Ty3 - Night of the Quinken design review.

Forum
Game Design

The following is only my view and ONLY my view. no one else is responsable for this garbage XD

Ty3 Design Review: By Chris Watts [Caroo]

Quick overview:

I bought Ty3 two days after it came out in the stores, and finished it within 8 hours of play. There are significantly less missions in the game and the focus has been on repeatability to be able to get all the extra stuff to get the fabled 100% (which in my guess is the good ending in which fluffy doesn?t die.)

Improvements over the two predecessors are manly; customizable rangs, the visual quality has gone up quite a good deal. Bugs are rare and are few and far between. Mechanically it's a well-polished game.

I have to take a little bit of time to congratulate the animators of Ty3. The motions are much more fluid and real then in Ty2. Expression is more empathized and overdone; which, is just the way a cartoon style game should be done.

The new crab vehicle while a little odd is very cool. It was fun to drive and enjoyable to shot countless missiles; Although, I question the need for a health bar. When you die you start back where you die anyway. You may as well just be indestructible.

Level design has changed. The levels used to be much bigger and more for exploring. While exploring levels is still an important part of Ty3 they have gotten smaller and more focused. Some levels are just one maze line Ty has to follow with an accomplice. Even more so you can solve and find most extras with a lash rang + Ultra stone + Earth stone + whatever else; while, levels are wonderfully designed visually. Their playability kind of suffers.

The Bunyips are fun. Although having levels dedicated to them and not being able to get into them like in Ty2 was a bit of a bummer. Weapons are pretty cool. The Orbital cannon my favorite, as it's just an ?insta-death? weapon.

The Gunyip, One of the games leading features I thought to be a kind of Starfox homage. It's fun. But you?re only playing in 2 dimensions; Forwards and turning left and right. You can do Starfox like aerial maneuvers but there not that helpful. The missions are fun and the environments look stunning.

The storyline is about as the same as it was in Ty2. It's there to keep the game flowing and to keep a purpose. While not a horrible storyline it suffers from plot holes and continuity issues. For example fluffy becomes Ty's friend a little too spontaneous and a little to conveniently. But it's a kid game and thus doesn?t need a complex storyline. I would like to see improvement though. The storyline of Jak 3, while not complex ether, was fluid and consistent. While Ty3 has a few bumps here and there.

Abort ? retry ? fail.

While Ty3 is a huge improvement in both game play and graphics? to the previous two games. However I?ve found one or two things in the game that do annoy me. In curtain points and parts of the game there is some design flaws. Here are a few:

Blast those Quinken! ...Just remember to tap the X button? [PS2]

This one makes me chuckle. When you get to the end of a level you?re meet with a lizard called Steve. You?ve been chasing this guy through the level. That's the fun part. At the end; however, when you get to this house there's a cliff with what I?d call a ?wave laser? turret. Ok so you get to Steve's? house and then, you?re without warning or even told what to do attacked by quicken air units. Ok the 12-year-old kid can figure that much out. Get in the turret and take down the enemies. But this is the design killer. You are NOT told that tapping the X button will increase your turrets? power enough to easily take down the enemy. And because the laser beam in constant and doesn?t disappear you can be easily fooled that all you SHOULD be doing is holding down the X button? NOT tapping it like the designer wanted you to. The laser beam is crap at this point in time and you easily die before making 4-18 kills. I only figured that tapping the X-button gave more power to the weapon through mindless experimentation.

Now, if I?m the quick-to-frustrate 12 year old, I think I?d try that at most? 3-4 times before turning the game off. And as this even isn?t something that can be skipped, I might not come back to the game at all, just move on and play sly 3 or Jak 3 ... Both are very good platform games.

This error didn?t have to happen and I can?t figure out why it did. Ty3 has many convenient pop ups that state how to use controls and the like. One before this turret game would be a lifesaver and simply dispel any frustration.

What did that rang stone do again? [PS2]

If you don?t already know, the guys at Krome did indeed up there game in TY3. Instead of buying preset Rangs of different properties you get rang shells that have gem slots [just think Diablo two] that you fill with gems of different attributes. And the more of one you put in the more powerful it gets.

Here's the problem. While it's stated what gem will do what in the instruction manual and when you go to buy them. But when in the middle of a mission or when you really want to customize that rang there is nothing in the menu section that tells you what gem does what. The elementals are easy enough to figure out. But, explain to me how a ?ULTRA? gem lets you see invisible objects. So it gets annoying when I have to flip through the manual to figure out something that shouldn?t have to be figured out.

This small issue can be remedied very easily. In the options menu under the rang customization something as simple as pressing the O button to bring up a small description and picture of the gem and what it does would be a huge help to the player. But it's just not done.

Button Button?whoooos got the button! [PS2]

Button puzzles are a now-and-then occurrence in TY3. Some are pretty easy. Others make you say. ?What was going on there??

It's not really a problem. More an annoyance then anything but on one particular level you have to hit 3 buttons to let a metal box come oven to get to a power generator you need to activate 2 buttons are obvious and easy to find. The other button is outside the general field of area.

That's not the frustrating thing. The frustrating thing is that you?re not told there's 3 buttons you need to press. No indications once again. This could be fixed by putting in three lights. Each one turns on for the button you press. That doesn?t happen.

EWWWW GOOP JUICE!! [PS2]

The environment you used to drive to in ty2 to get from the town to your missions has been totally revamped, No longer a jeep and roads. You drive a crab mobile with missiles and claws, Great idea!!!

There is however one problem. A good deal of the paths you take to get around on the two world maps are littered with purple goo. I?m assuming this is quinken infection onto the land. Cool concept. Only it impedes on the players fun.

It slows you down and damn it's annoying! Whether it was put into the game to slow the game speed, or to make the player utilize the jump button. Overall I don?t see the point of having the goo on the path. The game would be more flowing and fast passed if it wasn?t there. And that's one of the things that kids by these types of games for. Fast passed action.

THE FUTURE!!

There are always things you can do to improve games. Even games that get 10/10 can always improve in some way or another. Refinement of ideas and game play is what sequels are all about really, that and making more money of integrated property that requires no build up.

I have a few ideas myself. And I think there on par with the designers at Krome. I did predict customizable rangs before it was disclosed as a feature of Ty 3.

I?d love to see customizable Bunyips. Like in the game Armored core the player can buy different pods, arms, legs, weapons and engines. This giving the player more to fool around with and plus; you could make those parts into toys and merchandise for kids to collect and make their favorite Bunyip in real life.

Other playable characters would be nice to, Different characters for different situations; Ty for rescuing and helping out the residents of southern rivers, Shazz for more delicate operations like saving a kid, And Sly for advancing attacks on Boss Cass's operations.

Longer game would be nice to. The Ty series while very pretty to say the least is also very short. Ty3 was forgiven for this because lets face it. Its starting price was $50 and therefore should accommodate 10 hours of solid game play. While 8hours for me I?m guessing a kid would finish in around 10.

You?ve done a good job Krome; A fine and polished game with only a few flaws. But always try to improve on the old.

Forum
Game Design

The following is only my view and ONLY my view. no one else is responsable for this garbage XD

Ty3 Design Review: By Chris Watts [Caroo]

Quick overview:

I bought Ty3 two days after it came out in the stores, and finished it within 8 hours of play. There are significantly less missions in the game and the focus has been on repeatability to be able to get all the extra stuff to get the fabled 100% (which in my guess is the good ending in which fluffy doesn?t die.)

Improvements over the two predecessors are manly; customizable rangs, the visual quality has gone up quite a good deal. Bugs are rare and are few and far between. Mechanically it's a well-polished game.

I have to take a little bit of time to congratulate the animators of Ty3. The motions are much more fluid and real then in Ty2. Expression is more empathized and overdone; which, is just the way a cartoon style game should be done.

The new crab vehicle while a little odd is very cool. It was fun to drive and enjoyable to shot countless missiles; Although, I question the need for a health bar. When you die you start back where you die anyway. You may as well just be indestructible.

Level design has changed. The levels used to be much bigger and more for exploring. While exploring levels is still an important part of Ty3 they have gotten smaller and more focused. Some levels are just one maze line Ty has to follow with an accomplice. Even more so you can solve and find most extras with a lash rang + Ultra stone + Earth stone + whatever else; while, levels are wonderfully designed visually. Their playability kind of suffers.

The Bunyips are fun. Although having levels dedicated to them and not being able to get into them like in Ty2 was a bit of a bummer. Weapons are pretty cool. The Orbital cannon my favorite, as it's just an ?insta-death? weapon.

The Gunyip, One of the games leading features I thought to be a kind of Starfox homage. It's fun. But you?re only playing in 2 dimensions; Forwards and turning left and right. You can do Starfox like aerial maneuvers but there not that helpful. The missions are fun and the environments look stunning.

The storyline is about as the same as it was in Ty2. It's there to keep the game flowing and to keep a purpose. While not a horrible storyline it suffers from plot holes and continuity issues. For example fluffy becomes Ty's friend a little too spontaneous and a little to conveniently. But it's a kid game and thus doesn?t need a complex storyline. I would like to see improvement though. The storyline of Jak 3, while not complex ether, was fluid and consistent. While Ty3 has a few bumps here and there.

Abort ? retry ? fail.

While Ty3 is a huge improvement in both game play and graphics? to the previous two games. However I?ve found one or two things in the game that do annoy me. In curtain points and parts of the game there is some design flaws. Here are a few:

Blast those Quinken! ...Just remember to tap the X button? [PS2]

This one makes me chuckle. When you get to the end of a level you?re meet with a lizard called Steve. You?ve been chasing this guy through the level. That's the fun part. At the end; however, when you get to this house there's a cliff with what I?d call a ?wave laser? turret. Ok so you get to Steve's? house and then, you?re without warning or even told what to do attacked by quicken air units. Ok the 12-year-old kid can figure that much out. Get in the turret and take down the enemies. But this is the design killer. You are NOT told that tapping the X button will increase your turrets? power enough to easily take down the enemy. And because the laser beam in constant and doesn?t disappear you can be easily fooled that all you SHOULD be doing is holding down the X button? NOT tapping it like the designer wanted you to. The laser beam is crap at this point in time and you easily die before making 4-18 kills. I only figured that tapping the X-button gave more power to the weapon through mindless experimentation.

Now, if I?m the quick-to-frustrate 12 year old, I think I?d try that at most? 3-4 times before turning the game off. And as this even isn?t something that can be skipped, I might not come back to the game at all, just move on and play sly 3 or Jak 3 ... Both are very good platform games.

This error didn?t have to happen and I can?t figure out why it did. Ty3 has many convenient pop ups that state how to use controls and the like. One before this turret game would be a lifesaver and simply dispel any frustration.

What did that rang stone do again? [PS2]

If you don?t already know, the guys at Krome did indeed up there game in TY3. Instead of buying preset Rangs of different properties you get rang shells that have gem slots [just think Diablo two] that you fill with gems of different attributes. And the more of one you put in the more powerful it gets.

Here's the problem. While it's stated what gem will do what in the instruction manual and when you go to buy them. But when in the middle of a mission or when you really want to customize that rang there is nothing in the menu section that tells you what gem does what. The elementals are easy enough to figure out. But, explain to me how a ?ULTRA? gem lets you see invisible objects. So it gets annoying when I have to flip through the manual to figure out something that shouldn?t have to be figured out.

This small issue can be remedied very easily. In the options menu under the rang customization something as simple as pressing the O button to bring up a small description and picture of the gem and what it does would be a huge help to the player. But it's just not done.

Button Button?whoooos got the button! [PS2]

Button puzzles are a now-and-then occurrence in TY3. Some are pretty easy. Others make you say. ?What was going on there??

It's not really a problem. More an annoyance then anything but on one particular level you have to hit 3 buttons to let a metal box come oven to get to a power generator you need to activate 2 buttons are obvious and easy to find. The other button is outside the general field of area.

That's not the frustrating thing. The frustrating thing is that you?re not told there's 3 buttons you need to press. No indications once again. This could be fixed by putting in three lights. Each one turns on for the button you press. That doesn?t happen.

EWWWW GOOP JUICE!! [PS2]

The environment you used to drive to in ty2 to get from the town to your missions has been totally revamped, No longer a jeep and roads. You drive a crab mobile with missiles and claws, Great idea!!!

There is however one problem. A good deal of the paths you take to get around on the two world maps are littered with purple goo. I?m assuming this is quinken infection onto the land. Cool concept. Only it impedes on the players fun.

It slows you down and damn it's annoying! Whether it was put into the game to slow the game speed, or to make the player utilize the jump button. Overall I don?t see the point of having the goo on the path. The game would be more flowing and fast passed if it wasn?t there. And that's one of the things that kids by these types of games for. Fast passed action.

THE FUTURE!!

There are always things you can do to improve games. Even games that get 10/10 can always improve in some way or another. Refinement of ideas and game play is what sequels are all about really, that and making more money of integrated property that requires no build up.

I have a few ideas myself. And I think there on par with the designers at Krome. I did predict customizable rangs before it was disclosed as a feature of Ty 3.

I?d love to see customizable Bunyips. Like in the game Armored core the player can buy different pods, arms, legs, weapons and engines. This giving the player more to fool around with and plus; you could make those parts into toys and merchandise for kids to collect and make their favorite Bunyip in real life.

Other playable characters would be nice to, Different characters for different situations; Ty for rescuing and helping out the residents of southern rivers, Shazz for more delicate operations like saving a kid, And Sly for advancing attacks on Boss Cass's operations.

Longer game would be nice to. The Ty series while very pretty to say the least is also very short. Ty3 was forgiven for this because lets face it. Its starting price was $50 and therefore should accommodate 10 hours of solid game play. While 8hours for me I?m guessing a kid would finish in around 10.

You?ve done a good job Krome; A fine and polished game with only a few flaws. But always try to improve on the old.