Game Design

A Plan to Herd Cats

Posted on by magicrat_larry

I do get frustrated with plans.  They are nice to have, don’t get me wrong, but in my experience if you are going to be successful your plan is simply what will never happen.  You can spend a lot of time coming up with a plan and have everything change by the end.  So what was that plan worth?

The only thing that is of true worth is the planning sessions.  Those times where you and your team are sitting there thinking intently about your project to devise the plan is the true worth.  Seriously, how often do your plans actually work the way they were designed?

If you are honest there, I truly believe, it is 0%.  So your plans never work.  So their worth, after the planning session, is 0.  Should you make plans?  Yes, should you stick to the plans, probably not.  See I really believe that the successful people are not great planners, they are great reactors.  They are wonderful at changing their plans and understanding their projects.

That is what that planning session gives you and your team, a better understanding of your project today, and your mindset for goals in the future.  Having a plan to get to those goals is like herding cats.  It can be fun, but in the end you are just chasing cats.  So change the mindset of your planning sessions to understanding sessions, your plans will fail, but your project doesn’t have to.

Your Idea Is Awesome, Right?

Posted on by magicrat_larry

Is my idea awesome?  How do you get the answer to that question?  Who has that answer?  That is what I am trying to figure out.  Your game idea is always awesome to you.  So you don’t have the answer.  The answer has to be with your potential consumer, at least that is my initial thought.

So how do we ask them these questions?  Kickstarter seems like a nice place to ask that question, but it is based in money.  That could be good, or it could be bad.  It seems like this question is outside the scope of cash.  Is my idea awesome, usually does correlate directly to a sale though.

Is there another way to ask if the idea is awesome besides Kickstarter?  Places on the net like tigsource could help.  Maybe even Indie DB. But, how do you go about asking that question?  Do you just throw a bunch of content out there and see if anyone likes it, or randomly posts about it?  Or, do you come right out and ask the question, do you like this idea?

So many questions, but they need to be answered quickly and early in order to not waste a lot of time on a game that is not wanted.  We have a lot of work cut out for us to figure this out.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Problem Solve, To the Extreme

Posted on by magicrat_larry

I do something nearly constantly every day that I think is just normal.  But, it occurred to me that maybe everyone else does not do this, or maybe they do, I don’t know.  I take stuff to an extreme to help put the reality into perspective.  What does that mean?  Do I go get a dirt bike and launch myself off ramps to understand game balance?  Nope.

What I do is this, if I have a simple thing like health of an enemy, what should it be?  Say it is 50 now, and he feels too weak.  If I just add 10 would that help?  how about 20 would that help?  this could go on for a long time, but I am searching for a cap where he is just right.  Instead of doing that, my first step is always to do something like this, what if it was 50,000,000 would that help?

What did I just do?  You say 50,000,000 is probably always too high.  Probably always too high isn’t good enough for me.  How about 50,000,000,000 would that help?  Now we are talking, the odds of that not being too high are very slim.  So what does this do to our thinking?  Now we have a range.  somewhere between 50 and 50,000,000,000 is the correct answer.  Now you can binary search for it at a faster pace than just trying to get it right by guessing.

I do this in every problem I am trying to solve, from business, to game development.  Try it out, take a situation to an extreme, then usually the correct answer is simple to find.

EXTREME!!!!  I had to yell it once.  🙂

I’m Terrible At What I Do!

Posted on by magicrat_larry

I’m throwing it out there, I am terrible at what I do and love.  It takes guts to say it.  I’m finally doing it.  I am abysmal at making games.  Yup, if I had to make a game I would simply fail miserably.  Wow, that feels good just to type out.  A giant weight is lifted from my shoulders and now I can go back to making games.

Odd, why would I go back to making what I just said I was terrible at?  I must be nuts right?  Well, yeah!  The truth is I am bad at it.  I am excellent at 3D math, game vision, hyping an idea to the point of everyone being on board, I’m good at a lot of things.  I just cannot put an entire game together alone.  If I did not have others I would be the sum of me, which is terrible at the complete process of game development.

I have others, I found others and fill my voids, that strengthen my weaknesses.  Without them I would fail every time, and have.  Now say it with me if you have never finished a game, I am terrible at making games!  now go find a buddy that makes you a real game developer.  🙂

Move it Just a Little To the Left, TOO FAR!!!

Posted on by magicrat_larry

Yesterday and today I have been constructing our space settlers house and the area around it.  I’m not sure how many people out there, besides hardcore game developers, know that it is a very tedious process to place everything “correctly”.

In my case I laid it all out perfect using a visual tool called Spriter.  Then I exported chunks of that scene to png files.  Now I am placing those files in world coordinates so they make up the bigger scene.  Not to mentions creation of physics images etc to go with it.  This placement is the “fun” part.  You need to get the hang of how many pixels is something off from the perfect location.

It’s a job I’d rather not do, but it is rewarding to finally be able to walk around the set I am building up.  Seeing the pieces slowing move into place, after try, after try, is kinda cool.  This is yet another thing that should make you ask yourself, do I really want this to be my job?  lol  You gotta love it.

Defeat Your Nemesis, Crush Him!

Posted on by magicrat_larry

My biggest enemy, my nemesis, is the Big Picture.  My brain sees a large goal ahead of itself.  It loves to play far into the future and dream big.  This hinders the daily work.  This is my problem.

The best way to defeat your nemesis is to first understand who it is.  Take time to figure out your biggest problem, your nemesis and define it.  If it is defined then you can take steps to crush him.  Yes, I mean crush him.  You don’t want to play around with a nemesis, you want him defeated and gone right?  Don’t put him in a room with an elaborate contraption that will kill him in 3 hours and leave.  Crush him now!

Sorry, I got carried away there, What I do to keep myself motivated on the short term while my brain intently works on the long term plan is create very small goals to get me there.  Small goals lead you, like bread crumbs, to your larger goal, say like a finished game.

If I were to do what my brain wanted to, I would be trying to create an entire game, that is demoralizing quickly.  Instead we plan out small tasks.  these give me the opportunity for Victory over my nemesis daily, if not every few hours or minutes.  This keeps me energized, and excited.  So now I am not just leaving my nemesis to die in an elaborate contraption over time, I’m crushing him one small task at a time.  In the end my large goal will be complete, a nice game for all of you to enjoy.

What’s the Evil Plan?

Posted on by magicrat_larry

So yesterday I took the time to really get information written down.  We had a really good conversation about a week ago that, I think, laid down the ground work for how our game will progress, and needed to be in writing.

It is a very positive thing to start doing.  Take the time to write down everything about your title when making a game.  You will not remember everything.  So having the, ever evolving, reference to look at, and code from, is a powerful thing.  It also gives you a chance to see if a new idea matches anything, and where it fits in the design.

Take it to heart, planning is a good thing.  Your project will not be done in 30 days, so plan for the long haul.  If you don’t you will be just like everyone else that never finishes anything.