The first thing you’ll want to jump into is Tutorial, which will show you the basics of how to get started with your own projects. You’re given a relatively small “canvas” to work with, but for the purposes of the exercise, it works well. The voice of the omnipotent Creation Well acts as the step-by-step orator to instruction you can either rush through and not get much out of, or take your time with and make an effort to understand the intricate systems. For instance, the first step is placing a playable character in the world. Select a “hero” of your liking among the fantasy style choices offered and “snap” them into the world. Now, this alone does nothing to make them actually “playable.” To bring him/her to life, you must delve into your first bit of Kode. Kode is the GUI programming system in Project Spark that takes away the necessity of knowing a scripting language while still offering plenty of options and depth for flexibility and creativity. The Tutorial will initially have you tinker with the Brain Kode of your hero. In each Kode section, there are two sides to the equation: When and Do. Essentially, it tells the highlighted object “When” this action occurs, “Do” the following. Both have the same set of fields to select actions from: Controls, Objects, Values, Sensors, Movement, Combat, Appearance, Timing and Logic, Camera, Positioning, Math, and so on. Each When and Do section can contain multiple commands. Say you want to assign Jump to A. In all probability, the intention is to make a single A tap equate to one jump. If you were to assign a When command as A in the controller section then go to Do and select Jump from movement, the Kode you just created would tell the character to continuously jump once A was pressed. To create the desired effect, you would need to place an additional tile in the When side called “pressed.” This, then, expresses the intended command: A + pressed = one jump per tap of A.
On other occasions, leaving one side of the Kode equation untouched can be advantageous. For something like the camera perspective, if you want it to always follow behind the hero, a line of Kode with an empty When side and the appropriate Camera selection in Do will yield the “follow” cam style. You’re probably thinking, as extensive as all of this seems, creating a world with multiple good guys and bad guys might be more trouble than it’s worth. Not to worry! Intelligently, Team Dakota has come up with a Kode depository. The Brain Gallery offers basic templates to make the creation of many characters less involved. Selections range from all encompassing 3rd Person Adventure and 2D Sidescroller to simple characteristics determinations like Enemy. And all of these can be customized, so if you want to increase HP levels or change the perspective of something, all of that is well within your control.
Now that you’ve gotten used to creating characters (at least in a novice sense), it’s time to tackle the other big constructs. Sculpting is the term given to terraforming the canvas. With the flip of the left thumbstick, create rolling hills, scaled mountains, quaint streams, deep ponds, and everything in between. You can adjust the size, shape, and “intensity” of the Sculpt tool, which makes it possible to fabricate very specific and detailed features. Once this process is complete, you’ll want to give it some life. The Paint tool offers the ability to wash areas with general landscape overlays of varying types like Woodlands Grass, Stone Path, Scorched Path, and Tree Bark. With the Starter Pack, special layouts (sci-fi inspired Galaxies and Arctic Glaciers) are unlocked. Washing over the “naked” hexagons of untouched surface with these palates is one of the “simpler” things you’ll do while creating in Project Spark, but you will want to observe the Zoom feature while painting. This becomes invaluable when putting on the finishing touches of a mountain range. The Sculpt process can make some pretty intricate sections, so scaling down the Paint “brush” and really getting in to those “hard to reach” places will ensure every inch of canvas is covered. Finally, you can spruce up your world with Props. A litany of items fit for any respectable fantasy adventure title are available. Plant a medieval looking tree, increase the scale for dramatic purposes, and Paint a trail littered with coins up to a flag. Kode the flag to react to a “bump” by a controlled character that bring an end to your first creation! All in all this is a rather clean, easy-to-use system for creating games, and the initial tutorial is great for learning basics functionality. However, there is A LOT of Kode stuff that isn’t covered at all. Currently, this is the only formal how-to instruction offered by the game itself. I think this is a misstep. Yes, there are many other learning experiences available to anyone that understands how a web search engine works. But I don’t think retreating from the game itself to pick up some knew tricks, then picking the controller back up is as effective as it could be. And since Project Spark is a game that’s “never really finished,” I think it would be well worth Team Dakota’s time to release a series of tutorials, ranging from novice to advanced, in the same hands-on approach as the basic one, in order to completely explain all that can be done when creating.
The biggest thing the Starter Pack purchase has going for it is Champions Quest. An adventure experience that can be done alone or with an Xbox LIVE Party member, Quest is a third person action game with a progressive character leveling system. Three Heroes are available right out of the gate. Haakon plays the chivalrous knight with his trusty sword in hand that gains great power as his levels increase. Karlsnor is a good hearted troll with the ability to grow in size and become quite tank-y once his “aggression” meter has filled. And tough heroine Scarlett wields a deadly bow with the power to plant decoy versions of herself when being chased. Chased by whom, you ask? The Void fill in as the antagonists on this journey to uncover the mystery and mystique behind the Rune Stones. The (good guy) Kodians enjoy proliferating peace and prosperity to all, but the aforementioned Stones must be found by the Heroes to restore them to their former glory. From a gameplay standpoint, expect tons of hack n’ slash mixed in with a little platforming and Kode phrases acting as puzzles. In one objective, you may need to allow a Spark (floating light pulse that can terraform land in order to create elevation changes, and land bridges, and so on) to make a path to a group of Void enemies. In another, you may run into a gate that is out of commission, at which point you’ll need to take up arms and find the missing Kode variables in order to finish the equation and reactivate the barricade. Champions Quest is a really fun way to get accustomed to the game’s quirks all the while playing a somewhat challenging adventure platformer.
My favorite part of the entire package is playing what other folks in the community have created. To be fair, the whole point of Project Spark is to give budding creators a set of tools that are easy to comprehend, but deep enough to allow for some real ambition to come to light. Of course, I’m talking in terms of what’s possible. Speaking bluntly, there are just as many unfinished, unpolished, uninteresting, or just downright dumb “games” floating around as there are true gems. Take a game called PURGATORY 2D by Thewebstergamer. Although the “scale” might be a tick on the small side, this sidescroller has tight controls, a decent enemy spawn system, steady camera work, and amazing use of bright and dim light to create an amazing visual backdrop and foreground. As long as Thewebstergamer continues to tweak its creation for the better, this could be a sterling example of what a creation in Project Spark can be: a fun, interesting, original entry into a huge library of other home grown submissions. Another one of similar ilk is IanIrod’s sports title Ultimate Frisbee. A 4v4, open field competition where the objective is to toss the frisbee into the opposing goal and reach the score limit before the other team to win. With passing, jumping, and “checking,” this plays like a simple, but honest-to-goodness sports game. Accurate passing among teammates is vital to marching down the field and setting up scores. You must also be sure not to “over extend” during an offensive possession, or you’ll leave yourself open to easy counter attacks. And with adjustable CPU difficulty and optional Multiplayer Play, this is one of the most fun and solidly put together games I’ve played yet from the community.
On the other hand, sometimes you’ll find bad works like Project Pokemon Battle by XSHADOW1012. This is a rather crude and sloppy exhibit. You’ll pick a starting character like Geodude or Pollywrath (I think) and throw down in a circular world against stock Spark characters that are labeled Pikachu, Pidgy, Magikarp, and so on. And while you’re susceptible to taking damage, most of them can’t be defeated because they don’t have a similar HP bar. But somehow Blastoise, the biggest/baddest monster in “Battle”, can be knocked out. It’s this type of thing that really degrades the spirit and good intentions sought out by others creating games. Of course, intense policing of submitted works would also put a damper on things. So the basis of the community is currently at a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” standstill. The responsibility is then placed at the thumbs of us, the members that make up said community. We have to be diligent in voting down things that need additional work and attention. This isn’t to flame or troll the creator, but if Project Spark is to ever become an place that can showcase real talent and inspire dedicated creators to take the next step in their game development journey, it’ll be up to Team Dakota to foster and cultivate an ecosystem where really good projects are displayed well above lazily constructed stuff done out of boredom.
The presentation is pretty good, but doesn’t have signature “wow” moments like most next-gen titles have given to this point. Everything has a very whimsical feel to it. It’s kind of cartoon-y in nature, but don’t think of it as cel shaded. There are rich colors, defined models, and decipherable texture differences. I just wasn’t taken back by what I was seeing, whether that be in Champions Quest or in community games, during the play test. The audio quality follows in similar consistency. Nothing sounds really chintzy or flat. And considering the wide scope of Project Spark, that’s saying something. Again, though, none of the sounds are all that great, either. The presentation package seem to serve a purpose: to convey the type of themes that are consistent throughout the game. This objective is completed without difficulty. Just don’t expect much above that.
