see why. I'm going to bed now but can't wait to hear this episode ^_^!
  • ......
    T_T

    Gomily is asking me to play the game, but I'm on Linux. Sorrow.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    I'm going to play it in a few minutes.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited June 2009
    Well, I don't understand the scoring system (though I want to, so that I can get to #1), but I've worked out a strategy that has finished the singleplayer maps on hard difficulty and gotten me into 2nd on the leaderboard.
    It has been pretty fun, but I want to see some multiplayer now.

    EDIT: The leaderboard score seems to be accumulated between levels. Does that mean people who have bought more levels can have higher scores?
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • AlexAlex
    Yes, the leaderboard score is averaged across all levels for each game. It's not impossible to top it without some of the levels (as you've demonstrated), but it's harder.

    As for multiplayer, I just invited you to a game.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited June 2009
    Interesting. I guess I'll apply my singleplayer strategy and see how it works out.

    EDIT: Beat Alex on the second game. Multiplayer is much more interesting than singleplayer.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • AxelAxel
    The game is very interesting. The endgame can get very troublesome when you have your elemental divisions, and then one round doesn't work with the way you've set things up. But very fun, definitely. If I wasn't poor, I'd buy all the extras to help you guys out. But...I'm in High School...So yeah...
    One thing that I found kind of frustrating was that the game would only give you automated paths to attack. I'd like to be able to choose my path, so I could loop around a little for extra power if my construction failed. If I have certain patterns, it'll take the fastest route, rather than the one with the most power, necessarily. If a bunch of the same element are grouped together, it's not willing to make a bunch of turns to get to the same spot and give you more power.
    But, other than that, yes, fantastic. Very well made.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    The problem you'd get into with custom looping would be how much to allow, to stop people looping through their entire set of pieces.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited June 2009
    If a bunch of the same element are grouped together, it's not willing to make a bunch of turns to get to the same spot and give you more power.
    Axel, if it took the most powerful path, the main game mechanic would break. The idea is that a long, narrow path will be powerful but vulnerable (an offensive structure!) while a solid mass will be hard to destroy, but have lower attack - a defensive structure. If it chose the most powerful path through a mass, there would no longer be an attack/defense trade-off. Everyone would just make masses.

    I think the best mechanic is for it to choose the most powerful shortest-length path, which I'm pretty sure is what it does.

    Does anyone want to play against me?
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • AxelAxel
    If a bunch of the same element are grouped together, it's not willing to make a bunch of turns to get to the same spot and give you more power.
    Axel, if it took the most powerful path, the main game mechanic would break. The idea is that a long, narrow path will be powerful but vulnerable (an offensive structure!) while a solid mass will be hard to destroy, but have lower attack - a defensive structure. If it chose the most powerful path through a mass, there would no longer be an attack/defense trade-off. Everyone would just make masses.

    I think the best mechanic is for it to choose the most powerful shortest-length path, which I'm pretty sure is what it does.
    Yeah, I kinda figured it would make the game too easy...
  • Johannes Uglyfred IIJohannes Uglyfred II
    EDIT: Beat Alex on the second game. Multiplayer is much more interesting than singleplayer.
    Beat him at his own game - heee-larious! :3
  • MankoonMankoon
    edited June 2009
    I've been playing for a while. I tried the multilayer but I couldn't figure out the invite system. Help! EDIT:(NVM, I didn't realize it would send him an email)
    Post edited by Mankoon on
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    It seems a bit silly that the only way to cancel joining a game is to give up...
    Surely if you haven't yet made a move, you should be able to leave the game untouched?
  • BrutishSaucerBrutishSaucer
    Interesting episode. I run Linux so I unfortunately haven't gotten a chance to try the game out quite yet. I did have a question for Alex and Emily after viewing the video demo. Are there any gameplay elements that rely on using a 3D engine or was it more for aesthetic reasons? Or perhaps this was just a case of using a common tool set for all of Muse's games?

    I've made a couple games in the past(strictly amateur stuff) and plan to start developing something a bit more ambitious very soon and my biggest fear is designing myself into a corner. It's not uncommon for me to be halfway done and then scrap it all in order to make a fundamental gameplay change. I just always feel like there's something slightly out of mental reach that would make the game that much better and so I end up mulling over the stupidest design decisions for days. I'm getting to the point where even starting something is incredibly hard because I keep flopping around on what exactly I want it to be.

    I've tried to write things in a very modular fashion to allow for maximum flexibility with any changes I may want to implement later on, but I find that this approach leads to a very unfocused game. It's hard to describe, but while it's more satisfying as a developer, it's much less fun to play than something which has a straight forward idea. I think I'll give Miss Cleo a call; she'll know what to do.
  • AprecheApreche
    I end up mulling over the stupidest design decisions for days. I'm getting to the point where even starting something is incredibly hard because I keep flopping around on what exactly I want it to be.

    I've tried to write things in a very modular fashion to allow for maximum flexibility with any changes I may want to implement later on, but I find that this approach leads to a very unfocused game. It's hard to describe, but while it's more satisfying as a developer,
    This sounds a lot like the trouble I have when coding sometimes. I'm such a perfectionist, I want to get it right from the get go. So for example, I'll be making a web site, and I'll have to decide the maximum length for a text field. It can be any number from 1 to 255. Whether I pick 100 or 150 or 200 really won't make a difference in the end, but it's so hard for me to choose. The fact that it's so easy to change it at any time, makes it even harder to pick. There was a TED talk about this where a guy talked about this.
  • MankoonMankoon
    It seems a bit silly that the only way to cancel joining a game is to give up...
    Surely if you haven't yet made a move, you should be able to leave the game untouched?
    I've won two games against you like this! I agree about that though.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited June 2009
    Haha, I was wondering who I'd lost to. I had to go to university, and I didn't want to leave the game waiting when it hadn't even started.
    We'll have a proper game later, I hope.

    EDIT: For those of you I haven't already "forfeited" two games to, my name on Muse Games is, unsurprisingly, lackofcheese.

    EDIT2:
    Another problem I'd like to point out. Quick multiplayer seems to default to the paid map.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • AlexAlex
    Are there any gameplay elements that rely on using a 3D engine or was it more for aesthetic reasons? Or perhaps this was just a case of using a common tool set for all of Muse's games?
    A bit of B, but mostly C. Unity provides us with a bunch of functionality aside from the purely 3D stuff (a very nice scripting system based on Mono), and of course we want to avoid repeating work in two different engines.
    Surely if you haven't yet made a move, you should be able to leave the game untouched?
    That's what it's supposed to do. Consider the bug filed for fixing.
    Quick multiplayer seems to default to the paid map.
    Quick multiplayer picks a random map owned by the person who creates the game; if you end up joining someone else's game, you don't need to own the map it picked to play.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited June 2009
    Quick multiplayer seems to default to the paid map.
    Quick multiplayer picks a random map owned by the person who creates the game; if you end up joining someone else's game, you don't need to own the map it picked to play.
    I tried a few times and I was getting The Ring every time
    EDIT: Okay, I've gotten Duel as well. Not that it matters since you can't find a game anyway.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
Sign In or Register to comment.