BAF: Steve Lycett

The second talk was from Steve Lycett, the executive producer of Sumo Digital. Their first platformer was Moshi Monsters: Katsuma unleashed. This look 7 months to complete, on two platforms with a team of 10 people. A quick prototype allowed the team to figure out what moves can happen, the distance of jumps, and what would be fun to explore in the game. As a game aimed at children, the game-play had to be repetitive and simple, with enemy moves giving plenty of foreshadowing before the hit so younger minds can figure out what they have to do to succeed.  The main problem I have with this game was out of a whole universe of Moshi Monsters, only one is playable. I think this limits peoples favorites and as a child I remember one player games that had very limited characters selection I actively disliked. I feel its like having a Pokemon game where only Pikachu is playable, or a Marvel game where you can only play as Spider-man. There's hundreds of characters and a very wide universe and this was vastly ignored.

Sonic: All stars racing transformed took three years to make, with each map different and unique, and each taking 16 months to make. But after understanding the amount of attention to detail they put in it quickly becomes apparent why. Even on a race track above water sting rays can be seen swimming under the ocean, and crabs can be seen on the beaches, but while your playing the speedy racing game its likely you'll never know they where there. I love when worlds become so detailed they 'pop' to life, and become a world that is infinitely more believable. Another element I really liked was the cars ability to transform into boats and jets, where the race takes impossible new routes. Unfortunately the game dictates when and how you transform, which seems limiting, but Lycett explained this was because either wise players just fly oer the track to the finish line with a jet that is faster than a car, making the race unfair. None the less, this game looks very impressive and very, very tempting.