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Children of Minecraft
So my kids love Minecraft. However, when they started playing with friends, online, I noticed that the servers they played on were filled with a fair bit of inappropriate conversation. Given that I didn’t want to be looking over their shoulder the entire time they played I eventually created my own server. I still monitor it a bit — to ensure they are not being obnoxious to one another — but I was curious about how other parents handle stuff like this. I come from the games industry and was often frustrated by the negative commentary from media — and some people, including those I knew — that disparaged video…
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Welcome to 2014
Yeah, I know January is already (almost) over without an update from me. I’m just busy. Very busy. (More on that later). I’m *almost* done the fourth book in the Lazy Designer series… just finishing up final edits on that over the next couple weeks. For now, instead I’m just going to post a few links: 1. I found this interesting article on rapid prototyping… there’s some fairly cool ideas in it: http://devmag.org.za/2014/01/08/rapid-game-prototyping-tips-for-programmers/ 2. I have started curating a list of links about “writing for videogames” and such that I find. Or not. We’ll see. But for now, the start of it, is here. 3. I created a new portal…
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2013 Year End
This is the time of year that I review my goals and milestones for the previous year and bore all of you with the gory details :) I am well pleased with how well the Lazy Designer series performed. I’ve exceeded sales from prior years, I think in large part helped by the release of the third volume (Gameplay and Exploration) and a print version of the first book. The final two volumes are going through edits right now and will be available next year. In terms of writing goals, I met most that I wanted. I exceeded my goal of writing 250 000 words this year — reaching around…
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No update!
This is why: Lots more shoveling to do. (I had intended to finish up some features for the kid’s robot game and talk about it, but I’m a bit behind schedule and so that will have to wait until next week… or maybe next year… depending on the weather.)
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Smarty Games
Work continues on the second kid’s game I’m building. I doubt it’ll be of any interest to readers, aside from the design lessons I’ve learned (and maybe the Unity experience I’ve gained), but the work-in-progress is lingering on the site if you want to hunt for it :) I’m about 50% complete, in regards to all the features it could have. I won’t add them all, of course. I’d like to wrap up work on it by the end of the year and then take what I’ve learned onto a new project. I’ve created several helper classes and whatnot that will carry over to other Unity projects. I have also…
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Ruined Cities
The anthology “Ruined Cities” was released yesterday! My story “Cobbler and Minion” is among the many fine stories in the collection. It is available on Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble. Update The past week I’ve still been sick but also productive, making strides on the last Lazy Designer book as well as the second kid’s game (which I’m using both as a prototype for a future game and to help me write some Unity tutorials). Next week I hope to talk a bit about some of the design lessons I’m learning while using Unity.
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Brent is Sick
I’m a week into a flu or something and this has really hampered my productivity. Hence the missed posts. I’m still getting a little bit of work done though — I’ve almost finished writing the rough draft for the final Lazy Designer Book (Book 5) and I’m starting the edit pass on Book 4. I’ve also managed some prototyping. My latest accomplishment has been an upgrade system for the next kid’s game I’m making. With this prototype I’m trying to follow the advice I’ve given in the Lazy Designer books and creating the planning documentation the way I suggest and I’m documenting my process along the way too. I’m finding…
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Game Design Thoughts
Those following the site probably noticed that the other day I posted a… thingy. (I don’t want to quite call it a game). Anyways, if you follow this link you’ll seen one area (in unity) for a very simple kid’s spelling game. And by very simple, I mean VERY SIMPLE. (If you want to read the ‘instructions’, do so here). I’m sure some of you might be thinking. “Holy !*@*, is this all Brent has got done since leaving BioWare?” Yes. Yes it is. Well, more specifically, this is what I managed to cobble together from some of the prototyping stuff I’ve been doing. It is very primitive and my…
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The Sad Fate of Ten Little Stories
I’ve been busy with the novel. Really busy. I had hoped to finish it before my writing time vanished but I’m still three chapters shy of completing the rough draft. Since I’ve been so busy I’ve been neglecting maintaining my submissions. What I mean by this, is that when stories are rejected, I need to hunt out new homes for them and whatnot. I haven’t been doing this. In the mad plunge to finish the novel, several stories were politely declined and returned to me (and two novels). I took a look at the list today. In the past I’ve had a fairly large list of “things submitted”. This is…
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Garden Stuff
Along with a busy summer spent writing, working on the game prototype, and hanging out with the kids, I’ve also done a bit of gardening. I’m rather new to this, but I’ve been pleased with the results from the small raised garden I built. We’ve eaten loads of peas and lettuce so far and have harvested a few zucchini (which I haven’t grown before). Here’s some pics. And of the garden, itself:
