Archive for March, 2015

The biggest wins and fails of multimedia adaptations.

Posted by:

Cross over content from one form of media to the next is becoming more common. This affects the video game industry in both directions: games getting made into movies, or movies/television getting turned into games.

In this day and age, while Hollywood movie budgets are getting bigger, so too are our demands from modern cinema.

It is no wonder, then, that the poor folk in Hollywood are beginning to run out of ideas, so much so that they’re turning to other forms of media to make their next biggest blockbuster. Sometimes it works; sometimes, it does not – here are just a few examples of the biggest wins and fails of multimedia adaptations.

Subject: Game of Thrones

Verdict: Win

Based on the epic fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, HBO hit Game of Thrones burst onto our screens in 2011 and has entranced viewers every since. Telling the story of the mythical seven kingdoms, the series took the books to a whole new level.

It has become so popular in the modern day that it has even spawned its own slot game at cad.SpinPalace.com, and with ratings going up every season, it doesn’t look like this adaptation is going to show any signs of slowing down any time soon.

Subject: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Verdict: Win

Based on the novel by Hunter S Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was just as much of a hit on screen as it was on the page. Of course, as one of Johnny Depp’s pivotal roles, it would have not been the same without its stellar cast, which also included the inimitable Benicio del Toro. Telling the story of a drug-induced trip through America, Fear and Loathing re-defined popular culture in the 90s.

Subject: Tomb Raider

Verdict: Fail

It’s always a risky move for video games to be made into movies – for example, the Resident Evil franchise may have started out promisingly but ultimately turned into a dead horse which was tired of being flogged.

Sadly, despite an optimistic cast with Angelina Jolie and Daniel Craig, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider failed to make quite the mark on cinema audiences as it did gamers. Perhaps it was just poor dialogue or Jolie’s additional ‘padding’, but something didn’t quite make the mark.

This is a bummer because I actually liked the movie.

Subject: Spiderman

Verdict: EPIC WIN

Of all of Stan Lee’s multi-million dollar Marvel empire, one super hero who has done better than any other is of course, your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman. In his early days as a comic book character, he could never have dreamed of spawning a huge movie franchise, video games, clothing and much more. In fact, of all the Marvel characters, Spiderman has been named the most profitable  – in 2013 alone, more than $1.3 billion of Spiderman merchandise was sold.

Subject: Fifty Shades of Grey

Verdict: EPIC FAIL

It’s attracted more column inches than the royal wedding, and was actually named the highest grossing 18-rated film in the UK ever, and yet, by all accounts, Fifty Shades of Grey was a cinematic bomb. Of course, it doesn’t help that it had a pretty awful novel as a basis; but its dialogue was terrible, the acting was painful and the PR has been a shambles. There is some saving grace however: rumour has it that Jamie Dornan has pulled out of the sequels, if director Sam Taylor Johnson can bring herself to make any others! 

0

Stash Developer Insight – How we iterate over multiple passes: Pegs!

Posted by:

At Frogdice, we follow the design and development model of getting a working prototype going as fast as possible, then we iterate on it repeatedly until we are happy with the final result.

One of the more challenging examples of that in Stash has been the peg, miniature, or figurine, that represents your character on the world and dungeon maps. I am numbering these incarnations of our peg system 1 through 5, but there were a numerous smaller versions in between.

Peg Incarnation #1

OldPegs_01

This was one of the first. It was kinda cute and got the job done but was never considered anywhere near complete. I am pretty sure it was never even used in a playable build.

Peg Incarnation #2

OldPegs_02

This is a variation on #1 with more detail and more gear. This was one of the first versions that was actually put to use in a playable build of the game. If I recall, this is the version you saw in the original Kickstarter video for Stash.

Peg Incarnation #3

OldPegs_03

We really weren’t happy with our pegs, so we decided to go back to the drawing board, think outside the box, and start experimenting. We tried a number of different things that were wildly different from #1 and #2. At one point we were experimenting with chibi-like figures and here we were also taking inspiration from Pop! dolls.

Peg Incarnation #4

OldPegs_04

Ultimately we didn’t like any of those experiments, so we wen’t back to our traditional board game piece concept. We worked to improve upon it and give players more control over the shape and material.

Peg Incarnation #5 – A Quantum Leap Forward

Pegs-02

We still weren’t happy. As in #3, we once again decided to start over with an entirely new concept. This time I think we nailed it and I really love this version. Players will get to customize the terrain on the base, their character’s pose, and the gear on their figure will reflect the actual gear they are wearing. You can unlock more poses and base terrains and change them as desired.

We feel this still maintains the table-top/miniature gaming feel on the world and dungeon maps (which is really important to us!) while remaining very immersive. Hopefully you all agree!

So That’s How It Works!

I hope you enjoyed this brief look behind the curtain of how video games get made – at least here at Frogdice.

0