The HG Blog

As I’m typing this, my body is filled with 3 cans of Chef Boyardee’s Overstuffed Beef Ravioli. Also a fourth of a box of crackers. Gluttony never felt so fake Italian.

So that’s how I’m taking care of myself…I’m going to die very soon. However, HeavenGames is a totally different story. I just saw Oliver’s latest iterations of the HG Main redesign, and he’s really refining it into something that I think you guys are going to love. Zen, Elpea, Oliver, and I are currently discussing the various nitpicky things that always get discussed, and hopefully it’ll be done in a timely fashion…though regardless of the time it takes to finish, I know it’ll look awesome because it already does in beta version.

Well…sorta. I’m not off engaging in revelry on a Latin American beach with miles of scantily clad classmates and finding myself in an alley covered in any number of liquids…but I did get a little bit of a vacation this last weekend. I joined my university’s band to support our women’s hockey team in the national finals in still cold-as-balls Duluth, Minnesota. Our team unfortunately lost, but the trip was still a lot of fun. Minnesota beer is tasty.

Even though I didn’t get the full revelrous (is that a word? Yeah, probably not) spring break experience, the break from the whole needing to go to classes is very nice. I’m using the week to get ahead/catch up on a lot of work - and eat gallons of canned ravioli and ramen since the dining halls are closed - including stuff for HeavenGames. Given the nature of my work (ie, tons of long-term planning and sending thousands of emails), there’s not a whole lot of crazy new stuff that will come out right away, but I will absolutely let everyone know of how things turn out. I’m going to be meeting with Zen this week to talk about various HG-related things, inluding Cloud 9 (formerly HG 2.0). Hopefully I’ll be able to discuss our progress on that!

So my roommates and I have been playing Smash Brawl a decent amount since it came out (inbetween taking midterms…yeah), and I’ve come to decide it is indeed a solid game. The game isn’t as huge a change from Smash to Smash Melee, but there are a rather large number of subtle changes that make it feel new. Attack strengths are changed, attacks themselves are changed, and a number of new characters (Ike and Sonic!) exist; all of these combine to make the game play much more differently. It’s a lot of fun, though it’ll be a while before I can say whether I’m as satisfied with it as its predecessors.

Also, the voiceover for Ike’s recovery move is the most awesome sound ever.

Single player campaign designer and mod maker Gordon Farrell has updated his column, SOLO, at the HG main portal. Picking up on the idea that games can be art, Gordon digs deeper into some definitions and descriptions of art that might point the way to designing better games, and getting the kind of recognition for games many of us think they deserve. This is an ongoing inquiry that Gordon says he’ll be updating every couple of weeks. Post your responses and read what other gamers have had to say to his first column, “Towards the Art of the Game.”

HeavenGames’ finances are going just fine, but sometimes dealing with ad sales is not something that one wants to do. We’ve been aggressively seeking out ad deals for products geared toward you guys’ interests (gaming, computers), but right now isn’t exactly the best time to sell ads for such goodies that are mostly in alpha or pre-alpha stages…most games and hardware don’t come out to massive sales until the absurdity that is the holidays shopping frenzy. Oh god, gotta get me a tickle me elmo. That creepy red gargoyle bear thing.

Anyway, because of this annual issue that HeavenGames has with exclusively gaming and computer-related ads, we’re going to be moving into other products. However, they will be products that you guys will likely be interested in: movies, books, bear fighting equipment, that sort of thing. These products have a different annual lifecycle, so they hopefully will be able to fill in the gaps that occasionally come up in our advertisements.

I sure that this will turn out well, and am certain that the ads will still be of a satisfactory type.

I’m a cowboy.
On a steel horse I ride.
I’m wanted.

Dead or alive.

Or that’s at least what Harmonix’s Rock Band has been trying to tell me every time I play Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi. One of my roommates bought the game last week and my ability to keep up with my coursework has dropped 10-fold. I can’t conceive how much time I’ve spent on the game, and my release from its deliciously rocksome clutches does not appear to be near.

Screw you, Kurt Cobain.

“SOLO: Essays and Commentary on the Art of the Single Player Game” debuts at HeavenGames! This new, semi-regular column on the art and theory of designing single player games will highlight important issues in the development of games, asking challenging questions about the nature of gaming, whether games will ever meet the criteria for art, and offering practical pointers on how the best single player experiences are created by designers.

SOLO is written by Gordon Farrell, a long-time professional designer of single player campaigns for AAA games such as Empire Earth and Empires: Dawn of the Modern World. In addition, he has worked on strategy titles such as Caesar IV, Children of the Nile and BreakAway Games’ Middle Eastern city builder, Arabian Lords. He is currently Lead Writer for Reverie World Studios’ first game, Dawn of Fantasy, due for release in Fall 2008.

HGS regulars will recognize Gordon’s work as a staple of our download sections, from games as diverse as Age of Empires and Caesar 3, to both Stronghold 1, Stronghold 2 and Age of Kings. In addition to his HGS mods, he has highly-rated Civilization 4 mods uploaded at CivFanatics as well.

Gordon is on the faculty of New York University, where he teaches narrative theory for video games, theory of screenwriting, and advanced studies in dramatic art. He also lectures at Marymount Manhattan College in video games, script analysis, and theatre history. In 2002, Prima Games published his essay, “The Theory of Scenario Design.” His extensive professional and academic experience promises an exciting column filled with commentary on the art of games that will be both controversial and thought-provoking.