So I'm sure you're wondering what the hell Pong-Karuga is exactly. Well let me start with a little bit of back story.

Right now I'm at Full Sail (Down in Orlando) and I'm going to school for Video Game Programming of the C++ variety. For the past 6 months we've been learning the basics of programming as well as some of the simpler data structures and compression algorithms. So we've been stuck down work in the console window for a while now (we made Simon and Boggle which were pretty awesome for being console window games...) and now we're finally out of the boring old console window and into Win32 programming!

The first part of this month's classes were spent making TicTacToe and learning the basics of Win32 and all of its functions and now we're tasked with making Pong.

The base requirements are pretty simple:
- Make it work like Pong
- Have some AI
- Allow players to save their game

That's pretty much all there is to it, although it's broken up into more little sections than that. So, with such simple requirements we're obviously not going to just sit back and turn in a basic Pong, oh no. We're going to make it as bad ass as we possibly can. The best part is that it's encouraged to go beyond regular pong!

So for the past week I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with a good idea to have my Pong stand out from the others we were shown. Some of the examples had great ideas such as Planets that pass through the background affecting the gravity on the ball, or adding small blocks around the screen to bounce the ball off of. With so many good ideas being presented it's hard to differentiate from the others.

A couple of my buddies and I had been talking about what we'd like to do. We talked about adding powerups to make your paddle bigger or to have your opponent's disappear for a few seconds, but the more we talked the less I felt like mine would be unique. And then it hit me...



Ikaruga. The first time I played it was when it was released for XBLA and I've loved it. Sure it's kicked my ass, but that's not all that rare. I figure, using the idea behind the polarity in Ikaruga could make for an interesting game of Pong. So far I've come up with this:

- Players can only hit the ball back when they're the same polarity as the ball. When they do they gain a small amount of energy toward the charged shot.
- On the way across the field the ball will come in contact with enemies flying in from the top. These enemies will be the ones that affect the polarity of the ball, causing it to bounce off as they explode. Another though is that they could pull the ball in and then launch it in a random direction so it's not as predictable as bouncing straight back from where they came.
- If the player hits the ball as the opposite polarity he loses a life.
- If the ball makes it passed the player, the opposition gets energy for a charged shot.
- The charged shot will let you pull the ball in and launch it across the field (it'll go in a random direction and as a random polarity) much faster than the normal speed, destroying everything in it's path. If the ball hits behind the enemy they lose a life, if i hits them as the opposite polarity they lose a life, but if the opposition is able to hit it with the correct polarity they're energy will instantly fill and they'll get a chance to fire their own charged shot.
- First to kill the opposition (lose all 5 lives) wins the game.

I've got high hopes for it and now that the ideas have started to swirl I'm really hoping I can pull it off.

So DToiders I ask you, do you think it could hold water?

For those that don't know about Red Faction, the original game came out in 2001 for the PC and Playstation 2. The game included Volition's "Geo-mod" (short of geometry modification) technology allowing the player to realistically destroy walls, but it was used sparingly throughout the game with many areas being completely indestructible.

Fast forward to 2008 and the third entry in the series, Guerrilla, is approaching release, promising an open world filled with fully destructible environments.

IGN Insiders and FilePlanet subscribers have been given the opportunity to participate in the game's multiplayer beta on the Xbox 360.

How does the game hold up to all of the claims? Well, I'm about to tell you.



Before I start, the beta is only multiplayer so I can't comment on the open world aspect, but I will definitely talk about the destruction. Going in with doubts, I can safely say that the destructibility present in this game is the best I have ever seen...

A few months ago I got in on the Battlefield: Bad Company beta on the 360. I was expecting an incredible experience with explosions and destruction everywhere... What I got was a laggy, dull shooter letting you blow up the outsides of buildings. Compared to Battlefield's cookie-cutter destruction, Guerrilla is leaps and bounds ahead.

Walls crumble under the blow of your sledgehammer. Bits of buildings fly across maps after explosions. And the best part of it, is that is breaks where you hit it. When I sledgehammer a piece of wall, it breaks right in front of me, letting we walk through the hole I've made for myself. If I had hit it a foot to the right or the left, it would have been completely different. Even if I were to hit it in the exact same spot, the way it crumbles is completely different. Or at least it seems that way. If in fact it is like Bad Company's, they do a very good job of covering it up. When playing Bad Company I immediately realized that the buildings were made up of sections. Hit this section and the wall disappears in a cloud of smoke. In Guerrilla, bits of wall litter the ground.



Oh, and you can destroy the inside walls of a building and have the entire thing fall apart...

None of the big stuff disappears either. If you knock down a building (Like in the next paragraph) it stays there for the rest of the match. This makes it easy to change the flow of the map by blowing up certain structures.

Each player starts the match with an Assault Rifle and a Sledgehammer by default (different gametypes and maps have different equipment). The sledgehammer is your best friend... For example, at the start of a Team Deathmatch (called Team Anarchy) on Spiral, myself and two teammates rushed to the center of the map and destroyed the four supporting legs on the tower with our sledgehammers. Slowly the tower began to lean to one side and eventually toppled over onto one of the thick walls, smashing a hole straight through it.

Did it kill anybody? Nope.
Did it help the match in any way? Nope.
Was it awesome? Hell yes.

I've probably spent more time smashing through walls than actually killing people or completing objectives.

Now, you're probably wondering if the game is all destruction and doesn't bring anything new to the shooter genre. Well, it may be a little same-y, but it does have some great ideas that are a ton of fun.

Scattered throughout the map are backpacks, each giving the player a different power.

- Jetpack
allows for a short amount of flight time
- Rhino
gives the player a short burst of speed and power allowing him/her to smash through walls or kill opponents
- Fleetfoot
Makes the player move faster for a brief time
- Fire Power
Lets the player do more damage.
- Concussion
Lets out a burst of energy, knocking down any enemies in close proximity. Concussion + Sledgehammer = Awesome



These only last a few seconds each, Rhino being the shortest, but they bring a hole new element to the gameplay. You have no idea how fun it is to fly to the roof of a building, smash a hole in the roof and jump down on your opponent, or to rhino smash through a building, running an enemy over in the process until you've tried it for yourself.

The weapons are pretty standard Futuristic-Shooter fare. You've got a pair of assault rifles, a shotgun, a rocket launcher, and a pistol. But two stick out from the rest. First is the proximity mine. While not a new concept, it's something we haven't seen very often in game recently. They can be thrown like a grenade and stick to any surface. There are two ways to effectively use these, one is as a proximity mine - when the enemy gets close it explodes - the other is by user detonation. Holding the B button allows the player to detonate and mine's he/she has laid (Only 4 can be thrown at a time). Players can also shoot them from a distance to avoid being hurt.

The other is called "the grinder". It acts sort of like a cross-bow, but it shoots Buzz Saws. You can hold the fire button for a more powerful, charged attack, or use quick taps to fire less powerful, but quicker projectiles.

The gametypes included in the beta are Team Anarchy and Damage Control. Team Anarchy, as previously stated, is your standard Team Deathmatch with a fancy name, but Damage Control is interesting. There are three control points on the map. To capture the point you have to switch to your "Reconstructor" and basically heal the structure.



The Reconstructor's only purpose is to heal the control points, it doesn't do any damage, but it takes up a weapon slot. To break an enemy's control point you have to destroy it with either explosives or your trusty sledgehammer. Then you switch to your reconstructor and heal it up. Once its health reaches 75% (shown on the right side of the screen) it is your team's point. The more you heal the harder it is for the enemy to destroy it. There are some pretty hectic battles to be had in this game mode.

Three maps are included, they are Spiral, and I don't remember the other names. I think that's a bad thing too... UPDATE: The second daytime map is called "Crash Site". I just booted it up to play some more and found out. Still can't remember the dark one though.

The maps themselves aren't very memorable and, on first glance, it's hard to tell spiral apart from the other daytime map (obviously when playing they are completely different, but the fact that I can't even remember its name is not a good thing). The third map is set at night, but the world isn't so much dark as it is dark-red. It makes it very difficult to see and bring the framerate down a bit when compared to the other two maps.

On Spiral, you start with a Rhino backpack, and the default weapons.

The other maps have you starting with nothing but your weapons, making you search for the backpacks in the map.


This one is the other daytime map.

So now I've told you all of the details but, is it fun to play? To which I would respond with a, "Hellz yea!"

It may not hold your attention like a Call of Duty 4 or a Gears of War, but it's a nice distraction. Smacking people with sledgehammers and knocking down building is great fun and all of the weapons handle well.

So far I really haven't had any trouble with the game. Nothing has irked me or made me mad at the game for any reason. No cheap shots, no over-powered weapons, just no crap in general. So far I've had a very solid experience.

Before playing this I was hesitant about picking it up. I had been disappointed already by the limited destruction in Bad Company so I didn't have very high hopes for Guerrilla. But after playing this beta for a few hours, I am definitely looking forward to picking this up in early '09.

Also, if anyone else is in the beta I'd love to play sometime.

Well it's been about 16 days since the last update. We pretty much stopped working on the map for a while there. But in the last few days production kicked back up and I finished off today with 8 hours of work to finish up the first release.

This is Alpha 1.

Screenshots:








And changelog:

- Lighting has been overhauled with a mix of skylights and a point light.
- All of the terrain has been sculpted which includes the hill in the middle as well as the cave and approach to the waterfall and the ground around the waterfall-side base.
- Rocks and trees have been placed in, many of which are semi-final. The large cliff faces and all of the darker rocks are only placeholders whereas the light ricks with the moss on them will most likely stay with the map.
- Weapons and health items have been placed around the map.
- Vehicles have been placed at the bases. Currently only Scorpions and Hellbenders are in but we're still messing with more combination's of vehicles.
- Objectives are in place and basic bot paths have been implemented.
- In the latest version of the base, there are 3 entrances. The back entrance, one side entrance where you can drop in, and the other side entrance which involves a ramp leading underground.
- New skydome. Thanks to Genthly for letting us use it!


And finally, the downloads:

Alpha 1 (PC)
Alpha 1 (PS3)

If anyone finds any bugs or issues or whatever, email me: dan[at]oddmanoutstudios[dot]net
A lot of what's there is going to change throughout the course of development, but even if you find something you think we already know about please don't hesitate to email me. That way we'll be reminded of what needs to be done. With so much potential for something to go wrong it's nice to have a log of what needs to be done and we sure as hell can't find all of it ourselves.

So here I am, back from the confines of Odd Man Out Studios with Day 4's progress! A bunch of tweaks were made here and there on terrain the ramps were worked on once again to get them feeling right. The entire turret side has also been finished including the placement of a Slow Field powerup in place of Halo 3's bubble shield.

Hope you enjoy the screenshots!

So, yesterday I posted some work from the map along with a screenshot. The screenshot was yesterday's progress which was day 2, so from now on, the blog title will include the number of the production day. I'll try to update this everyday but it's going to be ridiculous having to post it in 4 different places every time something new comes up.

So, here's the progress today:

- Terrain textures were added. A grass layer, a sand layer and a charred earth layer were put in.
- Some terrain was tweaked, like the ramp to get across the river as well as the cave approach.
- The rocks to the cave approach were moved apart for a little walkway between them.
- The terrain on the rock right in front of the base was tweaked
- The river was tweaked here and there for better flow of the riverbed

I hope you enjoy! Here's some screenshots! Click on 'em to see the full size.


Similar view to yesterday's screenshot. Shows textures and terrain tweaks.


Shows the cave approach and the walkway added between the rocks.


Shows the crash site and the charred earth beneath it. The big rocks are in the way but that will be fixed.


And overhead view of the map.

Here it is!

No it's not the final map. But it's an update! And that's a start.

For those that don't remember, myself and my team of two others at Odd Man Out Studios have been working on an Unreal Tournament 3 map. The map is a remake of Halo 3's Valhalla.

So we've got a rough draft of the base done and work on the terrain has begun. I've almost got the entire lake-side base's terrain complete and placeholder rocks and trees have been put in place to help get a better feel for the level. So, without further adieu here's is an early Pre-Alpha screenshot from our vCTF-Valhalla.



Yeah it's rough I know. There aren't any terrain textures or base textures and all of the rocks look like crap. I know. All of that will be put in there, no need to worry. As it stands, we're looking at making the map playable by the end of the week. Which means, textures and meshes may not be final yet, but the flags will be in place and some very rudimentary bot paths will be implemented to make the map "Playable" on its very basic level.

From there we put in the textures and the correct meshes and start tweaking the bot paths. Once it looks presentable we'll release it as a Beta and, from there, any bugs that are found will be fixed and any tweaks that need to be made will be.

So there you have it! Keep your eyes peeled for another update in the next few days, or if you'd like to see a daily update on progress you can sign up on our forums and check out the "Official Projects" section.