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A Couple Goals Met Early
At the start of the year I made several goals that I wanted to meet by the end of the year and while doing a bit of bookkeeping last night I noticed that I’ve succeed in achieving a few. This is the first full year that I’ve devoted serious time to writing. I wanted to have a Word Count goal that reflected that. The reason for the Word Count goal was to ensure that I’m regularly writing — and not wasting time — when I’m at my desk. So the goal was 240 000 words. I don’t remember how I settled onto that number but I passed it yesterday! Next…
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Better comments system?
I’m noticing a lot of the blogs I read are using more sophisticated comments systems than the default WordPress one I am using. Is there a standard emerging? Or close to a standard that I should be considering to use here instead of the default? Or if no standard what are your favorites and why? I’ve taken a look at some of the plugins available and they see interesting but I’d rather only change my comment system once. Any suggestions?
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Has Arrived! Contributor Copy for War of the Worlds Frontlines
My contributor copy for the anthology War of the Worlds: Frontlines arrived today. It is a handsome book and I can’t wait to start reading some of the fantastic stories in it (well I can wait a bit because I have work to do this afternoon, my boss being a jerk and all). Anyways you should go and buy yourself a copy or if you prefer to buy from Amazon you can do that too. (Un?)Interesting Fact: I never read my own stories once they’ve been published.
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Videogame Area Design
Overview Areas are where players interact with environment, story and gameplay. They require solid planning as they are among the most expensive — if not the most expensive — pieces of the gameplay puzzle a designer is assembling. Here are some tips to help apply foresight to the level design process and (hopefully) minimize costly revisions. Area Purpose All areas should have a purpose. Whether it is for players to grab the Statue of Awfulness or fight their way to rescue the disgruntled prince, there should be something happening. An area that the player just walks through with limited narrative or advancement purposes is a waste of resources. Determine the…
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Savegame Tips
Overview Planning the save game system for your game is essential. The platform being used, the type of game, and the programming resources all must be taken into consideration. What kind of save system? Do what other games that are similar to yours do — and then try to add some improvements if possible. Many shooter games, especially on consoles or hand held devices, have save points — the player does not choose to save the game. As an RPG designer it was always my belief that ALL games should allow save games whenever the player wants but occasionally, usually for issues of difficulty, a save point system makes more…
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Cross-Platform Experimenting
Overview When a designer has free time between projects another useful activity is for them to investigate how previous titles (or the next one) might be ported to other platforms. Why Cross-Platform? The more markets a game can be pushed onto the better the increase for sales. Many gameplay styles don’t work on all platforms but there are possibilities for secondary titles to flesh out a game franchise. And secondary projects offer opportunities to hone design skills on non-traditional game mechanics. Now depending on your seniority level in the company this might seem presumptuous (to devote company resources — you! — towards investigating cross-platform opportunities) but if you hit on…
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The Design Manager
Overview Most of this chapter on being a design lead on a game development project will delve into specialized design topics detailing how to go about planning the projects that you’ll lead the design effort on and tips for designing areas, creatures, and storylines. But in this section I’ll discuss the management side of being a manager. As cool as it is to be in charge of the design scope of a game there’s also some heavy responsiblity too. I’ve performed poorly as a manager at times. And I’ve learned a lot from that. The following is a brief summary of what I thought worked and what did not. What…
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Brent Had a Meeting!
Today was my first meeting in over a year (yep, in person, with other people and everything). Those of you who worked with me at BioWare probably remember my fondnessfor meetings. So, do I miss them after such a long absence? Not really. Though this one was kind of interesting (it was at city hall) and I learned some new things. So a bit more productive than most of the meetings I was getting involved in during my last couple years of the dayjob. And everyone participating payed attention to the meeting and weren’t reading their blackberries and pdas. That was nice.
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Getting Feedback
Overview I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while (since I wrote the How to Give Feedback post) but a recent discussion on a writing list decided the issue for me. The writers were talking about the feedback they have received from editors (re: rejection letters) and how sometimes they would receive contradictory advice. i.e., story goes to Editor A and they say Great plot but your characters were uninteresting. Please don’t send us stories anymore. And then the same story is sent to another Editor Brilliant characterization, I really cared about John, Jane, and Apple, but your plot… it wasn’t there. Sorry. Try again. Yep, people have…
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Keep Yourself Busy
Overview When your project is finished there are several things you should do. The first – take a break. And that doesn’t mean simply taking some time off which you then spend reading news about your project (you can save that for when you get back). Take a big step back from all things gaming related. Do something that you used to enjoy doing before you started in the industry. Trust me you’ll have plenty of time to read the various accolades and criticisms your title will be receiving. After that? Every company functions differently but I suspect many have lulls where you have finished most of your tasks on…
