Where's Waldo? Ubisoft's press release

UBISOFT® SEARCHES FOR WALDO IN UPCOMING VIDEO GAME
Ludia Inc. and Rights Owner, Classic Media, Partner to Develop “Where’s Waldo?®” Video Game
SAN FRANCISCO – July 16, 2009 – Today Ubisoft announces it will bring publishing phenomenon Where’s Waldo?® to life in a new interactive adventure video game titled “Where’s Waldo?® The Fantastic Journey.” Created by Ludia Inc., “Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey” is an original interactive adventure for the whole family, as players scour the virtual globe in search of Waldo, his friends and other hidden objects. The game will be available for the Wii^TM system from Nintendo, the Nintendo DS^TM system, Windows-based PC and Mac and sold at North American retailers in September 2009.
“Where’s Waldo? has been a cultural phenomenon for more than 20 years, with fans of all ages on the hunt for the elusive world traveler in the red-and-white striped shirt. We are looking forward to bringing an interactive Where’s Waldo? adventure to fans of the highly-acclaimed book series and introducing an entirely new generation to the pop culture icon,” said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft.
“Waldo is one of the most recognizable characters in the world, and his adventurous spirit is exactly what inspired Ludia to create this dynamic hidden object game series for the whole family to enjoy,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc.
In the game, players look for Waldo and friends, in addition to hundreds of hidden items in twelve different magical worlds. “Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey” can be played in
single- or multiplayer mode. In the multiplayer mode, gameplay is enhanced through a variety of power-up features where players unleash different special effects to gain an advantage over opponents or enhance their own search capabilities.
Power-ups include:

Wacky Paint: Splatter colorful paint onto your opponent’s screen to obscure the view.

Thunder Clap: Cast thunder onto your opponent and make the screen shake.

Frosty: Freeze the search window by encasing it in ice.

Sparkly: Keep your eyes on the twinkle and glitter effects to detect items.

And many more!

A Life Well Wasted

 Here's what I'm listening to while working:

 A Life Well Wasted

Robert Ashley's new podcast about gaming has a solid documentary-like structure, cool music, yet still remains kind of personal. The latest episode asks a very simple question, "Why game?". At first, he receives easy answers like "for fun", but it moves on to solid commentary about gaming habits.

A Classic (NOOB) mistake

Ok, I went right down the noob mistake path.

Game design is something you learn little by little, by completing projects. Before getting into large-scale projects, a designer should settle for smaller games, complete them, and learn from the process. Starting from a very simple game like Tic Tac Toe or Tetris and moving on to more complex games when the designer is stable in the full game making process.

I'll think of a smaller idea, still in the Cooking theme, and work on that.

An introduction to the Games Page + Food Noob - 0.0.005

I will hold this page to keep some kind of journal of the evolution of my game projects, starting with (working title) Food Noob, the platformer I am currently working on. This is also my first Game Maker project.

This page will be boring as hell at first, but as soon as game features, screenshots, videos and demos are available it could become the coolest place in town. Maybe.

I am currently programming the Prototype, in which I'll test most of the gameplay elements in a sandbox. I am using Super Mario sprites for now so no screenshot just yet!

This has already been poster on the journal but whatever: Here are preliminary pixel art test characters I created using mix and match parts.

Here's today's work log (AKA everything I did today!)

Platforming system in progress:

Solid Platforms
- Also Jump-through Platforms
- Moving platforms (although character does not follow the moving platform as it slides under him. It is still useable to create path-following block platforms like in Super Mario World, but I have to figure out a way to make moving platforms that stay with the character)

Walking
- Smooth walking left and right, slows down before stopping/changing direction
- Running while holding Run Button.
- Jumping farther when running.
- Running speed still needs to be adjusted

Screen View follows character with padding

Set maximum vertical speed when falling to avoid "meteor" effect :P

Jumping
- Height changes according to how long you hold Jump Button
- Hitting a solid block with head will bounce the character back down
- Fixed possibility of beginning running while in the air

Bouncing objects
- Objects (right now it's a tomato ^_^) falling on the ground can bounce a couple of times, reducing their vertical speed each time, then land calmly on the ground.

Background Tiling System
- Even if this might change to a fully illustrated look, for now a map of tiles is available to design sandbox levels, using Super Mario sprites -_-'

Objects that are ready to transfer from 0.0.001a to 0.0.005:
- Picking up objects
- Throwing objects
- Personal Shield Bubble
- Platform Creation
- Bullet throwing, circular or mouse-directed

Next Steps

• Legal Placeholder Art to publish screenshots here
• Throwing mechanic
• Enemies and their basic AI
• More detailed sandbox layout to test different environments
• Destructible blocks

 Prototype Goals

• Working platforming system
• One playable character with generic gameplay mechanics
• Some sample enemy behavior

That's it for today folks.

I'll be putting this Donate button here, not that I expect people to start giving me money for free or anything, just in case some millionaire dood walks by and likes my page layout or something.
^_^

Cell Defender

I just uploaded Cell Defender, my second attempt at game making, made in little time with little means, to this website. Keeping in mind that this game is old and cheap, try it out, see how long you can defend your wall against the invaders. The shooting mechanic I think is sort of original (bullets start flying when you collide with tiny orange defenders that spawn from the wall) and I would definitely love to explore it more later on.

Download it here.

Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey

The game I am currently lead artist on at Ludia has been recently announced! We don't have screenshots yet, but I'll keep this journal up to date on official media releases for the first game in the Where's Waldo series, which is based on the Fantastic Journey book.

I still have my old worn-out french copy - it was easily one of my favorite books as a kid. My favorite world has always been The Fighting Foresters, in which green ladies fight off some dark armor-clad knights in a dense forest. Since the level of detail and the small-scale comedy filling the fantastic worlds always fascinated me, designing the game around exploring and going deeper than only finding the title character in each page was a no-brainer for me.

Don't go thinking I'm only doing advertising for the game - I am beyond excited about this project since the very first pitch. Ever since, the game has grown with the Waldo Team's efforts and has become a magnificient game, as Wizard Whitebeard would say! I can't wait to show more and to share the fun that is Where's Waldo? with everyone once it is released.

From the Press Release:

Interactive entertainment company Ludia Inc. and Entertainment Rights jointly announced today that Ludia will create video games based on publishing phenomenon and ultimate world traveler, Where’s Waldo?®. Through the exclusive multi-year deal, the pop culture icon will leap from the pages of his best-selling books to engaging new games for consoles, PC/Mac, iPhone and iPod touch—for the first time ever. The first in the game series, “Where’s Waldo?: The Fantastic Journey” is slated to launch across several major platforms later this year.

Where’s Waldo? video games will feature all of the treasured scenes and characters from the classic books, brought to life in a unique hidden-object adventure that is intrinsic to the brand. Now, families can JOIN THE SEARCH! with up to four players in several different themed environments, competitive or cooperative game modes, as well as jaw-dropping power-ups and rich rewards systems.

Small article on Joystiq

Full Press Release on Ludia.com