TOM FRANCIS
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What I Like About Guild Wars 2

As I mentioned on the last PC Gamer podcast, I’m really getting into Guild Wars 2. It’s the first MMO to do anything for me since World of Warcraft, and the best since City of Heroes. And it’s mostly because of one attitude behind it:

“Yikes, that sounds like a lot of design work. Oh well, let’s do it.” Continued

My Borderlands 2 Review Is Up

“Then there are the robots. I was dubious about how much fun it’d be to shoot metal instead of flesh, which now that I write that down doesn’t make me sound like a particularly great person. But I needn’t have worried. You can’t headshot robots, but their joints are weakspots. If you’re taking a lot of damage from a particular droid’s weapon, you can aim and blow that arm off. Continued

Memories Of Far Cry 2

Just found this in an old screenshots folder.

The Magical Logic Of Dark Messiah’s Boot

George Buckenham invited me on his podcast to tell him about a particular thing about a particular game I particularly loved. I picked a conceptually weird bit of logic from Dark Messiah of Might and Magic that makes kicking people more fun. It’s about five minutes.

A Successful Spelunky Run

After 223 failed attempts, I have completed the Xbox version of Spelunky. Here’s what happened. I’ll name some enemies and items involved, but won’t spoil how I defeated the final boss. Continued

Shopstorm, A Spelunky Story

I’m so amazingly goddamn rich. A string of gold-studded and jewel-encrusted Mine levels led straight into the Jungle, where two levels in a row left a Bone Idol trivially close to the exit. I barely had to nudge them to get out $40,000 richer, long before the ghost they trigger showed up. And now I’ve found the Black Market. Continued

Spelunky Tips

Spelunky is now out on console box, and is awesome and everyone loves it. I’ve played both versions a ridiculous amount, and brother do I got some tips.

Lots of Spelunky’s mechanics are simple in principle but really, really, really hard to reliably master. When figuring out what route is worth taking, factor in the risk you might screw up and get hit by something. Continued

Why Are Stealth Games Cool?

While poaching some eggs, I tried to explain what’s particularly cool about stealth games. Continued

E3’s Violence Overload, Versus Gaming’s Usual Violence Overload

While frying a piece of fish, I wondered why the violence shown at the main conferences at E3 got to me, despite the fact that I play violent games all the time. Continued

Hey, You’re Not Chell

Portal 2’s beautiful and fun level editor just came out, and already there are 1,787 player-built puzzles for it, and already the simple rating system has lifted some incredible ones to the top. My favourite is Gate: very focused, only a few elements, but genuinely baffling for just the right amount of time. And unlike a few of the other tricky ones I’ve tried, you have to ‘get it’ to solve it, giving rise to the familiar “I’m a genius!” moment.

Let PCG’s Chris Thursten talk you through how to make a needlessly complex level for it.

PRESS RELEASE

UNITED KINGDOM – April 1, 2012 – Intense creative re-focussing has led Gunpoint to be re-invented as a 3rd person cover shooter.

“We’re going to make a lot more money this way”, says morally bankrupt CEO.

Proteus

Played Proteus yesterday, then again last night, and finished it. An extraordinary experience. It’s half game and half song, and the feeling of crafting music through the way you explore a shifting and beautiful world is wonderful, totally unlike anything else I’ve played.

Making Gunpoint’s Save System

Gunpoint’s current save system is rough, but functional if you know how to use it. The game autosaves every ten seconds, and when you die, a message pops up telling you to press L to load the latest one, O to load the one before, or R to start the mission completely. It’s just placeholder, but it’s close to what I want: you should never have to repeat a chunk of progress you’re happy with, only the bit you actually screwed up. Continued

GDC Talk: How To Explain Your Game To An Asshole

I never went to the Game Developer’s Conference as a journalist, but this year I took a week off and flew out to San Francisco on my own dollar to attend it as a developer. I was mainly there to demo Gunpoint for the expo crowds at the IGF Finalists Pavilion, but I was also invited to give a five-minute talk as part of the closing talk of the Independent Games Summit: the Indie Soapbox Session. Continued

Talk To Me, Be Talked At By Me, And Play Gunpoint At GDC

I’m giving a talk at GDC! It’s part of the Indie Soapbox Session at 16.30 on Tuesday, in Room 2003, West Hall, 2nd Floor. Ten of us will give five minute talks, and mine is called: Continued