* ByDesign Games Status Update
August saw ByDesign busy on various upcoming titles, as well as a few side projects for private clients, and even a brief though long overdue respite as we closed for a short holiday along the Mediterranean coast.

In addition to the efforts hinted at in last month’s updates, ByDesign has done certain work that, let’s say, advances the aesthetics of combat in the cold depths of unforgiving space, as well some components of the meta-AI for a game revolving around environmental choice. As they’re for private clients, who knows if either will see the light of day, but they’re interesting projects for sure!

* Game Review: Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
Joe here. People close to me know that I love pinball. Despite Pinball being popularly considered worlds-apart from video games, I consider good pinball design a pure form of design, and often cite Pinball as one of the few interactive experiences that exists truly as a microcosm of life... and for good reason. The short version goes like this: in Pinball, as in the physical world, sometimes you can do no wrong, every shot you take works and you score big... other times no matter what you try, the ball quickly finds it’s way down the drain...

There are many other aspects to the above Pinball-As-Life supposition, but rather than draw it out further, I’ll make the point... If you like Pinball, and you own either a Nintendo Wii, a Sony PSP or PS2, go buy Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection right now!

Released March 27, 2007 for the aforementioned platforms, the title contains some of the greatest pinball tables ever designed including several by the masters of the form; 2 early works from “The Master of Flow” himself Steve Ritchie, as well 2 from arguably the greatest Pinball designer who’s ever lived, Pat Lawlor (one of the few remaining pinball designers making tables today), among other tables. In addition, Larry DeMar of Pinball, Defender & Robotron 2084 fame, added his adept skills to 3 of the 10 tables.

The 3D re-creations of the tables are well executed, though as purists understand there is no comparison to actually playing a good pinball table in real life. However, if you’re on the go or don’t have space in your home for the real thing, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is as good as it gets! A few words on 4 (of the 10 available) tables, highlighting 2 pinball design masters;

2 Steve Ritchie Designs, programmed :

Firepower (1980): Originally programmed by the great Eugene Jarvis (computer game pioneer and designer of Defender, Robotron 2084 & the popular Cruis’n series) this table is noted, not only as the 1st table to use solid-state electronics (imagine that pinball tables used to be 100% electro-mechanical!) but also the 1st game to incorporate flipper-controlled lane change (thank you!), and feature 3-ball multi-ball; a design staple of nearly every table designed after Firepower. An early work by Ritchie that clearly shows the potential of the latter genius to come.

The Black Knight (1980): Originally programmed by Larry DeMar, The Black Night is another early solid-state table, and to this day one of the fastest smoothest flowing tables ever designed, as well as the first pinball table to incorporate a 2-level playfield. To play it, is to know it, is to love it.

2 Pat Lawlor Designs:

FunHouse (1990): Co-Designed & originally programmed by Larry DeMar, this table is perhaps best known for it’s clever and endearing toy, Rudy the talking ventriloquist dummy, who would base his relationship with you on how well or poor you’re doing in the game ( “I’m not happy anymore!” ), this excellent table is faithfully reproduced. Your objective is to get locked into the FunHouse after midnight, when things go crazy! I won’t write more about the table’s compelling feature set, as you can read well enough the details on other sites. Only to say that I have very fond memories of playing this table back when I started my career in video games in Seattle in the 1995. They had one installed at the now defunct Wizards of the Coast arcade on University Ave. and I enjoyed very much earning the high score while unlocking its design secrets, night after night. Rudy (voiced by Mortal Kombat creator and present designer Ed Boon) to this day, has a warm, if not slightly twisted, place in my heart.

Whirlwind (1990): I could write an entire book on why this is one of the greatest tables ever designed (and would gladly do so if asked!) My fondest memories of this table are also from the same time I’d started my professional video game design career. One of the more shall we say “vested” employees at the large software developer where I had begun my video game design work, had a tremendous arcade & pinball collection, some of which occupied an otherwise empty office down the hall from my own. It was there I fell in love with Whirlwind... not only for its novel and interesting theme (players help navigate a storm, as the storm builds in strength to unlock multiball) nor only for its awesome toy (a working blower fan fixed atop the table’s backglass that activates & blows through your hair during multiball) but for the table’s sublime balance of speed and playability. Every playable element of this table is perfection; nothing out of place, nothing missing, nothing overdone. While Whirlwind does garner a healthy amount of respect amongst Pinball aficionados, I still consider it to be a very-much-underrated table.

Sadly we’ve yet to see a video pinball game that includes THE WORLDS 2 GREATEST TABLES (both also by Pat Lawlor, no surprise!) but such tables still make a good amount of money as physical objects of entertainment, so it’s no wonder!


Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection also includes other noteworthy tables as Space Shuttle (1984) (originally programmed by Larry DeMar) as well the classic Gorgar (1979), Pin*Bot (1986) and Taxi (1988) (by noted designer Mark Ritchie of Pinball & Golden Tee Golf fame) tables; the Wii & PSP versions also include the quaint mechanical table Jive Time (1970) and the often overlooked Sorcerer (1985) (also designed by Mark Ritchie).

While nothing beats playing “the real thing”, having these most excellent and revered tables playable in the palm of my hand is like a dream come true. Definitely worth the price of admission!


Last note, as I’ve often said, if you want to make better video games... learn good Pinball design (from the greats); it’s all right there on the table!

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That’s all for this round from your friends at ByDesign Games. If you like what you see, let us know by posting in our forums!

ByDesign Community & Support Forums
http://www.bydesigngames.com/forums

As always, you can further help us spread the word by telling your friends, your family, your colleagues and their pets all the good stuff we’re up to here! Just click Tell A Friend from the panel on the right and you're set!

Until next time, stay cool and all that jazz!

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." [Albert Einstein -- Physicist]

.: ByDesign Games: Busier than a Beaver
Who Dances All Night Long :.

* New Games Released!
With Make Bouncy Bouncy v1.2 out the door, we’ve finally got around to updating ByDesign Game’s game list with some of the other game work we’ve performed over the first half of 2008; including a multiplayer strategy game prototype and a sports title.

Athough not inclusive of everything we’ve been
working on, check out the latest additions here:
http://www.bydesigngames.com/games

The new games were done for private clients, so are not availabe for your enjoyment (not here anyway), however if you keep your eyes open, you might catch a glimpse of the titles as you make your way out & about this vast tapestry that we call existence. Bet!

.: Disembodied Hand Holding The Sign of Good Things To Come? :.

* Looking Ahead: ByDesign stokes the fires of anticipation!
As you may have heard, Apple has launched the App Store for iPhone. It looks like once again Apple has proven they know how to “do it right” when launching an online, organized & single point of entry for compelling content without gouging both consumers and content providers.

Further judging by their distribution fees, they’ve proven they understand it’s better to keep a market healthy (instead of cannabalizing it), but also how not to undercut the very people who fill the market in the first place; their distribution agreements are fair & sweet! (Are you listening Web Portals? It’s better when we work “fair together”, not against each other!)

We cannot go into further details right now, but enjoy the above teaser image and stay tuned in the months ahead, because ByDesign is poised to arrive on the iPhone in a big way!

__________________

As you can see, things are moving & shaking here at ByDesign Games. If you like what you see, let us know by posting in our forums!

ByDesign Community & Support Forums
http://www.bydesigngames.com/forums

As always, you can further help us spread the word by telling your friends, your family, your colleagues and their pets all the good stuff we’re up to here! Just click Tell A Friend from the panel on the right and you're set!

Until next time, have fun!

"We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." [Aristotle -- Greek Philosopher, Student, Teacher]

“Bouncy Bouncy... Oooh! Such a good time!” :)

* New Designs & Development Projects
From the start of the year, ByDesign has been busy with a new online game prototype, a new interactive installation project, a new game design commissioned for the Wii console, plus various support work on other upcoming projects and opportunities (hint: iPhone!). It’s been crazy!

There is much more coming down the pike, such 2008 is looking to be a banner year for ByDesign Games! Check back here throughout the year for more details as it all develops!

.: v1.2 now available at http://www.bydesigngames.com/mbb/ :.

* Make Bouncy Bouncy gets new promo video, new online retail partners & a new version update!
We've added a video trailer highlighting Make Bouncy Bouncy's atmosphere & showcasing some of the gameplay. Check it out by visiting the Official Make Bouncy Bouncy Website!

In addition to a new & easier to navigate game site (with score leaderboard), Make Bouncy Bouncy has also recently launched with certain new online retailers to help spread the Bouncy Bouncy love! If you shop online, you might come across it, else it is available on the official game site at ByDesignGames.com.

As a part of our on-going plan to release regular updates and extensions to the game, we're happy to make v1.2 available, the game's biggest update yet! Changes include;

• Core play mechanic has a completely new layer to it... Building up your bounce is even more explosive and rewarding!
• Levels now have bouncy objectives, bonus bounces, and score multipliers!
• Added new levels to all Moods; the game now has over 35 levels in total! Will continue to release new levels (for free) for the life of the game.
• Fine-tuned the game’s physics to offer a more satisfying bounce when not making bouncy bouncy.
• Added a new feature that allows players to quickly turn 180 degrees by pressing Right Mouse Button / Down Arrow.
• Added a new pad type, the Turn Pad. The Turn Pad will angle you towards it's arrow whenever you land on it.
• Added a feature to enhance the feeling of vertigo in some levels. To "hear it" in action, play the level Firenze in the Nervous mood (also appears in other key levels).
• Demo users have a new free daily random level button in Mood Select; gives access to an otherwise demo-locked level & changes daily!
• Added Level Select functionality; now you can choose the level you wish to play on, if you've already unlocked that level.
• Added ability to change game resolution to the Options screen; players no longer have to restart to change the game's resolution (old start-up dialog was removed).
• Refinements to the overall visual styling.
• Demo available as a Mac OSX Dashboard Widget. Update: it’s an Apple staff pick today!
• And many more! Details can be found in the game's Version History.

.: now available at http://www.bydesigngames.com/mbb/ :.

* Make Bouncy Bouncy v1.1 Released!
After a great launch of v1.0 at the end of 2007, happily v1.1 of Make Bouncy Bouncy is now available! Changes in Make Bouncy Bouncy v1.1 include;

• German language translation has been updated to make it more like German and less like gibberish :)

• Minor tweaks to the "Nervous" mood / demo levels to make them easier and more enjoyable to play.

• Fixed a few of the later levels where the Safety Cube would not always spawn in the most usable location.
• Various minor state fixes and performance tweaks.

.: now available at http://www.bydesigngames.com/mbb/ :.

* Make Bouncy Bouncy v1.0 Launched!
That's right, v1.0 of Make Bouncy Bouncy has finally been released into the wild! For all you game players who hunger not for a lengthy 3-course game meal, but instead prefer a tasty game snack, this one's for you!

At a glance, Make Bouncy Bouncy features:

• 1-Handed Control - easy to pick up and enjoy!
• Fun For the Whole Family - for all skill levels (you too Mom!)
• Spatial Puzzles in 3D - easy to pick up, difficult to master!
• Calm Atmosphere & Spaces - who needs more stress?
• Variety of Challenges - consider new ways to succeed!
• Available Now for Windows & Mac! - Both Vista & Leopard ready!

.: launches Friday Evening, December 28th, 2007 :.

* MBB Launch Date & Pricing; These past weeks, we've successfully ironed out the few snags we'd encountered on the purchasing back-end (open standards are "a good thing") but with that behind us, we're announcing that Make Bouncy Bouncy will launch on Friday Evening, December 28th, 2007!

For more juicy details, including pricing & language support, take a look at the updated Make Bouncy Bouncy pre-launch site for what more you can expect on launch day!
_____________________________

Remember, Friday, December 28th 2007 is the Make Bouncy Bouncy launch date, so watch this space! If you can't wait to Make Bouncy Bouncy, come and visit our Forums to let us know.

Until next time, have fun!

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." [Albert Einstein -- Physicist]

* MBB Status; It's true, Make Bouncy Bouncy is nearly ready! Nearly, as we iron out some last minute kinks on the web purchasing backend. The demo is ready, but the rest should only take a few more days to sort it all through... !

Huh? What's that you say? 'What if I lay the demo on you now, while you wait for the full version?' Well... we definitely could... but before that's decided, let's walk through what happens if we follow your testy "What If" scenario and release the demo early:

What if:
1) You somehow grab the "backend not yet ready" demo early from your favorite independent casual game developer ByDesign Games ...

2) You naturally fall in love with the game and want to Make Bouncy Bouncy all night long, and so you click on the Activation link to turn your demo into the full version...

3) Then you sit... waiting on the purchase page... in anticipation of all the Bouncy Bouncy you're about to get up to... just you and your expired Make Bouncy Bouncy demo, your hard-earned smackers in your hand, ready to buy the full version...

4) But it's not loading! And you sit... and wait...

5) And you wait some more. You stop bathing, your boss calls wondering why you haven't been to work, your pets have left because they are hungry, your neighbors start to wonder where you have been, and finally your family files a missing person's report...

6) The police come, but you don't answer the door because what if Make Bouncy Bouncy becomes available for purchase while you're chatting with the nice officer who would otherwise be explaining to you that your family is worried about you and have since cancelled your next birthday party... so you sit there and wait some more...

7) Finally you get hungry and you risk it all and make your stinky way over to the refrigerator. But all the food's gone bad! You've nothing to eat, but you don't go shopping, because... what if! So you return and wait some more until you end up growing weaker and weaker, and just before your last breath, you get another update from ByDesign Games saying, Make Bouncy Bouncy is finally ready to purchase! Oh sweet pickled onions!

But it's all too late! You're too weak to move the mouse any further. And you pass out on the floor, your future uncertain... all because you demanded that we release the demo early, before the full version was ready for prime time.

Is that what you want? To risk your health, before we ironed out some technology snafu on the backend?! Possibly life, even more possibly limbs, all for a backend SNAFU!?

Well, to that I say... NO! For your limbs, your health, your family, and your pets... just wait... a little longer.

And if you can't do that, all I can offer is that you express your frustration in our "just sitting there & waiting for you to post" Forums.

Have at it you...! Har!

_____________________________

Watch this space for more updates next week, including the demo & pricing info for the full version. Until then, prepare yourself to Make Bouncy Bouncy! (and try not to make a mess of it!)

"A fast word about oral contraception: I asked a girl to go to bed with me and she said 'no'." [Woody Allen -- Film Maker, Musician]

.: Technology of the Past : Simpler... Deadlier? :.

From using sticks and bones to help mash up our food, we've continued the path to empower us to create a global communications medium, to take photos from the edge of our solar system, and to build tools that allow us to express anything we can imagine...

Clearly, we've come a long way baby!

* New Site Updates; With the pending release of Make Bouncy Bouncy, we took some time to update various aspects of the site. Among the updates, we've launched a new home page celebrating our extensive game industry experience. Following that, the About Us page has at long last been updated to include details & some images from our past work.

More site updates, the ByDesign Games Forums has officially launched! Players can now give direct feedback, get specific game support, talk about upcoming games and game design ideas with a direct line to the brains here at ByDesign.

Final misc. site updates, we've added lightbox support for linked images, the site should load faster due to some back-end optimizations, and we performed some misc. color usage tweaks to enhance readability. Not too shabby for a single site update eh?

* Make Bouncy Bouncy status; I'm pleased to say that Make Bouncy Bouncy, ByDesign's new casual game with a funny name, is on track for a November release! Soon enough, you'll enjoy to Make Bouncy Bouncy with ByDesign Games! The game's site has yet to fully launch, only the teaser site is in place for now, but keep an eye this space for more updates as we near release.

* Apple OS X 10.5 Leopard; Attention! A Leopard is loose in the wild! That's right, Apple has released their latest operating system cum opus, OS X 10.5 Leopard. Speaking as a designer, Apple continues to amaze with their design priorities; with Leopard, the result is a very usable and rewarding experience all without sacrificing the important base elements of stability and security. From Quick Look (oh it's great!) to Spaces (nice implementation of an old idea) along with over 300 improvements across the board, the final analysis is that Leopard is a worthy update to a stable, secure, economical and all around pleasant operating system. After some very minor 3rd-party software updates, ByDesign is now fully a house of Leopard!

* Unity v2.0 released; Not to be outdone, Unity Technologies (formerly Over The Edge Technologies) has unleashed their Unity Engine v2.0 on the masses. As you know, we've been working with the v2.0 technology for a couple of months, helping it mature, and I can easily say, this update was worth it. In the making for the over 3 years, v2.0 brings much in the way of delicious new features: Terrains, Networking support, the latest rendering technologies, and a whole host of other game developer goodies. Unity is our engine of choice here at ByDesign, and we're just ecstatic that v2 is now available publicly.
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Whew! Well, that's it for this time. Stay tuned on ByDesign Games because... "things just keep getting better & better!"

"In science as in love, too much concentration on technique can often lead to impotence." [Peter Ludwig Berger -- Writer, Theologian]

:)

.: Time - no longer relegated to the annals of pithy catch-phrases :.

Anyway, this time around we've news on the super secret EA game mentioned in last month's update AND... (wait for it) a brand-spanking-new casual web game!

* Game Design for EA; We've completed our Design Direction with the developer on a new version of a classic & critically acclaimed Electronic Arts console & desktop video game. Sure enough, with so much history at stake, Electronic Arts has decided to hold back on its release until other related platform versions are ready to enjoy. Rest assured, once it's out, you'll hear about it here!

* New Game Announcement;
For generations past, playing games often involved attacking or destroying anything & everything with little reason or purpose. Mindless violence surely has it's place (so much better in game-space than in real life!) but "too much" is definitely not "a good thing".

Here at ByDesign Games, we've created a response to all of that. We proudly present...

.: A new casual puzzle game experience from ByDesign Games :.

What started as a 10-day "for fun" game-design exploration, has born the fruit of goodness such we are on track to release it in the short term, to wrap up our short break from The Late Call. Check out screenshots and more at the game's teaser site!
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Such it is, we're busy bees here at ByDesign... so that be all for this bout. Stay sweet and delicious everyone!

"You must never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it." [Charles Buxton -- Writer, Brewer]

:)

.: The Joys of Reaching Out :.

Throughout August, ByDesign has worked to convert and extend the The Late Call code-base over to V2 of the Unity engine. Progress has been excellent and the game is already enjoying enhanced stability as well as performance boosts across all target platforms.

If that wasn't enough, in August we also participated in a few new short-term projects for the fun, challenge and interest they bring :

* New Game Design for EA; I cannot say too much about this at the moment, but ByDesign is performing Design Direction with the developer on a new version of a classic & critically acclaimed Electronic Arts console & desktop video game, originally released oh so many years ago. In days gone by, it landed on no less than 13 (that's right, count 'em!) platforms. This mystery game I grew up playing & enjoying as a wee sprout, and so leaped at the chance to help usher in a new version. More about this as it unfolds!

* New Interactive Visualization Toolkit; this project took shape initially to help an existing art client realize their interactivity goals. The end result is a very usable design & development toolkit that enables artists to create interactive visualization applications with no programming head-aches. If such a toolkit sounds interesting to you, you are welcome to email: archviz @ bydesigngames . com for more info.

Both projects have been interesting to participate in and great to work on, but alas, with our resources, they've taken some time away from The Late Call. From the looks of things, they will continue to do for at least a couple more weeks. So it goes...

Don't worry though, the TLC baby will be birthed soon enough! We're obviously taking our time on what is in some respects, a flagship game, in effort to deliver a fun and refreshing Next-Gen CasualTM play experience, hehe. Oh if only we all had more arms like our friend up above!
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So that's most of the excitement happening over here at ByDesign; the moving and the shaking. I hope this finds everyone healthy and satiated by the summer months here in the Northern Hemisphere.

And if you by chance are reading this from the Southern Hemisphere, well... consider this: there exists strong evidence to suggest that in the distant past, the Southern Hemisphere was actually the Northern Hemisphere! :P Just another reminder for us all to hang on tight!


"I put a dollar in a change machine. Nothing changed." [George Carlin -- Humourist]

:)

.: Unity v2 Goodness :.

Technology Loving: ByDesign Games is pleased to announce The Late Call will use the very latest Unity technology from Over The Edge.

Previously, The Late Call utilized the 1.x codebase of Unity, but after discussion with OTEE, it became clear that porting the game to their soon-to-be-released v2 engine is definitely worth the time.

The upside is that The Late Call will look better & play faster on many more machines (even many older machines). The downside is that it will take a little longer to wrap it up. We continue to target a Summer release, though the game likely won't be available before the end of August.

So stay tuned and we'll get The Late Call out to you just as soon as humanly possible!

New Interview: Early in July, Joe took a few minutes to chat with Mac Radio & their iGameRadio show about how ByDesign Games got started, The Late Call, how breathing in a game doesn't have to be adult-orientated (zoink!), and why Wayne Gretzky is truly great.

Listen in on the show here!


So that's all for this update! August is shaping up to be a very exciting month for ByDesign Games, so until next time.. have fun!


"Humor is reason gone mad." [Groucho Marx -- October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977]

First the boring stuff to get out of the way; have added certain usability features to the website, including a clickable "lightbox" for game screenshots plus search via Google. Nothing too exciting, but it should help you better find & navigate to the content you want.

Also of minor note, have added social networking buttons to the Blog and The Late Call game pages. Being a smaller developer, ByDesign Games relies on positive "word of mouth" from you, the press & players (yes YOU!). Social networking sites like Digg are a very effective & fun way to get the word out. So, for those of you who wish to help promote the work we do here, go ahead and try it, it helps!

Next up, The Late Call page has been redesigned for better navigation; finding info & content on your favorite upcoming game should be a lot easier. Also updated the game's News page with info on language support (hint: The Late Call will most likely "spreck-en-zee" your lingo!), plus status on last month's beta program; now closed. We've had a great response so far, thanks to all who applied!

What's more, have added some info about a few interactive projects ByDesign Games created this spring. You can check them out on the Games page.

Last thing, we suffered some data loss here at ByDesign due to an unreliable backup medium. Who knew hard disks wear out too!? Apparently everyone that I've talked to, heh. The good news: "most" of the lost data was recovered. The bad news: what was lost has suffered us some minor delays on certain projects (including The Late Call). Nothing too drastic, but enough to mention.

"So it goes..." [RIP Kurt Vonnegut Jr. -- November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007]

Here you will find news and status on our current video game projects for Mac, PC, and possibly consoles (Wii! Oui!), comments on trends, and very likely wild, late-night musings on this or that mundane topic...

At the moment, we here at ByDesign Games are very busy on current projects, one of which is The Late Call... all the while keeping schedule-eating "new" features at bay with a chair and bullwhip...

So take a look around, take our thanks for visiting, and watch this space for news!

InsideMacGames interview with Joe (Game Director here at ByDesign Games)

In this interview, we discuss various topics, from the status of ByDesign's upcoming game The Late Call, to pc-mac switching, the (sorry) state of the downloadable games PC market, and downloading games for your mac using Mark's MyMacGames service.

There is every indication that online distribution will be the leading method of game content distribution in a sooner-than-we-think timeframe, and in this interview we discuss some of the pros and cons that are helping shaping this reality.

Check it out! And if you are at all interested in the above topics, leave a comment below or at the InsideMacGames forums to add to the discussion!

Until next time! :)

Updated The Late Call news page with some details on current status (progressing nicely), the upcoming open beta (update: beta is now closed!), plus some eye & ear candy in the form of an ambient music sample & a 3D screenshot.

3D screenshots are similar to movies, but where you control the perspective, unlike movies. The result captures a moment of in-game action viewable from any 1 of 360 degrees at a time. Despite Apple's pioneering efforts, I found it incredible that the best tools for such things are not mac-derived.

Nonetheless, it felt kind of cool when it finally came together. Take a look for yourself!