That was very interesting and relevant for one thing : I-must-learn-to-speak-english ! write in english, eat in english, drink in english and finally dream in english.
That really was a torture not understanding all conferences.

One of the most famous for me was David Cage’s one, Quantic Dream’s founder, with his speech “Writing Interactive Narrative for a Mature Audience” and this sentence “We need to be proud of who we are” about the censorship (which resonating especially in this GDC in Germany).
He asked why making games should be always for teenagers with big weapons, big tits and poor mechanics. We can assume to be adult and we can show others feelings than kill-jump-kill… and it’s not dirty to see people kissing in a game, or making love. That can be shown without pornography, like movies.

“Movies”. It’s the word around this speech turned. And it’s there I found the argument went too far because video games was automatically compared to movies, to conclude video games are only like children toys.

Perhaps it’s a misunderstanding by me about what said David Cage but video games needn’t to have the same language of movies. No to count a story doesn’t mean not to give mature emotions.
In his speech, he explained video games can have two playing ways : The sandbox (the most of games) and a Rollercoaster (rare).
He told us he prefers the Rollercoaster than the sandbox, where a child are caught for God, pushed by simplist feelings where as the rollercoaster offers an emotional trip… but we can be very passive in a looping and waked up inventive in a Sandbox.

We can assume to make “toys” without meaning “childish toys”.
Playing is a shame for an adult ?

Why saying “we need to be proud of who we are” and being mixed up by the cinema ?

Exit Garage Game ! Here are bigger and quiet offices !
Baking in summer, freezing in winter but baking again every evening with computers… is finished !

So there is movement at Gamepulp, because we’re growing too.
For some months, Benjamin completes the team for the game and level design of 2 projects (new post soon ).

Gamepulp : level 2 ! Play again !

I’m playing my friend Bob online. He chose Minerva, the witch, and I chose the robot.
He’s more experienced than me (this is my first time online, I only played the computer before) so he setup the match for us: the ball is rather fast but so are the characters. Also, we start with more lifes than usual, more crates, and he chose one of his item presets, but didn’t tell me what it was.

(continue reading…)

I’m playing the last level of the Quest mode, against Krog, the ultimate boss.
I’ve been trying to beat him several times, he’s tough! But this time I chose to play Duvna: with her fairy power, she can freeze her opponent, and I intend to use this to my advantage.

The computer just scored a goal. The ball is on my side, after the 3-seconds countdown it will be shot towards him, so I take a deep breath and consider my status.

The HUD shows that I only have 2 lives left out of my initial 10. Krog has got 5 left, but he started with 15 (damn boss!).
So overall I scored 10 times, and he only 8: if I keep up my pace I can make it, but I’m only allowed one more mistake!

(continue reading…)

A new version of Besmashed is available on the demo page.

A more completed solo mode offers three gameplays : a Quest for beginners and to unlock the Challenges mode, a customizable solo match for advanced players and an “Instant Play” mode for impatients who let computer choose characters and terrain.

We added too High scores in Challenges Mode and we’ll finish them to be developped in the multiplayer mode.

What is the Challenges Mode? It’s new! This is 5 challenges to know how many time the player can hold with inverted controls, or with ice, or when he can’t stop because he always runs, or when he gets smaller each racket stroke, or with Armageddons.

We had to finish several development points and we’ll have our Release version !

Have fun !

Our game is an homage at Pong though the gameplay goes far away from him, up to be a different game.
But the famous ancestor’s name is a trademark and, to respect the law, we decided to change “Fight Pong” by “Beshmashed”. It evokes charm which takes possession of characters to find the magic smash.

It’s the opportunity to announce you a Beta version upgrade, with 5 items more : Smash, Multiball, Fast Ball, Slow Ball and Rugby Ball ! A unique link : besmashed.gamepulp.com