Spyborgs is an action game built exclusively for the Wii by Bionic Games. I started working on the game as a contractor to help finish the prototype in the fall of 2007. I then joined full time to create the full product for Capcom.
Spyborgs has gone through numerous iterations before we settled on the final direction. When we first announced the game, it was about playing through a Saturday morning cartoon as a team of super heroes. It even included mini-game based commercials between each episode. After going into hiding for a while (and a crazy amount of work), we showed a redesigned version of Spyborgs. It became an action packed brawler built for a broader demographic with a huge visual upgrade.
With Bionic being such a small team, I’m able to spend some time in every part of the code base which is a nice change of pace from having spent most of my professional career as a specialist. During the initial Spyborgs concept, I spent most of my time working on enemy behaviors, boss battles, mini-games, and particle effects. When we were tasked with creating a new and improved game, the rendering engine became one of my primary responsibilities. By building a new lighting and material system along with numerous special effects, we created a much more vibrant world. I also spent a fair amount of time on the physics. A rigid body system was built for destructible objects, and I added support for local character dynamics (hair, hanging wires, breasts, etc). From tools, to animation, gesture extraction from the Wii remote, and particles effects, a lot of work was crammed into a short period of time.
We reannounced the game at Captivate '09 with this trailer.
The originally annouced concept of the game can be seen in this trailer from Captivate '08.
