You know that saying about the customer always being right? Yeah, that's true only so long as the customer continues to spend lots of lots of money. And if the average tourist family wants to funnel half their annual salary into your custom-built theme park, who are you to tell them they're wrong?
But Thrillville lets you do more than just overcharge your visitors for cheap t-shirts, styrofoam stuffed animals and grease-brick pizzas. As our fourth of six developer diaries explains, you can
The sweetheart, Penelo
This warm-hearted but slightly sarcastic girl watches over Vaan. Also an orphan, she lives with him in the lowtown - the underground of Rabanastre, the splendid city where the adventure begins. More responsible than Vaan, she's already lined up a job at one of the local shops, but she joins the adventure almost by accident - caught up in the story thanks to her strong and kind
Final Fantasy is about epic, sweeping stories of nations clashing and mystical powers beyond human control. But it is also, always, a story of the people caught up in these desperate struggles. What would Final Fantasy VII be without Cloud and Aerith? Can you imagine Final Fantasy X without Tidus and Yuna? Of course
It's rarely admitted, but people love throwing up. Think about it: why else would everyone on the planet have a throwing up story? You've got one. We've got several. It's one of life's gross little mysteries.
In fact, the only thing people love more than throwing up is almost throwing up, but not quite. Which is where amusement park rides come in. This week, we'll hear from one of the minds in charge of bringing you to the edge without pushing you
Tuesday 17 October 2006
Ah, bosses! How we love your meter-long life bars, cheap super-attacks and exposed weak points. It's The Rules that games have to have them, so in this roll-call we look at eight titans that really threw their weights around.
These are some of the biggest of the big, deserving of their boss status by barely fitting on the screen, let alone playing unfair.
The Hydra, God of War
In a game that does everything big, you expect some mighty bosses, but what you don't expect
Stealing the story
Vaan is both like and unlike FF heroes from the past. He's an orphan - a troubled teen who still seems to find the time to quest for perfect hair. But he's not the disturbed lead of previous games - more a normal kid with problems than one overcome by them. Though he can be a bit bitchy, you can understand it: his brother died under the command of General Basch and he's been alone ever since. He functions as a sort of leader to the street kids in Rabanastre, but his dream is
Regardless of your upbringing, financial situation or age, there's at least one pop culture war that you've chosen an unflinching side on. Coke or Pepsi? GI Joe or Transformers? Marvel or DC? The latter rivalry has almost lasted 80 years, gaining more steam as the decades go by. Now we've got the two comic companies fighting it out in movie theaters, toy aisles and even across every gaming console on the planet.
X-Men Legends is the superhero RPG by which all others are judged, so when
Yesterday we peered into the extraordinary powers of Superman, Batman and the Flash - today we're shacking up with a backwards-talking magician and three other marquee members of the Justice League. Their combined abilities should be more than a match for any villains action RPG Justice League Heroes throws your way when it's released next
Last week, we heard from Producer Shara Miller from LucasArts. This week, we'll be hearing the cotton candy-laced words of Senior Producer Jonny Watts, about how it feels to see someone play the game you've created - and how it makes you feel when they don't play it the way you intended.
Jonny Watts, Senior Producer at Frontier Developments
Weaving all of the elements of Thrillville together into one cohesive experience has at times been one of the most nerve-wracking processes in developing
Producer Shara Miller already has her hands in some of the biggest franchises you love - Mercenaries and Star Wars Battlefront II should get a million or so gamer's hearts pumping. Now she's handling Thrillville, a video theme park that enables you to build whatever attractions you like - and then ride the crap out of them. Miller chimes in for part one of our six-part series, which should shed a little more light on why this isn't another wannabe simulator.
Shara Miller - Producer
So far,
