Ska Studios » Life

Good Morning Gato #23 – Pterodactyls, Zombies, and the American Dream

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:26:38 +0000

Changes are taking place here at Ska Studios. There are dev code changes being made. General life changes. The occasional change of previous changes which were made to change something un-changed. Yes sir, all sorts of changes are happening and are topics I’m willing to discuss with you, but only after the break.

Ska Studios Moves (Across The River)
There comes a time in every indie studio’s life when it grows out of its habitat. It’s a natural, normal occurrence that can be stressful and even frightening, but is part of becoming an adult studio. That time has come for Ska Studios, as our entire operation is being packed into cardboard containers, being gently tossed into a U-Haul truck and carted away to a new home. A real home. One that comes complete with an attic, a driveway and even a “backyard paradise.” Or so that’s what the house listing called it.

The move shouldn’t be too difficult seeing as the new homestead is just across the river, a few miles away, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on our relocation effort. For now, I say goodbye old apartment studio and hello new, house-sized version of Ska Studios!

ZP2KX Got Playtested
All last week, a handful of helpful XNA Creator’s Club members downloaded the alpha build of our upcoming Xbox LIVE Indie Game ZP2KX and played the heck out of it. Now, post playtest, is the time where James takes into account all the feedback that he received, fixes a few lingering bugs and gives the entire ZP2KX package a silky smooth spit shine. And while I’m well aware that you’d love to have more information on the game, to know when it’ll make its release and if there will really be pterodactyls included, I can not yet comment. All in time, friends. All in time.

What I will say is that there’s a good chance of another playtest and further development on the title, so its release will not be anytime in the super immediate future. Oh, and yes, there will be actual pterodactyls in the game

A Z0MB1ES “Did You Know?”
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1 is celebrating its birthday on August 16th and just like The Dishwasher earlier in the year, this will be its first birthday EVAR! And here at Ska Studios, we don’t take birthday celebrations lightly, especially first birthdays. That is why we have a few exciting surprises planned. Stay tuned.

A Ska Studios “Goodbye”
We have an apartment to pack up and a stressed Gato to comfort (she does not like moving.) Talk to you next week.

Some Dishwasher History

James — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:54:14 +0000

I’ve been hard at work on The Dishwasher for over a year now, and I was just looking at my changelog, which I started in August, after it became apparent that The Dishwasher was not to remain some silly Prototype. To tell you the truth, after The Dishwasher was in the hands of the Dream Build Play judges and before it won the contract, I started working on a new game/reskinning of Dishwasher called Fruit: The Game. The idea of Fruit involved a bunch of fruit battling junk food, the joke was that no matter how gory the evisceration of cupcakes and chips, you couldn’t really complain about the violence, right?

Back to The Dishwasher–a lot of people ask if it’s just me working on it, how I make games, etc., and I figured posting the changelog would provide some insight into the mayhem that goes on here. I hop between sound, art, netcode, core code, level design, and more art sporadically, fixing things as regularly as I break things. There are a lot of features in the changelog that I’ve since gotten rid of, especially with magic use (and fyi, I took out the green skull collect button–all pickups now use the classic DMC/NG/GoW absorb style), and there are a lot of features that won’t make much sense.

Anyway, here’s several months of Dishwasher history. Make sure you start at the bottom for proper chronology!

4 – 18 – 08

0.3.7

Big graphics overhaul–spirals, stars and sprite blood–no more threshold shader for blood
Game invites work
All tutorials, messages + controller updated for new control scheme–right trigger modifier magic
Guitar minigame now does just that
Tweaked phantom guitar, fixed follow bug
Added arcade game variations–vampire, instakill, bullet time, aerials
Multiple profiles handled correctly (using press start screen)
Upsell works
Fixed St. Crux Achievement
Fixed wall Slam achievement
Leaderboard scrolling in place
Bosses now don’t fade out after death
Main Menu slightly colorified
Can replay guitar game
TODO: need to make sure upsell screen -> buy screen -/-> upsell screen
TODO: fix end level screen + guide = flickering pause bug
TODO: have leaderboard open to right gamertag, not just #1
TODO: polish guitar (w/ guitar peripheral) minigame
TODO: test game invites

4 – 5 – 08

0.3.6

Further framerate improvement (got rid of haze + uberfade, bloomed the heck out of everything)
Needs theme brightness check
XLast online
Leaderboards work, need great tweaking (new scoring metric?)
Need leaderboard page scrolling
Decide how to handle multiplayer leaderboards
Need to finish up multiple profile handling
Magic is now all done with RT modifier, need to update all tutorials + arcade messages

3 – 27 – 08

0.3.5

Solution now works w/ VS 2005, has XDK project (dishXbla)
No longer using dlls (was causing trouble)–using original character loading now
Achievements work, achievements main menu option works

3 – 18 – 08

0.3.4

Big framerate improvement! Did this by reducing wall blood texture size
New sounds–swords, feet patter, guns, chainsaw, brass + shells, launches, explosions
Multiplayer host can’t start map until Client has loaded
Hopefully fixed multiplayer packet barrage bug where recipient would end up stuck in 10 second long GC messes
Multiplayer grab issues are all server side now
Pickup drawing is now consistent–LT for hearts, spirals and skulls
TODO: Clean up chainsaw sounds, redo more sounds

3 – 13 – 08

0.3.3

Added Phantom Guitar
Added brass and shells
Secondary switching is *all good* now–cleavers selectable
Combo list correct
Bugfixes: shop anywhere bug, midair messy walker kill

2 – 27 – 08

0.3.2

Added “thwarting” bosses: sinthesis, ubertank, skeletank, viking, vulcan, death
Bugfixes: coop stage selection bug, empty inventory bug

2 – 17 – 08

0.3.1

Fixed storage selection failed issue
Polished playthrough
Warp effect
Zombie + Kamikaze (unfinished?) + Vulcan sounds

2 – 13 – 08

0.3.0

Tut overlap
Storage failure issues
Smoothed guitar input
Revised samurai levels
Psycho pick placement good

2 – 8 – 08

0.2.9

New fonts
Jump on ledge handled differently
Moved tutorials around–CAT boxes

2 – 1 – 08

0.2.8

Revisions for trial–moved loading screen
fixed aspect ratio detection
fixed title safe issue
changed thug zap sounds (“tase” now)
added menu titles
Fixed skull collection issue
Reworked tutorials in level 1
Created design doc
Created achievements (in temp)
Added background rain to cafe

1 – 30 – 08

0.2.7

Big net progress, almost solid!
Fixed jittery motion bug, face wrong way bug
Handle grabs correctly (almost!)
Handle death, revive hearts correctly
Correctly handles host/client dropping
Moved particle spawning for special cases–explode, muzzle flash, blood, etc.
TODO: Grabs need smoothing
TODO: Test at poor latency

1 – 25 – 08

0.2.6

Netplay introduced, arcade mode [slightly] passable, can host, join, leave, play, etc.
Candidate for XNA trial complete (may need revisions if necessary)
TODO: Jittery motion bug
TODO: Face wrong way bug
TODO: Handle grabs correctly
TODO: Handle death correctly
TODO: Handle revive hearts

1 – 20 – 08

0.2.5

50 Arcade levels
Guide-friendly
Tied up guitar solo loose ends
Cleaned up, prettied up menu
Icon and Description in good form
Controls view updated
Removed coop story (may use as easter egg)
Nearing candidate for XNA Trial
TODO: Networking!
TODO: Review Arcade; polish

1 – 14 – 08

0.2.4

Added arcade mode
Added moves (lots and lots)
Added more persistant items
Finished comics–revamped story!
TODO: More arcade levels (lots and lots)
TODO: Finish arcade mode

12 – 23 – 07

0.2.3

Converted to be compatible with 2.0–many redundant versions now; correction version is in projectDish2/projectDish2/TheDishwasher_Win
Made content processor for character types (for 2.0 compatibility)
Added gray fortress level
Added uberflags for persistant items
Put inventory items on all levels except lobby and core
TODO: move comics around again, add some more
TODO: fix guitar stuff, add one more pick
TODO: add more persistant items, samurai level crazy branches

12 – 12 – 07

0.2.2

Added catacombs level, kamikaze enemy
Added Halper Bot Shop, Inventory, Pause menu transitions
Reworked render chain to assemble scene on texture, not primary, for better blast effects
Guitar solo now awards you a pick, not an upgrade (buy the upgrade at the shop)
Put exp globs back in, they’re now spirals that bounce on the floor
Put trails back in
Final boss now has grab death, still needs final comic

11 – 30 – 07

0.2.1

2 Comics for inprocessing
Replaced splatters with guitar, added more guitar!
Removed chainsaw blocking
Added feedback effect
Loading is on a separate thread now
Can cancel guitar solo, still needs cheering

11 – 20 – 07

0.2

Added InProcessing Stage, Electrobarriers
Thermoptic Camo for enemies
Changed gravity
Revamped continues
Changed health + magic globs
Posterize effect
TODO: Many comics still–final fight, inprocessing

11 – 05 – 07

0.1.9

Guitar minigame in good shape, lights, upgrades
Added throw; needs name (debugging may be in order)
Messy kills are big on electricity now
Chef + revamped final fight
TODO: Allow player to cancel upgrade, add cheering to guitar
TODO: Concluding final fight comic

10 – 29 – 07

0.1.8

Added guitar minigame–syncs well on Win and 360, but would be nice if XNA 2.0 had a getCurrentPosition
Added lights
Started Engineer form 2
TODO: Reduce blood still?
TODO: Need chef + revamped final fight, including comic
TODO: Comic to set the stage
TODO: Finish guitar minigame–lights, cheering, upgrade tie-in

10 – 20 – 07

0.1.7

Upgrade system in effect – new combos, new graphics
Begun revamping comics
Lengthened Nord Trainyard + CAM Rooftops
Added Engineer on horse

10 – 08 – 07

0.1.6

Electric blood for cyborgs!
Cleaned up wall blood behavior
Aux combos added–arsenal (slice + shoot, knee + uppercut), chainsaw (x slash), kama (air shredder, rising shredder)
Glowy death
Updated business card in \temp\shirts
Maps can have now have two entrances/exits per side (used only in Ivy Trail)
TODO: Finish Ivy trail
TODO: Add board room to CAM Rooftops
TODO: Add In Processing to CAM Lobby (or create new level)
TODO: Have Restaurant burn down before/during Engineer battle
TODO: Still fix magic issue

10 – 01 – 07

0.1.5

Added Wall blood
Auxilliary Weapon support
Added strong slash stun move
TODO: Fix magic utilization so weird things don’t happen, add sword combos to secondary weapons

9 – 22 – 07

0.1.4

New blood look
New moves for Goons, Swats, Ninja
Terrible Catastrophe?

9 – 17 – 07

0.1.3

Added placeholder achievements (see achievements.txt in temp)
Improved arena coloring/visibility
Fleshed out church level
SVG format logos in temp
Chainsaw sound is now “safe”
New ninja execution move
Magic collection is now limited range
TODO: Flesh out more levels

9 – 10 – 07

0.1.2

New preprocessed character file format, should improve Xbox360 GC issues at load time
New logos, etc, design doc in temp folder

Closure and Pluggage

James — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:52:25 +0000

Well, I finally made it back home Friday morning, after two nights in O’Hare. The Friday morning flight was even delayed twice–which is what happened with the previous two flights before they were canceled. Nice little scare to end the trip with!

In other news:

The kind folks at xbox360fanboy.com plugged The Dishwasher again. From the post:

High in potassium and hella’ delicious. We say good job to you Mr. (XNA all-star) Silva, Dead Samurai looks amazing and the extreme amount of blood and blurring effects makes our eyes water with happiness. We say, bring on the dish washing!

Read it!

Still trapped…

James — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 01:09:50 +0000

My flight got canceled a second time, so it looks like I’ll be spending another night in O’Hare in Chicago.

In the meantime, I have another guest column up up bit-tech; I wanted to name it “The One Where I Wax Philosophical” or something but those wacky British editors change the title.

Read: Halo 3 and the Art of Repetition

Update: Looks like I’m in the news again, for all the wrong reasons!

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/snowstorm.nearly.foot.2.646975.html

Trapped in Chicago…

James — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:03:29 +0000

I’m trapped in O’Hare in Chicago. I was supposed to fly back to Syracuse last night but my flight was canceled. I slept in the airport for a few hours, and am getting a lot of work done today (though haggard as anything). My flight out of here is supposed to be at 6:55 PM tonight, but it’s snowing like crazy out there and about 1/3 of all the flights on the screens are canceled. Fingers crossed I may someday see my beloved upstate NY.

I made a friend here, who I’ve named Bess Fren Inna Whole Why Whirl. Here are pictures:

Yeah, I’m going nuts.

Update: my friend AJ wants me to mention that she’s helping me, through advanced technology such as AIM, along the road to insanity. She’s no Bess Fren, but she tries.

Guest column is up!

James — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:49:40 +0000

I wrote a guest column for bit-tech.net; check it out. It’s all about the whole Dream Build Play episode of last summer, and is a great read for James Silva ~~stalkers~~ enthusiasts.

Dishwashirts are finally available for purchase

James — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 15:51:13 +0000

Sorry, I got sidetracked by the Orange Box, Halo 3, and chicken wings. I’ll never do it again, I swear.

I’ve got Dishwashirts available at skastudios.vg. I took some totally awful digital cam pictures of them, which may or may not improve sales. I’m asking $10, which isn’t much more than cost, but you Norwegians out there may have to pay a bit for shipping (I’m looking at you, Cryovat).

More on repetition and games

James — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:01:44 +0000

I just thought of another game that could’ve used more repetition: God of War 2.

Granted, it was an amazing game with some crazy cool parts, but like Halo 3, some of the protagonist’s badassery was dampened by the fact that you would be thrust from one completely unfamiliar situation to the next with no common frame of reference. It’s the classic picture of a vengeful hero who has been going in circles in the west wing of the antagonist’s base because he can’t find the right lever or whose quest of revenge comes to a very non-epic end when he doesn’t notice a particular climbable rock wall during an intensely cinematic moment and plunges with the platform he was riding on into the lava for the sixth consecutive time.

I thought Bioshock really nailed the whole repetition thing. Little variety in monsters, recognizable environment hazards (oil slicks, water, security systems), good level layout and a nice checkpoint arrow.

Also, The Dishwasher was in magazine (an Edge magazine, to be exact). Here’s a cell phone screenie:

The article is mostly on XNA, but it’s nice that they put some juicy screens in there.

Seattle Ho!

James — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 23:09:08 +0000

I just reached Seattle!

They charge $10/day for Internet.

More info to come!

The Incredible Blog Relaunch

James — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 11:57:19 +0000

Anyone keeping tabs on me will notice some things:

The original blog somehow died
The site has become extremely minimal (geocities-esque, even)

I think I know what happened, but I’m not sure. My guess is that somehow someone got some malicious whatnot on my simplePHP blog, which resulted in timeouts for any IP trying to connect to the site after the first attempt. Weeks of timeouts, even.

Well, we can all stop panicking now. I’ve decided to use a wordpress blog because it’s got a robust editor and is most likely more stable than my site.

Anyway…

The big news is that I’m going to GameFest. I’m currently in the Syracuse airport, headed West. The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is a finalist in the dream.build.play competition, and we’ll see how it does on Monday.

For anyone who hasn’t seen The Dishwasher in action, here’s a (slightly dated) video:

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=lscKqMsnpJY]