I've made one of my older projects playable here. I changed it a small amount so it's actually possible to complete, before bad programming made the end non functional. The controls are WASD or Arrow Keys to move, LMB to fire, and mouse to look around/steer. The health and ammo is in the top right corner but may be hard to see. Another annoying game-aspect to keep in mind is that the ranged enemies don't have an obvious indication that they are attacking, and at the start of the game they aren't in the most obvious positions.
I haven't had time to add some of the gamifying elements I wanted to yet but for anyone interested in seeing the progress so far I will include a link to the game for people to play. It isn't a download and it should run in your browser, as for how it runs that is another story. The game controls with the WASD,or the arrow keys for those not accustomed to pc game controls, use the mouse to look around, and to start/ restart the game at the beginning or on death press space. If you want to know how long you have before you die you might want to play in full screen as the energy bar only appears then.
Here is the link. 943dd087a5a9d5076f43288308cb79507c397ce8.googledrive.com/host/0Bw72m1fZPIXIYTdlTVlWRm5IclU/ The game I worked on during the first inquiry block was intended as the first prototype for what I want to create in this year’s TSA game design competition. The overall concept for the game is that the player controls a rover reactivated after an unknown period of time as they explore the alien environment around them. The first inquiry block only lasted 2 weeks, as such the game in its current state is relatively simple. the main mechanic of the game at the moment is to move to different locations where your energy can be recharged. However it is missing some the elements to “gamify” it. What I mean by this is that it’s relatively simple to create a simple level that the player can move around, but without some sort of end goal i.e high score, narrative objective, or location to reach it’s not quite a game yet. At the moment it’s possible to stay in one of the charging locations and never run out of power, their isn’t much incentive in the way of a high score or cool place to discover. To create this prototype I used the Unity3d game engine and at first I tried creating my own custom character controller with only minor success. I decided to use the standard assets car(an existing asset) to create the vehicle, and some simple gameplay scripting to create the charging areas.
Last year I had the opportunity to compete in the TSA video game design competition. I learned a lot about creating games and most importantly not to keep my ideas more organized. Many people have great ideas for a video game, and if they could make it the game would probably be spectacular. However most of these people including myself don’t understand the processes behind how games are created, or the sheer manpower and or talent behind a major studio, which can be hundreds or even thousands of employees in some cases. In my experience this means that more experienced game designers are far more humble than an absolute beginner. An important principle I learned that can be applied to nearly any discipline is minimum viable product, this is something very important for a beginner to understand, and I’d like to think I have a better grasp of it then I used to. Minimum viable product does not mean you can’t make the games you want to make. For example if your dream is to create the next big space sim with a to scale galaxy ala Elite:Dangerous or No Man’s Sky maybe you should see if you can remake galaga first. It’s Important to keep these ideas though, write them down and store them in memory because they won’t be impossible forever. Another aspect of this is that simple can be better, a simple and well done game mechanic will be better than 3 dozen different and complicated systems thrown together. Remember those epic space adventure ideas you wrote down? Do them one at a time, goal setting is important to not losing your sanity. I like to give myself a certain amount of time to complete a feature before continuing onto another.
Another Opportunity I had last year was the chance to be a teacher’s assistant for the game design class. At the time I had only made one very simple game and had very little knowledge, but neither did the only teacher who volunteered to teach that class after the former teacher couldn’t. I think it went better than I expected, having to explain ideas to someone else made understanding them for myself much easier and I had fun helping the class. During this time me and my friend Sam created another simple game and learned how to create simple ai enemies and weapons. I didn’t work on game design over the summer as much as I should have but I have been applying what little skill I have on a group project with a motley crew of online friends. Most of us organized together because of our shared enjoyment of the slightly niche and obscure standalone source mod Neotokyo (NT). NT has a very small but passionate player base, many of whom believe a new game in the vein made with a more modern engine would be very successful. In out group we have 3d modelers, 2d artists, Source mappers, coders,and other assorted talents. Most of us are still pretty amateurish so before we attempt to recreate the experience of NT (our epic space adventure) we are working on smaller projects at the moment. At the moment this project is a very early in development top down shooter inspired by the robotic tachikomas of the ghost in the shell series.As of now I am continuing work on the game I started during the first inquiry block which I intended as a concept for this year’s TSA game design competition. But more on that in another post. |
AuthorI'm Charlie I like to make crappy games. ArchivesCategories |