Table of contents
...
- Jeff Vogel / The Bottom Feeder - This is the guy who made Avernum
Major websites
- Lists
- Designer Notes (podcast)
- Sirlin.net
- Lost Garden
- Psychochild's Blog
- Raph Koster (lead designer for Ultima Online etc)
- Soren Johnson
- Brenda Brathwaite
- Video Copilot
- this website was "highly recommended" by a professional animator (he made an iOS game that looked as good as Angry Birds imo)
Articles / Videos
Rec'd articles from a very good gamer:
Quote:Not whole sites, no, but after digging up a couple articles that I remember liking, I guess I could recommend Gamasutra. The specific ones were:
"20 Mysterious Games" ( http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1 ... ls_20_.php )
"The Invisible Hand of Super Metroid" ( http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/HugoBill ... etroid.php )
I also found these while looking for that first one (I haven't read them, but they seem okay, and the rest of the site might have more):
http://adamloving.com/internet-programming/gamification
http://www.lostgarden.com/2006/10/what- ... anics.html
A couple others I like that are a little more "artsy" and moreso about the effects designs have on the player rather than the designs themselves:
SF3 3rd Strike - http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/ind ... /3rdStrike
Mother 2/Earthbound - http://www.largeprimenumbers.com/articl ... id=mother2
Majora's Mask - http://www.playtime-magazine.com/2010/0 ... -far-away/
http://www.damnlag.com/majoras-mask-underrated-zelda/
http://www.damnlag.com/power-of-majora-mask/
...
How can we get people to stop making annoyingly derivative games ("minecraft with portals!") and instead get them making very different games?
- I think one of the big reasons people make derivative games is that it's easier to get people to try your game. You can find all the people who play Minecraft and say, "Wouldn't it be cool if you could do X?" and there's a good chance they'll understand what you're talking about. Whereas if you have a totally fresh idea people may have trouble understanding it when you describe it.
- Another issue is that every game requires that you learn how to play it. Even stuff like "hold this key for the action menu, then press this button to select things" is a learning curve that makes starting a new game frustrating. So if you can copy a lot of the basic rules of another game it makes it a lot faster for people to learn how to play it. The problem is that the game also becomes more derivative. I can definitely say that the learning curve for Dwarf Fortress is what has kept me from starting it, even though I'm fascinated by it.
- So what needs to happen is we need a way to fix the above issues.
- I think having trusted game experimenters (like a lot of these YouTube channels and gaming sites) is a good way to solve the "explain a totally new concept to people" problem, because they'll be the early adopters who will be more interested in a new concept and willing to deal with whatever learning curve is necessary to play the new game.
- I think YouTube videos are a good way to fix the learning curve issue, because new people can watch someone else playing the game without having to be bothered by which key press does what. I've definitely done that with Dwarf Fortress / Rogue / ArmA / etc.
Games that teach you something unique about the real world
- Flight Club
- teaches you some basic concepts of hang gliding
- teaches you some basic concepts of hang gliding
- Quadrilateral Cowboy
How to Make a Farmville-Style Game
Stackoverflow - How to make an addictive social game like FarmVille
Quote:Farmville clone 101
- Learn flash, I recomend Kongregates Shootorial, start at step 0.
- Create your first game (this will be hard), post it to Kongregate and feel good about yourself (because you should, if you complete this step).
- Make it social, target the Facebook platform, you can find the developer portal here.
- Realise that now is a great time to learn php.
- Make a second game, integrate it with facebook and publish it. Feel good about yourself again.
- Going from a shoot em up to a persistent game (the worlds "state" is saved between sessions) you will need to learn mysql.
- Find a host with a database so you can keep the players games saved.
- Make a third game, persistent and Facebook integrated. Feel very good about yourself.
- Now is the time to look for a group! If you decide to take this further and want to create something either to time consuming or complex to do it by yourself.
The Escapist - How FarmVille Was Written in Five Weeks
Steve Bromley - How to make an addictive social game: The First Five Minutes
Misc
- I was reminded of Brett saying it is extremely important to watch other people play your game.
- I was also thinking it is extremely important to get an early build of the core game mechanics to make sure they work.
- Quote from Phaeden about the WGL mod, one of the things that has most stuck with me from OFP modding:
- Overall, in order to keep the general [realistic] feel of the WGL total conversion, it is necessary to alter individual components which, when looked at individually, may not appear to support 'realism.' However, when taken as a whole, each subsystem supports each other component to create a thoroughly realistic and enjoyable simulation experience.