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Tag Archive for games

Paper beats Rock

June 5, 2012 Uncategorized Comments Off on Paper beats Rock

I do love paper prototyping.  I can work faster on the computer, building things out as I go using something like Unity or GS.Creator, but I can’t always take the computer with me.

Well, scratch that, I *can* but that doesn’t always mean I can work on it.  Working on paper is much less conspicuous, and engenders a lot fewer looky-loos and questions (crack a computer open while you’re waiting for a Little League practice to finish up, and invariably the other parents suck up your time with small talk and requests to see what you’re up to…  And don’t even get me started on trying to use a laptop while waiting on a swimming lesson, chlorine does horrible things…  horrible horrible things…)

So whatever I can do on paper, I work out on paper.  Anything to push the process forward during any free time I have.  Sketchups for title screens, level layouts, character designs, outlines and gameplay mechanics.  Not all of it gets used, but when it *does* get used, making the move from paper to computer is pretty quick and painless and is less prone to creeping-feature-itis than freewheeling it in Digital.

So over the weekend I made some decisions to go with Unity as my tool and to work on a puzzle game.  Building something like a “match-3” game (a-la Bejeweled) requires an array setup, which is a little outside my programming experience at this point.  One of the games in my backlog of projects is a “flow” type puzzler game, you know where you are essentially adjusting a maze to allow the flow of…whatever to pass from one end of the maze to another?  So I think I will run with that one.  I particularly like to physics aspects of working with 3d, so I’ll see if I can find a way to get that in there as well.

I’ve been noodling with the maze aspect on paper, still trying to figure out how to work the physics in.  Maybe I can use sand or something to move through the maze instead of filling in.

I’ve linked to a pic from my sketchbook here, more to come as I get the ball rolling…

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106703584505799913797/albums/posts/5750589440399914242

 

Close your eyes before you jump….

June 1, 2012 Uncategorized Comments Off on Close your eyes before you jump….

http://nagademo.com

Sometimes we all just need a swift kick in the ass.  There are a thousand reasons to put something off, to relegate it to the bottom of the wish list, and until you find a way to assign importance, artificial or not, it’s just going to stay there.

I have a laundry list of game concepts in my arsenal.  Some of them are just a paragraph based around a game mechanic I came up in the spaces between the stuff I have to do, some of them are complete design documents.  It’s time I shoved a couple of these suckers to the top of the “must do” list, or I am running the risk of becoming one of those game industry professionals that did some really cool stuff once, but then vanished into the background.

So I went and did something foolish.  Well, not foolish like jumping off a bridge, or parasailing over a lava flow.  That was stuff for when I was still building my resume of batshit crazy experiences.  Foolish because I already have a fairly full existence.  As a parent of 3, as a business woman, both professional and volunteer, there’s a bunch of shit I *have* to do.  I have to do it so my kids education doesn’t suck, I have to do it because I have contractors waiting to be paid, I have to do it because if I don’t the engine in my car will finally seize up from years of neglect.  Have to have to have to.  We *all* have “Have tos” in our lives.  I’ve signed up for this because it’s a “want to”.  Some busy women get their nails done.  Get a massage.  Go shopping.  Go hiking.  Go out drinking with the girls.  Read a book.

This here, the game design and execution, this is my “want to”.  I’m doubly lucky in that my vocation and my avocation are tucked in aside one another.  This is the kind of thing I do for fun, when I have a few minutes in between board meetings, contract work and Little League.  This is where my mind goes when it has a few free brain cells to spare.

So instead of getting a $100 mani/pedi, or reading Shades of Grey I’m doing something for me.  I’m building a game,  in 1 month.  Starting today. I’ll be blogging about the process regularly, so keep an eye here.  I’ll try to be sure to include screenshots and design snippets as I go so you can see how this all works.  I have a textbook out there, so where I can, I’ll tie this process into that, so I can use this blog later as a “real” example of game design, soup to nuts.

Ready.

Steady.

Jump.

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