My kids and I made a game for a Game Jam this weekend, which had a theme of “It Never Ends”. My youngest daughter (age 12) created all the art and music for the game, while my son (age 15) and I did all the programming (he did most of it). You can play it…
Category: Videogames
Regency Royale
In late 2019, just before the Covid thing, I was working on a game design document for a real time tactics video game with the working title of “Regency Royale”. A quasi-historical world designed to evoke some great narrative inspired by one of the best RTT games in the genre, Myth II (originally by Bungie,…
Games Development Seminar – Belfast, 14th Sept
Last chance to register for a games technology development seminar here in Belfast. Wed, 14 September from 10:00 to 12:00 at Radisson Blu, Gasworks, Belfast The speaker is Paul Durrant, Abertay University’s Director of Business Development. He has been instrumental in developing a range of projects to support digital media IP generation, business start-up, incubation,…
Game Prototype development quote needed
I’m looking for a prototype of a RTS game on iOS developed. Just a single level, basic graphics. 2D sprites on 3D isometric plane. Happy for it to be done in Unity and/or another rapid development environment. Would be nice for combat (ranged and melee) and some pathfinding for units. Can be SP, MP or…
Indies on the Mac
From the Oddlabs blog: Many game developers, indie or not, view the Mac as a freak that no one cares for or wants to be associated with. They look at statistics that show only 5% of desktop machines are Macs and say: “Why waste a lot of time and money for only 5% of the…
Although they are developed in software, games are not software
The title of this post is from this article: You Need $100,000. Users relate to them differently. Immersion matters. Balance matters. Drawing people into the world of the game in a way that doesn’t break their attention every few seconds matters. Any successful game weaves a web of illusion around the player to engage them…
Skirmish MP
Following on from my last post, I would posit that there is something missing from MP RTS (Multi Player Real Time Strategy) games and that would be the lack of a feeling that success has an impact. Left 4 Dead is my favourite FPS game because it encourages teamwork between players on both sides and…
Most RTS single player modes suck…
Josh Bycer writes: Honestly, most RTS single player modes… suck. The reason is that designers try to use it to teach the player about multiplayer which doesn’t work, as an AI is not a good substitute for a player … Over the years, the structure of mission design has changed and can be broken down…
Anomaly Warzone Earth
Great videos from the launch team here. Described as a Tower Offense game, it certainly adds a different flavour to the stock re-runs of tower defense games (like Plants vs Zombies) which have been so popular recently. And certainly distracts me from plans to make “World of Angry Zombies versus Goo”. Because that could win,…
Digital Games can be Social Experiences
Professor Mark Durkin from the University of Ulster suggested: “For customers, the constant and often simultaneous use of laptop, MP3 player, smart phone and TV, especially by our young people, has serious implications in terms of attention and focus, he says. “Of note is the fact that such stimulating multi-tasking makes the necessary recovery time…
SyncNI: Exclusive on Galactic Racer by WeeMan Studios
NI-based game development studio, Wee Man Studios just gave SyncNI an exclusive on Galactic Racer! Click through the graphic for the exclusive. Due for release, later this quarter.
Once, Twice, Three Times a Detective
Dolgion Chuluunbaatar of Gamasutra writes about non-linear adventure games: As I was on vacation, I picked up my sister’s copy of Sherlock Holmes stories, and quickly I got caught up in the really really beautifully narrated and well thought-out plots. As I had my phase of obsessively playing the classic LucasArts adventure games, the very…
Games in Education
I believe that my playing of games has contributed positively to my development as an individual. Traditionally advocacy for gaming has included the development of teamwork and leadership skills, understanding of competition, resource management and also a greater appreciation of geography, politics, religion and ‘alien’ cultures. Games, especially tabletop role-playing games, have been used in…
BLOC54 – GameStorming
Equally useful for the development of tabletop game ideas, this method was used tonight to brainstorm some ideas for videogames in our local game development cluster.
The Fun Theory
When designing games I tend to think about what will make the game more ‘sticky’. At the start, I can usually enthuse someone about a game by talking to them about it. You’re the consummate salesperson for your game and design and in theory no-one can sell the concept like you can. To get people…