Project Dooley Underway

Project Dooley is underway as of today. C# + XNA is the language + framework that I’ve chosen. The primary focus is going to be to get a version running on Windows but a port to XBox 360 is possible and perhaps even likely. And if I feel like the gameplay experience is fun enough, I may even join the XNA Creator’s Club to release it through the XBox Live Indie Games branding. But that is a decision I’ll leave for later.

I’ve been studying up on agile development a little bit while I’ve been handling the designing of Project Dooley. So, I’m gonna give that a try and see if it is as useful a paradigm as it seems to be from the things I’ve read about it.

$1 Well Spent

While just browsing the indie game selection of the XBox Live Marketplace, I came across a game that seemed like a worthwhile little diversion. The game is called I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1. I downloaded the trial and played through it one time (through the time limit of the trial that is). At that point, I knew I had to download it.

It was just $1 (the music of the game reminded me of this fact… the lyrics pertain directly to the game)! If I needed to go re-up my points with Microsoft to buy it, I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to do so. But I had the points already on the account, so I downloaded it post-haste. My cousin and I proceeded to play it for about 10-15 minutes. And then we had the game beat. There was definitely a certain amount of disappointment, but then I couldn’t help but remember that I only paid $1.

The title got my interest, the gameplay kept me playing and the music sold me the game! I highly recommend you download the trial and give it a try. You get the full range of the gameplay and the only thing you’re missing out on is the (local console only) high score list and the ending of the game which takes the gameplay and makes it even more hectic and seizure inducing… So, give the trial a try and see if it’s worth your dollar (80 MS points for the uninitiated).

Link to the game’s info.

Call of Duty and Me

I haven’t been a fan of the Call of Duty series for a very long time. It was just never a series that drew me in. A big part of that may have been the sheer multitude of WW2 games that were flooding the market. In years past, I have been a big fan of the Halo series. Not because I contend it’s an ultimate implementation of the fps genre or anything, but just because I found it very fun. I like the aspects of shields and that ability to regenerate (given enough time). And when I wanted a more realistic experience, I tended to turn to my PC and play a mod of Half-Life (Firearms being the one I played most frequently).

When my cousin got into Call of Duty, I got a chance to play the games without having to buy or rent the game which was a big positive. I played a little co-op story (I love co-op games) with him in Modern Warfare and World at War. I could see how the series became so popular but it still didn’t quite feel like my kind of game. But over this past summer that all came to a very abrupt change! My cousin had finished the campaign and been playing the zombie game at the end of World at War. He thought I’d like it, and when we got together for him to show it to me and let me play it, he was absolutely right!

I had borrowed Left 4 Dead from a friend and played it for a couple of months. It re-energized my desire to play games on XBox Live! I throughly enjoyed it. So, I was expecting a similar gameplay experience when I played WaW zombie mode. But to my surprise, it was an experience I enjoyed even more!! The feeling of being more about surviving than progressing through an area a-la L4D, the variety of weapons available and the fun strategy that went into trying to survive as long as possible whether playing single player or 4-player.

So, now I have logged a decent number of hours in CoD. I’ve played some, but not all, of the story of WaW, multiplayer deathmatch and zombie mode. So now, I would definitely consider myself a fan of CoD even though I still feel as if I’m a better player in the Halo universe.

And even with that said, Halo: ODST is “meh” for me. I may end up owning it at some point but I won’t be getting it on day 1 and am not overly excited about it. But Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2… that can’t get released soon enough. I can’t wait!

They even play Call of Duty on The Office (such a brilliant tv show!!).