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Update on the Prototype
Well I suggested a couple days ago that I would stick to a schedule, for my blog postings and I don’t want to disappoint in the first week. That said, I’m quite far behind for today’s work, so a short update must suffice: I’m only spending a couple hours a week (at best) on the game prototype and primarily, for the last month or so, I’ve been researching various art solutions and doing some on-the-job training. Which basically means I’ve been creating ugly art for various prototyping ideas — primarily on the level design front. I’ve got some ideas to rapidly — and procedurally — generate some of what I…
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Waiting
I hate waiting. What I’ve enjoyed best with working on the game prototype is that I’m seeing immediate results. This is important to me. The problem with the whole writing career thing, is that it involves plenty of waiting. Waiting for editors or agents to reply, waiting for accepted stories to appear (and sometimes, after a few years, finding out the magazine that bought them has folded), waiting for money and contributor copies to be sent to me (and sometimes having to follow up to get these things). Then there are the missed replies — stories/novels rejected without my receiving a reply and time spent waiting and never receiving the…
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Exploration and Gameplay
As was probably obvious given the posts earlier in the month, the third book in the Lazy Designer series is now available for Kindle. I was a bit distracted with talking about a couple stories I’ve had published recently — which, if you have not read my story ‘Slaying Dragons’ in Plasma Frequency Magazine, you still can — and vote for it, if you enjoy it! Anyways, here’s a link to the table of Contents. And here’s the blurb: Brent Knowles continues his Lazy Designer series with a look at exploration and gameplay. From environment design to combat to building rule systems, Brent examines how to craft quality design. And…
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Tackle Your Bigs Risks… Prototyping
In my spare hours, in between writing and family obligations, I’m continuing with my unity prototype. I’ve been having fun with it but today I had to take a step back. I really want to dive into AI and combat, but I realize that these, while complicated system, are ones I’m confident I can get working properly. What I’m more concerned about is my ability to generate environments. So, this means diving into the technical details of creating the necessary environments — and abandoning the simplistic testing environment I’ve been using — but also figuring out how to make “worthy” environments for the concept. Part of the challenge here is…
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When Brent Does Not Write… He Prototypes
So, what have I been up to recently? Well, I’m well into writing novel #6 and planning novel #7 and planning the remainder of the Lazy Designer series. As well I recently released my open source writing organizer. So, I’ve been busy. I’ve also resumed playing around with the Unity game engine and am making good progress on a prototype. I have a working conversation system and am in a position to experiment with various character and camera controls. Mostly I am doing this just for experimentation purposes. Having lots of fun with it though, and it is a nice distraction from writing. p.s. Just in case anybody thinks I…
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Game Design Scripting — Free Excerpt
Over on the Kindle my scripting excerpt from Book 2 of the Lazy Designer series is free (until end of week). Downloading a copy will give you an idea of the content available in the Lazy Designer books. International Links: UK Canada Germany France Italy Spain Japan Brazil * Remember, you don’t need a Kindle to read Kindle books! You just need appropriate desktop software (or apps, for mobile phones and iOS devices) Buy in the UK Canada Germany France Italy Spain Japan Brazil Buy in the UK Canada Germany France Italy Spain Japan Brazil Buy in the UK Canada Germany France Italy Spain Japan Brazil
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Table of Contents – Lazy Designer: How to Start a Career in Game Design
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Table of Contents: Lazy Designer Book 3 – Exploration and Gameplay
I’m sure the crafty reader has figured out my plan, in regards to releasing the Table of Contents for the past books and there is no surprise that today, I reveal the contents of the third book in the Lazy Designer series. Here’s the blurb: Brent Knowles continues his Lazy Designer series with a look at exploration and gameplay. This book covers exploration, environment design, creatures, items, economies, rule system design, and progression systems. Table of Contents Chapter 9 Exploration Exploring Environments Game Types Summary Chapter 10 Creatures Exploring Creatures Game Types Summary Chapter 11 Items Items Finding Items Crafting Improving Items Item Descriptions Extending the Item System Game Types…
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Table of Contents: Lazy Designer Book 2 – Making the Next Game
The other day I posted the table of contents for the first book, so I figured I should do the same for the second! Tomorrow I’ll post the table of contents for Book 3. Here’s the blurb: Practical advice for designers already working in the games industry and wishing to hone their skills as well as for those aspiring to such a career. The author, an industry veteran with over ten years experience (lead designer Dragon Age – Origins) explains how companies decide which videogames to make, how to build designer-friendly game engines and pipelines and how to prototype and test. Along the way the author explores his own experiences…
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Table of Contents – Lazy Designer: How to Start a Career in Game Design
I don’t think I have ever posted the table of contents for any of the Lazy Designer books, so figured I would rectify that now. Here’s what is inside the first book in the Lazy Designer series. First, the blurb: Practical advice on starting a career in the video game industry and improving your design skills. This is your opportunity to learn from the lead designer of such commercial and critically successful video games as Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age: Origins. Discover how the author started his career, the pitfalls he encountered and how he overcame them. Written by an industry veteran with over ten years experience working for a…
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Game Design Scripting — Free Excerpt
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Just Like Old Times…
Lazy Designer Book 3 is almost ready to go. I’m just reviewing the uploaded copy on the Kindle Previewer. I’m treating this much like I would treat the release of a game. As I go through the near-final draft I’m spot-fixing any poorly worded phrases I encounter, in the source material, but unless I encounter a major error, this will be the text that is uploaded. *If* I do hit major error then I’ll regenerate the book and start the review process over. Glad to be nearing the end of this. I cut a lot of words during editing but it still sits at over 70 000 words, almost twice…
