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Forums - Sony - a good way to play RTS games on a console..playstation Move!

chocoloco on 22 August 2010

Actually this seems true! This would probably greatly increase handeye coordination.



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joeorc on 22 August 2010
chocoloco said:

Actually this seems true! This would probably greatly increase handeye coordination.


well no more so than a PC mouse really, but it does seem to hold the same responsiveness of a OC mouse for playstation Move that i think bodes very well. It may mean that what RTS games ported over to Game consoles now can have robust functionality and playability as you would on RTS gaming on a PC. That's a very good thing more parity with PC means a much greater chance that a PC RTS port would make it to the PS3 due to the Playstation Move being very capable it seems to be very viable to be used as a mouse pointer like in its functionality.



I AM BOLO

100% lover "nothing else matter's" after that...

ps:

Proud psOne/2/3/p owner.  I survived Aplcalyps3 and all I got was this lousy Signature.

joeorc on 22 August 2010
Bristow9091 said:

Maybe we could all nag EA to release a patch for Red Alert 3 to support Move, although they most likely wouldn't but meh...

i don't know, they may or we may now get a RTS made for the Move from EA ,because of how effective the Move looks to be with RTS type of games.



I AM BOLO

100% lover "nothing else matter's" after that...

ps:

Proud psOne/2/3/p owner.  I survived Aplcalyps3 and all I got was this lousy Signature.

joeorc on 23 August 2010

here is a pretty good

 

Interview: Under Siege (Seed Studios)

We talk to the team behind one of the most ambitious PSN titles to date. 

Think an original RTS game with native 1080p graphics, extensive PlayStation Move support, split-screen and online cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes (with video chat), replay recording and YouTube-uploading, photo mode, custom soundtracks and an in-game editor so deep it's the one the developers themselves use to build the game.  

That's how ambitious it is. 
 
Bruno Ribeiro, Lead Programmer at Seed Studios, tells us more...

Could you briefly introduce Under Siege to our audience please?
Under Siege is a real time strategy game, developed with console gaming in mind. It includes a single player campaign, competitive and cooperative multiplayer maps (playable in both online and split screen modes), and a really powerful editor, that enables players to build new maps and then share them with the Under Siege community.
One important thing to note is that Under Siege is not an RTS in the traditional sense. We don't want players to buy the game expecting a Starcraft-clone, and ending up disappointed. It shares aspects with RTS games, but also with games like Myth, or even World of Warcraft, so we invite everyone, even those that don't normally like strategy games, to give it a chance and judge it for what it is.

Under Siege is also a very feature-rich game for a PSN only title. At least so it was last time we heard about it. Is that still the case? Was anything new added? Could you go through that list again to make sure we are not missing anything?
We tried to included every feature the PS3 supports that made sense to our game. Nothing has been removed from the planned features and we added some in the extra time we had. 
On the XMB side we support custom soundtracks, taking screenshots at any time (even on the menus or editor) and bootable invites (you can boot directly into Under Siege from another game when you receive an invite).
In game options also include video recording, split screen multiplayer and of course Move support.
On a more technical side, we support 1080p output and MLAA (for those that don't know, this is the kind of anti aliasing used in God of War 3) when in 720p mode.

How is your standard mission structured in Under Siege? Is there a focus on a specific aspect of the RTS template?
 
Levels in Under Siege are divided into two main phases. In the preparation phase, the game is paused, and the player is presented with a number of squad slots in the map, to fill however he pleases. Next is the battle phase, where the player is free to explore the level and attempt to complete any objectives. Money is earned in the battle phase by killing enemies and collecting items, and is used in the preparation phase to recruit and train squads. Any squads that survive are carried to the next level. Squads also gain experience and level up through battle, becoming stronger and gaining new abilities.

The mission editor is of course a very exciting aspect of the game. How deep does it go and how are creations shared between users?
The basics of the editor are simple. You define the map size, theme (mountain, swamp, etc), and start moulding it using the terraforming tools. Then you can add props like houses or trees, and friendly or enemy units. You can change lighting, fog and bloom/exposure parameters, to give the map the look and feel you want. Finally you can use the logic tools (trigger based and similar to those in the Blizzard editors) to customize the way the level plays and flows.

Just as in Little Big Planet, our editor was built first and then used by the team to build the included levels, both single and multi player. All the level design was done with a pad in front of the TV instead of using a computer with a mouse and keyboard. We felt that would be the only way to discover any aspect of the controls that was poorly implemented or any features not exposed.

In the end it allowed for fast prototyping of levels, and we feel that the players will get a great creativity tool to play with. For example, there are no hardcoded game modes in multiplayer Under Siege. No death match, no point capture, etc., all of these were created in the included levels using the editor's logic tools. If you don't like the way we made anything, you are free to change it.
Sharing levels is done through a community site we are working on right now. It is accessible directly from within the game, and allows for download, upload and rating of levels.
In the wake of Sony’s shifting PlayStation Move release plans, the game has been pushed back a couple of times since its original release date (end of 2009). Was there ever a time you regretted your commitment to the device?
When we first saw the Move, it looked so perfect for Under Siege that we immediately contacted Sony to ask for a chance to make it a launch title. Everyone that has played the game with it so far loves it, so we believe that it was definitely worth it.

Was there anything you changed or improved significantly during the extra development time?
We used the extra time mainly to further balance the units and levels. Also, it allowed the programming team to optimize the game and add a couple more tools to the editor.

Do we have a firm release date to announce today?
We are entering the final testing and tuning phase in August and after that it goes straight to Sony certification and then the PSN Store. This is our first PS3 game, as well as our first self published game, so there may be some unforeseen delays in the process that make it impossible for us to set a firm date at this time.
As a developer who has been working with a device which was by itself a work in progress, did you have to go through many hurdles to make it work as expected?
The Move team at Sony developed some great libraries and all of the data is easy to use and readily available. The first implementation of the Move in the game took only a couple of hours and it has been only getting better since then.

Is there anything you would have done differently have you had the PlayStation Move in mind at the beginning of this project?
Maybe some user interface elements would have been done differently, some tweaks here and there in the editor. But we are planning to support the game for a long time, so we are still able to improve Move support post launch.

Could you describe the control system relative to the PlayStation Move? How does it work during gameplay and within the editor? 
Normally in Under Siege, the player controls a 3D cursor around which the camera is centered. You move the left stick and everything follows along. 
With the Move, we are more closely replicating a PC experience. The cursor is still 3D and placed on the terrain, but you move it directly pointing at the screen, and the camera is no longer attached to it. To pan the camera, you either push the cursor to the edges of the screen, or use the left stick on the DS3 or navigation controller, like you would the cursor keys on Starcraft for example. We use the Move like a laser pointer, so depending on the player, absolute precision can be difficult, as small hands motions become much bigger when projected onto the screen. That's why we use an alternative mode in the editor. There the cursor is positioned based on the absolute position of the Move from the point of view of the camera, similar to all the painting demos you've seen from Sony. This way you can sculpt and paint the terrain in a more intuitive and precise way, although it's not as fast to move the cursor. We are thinking of having an option to toggle between the two modes in both the editor and the game, depending on the player's preference.
Few people have had a chance to test the PlayStation Move in an RTS environment so it’s hard to tell which issues might arise while actually implementing it. One might assume it works like a pointer, you click on icons and that’s it. But maybe there are some not so obvious subtleties to consider when developing an interface around it. For example, in R.U.S.E. the pointer snaps onto selectable elements so that you don’t need to be too precise.
In our case, the cursor is not a pixel precise arrow like you would have on a PC. We use a circular cursor the size of an average unit. So to select a squad, the player moves the cursor near it, and presses X. By holding the button, the cursor expands and when you let go, it will select every squad within the circle. This makes the game easy to play with a pad because you don't need to make small adjustments with the sticks. Adding the Move is not a question of precision, but of quickly and easily moving the cursor around. Instead of moving an analog stick to move a cursor on screen, you simply point to where you want the cursor to be.

Chances are you will go back to your game after this interview. Which controller are you going to pick up?
Having played the game for so long using the dual shock, it's hard for the team to get used to using the Move. The opposite happens with people that play the game for the first time. After using the Move controls they don't want to go back to using the pad. I guess it's the same transition as when PC FPS gamers switched from keyboard to keyboard mouse controls. A lot of people had a hard time transitioning, others picked it up and never looked back.

Along with R.U.S.E. from Ubisoft, Under Siege is one of the first RTS games to support the PlayStation Move. Do you think Sony’s motion controller could see traditional RTS PC game developers bringing their creations to console?
Personally, I don't think something like Starcraft would be a good match for the Move. Not in its current form anyway. Games like Under Siege and RUSE have a very distinct interface that maps well to a console, having been developed with that in mind. But the potential is there, either from games made with the Move in mind, or traditional games with remade interfaces. Strategy games can be played efficiently using the Move controller.

Anything else you want to say to our readers?
We will have a lot more news and content to share with everyone really soon, starting with the new official site and forums on August 11. Hope you all like what you see and please share your opinions and suggestions on the forums.

Many thanks to Marketing Manager Pedro Flores, Lead Programmer Bruno Ribeiro and all the nice people at Seed Studios for this interview (and for making Under Siege in the first place)
an
the official game website..pretty d@mn robust for a PSN game if you ask me


I AM BOLO

100% lover "nothing else matter's" after that...

ps:

Proud psOne/2/3/p owner.  I survived Aplcalyps3 and all I got was this lousy Signature.

joeorc on 23 August 2010

after seeing this I am now quite sure playing an RTS on a game console will be quite better than it was before with just a game pad.I am not too happy with playing RTS games with a control Game Pad but with the playstation Move i think i could by the look's of that Video get a great gaming experience with RTS games on a game console that i could not get before with the Playstation Move.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WCvkjn84w4

it uses quite a few element's to make this a top notch game from the line up of only PSN games on the PS3

I for one cannot wait to try this out.



I AM BOLO

100% lover "nothing else matter's" after that...

ps:

Proud psOne/2/3/p owner.  I survived Aplcalyps3 and all I got was this lousy Signature.