Every now and then I come across a game that is rather inspiring. Strangely, a lot of them come from the flash community. I really like it when someone can take a game mechanic that is so utterly constrained and create something so enjoyable out of it. The epitome of these design challenges might be the ‘One-Button’ games. I just recently came across Canabalt, and it had me playing for a while despite the need for sleep....
Last week was a busy week as I spent most of it implementing and tweaking the really basic tutorial system I had in mind for Tilt To Live. From my gameplay experiences I feel tutorials have gotten pretty good at being integrated into the game themselves and not being ridiculously wordy/boring. I’m not sure if it’s that I tend to grok how most genre game mechanics work from many years of playing, or understand the basic ‘standards’ across games in the same genre, or that the tutorials are really getting better....
Tangible goals are key to any project. Without them I feel like I’m peddling up a steep hill just so I can peddle up some more. Scheduling and time logs showing time spent are great for statistical and historical purposes, but in the scheme of things can do little to save a project if you and your team lack that motivation needed to push the last mile. Countless indie games die from loss of interest....
One thing I’ve learned from working on games along side a day job is it takes a very strong commitment otherwise it will grind to a halt shortly after starting. You have to plan for the long haul as any game worth playing, or better yet paying for, requires much more time than you think. Especially if it’s your first ‘commercial’ endeavor. Planning is paramount if you wish to have any chance in succeeding....
I’m currently working on an editor for the next iteration of Gunstyle on the weekends. I find it’s a nice break from iPhone development and lets me start the week with renewed energy to work on Tilt To Live again. I’m using wxMax to develop the UI for the actual editor. It’s not much at the moment but it’s coming together slowly. The editor code architecture is taking a page from the Unreal engine mentality of having your engine and editor be pretty much one in the same....
I try to avoid music with lyrics while working as it ends up being distracting for me when trying to work through some problem or bug. For the last several years I’ve been listening to chillout/lounge/ambient music. A couple of the sites I tune in to in case you wish to expand your listening playlist: Digitally Imported – Chillout Channel SomaFM – Groove Salad
Some days it takes a herculean effort to force myself to sit down and work on my game. Some weeks it can be destructive to my entire schedule, while others its a complete non-issue. Overtime I’ve found prioritizing my tasks wasn’t enough to really Get Things Done. I needed a way to organize my daily tasks in such a way that would maximize my motivation to actually work that day, particularly after coming home from my day job....
I just recently got back from the “Video Games Live!” concert. In short, it was AMAZING. If they are performing in your local area, no, your state I highly recommend you take the effort to make it to one of their shows. It’s an all day event of games, contests, and meeting other gamers that’s capped off with a fun and amazing performance.
I’ve settled into my new apartment and job and trying to get a decent schedule for working on my different game projects. For now my iPhone game is my ‘main’ project which I spend Monday through Friday working on in the evenings. Weekends I devote to side projects such as Gunstyle. Trying to make progress is getting increasingly harder as my time has become extremely limited to about 1 maybe 2 hours a night during the week....
It has been a while since my last blog post :(. If you’ve been following my twitter account though you’d know it’s still been a busy last couple of months. I’ve been developing things on several fronts lately. For one, I’ve been busy developing some supporting code to hook Opensteer into C4 in a more seamless matter and work with C4’s constructs in mind. It’s a project related to some school work, which has proven to be challenging and fun....