Porter's World

Raider Episode 1

They just don’t make games like they used to, or do they? Some developers do indeed make them like they used to and Raider Episode 1 is proof. Raider Episode 1 looks and feels like an incredibly refined NES game. It offers incredible challenge, simple controls and tons of platforming goodness. In my opinion, Raider Episode 1 has definitely come the closest any flash game has ever come to delivering the challenge and feel of a a great classic NES game.

As I mentioned, Raider Episode 1 offers an incredibly challenging experience. It is by far too challenging for any casual flash gamer, but it delivers an experience unlike any other flash game on the net today. The level design is fantastic, the enemies simple, yet fun, and the distance between check points far enough to nearly drive you crazy, but close enough to keep you addicted and trying over and over when you die and start at the last one. The art is very retro, but refined to appeal to those who dislike pure 8-bit graphics, which is a smart move since I’ve found that points are often taken away in the public’s eye if you go too retro. The music is awesome and the sound effects incredibly retro and fitting. There are 3 difficulty modes for players to select, the easiest still being a bit too hard for casual flash gamers, and the hardest challenging the most hardcore NES veterans. For those who really desire a challenge, the game awards you a rank after completion which ranges from E to S, S being the best. This rank will be saved to your computer and read in when playing future installments of the game as well. Regardless of the difficulty selected, there is enough difficulty in this game to satisfy anyone with a thirst for challenge.

Unlike most NES games, Raider Episode 1 does in fact have a story. It’s going to be slowly introduced throughout five episodes. You play as Arkus Zei, a space pirate in need of some currency. Arkus is told of a rumor regarding a great ship filled with relics from a civilization that long ago destroyed themselves. Out of curiosity you pursue the coordinates you were told and indeed arrive upon a large ship. You must navigate this ship in search for relics and escape with the loot. You are armed with a close range sword and a long ranged blaster to defeat any threats you encounter. In addition to the default story, players will be able to see a slightly altered version of the story in the final installment, if their rank throughout all five episodes meets the requirements. The story is interesting enough and most will enjoy the additional content, and those who don’t can simply skip it. All in all it’s a nice addition that helps wrap up the package for this great game.

Overall there can’t be enough said to do this game justice. The game did suffer some rather low ratings on the net, but that’s unfortunately the result of developers holding the hands of players and making things too easy in modern day games. In the end, Raider Episode 1 is perfect for anyone looking to go back to the NES days or a great challenge, definitely give this game a fair play, you won’t regret it.

Inspiration

Game inspiration is one of the most important aspects of game design. Inspiration can be found in a wide variety of things, ranging from classic or modern games, to a real life event that you witnessed or read about. Such things help make the designer passionate about the project, and this passion generally fuels a much stronger creative process and higher willpower to complete the project at hand. No matter how well you can program, or how well you can do art, having proper inspiration will definitely boost the outcome of your projects.

There is definitely a difference in flash game design Vs console game design, but that’s an entirely different topic, one to come in a few days at that. Regardless of these differences, inspiration can be found nearly anywhere. I personally find games that reside on the classic systems to hold the most inspiration. Not only are these games the most fun and most challenging, they are the most diverse with their use of basic gameplay mechanics as well as creativity of combining those mechanics. Games such as Shatterhand on the NES executed elements such as platforming, customizable power-ups, gravity switching, boss battles, and much more, something that many games just don’t go to such lengths to do anymore, especially flash games. Although nostalgia definitely plays a part, I think there’s a deeper reason for why games like Super Mario World and Super Metroid are still remembered so well today, they were simply better games with far more thought put into them. I can’t think of a single modern game that captures my imagination as well as Little Nemo: The Dream Master did, and it’s reasons such as this that make classic games far more inspirational for me.

I used the classics as my first example, but that’s definitely not where your inspiration needs to start or stop. I find inspiration in many other games, flash games included. A small list of games that have really reached out to me and sparked my creative process include (but are not limited to), Castle Crashing the Beard, Chronotron, Closure, Don’t Look Back, Drakojan Skies Acolytes, Fishing Girl and RaidenX. All of these games are top notch in production value, but most importantly are incredibly inspirational. When I look at Castle Crashing the Beard, I instantly think of River City Ransom for the NES and what could be done to combine these two games. The smooth 2D fighting Castle Crashing the Beard offers, combined with the RPG elements, variety of attacks, and explorative gameplay River City Ransom offers would create one of the best flash games the net has ever seen. It’s this kind of inspiration that game designers need, they need to be able to look at a few different games, figure out how to combine the best elements those games offer, and then evolve upon the idea. If developers would just stop repeating what’s already been done and proven to work, and just take a risk like designers of the past did, we would see modern games that rival, or even surpass those of our past.

Games are definitely a great place to find inspiration for game design, but believe or not it can easily be found elsewhere. Inspiration can be found basically anywhere, such as books, movies, dreams, and even a real life situation. A simple day dream can turn into a full fledged idea if you can relate the scenario to a game you’ve played before, or if you can pick a few basic mechanics that would fit well with the scenario. For instance, if you day dream about jumping over tall buildings in giant leaps, you probably don’t want to build a puzzle game, you may however look into what popular platforming tricks have been used and think of how you can turn the concept into something fun. As far as real life scenarios go, I’ve caught myself staring off at a scenery over the lake that had fog over the mountains, and then proceeded to coming up with a random RPG oriented world with a fair amount of depth all pertaining to this one scene. As corny as that sounds, it’s a great place to start. That idea, combined with a game I played on a PS1 demo disk nearly 10 years ago sparked an even further  idea, one I’ll eventually bring out someday.

As you can see, inspiration can be found basically anywhere if you’re looking for it. Not everybody can remember every mechanic of NES games they played 10 years ago, or stare across a lake and get a brilliant idea, but with a bit of work and desire, I’m sure there’s plenty of inspiration to be found. Game design is as open as writing, it’s not set in stone. Just because things have been done, and certain things continue to be an unofficial standard, there’s nothing stopping  you from going completely out of the ordinary and pulling something new together. All in all, there’s plenty of inspiration to be found; if you weren’t seeing it all that clearly before, perhaps this article will open the way.