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August 26, 2009

How to Become a Game Designer

Painters start drawing when they are young. Musicians learn to play instruments in grade school. Writers start to write. Actors act. Directors direct. Young game designers make games. If it’s a passion - and it has to be a passion for you to succeed - then designing games is something that you have to do, not just want to do.
via designer-notes.com

Excellent tips there. Reading a few paragraphs from that piece actually made me enthusiastically do my job yesterday.

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Filed under  //   Game design   Game development   Tips  

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August 18, 2009

Updates!

Another video (and screenshots) from me. I added a new control, using "analog-like" button control in the screen. It is mainly because I hate games with accelerometer control. Accelerometer sometimes feels too sensitive, difficult to control, and force you to play in certain position. Maybe I'll put back the accelerometer in the future as an option

I did a major refactor with the game. I removed all unused assets, delete all unused codes, add a few scenes and stuffs so it feels like a game now. Basically, the internals are somewhat optimized and ready for new features now. For now, the visual stays pretty much the same (I'm not an artist, you know). You can start new game, shoot some enemies, and then game over. I think the goal is pretty clear here, players have to defend themselves from enemies.

I've done some research, looking for some games with similar type. I found one called zombie headshot (2D visual, you have to shoot the head of zombies). I believe there are some more out there.

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Filed under  //   Game   iPhone   Screenshot   Video  

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August 4, 2009

More features, more video

I implemented some features last weekend. Personally, I think it wasn't as productive as the previous one. I might need to manage my (free) time better.

Here's a list of what I did (check the video):
  • Progress bar to indicate enemy spawn time.
  • New images for the button so it will change when pressed (note: programmer arts, 30 seconds graphics made by me).
  • Enemy spawn point (a prism made in one minute), enemy is spawned automatically every 10 seconds.
  • Enemy movement (enemies will actually move: run, turn around)
  • Another gun tower, so we can switch tower.
  • Area damage and effect, enemy will move slower and turn blue.

I think I will do more optimization for the rest of this week. Actually, I haven't decided yet where to go after this. I'll try put some time to do more gameplay design and GUI design next week, and see what can I come up with.

As always, input and comments are always welcome.

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Filed under  //   Game   iPhone   Video  

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July 30, 2009

More Prototype Preview

Here's another video preview from my project. I have added a few updates since the last video.

  • Dead enemy animate like a dead body, then disappear.
  • Some explosion physics.
  • Current frame per second. Note that the video was recorded from a computer, and it will show a lot more FPS than device deployment.
  • Less sensitive and more controllable accelerometer.
  • Smoke trail from missile.
  • Missile and machine gun can be used at the same time. It was crashed on the iPhone before.
  • And some more internal things.

Quite a progress, from zero to this prototype in a week. Actually, I'm quite surprised with the progress I can achieve in just a week. It's very exciting.

I added some random music in the video, just mute it if you don't like it. Comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

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Filed under  //   Game   iPhone   Video  

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July 27, 2009

Proof of Concept Video #1

Here's the first video of my current indie project. It's a first person shooting game for iPhone and iPod touch. Basically, I want to create a game where the players must defend themselves from enemies attack. Something like tower defend or castle defend games, with first person style.


Please note that this is only a proof of concept, meaning that the purpose is only to get basic feel of the game in the device (in this case: iPhone). This prototype was done in about two days, with Unity3D. It was recorded from the Game view in Unity, controlled from my iPhone (accelerometer) with Unity Remote (so you can't really see any touches and device movement). I haven't tweaked the accelerometer control yet, I think it feels too sensitive.

Why I put this video online? I think it will be fun to watch when the game is completed. Hopefully I could learn something from it. If the game never completes, this blog will be the black box.

Watch this space for future updates. Any comments and suggestions are welcome.

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Filed under  //   Game   iPhone   Video  

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