Category Archives: Projects

BaiJiu Racer, General

BaiJiu Racer Concept Announcement

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Widescreen BaiJiu Race

Bai Jiu Racing

Today we’re going to try something a little different: Pitching a video game concept!

Traditionally when I’ve pitched game concepts the process involved face-to-face meetings with potential publishers, use of our agents (CAA) back in Los Angeles, and lots of traveling. Well, I’m getting old, China is FAR from the rest of the world, and the Internet can do a lot of amazing things, so here’s a game pitch for the next generation:

Announcing “BaiJiu Racer” – An MMO-lite racing game concept with China as the core theme. The concept has been in focused pre-production for the past three months here at Spicy Horse. Working with our Chinese publishing partner ICEE we’ve crafted a solid Game Design Document, Technical Design Document, Art Bible, Visual Target Demo, and Development Plan. Together these materials constitute a compelling pitch for a title we think will be a strong competitor in the worldwide, lite-MMO, online racing category (think “Kart Racer”).

A lot of teams dream of a “Mario Cart” or “KartRider” killer – and we think our concept goes a long ways towards being a viable contender. For one, it’s the first Chinese cart racing game developed with an authentic and original Chinese art style, set in real-world locations, and featuring some of the funkiest racing vehicle designs the world has ever seen (inspiration coming from actual Chinese vehicles). We’re focusing on semi-realistic (and fun) physics-based racing dynamic, going light on the power-ups, and throwing in a lot of visual action. Check out the art and video to see the result.

A few key features and differentiators:
* Distinctive art style featuring a timeless portrayal of everyday Chinese people and locations
* A clean and clear graphic style for UI
* Core gameplay focused on skill-based racing, avoiding fun-killing power-ups
* Strong narrative backbone and emotional drama – “everyone can be a hero”
* Unique and interesting vehicle designs based on real-life Chinese vehicles
* Track locations that reveal a China few foreigners have seen
* Risk reduction in production through use of 3rd-party tools and engine (UE3)
* A fast and efficient project schedule built on Spicy’s proven development processes

Our Chinese publishing partner ICEE has a lock on the publishing rights in China. What we’re looking for now is a publisher interested in the remaining world-wide rights. We might also be open to territory specific deals with the right partners.

To learn more about BaiJiu Racer and what’s on offer, you can do the following:

Visit my Flickr Account to view a collection of concept artwork related to the project.

Visit my YouTube Channel to watch a video of sample game play, primarily intended to show the art style working in-engine.

Finally, email me to request information (GDD, TDD, budget, schedule, etc) relevant to deciding if the publishing rights are a fit for you.

Spicy Horse has established itself as one of the strongest independent game developers in China. Following the success of Grimm we’re growing and expanding to leverage our core talents, process oriented development methods, and inspirational location. If you’re interested in learning more about the studio, our capabilities, and our ideas, let me know!

GameTap, Grimm

Grimm’s Back! (Almost)

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WolfStalker

Nice Wolf, Nice Rabies

Whew! It’s been a while since I wrote a post. Was off in Japan, enjoying some trees, checking out Tokyo Game Show, eating lots of awesome food, and working on The Next Big Thing. Back in Shanghai since last weekend – been catching up on Grimm production, a mountain of emails, and the start of TNBT. Speaking of, we had our official pre-production kick-off meeting today! Big day!

But wait, we’re getting ahead of ourselves! There’s another 16 episodes of Grimm still coming down the pipe. And best of all, these new episodes keep getting better and better. Don’t believe me? Then check out what David Craddock over at Big Download has to say about the next “season” of episodes:

Everything that made Grimm fun has returned, and everything that didn’t appears to have been trimmed away. As someone who often deliberated between yay and nay when it came to Grimm’s first season, I can say with confidence that The Master Thief provides a promising glimpse of what awaits us when Season Two begins later this month.

David goes on to talk about the release schedule for the next series of 8 episodes, which will see Episode 9 “The Master Thief” released on October 30th:

Speaking exclusively to Big Download, publisher GameTap has revealed the full line-up for the next season of developer Spicy Horse’s American McGee’s Grimm. Beginning on October 30, the next season of Grimm features expanded mechanics that allow for a deeper gameplay experience than that of Season One. The title of each new episode, as well as its respective release date, can be found below.

10/30 – The Master Thief
11/06 – The Singing Bone
11/13 – King Midas
11/20 – Cinderella
11/27 – The Golden Goose
12/04 – Iron John
12/11 – The Pied Piper
12/18 – A Christmas Carol

Master Thief is certainly worth a try – we added in a ton of fun content specifically for Halloween. And wouldn’t you know it, Grimm loves Halloween!

I’ve updated the countdown clock on the site so you can keep track of what’s coming and when it’s arrived. As with the first 8 episodes, each new episode is FREE FOR 24 HOURS on GameTap. Set your alarms for October 30th and head over to GameTap for more Grimm fun.

Grimm

Episode 8 – Beauty and the Beast

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Grimm Beast

The Nefarious Beast

Woot! Episode 8! The final episode of this first chunk of 8! This time Grimm is visiting the classic tale of “Beauty and the Beast“. And boy is this episode a cool one. First off, it is BIG. Second off, it features a ton of PIRATES. And lastly, did I mention the pirates? Yeah, I know, I know, Disney’s version didn’t have pirates in it. But then, Grimm really likes pirates. (Looking at the P2P networks it seems the pirates like Grimm too!)

Amazing to think we’ve gotten through the first batch of 8 episodes. That’s an episode every week for 8 weeks – 2 months of cool episodic game content. That’s some kinda video game history, right? Hmmm… well… Maybe when we release *another* 8 episodes, and then another.

Speaking of, Grimm’s going on a little break. I can’t say for how long exactly – but more than 1 month, less than 2 months. Then he’ll be back with 8 new episodes, all new game mechanics, power ups, and FUN.

Be sure to check out Episode 8 on GameTap.

Grimm

Grimm Episode 7 – “Devil Hairs”

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Forest Yeti

Yeti again.

Just like clockwork we released the latest episode of Grimm. And like a broken clock, I neglected to mark the occasion in my usual fashion – with a blog post. Oops. Truth is, I took a much needed break from the computer, Internet, and work in general. This weekend was Mid-Autumn festival in China. A time to eat moon cakes while celebrating abundance and togetherness. It also gave us at Spicy Horse a solid 3~4 day weekend. Yay.

Anyway, back to “this week’s” episode (by which of course I mean last week’s episode), “The Devil and His 3 Golden Hairs“. A harrowing tale which Grimm transforms into a filthy mountain of vomit, starvation, Satan plucking, and King bashing. Best of all, there’s NO WEDDING in this tale!

That’s a funny thing we noticed as we began designing episodes to fit around well-known fairy tales: Almost all contain a wedding. It’s as if getting married was the penultimate moment in a person’s life way-back-when. After achieving marry-dom, it was all over. No more adventure, no more goal, just pop out some children, wait for them to run off on fairy tale adventures ending in marriage, and die. Non too appealing. Grimm never really thought so either.

Almost from the start we got bored with the concept of “weddings in fairy tales”. So we did the only thing we knew how, got surreal. So don’t be surprised to discover some odd goings-on at the various weddings you encounter in Grimm episodes. Invading pirates, ghostly strippers emerging from cakes, and so forth.

Anyway, be sure to check out “The Devil and his 3 Golden Hairs” over on GameTap this week. And prepare yourself for the mid-season finale on Thursday, September 18th – “Beauty and the Beast”. This is one truly gigantic, beautiful, awesome, and funny episode. You won’t want to miss it.

After this week’s episode we’ll take a short break, then be back before you know it with 8 all new episodes!

Grimm

Grimm Episode 6 – “Godfather Death”

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Fenrir

Dogfather Death

Grimm episodes just keep coming! Another week, another episode. This week, Episode 6, “Godfather Death”. This happens to be one of my favorite episodes. It features a solid and amusing story, great character interaction, some awesome game play, and really cool visual effects. Also, you can turn nuns into demons – what’s better than that!?

Be sure to check it “Godfather Death” over on GameTap in the first 24 hours after release, because well, you know, it’s FREE! Seriously, what beats turning nuns into demons for FREE? How about doing all that and then watching them push their own nunnery into a lake of lava? Mmmm… Lava. You can check out “Godfather Death” on Gametap by following this LINK.

When you’ve played the episode be sure to let us know what you think. You can comment here on my blog, visit the forums on americanmcgee.com or head over to the forums on GameTap.

Next week – “The Devil and his Three Golden Hairs”!

UPDATE: Big Download and IGN have both already posted their reviews of Godfather Death. They’re both really positive in their own way (Jimmy seems to be enjoying this one despite himself, poor thing). Here’s some of what they have to say:

David Craddock @ Big Download: “Personally, however, I found Godfather Death’s seven levels to be among the most unique featured in the series yet. God’s domain, a place of green pastures and frolicking do-gooders, becomes ravaged by lightning bolts hurled by the big man after Grimm’s diseased presence invokes His fury at not being chosen by the father. Animals, humans, and the land alike are struck by God’s sizzling vengeance as the sky becomes dark and wrathful, birds burst into flame and fall to the ground, and God’s cheeks blush red with rage.”

Jimmy Thang @ IGN: “I‘m glad to say that this episode is arguably the best in the series so far. New weather effects, like snow, have been added and it offers a cool, visual dynamic. This episode also has some really cool light-to-dark transformations. Cactuses will split open to reveal decapitated human heads within. One level has you butt stomping nuns to turn them into flying demons. In the level where you encounter God, after you stink up enough area, God will be enraged and rain down lightning bolts down from the sky to wipe out some of the enemies who clean up after your mess.”

Yep, Grimm just keeps getting better. At this rate, by the time we get to episode 24, we should be getting scores of 10!

General, Grimm

“Girl Without Hands” Review

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Hun King

Hun Warrior King

Steven Wong over at Big Download has written another positive Grimm review. In the review Steven says:

We were also very pleased to find Grimm taking stronger liberties with the story, changing it from a deranged story about fate into a revenge tale. Justifications are provided to help fill in some of the glaring plot holes and leaps of logic. In the end, the daughter gains retribution against her father. It’s not a happy ending, but it’s certainly a satisfying one. As an added bonus, Grimm’s intervention transforms everything into a dark, bloody and truly wicked world. Characters are portrayed with boxy marionettes, but it’s still great to see their heads on pikes while blood rains down.

American McGee’s Grimm is headed in a good direction with its episode-by-episode gameplay adjustments. Even with the added difficulty, the entire game can still be completed in less than thirty minutes.

What I appreciate about Steven’s reviews is that he’s clearly someone who enjoys the game as it was designed and isn’t down on it for not being something different. This is directly opposite the approach of eternally put-upon reviewer Jimmy Thang over at IGN, who approaches weekly reviews of Grimm in hopes that between episodes the engine, genre, play style, graphics, and general “hard-coreness” of the game have been completely overhauled and/or replaced.

He’s yet to realize this is akin to looking for a goat in a bicycle shop.

This contrast in response is one I’m seeing in players and reviewers alike. And I’ve thought about it quite a bit. I think about it because we designed Grimm’s presentation and mechanics to be gradually evolved over the course of episode releases. Listening to user response and feedback is critical to informing the decisions we make about how the game evolves.

Feedback of the “this is great, I love it” sort is nice, but as useless as the “the graphics engine is still the same” type. Neither is quantifiable, objective, or realistic enough for us to utilize in developing future episodes. Still, Jimmy’s approach to review and final judgment suggest a reader should skip a particular episode until it reaches a certain acceptability level in terms of platform gaming, graphics engine sophistication, and power-up distribution. He ignores the fact that the game is a FREE invitation for the audience to be involved in the feedback loop and evolution of the game.

Ultimately, this rigid application of static critique to a medium that is dynamic – interactive! – indicates a lack of awareness about the innovations in our industry, its products, and its audience.

Then again, some people are fond of goats. Bleat.