Spontantaneous Sunday: Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures

For this week's Spontaneous Sunday, I have fired up the old PS2 once again and played Ed, Edd n Eddy: The-Misedventures (2005, Artificial Mind & Movement, Playstation 2).

"Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures is a 3D platform game based on the Cartoon Network animated television series Ed, Edd n Eddy. It was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement and Cartoon Network Interactive, published by Midway Games and released on November 3, 2005. Ed, Edd, and Eddy are playable characters in the game. Players can use them in special tag team formations to complete eight levels, referred to as scams. "

- wikipedia on Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures

What do I expect from the game?

I saw the game for £2 at Cex just a few hours before I played it and just had to buy it as I was a huge fan of the show as a kid, and I have a lot of nostalgia for it now. In the game, the player can swap between the three main characters on the fly, using each character's unique mechanics to complete levels. I expect that this concept of using 3 characters with different mechanics will form the core of the gameplay and will be pivotal to the design of the levels and the challenges and interactions within the game. I am really interested to see how the developers approached translating the personalities of the  show's characters into gameplay mechanics, and whether the levels are designed to make use of these mechanics in a balanced way.

As it is a child-friendly 3D platformer, I expect that the game will have many of the staple features of this genre, such as simple puzzles, enemies to defeat and collectable items. I am interested to see if the game captures the spirit of the show and it's characters. The box art and manual are definitely in keeping with the show's style, so I am confident that the developers will have done a good job of translating the show's charm into the game. I expect that the game will feature some degree of comedy and silliness as seen in the show, and I also expect that it will feature a similarly sketchy and colourful visual style, and jokes and references to keep fans happy. I expect that the game will offer many examples of good character design and mechanics, and also examples of how to effectively create a licensed video game.

First Impressions - What do I think of the in its first few minutes?

The game's front end is fairly simple, with a still background of Eddy's room and the game's title displayed prominently. The show's theme song plays over the front end menu, which made me instantly nostalgic and excited to play.

 

The front end features 3 options, New Game, Load Game and Credits. I began a new game and a short cutscene played, showing the Eds in a huddle in the show's famous cul-de-sac, planning their first scam of the game: collecting ice cubes to make snowcones to sell. This short cutscene was instantly reminiscent of the show, in both its visual style and its content, and it seemed effective in letting the player (who could well be a child) know what they are doing in the level. In fact, the whole first level is very good at communicating what the player needs to do, and how to do it. The game provides simple on-screen instructions in easy-to-read writing. Pausing the game shows both the level's main objective and the current objective. The HUD is similarly simple and effective, while still offering a lot of visual charm.

First view of the game world.

The objectives are clear and to-the-point.

The game's first section involves using the attack mechanic on a cooler to break it open and collect the ice inside. In this section, the player is introduced to the most simple mechanics such as attacking, interacting with objects and switching characters. As the level continued, the game also gradually introduced more mechanics at a steady pace - such as stunning enemies, throwing objects and using the Ed's "formations". The level sees the player complete tasks to collect ice cubes, such as distracting an unfriendly dog and raiding someon'e fridge, before convicing Rolf to let the Eds use his meatball machine to make snowcones by helping him corale his escaped pigs.

The player can switch between each of the 3 Eds on the fly.

Double D can use his slingshot to hit targets.

The first level does a lot of things very well: it offers a series of clear objectives that contribute towards achieving the main objective, it introduces the core mechanics and it features a healthy dose of EEnE's signature style and charm. It is also nicely paced, both in terms of the rate at which new mechanics are introduced, and the rate at which the player collects the ice cubes. The HUD includes an objective counter showing how many of the ice cubes the player has collected (out of a total of 5), which acts as an innocuous way of letting the player know how far through the level they are. The level also contains a number of collectable items and interactable objects that are not related to the critical path. This, along with the levels unthreatening setting (the backyards of the neighbourhood's houses), makes the first level a good playground for players to get to grips with the gameplay, controls and mechanics.

After completing the first level, I was taken to cul-de-sac, which acts as the game's hub world from which further levels are accessed. I spent some time exploring the hub, smashing objects and admiring the game's colourful, low-poly level art before jumping into the next level.

What do I like about the game?

I played Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures for a good few hours and completed several levels which took me through sewers, backyards, forests, schoolyards and the candy store. It's a pretty fun and charming little platformer with well designed and implimented mechanics for each of the three Eds. It also has a lot of charm thanks to its visuals, audio and characters, all of which are faithful to the TV show. The game's greatest strengths lie in its mechanics and level designs, and the extent to which it captures the spirit of the show on which it is based.

Each level has a title card, just like episodes of the show!

The Mis-Edventures is at its core a multi-character platformer in which the player has to frequently swap between the different characters to make use of their unique mechanics to overcome obstacles and challenges. This nature of this core gameplay means a few things have to be achieved for the game to be entertaining and balanced. The levels must contain a well-balanced amount of challenges that require the use of each of the characters' abilities so that each character gets roughly the same amount of playtime per level and no character is clearly more useful or superior. I would say that The Mis-Edventures gets this balance almost perfect. Each level has a well-balanced set of obstacles and challenges that mean that the player is switching often and each character has their turn to be useful. The levels are well designed in terms of what has to be done to progress through them, and the designers have certainly made good use of the different ways that they can test the player using the mechanics at their disposal. The gameplay is never boring, as new challenges and new ways of using the mechanics are presented to the player regularly.

The "Tower of Eddy" formation allows the player to cross narrow walkways.

Another positive feature of the game, again concerning the mechanics, is how well each characters' mechanics suit their personality and the attributes and abilities that they display in the cartoon. Double D is able to use a slingshot to hit targets and tinker with interactable elements in the level such as machinery, while Ed is able to use his strength to pick up and throw objects and smash through obstacles. If pressed, I would have to say that Eddy's mechanics are kind of the weak link here, as his character has been translated into mechanics slightly less effectively than the other two. With that said though, I can understand why this might be: as Eddy is the "brains of the operation" and the "man with the plan" of the group, his character is somehow harder to think of mechanics for. I spent a while trying to think of what mechanics I would have given the characters, and found that Eddy was the hardest character to do this for. To the game's credit, it does effectively portray Eddy's penchant for schemes in the cutscenes, so his character does not feel any less important to the game as a whole.

The game features some pretty varied environments from the show/

The game does a very good job of capturing the spirit and charm of the cartoon. The visuals, sound effects, voice acting, music, script, humour and characters are all present and correct. I imagine that the extent to which a licensed game stays true to its source material can have a huge effect on how it is recieved by fans of that source material, and The Mis-Edventures does not disappoint in this regard. The developers make good use of the source material to create levels, stories, mechanics and interactions that all feel very true to the show. The visuals are pretty good, especially the level art which is good both in terms of it capturing the show's visual style and in purely objective terms - it has a very colourful and low-poly style that fits the game perfectly. The character animations are also decent, with the running animations looking exactly like they do in the show.

The game features both in-game 3D cutscenes and pre-rendered animations in the style of the show (albeit less refined) which mean that it captures the visual style about as well as a PS2 game can. The audio, including sound effects, voice acting and music, are also perfect and are a real catalyst to delivering the show's charm. If a fan of the show was to hear the game being played without seeing the screen, I think they would believe it was just another episode!

An example of one of the 3D cutscenes...

...and of one of the pre-rendered animations.

Other positive features include the game's collectables, which include jawbreakers, coins and costume pieces and easter eggs. These are scattered throughout the levels and they encourage full exploration of the playable space, add depth to the gameplay, add replay value and a greater goal outside of the critical path or moment-to-moment gameplay. The collectable status can be seen on the status screen in the pause menu, which allows players to see where they are up to and which levels they have missed things on, so they easily know where to go back to. Again, the collectables are absolutely in keeping with the source material. Overall, its a really enjoyable experience for someone like me who loves the franchise!

The pause menu includes a status screen showing your collectables.

What do I not like about the game?

The Mis-Edventures does have a couple of negative points. While there's nothing incredibly bad that compromises the whole game, there are a few things that could have been added or improved to add polish to the game experience.

 

The most glaring downside to the game is the game's hub world, which felt poorly designed and neglected. The layout and level art of the hub are pretty good and the player is allowed to explore the cul-de-sac, alleyways and the forest as seen in the show, but there is a definite lack of content to the hub which leaves it feeling pretty empty, and as if it was somewhat forgotten by the developers. The shows characters are present in the hub, but they just stand there, not walking around or talking or doing anything particularly interesting. This feels like a pretty glaring missed opportunity of adding even more EEnE charm to the game. Had the characters simply walked around and made passing comments or random lines of dialogue if the player was nearby, it would have breathed so much more life and interactivity into the hub world. Also, the addition of a simple minigame or two or some hidden areas within the hub with mini-puzzles would have done the world of good.

Shot of the game's (rather empty) hub world.

The hub world also feels a little bit badly seated within the greater structure of the game. It is never really explicity identified as a hub world in-game, so the player could be forgiven at first for thinking it was a really big, confusing level. The different levels are accessed via the hub, but walking into the area that triggers the levels gives no information about what the level is, simply an option to the effect of "Begin Level, Yes/No?". Again, this leaves the hub world feeling unfinished, and this screen should really have displayed the level's name and maybe even the collectable status for that level.

I was also a bit disappointed by the lack of idle animations and randomised in-game dialogue for the player characters. Again, its a missed opportunity to really hammer home the EEnE charm. I can easily think of some ideas for idle animations off the top of my head, such as Eddy crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently, Ed sniffing his own armpit, and Double D breaking out some sort of technological device and messing with it. Random passing dialogue would also definitely have been a welcome addition. Both of these things could have been quick ways to add even more detail and charm, I can only assume that time constraints lead to their ommision.

Final Thoughts

On the whole, Ed, Edd n Eddy,: The Mis-Edventures has been a really fun game to play as a fan of the show, and its also been a pretty good lesson in mechanic design for multi-character games featuring interchangeable characters with unique mechanics. It's also a good exmaple of how to effectively create a licensed video game in that it really stays true to the show in pretty much every way. As a game that was almost certainly primarily aimed it kids, it also does a good job of providing easy to follow objectives and controls and mechanics that are easy to learn and use.

Though the hub world falls short and there was definitely a few missed opportunities, the quality of The Mis-Edventure's mechanics and level deisgns make for entertaining and sufficiently challenging gameplay. Meanwhile the visuals, audio and presentation make this a very good licensed video game, and, at its core, just a generally decent game all around!

Sci-fi Garage Update - July 27th

I've been making steady progress on my Sci-fi Garage scene this week. Here's a run-down of what I've done in the 3 days since my last update:

• I have done a lot of work on the APC's materials including adding various markings, more details, refining base materials etc.
• I've also done a lot of lighting work on the scene such as trying to get the skylight and directional light right, aswell as refining emissives and additional lights such as the vehicle lights.
• Done a lot of post-processing and general improvements to the visual quality, such as increasing/refining the details of indirect shadows to elimate seams on the modular assets. Also started to experiment with different post-processing effects such as darkening shadows, boosting highlights and midtones etc.
• Added a smoke particle effect to the scene to give the whole scene a subtle hazy/dusty appearance.
• Added some placeholder clutter to the scene to help me begin to visualise placement of props.

 Here's how the scene is looking now. I'm really happy with how its going and I think the APC texture is very near completion. I will be starting on the props soon.

 

 

Sci-fi Garage Update - July 24th

Time for another Sci-fi garage update! Over the last few weeks since my last update, I've been working on the final touches on the all-important APC model, and I have now started on the textures in Substance Painter. The APC is now starting to reach a point where its nearly completed. The final APC model is made up of 10 different elements, each with their own UV maps which will have mostly 2K textures except for the outer body and interior which are going to have 4K textures for maximum visual quality. The total poly count is about 27,000. The APC is the central focal point of the garage environment, so by making lots of separate elements, using high-res textures and a relatively high poly count, it will hopefully look as high-quality as possible.

I'm going for a "guerrilla warfare" kind of vibe to the model, with colourful paint splatters, flags and signs of wear and combat. I'm also probably going to add some graphics and graffiti-style markings. These details will allow me to create a subtle narrative to the vehicle and the world in which it exists. I'm also using emissive textures for a lot of stuff. This model is probably my most ambitous one yet, and it has taken a long time to create due to the level of detail and quality that I am trying to achieve.

The APC model is now nearing completion and soon I'll be able to get to work on the things that I still need to for this environment - specifically, props, particle effects, post-processing work, cinematics and presentation video and so on. The APC has taken a bit longer than expected, but I'm confident that I can create the rest of the scene quickly enough to get it finished to a high standard come October.

I've also edited some of the lighting and post-processing settings in the scene and started to add particle effects. Here's how its all looking now.

 

 

 

Spontaneous Sunday - Dragon Age: Origins

Welcome to the another Spontaneous Sunday! This week I have played Dragon Age: Origins (2009, BioWare  Xbox 360).

"Dragon Age: Origins is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise, and was released in November 2009. Set in the fictional kingdom of Ferelden during a period of civil strife, the game puts the player in the role of a warrior, mage, or rogue coming from an elven, human, or dwarven background. The player character is recruited into the Grey Wardens, an ancient order that stands against demonic forces known as "Darkspawn"."

- Wikipedia on Dragon Age: Origins

What do I expect from the game?

The Dragon Age Origins is a fairly well known game that seems to have been very well received by critics and consumers, and the franchise has since spawned two sequels, several spin-off games, novels, comics and even action figures. This gives me confidence that Origins will be a high quality game. I am a fan of RPG games, having sunk countless hours into The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (one of my favourite games), Skyrim, Fallout and Fable. I also played Two Worlds for one of the first Spontaneous Sundays. So I am quite familiar with the genre.

I expect Dragon Age: Origins to be a story-driven RPG in a classic high-fantasy setting, with many of the tropes seen in this genre such as: good-vs-evil themes, dragons and mythical enemies, quests, grandiose settings, magic and hack-and-slash combat. From what I have seen of the game, it looks like quite a stereotypical fantasy RPG, so I am slightly worried that it won't do much to set itself apart from other games of this genre.

I expect that the game will have a story that hinges on a good faction defeating a bad faction, aswell as side quests and sub-stories. I expect that it will have an experience-points based system of levelling, and maybe different skills that increase as the player levels and perks or abilities that unlock as the game progresses. The game was published by EA, so I imagine that it will have had a big budget, so I think that it will be high quality and polished in general. I expect good graphics and environments. The soundtrack was composed by the famous game composer, Inon Zur, so I expect the music to be of a very high quality too. 

First Impressions - What do I think of the game in its first few minutes?

I launched the game and was met with a short animation of the red dragon silhouette seen on the game's cover. The dragon shape then turned into the EA ident - this was a nice touch. The game's front end shows two swords stuck in the ground, with a dark mountain range in the background, all under a cloudy orange sky and accompanied with a gentle but tense choral, string and horn soundtrack. It is suitably dramatic, but does feel a little RPG-cliche.

On starting a new game, an opening cinematic plays. A male narrator starts by telling the origins of the "Darkspawn" - a demonic force and the main antagonistic faction of the game. Then we see some dramatic and violent battle scenes between the Darkspawn and the Grey Wardens, the game's good faction. The narrator then says that it has been 400 years since the destruction of the Darkspawn - but they are soon to return again. This opening cinematic is quite effective and impactful - it successfully introduces and explains the two main factions in the game, provides a decent bit of back story and communicates the impending danger that the world faces, while also showing some exciting combat scenes that catch the player's attention.

Shots from the opening cinematic.

After the opening the cinematic, the player reaches the character generation stage. Here, the player can choose their gender, their race (Human, Elf or Drawf), their class (Warrior, Rogue or Mage),  and  their "background", which is a short description of your characters origin story that depends on what you choose for the other options. I chose to play as a female Elf Warrior, as I liked the elven backgrounds and I generally prefer to play RPGs as a Warrior character. Character generation is an absolutely pivotal part of an RPG game, because it influences the extent to which you can connect with your character and immerse yourself in their role. Dragon Age: Origins' offers a very deep and varied character generation system that allows you to alter most of the character's facial features using sliders and alter their hair and tattoos. The player can even choose from a number of different voices for their characters. This is a good level of cosmetic customisation and allowed me to make a character that felt personal and that I could apply my own story to. I made a battle hardened and capable Elf warrior with high strength, cunning and health - kind of like an Elven Lara Croft! The player also gets to pick some basic starting skills and abilities which allows for even greater role-playing and facilitates varied and specialised approaches to gameplay.

The default starting character.

My character.

After character generation, another cinematic plays that is specific to your character's backstory. The game began with my character and another elf named Tamlen finding some humans trespassing in the tribe's woods. The game allowed me to choose different dialogue options to guide the conversation, and I quizzed the humans on why they were there and decided to spare their lives. Having this dialogue and offering the choice to kill or spare some characters right at the start of the game gives the player the chance to put their ideas about their character's morality into practice early on.

Having discovered that the humans were exploring a cave nearby containing some ruins where they apparently encountered a "demon", it was naturally my job to get and check it out, so off I went. On the way, I ran into the quintessential basic RPG enemy, a wolf. This acted as a short combat tutorial. Combat works in a rather interesting way - attacking an enemy puts the player into combat, where they will then attack repeatedly without the player having to press anything. The player can use their abilities in combat to execute special moves. The combat is kind of similar to turn-based combat in that regard.

Throughout this first dungeon, I began to realise that Dragon Age: Origins takes some very clear cues from the classic style of pen-and-paper RPG games like Dungeons & Dragons, and translates them into real-time gameplay in a 3D space - such as the combat system, traps, inventory and stats system. The first dungeon begins is pretty small and contains enemies such as giant spiders and skeletons. Eventually, I reached a room containing an ominous mirror. In a cutscene, Tamlen approaches and touches the mirror, which causes some kind of magical explosion, knocking out both the characters. My character awoke back at the camp, apparently having been rescued by one of the Grey Wardens. Having recovered from the events in the cave, I was tasked by the leader of the tribe to go back into the cave and try and find Tamlen, who was missing, with the help of a tribe mage. Eventually, I ran into the Grey Warden who saved me, and accompanied him to their base to join their ranks.

What do I like about the game?

Dragon Age: Origins has a few strong features that make it stand up well in the RPG genre and set itself apart from other games. Its strongest features include the character generation and background stories, the stats and abilities system, the dialogue system, and the way that the developers have skilfully translated the classic RPG elements into a gameplay in a digital format. The ambient audio and voice acting are also positive features.

The game's character generation and backstory stood out to me as a very good feature of the game, as these features are really important in any RPG. The success of an RPG can often be greatly influenced by the quality of the character creation and capacity for connecting with the character that you create, so its a good job that Dragon Age: Origins pulled this off well. Not only can the player customise their character's facial features quite heavily, but they can also create a character build with different skillsets and abilities that ensure that each player will almost certainly experience the game in a different way. The backstories are also a very good addition, because this provides the player with 6 possible beginnings to the game, and although the aim of the game is the same regardless of backstory, the backstories still seem to influence the journey to this goal throughout. This also adds a greater sense of identity to each character and can add replay value and incentive to try different playthroughs with different character types. The story in general is also a positive point. Though it is a bit familiar to other RPG games, it is delivered well through cutscenes and in-game lore. There's also an in-game codex featuring information about lore, items, gameplay and so on.

The codex.

The stats and levelling system is another positive feature. Again, RPGs are all about providing the player with the choice to play how they want, developing their character and honing a play style that suits them and the character who they are playing as. Having different abilities and stats is directly linked to this in a grounded gameplay context. The levelling system allows the player to increase stats such as strength, dexterity, cunning etc which all feed into different abilities and allow the player to unlock different gear as the game plays out. This adds rewards for extended play, keeps the game interesting and allows the player to create long term goals, such as reaching a high enough level to wield a certain weapon or use a certain skill. Though I didn't get very deep into the game in the 3-4 hours that I spent playing it, I had already begun to create a character build with specific skills. There appears to be a lot of different skills and abilities on offer which would probably mean that the skill system would remain interesting even into the long-game.

The player is able to converse with many characters in the game, from story characters to random NPCs to merchants. The dialogue system is a very good feature for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a to-the-point way of delivering story content and advancing through the game while still giving the player a degree of control. Secondly, the dialogue options are pretty broad and offer a lot of different things to say. I was surprised to see that many of the questions that I had as a player were able to be answered for me in game by NPCs. Third, the dialogue system allows the player to channel the identity of their character into the game in a meaningful way in the form of conversations with characters. The dialogue systems offers options for a wide variety of player-character personalities, so the player is almost always able to get the idea of their characters personality across. It is one of the most well-done dialogue systems that I've seen and the outcomes of using different options seems meaningful.

The gameplay is interesting because the game seems to have channeled classic RPG elements in a way that I've not really seen before. The inclusion of party companions, traps, items, stats and skills feels very familiar of pen-and-paper RPGs, and its clear to see that the developers really know and care about RPGs as a genre. This makes for a video-game RPG experience thats unlike any other I have seen. That said, the actual moment-to-moment gameplay isn't overly exciting, and I did find the dialogue and story more interesting than the combat, for example.

Finally, the ambient audio and voice acting are also good features. The ambient audio helps to make the game's environments (which are also pretty good) more believable and atmospheric. The ambient audio included things like dripping water in the caves, bird songs in the forest and children and people chattering in the background in the tribe's camp.

What do I not like about the game?

There are a few things that failed to impress me in Dragon Age: Origins. As is often the case for me when playing RPGs, I was put off by the UI and the complicated nature of the inventory and skill menus.

I have never been a fan of this UI style!

For some reason, it seems like the RPG genre is prone to gaudy UI aesthetics, usually featuring brown boxes with ornate gold borders and archaic fonts that are difficulty to read. I'm sure this is very much a matter of personal taste, but I am not a fan of this UI style. Dragon Age features this style and it put me off the UI. The game's graphics also fell short slightly, with some low-res textures and awkward animations in cutscenes. As previously discussed, the game features a wide variety of skills and items, so its only natural that it would require a skill and inventory menu, which leads to a rather cluttered menu system, a lot of which looks the same. Other than the UI and cluttered menu, I didn't find anything else that was too bad about the game.

Final Thoughts

Dragon Age: Origins can definitely stand its ground amongst other successful RPGs. The game offers a deep and varied character creations and skill system that allows the player to create a unique character who they can connect with and develop over the course of the game. The inclusion of different back stories seems like a really interesting feature to me. The dialogue system is one of the best that I have seen in an RPG, with really interesting options that seem meaningful and feed into the story well. The gameplay is pretty unique in the way that it borrows from classic RPGs, and I am interested to play again and see where I can take my character build to.

All these positive features come together to make a pretty solid and unique RPG that is only slightly imperfect due to an unpleasant UI style and some ropey graphics. As an RPG, I do feel like I will need to put some more hours into Dragon Age to fully get the measure of it, so I plan to play it again in the future!