Kotaku: developer diary

LOTR Online Developer Diary

Stuart Houghton — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:20:00 MST

Creative Director Cardell Kerr and Ryan Bednar, lead designer, take a moment to show off two new character classes in this developer diary for Codemaster's MMO Lord of the Rings Online.

The Warden is loosely based on Haldir - the well-coiffured elf who overacts his way to death in the Battle of Helms Deep (movie version). A tank character at heart, the Warden can create long combo chains to deal huge amounts of damage or destroy multiple opponents. At least one of his combo moves seems to be shouting really loudly at his opponent. I like to imagine that he is saying something like "Yo momma's so fat, she tried to fit Grond with batteries."

The Runemaster is based on the character of Galadriel - only without the crucial 'resembling Cate Blanchett' perk which could be devastating if deployed against the right opponent. Rune masters can hurl around intricate looking magic composed of glowing runes or work as a healer - but not both at the same time.

Battlefront.com/1C Launch Theatre Of War 2 Developer Diary

Stuart Houghton — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:40:00 MDT

Battlefront.com and developers 1C have launched a developer diary for their upcoming strategy sequel Theatre Of War 2 : North Africa 1943.

The diary is the product of all the designers and coders who are working on the title & is intended to illustrate the kind of decisions and creative choices that go in to making a game.

Or rather, it will be - at the moment there are only two entries. The first — "What shall we do?" — looks at how the sequel came into being, and how the team decided on the North African campaign as the focus of the game (spoiler: it involved palm trees).

Next is "Blood, Sand... & Map Editor" which looks at how the map designers took real-world locations and turned them into playable environments. Honestly, its more interesting than it sounds.

Theatre Of War 2 Developer Diary [Battlefront.com]

New Prince of Persia Developer Diary Shows Us the Works

Adam Barenblat — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:40:00 MDT

Just as the title says this first dev. diary from the Prince of Persia team shows us all sorts of stuff from the new acrobatics, to animation, sound design, and even a little tid bit from the story. Bottom line, the game looks awesome and I can't wait to try the roof running. Prince of Persia is currently scheduled to hit Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this holiday season.

Far Cry 2 - Play The Game You Want To Play

Mike Fahey — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:20:00 MDT

Far Cry 2 looks like the sort of game I could get completely lost in. Looking at the scenic environments in this video, a preview clip from Ubisoft's upcoming Ubidays press event, I get the urge to just wander about. Maybe it's just my recent exposure to Wild Earth: African Safari talking, but what they've created here almost looks too lovely to blow up. Fortunately the way you play the game is just as varied as the vistas you'll encounter. Creative director Clint Hocking sums up the concept of Far Cry 2 quite nicely towards the end of the video.

It's about giving the player the opportunity to play the game he wants to play the way he wants to play it.

That's a concept I can totally get behind, though getting them to include a camera I can use to photograph wildlife might be a bit too much to ask.

The Homes and Graves of Fable 2

Brian Crecente — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:00:00 MDT

Microsoft sent over this pic to us, just for the Kotaku community, of a home in Fable 2 and pointed out that another new screen on the upcoming game's official blog shows off the game's graveyard. I really like the atmospheric look of both screens, especially the second.

I'm told that the Lionhead Video Diary Six has been wrapped and submitted to the Xbox Live marketplace folks for processing and eventual upload onto the Xbox 360 service. The Msoft folks tell me it's the best one to date and that it will focus on "Art and The Hero". Wonder what that means?

Iron Man Behind-The-Scenes

Mike Fahey — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:40:00 MDT

Developer Secret Level displays a pretty firm grasp on the abilities of Iron Man in this developer diary for the game of the same name. It does an IM fan proud to know that the dev team, purchased by Sega specifically for this project, had to figure out a way to create gameplay that Tony Stark couldn't just waltz through. Not only do Secret Level and Sega understand Iron Man, they also understand that it isn't a real developer diary until it's narrated by Electric Playground's Victor Lucas. It's true!

Too Human Development Diary, Silicon Knights Officially Goes Crazy Edition

Mark Wilson — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:40:00 MDT

Some of you will enjoy the gameplay footage in Silicon Knights' latest Too Human developer diary. But make sure that you fast forward to the middle before losing another battle of attention span against the internet. Because this diary features a strange short film called The Goblin Man of Norway. We think it's meant to be a mockumentary. Chronicling the excavation of a faceless mythical artifact, huge orchestration and high production values clash with touches like clearly satirical woolly mammoth maps. It's a gloriously awkward miss, really, like Silicon Knights take Too Human so seriously that they can't even joke about it, even when they try very, very hard.

So consider this post the equivalent of making a funny face after eating some food and saying, "This tastes funny. Try it."

The Goblin Man of Normandy [NFC]

Video Diary: Offline Multiplayer and Magic in Fable 2

Brian Crecente — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:40:30 MDT

The latest developer diary is up for Fable 2 with appearances by the development team, Peter Molyneux and even Cliff Bleszinski.

The diary starts off with Senior programmer Alan Wright talking about the magic of Fable 2. There's no spellbook in the game, instead you set spells to a quick list. Wright's favorite spell is the lightning spell, which causes the victim to flash in and out of a skeleton model as he's being electrocuted.

The diary goes on to show some behind the scenes footage of Microsoft's GDC keynote, with a special appearance by Cliff Bleszinski who demands "10 percent more dog" in Fable 2, and gives some time to Molyneux to talk about offline multiplayer in the game.

Fighting In Assassin's Creed

Mike Fahey — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:00:42 MST

Assassin's Creed Creative Director Patrice Diselets delivers this installment of the AC developer diary, which focuses on the combat of the game, or what happens after you take down your target. He covers the control scheme, weapons, and most importantly - how to escape from an entire city chasing you through the streets, hell bent on tearing you to pieces. If only I had this knowledge back in 92...but that's another story.

Haze Developer Diary 2

Brian Crecente — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:00:20 MDT

Hopefully this will be the last developer diary for Haze you will see before we get our grubby little paws on the game at E3 this week... hopefully.

Clip: Motorstorm Dev Diary

Brian Crecente — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 09:00:21 MST

Now this is a developer diary. You've got flying helicopters, you've got a death valley-esque background, you've got strange Captain America references, and, yes, you've got shit blowing up. Brian Crecente