Recent content by Ayavaron

I'm reminded of the beginning of Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics.. In it, he speaks of his earliest experiences with comics, how at first be believed them all to be worthless superhero garbage. Eventually a friend persuades him to give comics another chance and he falls in love with...

I actually really enjoyed Sonic Adventure 2. I was young enough not to realize how silly the extreme-ness was but old enough to appreciate the maturity in the plot. I have fond memories of borrowing my friend's Dreamcast to play that game. It was a perfect window when we were 11 and if they...

For linear games, the solution here is nothing complicated. Clever level design is all that is needed. Just look at Half-Life, its sequels or any similar games. By carefully thinking about each encounter, the designers can ensure that it is always challenging while always being completely...

Most likely, these extra features you can buy are the result of extra development money put forward by the people who fund the game. It's their right to make money. It's not like they finish a game, start a new one, and a month later, put out some new downloadable map. Sometimes, development of...

Regarding the content you pay to unlock from the disc, Let us say you're a game developer. You have put in a lot of effort to make your game but you've finished and your publisher has requested you create some extra content for the Xbox Live Marketplace. You create this separately and after the...

I'm not sure if it's ever been done for games but the CGI animated kids' show, Backyardigans, was dubbed over for its UK release. Some words were changed around (diapers -> nappies) and the characters got British accents. I'm pretty sure that this doesn't happen that often because it's a large...

One of the reasons I can see why this doesn't exist is because such a framework would reduce the independence of the indie developer. One of the appeals of being an indie developer is that you aren't constrained by a certain framework you must stick to. It is your right as a developer to...

I've always had a problem with really good unlockable content. It really bothers me that sometimes, developers will hide away some of the best stuff in the game. Most times when they do this, unlocking is a tedious but trivial affair. (Logging in a certain number of versus hours in SSMB:M to...

Usually, I've found myself to be an incredibly picky gamer in comparison to the critics. What I've found sadly is that most games do nothing for me. I read the reviews, not very carefully, but looking for something special about the game, something unique, something that appeals specifically...