Two days ago, GET had a very special guest all the way from England. This guy had been in the game industry for 14 years, who went into it 3 days after graduating from university. He has worked on Fable 1 and 2 and is currently working on Fable 3 as the lead combat designer. He is Mike West.

Yes, ok, so how was it listening to him for 1+ hours? It was harsh, since it was the last thing of the day, everyone was very tired and this meant that Mike didn’t have the attention of everyone. Although his lecture was very informative, it was very long and some of the students (not me) fell alseep. I didn’t mind it since as Malcom, my Game Design tutor as well as Mike’s ex-colleauge in one of Mike’s ex-workplace, told us that it was his first time talking to students. It really made me feel privileged as this meant that wow, his virgin lecture with students.

He talked about his past in the industry, what he has done inLionhead Studios, what he is doing now, how Lionhead develops its games, such as its ‘Pillars’ which Mike said that were the features in the game that will be better than any other game, and the various features of Fable 2.

It’s good to understand the prepesctive of someone who actually worked in the industry, though I think most of the students would prefer it to be a bit shorter… LOL. I also do hope that there will be more of such people coming to TP and lecture here. Helps the students to understand more of the gaming industry and what makes it click.

Zhi Xiang

After completing Dragon Age Origins (DAO) a weekend ago, I decided to try BioWare’s other RPG – Mass Effect – just before this one too. This sci-fiction RPG was in the news in Singapore last year when it was banned from sale here for a short period of time as there was an adult make-out scene involving the player’s character with another character.

Truth be told, there’s nothing in that very short scene that you don’t already see on screen in theatrical films here, so I don’t quite understand what the fuss was about. In any case, the game was eventually made available here under the M18 rating.

As with DAO and the numerous other very successful CRPGs that’s come out of BioWare, there’s a complex story in Mass Effect with lots of twists and turns and supplemented with great voice-acting. The story is also refreshingly different from the typical space-operas that you see in games of this sort. Specifically, in Mass Effect, humans aren’t the center of the universe, and are only the most recent newcomers to intergalactic politicking. There are already well-entrenched alien species, several of whom form a galactic council that is also almost distrusting and resentful of the human endeavors to join that council and better stake human interests.

Mixed into the lot is also a secretive and elite – no surprise – unit of operatives who undertake missions that work outside the law and can never be officially sanctioned by said council. This group of operatives is known as the Spectres, and when one of its operatives turn rogue and seek to bring back a genocidal species of aliens, the player character is invited to join the Spectres group and tasked to eliminate the threat.

That’s a capsule version of the story in Mass Effect, and like the other BioWare games before and after this one, conversations and dialog trees form a good part of the story-telling. Each of the characters that can join the player’s party of three come from different species, have different specializations and strengths, and each have unique personality dispositions and back stories. The superb character to character and at times mutually antagonistic relationships in DAO is absent here though, but the player character through conversation options can steer selected companions towards romantic relationships, possibly eventually leading to the aforementioned make-out scene with one of them.

There’s also plenty of character progression and customization for players to get into, and they are centered around three classes: pure combative, biological and technological, with each having its own unique perks and skill sets that players can spend talent points in. For instance, I chose the ‘Soldier’ class for my first play through, and directed most of my points towards assault rifles, first aid and the remaining towards character conversational skills that in turn opened up more dialog options.

Visually, the game’s a mixed bag even upon giving tolerance on account of the game being nearly 2 years old for its console version. A lot of work had gone into facial animation and textures, with good lip sync to the spoken dialog. But textures elsewhere range from just alright to outright poor, for example in the character uniforms that you’d notice. Art design fares better: it’s top notch with aliens looking suitably out of the world though a couple look suspiciously like denizens of the Mos Eisley’s Cantina, and the stealth cruiser Normandy – where the player will spend a good amount of time as commander – looks futuristic and splendid with its numerous compartments, and background characters as they go about running the ship.

A minor gripe though: most of the alien species speak like humans and outside one species’ instance, there’s no suggestion that there’s some sort of universal translator device at work. So, there’re a lot of scenes where you’d be dialoging with an obviously alien creature but who speaks with like a New Yorker LOL.

Still, Mass Effect is a refreshing RPG from the more common high fantasy-esque type, with a well-realized fictional world that you can get immersed into. The second game in the projected trilogy will also be released early next year.

(Pictures from Gamespot)

The Nov 2009 issue of Gamers’ Choice has been published, with the following reviews by GET students in it:

1. Majesty 2 (Low Kuan Wei, GET Senior)
2. Supreme Ruler (Yeo Zhi Xiang, GET Freshmen)
3. Premier Manager 2010 (Kenny Hoe, GET Senior)
4. Risen (Jonathan Tiang, GET Freshmen)
5. Operation Flashpoint (Redha, GET Freshmen)
6. Star Wars: Clone Wars (James Fang, GET Senior)

I have some copies of the magazine sent to us from New Era. Do get them from me (or ask your CP) if you’d like a copy.

Two GET Senior Year students, James Fang and Zhen Ming, and two IMI students have just arrived in Institute of Technology Carlow in Ireland for their internship program. Here’s a short write-up and pictures of their first few days there.

>>>>>>>

I was sent for overseas attachment to university of carlow in Ireland, Kilkenny. The flight here was a gruesome 24 hours because of transit time, 13 hours from Singapore to Amsterdam and another 2 hours from Amsterdam to Dublin with a transit time difference of 7 hours but it was all worth it when we arrive and saw the scenery! The weather here was freezing for a singaporean, it was about 7 degrees when we arrive and the sun was still shining. The university of carlow was very kind to fetch us to our accommodation by calling a taxi for us.

When we arrive at our accommodation, we met our lovely host, Carolyn. All 4 of us are living with her and we were introduce to an intern of hers, Thomas. Sadly, thomas is leaving this sunday (Ireland time) back to germany to continue his studies. I was sharing the room with Thomas and exchanged a lot of cultural stories.

The visit to the university was very interesting, they have a very vibrant and active student community because of the small school campus which host around 800 student. We met with the non-eu international relation overall in charge, Donal and was sent to meet our supervisor during our stay over here, Dave. We were briefed on our project scope and had about 11 weeks to complete it using Unreal engine, Irrlicht and Lua. It is very interesting and required quite a bit of researching on our side but it would definitely be a good learning experience which I am already looking very forward to it.   

- James Fang (GET Senior Year)

About 4 days ago, most of TP had its annual CCN day or Campus Care Network Day, where students set up booths to sell different kinds of stuff/entertainment to earn as much money as possible for the needy students. What my care group/class sold was drinks, which was quite simple, except for the fact that it was last-minute planning. Even so, it was quite ok, and I didn’t look at how much we earnt.

C235 setting up shop

Drinks anyone?

Most of the time though, I walked around the campus to take photos.

CCN day had been great for me, (all thanks to the many chances I have to take as many photos as I want). I’m a bit grateful that the school didn’t make it compulsory for juniors and seniors to set up booths, since I know that they ware busy, as I know I’m gonna be next year, though I think I will come again to take more photos…

Zhi Xiang

2009 has been a good year for PC role-playing games (CRPGs). We’ve had Drakensang and Risen so far, and Divinity II: Ego Draconis is set to be released next month. In between the first two and the latter, BioWare’s Dragon Age Origins has just been released for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Dragon Age Origins is a new fantasy world created by the talented developers at BioWare who have already proven that as far as CRPGs are concerned, they’re at the top of the heap. The studio has chalked up big and critically acclaimed hits like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, and the Mass Effect series.

As high fantasy-esque worlds go though, I don’t think there’s a lot of stuff in Dragon Age Origins that’s new though. There’s the fantasy realm that’s facing the looming threat from an evil horde led by an arch demon that takes the form of a dragon, and all the ‘good’ folk – which comprises elves, humans, magi and dwarves – must ban together under the terms of ancient treaties crafted by an expert and elite warrior caste, the Jedi, whoops, Grey Wardens. Intermixed in the lot and forming a good bulk of the major quests in the game are the player character’s efforts to unite the races together who don’t enjoy the best of relations among themselves.

Truth to tell, you’ve seen it all before elsewhere. But BioWare has become especially proficient in employing the well-established game play norms for games of this genre. There’s plenty of character customization by way of looks, skill and attribute growth, and specialization. And there’s a reasonably large range of inventory items for those of us who’re pack rats, though the inventory system itself could use some work. And the story – conventional as it is – is told through long cut scenes that come off a great script, terrific voice-acting and animation.

There’s also a cast of very well-defined and interesting characters who’ll join up with you, and each person has a back story which at various points when recounted will require a reaction from you as their party leader. Depending on your reactions, their attitudes towards you will change, which can either open up new abilities and benefits, or if conversations go awry or your actions in some other story element upsets them, they could leave the party forever.

What’s especially well-done too is that like Drakensang which I really enjoyed as well, story decisions in Dragon Age Origins aren’t always painted in broad and clear strokes. There’s the aforementioned effect on your party members for instance, and there’s also the fact that many decisions require you to make tough choices between what’s moral and what’s practical, or choosing to side with one key character and offending another important one.

These key defining decisions aren’t just for show either, as decisions you make will have far reaching implications that show up either immediately, or much later on. Of the many CRPGs I’ve played over the years, I can think of only The Witcher as another game which has been able to stretch story-based decisions to the same extreme.

Nicely too is that the first hour or two of a new game depends on the race and class you choose for yourself in new character generation, and while each beginning ties in smoothly with the main campaign, they’re still distinct enough within those couple of hours to warrant several repeated start-ups of new games just to see the different beginnings.

There’s a huge amount of content in the game of about 70 hours with the bulk of time to be spent in the main campaign. There are some side missions that you can also take that’s integrated nicely with the main story. They’re well-worth the time to complete, as in several instances they flesh out further the back stories of your party members, and in turn their attitudes towards you.

The game isn’t especially easy too. Even at the easiest difficulty setting, you’d be pausing combat encounters frequently to issue new and complex orders to your party members. There’s a detailed behavioral script that you can customize for each member too that’d alleviate some of the hand work. Either way, party wipes are very common, but saves and reloads are reasonably quick for at least the PC edition of the game.

Lastly, Dragon Age Origins is available for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 though I suggest you get the PC version for better party control, more view options and a more manageable interface. And it’s all to be had for less money than either of the two console versions.

Very highly recommended.:)

(Pictures from Gamespot)

Kathleen Kwan, a GET Freshmen Year student and also game reviewer for Gamers’ choice, has penned a poem about C++ programming. Here is it.:)

Let’s do C plus plus,
nope, nothing to do with surplus.
Hex include iostream,
hope you’re not burning some steam.
Using namespace std,
remember your semicolon after your d.
int main brackets,
yes, those () brackets.
Open your curly brackets,
now you can start your racket.
Once you are done,
remember to close your fun!

With the bulk of similar games appearing on shelves these days, its no wonder that sometimes, you’ll feel like when you’ve played one, you’ve played them all.

Its true that if its tried and proven, don’t change it, but this formula only guarantees games that just follow a template and stick in the details later. FPSs start to differ only by the addition of guns, bows, or lasers, depending on the premise of the game.

There have been a couple of interesting new concepts for games recently, but nothing as ground-breaking as the idea for a ‘people simulator’ (The Sims) yet. Lets explore some of these ideas:

A recent interesting and relatively successful mash-up is ‘Borderlands’. A FPS with RPG elements, its combines fast-paced action with strategic (albeit simple) RPG elements. With a loot system similar to Diablo, generating randomly created loot with different stats each time, it appeals to those who like treasure hunting and provides the action-adrenaline rush only available in shoot-em ups.

The idea presented here is that not every game has to be of one particular genre. A combination of two different genres (with some careful thought) makes for a vastly interesting game with unique gameplay mechanics. In-fact, it doesn’t have to be genres. Any two gaming ideas can be ‘mashed’ together with interesting results. Of course, not all ideas will work so the necessary play-testing needs to be done. Anyone got any ideas for a FPS-Tower Defence game?

Another idea that I’d like to explore is the rules of a game. Most games tend to stick to realism as it is easily understood by gamers. For example, the rules of physics need not be explained to everyone as it is intiutively understood. However, its not a written in stone rule that games have to follow the rules of reality. There have been a couple of games that bend reality as a theme, such as the highly-rated Braid, in which time is used as tool. Another highly-rated game, Psychonauts,is a platformer that takes place in the minds of characters in the game, allowing for highly surreal environments.  

A more recent release, Dreamkiller also makes use of this idea to bring players into the minds of characters plagued with psychological problems, suffering from different kinds of fear. The levels are based off the fears of each patient and are themed as such. The protagonist is a psychologist who is able to enter her patients’ minds and shoot the psychological problems whom manifest themselves as different types of ‘monsters’. So you’d expect to see spiders in the mind of someone who’s suffering from arachnophobia.

Games like these have no limits on the designs of their levels. The levels can be made skewed as far from reality as they like and creativity can be utilised to its utmost when it comes to the design and look of the levels and eventually the overall feel of the game.

Games are a terrific outlet to express creativity, especially if you are given the creative freedom to design or mould the basis of a game. I’d like to encourage all GET students to think creatively and ‘think outside the box’. For more game ideas, or a discussion on gaming ideas, feel free to leave a comment here or speak to me in school. Im always open to discussions on gaming ideas. Lastly, keep those creative juices flowing!

If you were around in school on FRI yesterday, you might have noticed a lot of your teaching staff and workers moving boxes, furniture, metal cabinets etc. between levels 6 and 7 of Blocks 4 and 7. Basically, several departments have switched locations, and we’ve all finished moving proper as of FRI afternoon.

From this point onwards, if you’re looking for any and all GET staff, do come to Block 1 Level 7 (we used to be in Block 4 Level 6). If you ring for any of your GET lecturers at the old location, none of us will be there.

You may also want to refer to this phone directory too: our phone numbers have not changed.:)

Hey O’ Level students, if I’m not wrong, you guys have FINISHED your O’ Levels, which means a long, long break (depending on which instituition you choose). This is technically the end of 1 chapter and the start of another (since you don’t need to go to your old school in school uniforms, well, with the exception of  collecting your results.

There are many things you can do during this break, like working (if you’re in need of moolah), studying (if you want to get a big head-start in your course of study) or you can just have fun (which you definitely deserve, since you slogged and worked hard to get good grades.) Use this time to think which course of study is more suited than you (not what your parents and friends think is good but YOU) Of course, you must have back-up plans, in case your grades turn out to be not that satisfactory.

Regardless of which course of study you go to, be it a JC or a poly, you have now prepared to go to the next stage of life. Tertiary life can be quite tough, with deadlines and projects, but it is also very rewarding, as you get to know friends who will most likely stick with you throughout your life on this planet.

Stay strong, stay good and most of all, stay true to yourself 

Zhi Xiang