Developers vs Designers

So remember how a few weeks ago I told you something special was on its way?  As I told you, I will deliver.  Here at Breaking The Mold we value education of the general populace about quite honestly many things, from videogames to movies, entertainment to politics.  Now along with that I must also include awareness of issues and the encouragement to form your own ideas.  To us, this is paramount if we, as a society, are to advance and understand more.  It's like GI Joe put it, knowledge is power, and knowing is half the battle.  Think of it, the more we know, the more ready we are to form our own ideas and opinions.  So this is going to be kicking off a series of informational posts about pretty much whatever comes to the table and whatever we feel like.  So without further ado, I introduce the first topic: The Difference between Game Designers and Game Developers.

Okay so why cover this topic?  Well quite simple, many people don't know the difference.  People who play games and discuss games say they understand what the difference is, but in all reality they more than likely don't, and that's just fact.  I will admit it is a thin line and can be very hard to distinguish without looking closely.  But together were going to get to the bottom of it.

We all have our own skewed view of things.

Okay so Developers and Designers often get used as interchangeable words, but they're not, they are two completely separate entities what work in separate departments of a game company.  A good way to look at it is by looking at the words: designers create the rules, sculpt the setting, and see to it that players have the emotional experience they are supposed to.  While on the other hand a developer is in charge of the system that allows a designer to do this, from building the code to maintaining the database.  That doesn't really justify it though, so lets take a bit of a closer look.

Were going to start off with Designers since it does happen to be the more commonly used of the terms and also has the biggest variety.  Now a designer, like I said earlier, is the person that sits down and applies creativity to the game.  Designers design the game.  They are in charge of the rules, what the game does when a player performs an action, and the way the game looks and feels.  They are the artistic minds behind the game.  It is a designers sole responsibility to make sure that every creative aspect of a game is complete and concise, and to make sure that the game is well balanced and fair to all players.  Designers do everything from art, writing, rules, and even plot out the emotional journeys.

Spore lets the players do some designing.

On the flip side a Developer, like I said, is someone who sits down and actually works on the systems of the game.  These are your Computer Programmers, the Systems Engineers, and Engines Developers.  These are people who are constantly looking at code and taking what the designers make and translating that to a working and moving executable.  The Developers are the ones who are constantly staring at a computer screen, and are often the ones who will also be required to stay in late nights to meet deadlines.  All of the interactive physics, AI, hit detection, online communications, and even the scripting are responsibilities of the developers.

These are very easy to confuse and it honestly isn't hard to understand why.  A lot of people think that everyone in the game industry can do anything they want but that can't be any further from the truth.  I've had countless conversations with people where they say that the developers should change rule x, or the designers should have counted wind into the physics engine.  It just doesn't work that way, in order to do even a minor change to a basic element when the project is pretty far down the pipeline is very tough to implement a major change, but that gets down into software development which we wont discuss here.

One final thing that I would like to point out is that all good games are built in a specific way and not just in a manner of "I have an idea so lets run with it".  Usually the designers get to work on the games rules and systems while the developers do their setup processes so once the design documents and specifications are outlines all of the base coding, i.e. objects, data structures, system layout, are all done so the development team can dive head first into the game when the time comes.  Ideally you have your developers working on a project while the designers are polishing the final stages of story, levels, and endgame upgrades/abilities and when the designers finish they start working on the next project so the developers have something to do after they launch their current project.  But things don't always work out this way.  The image below should clarify some of this, the red is designers and blue is developers.

This is just a very brief overview of a few aspects of the game industry, and by no means is it a complete accurate telling of how everything works, mainly because it varies from company to company.  But hopefully now you under stand how these things are done and things are put together in a better light.  Peace out guys.

Coming Soon.....

So sorry for the lack of post this spring, it's been a very busy time for me.  However starting in two weeks I will be starting a new goal and setting for BTM.  It will be something for everybody to further their understanding, refresh on ideas, and generally become a more educated person.  Thats right folks, talks explaining some common misconceptions and revealing some truths.  Be prepared, knowledge is coming.

~The Mold Breaker

Monster Hunter

Okay so its been a while I know but what can you do?  Life is just busy, no two ways around that.  However this week I'm back and I wanted to do something in a bit of a different direction from just the usual identify a problem and offer insightful ways to solve or otherwise get around it.  Today I just want to point out a game that has been gaining steam in America slowly but surely, but still hasn't received the attention it deserves.  Today I want to tell you about Monster Hunter.

Can't beat the original.

So as some of you may know Monster Hunter is a game in which you create a Hunter from a small village in a land occupied by terrifying prehistoric beasts.  You start off small doing basic gathering quests going out getting meat and herbs for you village so you can learn about general game mechanics so you have some sort of survivability for the harder fight.  But after the whole jazz of having to run around do everyone errands for else in the village you hunting career begins.  You, needless to say, start off small with Velociraptor like creatures but quickly work your way up to Wyverns that will ruin your day should you make the wrong step.

The hunting does get really intense after you work your way up because not only are you fighting the Wyvern but your also fighting against the environment.  For example sometimes you'll fight in the desert which will continuously drain your health due to the heat, you can counteract this by items but it forces you to be prepared for every situation and really know where your fighting as well as what your fighting.  Of course in addition to this you have the ability to bring things to help you fight against these monsters such as traps and bombs.

Awesome armor to tide you over till high end plus hunts.

The game gets even better when you take it online (Monster Hunter for PS2, unfortunately the servers were taken down though) or linking via wifi with your friends (any of the Monster Hunters for PSP).  The fights are bigger, badder, and even deadlier than offline.  This includes fighting epic monsters that make you feel like your fighting a Navy SEAL team with spit wad launchers.  You also learn the value of using different weapons and having a balanced team in approaching these fights.

Long and short its a great game, that if you haven't, you should check out.  But that's not the big point that I'm trying to make here.  My big point is that the game, in recent years, has been gaining a lot of popularity, so much that people who appreciate the PSP games need to understand its roots, oh and don't even get me started on the Wii version, it doesn't exist in my mind.

The Rathalos, King of the Wyverns.

So many hunters now-a-days don't understand the fact that the first game was much harder, the weapons were more limited, the game was way more challenging and the monsters more deadly, I mean the first time you fight a Khezu you have no idea what was coming at you, and the Gravios was almost unpredictable.  The game had a much higher learning curve and there were no colored monsters.  There was just the regular ones offline, then the online ones.  Plus the secret hunt at the end of the game.

So I guess my point here is that if you call yourself a Monster Hunter fan and you haven't played the first one then you really should get out and play it to appreciate how difficult it is.  I tell my friends I hunt with about how hard it is and they only reply "Oh dude, I've killed those like 60 times."  Or the say "Well this isn't the original."  Yea it's not the original but at the same point in time there has to be an appreciation for where the game has come from.

So once again sorry about the infrequent posts lately, I've been really busy with midterms and preparing a special post for you guys that should hopefully be out later this week.  So yea guys, I'll get back to a more frequent posting here shortly.  Till next time.

My top 5 Most Anticipated of 2012

Okay so last week I revealed my top 5 games I played, for the first time, in 2011.  This week I'm going to broaden the issue a little bit and get out of the scope of gaming.  This week I will divulge to you my top 5 most anticipated things of 2012 in entertainment media.  Why entertainment media as a whole?  Well because games would be easy to do, my list just isn't that big yet and its kind of hard when not every release date for every game has been released yet.  So instead I'm going to just do top five of entertainment media.

5) Dev's First Studio Album
Okay, this thing has been a long time coming, and it better get here dammit.  Dev, for those of you who don't know, is an up and coming American Pop singer whose previous association has been with Electro Hip-Hop singers, The Cataracs.  Some of her more famous discographies include Like a G6 with the Far East Movement, On Top of the World with the Cataracs, and Dancing in the Dark.  The album was originally scheduled to be released in September of 2011, on the same day as Gears of War 3 but has since been pushed back, first to January 10th, 2012 under the reasoning of adding more songs to the American release of the album (the European and Australian releases were successful on September 5th, 2011).

Later in December Amazon announced that the album was being further delayed until March 27th, 2012 for reasons unknown.  My best speculation is due to the fact that she is pregnant, and doesn't want to have a release tour while still carrying.  Her Style and Lyrics are very similar to a mix between Ke$ha and Lady GaGa with a hit of Easy Listening thrown into the mix.  She has a couple of fast and upbeat party songs (Bass Down Low, Dancing in the Dark) and a couple of slower, more subtle songs (Kiss My Lips) on her upcoming album The Night the Sun Came Up.  Hopefully this years March release will be the last and official release date for the album because I, for one, could not take another push back in an album I've already been waiting for about 8 months already.

4) The Dark Knight Rises
Okay, so I'd be crazy not to be excited for this movie, especially with all the hype its been getting lately around the net with the whole "Bruce Wayne is going to die!!!1!!!1" thing.  But honestly that's not why I want to go see it, the biggest reason is because its going to wrap up the Batman Trilogy, with hopefully no cliffhangers.  Yes, I do not anticipate it to be better than Dark Knight, I do however anticipate it to be one of the best movies of the year.  Christopher Nolan has an unprecedented ability to add a very human side to Batman, yet still make him larger than life in the process.

From the first previews of it last summer to the launch of it July everyday the movie just keeps looking better and better.  The movie posters are out to which is only adding to the excitement.  Long story short, if it can hold up to the previous two installments this is going to be a great movie.  Oh and the inevitable return of Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul makes me want to squeal like a school girl.

3) Mass Effect 3
Okay, I know what you thinking, why the hell is this at number 3 and not at number 1.  And well the reasoning is quite simple, the number 1 and 2 positions are filled with things I've been looking forward to for longer than I have for the end to the Mass Effect series.  Mass Effect is still fairly young and despite it being really awesome, there's more that I want to come out more.  But for those of you who don't know about Mass Effect 3 its BioWare's final installment in their epic space universe set around the player controlled hero Commander Sheppard.

Mass Effect 3 starts as the Reapers are now in the Milky Way about to gather the technology of the currently evolved races, and then proceed to destroy them.  As Sheppard you are the only man who stands in their way, you and your teammates.  The game launches in less than a month on March 6th, which when you think of it gives people not a whole lot of time if they don't like their Sheppard to get everything fixed.  Fortunately I do like my Sheppard so I don't really need to do a bunch of grooming.  If you haven't played Mass Effect before, now is the time to pick it up because you don't want to be left out when ME3 launches in March.

2) The Avengers
Yes, last years action hit Captain America finally spilled the beans of the first Avengers Trailer to be officially released, and we as the internet cheered.  The Avengers has been a long time coming, I think my first idea of an Avengers movie was when they released the first X-Men movie back in 2000.  With the new line up for 2012 The Avengers is going to be awesome, and I don't mean "Oh man the Simpsons are finally getting a movie" awesome, I mean "Oh hey look a South Park video game, and you get to make your own character!!!"  Yea, that awesome.

Lefts face it this has been at the top of everybody's wish list since the first Iron Man movie when Samuel L. Jackson showed up as Colonel Furry.  But this movie has an even bigger implication than that.  Its showing that even superhero movies are getting the positive attention that they deserve and that the comic book industry will be able to move forward as a whole because of it.  More awareness means more acceptance, which also leads to larger fan bases.  But regardless of its implications, its going to be awesome.

1) SSX
The worlds greatest Snowboarding Video Game franchise is finally back, and hopefully better than ever.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with SSX it's a snowboarding video game series whose first title launched in 2000 on the PS2.  It was much different from other snowboarding games till then in the fact that the most advanced tricks were unrealistic in nature and required the rider to often dismount his or her board in mid-flight.  The game was incredibly polished and smooth.  Since its release there have been 4 more to come after, SSX Tricky (still one of my top 10 games of all time), SSX 3, SSX on Tour, and SSX Blur.  This years release of SSX is particularly important to me because of the fact that its been a good 5 years since this game as seen light and its the first time that it will be available for XBox LIVE play.

Now I know I've said that I'm not a huge fan of sports games but for some reason I feel much different about SSX, especially this time around.  Its been a while since I've been able to really sink my teeth into a good SSX game and feel like its the first time so this is going to be pretty cool.  If you're looking for a really good, really high flying game I'd definitely recommend that you give this a go later this February (the 28th to be exact).  I know that I'll be playing this long into the coming months.

Definitely check these out, they're all gonna be pretty awesome, really fun and most importantly a great time.  This is just a small list too, there is no way that I could get everything I was looking forward to this year covered here so I had to pick and choose.  None the less this year will be a good year, and the end of February and Beginning of March will be a very hectic time for us all.   Till next time guys.

Underwold Awakening

Okay So I've tried once before to do a movie review and I just found it hard and complicated, the movie in question Harold and Kumar in 3D.  I didn't post it for a good reason, mainly being that I had rewrote it 4 times before saying "Eh, screw it".  But here I am again like like a teenage boy at his favorite porn site wanting to do more than look at the oh so pretty pictures.

Selene is back!  And better than ever.  More death is being indiscriminately dealt in more unrelenting ways than in any previous installments of the franchise.  For those of you who don't know Underworld is a Vampire vs. Werewolf movie franchise that stars Kate Beckinsale as the vampire huntress Selene.  Selene is what is called a Death Dealer, think of a Spartan from Halo in vampire form.  Needless to say she is badass beyond belief and has all of the "qualifications" to get the job done.

The first two movies focused around her love affair Scott Speedman's character, Michael Corvin, who also happens to be the long lost descendent of Alexander Corvinus, the father of Vampires and Werewolves.  The meet after she is hunting a Werewolf in a hospital where he works, he gets bitten, but she spares his life because something about him seems "different".  They later encounter each other again, somehow he gets bitten by a vampire and becomes a new breed of immortal, a hybrid of the two.  Long story short he's strong, they stop the war to be temporarily hunted by both sides.

Michael as a hybrid.

In the Second movie, Underworld Evolution, they must stop the first vampire, Marcus, from awakening his brother, William, the first Werewolf.  They pretty much get hunted by Marcus while trying to be the first to reach the tomb where William is locked away.  On the way there they meet Alexander Corvinus, who allows her to drink his blood knowing that it will give her awesome abilities (like survive in the sun and resurrect other vampires).  They find the tomb, fight toe to toe with Marcus and William and eventually win.  Hooray!  Peace at last?  Not quite.

So rise of the Lycans, while important, does nothing for Selene or her plight.  What it does do however, is show how the whole war started between the two immortal factions.  Pretty cool, but not super important here.

Movie poster of the original Underworld.

Sometime after the events of Evolution humans are made aware of both Vampires and Lycans.  Their response was not one of joy.  They ended all conflicts between each other and decided to start hunting down the immortals and use their own weapons and ammunition against them.  In the middle of the conflict Selene and Michael try to escape but are otherwise prevented from doing so, starting the events of Underworld Awakening, and coincidentally starting the spoiler warning of this blog post.  Seriously though, if you don't want to ruin the events of the movie and you're going to see it, skip to the bottom, get the rating and go see it.

So Selene is captured, they are taken to a genetics company, the one who first discovered the immortals, Antigen for study.  Twelve years of so later she is freed by another who is being held by Antigen, she thinks that it is Michael.  Selene escapes and starts a hunt through the city for them.  During her hunt she meets another vampire named David, shortly after they meet Selene gets a vision of her rescuer being cornered by "Lower Lycans", Lycans who have de-evolved to a wild beast like state.  They go to rescue and find a little girl and not Michael.  On the way back to Davids coven they are further attacked by the Lower Lycans and the girl, Eve, reveals her true nature as a hybrid and Selenes daughter.

Quint Lane, Giant Lycan.

Once they arrive at the coven Davids father, Thomas, immediately recognizes Selene as a Death Dealer and says shes not welcome, this sparks a debate amongst the coven of whether or not to restore the Vampire name to its former glory or hide like dogs.  Selene learns from David the events of "The Purge", when the Vampires and Lycans were hunted down, and decides that she won't stay and endanger the coven.  Antigen is uncovered to be Lycans trying to create a new race of Super Lycan that is immune to silver, but they need Eve's hybrid blood in order to do so.  They attack the nest and reveal the first Super Lycan, Quint Lane, the son of Dr. Jacob Lane, Antigens chief researcher, and the one who uncovered the Vampires and Lycans.

They get away with Eve and Selene decides to enlist the aid of a human, Detective Sebastian, and they launch an assault on Antigen to get back Eve.  Needless to say a lot of badass fight scenes ensue.  Dr. Lane is trying to harvest the genes of Eve to use on the new Lycan race but because of Selene is forced to relocate.  Selene see's this happening but Quint steps in to interfere.  Lane takes Eve into a transport van but Sebastian is there to intercept and disable it, Eve gets free and starts to go toe to toe with Lane, who has also been experimenting by injecting himself with Eve's genes.  Meanwhile Selene finds the mysterious Subject 0, Michael, in a third Antigen lab and frees him before going to fight Quint for the final time.  They have and epic fight but Selene eventually outsmarts him by making him revert to human form and cutting open his chest and putting in a silver grenade and blowing him up form the inside out.  Even eventually kills Dr. Lane by ripping his neck out.

Eve, Selene's Daughter.

At the end of the movie Selene, Eve, and David all run to the roof to try and catch Michael but he is nowhere to be seen and Selene can be heard saying that despite the humans now knowing of Vampires and Lycans neither race will be destroyed forever and that the war will continue.  Underworld 5?  Only if they can do it right.

Overall the plot was really cool, but nothing fantastically original.  What I found to coolest is that you actually find yourself feeling sad for the Vampires after what the humans did to them, essentially making humans one of the bad guys.  However they did do all their twists right to make a good action horror movie, the action is intense as one would expect from an Underworld movie.  Plenty of gunplay and unique weapons that only a Vampire would even dare attempt to use show up again, which is far from a bad thing, I mean, at least their being creative.  The score for the movie only helps to add to the already dark scene for the Vampires due to its heavy undertones that make the suffering feel all too real. 

Stephen Rea as Dr. Jacob Lane.

The acting is actually pretty good, Stephen Rea (V for Vendetta) does an exceptional job at Dr. Lane and really can be said to steal the show.  Kate Beckinsale, though nothing super unique, shows just how much she's settled into the role of Selene, by acting on of the most comfortable and non-forced roles I have seen since Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.  Theo James and Michael Ealy both do fantastic jobs in their supporting roles as David and Sebastian respectfully, and I really hope that they make appearances in the next Underworld movies, should they be made.

Overall I liked it, and thought it was just a fun movie, if you like traditional non-sparkly vampires check it out.  If you like good action movies check it out.  You'll be sure to get your moneys worth.  Also don't be too concerned if you haven't seen the previous movies, theres a nice recap at the beginning of Awakening for you.  And with that being said, Underworld Awakening gets 8 dead Lycans, out of 10.