Matt's thoughts

Matt's thoughts

Matt Benic  //  Game & mobile dev gun for hire and environmental worrier.

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Aug 26 / 11:37am

The Harvest

The Harvest is a Luma Arcade developed and Microsoft Game Studios published title under development for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform. The game is developed in C# using Microsoft's XNA set of API's on top of the .Net Compact Framework. The high production quality bar for a game on a (not yet final) mobile platform meant serious work on squeezing every ounce of performance out of the engine. In addition to the usual engineering challenges of developing a truly AAA 3D title, and working closely with the MGS publishing team in a senior role, this project gave me the incredible opportunity to visit Microsoft in Seattle to work with them directly on performance challenges, gameplay and usability fine tuning, audio balancing and more.

 
From Xbox.com:
On a future Earth, the invading alien Harvesters use humans and animals to create cyborgs: crude amalgamations of flesh and machinery. Mankind, in the form of the Global Defence Force, now fights a war against The Harvesters using human controlled mechanized infantry units. As a member of the GDF army, you have been sent to investigate reported Harvester activity in the ruins of an ancient city once used as a military base. As you explore, fight off wave after wave of The Harvester horde, find hidden upgrades, and defeat imposing enemy boss units in order to return Earth to its rightful inhabitants.
Designed from the ground up to be the best looking 3-D mobile phone game to date, The Harvest™ features innovative touch screen gameplay, along with visceral combat, and opportunities for exploration, character customization, and more. This action RPG experience is an Xbox LIVE-enabled game for Windows Phone 7, and will immerse you into a deep and intriguing story where it is vital that the GDF is victorious.

Videos of The Harvest in action:

(download)

Filed under  //  c#   mobile   portfolio   xna  

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Aug 25 / 2:45am

Champ Chase

ChampChase is a project of the Afroes Foundation developed for them by I-Imagine as part of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund Champions for Children Campaign. Released as an online flash title as well as a J2ME mobile game, the challenges here were to quickly build a Flash equivalent to I-Imagine's flexible J2ME engine, as well as expand on the company's in-house high score system and communicate with it from flash.

The game is a 2D platformer aimed at educating young players about various dangers they may encounter such as criminals, drug abuse and online predation. This was achieved through a combination of stylized characters associating each concept with a familiar object or animal with typically negative connotations, as well as more direct information provided at key points. The game is simple and fun, placing the player in the role of a protector saving children from these dangers.

(download)

Filed under  //  flash   j2me   mobile   portfolio  

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May 17 / 7:31pm

Football Genius

Returning to I-Imagine as dev lead, I once again started the process of building up the technology behind a title for a new platform. We used the then brand new Xbox Avatars to give players a game that allowed them to take each other on head to head to test their football knowledge, or play solo to beef up their knowledge. Besides engineering the game and flexible trivia engine behind it, my responsibilities and achievements included improving project management processes in the company.

From I-Imagine.com:

Are you a Football Genius?
Test your football knowledge in The Ultimate Quiz!
The game features six questions packs covering International, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish football with over 3500 questions about your favorite teams, players, and tournaments!

Football Genius garnered 61 on Metacritic.

(download)

Filed under  //  portfolio   xbox 360  

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May 17 / 6:24pm

plikpla

Plikpla was another great puzzle game from smallfry mobile. Once again this was a title that hooked anyone that played it.

From smallfrymobile.com:

Match eggs and hatch cute and cuddly PlikPla aliens in this wickedly addicting puzzle game.
PlikPla is a puzzle game in which eggs of the same colour must be matched into rows of three or more. All eggs of the same colour will collapse into a single egg of a different colour. Once three black eggs are matched, a PlikPla is born!
Build colour combinations to increase your score and climb the PlikPla global rankings ladder.

(download)

Filed under  //  j2me   mobile   portfolio  

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May 17 / 6:22pm

Brik-Link

Brik-Link from smallfry mobile scratched the puzzle gaming itch. It included mind bending combos and frantic moments, with support for RumbleX high scores.

From smallfrymobile.com:

Brik-Link is a simple but addicting arcade puzzle game that tests your speed and challenges your wit.
Build long and winding circuits to achieve monster scores before being overwhelmed by falling blocks and beat the best of the best on the Brik-Link global rankings.

Brik-Link was given a 5-star rating on GetJar:

"Really fun game, interesting mix between tetris and pipedream."
- Menzi


(download)

Filed under  //  j2me   mobile   portfolio  

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May 17 / 6:20pm

BubbleBee QuickType

BubbleBee QuickType was the first smallfry mobile game released in association with Orange Pixel, and to include support for it's RumbleX high score system. We used the excellent foundation laid down for abYss to develop a frantic and addictive word game that anyone could play. The title proved extremely popular with everyone that played it, and to this day players are racking up new scores for it on RumbleX.

From smallfrymobile.com:

BBQT is a typing game with great, colourful graphics and online high scores that tests your speed and accuracy.
Put all that texting practice to good use and test your typing speed and accuracy against players worldwide. With three play modes, a huge word list and a potentially infinite number of levels, BubbleBee QuickType will test your typing skills to the max. Chain perfect words to bump up the score multiplier and earn super high scores to climb your way to the top spot on the QuickType scoreboard.

(download)

Filed under  //  j2me   mobile   portfolio  

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May 17 / 5:46pm

abYss

Being smallfry mobile's first title, abYss was another great learning experience. We developed the technology behind the game from the ground up to make the best of the incredible level of fragmentation in the mobile Java landscape at the time. It featured three levels of parallax scrolling, support for a wide range of devices from various manufacturers and a wide array of enemies over six levels in three unique worlds.

From smallfrymobile.com:

It is the year 2055. While government rivalries no longer threaten the earth with war and turmoil, there is a new danger. The Evil Dr. Tide is plotting to melt the polar caps and flood the world. If he succeeds in carrying out his plan, millions will die and the world will be thrown into chaos. It is up to you to stop this madman!
Battle Dr. Tide's evil sealife-inspired robotic minions as you scour the ocean for his secret lair through nine challenging levels and three visually diverse settings. From the sallow reefs, through a mysterious sunken city and on through a deep ocean cave, face a wide variety of enemies and challenging bosses in your quest to rid the oceans of the menace of Dr. Tide.

Users of GetJar.com gave abYss an average rating of 5 stars:

"Harks back to the days of 16 bit side scrolling shooters.
Ran with no detectable problems and got a little addictive."
- Hoba

"Best graphics i`ve seen on a java game for this phone."
- Alex

"Excellent game, enjoyed it so much i bought the full version!"
- Naseem Kasimer

 

(download)

Filed under  //  j2me   mobile   portfolio  

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May 17 / 5:31pm

Final Armada

While I left I-Imagine before the development of Final Armada and thus did not receive acknowledgment in it's credits, I was responsible for engineering a large portion of the RenderWare based engine that the game ran on. This included building the application framework behind the engine and core features such as world streaming and breakables & detachables that RenderWare did not offer 'out the box'. Other accomplishments in development of this engine included championing and implementing a scripting engine and debug framework for more efficient development cycles and other development practice improvements such as a unified cross-platform build and test process. While the title only released on PS2 and PSP, the engine itself ran on Xbox, PC and Gamecube as well.

From I-Imagine.com:

Propel yourself into explosive action, with Final Armada, as you take control of the Aggressor a power-ful and sophisticated transforming combat vehicle of mass destruction. Fight your way through swarms of enemies as you confront a powerful Alien race that has devastated the colony world Taro-469! Foil the Naz’ha, expose the hidden secret of the Lazarus Crystal, save Taro-469 and become the ultimate hero!
 
Explore the Monolith mobile base as Lieutenant Zake Andersen. Interact with other characters to learn tactics, acquire vehicle upgrades and face numerous simulation challenges. Command your wingman in battle to unleash devastating special attacks on anything that stands in your way. Play bonus missions that allow you to take control of turrets and aerial units in the struggle to free Taro-469. Join forces with or take on your friends in both cooperative and death match game modes.

Final Armada earned a Metacritic score of 40.

(download)

Filed under  //  portfolio   ps2   psp  

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May 17 / 5:03pm

Chase Hollywood Stunt Driver

As my first project in game development, working on Chase was a great learning experience. My contributions included special effect, gameplay and user interface programming, among other things.
 
 
From I-Imagine.com:
Chase places players in the exciting world of Hollywood movie stunt car action. With four unique movie sets and a variety of vehicles unlike any other game, Chase promises heart-pounding action and spectacular movie-style special effects. Players will have to hit their marks as they attempt jumps, smash through props and race through the set in order to please the director before moving onto the next action packed stunt. In the game, players will take the role of Chase Corrada, a young sexy stuntwoman, who is starting her promising career as a movie stunt driver. Chase will take players through four unique movie sets including a gangster movie setting, a post-apocalyptic movie set and more. Players will not only drive traditional four wheeled vehicles, but will also have motorcycles, a three wheeled Ramen delivery Tuk-Tuk and a large missile truck at their disposal.

Chase achieved a score of 60 on Metacritic.

 

(download)

Filed under  //  portfolio   xbox  

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