Dejobaan Games BloooOooOOoOOOg!

A Game Idea from Our Gameplay Guy, Dan

2010-03-16T12:34:00.003-04:00

Last week, I received this e-mail from Dan, our gameplay guy:

"Ryan and I came up with a one-button video game idea.

You are in a diner, first-person view. The aiming reticle sways and
moves, independently of your swaying and moving viewpoint. You can click
on things when the reticle wanders over them- bitch at people, refuse to
eat food, drink, throw utensils and knock plates off the table.

Eventually your viewpoint gets up and staggers out, allowing you a
chance at knocking over waiters and busboys, flipping off other patrons
(a Dejobaan trademark!), and shoving hot coffee urns at bystanders. The
miniboss is hitting the elevator button. The final boss is swiping your
keycard to get into your room. If you manage that, you fall into the
room and it fades to black.

The name of the game is 'Belligirent Patron at 24-Hour Casino Coffee
Shop.' Subtitle: 'You had to be there.'"

I'm beginning to suspect that this isn't an idea for our next game, but rather a recounting of what happened in Vegas while we were up for the Indie Game Challenge.

We Have Been at GDC...

2010-03-15T01:30:00.001-04:00

www.flickr.com

dejobaan's Dejobaan is Behind the Scenes at IGF2010/GDC2010 photoset

You Make My Heart Beat Faster

2010-02-08T01:08:00.007-05:00

This Valentine's Day, say "I love you" to that someone you love -- the Dejobaan Games way. Download the big version below, print it out, then make someone else have it. That someone else should be sexy. We guarantee a sensual weekend of sensuality*.

(*No.)

Building the Prototype to Musorqua (Working Title!)

2010-01-15T13:57:00.002-05:00

Here's a quick, dirty timelapse video on some of the building work we've been doing. Much of this content will make its way into the final game in a hopefully refined form.

What is Dejobaan Working on Right Now?

2010-01-13T13:50:00.003-05:00

The above images are based on an experimentation with lots of math and procedural level generation for Musorqua (working title). We can create twisting, looping things using Designer Script (a subset of C-Script):

// Create the pieces:
#loop

// Increment this piece's position:
pattern_position.z -= distance_between_pieces;
pattern_orientation.pan += angle_between_pieces;

// Create the piece:
stamp(begin_catalog_number);
vec_set(piece.x, pattern_position.x);
vec_set(piece.pan, pattern_orientation.pan);

loop1+=1;
if(loop1<=pieces_to_create) { djump("loop"); }

The trick here is that creating such patterns by hand would take infinity billion hours, but by function, they only take a few seconds.

What the...

2010-01-04T17:52:00.001-05:00

Nothing official, of course...

This is Also True.

2009-12-24T13:00:00.001-05:00

This is True.

2009-12-17T21:02:00.003-05:00

Written by our PR/Marketing intern, Joan Ho.

The Final Musorqua Prototype Video

2009-12-16T12:26:00.004-05:00

[Link to Video]

Hello, world! This is Ichiro, speaking to you from our offices right outside of Boston, MA. I'm happy to announce that this is a video for the final prototype of Musorqua, the working title of a game that's now officially in the pipe. What that means is that the Dejobaan Team...

Dan Brainerd, Gameplay Architect
Leo Jaitley, PR/Marketing/Biz
Tamlyn Miller, Programmer
Ryan Chadwick, Artist
Joan Ho, PR/Marketing Intern
Mary Yovina, Art Intern

...and of course...

Ichiro Lambe, Asst. Janitor

...are all going to be working on this new title through to completion. Right now, it looks suspiciously like Aaaaa!, and plays really rough, but that's okay, because it's just a prototype. You heard it here first!

And Also...

It's time to say au revoir (but hopefully not adieu) to Caitilin Lynch, who has just completed a Fall PR/Marketing internship with us, and is headed to Amsterdam, home of what Dejobaan considers a more sensible way of living.

(L-R: Joan Ho, Caitilin Lynch, Tamlyn Miller, and Ryan Chadwick.)

Caitilin's latest article is up at ModDB, so if you haven't read How to Create a Prototype in 5 Easy Steps, give it a go.

Repeated Patterns Repeated Patterns Repeated Patterns

2009-12-09T17:10:00.005-05:00

We're trying to create an interesting aesthetic for Musorqua, since the visual appeal is a third of the game. (The other two thirds are musical expression and something else which I don't know what it is, but it keeps me up at night.) Everyone's familiar with fractals, but I think artists tend to underuse them because they're such a technical thing.

Of course, they're found everywhere in nature, from fern fronds to humble broccoli. You can create complex things easily by repeating and building on simple components. We used a lot of that in Aaaaa! for the skycubes -- the unchanging backdrops within a level.

That one's a simple pattern created in Genetica.

We added a transparency layer, then laid them out over several parallel planes. Voila, instant skycube. Simple, but effective. So, why not extend that to what's actually moving around within the game? It's trivially easy to experiment with this, and I find the results immediately gratifying.

Amateur - Lasse Gjertsen

2009-12-06T21:33:00.002-05:00

We're researching for Musorqua, Dan our Gameplay Architect, came up with this. Lassegg can't play the drums or the piano -- but he can sure edit video. And, just in case you're a music geek, and you've missed this for 3 years:

Musorqua Interface Mockup

2009-12-05T13:39:00.003-05:00

Now with the excitement of 10 concurrent music tracks. Here are the four basic tracks you can bring into earshot by capturing yellow, red, blue, and orange blips:

Drums - Boom. Chakka. Boom. Chakka. Boom. Chakka. Not like a solo.
Bass - Resonating, rich, and delicious. Like musical chocolate.
Lead - Bright melody of leading line. Pianos, trumpets, and strumpets.
Vocals - Can every song fill something in about the Musorqua world?

With those, you have a song. Catch six types of secondary, hidden blips to make the music more interesting:

Effects - Non-melodic elements and accents. Like scratching.
Perc - Double your layer of drums for complex, eargasmic percussion.
Synth - Use this judiciously for a synth line that weaves around the lead.
Oooh - More vocals! Utterances! (Maybe not that one.) Oooooooooooohmmmmmmm.
Deep - Double the bass line. Hovering around 220Hz. Makes your subwoofer woof.
Pads - Synth pads support the song by adding a background layer.

Yeah.

Dejobaan Games Guidelines for Various Things

2009-12-03T01:27:00.003-05:00

A recent Kotaku post outlines "What Marketing Can And Can't Do With Microsoft's Avatars." Here's an excerpt:

When Avatars are used in a group of three or more, at least one Avatar must be female.
When Avatars are used in a group of three or more, consider including different ethnicities.
When Avatars are used in groups of three or more, one of them should be facing forward and looking outward.
Avatars must be playful and mischievous, not devious or inappropriate.
Do not show Avatars with closed or blinking eyes.
Do not show Avatars using any hand or body gestures other than those provided.
Do not use an Avatar as the main message of a marketing piece.
Do not show Avatars interacting with the Xbox 360 Sphere.

Our two PR interns are creating illustrations for our blog. We call them comics, but they're so much more than that. Here are some guidelines for building the characters within these:

When Characters are used in a group of three or more, at least one Avatar must be nonhuman.
When Characters are used in a group of three or more, one must be biracial White/Asian, because Dejobaan founder Ichiro Lambe is biracial, so everyone must be biracial, because Dejobaan founder Ichiro Lambe whines if things become too unfamiliar.
When Characters are used in a group of five or more, one must have an odd number of legs: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 34, etc.
Characters must be drawn as to imply that they browse pornography, but not on the Internet. Figure that one out.
Do not show Characters with asian-style slanty eyes.
Do not show Characters as globally well-known humanitarians who advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for Dejobaan, having won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honor, the Bhaarat Ratna, in 1980 for their mild humanitarian works.
Do not use Characters a group of people who live within a cave, where objects passing before a fire cast shadows against a wall, causing the people to ascribe forms to them, and are the only things that the people ever see, as a contrast to the Philosopher, who has been freed from the came, and comes to realize that the shadows are merely a simulacrum of reality..
Do not show Characters interacting with the Xbox 360 Sphere.

Thanks.

Aaaaa! for the Awesome/Musorqua Prototype #4

2009-11-24T19:09:00.003-05:00

Hot off the presses, it's Aaaaa! for the Awesome/Musorqua Prototype #4. It's a small (but useful?) iteration on our previous two concept videos. If you haven't seen them, here are two earlier prototypes that lead up to this:

(Prototype #1)

(Prototype #2)

I think it's looking more interesting. Are we moving in the right direction? We'll add a few more iterations before we're done with the prototype stage. If it looks like a game, at that point, we'll move it into active development.

We Love FL Studio

2009-11-20T17:22:00.002-05:00

We're creating music for the Aaaaa! for the Awesome/Musorqua prototype using FL Studio. Lay down some drums, a bass line, and a guitar, and we're a tenth of the way towards making a Musorqua OST.

Meet Dejobaan at Boston Indies -- 11/16 at Microsoft NERD

2009-11-12T13:19:00.003-05:00

Meet President Ichiro Lambe, BizDev director Leo Jaitley, and Gameplay Architect Dan Brainerd at this month's Boston Indies meeting. Ichiro and Leo will be giving this talk:

TALK: "Here's What Dejobaan Games Did to Market Their 13th Title, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity"

WHAT: Just like the title says. Dejobaan President Ichiro Lambe and BizDev Director Leo Jaitley talk on the successes, failures, and lessons learned in creating the studio's latest game.
WHEN: 7pm on Monday 11/17
WHERE: Microsoft New England Research & Development Center (NERD) at 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142

We're also giving away a free copy of AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! to attendees. Join us!

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Monster of the Week -- The Prime Producer

2009-10-29T14:41:00.001-04:00

The Prime Producer is a series of metallic plates with numerous semi-random triangular patches on its "skin," almost like dazzle-pattern camouflage. It avoids you while spawning various Small and Tiny enemies to attack you, such as flocks of Magpies, squads of Ignitirs and Quivers, a few Neon Trackers, and great collections of Rodents.

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- Level Editor Sneak Peek Away!

2009-10-26T22:21:00.002-04:00

It is done. Those signed up on the mailing list should now have their level editor links. Thank yoooou!

Get Your Hands on a Sneak Peek of the AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Level Editor

2009-10-23T15:51:00.006-04:00

Oh, that name does get long after a while. Look, here it is, in a nutshell:

Sign up for the AWESOME NON-NEWSLETTER. (Visit www.dejobaan.com -- it's on the right.)
On Monday, October 26th, we're going to send out free copies of the alpha test level editor to everyone. Don't miss the date!

That's pretty straightforward. Then, people will say "Hey, why can't I use this in the actual game?," and we'll say "Well, it's an alpha test." Then we'll get that one player who has a bunch of great ideas, and I will reel because they're too good not to implement.

Okay, then!

An Amaaaaaaaaaaaazing Review!

2009-10-20T03:50:00.004-04:00

Do you often find yourself pausing in debilitating and unshakable fear when about to fling yourself off a skyscraper, mountaintop, or other monstrously tall structure? Are you made to feel ashamed at this apparent lack of gumption? Don't worry - this reaction is perfectly normal, the voice of natural selection warning you that doing so will most likely result in a brief moment of glory and a sticky puddle at the base where your bones used to be - to the betterment of your species.

Your wild-eyed and twitchy critics who occasionally shout "Deploy parachute fins!" are probably not serious in their abuse - they've just been playing AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity from indie developer Dejobaan Games.

Here's one of the simpler courses. Good luck!

A cure to your fear lies in the highly stylized graphics of AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity - guaranteed to induce a high heart rate. The game places you on top of a tall object and instructs you to jump off. You earn points by falling horrifyingly close to buildings to earn hugs and kisses, smashing through point plates, and landing safely, in increasingly complicated aerial landscapes.

This is your menu. Lots of levels and random goodies await!

The exhilarating sense of acceleration often speeds me right to my doom, and short levels make my frequent failures tolerable, inviting both casual and dedicated play. I find myself using spare minutes between classes and naps to jump off some more buildings. Occasionally steering my unfortunate avatar feels like piloting a well-meaning but amazingly un-aerodynamic rhino, but other appeals make up for it.

The setting, in a sort of sci-fi Boston is a little difficult to grasp, but shiny buildings that light up and humorous holographic ads lend a playful atmosphere, which goes great with the energetic music. There are loads of levels with diverse objectives and presentations, and enough challenges that an individual determined to make 4 or 5 stars on every level would confront a fairly brutal opponent. If you need a break from gameplay you can relax with an ... inspiring anti-meditation. I suggest experimenting with listening to different styles of music to create your own perfect soundtrack - I think Aaaa! goes best with chill hip hop or epic metal!

All in all, I have totally fallen for this game.

Operation: Interrogate Ryan!

2009-10-19T20:29:00.015-04:00

It took a bit of trekking and getting lost in Boston before we made it to the Dejobaan HQ in Watertown; the mission objective this time? Interrogate team artist Ryan about his favorite prototype idea- Transfigurants- while staying beyond the reach of the attack ferret. Though we breached the first level or security safely...

Ryan already upgraded the attack ferrets to mutated crows! (Slidecrows, to be exact - a genetic mutation of the once noble spices, perhaps not that noble, of crows.) Apparently,the Slidecrows that greeted us were created to depute in this prototype.

Ryan's favorite idea revolves mainly around the Polystructures, which were big geometric things/structures that fell from the sky a few years ago and floated; it was from the Polystructures that the humans learned the technology to make other buildings drift above the surface. Most humans then migrated into the sky, forgetting and leaving the surface to the animals. The prototype Transfigurants will then show what happened to the abandoned civilizations on the surface that had been overrun by the radiation that the Polystructures emit; two noteworthy Infectant (mutated beings that spawned from the crazy genius minds of Ryan and Tam) were Slidecrows (see above) and Wombat-pythons "veeeeeeery long wombats with big teeth and no legs; it slithers!" Because Ryan keeps his wombat-python hidden under his bed, there are sadly no pictures to share about just yet, though fear not! There will be lots of other mutations (including jellyfish!) to fight off and lower floating building ruins for the player to jump around as they venture through the surface world armed with an energy gun and a rocket-propelled jump pack, picking up ancient relics to upgrade that technology.

As the player, you explore the forgotten ruins, encounter mazes littered with traps, endure the surface-dwelling humans that insult you, and survive the Transfigurants (enormous biomechanical creatures programmed to think that humans should be hugged... to death). You will discover the strange rune markings, first seen on the ancient ruins of the surface world, and that have now begun appearing on the Polystructures. It was an interesting idea! Seeing that we have been able to keep most of our limbs intact, and get a great report on the prototype...

Mission Accomplished!

Nebin Lives!

2009-09-28T01:40:00.001-04:00

I woke up this evening to discover this. Nebin told me about it, but I didn't believe him until I heard him. Then the belief began.

Musorqua Prototype Video #2

2009-09-25T16:37:00.000-04:00

Rex McPwn and the Many Levels of Aaaaa!

2009-09-14T14:22:00.003-04:00

Rex McPwn has created a video library on how to get 5 stars on all the levels of Aaaaa!: http://www.youtube.com/user/llcARDFG

We're giving him a hand and five-starring the videos on YouTube as well. Because they are awesome. Really. Honestly.

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- Official Launch Video!

2009-09-11T02:23:00.001-04:00

Here's the final Aaaaa! video. Very exciting. Very special. Very spicy.