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Occassional thoughts about orienteering


Friday, November 15, 2002

CatchingFeatures makes a splash in Sweden

 

Alternativet has been buzzing with discussion about the O' game CatchingFeatures. They just published an article based on an interview with the game's creator, Biggins.

Here is a quick translation of Alternativet's article.

Catching Features, a promising O’ game

Based on the reaction at Eftersnacket, many of you have already tried it. The new O’ game, Catching Features, seems promising. We interviewed the game’s creator.

Greg Walker, an American, is the man behind the game Catching Features. Greg has been an orienteer for ten years, but he isn’t doing so much these days, mostly because he wrestles and is on the track team at his school.

A good O’ game was missing
Greg, or Biggins as he also calls himself, created the game for two reasons. There weren’t any good orienteering games that he liked. He thought he could do better. The other reason is that the game is a bit of a demonstration to help get a job. Greg studies at MIT and will finish his studies in the spring. He’s thinking of looking for a job as a computer game programmer and the game is a demonstration of his performance as a game creator.

Currenlty there is only a demo version of the game available and Biggins says he will have some new things in the final version. The biggest thing will be that the program creates its own maps. After you specify the type of terrain the computer will generate a random image of the terrain and map.

What is it like to play?
Serious computer game players immediately notice how the movement of the characters and the overall look is similar to the best-selling Tomb Raider. Running the easiest courses, where you just run along handrails, is easy. The only real difficulty is occasional crashes into tress. You can also be knocked down by other runners in the forest.

You immediately have problems when you go out in the forest off the trails. Just like the earlier O’ games, it is difficult to simulate the relationship between active map reading and looking at the terrain. But if you stay sharp, you can do it. It feels like it’d be difficult to spend several hours with. That is just an impression.

Grade: 4 out of 5 pelicans

OCAD files
Greg tells us that the game probably won’t be able to read OCAD files and turn them into game terrain. The problem is that it is a very time consuming process that requires a lot of modifications.

Greg will sell the game on a CD. It is difficult to say if it will be possible to buy the game from Sweden because of legal issues and tax regulations.

posted by Michael | 8:43 PM

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