Games Gone Feral

Growing up my parents always thought video games were a waste of time and so only allowed me to play every other day for thirty minutes at a day. It was absolutely torture. I loved them so much I would sit in front of the tv while it was off with a NES controller in my hand going through the levels of super mario bros. in my head while doing all of the motions on the controller. Suffice it to say that I have loved video games, especially ones that push boundaries (be them artistic, emotional, speed, graphical, or any other) for my entire life.

I am one of the few people that liked Super Columbine Massacre RPG. I don’t like it because I thought it was a good game (truth be told, I’ve never actually played it), but I like it for the discussion it sparked throughout the entire gaming community. Elephant came out as a movie much earlier than SCMRPG did, and yet it was much more widely accepted as a piece of art than the game was. It’s a shame, but I don’t believe that people have accepted video games as a true artform quite yet although some certainly get very close (I’m looking at you Okami and Bioshock). I think that these days a lot of the games that come out have either sequelitis or play it safe too much. I’m looking to change that as I think video games can really tell stories and interact with people in a way that no other medium can. I don’t think we’re even close to causing emotions in people like music, film, or tv is quite yet. I can’t wait for the day when we can make people cry, laugh, and feel sad all within the span of a half hour of gaming. I think we’ve just touched the edges of what we can do and we, as game developers and designers, are going to have to really push the boundaries. I also love the indie gaming scene. It tickles me to think that people make games on their own time and come up with stuff like Cave Story and Everyday Shooter. The former was made completely buy a guy in his spare time over five years. All of the art, sound, programming… everything was done by him. Not only is that an achievement, but it’s a really fun and polished game as well. (more…)

Hi there! Glad you could make it! Take your shoes off, grab yourself a nice drink of something comfortable and here, let me light that cigar for you. No, the other end… Oh wow, is that Cuban? Very nice!

I’m Simon Cooke, and I’m a Principle Technology Engineer at Surreal. (I bounce around a lot; I’ve also been Lead Gameplay Programmer on our currently unannounced super-secret-squirrel title, and before that I was Lead Tools Programmer on Suffering: Ties That Bind).

I got my start in this industry at the tender age of 15, working on ports of Prince of Persia, Lemmings, Populous and Zub (if you know that last one, you’re probably British) for the SAM Coupé home computer (and if you know what that is, you’re either British, Czech or from New Zealand). And then for a while I threw it all away and became a journalist (I used to write the Spec Tec Jr column in Your Sinclair magazine in the UK, as well as a number of other not so gamey magazines).

These days, I’ve left the green rolling pastures of industrial inner-city-center Manchester and moved to the much greener, lakier and mountainier fjords and volcanoscapes of Seattle. And I’m loving it. Where else in the world can you commute by driving over a bridge that’s floating on a lake? (more…)

We sit in the aftermath of Surreal’s big TF2 LAN showdown. At the studio we’ve been getting pretty competitive in our matches of Team Fortress 2. Discussions on strategies such as where to place sentry turrets, and how to cap the middle point of Granary are common fare in the offices. However, in the past few weeks it got more and more difficult to squeeze in matches at lunch as we approached last Friday’s big milestone, so we planned a LAN blowout for the day after. Leading up to the big day we had a competition to choose two captains, who each proceeded to forge a team in the fires of Mount Doom. We were destined to meet on the field of battle, and on Saturday, November 10, the milestone was in the can and it was on.

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Like a madeleine for Proust, the sights and sounds of an old video game can bring a whole host of other sensations welling up from my memory. The music from SNKs Crystalis fills my nose with the smell of an old friends carpet, while I can’t think about Tron without tasting a slice of cheeze from the Village Inn Pizza Parlor in Champaign, Illinois- a place I spent many of my parents quarters while they socialized after a softball game. It makes sense that many of my stronger memories would be associated with games. I am, after all, one of the newest members of Surreal’s Systems Design team and I’m living the dream! If you’ll bear with me for a few (or more) paragraphs, I’ll tell you how I got here.

My parents probably never expected that I would one day be earning a living doing anything related to video games. Oddly, I owe it all to my dad. He was an avid pinball player, and while he was flipping that metal ball around, I was entranced with the colorful, noisy, and just plain action packed videogames that were dominating the arcade. By the way, thanks, Dad.

I got my start in the industry working in the QA department at Volition, hometown heroes and creators of classics like Descent, Freespace, Red Faction, Summoner, and Saints Row. It’s pretty cool that answering an ad in the jobs section of the local newspaper let me make the giant leap up from pizza parlor bartender to Game Tester! I think I got the job because I wrote an essay for my application on why Thief was one of the best games of all time. My future boss agreed, and I started my real education in making games testing the sequel to Red Faction for the PlayStation 2. I went on to test games for almost 2 years before I took a risk and quit to devote myself to getting a job as a developer. I traveled along the west coast for a month after that, submitting my resume to various development studios. In Seattle, I was lucky enough to land a job at Gaspowered games in nearby Kirkland. After a few years at Gaspowered, I took another chance and left to work with a startup company, Primate Games, on a project of my own design. That risk didn’t work out quite as well as the last one, and the company had to fold shortly after I joined the team. However, my brief time there was an invaluable experience in getting a project started from the ground up.

Now I hope to put that experience to good use here at Surreal! I’m really excited about working with everyone here. In the few weeks I’ve been here I’ve seen how much everyone here really loves playing and making games, and that passion is inspiring. I’d love to tell you about our super top secret project but… then it wouldn’t be super top secret anymore. Keep checking our company main page for announcements, and thanks for reading!

Like many of the people here at Surreal I am a shooter fan at heart. I have played almost every FPS and Third Person Shooter to come out for the XBOX and the XBOX 360. Unlike Peter, Jim and others I didn’t grow up during the days of Quake. I played my share of Doom II and Marathon, but my days were spent playing GoldenEye and Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 (with a controller).

I have been a console shooter for as long as I can remember. I have logged enough hours over XBOX Live playing Halo 2, Gears of War and every other shooter to call my XBOX my “mistress”. It is my opinion that the peripheral that a player uses is not what makes them twitchy. You are either a “twitch gamer”, someone with lighting quick reflexes and great reaction times, or you are not.

I consider myself a “twitch gamer” so much so in-fact that when I play Halo or Gears I will actually expose myself for you to shoot at, counting on the fact that I will be able to kill you before you can shoot again. I have spent all my time playing shooters with a controller. I have trained myself to be fast and accurate with my thumbs. I play with very high sensitivity and have great control. The high sensitivity allows me to turn fast and being a twitch gamer I am able to keep my accuracy. Sure mouse and keyboard players are fast, but they can’t even accept the possibility that a controller is competitive. To them a controller is inferior.

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This weekend I spent some time at the World Cyber Games at the Qwest Field Event Center. I was manning a booth for Surreal, as part of an special section of the event hosted by local game school Digipen. They were holding a series of presentations, most notably a Symposium for Women in Gaming that included our own Brigitte Samson, who gave a presentation on the growing role of the technical artist in game development. There were booths from other local developers there too, so it was great to get a chance to talk to folks from Zombie, Flying Lab, Monolith and Valve while at the show.

The booth, which we had to whip together sort of last-minute, was purposed as somewhere between education and recruiting. Unfortunately we didn’t have an announced title to talk about or show, so the theme of our booth was more about Midway overall than specifically about the Surreal studio. Luckily, we had some nice materials from Blacksite and Stranglehold… and since we share technology and even assets with those groups (our kick-ass artists and FX group have contributed some great work on those games as well), we consider them to all be part of the same family, so it was cool to represent our peeps nonetheless. (more…)

The following is an extended version of Studio Art Director Mike Nichols’ introduction to the Suffering section of the book, The Art of Midway. All concepts shown here by Ben Olson.

Creating concepts is one of the most exciting stages in the game creation process. It is the first time a team is able to visualize the full potential of an idea. Great concepts inspire a team to reach to greater heights, and solidify the vision of a project for the team. Concept is also an area of increasing demand throughout a games production. At each new generation of consoles and hardware we are able to realize more and more of our visions into these games. And with each of these new advancements comes our reliance on being able to produce more concepts of ever greater detail. More than ever concept is a process that goes hand in hand with development. No longer is concept a phase at the beginning of a project, or a lofty goal unattainable because the technology was not able to produce the images in our imaginations. (more…)

Hello!

 My name is Johan (Yo-han) Eickmeyer, and I’m an Associate Systems Designer here at Surreal Software.

I feel really lucky to start my Game Design carrier at such a top notch company like Surreal. I was really afraid of being stuck in some lame job, making casual games for the first few years. Plus, how many other game developers can claim to have the best waterfront view in Seattle?

Can you really call it “work” when it’s something you do anyways for a hobby? I’ve been doing game design related stuff since the age of 10 when I would make my own games in HyperCard and create game design docs for Nintendo. Most people would not enjoy what I do, but for me? Pure heaven! This is the first job I’ve ever had where I wake up before the alarm clock and can’t wait to get to “work.” Don’t tell my boss, but I actually sneak around schedules to get in more than 40 hours a week. (more…)

Hi! My name’s Jay Pinkerton. I’m often asked what it is I do at Surreal—usually by my co-workers in an accusatory tone, and typically followed with a “You shouldn’t be here” and a threat to call building security.

Just as often I’m not asked anything at all, which at first I assumed represented a quiet trust in my abilities but later realized was because everyone thought I was the guy who stocked the Coke machine in the breakroom. Not wanting to disappoint, I’ve since added this to my list of duties and regularly field complaints that I’m always forgetting to order more Coke Zero. But in addition to this, I’m also the Senior Fiction Designer—alternately ruling the Junior Fiction Designers with an iron fist and dispensing with fatherly wisdom, if there were any Junior Fiction Designers.

My main duty is dialogue—in-game voiceovers, cutscenes—but I also tackle a lot of the game’s plot. “I’m a pretty big deal,” I assure my co-workers, who refuse to believe me. “I could have you fired.” (more…)

We’d like to congratulate the team at Midway Chicago for completing Stranglehold for the Xbox 360! It’s been spotted on store shelves around here, so obviously that’s the official sign! We’ve been playing a lot of it as it approached completion, and it’s a really fun game. They really executed well… It isn’t just about mass destruction, but about using the world around you and gaining the high ground and playing with style. The game rewards you for being the coolest you can be.

We should also call out the incredible work of the Surreal FX team that appears in the game. Every column, chair, and statue all have all been translated into a visual symphony. Perhaps the game isn’t just about mass destruction, but in Stranglehold, even fruit can be capable of dazzling moments. Check it out!

Also, if you dig the visuals of Stranglehold, or if you liked the creepy vibe of The Suffering, you should check out the new Art of Midway book now available! This is concept art on overdrive, including some incredible work from our own Garrett Smith and Ben Olson. These guys create entire worlds with the sweep of their pens (or mice). This is only a sampling of what we see everyday… Thanks also to the Midway art directors for putting this together. Fantastic stuff.