So when is this comming out? I've always had a soft spot for the series since the PS1 game and it doesn't hurt that its in 2d ( ). I don't see a listing on gamestop yet for it though. Just the ps2/wii/DS game.
Wow, Spyro is kicking some serious ass! I've never bought one of his games, and the only one I played was horrible, but this actually looks like a great game. The combat system is unreal!
You know, I'm incredibly late on this (never saw this thread before), but I agree with you, Zauron, on your choice not to include "Spryo" in the title of the thread. The only Spyro game I played was Enter the Dragon on the Gamecube, and I felt very burned. In no way was that game fun. I only played it because my girlfriend said she enjoyed the one she played on the PS1.
That said, this looks like an enjoyable game. Congrats on moving up to professional game development. I'd love to make games, but I'm pretty stuck in my current line of work.
I have to admit, I wouldn't have expected a Spyro game to contain game mechanics like combo-ing as illustrated in the trailer. Seems like it should appeal to people outside the franchise itself as well for being a good action / platform game. I'd probably buy it.
You know, I'm incredibly late on this (never saw this thread before), but I agree with you, Zauron, on your choice not to include "Spryo" in the title of the thread. The only Spyro game I played was Enter the Dragon on the Gamecube, and I felt very burned. In no way was that game fun. I only played it because my girlfriend said she enjoyed the one she played on the PS1.
That said, this looks like an enjoyable game. Congrats on moving up to professional game development. I'd love to make games, but I'm pretty stuck in my current line of work.
The series, much like the Crash Bandicoot, started great and then descended mighty fast. Title after title of pure shit, enough to throw off even the most stalwart fan. At this point, it would be like Sega releasing a great Sonic game on a console, very few people would believe it.
Man, like I mentioned, this is the worst timing ever. You need to yell at your publisher for a while for putting this game up against Zelda. I'm sure it would get a lot more interest among the hardcore if that particular elephant wasn't in the living room.
Still very interested, though. Can you share anything more about the game itself?
You know, I'm incredibly late on this (never saw this thread before), but I agree with you, Zauron, on your choice not to include "Spryo" in the title of the thread. The only Spyro game I played was Enter the Dragon on the Gamecube, and I felt very burned. In no way was that game fun. I only played it because my girlfriend said she enjoyed the one she played on the PS1.
That said, this looks like an enjoyable game. Congrats on moving up to professional game development. I'd love to make games, but I'm pretty stuck in my current line of work.
The series, much like the Crash Bandicoot, started great and then descended mighty fast. Title after title of pure shit, enough to throw off even the most stalwart fan. At this point, it would be like Sega releasing a great Sonic game on a console, very few people would believe it.
In my opinion, all three of the PS1 Spyros were great. Enter the Dragonfly was very similar to the third game, except with prettier graphics, absurd loading times, and a bunch of added suck.
A Hero's Tale appears to be the result of a bunch of idiotic game reviewers saying in reviews of EtD that the series was going stale instead of correctly concluding that EtD just sucked, and a bunch of even more idiotic developers believing them. The gameplay was reworked into something more Metroidesque, which wouldn't actually have been that bad if they hadn't decided to scrap all sense of production value, make the bosses stupid, and introduce a bunch of minigames that weren't fun at all.
If you want to know why your girlfriend enjoyed them then get one of the earlier ones, they've managed to hold up really well. At least the third one has, I haven't played the others lately.
Man, like I mentioned, this is the worst timing ever. You need to yell at your publisher for a while for putting this game up against Zelda. I'm sure it would get a lot more interest among the hardcore if that particular elephant wasn't in the living room.
Still very interested, though. Can you share anything more about the game itself?
I assume it's more or less a simultaneous release across all platforms, the launch was probably scheduled around the console versions, with orders to get the handheld stuff done by then. They probably aren't paying attention to Zelda at all.
The only four things I remember about Enter the Dragon were:
1) Shitty, shitty edge detection for jumping and landing. In a game that is 75% jumping puzzles, this was infuriating.
2) Flying/racing levels that were entirely too difficult for their own good. The tenth time through the same goddamn thing does not count as "replay value."
3) At one point, we were swimming through some sort of pool trying to collect gems or something. Suddenly, the game forgot we were under water and decided we were on dry land. Since the pool was deep and there was no way to jump out, we were forced to just exit the level through the menu. At this point the game ceased to be a bad game and just became a joke.
4) I seem to remember a level herding cows or something to protect them from UFOs. It was the only part of the game I liked.
So, as the guy that normally gets all in a fluster about promotional threads, I'm totally into this one. Full disclosure and I'm completely on board.
I hate the one Spyro game I played back on the PS1, but this looks superb. It's weird watching a combat based Spyro game though. But weird in a good way. This is totally a great step for you job wise. Kudos.
Couldn't hear the sound, as on a Work Linux Box, but I thought the graphics were splended. Detailed and well animated. I'll be keeping an eye on it for GBA mirco. Anything that keeps the 2D flag burning....
EDIT: Just to make it clear, the reason I hated the original Spyro was nothing to do with looks, but (as far as my memory goes) I couldn't cope with playing a 3D game with a D-pad. I had that problem a lot.
excellent work, excellent game, zauron. i can't wait to pick this up when it comes out. i really didn't think the gba had any games like this coming to it anymore.
It seems odd to see so much ass kicking from a quadruped. I think you made the right decision not posting Spyro in the title, I never would have looked at it otherwise. But the video looks pretty good. My only vague complaint is that some of it seems dark and serious, while other sections seem bright and colorful.
Apologies for the bump, but since the original poster is making the GBA game [and it's looking pretty awesome, much better looking than the last GBA game], I was wondering if he or anyone would have a clue about the DS game they're making?
From the few shots released it looked more in tune with the Playstation Spyro games than the new one. I've been wanting to know how it differs from the console versions?
Are you working on the Crash of the Titans GBA / DS games at all? Much like the Spyro games, there are some images, but some video would be nice.
How does the whole split console/handheld development work, anyway? Is your team fed some plot and concept art, and then left to make the whole thing yourselves?
How does the whole split console/handheld development work, anyway? Is your team fed some plot and concept art, and then left to make the whole thing yourselves?
Sorry, I can't discuss the details of our interaction with the publisher and other dev teams. For one thing, I don't know if the way it worked on this project would be any indication of how it would work on other projects.
I just took a glance at the GameFAQs board and saw a link to this topic, so I decided to check it out. It's nice to see that people are interested in the game, as it's a lot of fun and I was fearing that it would be completely overlooked because of its platform. I'm actually quite happy with the way the music turned out, too.
I just took a glance at the GameFAQs board and saw a link to this topic, so I decided to check it out. It's nice to see that people are interested in the game, as it's a lot of fun and I was fearing that it would be completely overlooked because of its platform. I'm actually quite happy with the way the music turned out, too.
-Tom Miller
Is it wrong that when people who actually made the game come along and post, I then am WAY more interested in the game, no matter what it is? I think it's because if the people involved in the game care about it enough to post, and think it's good enough that they're willing to admit who they are... well, then it's gotta be good. It could be a crochet game on the Wii (hello Mexico thread) and I would still be tempted to buy it because of the people. I plan to drop by Gamestop and place a preorder for Phoenix Wright 3, and this has been added to my mental list.
Edit: Also, thanks for posting and the nifty looking game!
schmads on
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I just took a glance at the GameFAQs board and saw a link to this topic, so I decided to check it out. It's nice to see that people are interested in the game, as it's a lot of fun and I was fearing that it would be completely overlooked because of its platform. I'm actually quite happy with the way the music turned out, too.
-Tom Miller
Hey Tom! I'm glad you found this thread and posted! When NickTheNewbie asked who did the music, I didn't feel it was my place to say anything, even though I felt rude for not responding. I didn't want to be the one to make the choice on others besides myself revealing who they are.
I just took a glance at the GameFAQs board and saw a link to this topic, so I decided to check it out.
GameFAQs is linking to us? That feels kind of creepy, for some reason.
Yeah, I need to go take a shower or something. I feel dirty.
If Tomapella is referring to the forum that I think he is, then you don't have much to worry about.
By the way Tom, if you're sticking around i'd appreciate it if you could answer a few questions. For the game's soundtrack, did you attempt to mimic the soundtrack from the other systems, make a completely original soundtrack, or a little of both? Did you set up the sound with the GBA's tiny speakers and hardware limitations in mind, or is this the sort of game where headphones gives you a completely different take on the music? Sorry in advance if these have already been covered, it's a bit later over here than I thought...
My name is Kris and I was the Lead Artist and also responsible for partial amounts of the design on this new Spyro game. I don't normally hang out in forums but it was pointed out to me that people seemed to be genuinely excited about the game on PA and several other places around the web. I wanted to say thanks for all the cool things you guys have said so far. We worked really hard on this game trying to make sure "this one didn't suck" as some have so gracefully put it.
If you like action games this is for you. Don't dismiss the platform it's on (heck, every DS out there is a GBA too! I'll be personally playing it on my TV via the GBA player on the Gamecube). I think that if you actually try the game there will be several moments during the duration of your time with it that might baffle you with some of the technical achievements pulled off within. There is one boss in particular that is fully animated in this game that is 2 screens tall that is a WHOLE sprite with an intense special effect. Not segmented out into pieces and hardware scaled and rotated like often seen.
I'm too lazy to search through this huge tread, but to the one guy or gal that said this game looked like it was made by "Treasure" seriously almost made me cry. I walked around with my head high and chest sticking out for a week! I seriously hope that when you guys do actually get to play it that you still think it was worth that heavy praise. If so.... you have no idea what that would mean to me personally, as that EXACT thing is what I was measuring our success by right down to the flashy effects we created.
One more comment and then it's bed time! Recently we showed the game to several people at PAX over the last weekend. The conversations, as my producer tells me, almost always went like this;
Producer: Hey there! We have this cool Spyro game on the GBA we just created we would like to show you! Some Dude: PFFT! The GBA?! Spyro?! HAHAHAHA (generally, laughing at poor producer at this point). Producer: Hmm... well, here. Let me have just two minutes of your time to show you a few things and see what you think. Some Dude: ....*sigh* I guess. (probably humoring our producer to get some free swag at this point)
*game is played/demoed* Some Dude: HOLY CRAP! That IS awesome. When does it come out?
That seems to be the consensus of everyone that sees it. Which I find greatly amusing. ;-)
I hope this game gets the sucess it deserves. You really seem to have all actually cared about making it the best game you possibly could.
Any word on the next platform/game you guys will be working on? If you can do something like this with a license as stale as spyro, I would love to see what you could do with a new IP!
naengwen, while the game does sound excellent on the GBA, it sounds much better on the DS.... and even BETTER with headphones. There are ranges in the SFX and the Music that is simply not heard on the tiny speakers. Especially, if you have nice headphones.
Lewie P., funny you mention that! That's what I think too! Anyway, anything is possible. Should something like that happen it would be fun to let you guys know about it, granted we are allowed to do so at an appropriate time. I have some sick ideas, my programmer comrade can attest to, that would make you probably crap your pants at the mere mention of it. So let's hope this stuff does get green-lit one day.
This is already on my to preorder list but I do have a quick question. I noticed there is a DS game also listed under this title? I assume this is something completely different ala TMNT where the GBA version was a 2d beat em up and the DS game was sort of a 3d game like the home console game?
Yes, the DS version is from a different studio and team, is a completely different game in full 3D with its own unique feature set. It is only similar to the GBA version in that it has mostly the same characters and plotline.
As for the music question, Tom made an original sound track for the GBA and is very aware of the GBA's hardware limitations. It sounds quite good given the GBA's limitations. Of course it sounds better with headphones on, but it sounds great without them as well. IMHO.
Christ, I didn't know games could look that decent on the GBA. Last game I played on that thing was like...Pokemon Pinball. I'll definitely grab this when it comes out, it looks awesome.
Richard,
If I'm not mistaken I think it's being released worldwide at pretty much the same time in early October.
Powersurge,
That is correct. The GBA version is what you could probably classify as an intense 2D action game with some light adventure/rpg like elements. The DS version is in 3D and handled by another development group, so I don't really know a whole lot about it to comment. We love 2D games too! However, there are really cool ways to make 3D games rock too. That will happen once folks stop concerning themselves with how many polygons they can push with normal maps and remember that when you are making games the most important thing is game play. No game play.... no game.
Posts
Any new info to give us, Zauron? Release date still estimated around October?
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
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http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=161120
Looks like it comes out in the beginning of October.
Also I hear rumor it will show up in some form or another at this year's PAX. Not sure if it will be playable or just the video though.
Author of Minebot Arena and some other stuff
That said, this looks like an enjoyable game. Congrats on moving up to professional game development. I'd love to make games, but I'm pretty stuck in my current line of work.
Sorry to say I don't own a GBA though.
The series, much like the Crash Bandicoot, started great and then descended mighty fast. Title after title of pure shit, enough to throw off even the most stalwart fan. At this point, it would be like Sega releasing a great Sonic game on a console, very few people would believe it.
Still very interested, though. Can you share anything more about the game itself?
In my opinion, all three of the PS1 Spyros were great. Enter the Dragonfly was very similar to the third game, except with prettier graphics, absurd loading times, and a bunch of added suck.
A Hero's Tale appears to be the result of a bunch of idiotic game reviewers saying in reviews of EtD that the series was going stale instead of correctly concluding that EtD just sucked, and a bunch of even more idiotic developers believing them. The gameplay was reworked into something more Metroidesque, which wouldn't actually have been that bad if they hadn't decided to scrap all sense of production value, make the bosses stupid, and introduce a bunch of minigames that weren't fun at all.
If you want to know why your girlfriend enjoyed them then get one of the earlier ones, they've managed to hold up really well. At least the third one has, I haven't played the others lately.
GARGH
I assume it's more or less a simultaneous release across all platforms, the launch was probably scheduled around the console versions, with orders to get the handheld stuff done by then. They probably aren't paying attention to Zelda at all.
1) Shitty, shitty edge detection for jumping and landing. In a game that is 75% jumping puzzles, this was infuriating.
2) Flying/racing levels that were entirely too difficult for their own good. The tenth time through the same goddamn thing does not count as "replay value."
3) At one point, we were swimming through some sort of pool trying to collect gems or something. Suddenly, the game forgot we were under water and decided we were on dry land. Since the pool was deep and there was no way to jump out, we were forced to just exit the level through the menu. At this point the game ceased to be a bad game and just became a joke.
4) I seem to remember a level herding cows or something to protect them from UFOs. It was the only part of the game I liked.
I hate the one Spyro game I played back on the PS1, but this looks superb. It's weird watching a combat based Spyro game though. But weird in a good way. This is totally a great step for you job wise. Kudos.
Couldn't hear the sound, as on a Work Linux Box, but I thought the graphics were splended. Detailed and well animated. I'll be keeping an eye on it for GBA mirco. Anything that keeps the 2D flag burning....
EDIT: Just to make it clear, the reason I hated the original Spyro was nothing to do with looks, but (as far as my memory goes) I couldn't cope with playing a 3D game with a D-pad. I had that problem a lot.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
From the few shots released it looked more in tune with the Playstation Spyro games than the new one. I've been wanting to know how it differs from the console versions?
Are you working on the Crash of the Titans GBA / DS games at all? Much like the Spyro games, there are some images, but some video would be nice.
Sorry, I can't discuss the details of our interaction with the publisher and other dev teams. For one thing, I don't know if the way it worked on this project would be any indication of how it would work on other projects.
Author of Minebot Arena and some other stuff
Dragons Vs. Pirates = pure win.
It bugs me when gba games stick out of my sleek ds lite, but it looks totally worth it here.
That'd be me
I just took a glance at the GameFAQs board and saw a link to this topic, so I decided to check it out. It's nice to see that people are interested in the game, as it's a lot of fun and I was fearing that it would be completely overlooked because of its platform. I'm actually quite happy with the way the music turned out, too.
-Tom Miller
Is it wrong that when people who actually made the game come along and post, I then am WAY more interested in the game, no matter what it is? I think it's because if the people involved in the game care about it enough to post, and think it's good enough that they're willing to admit who they are... well, then it's gotta be good. It could be a crochet game on the Wii (hello Mexico thread) and I would still be tempted to buy it because of the people. I plan to drop by Gamestop and place a preorder for Phoenix Wright 3, and this has been added to my mental list.
Edit: Also, thanks for posting and the nifty looking game!
Hey Tom! I'm glad you found this thread and posted! When NickTheNewbie asked who did the music, I didn't feel it was my place to say anything, even though I felt rude for not responding. I didn't want to be the one to make the choice on others besides myself revealing who they are.
Author of Minebot Arena and some other stuff
GameFAQs is linking to us? That feels kind of creepy, for some reason.
Yeah, I need to go take a shower or something. I feel dirty.
Also my carry case has a spare gba slot so it can soon be ergonomically filled.
If Tomapella is referring to the forum that I think he is, then you don't have much to worry about.
By the way Tom, if you're sticking around i'd appreciate it if you could answer a few questions. For the game's soundtrack, did you attempt to mimic the soundtrack from the other systems, make a completely original soundtrack, or a little of both? Did you set up the sound with the GBA's tiny speakers and hardware limitations in mind, or is this the sort of game where headphones gives you a completely different take on the music? Sorry in advance if these have already been covered, it's a bit later over here than I thought...
My name is Kris and I was the Lead Artist and also responsible for partial amounts of the design on this new Spyro game. I don't normally hang out in forums but it was pointed out to me that people seemed to be genuinely excited about the game on PA and several other places around the web. I wanted to say thanks for all the cool things you guys have said so far. We worked really hard on this game trying to make sure "this one didn't suck" as some have so gracefully put it.
If you like action games this is for you. Don't dismiss the platform it's on (heck, every DS out there is a GBA too! I'll be personally playing it on my TV via the GBA player on the Gamecube). I think that if you actually try the game there will be several moments during the duration of your time with it that might baffle you with some of the technical achievements pulled off within. There is one boss in particular that is fully animated in this game that is 2 screens tall that is a WHOLE sprite with an intense special effect. Not segmented out into pieces and hardware scaled and rotated like often seen.
I'm too lazy to search through this huge tread, but to the one guy or gal that said this game looked like it was made by "Treasure" seriously almost made me cry. I walked around with my head high and chest sticking out for a week! I seriously hope that when you guys do actually get to play it that you still think it was worth that heavy praise. If so.... you have no idea what that would mean to me personally, as that EXACT thing is what I was measuring our success by right down to the flashy effects we created.
One more comment and then it's bed time! Recently we showed the game to several people at PAX over the last weekend. The conversations, as my producer tells me, almost always went like this;
Producer: Hey there! We have this cool Spyro game on the GBA we just created we would like to show you!
Some Dude: PFFT! The GBA?! Spyro?! HAHAHAHA (generally, laughing at poor producer at this point).
Producer: Hmm... well, here. Let me have just two minutes of your time to show you a few things and see what you think.
Some Dude: ....*sigh* I guess. (probably humoring our producer to get some free swag at this point)
*game is played/demoed*
Some Dude: HOLY CRAP! That IS awesome. When does it come out?
That seems to be the consensus of everyone that sees it. Which I find greatly amusing. ;-)
Thank you for your time,
Kris
Any word on the next platform/game you guys will be working on? If you can do something like this with a license as stale as spyro, I would love to see what you could do with a new IP!
Lewie P., funny you mention that! That's what I think too! Anyway, anything is possible. Should something like that happen it would be fun to let you guys know about it, granted we are allowed to do so at an appropriate time. I have some sick ideas, my programmer comrade can attest to, that would make you probably crap your pants at the mere mention of it. So let's hope this stuff does get green-lit one day.
Kris
Keep up the 2d
As for the music question, Tom made an original sound track for the GBA and is very aware of the GBA's hardware limitations. It sounds quite good given the GBA's limitations. Of course it sounds better with headphones on, but it sounds great without them as well. IMHO.
Author of Minebot Arena and some other stuff
Author of Minebot Arena and some other stuff
Keep up the good work.
If I'm not mistaken I think it's being released worldwide at pretty much the same time in early October.
Powersurge,
That is correct. The GBA version is what you could probably classify as an intense 2D action game with some light adventure/rpg like elements. The DS version is in 3D and handled by another development group, so I don't really know a whole lot about it to comment. We love 2D games too! However, there are really cool ways to make 3D games rock too.
Teevirus,
Thanks for the compliment
Kris