Posted by Al
Mon, 26th Jul 2010
I am pleased to say that we’ve finally got Ace Armstrong into QA submission at Sony (and on time too!). It was a close run thing last week, with lots of last minute touches making it in at the eleventh hour - however it all came off OK in the end.
Technically speaking, we’ve crammed as much as we possibly could into a Mini for this one. The game is just a few K under the file size limit for Minis, and there are lots of different graphical elements, tons of animation in the bosses and plenty of other nice touches (check out how the scumbags die in the vacuum of space, for example).
Pleasingly, the game not only looks great on PSP, but upscales to PS3 really well too, so much so that I personally prefer playing on emulation - especially when trying to complete the game on Elite difficulty for the 100th time in a day!
As you can tell we’re proud of what we’ve achieved with Ace Armstrong. I’m someone who gets bored easily and I constantly need new problems and challenges, so for me, the best thing about working on Minis is that you’re so limited with what you can do and how long you can spend working on a game due to the limited returns you get back. This puts you under a lot of pressure to deliver things quickly and in a way which matches consumer expectations, which are invariably very high, even on these faster turnaround products. Even with these restrictions in place, Ace has worked out pretty special (IMHO). :-)
We’re now in that period when we’re waiting for the game to be approved - maybe having to make a few adjustments if the game fails and we have to resubmit. After that it’s the horrible lull when you’re waiting for the game to go live and for voucher codes to be issued in order for the press to get their hands on the game you’ve lovingly slaved over for weeks or months (or even years sometimes!).
Like I was saying last week, we’ve taken the Contra approach to game design with Ace. There are only a few levels in there, and, once you’ve put the hours in and memorised things, a run through the game won’t take long at all. However, getting into a position where you can comfortably play through the game will take many hours - with you learning a bit more each time. This is something I personally really enjoy - and it takes me right back to the shooters of my childhood, like R-Type, Gradius, Darius, Thunder Force, Phalanx, Xenon, Strikers 1945 II, etc., etc. Anyone who’s on that same wavelength should be more than happy with what we’ve done. :-)
Blimey, didn’t realise I was going to write so much! See you next week - maybe then I’ll talk about another game (at last)! ;-)
Al - Senior Producer
Posted by Al
Fri, 23rd Jul 2010
This week we’ve all been very busy working on Ace Armstrong vs. the Alien Scumbags! as well as a couple of other minis concepts and a PS3-exclusive game for the PSN Store, all of which are just beginning to get off the ground (more on those in the coming weeks I hope).
Anyway, back to Ace Armstrong, which I am very happy to say is nearly ready for launch! All of our front end, levels, weapons, enemy waves and bosses are done and we’ve been furiously tweaking enemy positioning, boss attacks, difficultly balancing and scoring/extra life score limits over the weeks in the hope of making the best game possible in the time we have left (same old dev. story, right?!).
And time is, as ever, short: we’re hoping to submit Ace Armstrong to SCEE QA by the start of next week, with a US submission coming as soon as we’ve got our ESRB age rating organised.
We’ve taken quite a hardline approach with Ace in terms of difficulty. As this is a mini we weren’t able to create loads of polished levels, so we’ve really tried super hard to make sure that the levels we have created are as tight and rewarding as possible to give the player the most bang for their buck.
Part of the difficulty balancing comes from using the recycl-o-ray to select the right weapons for different situations and placing those weapons intelligently within the levels. It’s really important to pick the right weapon for the job, for example the last level is really claustrophobic so you don’t get much time for direct fire on your enemies. In this situation the laser – which can fire through terrain - is hugely valuable as you can be hurting enemies before they get right in your face, saving you lives (which are scarce as it is) and earning more points to win extra lives.
We’ve spent a lot of time balancing this one when compared to our other minis, so I hope the end results are worth it. I’m very confident that fans of the old-style challenging horizontally-scrolling shooters will be very happy with the results. The halcyon days of memorising attack waves and button mashing until you can’t feel your arms anymore are making a comeback at last! ;-)
More next week - hopefully confirming that Ace is being submitted on time!
Posted by Al
Mon, 12th Jul 2010
Hello again. :-)
Another Friday has come and gone, so it’s time - once again - for the weekly ‘Ace Armstrong vs. the Alien Scumbags!’ update.
While you’re eagerly awaiting Ace’s appearance on the PSN Store, here’s more info on some of the standard enemies opposing Ace on his mission to save Earth:
Saucer Scumbag:
This is the ‘vanilla’ flavour of enemy for Ace to encounter and form the majority of the game’s cannon fodder. They can be dangerous in numbers, though.
Rocket Scumbag:
Similar to the Saucer but with added streamlining, extra armour, and a meaner streak. Their Three-Way shots can be dangerous in crowded moments, but luckily Ace can turn the tables with his mighty Recycl-o-Ray!
Mortar Scumbag:
A static enemy, the Mortar shouldn’t be underestimated, as its vertically firing weapon has a large area of effect. Picking them off with a Three-Way shot is best, at which point you can turn their Mortar rounds on their fellow scumbags with devastating results.
Tank Scumbag:
These tanks will trundle on screen before zeroing in on Ace with their AA guns. Once locked on they’ll unleash a barrage of shots in Ace’s direction, so try to evade the lock on and smash them to pieces before they do the same to you!
Buzzsaw Scumbag:
These incredibly tough scumbags don’t fire at Ace, but they don’t need to - they’re surrounded by razor sharp blades and will rip through Ace like wet tissue if he gets anywhere near them! A really rapid trigger finger can take Buzzsaws down, but it’s dangerous to try without at least some kind of power up equipped. Beware the Buzzsaws!
More Ace news next week!
Al - Senior Producer
