BLOGS

Greed Corp US press tour: Final day in LA

By Nikki KuppensTuesday, February 23, 2010DevelopersNo commentsShare/bookmark
About W!Games developer Nikki KuppensGame & level designer for Greed Corp. In charge of epic story writing, tweets and status updates, community posts and challenging you with awesome Achievements and Trophies. Also the guy with the highest Gamerscore in the office.

Getting to Los Angeles from San Francisco by plane was easy, getting to our hotel was a little trickier. Instead of using a rental car, we ended up getting a cab. It took us to one of the most extravagant hotels in LA, but because we had to get up early and were pretty tired, we didn’t spend much time admiring all its peculiar details.

There was only one appointment for which we had to leave the hotel the next morning. So after a crazy taxi ride, including a Burnout-like near miss experience, we arrived at the studios of G4. They have these cool ‘ON AIR’ signs, including spinning red lights. Unfortunately we were not going to be in their television or web show, so we moved on to the capture room to once again play a match against an Expert opponent for recording. It’s really cool that all the playthroughs we had, including this one, resulted in some very diverse matches with different outcomes. Replay value is one of Greed Corp’s greatest strengths and I think that really shows in all the videos that have appeared up until now. Brian from G4 could certainly see that as well.

With the last on-site meeting now out of the way, we had to prepare for the last presentations in our hotel room. We asked the cab driver to stop by a supermarket, to buy some drinks and snacks. While Marco and Chris, our PR contact, went inside to get those things, I kept an eye on all our equipment and experienced an awkward eternity of silence between me and the cab driver. With way too many soda cans and bags of crisps, we went back to our eccentric hotel to set everything up. Up until now, everything went pretty smooth technically, but the hotel’s philosophy of form over function caused the first obstacle that could ruin our clean run. The televisions in our room were placed inside a large glass container, looking like a large reflective box until you turn on the TV. There were some input connections on the side, which were routed back to the TV itself. Unfortunately, the cables were apparently broken, so all connectors were failing.

Getting closer to the time of our next meeting, we called upon the help of the hotel’s technical department to get our Xbox 360 test kit working on the TV in the living room. We also had one in the bedroom which was operating perfectly, but despite our previous experience with demoing in bedrooms we thought it would be more professional to not do it there. So in came two engineers and their manager, to remove the entire glass facing of the designer TV casing. We confirmed that the connectors of the television itself were working, but the casing without its cover was not a pretty sight, with all the wires and such. Some very smart man fortunately added a hole to the bottom of the casing for occasions such as this one, so we were able to hook up the Xbox 360 directly to the TV. We did have to call the same guys in again to remove the plate once more, so we could get our HDMI cable back.

The setup was done just in time and we welcomed GamingEvolution to our not so humble hotel room. Those two guys had some nice questions about the game and other things, which resulted in one of the longest articles to come out of this press tour. When they left, we went straight on to our last appointment of the day, with nFamous, Coin-Op TV Live and GameTrailers. It was a nice meeting with an informal feel to it and everyone responded very well to different aspects of the game, the world and its characters. It was one of the best meetings we had during the entire tour and we went on with GameTrailers to shoot a video walkthrough of a match and an interview with me. Because of the practice we had with earlier recordings, everything went pretty smooth and you can find the very informative videos now on the GameTrailers website.

And that was it. Three days of hard work and three days of less hard work, checking out San Francisco and Los Angeles. Just like the one in the UK last year, this press tour has been incredibly rewarding. We met some famous reporters and saw some of the biggest TV screens you can get. The rain we got during our stay must have been some kind of record, but it was a nice trip none the less. All the responses have been nothing but positive and we’re hoping that will translate into some nice reviews and sales numbers. As the game will be released tomorrow, we won’t have to wait too long to find out.

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Greed Corp US press tour: Last day in San Francisco

By Nikki KuppensWednesday, February 3, 2010DevelopersNo commentsShare/bookmark
About W!Games developer Nikki KuppensGame & level designer for Greed Corp. In charge of epic story writing, tweets and status updates, community posts and challenging you with awesome Achievements and Trophies. Also the guy with the highest Gamerscore in the office.

It was not the best time to be in San Francisco. Although we had some time in the weekend to explore the city without it raining all the time, we spent most of the time on the first day in between demos trying to get to the car without getting soaked. Fortunately the response to Greed Corp was way more positive than the weather. That vibe continued on the second day, the last one in San Francisco.

Because of that terrible weather, we left early so that we would be at our first appointment on time. That was not a problem on the first day, but now we would have to head south. The idea was to drive there first and get breakfast if there would be time left. Even though we spent quite some time stuck in traffic, we still managed to get coffee and a bite to eat in the building where IGN was located. They were not our first appointment though, so we went over to the building next to them for a meeting with Official Xbox Magazine and PC Gamer. Because the new way of demoing, like we did the previous day at Giant Bomb, was pretty successful, we decided to stick with it and just play against the AI while explaining what was going on. That created some interesting matches throughout the day, all resulting in very different scenarios. I actually lost most matches, much to the delight of Marco and the editor audience. In my defense though, it’s pretty hard to think about what you’re going to do and explain it at the same time. At least it demonstrated that our Expert level AI is not a pushover.

After the first appointment, we went back to the previous building to meet with IGN. They have a pretty cool office, with lots of funny posters, life-size statues of game characters and even a room just for Master Chief. We met with Daemon, who already contacted us about the game right after we first announced it, and he captured a Greed Corp match on video. That makes it even harder to play well, because you can’t really pause the game to talk. Due to the extreme weather conditions, some of the meetings we had were cancelled. It’s hard to demo a game when the power has gone out or the road to get there is flooded. So it seemed like it was going to be a short day of work, but our PR contacts managed to arrange a last minute meeting with GamePro. We drove back to downtown San Francisco, while the weather actually started to look better. That meant that our flight to Los Angeles in the evening would surely just go as planned.

Even though I’ve been to the United States a couple of times and have relatives there, I never tasted meatloaf before. So when I saw it on the menu at the place where we had lunch before the last presentation, I decided to try it. I’m glad I did, but it’s not really my thing. The meeting at GamePro was very cool and while we were sitting there, the first articles based on yesterday’s press visits were already showing up online. After some discussion about the latest games, which the GamePro editors were already able to play, we had quite some time on our hands before our flight to Los Angeles would leave. During our stay, we noticed a lot of big billboards for The Book of Eli, a new movie with Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. Reviews seemed very positive about it, so we decided to go and watch it at the Metreon. To keep it short, it was a little disappointing, but we did get to see a couple of cool trailers from upcoming movies. We left for the airport afterwards, got something to eat and flew to Los Angeles without a hitch. More on that final day in the Greed Corp US press tour soon!

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Greed Corp US press tour: Visiting editors at home on Martin Luther King Day

By Nikki KuppensThursday, January 28, 2010Developers1 commentShare/bookmark
About W!Games developer Nikki KuppensGame & level designer for Greed Corp. In charge of epic story writing, tweets and status updates, community posts and challenging you with awesome Achievements and Trophies. Also the guy with the highest Gamerscore in the office.

After some free time in San Francisco, it was time to do what we came here for: show Greed Corp to the American press. The weather was pretty rough and we were expecting some heavy traffic, so we got up early to make sure we would make it to Berkeley in time. Fortunately, the bad weather warnings caused the roads to be pretty clear and the rain and wind weren’t that bad after all. That meant that we arrived in Berkeley way too early, but that gave us the opportunity to get a real breakfast. At the hotel we were only able to quickly get some coffee, which we drank in the car. Breakfast was a bit heftier than the typical Dutch morning meal, but it was good and supplied us with enough energy for most of the day.

This Monday, it was Martin Luther King Day, which meant that most press offices were closed. That’s why we spent this day visiting online editors and bloggers at their own home. This felt a bit weird, but it created an informal and personal atmosphere. First up was Contra Costa, where we showed up almost completely soaked because of the increasing rain. As this was our first presentation since the UK press tour last year, we had to get back into it a bit. We relied on the trusted structure used earlier, meaning we would start with a studio introduction and then the Mistbound world trailer before we would jump into the game. Our audience of one seemed very much interested and asked some questions to get more details.

The US PR representative traveling with us also made some nice contributions to our story, based on his experience with the game. To show the press what the future of Mistbound is going to be, we ended the presentations with an early build of the next game taking place within the world we created. It’s a top-down action shooter, of which we will of course reveal more in due time. Everybody responded very well to it, as they did to Greed Corp. Marco spotted a copy of Mass Effect 2 on our host’s table, so we spent a couple of minutes talking about his opinion on the game before we left for the next appointment at Game Revolution. It took some time to find their office, but once there the paper on the door set the mood right away.

Fortunately we were not treated as solicitors and both people present at the time took place in front of the big television for our presentation. Again, both seemed to like both Greed Corp and the next project, once again confirming that we had a good game on our hands and more to come. After that, we left for Destructoid. Most of our appointments were located in Berkeley, a university area just east of downtown San Francisco, on the other side of the Bay Bridge. So it was just a short drive to the next press appointment. We met Ben at his place and upon arrival he asked us whether we wanted to show the game on the living room’s 22” screen or on his brand new 40” television. He didn’t want to share his new purchase with his roommates and put it in his own room, which is perfectly understandable.

Ben was also very much into the game and particularly liked how we were operating as a studio, with multiple downloadable games taking place within the Mistbound universe. He told us he would have the article up quickly, maybe even the same evening, so we were very much looking forward to that. Ben also gave us the name of a good place to get lunch. Whenever in Berkeley, do not be put off by the name Bongo Burger or its appearance! They actually have some of the best burgers you can get. After this quite fulfilling meal, we went over to Chris P. from GotGame. First we rang the doorbell at the wrong house, but with a quick phone call we were able to locate him and show him our games. He was really into Greed Corp and already started thinking about possible strategies within the game. I can imagine him doing quite well when he gets to play the game against others.

Last but not least: the guys from Giant Bomb. We left the student city of Berkeley for the marina town of Sausalito, where once again we had trouble finding our contacts. They were certainly not at the address we had, nor its underground parking lot, but after a quick call we found out they were just down the road. We met Brad, Ryan and Vinny in their cool basement office and sat down on the demo couch to record a quick Greed Corp match, with me explaining the game and them asking questions. Because that changed the way we presented the game and I couldn’t pause the game during recording, I started out a little nervous, but that all went away after starting a match and finding out the Giant Bomb guys liked it a lot. It was the perfect way to end the day. We were all pretty tired, but very pleased with the results and the positive response we got from everyone. More on the next day in San Francisco soon!

, , , , , , , , ,

Greed Corp US press tour: Preparing in San Francisco

By Nikki KuppensMonday, January 18, 2010DevelopersNo commentsShare/bookmark
About W!Games developer Nikki KuppensGame & level designer for Greed Corp. In charge of epic story writing, tweets and status updates, community posts and challenging you with awesome Achievements and Trophies. Also the guy with the highest Gamerscore in the office.

Another year, another press tour. First it was the United Kingdom, now the United States. After the success of our visit to London, Bournemouth and Bath, I was really looking forward to showing Greed Corp to the American press as well and seeing how that audience would respond to the game.

It was a busy week before the start of this tour. So busy in fact, that I could hardly think about how cool it was going to be to visit San Francisco and Los Angeles again and get the chance to do this. On Friday, Marco and I left a little early from work to be able to pack, because we would be leaving the next day. Even though we would fly just before noon, we still had to get up early. Security checks are strict, so you have to be there a few hours before departure. Fortunately the trains were all running on time, getting on the plane went fine and the trip itself didn’t seem that long. We had a direct flight from Amsterdam to San Francisco, which took about eleven hours. It gave me the chance to watch The Informant and also the successful Dutch movie called ‘Komt een vrouw bij de dokter’, while Marco was having a laugh watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory. After the smoothest landing ever, we took the BART to our hotel right in the center of San Francisco on Market Street.

Because we got here on the weekend and work doesn’t start until Monday, we had quite a lot of time to do some sightseeing. Of course we started out with some Starbucks coffee and a cookie, while walking around the Financial District and Union Square. Having been there before, I convinced Marco to check out the Metreon. He described it as a tacky amusement park and I must admit that it’s just not the same without the PlayStation section and the specialized board game store that used to be opposite the arcade. From the Metreon, we followed the Bay Bridge to the coast. Then the jetlag set in. Our feet were done, we were tired and hungry. So we set out to get a quick and not so healthy meal, after which we went back to the hotel to play some Dominion. If we would’ve gone to bed before that, we would certainly have been wide awake again at three in the morning. Dominion is a pretty cool card game. Marco taught me to play it and I just barely lost the first match. We played another match just now, with some additional cards, and I was able to beat him.

Today we did some additional sightseeing in the city, starting at Fisherman’s Wharf. We walked there and then took the bus through Chinatown back to Market Street. Marco marked a couple of specialized gaming stores on the map, so after checking out the nearest GameStop we took the Muni Metro to West Portal to visit Just Awesome, a store full of popular and obscure board games and space to play them. Marco was especially looking for Thunderstone, which was supposedly not available or hard to get at home. Even through our Dutch, the guy running the store noticed Marco was comparing it to Dominion. Even though it might become a problem to fit it inside our luggage, Marco bought Thunderstone and the shop owner gave us some of his brand new logo stickers. We then traveled back to the hotel to rest a bit and to make sure the equipment we need to demo Greed Corp was working. We brought an Xbox 360 test kit from work, which has a European power block with a voltage to high for an American outlet. So to be able to even turn on the Xbox 360 and run Greed Corp, we had to bring a specialized, heavy power transformer. Fortunately, it all works perfectly!

I’m a pretty big fan of games like Catan and Carcassonne and playing Dominion and visiting the board game shop made me realize I should try out more board and card games. Greed Corp was inspired by a couple of these games and still has a similar look and feel. I really enjoy playing it myself, not just because I worked on it. Much like other board games I admire, Greed Corp continues to surprise me with new layers of depth and strategies I discover. I think it’s that quality that will interest people, with the land collapsing mechanic as the added value of Greed Corp being a digital game. Up until now, I think the press that played the game really got that and I’m confident we’ll be able to communicate that this week to the American press, starting tomorrow.

, , , , , , , , , , ,

You are invited!

By Harry van MierlooTuesday, January 12, 2010DevelopersNo commentsShare/bookmark
About W!Games developer Harry van MierlooGame designer for Greed Corp. In charge of the overall game design, core mechanics, online gameplay and user interface. Loves industrial buildings, cryptic messages, hologram poetry, synthesizers, and transformable objects.

I love the social interaction between people sitting on the couch at home, playing a game together. Who hasn’t enjoyed the satisfaction of defeating your friends in Mario Kart, or receiving all your brother’s money in Monopoly, followed by a friendly grin? Although I like all the online possibilities of modern games, playing against online opponents is a different multiplayer experience than playing against someone sitting directly next to you. Not worse or better, just different. However, this does not mean that offline and online multiplayer modes should be strictly separated.

A human opponent remains a human opponent in the end, independent of his/her physical location. In Greed Corp we wanted to offer plenty of options to facilitate a decent “living room” experience, while making it very easy for online opponents to join as well. The flexibility in the Game Room is a direct result of this philosophy. Next to that, we didn’t want you to require more hardware than necessary. Why would you need four controllers if you are playing a turn-based game? So if you have one friend in another country and two on the couch next to you, you can all play together, even if you only have one controller per console.

Many strategy games are complex because a player has to master a lot of strategic options before they can figure out the best way to defeat an opponent. Often a lot of time needs to be invested before you can actually start making strategic decisions that really make sense. Although some players love this kind of complexity, it does not make a game very accessible for new players or players with limited time. We didn’t want Greed Corp to be complex because of the amount of options, it should be complex in finding a strategy that’s smarter than the one of your opponent. If a new player starts with Greed Corp, he should be able to start thinking about tactics right away, and not lose much time by learning all the options in the game first. We’ve kept the amount of possible actions you can perform very limited, while not sacrificing strategic depth, like in a chess game. We wanted to prevent players having to make complex calculations before they can decide if moving a walker is wise or not. The mechanics should be transparent, the winning strategy should not.

Six attacking walkers will always beat five defending walkers, leaving one walker alive for the attacker on his newly captured tile. But deciding whether or not it’s wise to attack in the first place, that’s the part where strategic thinking shows up. It’s all about using the right weapon at the right time at the right position. Because of the land collapsing mechanic, basically every turn is played on a “different” map, which makes thinking ahead very important. The longer you play, the more you will discover how much depth is hidden in this mechanic. After one and a half years of working on this game, I still haven’t found all possible strategies to win a game. My opponents during the playtests kept surprising me with new tactics, forcing me to adapt and come up with an even smarter tactic. I’m very curious about all the pro tactics that will emerge from the community!

I’m looking forward to seeing you all in-game soon! You are invited!

, , , , , , , , , , ,