PlayStation Store PLAY 2016 Starts Today, Lineup Revealed – PlayStation.Blog
Our new game called HEADLANDER is out soon!
This is what I’ve been up to for the past five months. 70s sci-fi meets Metroidvania. It’s 20% off for PS Plus members
on PS4!
OR pre-order on Steam for 20% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/340000/
PlayStation Store PLAY 2016 Starts Today, Lineup Revealed – PlayStation.Blog
Our new game called HEADLANDER is out soon!
This is what I’ve been up to for the past five months. 70s sci-fi meets Metroidvania. It’s 20% off for PS Plus members
on PS4!
OR pre-order on Steam for 20% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/340000/
I participated in Ludum Dare 33 over the weekend. More precisely from Friday at 6 PM PST to Monday at 8:20 AM PST. I’ve worked in video games for over a decade and made little games in Flash and Director a long time ago, but it isn’t until a Twine game from last summer that I returned to making my own games and interactive stories. I saw LD as an opportunity to keep trying and to leverage my current desire to create visual art.
The theme–not revealed until Friday–was “You are the Monster.” I was naturally uninterested in a literal interpretation of the theme. I began thinking about a story and design that evening and continued pondering in my notes until Saturday night. There were a number of design ideas before settling on one, including a concept involving a little girl in a hospital waiting room whose brother had a mysterious accident. (I really liked this one.) In hindsight, this time spent on design ate up too much development time, i.e. time that should go to getting a functional game.
I was committed to making an adventure game after my last jam experience with Twine and my recent work in the genre. Twine is great, but I wanted more art and interactivity for this one. Just walking around in an environment with no need to click on anything if the player wasn’t in the mood. This removed the possibility of using a game development tool called Construct 2, which I have experimented with for a few years. It’s a wonderful tool that makes it easy to script some kinds of games, but not point-and-click adventures.
My next option was Adventure Game Studio, with which I was also familiar from previous experimentation. The greatest limitation of AGS is it only exports for Windows PCs, so players on other types of devices would be out of luck. I really wanted to make it playable in a web browser (which Construct 2 allows with its use of HTML5). So, I also spent a large part of Saturday trying decide on a engine. I finally found a tool called Adventure Game Engine that exports to web browsers using Unity, but I was too unfamiliar with the engine to get what I needed in 1 day. I plan to return to AGE at a later date if I decide to make another adventure game.
So, by Saturday night I had a design, an engine, and a rudimentary room with a character walking around. I technically had until Monday to finish, but due to work I really only had until Sunday night.
I did minor setup work in AGS on Sunday morning and then charged into Photoshop to work on the visuals. Art and animation was a lot of fun. To see your idea come to life is amazing, which is true of any form of expression but particularly exciting to me when it’s characters and environments in a game. Animation is another area I’d experimented with many years ago and I was happy to try it out again. The minimalist white and black art I’d created just to test the AGS tool became the primary visual style, and I believe the funky animation benefited from the hand-drawn Microsoft Paint look. I spent Sunday morning and some of the afternoon working solely on art and animation in Photoshop. But as I once again learned, it’s a classic mistake to work on the art before your game’s scripting and logic are in place.
Scripting and logic was a bummer. Some of it was painless thanks to the pre-defined behaviors and tools in AGS, but I felt pretty bad by the end of Sunday on account of some advanced logic hurdles that I could not quickly surmount. In the end, I was missing the logic for multiple endings (merely a different message at the ending screen), NPC animations didn’t play properly, and the game crashes when the player reaches the end. It is also missing all sound, which for my game would have been footsteps for the player character and a violin track for one of the NPCs. I considered not even submitting what I had, but I felt better about it on Monday morning. I’m happy with the result considering none of it existed when I woke up on Friday morning. It’s just a step, after all, like anything else I’ve created.
My biggest takeaway from this experience is that I enjoy visual development. I’m exploring art and I’ve been worried that exploring something like this at age 32 is going to be difficult, particularly if I want to pursuit it beyond a hobby. I’m going to keep exploring and take classes. Hope something comes of it.
The (not quite final) game is here, called ‘p good’.
I participated in Ludum Dare 33 over the weekend. More precisely from Friday at 6 PM PST to Monday at 8:20 AM PST. I’ve worked in video games for over a decade and made little games in Flash and Director a long time ago, but it isn’t until a Twine game from last summer that I returned to making my own games and interactive stories. I saw LD as an opportunity to keep trying and to leverage my current desire to create visual art.
The theme–not revealed until Friday–was “You are the Monster.” I was naturally uninterested in a literal interpretation of the theme. I began thinking about a story and design that evening and continued pondering in my notes until Saturday night. There were a number of design ideas before settling on one, including a concept involving a little girl in a hospital waiting room whose brother had a mysterious accident. (I really liked this one.) In hindsight, this time spent on design ate up too much development time, i.e. time that should go to getting a functional game.
I was committed to making an adventure game after my last jam experience with Twine and my recent work in the genre. Twine is great, but I wanted more art and interactivity for this one. Just walking around in an environment with no need to click on anything if the player wasn’t in the mood. This removed the possibility of using a game development tool called Construct 2, which I have experimented with for a few years. It’s a wonderful tool that makes it easy to script some kinds of games, but not point-and-click adventures.
My next option was Adventure Game Studio, with which I was also familiar from previous experimentation. The greatest limitation of AGS is it only exports for Windows PCs, so players on other types of devices would be out of luck. I really wanted to make it playable in a web browser (which Construct 2 allows with its use of HTML5). So, I also spent a large part of Saturday trying decide on a engine. I finally found a tool called Adventure Game Engine that exports to web browsers using Unity, but I was too unfamiliar with the engine to get what I needed in 1 day. I plan to return to AGE at a later date if I decide to make another adventure game.
So, by Saturday night I had a design, an engine, and a rudimentary room with a character walking around. I technically had until Monday to finish, but due to work I really only had until Sunday night.
I did minor setup work in AGS on Sunday morning and then charged into Photoshop to work on the visuals. Art and animation was a lot of fun. To see your idea come to life is amazing, which is true of any form of expression but particularly exciting to me when it’s characters and environments in a game. Animation is another area I’d experimented with many years ago and I was happy to try it out again. The minimalist white and black art I’d created just to test the AGS tool became the primary visual style, and I believe the funky animation benefited from the hand-drawn Microsoft Paint look. I spent Sunday morning and some of the afternoon working solely on art and animation in Photoshop. But as I once again learned, it’s a classic mistake to work on the art before your game’s scripting and logic are in place.
Scripting and logic was a bummer. Some of it was painless thanks to the pre-defined behaviors and tools in AGS, but I felt pretty bad by the end of Sunday on account of some advanced logic hurdles that I could not quickly surmount. In the end, I was missing the logic for multiple endings (merely a different message at the ending screen), NPC animations didn’t play properly, and the game crashes when the player reaches the end. It is also missing all sound, which for my game would have been footsteps for the player character and a violin track for one of the NPCs. I considered not even submitting what I had, but I felt better about it on Monday morning. I’m happy with the result considering none of it existed when I woke up on Friday morning. It’s just a step, after all, like anything else I’ve created.
My biggest takeaway from this experience is that I enjoy visual development. I’m exploring art and I’ve been worried that exploring something like this at age 32 is going to be difficult, particularly if I want to pursuit it beyond a hobby. I’m going to keep exploring and take classes. Hope something comes of it.
The (not quite final) game is here, called ‘p good’.
Short Stories
Video Games
Novels
Comics
Films
Short Films
Television
Short Stories
Video Games
Novels
Comics
Films
Short Films
Television
A couple of sessions from Thursday.
How to Become Fireproof: Surviving Internet Negativity
Thursday, 2:30pm-2:55pm
Speaker: Nika Harper (Independent)
Nika addressed the topic well. First, she clarified: you’re a creator! You create things that are put out into the world and are going to be seen by people on the Internet. This is an act of vulnerability. Your creation is part of you.
She broke down negative comments into three archetypes:
-feels threatened by you/your creation and attacks you personally
-super fans who feel betrayed when they don’t get what they really, really want
-trolls who’re gonna hate
It’s valuable to understand where the negativity is coming from because you can then apply reason to your perception and response. Does the comment have any effect for you or your creation? Is there useful feedback hidden in the shadow of the negativity? Is there any point to exacerbating a situation with negativity toward them? These are questions to ask before choosing to respond.
There’s also the notion that every interaction involves human beings. The troll is a human being, and so are you. Nika finds that responding to negative comments in a reasonable way, or responding at all in some cases, makes them realize that you are a real person. This helps dissuade the sort of comments that are needlessly negative.
Beware the verbose negativity. Don’t let a lot of big words hide those useless, negative comments.
It felt like this session was too short for the topic of discussion. But I reckon it’s a great primer for students, new devs, and anyone who needs a better understanding of the reasons and responses for negative Internet comments.
#1ReasonToBe
Thursday, 4:00pm-5:00pm
Speakers: Leigh Alexander (Gamasutra), Deirdra Kiai (Independent), Anna Kipnis (Double Fine Productions), Colleen Macklin (Parsons The New School for Design), Laralyn McWilliams (The Workshop Entertainment), Brenda Romero (UC Santa Cruz), Lauren Scott (UC Santa Cruz)
A great series of talks about women and minorities in the games industry, the bullshit they often deal with, and why it’s still a industry with great potential for change and inclusivity. I encourage folks to check out the talk when it gets released via Gamasutra.
Brenda and Leigh introduced the talk, going over the history and the reasons that the Advocacy track exists. (Shout-out to Meggan for making it possible). They discussed that #1reasonwhy was the genesis, but then Rhianna Pratchett introduced #1reasontobe to discuss positive experiences working in video games. Leigh described her early experiences and her wish that, someday, there’d be no need for such discussions, because the industry will have evolved to a point that all who want to make video games feel welcomed, respected, and equal. In particular, encourage girls, women, minorities, and anyone who doesn’t think it’s possible because they don’t feel like they belong to pursue their passion.
Laralyn
-The early days of the industry were especially tough.
-Some people worked on games as a hobby because it just didn’t occur to them that they could do it for a living.
-Individual games game inspire one to create (Myst, Secret of Monkey Island).
-Life is too short to waste on fear and uncertainty. Do what you’re here to do.
Lauren
-Encouragement and the support of family and friends to instill confidence in someone who wants to create video games.
-A call for mentorship. Various other industries have mentorship programs built into them, but video games do not. Why? We need future generations to support and inspire young game devs.
Colleen
-Diversity!
-Identify patterns in your workplace, all around you. When you do, analyze them as you would any design, and change them if necessary.
-Review the UX for your hiring processes. Is it user-friendly for all?
Anna
-Your idea is just as worthy of consideration as anyone else’s.
-Seek inspiration from those who’ve come before.
-Where are women as project leads? We need more.
-Game jams to encourage everyone to participate in the creation of video games.
Deirdra
-Making games is easy. Belonging is hard.
-Differences–whether skin color, or body shape, or personal preference–can isolate us, which is a terrible feeling for anyone. It’s alienating. We need to be inclusive.
-There are small hints of change. Panels such as this. A glimmer of hope.
So many people love video games! They love playing them, making them, sharing them. Let’s speak out and encourage them, and call out the practices that prevent or discourage them from doing what they love.
A couple of sessions from Thursday.
How to Become Fireproof: Surviving Internet Negativity
Thursday, 2:30pm-2:55pm
Speaker: Nika Harper (Independent)
Nika addressed the topic well. First, she clarified: you’re a creator! You create things that are put out into the world and are going to be seen by people on the Internet. This is an act of vulnerability. Your creation is part of you.
She broke down negative comments into three archetypes:
-feels threatened by you/your creation and attacks you personally
-super fans who feel betrayed when they don’t get what they really, really want
-trolls who’re gonna hate
It’s valuable to understand where the negativity is coming from because you can then apply reason to your perception and response. Does the comment have any effect for you or your creation? Is there useful feedback hidden in the shadow of the negativity? Is there any point to exacerbating a situation with negativity toward them? These are questions to ask before choosing to respond.
There’s also the notion that every interaction involves human beings. The troll is a human being, and so are you. Nika finds that responding to negative comments in a reasonable way, or responding at all in some cases, makes them realize that you are a real person. This helps dissuade the sort of comments that are needlessly negative.
Beware the verbose negativity. Don’t let a lot of big words hide those useless, negative comments.
It felt like this session was too short for the topic of discussion. But I reckon it’s a great primer for students, new devs, and anyone who needs a better understanding of the reasons and responses for negative Internet comments.
#1ReasonToBe
Thursday, 4:00pm-5:00pm
Speakers: Leigh Alexander (Gamasutra), Deirdra Kiai (Independent), Anna Kipnis (Double Fine Productions), Colleen Macklin (Parsons The New School for Design), Laralyn McWilliams (The Workshop Entertainment), Brenda Romero (UC Santa Cruz), Lauren Scott (UC Santa Cruz)
A great series of talks about women and minorities in the games industry, the bullshit they often deal with, and why it’s still a industry with great potential for change and inclusivity. I encourage folks to check out the talk when it gets released via Gamasutra.
Brenda and Leigh introduced the talk, going over the history and the reasons that the Advocacy track exists. (Shout-out to Meggan for making it possible). They discussed that #1reasonwhy was the genesis, but then Rhianna Pratchett introduced #1reasontobe to discuss positive experiences working in video games. Leigh described her early experiences and her wish that, someday, there’d be no need for such discussions, because the industry will have evolved to a point that all who want to make video games feel welcomed, respected, and equal. In particular, encourage girls, women, minorities, and anyone who doesn’t think it’s possible because they don’t feel like they belong to pursue their passion.
Laralyn
-The early days of the industry were especially tough.
-Some people worked on games as a hobby because it just didn’t occur to them that they could do it for a living.
-Individual games game inspire one to create (Myst, Secret of Monkey Island).
-Life is too short to waste on fear and uncertainty. Do what you’re here to do.
Lauren
-Encouragement and the support of family and friends to instill confidence in someone who wants to create video games.
-A call for mentorship. Various other industries have mentorship programs built into them, but video games do not. Why? We need future generations to support and inspire young game devs.
Colleen
-Diversity!
-Identify patterns in your workplace, all around you. When you do, analyze them as you would any design, and change them if necessary.
-Review the UX for your hiring processes. Is it user-friendly for all?
Anna
-Your idea is just as worthy of consideration as anyone else’s.
-Seek inspiration from those who’ve come before.
-Where are women as project leads? We need more.
-Game jams to encourage everyone to participate in the creation of video games.
Deirdra
-Making games is easy. Belonging is hard.
-Differences–whether skin color, or body shape, or personal preference–can isolate us, which is a terrible feeling for anyone. It’s alienating. We need to be inclusive.
-There are small hints of change. Panels such as this. A glimmer of hope.
So many people love video games! They love playing them, making them, sharing them. Let’s speak out and encourage them, and call out the practices that prevent or discourage them from doing what they love.
Short stories.
Video games.
Novels.
Movies.
Television.
Short stories.
Video games.
Novels.
Movies.
Television.
