Saw you hit the front page at Shacknews - that's gotta be some nice publicity for you!
http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=61187
I signed up for the beta and got a code - will try and get some colleagues to do the same and have a play in the office tomorrow.
People in the youtube comments mentioned that it's now been changed so that the controller goes in his mouth, which I think - if true - is a far more sensible option. Better still would be the back though. Dunno if it's a great idea to encourage kids to put wii controllers in mouths either after all.
I does look like a very neat idea though. Any idea what they're intending on charging for this? It looks like the game is more than a throwaway collection of mini-games, so presumably development wasn't negligable in cost so as to offset the price of the cuddly peripheral. I guess people are used to paying premiums for games with accessories these days though, so it probably won't hinder their sales to charge £50-60 for it.
Nah sadly not. We made the game using XNA, so a port to PS3 would be a pretty non-trivial undertaking. Not only that but it would probably need to be polished up quite a bit further in order to pass through Son's vetting process for PSN titles. Xbox Indies is nice and easy to get onto without having to jump through hoops since it works on a system of peer review.
As mentioned though, a PC version isn't off the cards just yet, so there may be some hope of you getting your fix of crate based asshole behaviour at some point 
Oh, and on a rather positive note, after posting on Reddit we bumped our
Hehe, I was thinking that very same thing when I posted the link here actually. Hadn't really thought of it before but it would make a good name for a warehouse level!
We built the game using XNA so it runs just fine in Windows as well as on the Xbox, but we couldn't get a steam slot for distribution at the moment so we're considering our options. We might wait - we were encouraged to reapply at the beginning of next year - but we're looking at other possibilities as well such as Impulse, D2D, or just selling it ourselves via paypal. Sadly whatever we go with it isn't as simple as just tossing it out, as we take advantage of certain Xbox LIVE features that we'll need to change for a PC release if we want online multiplayer. It definitely isn't off the cards, but for the time being we're just pleased to get the Xbox version live.
Cool, thanks mate 
Oh, one more thing I meant to link to - the marketplace page. You can queue it up for download on your 360 from there as well as rate it.
Awesome, hope you guys enjoy it
Also, just realised that as this is a finished game I maybe should have posted in Work Release. God it's been so long since I posted anything in there! If any mods see this and reckon it belongs in there rather than here then go ahead and move it. Cheers.
Hey folks! Thought I'd do a wee plug for my new game "Crate Expectations", seeing as a whole lot of you have Xbox 360s! It's just gone up on Xbox Indies for the low price of 240 points (£2, $3) this very day. We'd really appreciate anyone taking a look - whether just the trial or the full game - and rating it *5* whatever you *5* think it *5* deserves.
*5*. Ahem.
A little over 2 months ago myself and 3 work colleagues decided to make a wee Xbox Indies game in our spare time. We set out to make something really simple in a week or two, and although the game was technically "finished" at that point, we decided we'd spend a bit more time on it and get it polished up with decent AI, online play, and more. Crate Expectations is the end result.
So what is Crate Expectations? Well it's a strategy game, but not in the typical video gamey way. This is chess style strategy. You and up to 3 opponents each have a start point and a delivery point, and need to deliver a number of crates from one to the other before the others beat you to it. Between the start and end point is one of over 60 different icy mazes, each named an often cringe worthily bad, but occasionally downright fantastic, crate-based pun. The game plays out in turns, and although it may seem initially simple to just plot the most efficient route and slide your crates along it, the real fun comes from screwing each other over by blocking paths, ramming their crates out of the way, and generally being an asshole!
Here's a bunch of stuff to look at to try and sell you on it
THE FACEBOOK FAN PAGE!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crate-Exp ... 491?ref=nf
THE TRAILER!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Haha, good promo video, certainly made me want the game more as a result! Bet there's still gonna be a bunch of people complaining it panders to the mainstream gamer too much though 
I'm a sucker for logitech stuff, and as I don't do all that much gaming on the PC I prefer their wireless mice. I used an MX1000 for a while which I really loved, but then I decided I wanted a decent mouse at work as well so took that into the office and bought an MX Revolution for home. I think both are awesome, though not without their faults. The mouse wheel really doesn't work well as a button on either of them, for example; very hard to press without scrolling the wheel accidentally. They can also be a bit tricky to get settled into their charging cradles right, which occasionally means 30 seconds of fumbling before it decides to start charging.
The MX Revolution MORE than makes up for any shortfalls with its thumbwheel though. It sits under your thumb's natural resting position and can be tilted forward or back, and it can be pressed as a button with ease. Really comfortable to use, and with 2 thumb buttons for back/forward alongside it, it means you can use it really nicely for tab switching in your browser and mouse 3 on press. Really smooth to move, perfect weight for me, pretty steady wireless signal with only the very occasional hiccup, and looks sweet. If you're really into your PC gaming then the *occasional* few milliseconds of dropped signal might be a deal breaker, but for somebody like me it is really spot on.
At Outerlight we're too small a company to pigeon-hole designers too much, we just all do a bit of everything. I've balanced weapon stats, proposed game ideas, written game design docs, built levels, designed HUD layouts, tweaked controller layouts, liased with code about technical limitations we need to bypass, liased with art about character lighting, and much more. I imagine it is a bit more focused in larger companies, so I can't speak for them.
So for me I think it was my somewhat varied background that got me the job. I had built HL1/HL2 levels for years and got a degree in computer games tech, so although I'm actually a pretty shit programmer it looked good on paper My portfolio of levels is far from the strongest, and I quite openly hold my hands up and admit I'm far from the best of level designers out there, but then that isn't really what I want to do all the time anyway. And although I had *some* env art to show in my portfolio when I applied for that job (stuff I've since lost and wouldn't show anyway!) it was really quite rudimentary stuff. So I'm not the best at any one area, but I can try my hand at most things. I think it was that versatility that helped me get the job.
To answer your questions from my POV and experience (which admittedly isn't very much!)...
- I'd recommend you don't bother spending your time polishing your env art skills if you don't want to be an env artist. Pretty pictures in your portfolio catch the eye and all, but chances are you'll never end up using those skills; they'll want you designing levels, not doing the env artists' jobs for them. Not to say that you shouldn't learn a modelling package if you haven't already, as in plenty of studios you'll be expected to use them for level design. Just saying that you don't need to be an artist to be a designer
- In terms of documentation, I wouldn't waste your time writing up everything you do as you do it, but post-mortems at the end can definitely help you prove you understand design principles and aren't just building things at random, but in fact give your levels real thought. When working I don't document as I go (well, beyond initial layout sketches and gathering reference material), but I do have to prove I'm doing things for the right reasons, typically just by chatting with the producer or creative director or whoever as they look over my shoulder now and then, or discussing it during playtests. If you're working solo I'd just do things instinctively and occasionally do a (not that elaborate) post-mortem at the end. Really though, if your designs are good then that will shine through in the design itself. And if you've got enough of them, then they won't assume that happened by accident...
- What to build? As far as I'm concerned it depends on what you wanna do! The best thing is to build things that interest you as that's the best way to keep your motivation up. Obviously once you get hired you have to build things that DON'T interest you, but by that point getting paid is a replacement motivation But that said, I don't typically approve of spending years on a single project, as you'll just end up with an unfinished project as a result of burning out on it. For the first few weeks of a project you'll be motivated and excited. Try not to let something run too far beyond that or it'll sap away and it gets harder and harder to finish. Don't try and make a 3 hour mod that is entertaining and is punctuated with some really cool moments. Make a 10 minute section of gameplay that IS a cool moment. And if it didn't quite have the level of polish you'd like, don't spend months adding it in. Use those months to make more of these things! It sounds like that is your plan going forward and to me it sounds like a good one.
Best of luck!
I feel the vast quantity of advertising you have in there is kinda pulling it back. Really nice looking level on the whole, and the setting feels quite fresh as ultradr3mer said, but seeing that RIP stuff all over the place is detracting from the theme. There's pretty much at least one visible "advert" in your view at any time, and predominantly in places that really shouldn't have graffiti. I can appreciate wanting to pimp your clan or website or whatever, but I think you've gone a little overboard here to the detriment of the level itself.
I also agree with Philip's point about the contrast. Is that the textures, lighting, or colour correction in-game doing that? Or are the screenshots themselves modified to increase contrast or something? I'm hoping the latter. It just looks a little too intense for my liking - bordering on painful on the eyes in some shots. I think it'd benefit from being a little softer.
Overall though it looks like a cool map. Good job
Anybody hear about what happened with the sequel to The Darkness? Pretty sure I remember hearing about it being in development, but it's been a fair while since I heard a peep and it looks like Starbreeze at least are somewhat busy with other things. Has it moved to another dev? Been canned? Or was I making up it ever existing in the first place?
Funnily enough I just played through the first one a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't amazing or anything, but it was definitely decent, and it gripped me enough that I played through start to finish in just a few days. I'll most likely pick up this new one too.
Yeah the sourcedev mailing list is normally pretty good for getting responses - either from valve themselves or from other licensees who have found solutions to the same problems - so I'm sure I'll get a reply of some sort. Will let you know if I find out anything.
Just wanted to chime in and say that I've got the same problem in one of my levels at work. Still to do the final lighting pass on the level yet so hoped I'd manage to get rid of them, but somewhat disheartening to hear dux isn't having any luck doing so 
Nobody else had this issue before? I never had. We're using the orange box codebase, which i've never used outside of our game, but I figure others making TF2/portal maps might have stumbled into it?
I think you went a bit overboard with the "red valley" decals in the first shot. Maybe it's just that angle, but i think less would be more here
Well I hope I'm not the only one who's at least partly upbeat and positive! Bring on the new year I say! Hope it brings you all happiness and success
Quote from duxWe all know paul walker sucks. The only reason I'm gonna watch it is cause vin is the man.
I know this is gonna sound incredibly gay, but I love Paul Walker. I've got absolutely no idea why - he really is a rather shit actor - but something makes me like the guy in movies. Anybody see Running Scared? It was actually pretty damn good!
Oh, and I love the Fast and Furious movies. I understand why others wouldn't, but I'm all for rubbish throwaway movies with some cool cars! Plus with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker its a must see for me Oh god I sound so gay 
Likewise, and consecutively! I love the look. I love the feel. I love it. ACE.
Who really thinks that? I mean, come on, look at all these reviews. Anybody who seriously suggests all these are due to corrupt journalism needs their head screwed on. Ockham's Razor, people; maybe the simple explanation is that, I dunno, the game is actually really fuckin' good?
Also, 10/10 does not mean a game is perfect. Nobody rates things like that, else nothing would ever get that rating. People giving something 10/10, or 5/5, do so to say "right now this is the mutt's nuts, go buy it". Something can be flawed but still so awesome that it's a (or THE) standout example of a given genre.
