Les Indestructibles

The past month has been weird. When you're starting out on the development of a game it's important sometimes just to get your head down and work - and that's exactly what I've been doing since I wrote last month's Indestructibles diary. The strange part is that it was only when I started writing to you all again that I realised we've done a helluva lot on the game over this past month.

The most significant thing we've done is to sort out the characters' movement. In my opinion this has to be the most important aspect of it all, along with the characters' attributes. Yeah, I know what you're thinking - last month I said that the most important part was the gameplay. a character handles is like the way a car drives or a plane flies - if it's not right then no one wants to play it, drive it or fly it. We've got it right now, though, which means that we can move on to other tasks. The other problem area that we've tackled is linking all of the modules together, getting the graphics up and sinning, and making sure that the sound functions. Neither the graphics nor the sound are final at the moment, of course, but at least when we have something new we can put it in and see how it works. This will happen loads of times before we're happy with what we've got, but at least we have the means to try stuff out now. To use a slightly outdated seasonal analogy we've got the Christmas tree, now we have to start to decorate it.

Game in!

Our next task is to put the game in. After last month's diary I am sure that everyone realises how strongly I feel about this - I am supremely confident that Indestructibles will be great, and getting the game in there is the part of the job that I enjoy most.

As always I try to play as many other games as I can, to make sure that mine is going to be the best of the lot. This Christmas was different to normal, dominated by a football title - FIFA '96. The movement of the players and overall polish are outstanding, but I know that Indestructibles can definitely top it in these areas.

A unique aspect of lndestrucbkm will be its use of cartoon-animated introduction and link sequences. I've had my fill of rendered bits, and the only other option would normally be fmv - and that's being overdone too. We're currently trying to find a good animation house who will be able to do justice to the Indestructibles concept, and produce a cartoon that will stand up in its own right as well as making up the cut-scenes.

In style, I want the cartoon sequences to be very colourful, like_ the Spiderman comics. It seems that lots of games at the moment are very dark -but I want the open, bright feel of Magic Carpet. As well as the cartoon intro and link sequences, the player will be able to produce their own comic book using scenes from the game, which they can then print out via their PC... a tall order? Yeah, but I think we can do it.

Obviously this means a great deal of work for us, and so we have an new addition to our team to take care of the comic book side. His name is Andy Nuttall - he's enthusiastic and keen, and as an ex-journalist he has the writing skills needed for the job, which, in case you were wondering, is officially listed as Assistant Producer.