Gaming on richardleggett.com

Snowball Fight for iOS and Android

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:54:00 +0000

I’m pleased to announce a game we’ve been working on is now out. A collaboration between The Creation Agency and Bitmode (my previous home), we bring you The Great Snowball Fight!

The game is played over Google Maps, launching virtual snowballs at unsuspecting players in order to rank up, earn points and even win prizes from retailers you hit. You can also add buddies, connect via Facebook and receive special powerups.

Unity(3D) Game Development Essentials [Book]

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:23:41 +0000

I’ve just been told Packt has released their Unity3D book “Unity Game Development Essentials” by Will Goldstone, I think I first saw this on the author’s own site learnunity3d.com site when Packt released the RAW edition (similar to Safari’s Roughcuts).

They are kindly sending a copy so I’ll have a review on here shortly, but for now there’s a sample chapter PDF download here.

New Monkey Island Game

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:38:13 +0000

The Monkey Island games were something of a cult phenomenon, certainly back when I was at school, even though the first two were already retro at that time, I think that just added to their charm. Easily one of the best point-and-click adventures of all time.

The Secret of Monkey Island and The Curse of Monkey Island: Le Chuck’s Revenge were VGA masterpieces. The story and humor absolutely first class. The later upgraded 2D and then 3D sequels still hold a candle to the originals, but the news is there’s a new episodic Monkey Island coming out, and a remake of the original to boot.

Rockstar to Offer Flash Game Counterpart to GTA for Money Laundering

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:25:18 +0000

Console games, popular. Flash (browser) games, popular. Combining the two, winning combination.

Flash games have made the leap to consoles several times, from full on ports like Alien Hominid, to Xbox live arcade titles, to Wii browser games. But one idea from Rockstar (creators of GTA), sees gamers laundering money and unlocking stuff for their Nintendo DS copy of GTA: Chinatown Wars.

Another sign of convergence perhaps, where data and services related to a product are made available remotely, or even in the Cloud. Ultimately for Rockstar it means more player time in the GTA universe when their customers are not able to be on their consoles, or perhaps simply a change of scenery.

Achron – Meta/Real-time Strategy Game

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:11:15 +0000

I rarely blog about gaming, probably because I rarely game, but occasionally something is so extraordinary it grabs my attention.

I caught a video over at Offworld that demonstrates a new real-time strategy game. The twist is that you can both view and interact with the events in the past, present and future (interacting in the past costing a new type of resource).

Here’s the video, it may appear confusing at first but he is demonstrating advanced tactics. This shows the player being attacked in the past by an opponent who is changing history.

OnLive – The Future of Home Gaming & Media: Video Demo

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:04:48 +0000

Maybe a sensational headline, but it’s no secret in previous posts I have said that I’d “bet the farm” on subscription based services completely overthrowing traditional media consumption in the next few years so this service has really caught my attention.

One of the earliest mainstream examples of this kind of unlimited subscription media probably being Nokia Comes with Music, some years ago now. Well, music is one thing, and video took a little longer, but Netflix, XBox and AppleTV show that’s well and truly “solved”, but what about gaming? Gaming of course relies entirely on reaction times, and on modern consoles runs in higher resolutions than even movies.

User Generated Gaming Comes to XBOX 360 – Kodu

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:23:42 +0000

I don’t think there’s anyone un-impressed by Little Big Planet for the Playstation 3. It’s genre defining in a throw-a-million-cycles-at-physics-and-build-anything sort of way. Alas, I’m not a PS3 owner as I rarely game at all, but I’m glad to see something similar coming to Xbox, this one perhaps leaning towards Boom Blox. This used to be known as Boku, now Kodu.

I think this game is aimed at kids, not quite as grown up as LBP, but it seems to have a lot of potential, with a built in “building block” programming element. You have access to particle emitters, collision detection, spawning of objects, scripted movement and counting, the basics required for remaking almost any 8-bit gaming classic 😉

Meta4orce – Papervision Site for the BBC

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:38:33 +0000

I just caught this site via the blog of Iain Lobb (head of interactive at Bloc Media) who commented on my last post. It’s an incredibly slick site developed using the Great White branch of Papervision3D. The site is (for) a TV and online cartoon series, providing a nice cross media experience.

The main things that stood out for me were the production quality of the games and the audio which is very high quality and just as importantly, very well integrated.

Unity3D on the Wii Now Official

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:39:21 +0000

Unity 3D, a high-end game development tool for web, desktop and soon the iPhone has announced they are now an official middleware provider for Wii.

From the site:

Unity’s game engine allows developers to create, modify and iterate on Wii game functionality with the following features:

Live Preview: The play button allows developers to instantly preview their game inside the authoring environment exactly as it currently exists, regardless of the development phase. Users can modify any object’s properties and see the results in real-time without pausing.
Scriptable Controller: Simple, straightforward, fully-featured Wii Remote scripting class lets developers read data from the Wii Remote controller, Nunchuck controller, and Classic Controller effortlessly.
Optimized Character Animation: Developers can create characters without special exports, imports, or modifications required. Files drop easily into Unity and the characters come to life with full animation on Wii hardware.
Scriptable Shaders: Unity’s ShaderLab system has been expanded to leverage the full power of the Wii graphics chip. Developers can use one of the built-in shaders optimized for Wii or write their own. They can script and modify any shader on any object.
Click to Publish: Developers can easily run their game on their Wii development kit, building it with one click.

Read the press release.

Nonoba – Free Flash Multi-User Server, API, Hosting and $20,000 Competition

Thu, 22 May 2008 21:05:10 +0000

I’ve just received an email from Nonoba with information on their new multi-user offering, which includes an AS2 and AS3 API, but what I find particularly interesting is that they also include free hosting and execution of your game logic.

The aim appears to be to lower the barrier to entry for anyone wishing to create a multi-user game. These can include turn-based, or real-time games. They currently have some demos up on the site, and these include Nonoba Racer, Fridge Magnets, Multiplayer Asteroids and DrawPad.

Escher-esque Game (Illusionary Physics)

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:28:52 +0000

My colleague Rick Williams just found an excellent game called Echochrome which is coming soon to PS3 and PSP. It is very reminiscent of Escher’s work, the difference here is that you must complete the illusion yourself by rotating the 3D-space to allow the inhabitants of the world to complete the puzzles.

iPhone/iPod Touch Serious Contender for Handheld Games Market

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:00:39 +0000

When the iPhone came out, I thought it was a brave move, but I couldn’t see myself getting one, even though I’m a bit of an Apple fan (my MBP and Nano/Nike+ are irreplaceable). But since then I’ve been using a friend’s Jailbreaked iPhone I’m utterly sold on it (and the Touch), but for a different reason….

The combination of large touch screen, fast processor and accelerometers makes this device a sleeping giant in the handheld games market. The Nintendo DS and PSP have widened the audience considerably, with games like “Brain Training” on the DS, and World Series of Poker et al on the PSP squarely aimed at adults, and many games specifically targeted at girls. They are making gamers of people who would probably not consider themselves gamers at all… even after spending 3 hours straight playing 42-in-1 😉

Playyoo Contest – Win $10,000 for your Flash Lite Game

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:28:08 +0000

I just received an email from the guys as Playyoo about a fantastic competition they are running where you could win some amazing prizes.

Here’s the info:

“The contest is being held in advance of the launch of Playyoo’s social networking platform for mobile gamers. Over $10,000 is up for grabs!

The rules are simple. Download Playyoo’s Flash Lite extension, create a game and upload it. All uploads are automatically entered until the entry deadline in early 2008.”