So I know I still owe the internets three demo previews, and I shall endeavour to complete them by the end of the week, although know that they shall be shorter affairs than the previous ones, due largely to the nature of the demos themselves. What does that mean? All shall be made clear ere the end of week.
So what else has been occupying my time recently? In a word, games.
On the playing side of the equation, the full version of Uncharted 2 (guess I should do a write-up of that too, huh?) and Demon’s Souls landed in my mailbox, along with Brütal Legend (which has surprisingly failed to reach it to the PS3 yet).
But more time has been spent on the developing side, which can’t be a bad thing, right? I’m back working on that word game — the one that started all the way back here, although it now takes a very different form from that primitive version.
Actually, given I’ve never mentioned it here in a public post, let me informally unveil it here now: the current working title is WorldPlay! (although it’s likely to change soon-ish), and it’s a word game with a degree of world building and a whimsical, vaguely Katamari Damacy-ish feel. You can read the official TIGSource devlog for more info and updates.
Progress is being made, and it’s all very exciting and rewarding. Good times, good times.
written by .klik2
After Uncharted 2, I made my way back to the Sony area to queue for Assassin’s Creed II. I could have tried it over at the Ubisoft booth, but I was lured by a shorter queue (only 15 minutes in the end!).
While not necessarily a reflection of the game itself, I have to say that this was, for me, the most disappointing demo of the show.
Continue reading »
written by .klik2
After the GoW3 demo, I rushed over to jump in line for the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves demo. I’ll admit, I was looking forward to the game, and fully intend to pick it up in a few weeks, yet after playing the demo, I still felt the need to write at the top of my notes, in big writing, “BUY!!”
This was, for me, the best game of the show.
Continue reading »
written by .klik2
With our little stint at TGS nearly a full week ago, it occurs to me that I got my hands on more games than I have mentioned here. Fortunately, I made quite a few notes following each demo – it seems there is at least one positive thing to be said for all the time I spent in queues.
Anyways, next up: God of War 3.
Continue reading »
written by .klik2
So, as previously mentioned, the one game I got my hands on at Day One of TGS 2009 was Heavy Rain. If you’d like to know what I thought of the demo, keep reading…
Continue reading »
written by .klik2
Wow, the first day of my first TGS.
After a long-ish hike out there, and a minor hiccup getting in (Chi wasn’t given her ticket for the public day), we got in around 1:30.
It was equal parts noisy, nuts and AWESOME!  Being my first experience of something of this particular size and nature, I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly, although my suspicions were mostly correct. A lot of screens playing different videos and blaring noise, the fabled booth babes, and a lot of people wandering around between them.
Most of our day was spend wandering around the halls, checking out the booths and collecting books and whatnot from the various booths, earmarking which games I’d go back and try and get my hands on. Of course, in queue-happy Japan, there was a lot of waiting to be done to get to these games. In the end, I only managed to get my hands on the one game – Heavy Rain. I’ll write up my thoughts on it separately, but it was good – I hope to go back and get another shot at it tomorrow.
Anyways, that’s it for now, time to write up my Heavy Rain thoughts 
written by .klik2
So as part of my ongoing iPhone project/learning experience, I’ve been dabbling with threads. Threads are one of things that I’ve known about in programming for a while now, but always had this irrational fear of, and avoided like the plague.
Still, this project required it (the alternative is having the user spend almost half their time waiting for the program - not cool), and so I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and playing with different ways of implementing them.
My fear now seems a lot more rational. Continue reading »
written by .klik2
So, it’s been quite a while since I wrote a public post here. I might say that I’ve been technically fulfilling my posting goal here, but I don’t know that it would be entirely accurate. In any event, I’m pulling down the majority of the design posts I’d had floating around here – they were cluttering things up a little, and this really isn’t the most appropriate venue for them (I have a forum, recently resurrected, for that).
Though I named this blog a yardstick for my creativity, my absence here belies my recent creative efforts. I’ve been bashing away at my iPhone app, and putting together a complete working model of its most basic mechanics. It is a tad boring at the moment – as it stands, it’s more a complicated toy than a game – but it’s a game, and it works.
If I let myself stop and enjoy it, there is a strong sense of fulfillment and pride (wow, pride :D) in there. Of course, I have many ways to not let myself enjoy it – my mind has a long list of pre-prepared statements with which to undermine my confidence – but at the end of the day, it is still there. It’s the thing that lets me say, without hesitation, that I am a game designer.
So far this app has been a huge learning experience. I should make the time to go over the code that I’ve written and document exactly what I’ve learnt to do. For all that I have learnt, there is still so much more; yet that doesn’t hold the same fear and significance that it once did.
Wow… This is one more reason I should come and post here: I really hadn’t given myself time to look back at this, just by myself. Self-indulgent back-patting it may be, but it’s probably something I could safely allow myself to do just that little bit more often.
written by .klik2
The posts title is rather devoid of humour, wordplay, archaic language or unnecessary formality. This does make me a little sad.
Moving on, time for some goals (SMART goals!). There are six initial shorter term ones I’m starting out with, as follows:
- Finish reading The Art of Game Design by the end of July.
- Work my way through iPhone SDK Development (including completing the projects in each chapter) by the end of August. This starts now, not after finishing The Art of Game Design.
- One piece of random creating fiction each month, by the end of the month (first piece by July 31). Why should games be the only thing I’m creating? This is practice in creating worlds, use of language, and somewhere for me to do whatever I like, really.
- My first playable iPhone game by the end of August. Need not be releasable finished, but with most game elements intact, working, and balanced.
- Improve my Japanese, such that I can pass the JLPT Level 2 in December. This goal needs a little more detail in how I’ll execute it, which will in turn be done by the end of the month.
- At least two posts here per week, on any topic; at least one dedicated gaming post per fortnight. More is always better though!
Longer term, and more vaguely speaking, I’d like to be in a position where I can seriously look at applying for work at some Japanese gaming companies for next year (April onwards). I’d also like to have a few games under my belt by the end of the year, say 3. These goals are a little less SMART, though.
written by .klik2
My name’s Zaid, and I’m an inconsistent blogger. It’s been two and a half months since my last post (and another half a month sine my last “work” related update).
I fell of the wagon.
I know exactly when and why it happened. There was a two or three week period where there was a lot happening - first we spent a significant portion of our free time on the move, and then we went on holidays. By the time we got back, I had a hankering to play WoW again, and here we are, two odd months later.
It’s interesting to see – I hadn’t fully realised the extent to which the work I had been getting done was a result of the routine I’d gotten myself into. But it needn’t take much to break a routine, especially a new one, and so the progress I was make came to a grinding stop.
Time to get back on that wagon.
And so I’m back here, planning what’s next and publishing it for all the world to see, even if only a handful of people actually look (you know who you are; writing this is, in a way, my way of reminding myself that I have your backing and support). In some ways, this is a yard-stick for my work. When I am working, and thinking, and being productive, I write stuff here, or share stuff. When I am not creating anything here, I’m probably not creating terribly much anywhere else either.
My intention is to write a lot here
I’ve started reading Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design, and so far it’s a fascinating read. It’s kind of like the Landmark of game design, full of different perspectives from which to look at game design. Of course, there’s a lot of straight info, advice and suggestions in there, but just as much of it is written to stimulate more thought, more questions. So far, it’s been more than a little inspiring – I find myself again being a demand on myself to create.
Alongside this, I’ve started working my way though iPhone SDK Development again – it’s had significant re-writes to keep it up to date with the iPhone SDK 3.0, and it’s doing me good to go over some of the basics again after my little hiatus.
While I’m all inspired and excited now, I know it won’t last. Not that that’s a drama in any way, shape, or form – for though it won’t last, it will come back. That roller-coaster of inspiration, crash, and re-inspiration is, last I checked, colloquially referred to as “Life”. Time to start enjoying the ride. One thing to do is to start holding myself accountable to some specific goals, but I think I’ll put them in another post (if only so I can spot them more readily).
Let’s do this!
Oh, and one more thing, for anyone who had any doubts on the matter (especially Y.T.):
I am a game designer.
written by .klik2
|
|
Latest Comments