Game Design – Networking

I’ve not really had anything I wanted to write about for the past two weeks as I’ve been busy with other projects and trying to have a social life and even just trying to squeeze in the time to play games.

This week I’d like to talk about Networking. The inspiration for this article came from a game developer on facebook who was attempting to mislead people into giving him $20,000 for his “Young Prodigy Prototypes”. Following his facebook posts to reddit I found that he was telling people that game testers get paid $5 per 5 minute video of gameplay.

So I’d like to talk about networking and the importance of checking multiple sources for facts.

Networking is probably the most important aspect of game development, music, or film production. If you don’t put yourself out there and meet other likeminded people you’ll miss out on great opportunities. Thankfully in game development we have hundreds of ways to network; Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Game Jams, PAX, E3. If you live in a large city there will most likely be some sort of meet up you can head along to, if you’re a student there will be plenty of people wanting to make games.

Networking will help you make contacts and contacts are useful for so many things. They might be in a position to put your name forward for a project, they might need someone with your skills. Even if they can help you generate some buzz around your own project, having contacts helps.

I obviously can’t speak for every city in the world but I can give some help to those from Glasgow who follow this blog.
Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh – For weekly meetups with Game Developers from your city follow BertWednesdays and they will tell you where to meet every week. (Almost always pubs so you’ll have to be over 18)
Glasgow, Paisley – If you’re a student then you can meet up with game developers at the UWS Game Development group. There are groups at Glasgow University, Abertay, Glasgow Caledonian and probably others but I don’t know their policies.

The Game Tester Fallacy 

Many people will tell you that being a game tester is the best way to get into the industry. I remember when I was in high school I was told by the career advisor that I should go into game testing because I wanted to become a developer.

As I’ve found out, game testing is not the best way to get into the games industry and it certainly won’t get your name out there as many people think it will.

Game testing is a tedious and difficult job that requires great writing skills and the ability to remain focused on the same task for hours. Often you’ll be tasked with playing the same quest in an MMO repeatedly with every combination of characters or without using magic or by only using the bow and play dead skill. Then you have to log up what happened, any bugs must be filed and how it happened must be logged accurately so the developers can fix it.

It is definitely not like this.

If you’re just starting in the games industry and you want to work but don’t have the coding or design skill needed to release a commercial product. Then game testing is a not bad way to make money while you work on those skills. But don’t go into game testing assuming that you’ll get famous for your leet skills and being a show off isn’t going to help either.

To get recognised in the industry;

• Decide what it is you want to do, either programming, design or another aspect and pursue it.
• Make dozens of crappy games, learn by doing.
• Go to Game Jams and join a team, make contacts and work with other people.
• Once you have some small games you are proud of, make an online space and show people your work.
• If you see any work come past you, take the opportunity. Any work is good work.

If you want to make good games you will need to play and review games. Listen to experts, attend talks, talk to other people about their projects and even just watch other people play games.

I’ll try be weekly with these articles but as I’m taking Those Who Play to Kickstarter at the end of the month, I’ve been busy trying to get the rulebook up to date. Get the system tested and get the art in place. More about that closer to the time though.

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Keeping the Vision

 

Game Design – Keeping Vision

Something I’ve found difficult when working in a group is keeping the vision of the project the same from planning to submitting. This week’s Game Design will help you keep everyone on the same page and help you evolve the project in a better way.

Staying the Course

First of all, you’ll want to make sure everyone is on the same page with what the vision of the project is. This is very easy to do if you are working in collaboration with people from the start but you won’t always be fortunate enough to have a full team from the get go.

To help new members understand the vision of the project, you should make some materials that show what is being made. These could be;

• A pitch document that defines the gameplay mechanics, where inspiration comes from and the visual style (With examples).
• An inspiration board. Examples of aspects of the game surrounded by things they draw inspiration from.
• (This one isn’t always possible) A prototype level or trailer that shows the tone, style and ideas the game has.

My favourite of the above is the inspiration board, it is very easy to build an idea by putting example pictures, descriptions and made up gameplay stats around the person/vehicle/place/item.

 

Evolving 

Obviously, the vision will change naturally as you go. Deadlines, budget or just what is possible with your level of skill will make ideas impossible or too difficult to include. This is the evolution of the project and every project goes through it.

What you will have to do is make sure it does not evolve into something else. I don’t mean, keep the original idea and never let go. I mean, be aware of what influences the project but do not try to recreate them.

I’ve seen quite a few games that have taken so much inspiration from other games that they have fallen into the same mould and came out a warped and less attractive clone.
Medal of Honour: War fighter and arguably any First Person Shooter in a modern military setting seem to keep falling into the same mould as Call of Duty 4.
Many JRPGs often leap into the final fantasy mould with such aplomb they are almost indistinguishable.

If the line becomes blurred for you, your customer will think you’re ripping the original off. If you want to make a Star Trek game with similar races and ships, try get the rights to make a Star Trek game (You can’t do any worse than those before you). Otherwise, get a pad and pen and start making you’re own and diversify your inspirations.

If you want to make a sci-fi game and have the vision for something with ship and crew management, exploration and survival in a lonely universe. I think you should be able to name at least twenty inspirations.
Different Star Trek series do not count as separate inspirations no matter how much you claim they are different. Neither do sequels.

Conclusion

To keep a project on track and to keep the vision your own. I recommend you read at least one new book every month, watch a new movie every week regardless of quality. Play a new game when you can and trawl deviantart and other image boards for art that inspires you.

And at the end of every movie, book or game. Write what you liked, keep a note of characters, places or scenes. If you find art you liked, save it. It is impossible to be completely original at this point, but you can elaborate and change upon the things that inspire you to create something better.

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Developing with a team

Game Design – Developing With A Team

(This is getting out of hand, I’ll have to put up the next one tomorrow! Sorry to those following this, I’ll endeavour to fix my bad timekeeping.)

Developing with a team is something that you will have to do at one point during your game making career. Thankfully, most courses have modules on this and will prepare you for the horrors and pitfalls of sticking to a schedule while also dealing with other people.

Currently we are making a game in unity in a group of 4. A simple project that draws upon past experience of most members. But there are many pitfalls you would not and could not predict. This weeks Game Design lesson is; Developing with a team and how to prevent yourself from getting arrested.

To give you an insight of how stressful it can be working in a team;

A friend of mine in another group in the same class as my unity group, has had: The animator tell him he has done no work for 7 weeks because other classes were more important, the programmer have to focus on other things due to a death in the family and the other designer disappear off the face of the earth and only leave a cryptic “I’m 300 miles away”.

In college, me and this friend worked with two other guys who, for most of the year, did not show up. It was only in the last week (And on the deadline day) that the programmer showed up to work.

Not the greatest horror stories but they are true and will happen to you. People will burn out, people will not care and people will not try.
(If you manage to get a team where everyone is passionate, hardworking and easy to work with. Send me an email, I’d love to come join.)

What you as the designer needs to do is make sure everyone is on track, in attendance and working. This can be as simple as just having a friendly chat with the team members when you get the chance. I’ve found that this tends to be the best way to keep a project moving forward. If you can, offer to buy lunch for the team if they make a lot of progress in a week or get some drinks. Like it or not, you’re a family and you should be as close as one.

To have a good development environment you should:

• Talk often both about the project and other things.
• Stay in contact, give constant updates.
• Give reasons for absence and give warning if you can.
• Hang out and have fun when you can.
• Make sure you pull your own weight; be passionate about what you do or leave.

It’s not always possible to do this though as you may be stuck with assholes, wasters and unmovable visionaries.

To deal with these problems, I’ve got a few tips but no sure fire methods yet.

Assholes

These are the guys who want to make the game about a weed smoking sperm cell who fights AIDS for your first commercial product. Sure, it might be a good idea to some, but not for a commercial release.

• Ditch them if you can.

If you can’t ditch them; You’re not the boss, your group is already too far in to cut people off, then;

• Assign them things that can’t be ruined.

Code is usually a good place, code can’t really be ruined. If it does the right thing, it’s good enough. Though you might want to send someone through it with a comb, just in case there are any surprises.

• Talk to them about the product

Before the rest, try talking to them. Most people understand what is okay and what isn’t once they know what is being made or aimed for. Give them the benefit of the doubt and try explain what the team is doing before relying on the other methods.

Wasters

Procrastinators and time wasters. They are the bane of a product. Even worse than the Assholes, Wasters don’t want to have any part of the product other than the payment at the end. They can often be ditched by talking to those with the power to do so. Though if this isn’t possible, i.e. In a university group. Then you can rely on;

• Don’t ask, don’t tell

If they are happy to do nothing towards the project, don’t give them a part. When they start panicking at the end of the project as they realise they’ve wasted their time. You can decide what to do.

• Give them the optional extras

If they need to put something down as theirs, give them the optional things. That way if they waste their time, you will still have a finished product at the end.

Unmovable Visionaries

You may never encounter one of these (You might be one yourself, get tested) but they are the worst to work with.

The most important part of developing with a team is collaboration. Everyone’s opinion and voice should be heard and taken into account. You may be worried about your vision warping to include elements you don’t want. That’s fine, keep that one in your personal pile and make it yourself OR hire a team to do it for you. Developing with people requires respect and the ability to bend your ideas to fit the project.

Unmovable visionaries do not understand this and will remain rooted on their idea even if its a bad one. There are ways of working with these people though.

• Be careful with your wording, UVs can be very protective

Think of the UV’s idea as a bear cub, your job is to turn that cub into a dog without openly saying you’re changing it. A difficult feat to perform but one you will have to learn. This is also useful when talking with publishers.

• Rely on democracy

At the end of the day, the group gets to decide. If one member says “Screw you guys, I’m goin home” and takes his idea off the table, lest it be criticised. So be it. Start fresh and let them pout. As many developers will tell you;

flexibility is key to success.

And lastly;

• Stand your ground

This is difficult for some people to do and it shouldn’t be. Don’t be threatened by the Unmovable Visionary just because (s)he uses big words or is older than you. You’re in the same boat and staying quiet while they lead you further to sea is just going to make it harder to turn back when you need to.

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Developing with a team is great chance to meet people and network and it is definitely something everyone who wants to make games should do. Go to Game Jams by yourself and throw yourself into a team. Ask around on forums or even start a project and gather people together.

If anyone needs a writer and designer just give me a message. I’ve got five months off soon and I need something to do!

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Big Badass Barbarians Update

I got tired and stressed out with Those Who Play as it is quickly turning into a venture that I hope to take to Kickstarter at one point. So, to combat the stress I bashed together some cards for Big Badass Barbarians. None of the art is mine, I just liked the pictures and wanted something to hold and make me feel like I’ve accomplished something.

And apart from the bottom cards coming out with a strange pink tinge, the first run of cards looks pretty nice. I’ll need to get more ink and leave more space at the top so the border doesn’t get cut up.

But, I’ve managed to get the first draft of 11 Cards done

89 More cards.
50 Tiles.
10 Character cutouts.
And Big Badass Barbarians will be ready to go!

If I keep up tonight’s pace, the playable version will be ready by the end of the month!
If anyone reading this is an artist and would like to help, please message me!
If you know anyone who is good at drawing, tell them to message me!

The art style I’m currently looking at is Example

Thank you to everyone who follows this blog, you keep my ego fuelled.

Game Design – The High Concept

So we were put into our groups this week and handed a list of briefs to work on. Naturally, these were crap so we emailed the lecturer and proposed a 2D platformer made with Unity.

They said yes and we got underway with planning out our game. Well, those of us who attended the first meeting did.

Anyway.

At this stage in development we simply had the broad overview of what we intended to do, a 2D platformer, a decision that was easily reached as we had two designers, a programmer and an animator who hasn’t done much 3D modelling.

Then we discussed what languages we knew, c# and Javascript, which are both supported by Unity. Which also supports 2D graphics design.

With this in mind, we began discussing ideas for a 2D game and things we would like to see in a game like this. This is called The High Concept. We decided upon a stealth focus where the player is young, we also wanted to do a Sci-Fi theme as a friend of mine had some ambient Sci-Fi tracks and we had discussed making a Sci-Fi game with his music as the soundtrack.

This is actually how games are made, a bunch of people sit around and say “It’d be cool if you played as an alien.” So don’t be afraid that you don’t have training or qualifications. Get some friends together, discuss what you want to make and make it. (Though you may want to aim small and simple at first)

Tips

For those just starting in a team with little to no knowledge of programming, use programs like Gamemaker Studio and RPG Maker. These will give you a good grasp of how to make games without requiring too much prior knowledge.

Game Maker Studio
RPG Maker
Construct 2

Don’t be afraid to fail/suck, your first games will be terrible but you will learn a lot from these early attempts.

Keep everything, have multiple backups and never throw anything away.

Next week

Gantt Charts and Project Planning

Scottish Game Jam Update #5

So the judges came round just in time for us to get the game up and running with the Oculus Rift and Xbox controller. Unfortunately though, the AI decided to be a dick and only spawn one guy instead of twenty. A lackluster experience but they seemed to enjoy the headtracking with the turret and the environment we had made.

With the lack of music and voice acting in-game I can say I’m disappointed but proud of what we have accomplished. We managed to show them an example of the music and voice acting which they enjoyed.

The final game turned out to be very different to our original idea.

Original
Co-op
Spotlight use to see road and enemies
Driver / Railshooter
1920’s

Final
Single Player
Vehicular combat
2120’s (We couldn’t import models properly so we were forced to use UDK assets)

Though it wasn’t what we had expected to make I’m happy with what we have accomplished and it provides a solid basis for driving games that we might make in the future.

Thanks to all those who I worked with, lets not do this again for a long while…

www.ultravioletgaming.blogspot.co.uk
www.youtube.com/Strap256

The Jam has been an awesome, stressful, funny and terrible time all at once and even if we don’t win anything. I’m glad I took part… Also I won a signed Helghast Helmet so that has soothed me over.

 

Update #4

We unfortunately hit a huge snag with the AI and had to pull out huge chunks of the code to figure out how to work around it. The solution? Drop the racing code and script the camera into first person.

We now have two seats in the one vehicle, AI spawning (But not doing anything) and the secondary turret firing. Once Fraser manages to get the AI moving I’ll be back to scripting and designing levels.

Shaun has been bored as he is waiting for us to give him some video to make a trailer with and Craig is to thank for the two seat code.

We are still at the point where we have nothing worth showing to the public as we are still using UDK assets until we get the chance to implement the models and make something unique.

From what I’ve seen around the jam, many ideas are taking form and many are starting to fall as people are realising what they can and can’t do. Unfortunately there hasn’t been much chance to talk to people about their ideas as they are all too busy.

I’ll try and speak to some people tomorrow once they’ve submitted their games and are calming down.

Scottish Game Jam Update #3

I came second in the Nidhogg tournament and won a signed Helghast Helmet!
Morale + 50

So the first level of the game was created and the basic scripting has been included.

Craig is learning UDK in order to help out and speed up the process.

Fraser is trying to get the AI working but has to use my computer to do it as the level relies on alot of materials, meshes and code he doesn’t have.

Shaun is converting the sound files to .wav to be implemented into UDK and recording the final pieces for the game.

I’ll upload a small video of the game at 10pm for you to see what we’ve done so far.

So far we’ve managed to get the player sitting in the car with the camera at their head, pity its not quite our car yet though….
We’ve also got most of the music and voice acting done.
Now its just time to implement the AI, music and voice acting, Rail Shooter, Co-op, Four more levels.

We have a fun 21 hours ahead of us.

Scottish Game Jam Update #2 (6 Hours late)

US

So I’ve spent most of the morning (7-2) working on getting the camera into the driver’s seat in UDK. After a steep learning curve where I learned that Unreal Code has a “Last one, Final say” policy I learned that instead of changing it at the source, I had to change it at the last destination. Thanks to Craig for his help with that.

I’ve had fours hours sleep as my team were nice enough to let me crash after staying up all night working on modelling the first level only to have it crash on me and lose an hours work.
Programs (Unreal Development Kit and its coding language)

Fraser has modeled Player2’s tommy gun and will probably upload pictures later on tonight on his blog (Blogs and Channels).
Programs (3DS Max)

Sean has made some kickass music that should really help the game stand out from the crowd which you’ll be able to hear later on tonight on his Youtube Channel (Blogs and Channels).
Programs (Guitar Pro 6 for Composition, Garage Band for Arrangement)
Equipment (Yamaha Bass, Westfield Stratocaster, Casio Keyboard)

And we also got our female voice actress back to record some dialogue.

Craig has been working on helping me with the Camera code and writing up the dialogue between the two characters. Once we’ve got that finalised its onto recording!
Programs (Open Office)

The game is starting to shape up and once we implement the jeep model and put constraints on the Oculus Rift Head Tracking, the driver’s part of the controls will be finished and its onto making the rail shooter player.

———————-
The Jam

The Game Jam has been going strong with lots of great looking games from a lot of teams. Most games are still in the early stages so it is difficult to really discern much.
One game I have played is a card game called “Good News!” where you play as an information enhancer in Soviet Russia. The concept of the game is that you are given pre-approved corrections to fix news articles in time for their printing. If you like Cards Against Humanity, Papers Please or Soviet Era Propaganda you’ll love Good News.

There is to be a Nidhogg tournament soon with a Helghast helmet or Total War Rome 2 as the prize. Wish me luck.

I will endeavor to get a hands on experience with more games as the day progresses.

Sorry for the delay of this update.

First Update of The Scottish Game Jam

We are now 5 hours into the Scottish Game Jam at Glasgow Caledonian University and it is awesome. There are near enough 200 people here and we’ve managed to rustle up a team of 4 (Would’ve been 6 but the 2 coders left). So we have:

Myself as level designer and scripter
Fraser Gillespie (http://ultravioletgames.blogspot.co.uk/) As 3D modeler
Sean Mayle (www.youtube.com/Strap256) For sound production
Craig Campbell as script writer and voice actor

We are working on a co-operative driving/rail shooter game set in the era of Noir and Cosmic Horror where you must out run a bloodthirsty cult until sunrise lest your death spell doom for us all.

We have some of the first level detailed as we are working on implementing the player’s vehicle with a first person camera for both players. This has proven to be the most difficult part of the game so far but I’m confident I’ll have it done by 2am.

Craig and Sean are working on recording the dialogue and creating the music which will serve to expand on the narrative between the two characters and on the backstory for the game.

Fraser is working on creating the city for the final level that the players will have to navigate in the dark.

We are aiming to bring a focus on co-operation by implementing a spotlight on the jeep that the players must share in order to keep an eye on the cultists or the road, mainly because this is a time for experimentation!

We have also received an audition due to our “notice board” of positions available and now should have a female voice actor as well.

Next Update will be at 8 am with something worth showing.