video games

Game Developer SMASH!!!!

Posted on by magicrat_larry

Let me explain this in three phases and I am sure all you game developers will understand.

Phase 1:  The Plan

Today, my wife and daughter were leaving for about 4 hours and leaving me home to work on the game.  Awesome!!!  So the plan is to crank through the remaining physics task to get the car to not be completely jacked up by a collision with a human sized bug.  So Seems easy, I can crank that out and maybe have some time to play a game or two afterwards.  I’m excited.

Phase 2: Let’s Do This

I sit down after they leave and crack down on this physics thing.  Turns out, this is not easy, go figure.  I bust my butt on it for hours getting nowhere.  No matter what I do I cannot get a good outcome.  I have my car driving and the wheels literally flying off for no reason.  I get frustrated, the doomed feeling sets in.  I did nothing, I think to myself.  Then I hear it, my wife and kid are home, 4 hours are gone, nothing to show for it besides the pure joy of pounding on code that was pointless.  At this point my brain is jumping into the computer and killing all the bad things in violent, terrible, imaginative glory.

Phase 3: Just One More Go

I sit down, right after my wife and daughter go to bed.  I open the laptop, look at the code and see a variable being set in some obscure location in our jacked up proof of concept code.  I start playing with that variable.  It turns out that is the most important thing in my life, I just didn’t know it.  So now I am happy.  What a strange way to be happy huh?

Just One More Thing

Posted on by magicrat_larry

I know your idea is awesome.  It is the greatest game of all time.  I get that.  Take the time though to add more.  Don’t just make another minecraft with better this or that.  Take the time to add more, to innovate.  Don’t stop at the greatest game of all time, make it one idea better than that.

Stop for a second and take your best part of the game and brainstorm on how to make it more unique, more exciting, more addictive.  Once you do that then you will find you feel even better about your game.  Don’t take it off the rails completely, but if you take it just one step further, you might actually have the greatest game of all time.

Often times we take an idea we had and know it is great, when it is simply just something we think is great.  Take the time to actually invest in greatness and add, just one more thing.

The Glamorous World of Game Development

Posted on by magicrat_larry

I think there is a misconception, game development is such a great job, all the fun, all the excitement, all the joy of Christmas every day.  I’m sorry, that is not true.  Let me explain what game development is like for me, and remember I love it.

You get up early, look at your task list, if you are lucky there is a task on there that sounds fun.  You begin working on that task, it expands to a large programming mess.  You stop programming and design a better system to fix or create whatever you were doing.  If you are lucky once the task is complete the game still compiles and nothing different is displayed.

I know there are some days where you create that awesome effect that changes the look and feel of everything, but most days are debugging, tweaking, or designing.  If you throw in marketing you got a real nice day.  See, game development is one of the hardest programming jobs you can have.  It is not like business software, you actually care about memory usage and display rate.

The next time you are sitting at home playing some game, and think how great it would be to be a game developer, stop and think of the massive effort, stubborn commitment, and tears it took to put that game together.  Then smile and keep playing.

Hand Waving Visionary

Posted on by magicrat_larry

This morning it seems I am creating animations.  We need a few more for our game demo and I’ll be putting them together.  I play an interesting role on the project, one of many hats.  I am an animator, a lead programmer, and I believe most critical, hand waving visionary.

What is a “Hand Waving Visionary?”  It’s the person that keeps life and the project exciting and on track within the context of the game.  It’s not something that you learn to be.  I think it is just something I am.  I can take a small thing, and hype it up and make it important and likable.

Why do you need that?  Game development is hard, it is not the glamorous thing you thought of as a kid.  You need the small things to seem grand and impressive to keep going at times.  It really is about creating a team that feels every part of the process is fun, energetic, and lovable.  So I wave my hands, talk about warm fuzzy things, and watch in amazement as my teammates and I put together an amazing interactive world.

Why Am I a Game Developer?

Posted on by magicrat_larry

Why am I a game developer?  I am not sure if I’ve ever asked myself that question.  Why is anyone a game developer?  Let me take a stab at it.  Why did we fly to the moon?  Why do people climb a mountain?  Why would people cross the ocean to find a new land?  I think we are game developers for the same reason people do all those things.

It’s not easy, it’s a road less traveled, and it is dang cool to do.  Very few truly get a game done and attempt to bring it to the world, just like very few have ever stood on the Moon.  There are some people who just want to go to places very few have made it to.  Some people just like a challenge.  Some people, like us, are just enough of a mess that we think we can entertain the masses with our coding, story, creativity, and passion.

No matter why we are game developers, the true great thing is, there are game developers, but very few people prove it.