Hidey hidey…	Peekaboo!

Hell yes! Let’s talk about how. The graphics start out in 3D and are rendered twice, once for visual information, and once for height information.

All gameplay processing and collision is done in 3D. Before a sprite is drawn, every pixel is tested against the height image. Expensive? Hell yes! Brute force burned 50% CPU drawing one sprite. Part of the problem is that the DS does love itself some tiled graphics, so if we want something on the screen that looks like this:

 
We need to make some memory look like this:

 
Yay. Tiles.
So we’re doing a lot of work on a lot of data and we’re not being nice to the cache. Even after getting the obvious stuff out of the way like skipping sprite tile rows with no pixels, we were still around the 25% mark. Then we remembered that the environment tiles we were streaming in had some unused padding, so we stored high and low height values for 5×5 and 2×1 tile areas in each tile. This way we can pass or fail a 32×32 pixel sprite block or an 8 pixel row very quickly. We do some low level stuff to shave off a few more cycles but easily the biggest saving comes from not doing the work in the first place, and now we’re down to 1.5% for a typical sprite.
Yay tiles!
With a translucent bitmap layer we can easily draw silhouette characters when they are behind things by writing a pixel wherever a sprite fails a heightmask test…
 

 
and since we have height info for the ground we can use it to draw animated translucent shadows!
 

 
For this we take every fourth row of the sprite, trace down from each pixel until the height values match and that’s where we write to the translucent layer. On faster hardware you could project each pixel along a light vector, which looks awesome but it was a bit costly for the DS.

2D graphics are so quick and easy for the eye to read, perfect for a rapidly changing interactive system like a game. This project has really inspired me to think that a game with 2D graphics doesn’t have to make any compromises in gameplay design. Excite!

~Stephen

Experience the winter adventure of the Blue Mountain

“Winter in Blue Mountain” is based on Gudny Ingeborg Hagen’s lovable “Nisse” universe, familiar from the Christmas calendar on NRK. A red line with important issues is thus present throughout the game. The good atmosphere is preserved in the game, with original music, where you also get to meet the familiar characters. The player will be the blue “nisse” girl Turte, who discovers that a red “nisse” girl is hiding in the Blue Mountain. The Blue Mountain rule says that “The blue “nisse” taking a red “nisse” or rural people into the Blue Mountain, must leave the Blue Mountain and never come back”.

The platform game takes you and your family into the universe of the Blue Mountain and gives you an unforgettable experience. Dive into adventures that takes place both inside the mountain’s many caves and outside in the snow-covered landscape. Walk and jump safely past the various obstacles, collect blue and red berries along the way and try to keep your eyes open through the thrilling sledging down the snowy slopes of the mountain. The intriguing game is hard to put down.

The new Christmas Calendar.

Watch the trailer for the game here (in Norwegian) :

Vinter i Blåfjell – Winter in Blue Mountain from DigiFix din digitale vaktmester on Vimeo.

Screenshots:

“Collect waffle hearts to bring Knerten and Caroline together and keep them as happy as can be!”

The game

In this game you get to help Junior in the shop, make waffles with Knerten and Caroline, fly with Knerten and ride Junior’s brand new red bicycle. Whenever you find waffle hearts they get even sweeter on each other. And if you are skilled enough, you can actually get them to marry! To achieve this you have to both explore Gampetreff and play all the fun mini-games. And the more you play, the happier ever after Knerten and Caroline will be!

Game story

The game story is based on the movie “Twigson Ties the Knot”. In the movie Knerten meets Caroline. You don’t find birch twiglets like that in every forest. And it takes a special girl to knock Knerten off his perch. Because as we all know, twigs like Knerten don’t grow on trees…

Junior is dreaming of a fabulous red bicycle all of his own. Mum gets knocked down by a car and won’t get better without a daily dose of gossip about the royal wedding. Tiny and Junior sell waffles as part of a plan to solve a crime and Junior’s older brother Philip has to take charge on the homefront. Knerten also learns to fly and Junior runs away from home.

How to play

There are lots of fun mini-games around Gampetreff. Will you find them all? You have to look for them around Junior’s house, in the woods and in the shop.

There are heaps of things to collect along the way, and quite a few mini-tasks to complete. But look out for the police, ants and shifty ladies!

The hungry bunnies will be very happy if you remember to feed them.

All the mini-games you have found and opened can be started directly from the menu in Knerten’s house.

Minimum Requirements include:

• Must have worked on 2x or more shipped games as DS artist
• Excellent knowledge of 3D rendering and animation in low-polygon modeling
• Excellent knowledge of budget-limited art pipeline
• Characters & Environments experience
• Thorough knowledge of palettized graphics
• Thorough knowledge of Nintendo DS file formats
• Familiarity with Nintendo DS lotcheck requirements
• Well organized and self-motivated
• Ability to work to tight deadlines

Supplemental:

• Other platform knowledge is a plus, especially PSP & Wii
• Mentoring or Lead Artist experience a plus

Responsibilities:

• Work with Lead Artist, rigging, animation and engineering to determine style, look and level of quality for the characters.
• Model characters in low polygon and in game resolutions.
• Handle technical aspects of the creation such as pipeline concerns, assets build with optimum efficiency, and creation of advanced shaders and asset integration.
• Work closely with other art disciplines to determine technical specifications.

Minimum Requirements include:

• Must have worked on 2x or more shipped games as a C++ Programmer
• Must have shipped at least 2x game as a DS Programmer
• Thorough knowledge of palettized graphics
• Thorough knowledge of Nintendo DS file formats
• Familiarity with Nintendo DS lotcheck requirements
• Knowledge of Object Oriented Design
• Excellent knowledge of 3D rendering and animation in low-polygon environments
• Expert problem solver
• Ability to contribute to engine architecture
• Well organized and self-motivated
• Ability to work to tight deadlines

Supplemental:

• Other platform knowledge is a plus, especially PSP
• Mentoring or Lead Programmer experience a plus

Responsibilities:

• Engine Programming on Nintendo DS
• Working in C++ to extend the functionality of our DS Library
• Working with Nintendo DS hardware
• Implement product and game design from functional specs
• Schedule and manage programming tasks and projects

The documentary about outdoor daycare centres will give you an insight into the philosophy behind the concept, some of the research which has been done relating to children and the outdoors, the staff’s point of view, and how this type of day care actually functions on a daily basis – whether it is located by the sea, in the woods or on a farm.
The DVD featuring the ‘Kids of the outdoors’ (Naturbarna) will inspire and entertain both young and old.

The kids TV series is still being aired on the nathional TV channel, NRK.
In addition to the documentary film, the DVD contains all four episodes of the kids TV series, currently running on NRK.

DVD,  NOK 99.- pluss shipping and handling. Buy here!

Screenshots:

Minimum Requirements include:

• 3+ years of experience as a Designer.
• Must have shipped at least 1+ multiplatform title.
• Experience in Agile development & familiarity with production methodologies.
• Established portfolio of work demonstrating mastery of their role in design.
• Effective interpersonal, oral and written communication skills.
• Strong problem solver, able to work with tight deadlines.
• Effective time management/organizational skills.
• Working knowledge of 2D art tools, such as Adobe Photoshop.
• Working knowledge of 3D art tools, such as Max, Maya, Lightwave or 3D level editors.
• Strong game design skills: must be able to intelligently discuss the strengths and weaknesses of recent games.

Supplemental:

• Multiplayer and/or MMO experience a big plus.
• Pitching experience a big plus.
• Hansoft experience a big plus.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the development of the creative vision for the game, and design systems that are in keeping with that vision.
• Evangelize the game to the team and clients.
• Drive the balancing of gameplay systems and core mechanics.
• Maintain assigned documentation and make sure they are written in such a way as to communicate designs goals to the team.
• Prototype gameplay level scenarios and showcase implemented systems so that other designers may use the prototype as a blueprint for final gameplay.
• Assist in development of higher level game systems such as interface, scoring, power ups, and other meta game level features.
• Mentoring other designers on the team about design, documentation, and vision.
• Assist in pitches and preparing new projects.

Help gather and win parts for the extraordinary race car Il Tempo Gigante! When it’s done you will be able to race this beast through the hills of Pinchcliffe!

The game consists of three parts: Adventure component, mini component and bilracet. In the adventure part, you solve various missions in order to open up various mini-games by exploring Flåklypa world.

When you complete various minigames and win part of Il Tempo Gigante. The more games you can handle the more challenging parts to the car, you win.  When you are satisfied with Il Tempo Gigante so you can sit in the car and head out on the race track for success as well as possible in the races.

Come join us!

The project is developed in collaboration with Caprino Studios.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e5pM83vq24