Back on Track!

Hi folks,

Well, after a lovely week in Sunny Bridlington (yes, it was sunny.. no, seriously, I can hardly believe it either!) I am back and raring to go. My laptop has been repaired by HP (new motherboard) so now nothing can stop me cracking on with project number 2 (codename Project Blast!).

Just trying to recruit a designer at the moment to flesh out some of my initial ideas, but the basic concept (to me at least) is awesome and offers a LOT of scope for future DLC, multi player tournaments, leagues etc. etc. so I am really stoked about the whole idea. Whoever thought that writing a concept document could be so exciting... yeah. you are right, I do need to get out more...

Anyway, I'm currently developing some of the tools we will be using to make the various levels (and hopefully make available to the player to make their own levels too) - need to spend some time getting this JUST right, its incredibly important.

Odds On fans, don't despair - that's still in development too - just taking a little bit of a back seat at the moment (no pun intended!).

Oh, and I managed to play a couple of new XBL Arcade games over the last few days - Trials HD and Shadow Complex.

Trials HD is in a word, awesome. Anyone remember Kickstart 1 & 2 on the C64? This game is very similar to that but 21st Centuryised!!! Mad OTT motorbiking on wild stunt tracks. Its very "just one more go" with some crazy achievements to be won - top top stuff - grab the trial version and make your own minds up but its well worth a download. Love the integration of the player leader boards too - it tracks your "friends" times etc. so you can see when you are beating them in real time - really cleverly done. Its definitely one Ill be going back to again and again...

Shadow Complex is also a great demonstration of style and game design. Played in 2d but with a 3d view it reminds me quite a bit of the Amiga game "Flashback". Its also very retro-styled in the way the game plays. The 2d / sort of 3d plane is a little confusing at first, but when it "clicks" it works really well! Plenty of hidden items to find etc. etc. I hear its quite a short game to "complete", but I will more than likely be going back and playing through it again once I have finished it to find all the other secret areas I missed. Again, grab the trial version on XBL Arcade and see for yourself - oh, just one point, don't be put off by the first 2 minutes of the game - it gets better. MUCH better :)

Right, that's enough from me.. More on Project Blast! later....