I have the hankering to prototype some game ideas in Unity. Rather than just use cubes I want to have the ability to create some proxy art that is a bit more representative. My historic 3D app of choice is 3D Studio Max, but since I only run OS X at home these days, that’s not an option. So I decided to spend a couple of evenings investigating a bunch of options for creating 3D art on OS X. The base level of proficiency I wanted to get to in each was the ability to navigate the UI and 3D view, create a primitive object like a cylinder, adjust the number of segments, select and manipulate faces, edges, and vertices, perform edge loop selections, ring selections, convert a face selection to vertices, perform extrude, lathe, subdivision, split, and slide operations – all the essential tasks that are done again and again when modeling. In some cases I also explored the UV layout, texture painting, and animation views.

The tools I evaluated were:

	Wings 3D 1.2 Price: Free, Open Source Pros: A bare bones sub division poly modeler Cons: no bones/skinning, no automatic Unity import of native files
	Silo 2.2 Price: $100, $150 Pros: Elegant, full featured modeler Cons: No bones/skinning, no FBX export (though OBJ seems to work fine), no automatic Unity import of native files
	Modo 401 Price: $1000 Pros: Great modeling workflow, direct painting Cons: No bones/skinning yet, no automatic Unity import of native files
	Cheetah3D 5.5 Price: $100 Pros: almost full featured, automatic Unity import of native files Cons: some features like direct model painting are pretty bare bones
	Cinema 4D R12 Price: $1000, $3700 Pros: Full featured, relatively simple Interface, automatic Unity import of native files Cons: Full version is expensive
	Blender 2.54 Price: Free, Open Source Pros:  Full featured, automatic Unity import of native files Cons: non-standard UI
	Maya 2011 Price: $3500 Pros: Industry Standard, full featured, automatic Unity import of native files Cons: Expensive, Worst UI

Conclusion:

Guess what? They’re all pretty good!

Wings 3D relies on a context sensitive right mouse click menu and hotkeys. Very efficient; there’s no visual clutter — not even a gimbal — in this minimal application. Unfortunately it is too bare bones to be useful for most people and the development of the tool doesn’t seem to have progressed much in the past five years.

Silo and Modo seem to have the most modern and productive modeling tools. I was super impressed with both of them but with no support for rigging or animation, and no automatic Unity import of native files, you will need to include a more full featured application in your pipeline. I think it is pretty likely that bones will be added to Modo very soon, and native Unity asset import doesn’t seem too far fetched for Modo either (there is already a script that lets you quickly export to FBX). I’d like to revisit Modo after the next version. As for Silo, I’m tempted to buy a copy in the near term.

I’ve had Blender installed on my hard drive for years. I kept opening it, getting really confused, and running away. This is pretty much everyone’s experience with Blender. You see, Blender has a non-standard UI. When I say non-standard, I don’t even mean that it doesn’t look like Max or Maya, I mean, the menu bars are at the bottom of the windows and split amongst a few of them at that. It doesn’t help that blender workflow relies heavily on keyboard shortcuts, many of which are bound to the numpad which is not something that laptop nomads tend to have. Despite this, there are people who swear by Blender, so I decided to finally roll up my sleeves and dig in. I found one of the few tutorial that talks about the new UI in 2.5x and finally had an “ah ha” breakthrough when I figured out that everything is upside down.

All in all, I think that Blender is incredibly powerful and complete, especially for the price. I’m really tempted to invest more time in Blender, but I’ll have to wait until Blender 2.5x is out of Beta as automatic Unity asset importing is currently broken.

Despite the craziness of Blender, Maya actually has the worst UI of all. It is insanely cluttered. It is, however, an industry standard and heavily taught in animation and game development schools, so people are used to it and will probably think my comments about its UI are unfounded. Being an industry standard, especially among animators, is not insignificant and makes Maya a tempting choice, but not for a hobbyist at its price point.

Cinema 4D had the nicest UI of all the full featured tools. The base version is probably worth the $1000 price tag, but it’s overkill for what I need right now and there is also an asset  import incompatibility between the latest version of C4D and the latest version of Unity. A patch already exists which fixes this however.

Cheetah has the most approachable UI for novices, very standard UI both in terms of applications in general and 3D tools specifically. It almost feels like a well executed parody of standard 3D apps from the 90′s. This is the only tool that I evaluated that is OS X only. I ended up buying a copy and think that I’ll be using this program for the time being.

* UPDATE – 2-22-2011: With the release of Unity 3.2, the Blender and Cinema 4D’s native file import pipelines have been fixed and native file support has been extended to Modo.

Dancing is a series of videos on wherethehellismatt.com. I found out about this on my friend Dan’s blog. These videos, which have gotten progressively better, are really amazing. If you have time I suggest watching them in this order: Dancing 2005, Dancing 2006, Dancing 2008; if you’re short on time then you can just watch Dancing 2008. I was very moved by these videos and have watched each of them at least three times! Matt, who is dancing, used to be a game designer!

The Passage is an Art Game that has gotten the attention of many designers. You can download it here. Play through it a few times (5 minutes per session) and then read the Creator’s Statement. I think this is a game that Matt would appreciate!

I wish that there was a greater amount of moving media. I’m really happy when short form, somewhat avant guard stuff—like the above—ends up being genuinely moving. When you compare this to the amount of stuff that tends to be just a distraction, or art for art sake, it becomes an unexpected treasure!

I just finished playing Lost Winds, one of the first titles available on WiiWare, and I dare say maybe the best exclusive Wii title to date. This is the first game that has compelled me to write a review since Okami, which is interesting because there are actually a lot of parallels between these two games. These guys did nearly everything right; I was engaged from the very first moments of the interactive opening title screen, all the way through the well paced progression of gameplay mechanics and ample save points, to the somewhat abrupt ending. The game cost me $10 and provided me with about 5 hours of solid gameplay. Frontier definitely put money where it matters. No waste of voice acting or FMV cut scenes; just gorgeous, stylized graphics, amazing puzzle and world design, first class controls, and innovative mechanics.

I did feel the game to be a little floaty at first, but this sense dispersed as the game progressed to a point where most of my mobility was accomplished via floating. I also wish that things like moving into position to talk to NPCs, climbing over a ledge, and eating a fruit were a bit quicker, though I concede this might risk some of the hero’s cute charm. Baddies were also a sore point for me, their frequency made me tired if I tried to dispose of them all, so I eventually did my best to avoid them. A final negative note: I couldn’t figure out how to beat the boss and resorted to looking at a walk through. It could be my fault for not exploring this particular enemy besting mechanic earlier in the game (if it indeed existed), but I’m leaning towards it not being intuitive enough.

The best part of this game was the iterative and innovative control and interaction mechanics. The player uses a Wii cursor to draw wind. As the game progresses they are able to manipulate the wind to a greater degree due to two synergistic occurrences; their dexterity and timing improve, and the variety of motions and effects available to them increases. Much of this is not explicitly called out in instructions but instead left to satisfying trial and error discovery.

Variety

Games based on family movies often look and play like cheaply made quickies, but that’s not the case with Sierra’s pleasantly bright “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” which turns in a surprisingly enjoyable if brief performance… …”Spiderwick” is a well-made tie-in to the Par/Nick fantasy film opening next week and should sell well with fans of the books and pic.

Daily Game

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a rare example of a video game based on a film that manages to operate within the confines of the film’s structure while still providing a moderately entertaining gameplay experience.

Nintendo World Report

Battles feature a simple attack scheme that provides fun on a universal level. There is a quickness and zaniness to combat that highlights it as the game’s strong point, and capturing fairies along the way lets you learn magical spells that add an element of strategy. Using the Wii Remote to swing Jared’s baseball bat or Mallory’s sword to annihilate hordes of creeps with ease is a real treat.

Game Zone

It’s a well-documented phenomena of the video-game industry that licensed games are, more often than not, sub-par — and this goes doubly for any game based on a license aimed at children. There are any number of reasons for this, whether it’s the fact that they are oftentimes rushed through the development process (especially bug testing), or that they are often pale imitations of other established titles, or simply that the developers and/or license holders don’t care about releasing a quality game. Occasionally, though, a licensed game manages to break away from the cliché, and deliver a quality gaming experience. The Spiderwick Chronicles, based on the recently released film, isn’t the best adventure game ever to grace the PS2, but it is worlds beyond most licensed games, and an enjoyable gaming experience in its own right.

In many ways, the game feels like it was designed to introduce kids to adventure gaming. All the elements (real-time combat, multiple quests, large explorable environments, a magic/ability system, and plenty of puzzles) are here, simply presented in a way as to appeal to children; any kid weaned on this game would be ready to tackle Okami or the Zelda series. Sure, that means it’s a bit on the simple side, and it’s not perfect, but anyone looking for a fun adventure could do a lot worse than to spend some time exploring Spiderwick’s fantastical world.

Worth Playing – 360

Nothing strikes fear into a gamer’s heart quite like the phrase “licensed movie game.” Those three words, when used together, are basically synonyms for abysmal, awful, dreadful and terrible. Indeed, Ever since E.T.: The Game, movie-based titles seem to have the ability to crash and burn harder than pretty much anything else. That’s why, when an honest-to-goodness decent licensed game comes out, it is cause for celebration. Well, break out the streamers and prepare the feast, because The Spiderwick Chronicles is a truly fun, simple, family-friendly game.

What separates this game from so many mediocre titles is that everything is executed very well, and it manages to be fun no matter what age you are.

Worth Playing – Wii

Though it may be a little too soon to make this kind of bold statement, we may be seeing a new era in the art of translating feature-length movies into console video games. While portable gaming systems continue to miss the mark in part due to their hardware limitations, many of the home console systems’ adaptations of movies in this day and age seem to be bucking the trend of horrible transitions. It seems that translating from one format to another can be done successfully, if some effort is put into the process. The Spiderwick Chronicles is further evidence to suggest that this theory may hold water, something of a triumph in a genre populated principally by sub-par work intended to cash in on a film’s success.

Overall, The Spiderwick Chronicles is a fairly enjoyable experience for most anyone, whether you’re a seasoned adventure gamer or someone who simply likes the movie. There is no aspect of this title that is completely perfect, but every aspect is almost completely perfect, making for a pleasant diversion whose flaws are comparatively minor and won’t detract from the enjoyment of the game. Make sure that you don’t miss this one!

IGN

Gamers should always approach licensed games with caution. More often than not, the tie-in tries to coast on the brand name rather than provide a fun gaming experience. I’m happy to report that The Spiderwick Chronicles sidesteps this pitfall and offers a surprisingly enjoyable adventure for the younger gamer. It immerses the player in a lighthearted, fantasy world filled with an impressive amount of mythical creatures.

Combat is mostly button-mashing, but it’s pretty satisfying smashing in a goblin’s skull with a metal baseball bat. As you defeat enemies you’ll pick up goblin teeth, which (for some reason or another) unlock new attacks. Of course, these usually only grant you another press of the A button, but there are a few cool abilities to be unlocked. Jared, the sibling you begin playing as, has a rather awesome ”launcher” attack that lets him hit goblin home runs.’

The Spiderwick Chronicles recreates that feeling of being a kid and suspending your disbelief in fantasy. Much of this success in setting a mood and creating an intriguing world to explore is attributable to Holly Black’s original books. But I have to give credit to developer Stormfront for creating a fun game to go inside the Spiderwick license… …there is a big area to delve into, the music is great, and there is a lot of gameplay variety. There’s something new to find around every corner, and that’s something I can’t say about enough games. The Chronicles could get younger players hooked on adventure gaming.

4 Color Rebellion

Reviewing a children’s game can be a pretty tough prospect. The standards you apply to every other game don’t always work here. Well, that’s not entirely true. You can’t just foist crappy games on kids because they are kids. That’s just wrong. To be more accurate, the set standards for critiquing a title apply a tad bit differently. Things like difficulty and story need different judging criteria. To a certain extent, this same line of reasoning applies to licensed games. It’s hard to just attach a flat number score to these games. Fans of the license will obviously get more out of it than someone who has never seen or read the source material.

This article isn’t really an editorial on the review process, so I’ll spare you my rantings (for now). The point is that Spiderwick Chronicles is unmistakably both a licensed property and a children’s game. When I started playing, I wasn’t quite sure how to approach my review. Turns out that I shouldn’t have worried, Spiderwick Chronicles is actually a pretty decent game by any set of standards.

Rewired Mind

Games based on fantasy fiction generally don’t have a good reputation. If you have played through any of the Harry Potter games, or perhaps the Lord of the Rings games (excluding Lord of the Rings Online), you’ll probably know why. Naturally, because of this, I was a bit hesitant to play The Spiderwick Chronicles.

I was pleasantly surprised when I booted the game and was introduced into a world that was actually fun to explore. 

Overall, I am very surprised at how enjoyable The Spiderwick Chronicles is. I didn’t think I’d ever get to play a game based on a movie or novel that was actually enjoyable, so kudos goes to Sierra.

I have been eagerly awaiting Okami, Clover’s new game that got a near perfect score from Famitsu, and was finally able to pick up a copy on the US release date earlier this week!

I had a few impressions that I wanted to share with my apparently non-existent readership:

The Good

The first thing that anyone mentions about Okami is its visual style. It is absolutely gorgeous! Clover engineers and artists were able to fairly convincingly make this 3D game look like a living Sumi-e (Japanese watercolor) painting. This technique makes some of the faces hard to read but we’ll forgive them because the flora is outstanding. The scenes where massive rejuvenation of an area take place (after reviving a Guardian Tree) are completely magical, time and time again!

The next most notable accomplishment of this title is an innovation in game design that is tied to both the story and the aesthetic; the Brush Mechanic. Your avatar, a wolf deity, is able to command a celestial brush. Whenever you clear a challenge you are rewarded by unlocking an additional Brush Power, there are 15 in all.

How it works: When the player holds down one of the controller’s shoulder buttons (R1) it stops game time and makes the scene look like a black ink drawing on parchment. While in this mode you can use the Analogue Thumbstick do calligraphy; the system uses gesture recognition or pattern matching in conjunction with target context to execute one of your 15 Celestial Brush Powers.

They got a lot of mileage out of creating this mechanic as it’s used extensively for battling, adventuring, and rejuvenating. It’s awkward at first but they did a good job of easing you into it (the first symbol that you learn is just a horizontal line) and before you know it you are drawing more complex symbols with ease.

Gameplay/Responsiveness: I don’t think that Capcom would settle for anything else. The game controls great, the wolf responds instantly to my input. Distances in the level design are in tune with your jumping and swimming abilities: secret ledges are often accessible only by a perfectly timed wall jump, some islands are not reachable until you get a certain brush technique, etc. Some movements, attacks, and combos have recovery time, which has a positive effect on the game, encouraging strategic play against the more difficult enemies.

Another thing that they did is have your avatar automatically jump over small objects, this is brilliant. I’m a huge fan of having the game do automatically what the player would intuitively want it to do. I can only imagine my frustration if my running was brought to a halt every time I got to a fence or small ledge.

Okami has really great animation, often times with comedic timing and action for villagers and, surprisingly, your avatar.

The Music sounds like it came out of a Ghibli film and is at times majestic, epic, or cute and always adds to the overall feel of your adventure.

The most endearing aspect of Okami, for me, is its Constructive Theme. Where as in most Action Adventure games the primary activity is to destroy and kill, Okami’s is to heal and feed. You rejuvenate the environment, you mend buildings, and you feed animals who respond by giving you loving affection whenever you come around. Even violence in okami is treated more romantically than other games too. As Jet Li has been philosophizing these days the purpose of martial ways is to stop war, and you get that sense in Okami, that most of your fighting is being done to restore harmony… it’s not for survival and its not for personal gain. With so much of the game being wondrous, the fight scenes and cursed lands really do feel uncomfortable; these are dangerous parts of the game, filled with darkness. When I am playing I deeply desire to be done with the fight and to return to the flower fields of peace. That being said, the violent actions of your avatar are often beautiful; your bomb creates a fireworks show, you can summon a tree to block an attacker, and things of that nature.

The Bad

Psychonauts Syndrome – the first two hours of Okami are slow, filled with exposition and hand holding. This was made worse by my next gripe, the voices. You might expect them to be bad in a “dubbed” kind of way, but that wasn’t it at all. In a similar move to Katamari, only more annoying, voices in Okami are an abstract yet somewhat repetitive sound, like adjusting the resonance and cutoff of the “phone voice” from Charlie Brown … if only I could turn them off!

The “rejuvenation” brush mechanic requires you to draw a circle over/around a barren tree. Quite often the game’s targeting system does not register that your object of intention was said barren tree; it is not uncommon for me to have to try four times to get some trees to rejuvenate. I haven’t had any problem with any of the other brush techniques and the “cherry bomb” is surprisingly forgiving of my sloppiness.

Loading: while the load times are short, they can also be frequent, especially if you are in a town; there is ~ a one and a half second load each time you enter or leave a building. God of War has spoiled me!

Save System: I was expecting the save system from Resident Evil 4. Like RE4, Okami has save checkpoints, unlike RE4, if you die you return to the last saved game, not the last cut-scene or area-load. I was operating under the assumption that the save worked like in RE4, it felt pretty shitty when I died at 6.5 hours and was sent back to my last save at 5 hours… which brings me to my last gripe: the inability to skip dialogue or cut-scenes, particularly annoying if you have to replay 1.5 hours.

Conclusion

The good definitely beats out the bad, this game is worth playing! I don’t think that it is deserving of the near perfect score that Famitsu gave it, but it is worthy of the praise that it is receiving. (The Metacritic scores at the time of this writing: Resident Evil 4, 96; God of War, 94; Okami, 93.) For me it isn’t as good, technically, as RE4 or GoW however it is SO fresh that it would be deserving of Famitsu’s score if they had been able to address some of my gripes above. In terms of game of the year, I don’t think that the loads would be an obstacle for Okami, but the slow beginning could be, if for no other reason than it could keep people from getting to the good part.

My advice: get the game, play it for two hours and then put it down, come back the next day and let the fun times roll, and go ahead and save when given the option to.

Update: This game is too long; I played for 60 some hours and saw two endings that weren’t really the end. I think that I need to demote it to an 86.