Hit read more to see a lovely graph that hopefully explains what I mean…

In fact, we’ve never been dead.

Since the last post we’ve been busy with distilling the game, starting our collaboration with Fatshark to bring Cobalt to Xbox and we’ve been to Minecon.

Being a small team with the main focus to have fun, the development of Cobalt has always been a bit haphazard where we’ve added stuff as we go with less focus on the bigger picture and more attention spent on what felt right at the moment. This has led to, in our opinion, a great platformer but it has also resulted in a lot of features that remain hidden to the average player. When a new player starts up Cobalt, he or she isn’t really introduced to what the game is about. There’s nothing to hold their hand and present them with the experience that is Cobalt, especially not as a single player. I’m not talking about a next-gen like dumbing down of game play, but a coherent presentation of the actual game.

What we have now is a whole bunch of puzzle pieces hovering in the air waiting to be placed in the correct spot. Since starting our collaboration with Fatshark we’ve been busy trimming and arranging all pieces in order to put them down in a presentable larger picture and an enjoyable gaming experience from start to finish.

Hit the jump to read more!

The first step in this process has been to polish the game modes that we have. Below is a short expose of what we’ve been working on.

TEAM STRIKE

Team Strike Buy Menu

Even though you can choose to play Deathmatch in teams we felt that Cobalt was missing a proper team VS mode.

We had Capture The Plug and even though it was fun at times it felt too chaotic and wasn’t really focusing on what Cobalt does best – combat. Being avid Counter-Strike players me and thewreck started toying with the idea of adding a round based mode where at the end of each round you get to upgrade your character somehow.

Enter Team Strike and the philosophy of locking down characters into classes instead of focusing on equipment drops spread throughout the maps. In Team Strike, each team is presented with a character selection screen at the start of each round. After each player has chosen a character suited to their playing style the round starts. Each player gain funds from kills, combos and team wins during the round which in turn allows the player to afford higher level characters. The team that reaches the goal amount of rounds wins.

We tried this game mode with 8 Mojangstas in the office and it was an instant success! We realized that simplifying things might be exactly what Cobalt needs.

We started looking into bringing some of the things we’ve learned from Team Strike into the other game modes.

SURVIVAL

Survival game mode

The original Survival mode was added as a stand-in mode for single player while Adventure mode was still in development. Since the very first play-through it has had some serious game design issues.

First of all – choices – there were too many of them! As a first time player you were introduced to a lot of new concepts – shops, upgrades, recycling, re-spawning and so forth.

When we observed others playing it for the first time we noticed it could be a bit overwhelming at times.

Secondly, the objective wasn’t clear enough. Sure, the game mode was called Survival so you could sort of guess that that was what it was all about, but there was never any feeling of progress while playing. You were constantly barraged by a never ending stream of foes and all you could do was try to survive for as long as possible. At the end you got a score, but you never felt like you had actually achieved anything. It was very much an unclimbable mountain.

We decided to try a tower defense-esque wave approach to Survival instead. In the current Survival mode the player is presented with a finite number of enemy waves of increasing difficulty, some containing bosses. If you fail to complete a wave you can choose to continue where you fell but with a sort of penalty to your overall score. Between each wave we added a buy screen similar to the one in Team Strike where each player chooses their character class and level depending on their taste and economy.

The classes can be custom fitted to match the theme of the map.

Again, while testing this game mode with Mojangstas and at Minecon it has reassured us that we’re on the right track.

CHALLENGES

In version 122, the Challenge maps were presented as map packs were the common goal was to complete the maps as fast as possible. When playing through the maps we felt like some of the maps were focused more on combat related strategies rather than speed which led us to redesign the whole philosophy behind challenges.

Instead of presenting them as map packs, we’ve put the maps into categories. Currently there’s a Combat and a Speed category.

The Speed category is pretty straight forward and focuses on just dashing through the map as fast as possible while the Combat category tries to challenge the player to engage obstacles, puzzles and enemies in the map. Like Team Strike and Survival, before each run the player gets the option to choose a class of character which in turn affects the end score. How exactly the scoring system works or how the different classes are unlocked is something we’re still working on solving.

DEATHMATCH

The common denominator for the new design in Team Strike, Survival and Challenges is the equipment handling. Instead of presenting the player with a buffet of equipment and choices to be made while playing, these modes now present complete equipment choices in one phase, while in the gameplay phase lets players focus their attention on using that equipment tactically. Since each player chooses their own equipment outside of the gameplay phase, a larger variety of items can be in play at any one time, while at the same time reducing the amount of items any one player has to worry about. You as a player only have to focus on one ranged weapon at any given time which gives you more time to focus on your specific weaponry and your specific strategies.

Deathmatch is not the same as the other modes though, and splitting up class choices between phases might not be the correct path here. We still would like to get some of the same positive effects. To achieve the higher variety while lessening complexity, our idea is to instead of having a fixed set of weapons spawn in any given map, the map designer places equipment spawn-zones throughout the map and selects a default equipment theme. These spawn points then spawn crates of equipment for the player to pick up. When you pick up a crate containing a ranged weapon, you discard the ranged weapon you’re currently using. This makes sure that you never have to worry about too many different weapons, which again puts the strategic choice to the moment of pickup. “Do I want to use rockets, or my current gun?”, and the tactical problems to later, “how should I best shoot my rockets?”.

Indicators will appear with a timer showing where and when the next crate will appear, giving players ample time to relocate and fight over control. This changes which locations on a map are of interest at any one point, resulting in a more dynamic and shifting game.

To add increased variety to the mode, at the start of the map, the game randomly selects the starting equipment which is shared by all players (Defender Hulls with jet shoes, or Stealth Hulls with shield belts?), making each match unique.

Our hope is that this will introduce a sort of controlled chaos to the game mode that will enhance the experience.

SINGLE PLAYER

What we’ve been talking about so far is a part of the game that is best experience with a friend or two to play with. This has always been the core strength of Cobalt. However, not everyone has a second controller to hand over to a friend, especially not on a PC or Mac.

Our biggest challenge with Cobalt has always been to create a cohesive, progressive and non-repetitive Single Player mode. It’s been a challenge because each approach taken so far has entailed A LOT of content creation.

Our current approach is to include all the work put into multiplayer game modes, Challenges, Survival and the Adventure mode in one continues experience. Our plan right now is to have them presented in a Super Mario Bros. 3 style world map in which the player can progress and discover the game and the story.

XBOX

As mentioned in the beginning, we’ve started working with the excellent guys over at Fatshark to bring Cobalt to Xbox. This is of course a challenge in itself and will involve a lot of work on both our and Fatsharks part, but the work put into the port will also benefit the PC and Mac version of the game.

If anyone of you saw the Cobalt panel at Minecon we mentioned something extra that has to do with our collaboration with Fatshark – Fatshark is going to give online multiplayer a go for Xbox. IF it would become reality it’s definitely something we would want for the PC and Mac versions as well. There are a lot of hurdles to overcome to make it a reality but the collaboration with Fatshark has definitely breathed new life into the idea.

Last but not least I would like to thank everyone who visited us at Minecon! Both me and thewreck had a great time playing with all of you and the experience infused us with a lot of ideas of how to improve the game even more.

Also I’d like to recommend you all to read this excellent interview Trif did with thewreck: Part 1, Part 2.

Next post we’ll be talking 123!

Love,

Kinten

• Adventure mode!
• Item Comparison

Hit the jump for the full read!

Adventure

Our main focus right now is the adventure mode. We’ve been working intensely on it for about 2 months, and while we are not ready to release anything of it just yet, I can show you some of the ideas and concepts we are working with.

Light and Dark

We love exploration.

We love dark and scary!

But just making everything black isn’t a good solution.

You need contrasts and varying moods. To achieve this we had to work on improving the lighting of the game. One component is that it is now possible to render most common tiles with individual colors for each corner:

Then we let lights affect those colors. Left light is only using the shader, while the right light is also affecting tile corner colors.

Having this we could now create really dark areas, while still being able to light them up nicely for contrast:

Procedural + Design

We also love exploration!

The key component in exploration is not knowing that will come next or what you will find. I’d go so far as to say it pretty much defines it. Because of that, and because we want to give the adventure good replay value, we have created a system that combines design with procedural content generation on a number of levels. Let’s examine a normal room:

1. The cabinet may or may not be there, it may or may not be locked. It’s contents are unknown.
2. The entrance leads to another procedurally created room.
3. There may or may not be items on the table and there may or may not be actors hanging around there. What items, and what actors and what they will look like or what items they possess is unknown.
4. The door may or may not be locked. What kind of lock is unknown.
5. The urns may or may not be there, and the contents of them is unknown.
6. There may or may not be items on that shelf. What kind of items is unknown.
7. (not shown in picture) a bunch of assorted decorations may or may not be there.

What spawns where is controlled from higher up. Maybe the room is owned by a pirate mushroom clan that is preparing a spikebird feast on the table, or maybe the room belongs to a hermit lunatic that stores its bomb and grenade stash in those urns and to guard it has put a hefty pad lock on the door.

What about exploring those dark and scary caves?

Lets examine a 3×3 dungeon:

The dungeon has incoming travel where the red lines are. When the adventure is generated, it creates paths between all travels and places other optional things like a goal. As you can see, 1,2 and 3 are all just different solutions to the same dungeon making sure that every time you play, exploration will remain fresh and surprising.

So finally, you find yourself exploring a dark procedural cave, fumbling with the light enhancer to try and find a way out.

Item Comparison

Another fun thing I have been working on is item comparisons. Since the game contains a bunch of both weapons and equipment, playing the game effectively in an adventure would almost require you to have a wiki or similar open on the side for you to have any chance at all to make an informed decision. Do I buy item 1, or 2? Do i equip this helmet or that helmet? Do I buy this upgrade, or that upgrade? Here follows a couple of screenshots of me using the system:

Comparing two weapons

Inspecting the effects of an upgrade

Equipping a helmet

Also, as you can see in the last screenshot here, equipping a helmet or any other piece of equipment has a really complicated effect. This is likely the first glimpse into what a helmet actually does since they were introduced.

That is it for now!

If you have any questions, just drop a comment!

• Metalface hull types and equipment
• Map competition
• Adventure art

Hit the jump for the full read!

Metalface hull types and equipment

For the purpose of the adventure, we have been working on character development and customization. From left to right, the bare metalface, the “Explorer” hull and the “Scouter” hull. Each hull has different stats and will affect how your metalface performs in all areas.

As you can see on the following image, these hulls are not all in one piece:

In the Adventure the different hulls will not be straight up balanced, but rather offer both variation and progress. For the versus modes, the plan it to allow maps to enable “profile hull customization” (on by default?), which will allow players to spawn as the hull-design of their choice. To make sure things are balanced, these “versus” hulls will use a different stats that should be balanced. Any thoughts on this?

Metalfaces are divided into head, torso, hands and feet. On top of that, you also have an equipment slot for each as well as a brain equipment slot. You can change your equipment and hull in special booths that will look like this:

But since the graphics are not implemented in the game yet, it just looks like a regular shop now, but you can see how the equipment booth gui looks like here:

The sloth grip is now an equipment item and you can also unequip your reaction enhancer. Without sloth grip hands you can still jump up against walls, but you will slide down as soon as you stop jumping.  Without reaction enhancer, you will no longer generate bullet time around you when threatened. Jet Shoes should probably be renamed to Jet Boosters? Also, sloth grip still doesn’t have a sprite visible on the character, but that is coming.

We have also tidied up the upgrade bench as you can see in this image:

As you can imagine, this was a sorely needed aspect of the game especially for the purpose of the Adventure. Prior to this we were having great trouble cramming more and more “fun stuff” into the game. This gives us the framework for how to add character development and also gives us a great platform for how to vary other characters. With this system in place, it will be much easier to add variations and difficulty to enemies without going crazy with production time.

Thoughts & comments?

Map competition

There was a map competition held on the forums that came to a close just a week back, and now they are gradually releasing information on the winners! Read all about the 5th and 4th place winners here.

The first price will be to have the map included in the official alpha version of the game! I personally have no idea who will win or even what the contributions are, so I’m really excited every time they announce an new runner up!

Update: 3rd place winner!

Adventure art

I’ve been looking over kinten’s shoulder for the past couple of days, and wow! Things are happening on the art front. As some of you know, we had the lovely Erik help us out a while back with concept art, and Kinten has been working hard to implement, redraw, cut out, and produce some of the scenes and concepts. I’m not sure what he wants to show or how he wanted to show it, so I will let him decide that himself on a later date.

Until next time!

/thewreck