• The Lazy Designer,  Video Game Design

    Game Hauler Version 3 (Part 4 / ?) “The Big Design Change”

    Note: This post has previously appeared on Gamasutra and via my newsletter. Jump to Part 1 (if you have not read it previously). (If you want to play the latest build before reading the commentary then scroll down to the end of this post.) PROTOTYPE 3 (BUILD# 0.0.4.0) When I started building my prototype I had a general idea of where I wanted to go with it. Unfortunately my initial ideas didn’t pan out into anything I thought I could make fun. With this prototype I began the process of developing a rather different sort of core gameplay. The components of the game remain similar to the previous prototype (placeholder-art…

  • The Lazy Designer

    GAME: HAULER VERSION 1 (PART 2 / ?)

    Welcome to Part 2 in my new series describing my “Hauler” prototype. Links to the web and PC version are at the bottom of this post. (And you can read Part 1 here, if you haven’t). PROTOTYPE 1 (0.0.1.1) In the previous post I discussed the many (and serious) issues I had with my first Hauler prototype. This latest version was basically a rebuild and, in addition to the front-facing changes, many internal details (reorganizing code) occurred too. If you play the prototype you will notice that we now have: New Movement Controls. The controls are more logical, with the player deciding which direction to travel, rather than adjusting orientation.…

  • Game Reviews,  The Lazy Designer

    Game: Hauler Version 0 (Part 1)

    As I mentioned I have started to work on an almost-game. I said I would start releasing prior milestones and discussing them and so this is the first of those discussions. THE IDEA Up until Spring 2014 I had been tinkering with a couple different prototypes, including one that I had put a lot of time into and really enjoyed (developing and playing). But I came to the realization that these games were too complicated for me to pull off on my own (at least for now). I need to expand my working knowledge of Unity first. I decided instead to work on a simpler game and push it all…

  • The Lazy Designer

    Back In Province

    We had to make a quick trip out of province, but are finally back home. I don’t have much to say, still busy catching up on late tasks, but I’ll provide a quick update and if you have any questions throw them into the comments and I’ll be sure to reply. Lazy Designer — The Design Manager The final book in the Lazy Designer series is almost ready to go. I anticipate by the end of April, it will be available on Amazon. At that point I’ll start editing the variety of bonus materials I’ve written for those who have bought copies directly from me. My Unity Game Meanwhile I’m…

  • Writing Resources

    Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award & A Story Published

    A few notes to pass on for today: 1. My story “Some We Eat and Some We Keep” was just published in Issue #2 of Robot and Raygun. 2. I’ve made it past the first cut in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, which is exciting (it means my pitch was well received). I also still have a couple other novels under consideration elsewhere, including one that a publisher is taking a (longish) second look at. So hopefully some positive news in the future. 3. In game development land, I’m continuing my consulting work, but I’ve also made a couple “big leaps forward*” in regards to a game I’ve been tinkering…

  • My Life

    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…

  • eBook,  Game Reviews,  The Lazy Designer

    Fun With Unity

    I’ve had some time to work with Unity the past couple weeks but instead of applying that (entirely) towards the prototype, I’ve been building a kid’s game instead. This is not a commercial thing, just something fun for me to sit with my kids and work out the design for. I like to think I’m being somewhat smart about this though because some of the code systems *will* be useful for the prototype work I’m doing. What I find advantageous about focusing on the kid’s game instead of the prototypes, is that it is smaller. Being smaller in scope means I’m less intimidated by the amount of work necessary to…

  • Game Reviews

    Learning Blender

    When I take a rare break from summer vacation fun and writing novel #6, I’ve been continuing work on my game prototype or, to be entirely accurate, I’m learning modeling/texturing and animating and other art details. Basically I need to generate placeholder models in my prototypes and I figured I’d dive into the whole art creation aspect. It has been interesting so far. I don’t plan to do the art for the game myself (if I take the prototype past prototyping), but I think it’s important for me to better understand all the performance implications of different modeling and texturing solutions. This is all beyond any of my experience with…