But what about a game dedicated to Pool, that is more intuitive than anything you’ve seen before? With the immense money-printing power that is the Nintendo DS, developers are starting to see the appeal of taking the game to the road with touch-sensitive capability. None more so than The Code Monkeys, who are working on 8Ball Allstars for Oxygen Interactive. We spoke to Producer Mick Waites to learn more about the game.
SPOnG: First, could we get a little background information on yourself? What interested you about working on video games and how did you get into the industry?
Mick Waites: I’ve had a passion for video games right back from the Acorn Electron days of the early ‘80s and this passion extended beyond playing them into understanding how they work and writing my own. I always loved the idea of being a video game programmer but always enjoyed being able to keep programming as a hobby.
My first job in the industry came in 1999 in a bit of an unusual way, really. I’d been unhappy in my job and trying to decide what career direction to take when a friend suggested I apply for jobs as a video game tester. I argued that all the development studios were in London or overseas and that there’d be no way they’d give me a job on the strength that I love playing games so he found an advert for a company in Dewsbury which was about 10 miles from my home.
I applied, just to prove him wrong and sat smugly when after 3 weeks I’d not had a response. About a week after that, I got a response saying the position had been filled but new vacancies were available. After the most surreal job interview ever I was left feeling that I had no chance whatsoever as I had no experience but was offered the job on the spot! My technical expertise and organisational skills were soon spotted and within a year I became an Associate Producer and now I run projects on my own.
Mick Waites: Pool is the perfect game for a handheld. Individual games can be played very quickly if you want a quick session or tournaments can keep you going for the longer train journeys. When playing Pool for real, you are right there at the table side and with holding the DS right in front of you, this feels more natural than playing on a TV across the room. You really feel like you are more involved in the game.
SPOnG: How will the unique controls of the Nintendo DS be used for 8Ball Allstars, and how will the dual screens be utilised?
Mick Waites: The top screen is used to give a true 3D 1st person view of your shot looking down the cue. This helps add to the realism and is not something I’ve seen in any other DS Pool games. It feels completely natural and really helps when lining up your shots. I can actually pot balls in 8Balls about as well as I can in real life. The 3D view can be changed to a top-down view of the whole table for getting a different perspective on the layout of the table.
To not use the touch screen for a Pool game would be a crime. In game you can control almost everything with the touch screen – aiming, spin (English to our US friends) and you actually take the shot by sliding a representation of your cue back and strike it upwards to take your shot. The speed of movement affects the power of your shot. As with real Pool, you soon find yourself striking the cue ball with perfect power every time.
We were really keen to find a way to utilise the microphone in this game too. We liked the idea of using it to gently “blow” the balls on the table around but decided against this, as people would be able to use it to cheat far too much so we removed it.
Mick Waites: You can create a custom avatar graphic to represent yourself in-game and even draw a table “signature” graphic which is displayed on the table when others join your multi-player game. On the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, your table signature will be displayed on your opponent’s screen if you are the better player.
In addition to the signatures, you can change the colour of the tablecloth and there are 12 different environments in which you play.