A few weeks ago I designed a unique character bone rig system that would, in theory, let the form of the character be controlled by animations, the physics engine, and additional scripted code all at the same time. It does all this while keeping a fairly low bone count. I have no idea if other developers have come up with similar rigs before, but I've never heard one spoken of (though I have not seen the inner workings of all that many character rigs outside of PC games). Anyhow, it all looked good on paper, but that didn't mean it would actually work. I could have easily overlooked some limitation.
Today, I finally integrated all the pieces of the concept for the first time. In this case, I was asking the character to snag itself like a rubber band on an object, dynamically deform as it pulled back from the object it was snagged on, and then release from the ground to shoot across the land. While airborne I asked it to pull itself back together. Much to my delight, the very first time I asked it to do its thing, everything worked perfectly to create a great visual effect! The full slingshot sequence still needs to be fine tuned and could do with a few more layers of prebuilt animations, but the fact that the system is working just as I had predicted is very encouraging. It doesn't get much better than seeing a new concept come together without a hitch.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
New Game Designs
In November I turned my attention to coming up with a new game concept, and after a bit of rapid prototyping, I got one I liked. The polish team from Maximum Chaos is planning on building the game, but since I'm the only one out of school, time has been short for the rest of the crew. They have also been pretty burnt out from the last game we made.
Part of my goal for the new game is to give the team the chance to do a lot more of the programming (it is a team of programmers after all). With Maximum Chaos, experience levels were not really there yet for the guys to do the core of the coding. Unfortunately, this meant they mostly got stuck doing in editor rigging, 3d mesh correction and other technical artist stuff while I was stuck doing heavy coding. It wasn't a waist though, we learned a lot about working in a team. I learned how to manage a team, and we made a point to discuss the programming and have the guys do as much code as they were ready for. With that experience behind us, I am ready to be a better leader, and they are ready to take on the programming (leaving me free to do the technical artist and design work).
A lot of people who know me tend to think of me as a programmer, but that's not entirely accurate. I'm really a game designer who happens to be rather good at programming. I use rapid prototyping and experimental code to help me design new game play concepts and systems. I also do a lot with programming to ensure that if I am ever in a designer position, I can fully understand where the programmers are coming from and not ask them to do insane things without having some idea of how they could approach it.
In addition, getting a job strait up as a game designer (rather than a graphics designer) is not so simple. A lot of people think they can design good games and content when really, they can't. This means going around telling people I'm a game designer is not a real smart move. With game design it's a matter of showing, not telling. However, in order to show that ability, you really need playable games. These games are likely to need a team to make them, and now the circular problems begin. The industry gets around this issue by hiring designers out of other departments. This is a big part of why I am a also a technical artist and programmer. In a school enviorment filled with artists, I sort of just naturally fell into the programming roll in most groups, so it seemed logical to pursue it as my dominant secondary skill.
But enough of such tangents, a new game is in the works. I took a play focused approach to designing this game, meaning the mechanics, systems and art styles were developed first while the plot, story and specific levels developed second. Many designers start the other way around, but after reading a few articles about how Nintendo has been designing their most recent and enjoyable titles, I thought I'd try this approach. The major advantage of this type of design appears to be that the end product is more likely to be innovative and fun because creativity in game play begins with very few boundaries.
Games that start with a strict story tend to fit into well worn predefined molds such as turn based RPGs and FPSs. Essentially, the classic method of choosing a genera and then a story and then mechanics can be mixed up a bit and into choosing mechanics that end up defining a genera(sometimes a new one) and guide a story. Though games developed in this manner tend to be prone to wild gaps in logic (seriously, try thinking about Mario Games through a logical eye some time), after hearing the 'It's okay if it doesn't make sense because it's fun.' approach at Nintendo, I decided I was okay with this.
As such, the new game will have some some wacky features, though I am going to make an effort to ensure that world rules and logic remain consistent within the game's universe, even if they don't match reality all that closely. I did begin with a micro-biological theme, so my usual trend of slipping in a few real world concepts and items of some educational and/or inspirational value continues. Did anyone catch the historical quotes in Maximum Chaos?
I realize I haven't given out any real details about the game yet, but nothing is set in stone just yet. It is, however, likely to be a third person action adventure of a sort. Right now it is looking a bit like a hybrid between Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Kirby games with several game-play twists not seen in any of them. All in all, it looks like it will be pretty fun, so I'm looking forward to getting it to a playable stage.
Part of my goal for the new game is to give the team the chance to do a lot more of the programming (it is a team of programmers after all). With Maximum Chaos, experience levels were not really there yet for the guys to do the core of the coding. Unfortunately, this meant they mostly got stuck doing in editor rigging, 3d mesh correction and other technical artist stuff while I was stuck doing heavy coding. It wasn't a waist though, we learned a lot about working in a team. I learned how to manage a team, and we made a point to discuss the programming and have the guys do as much code as they were ready for. With that experience behind us, I am ready to be a better leader, and they are ready to take on the programming (leaving me free to do the technical artist and design work).
A lot of people who know me tend to think of me as a programmer, but that's not entirely accurate. I'm really a game designer who happens to be rather good at programming. I use rapid prototyping and experimental code to help me design new game play concepts and systems. I also do a lot with programming to ensure that if I am ever in a designer position, I can fully understand where the programmers are coming from and not ask them to do insane things without having some idea of how they could approach it.
In addition, getting a job strait up as a game designer (rather than a graphics designer) is not so simple. A lot of people think they can design good games and content when really, they can't. This means going around telling people I'm a game designer is not a real smart move. With game design it's a matter of showing, not telling. However, in order to show that ability, you really need playable games. These games are likely to need a team to make them, and now the circular problems begin. The industry gets around this issue by hiring designers out of other departments. This is a big part of why I am a also a technical artist and programmer. In a school enviorment filled with artists, I sort of just naturally fell into the programming roll in most groups, so it seemed logical to pursue it as my dominant secondary skill.
But enough of such tangents, a new game is in the works. I took a play focused approach to designing this game, meaning the mechanics, systems and art styles were developed first while the plot, story and specific levels developed second. Many designers start the other way around, but after reading a few articles about how Nintendo has been designing their most recent and enjoyable titles, I thought I'd try this approach. The major advantage of this type of design appears to be that the end product is more likely to be innovative and fun because creativity in game play begins with very few boundaries.
Games that start with a strict story tend to fit into well worn predefined molds such as turn based RPGs and FPSs. Essentially, the classic method of choosing a genera and then a story and then mechanics can be mixed up a bit and into choosing mechanics that end up defining a genera(sometimes a new one) and guide a story. Though games developed in this manner tend to be prone to wild gaps in logic (seriously, try thinking about Mario Games through a logical eye some time), after hearing the 'It's okay if it doesn't make sense because it's fun.' approach at Nintendo, I decided I was okay with this.
As such, the new game will have some some wacky features, though I am going to make an effort to ensure that world rules and logic remain consistent within the game's universe, even if they don't match reality all that closely. I did begin with a micro-biological theme, so my usual trend of slipping in a few real world concepts and items of some educational and/or inspirational value continues. Did anyone catch the historical quotes in Maximum Chaos?
I realize I haven't given out any real details about the game yet, but nothing is set in stone just yet. It is, however, likely to be a third person action adventure of a sort. Right now it is looking a bit like a hybrid between Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Kirby games with several game-play twists not seen in any of them. All in all, it looks like it will be pretty fun, so I'm looking forward to getting it to a playable stage.
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