It’s been a minute, and I’ve truly missed working on games, these last few weeks I’ve been doing a bunch of Quality and Assurance and User Feedback Testing for other people’s games, along with some self-promotion things like making a (wix) website, organising social media, and creating my first Business card!
Whew, it has been a great learning experience, and I really enjoy that whole part of game dev, but damn I’ve been craving creating!
So anyway, I’ve been wanting to learn to make a Tower Defense for ages now! So I thought I’d start on it finally, I’m heavily influenced by Kingdom Rush for this prototype, and with the help of google and youtube, hopefully; this can be an awesome project to learn from.
More Soon,
Mario
I recently decided to create my very own solo project!
My idea for the game is to create a side-scrolling beat-’em-up game set to hip hop music for mobile.
Let’s hope it gets to the point where I can start making phat beatsies for it.
So, after having gathered the inspiration from GCAP ‘17, I decided to start prototyping. I immediately got halted with touch controls.
It took a little over a week but I finally got touch controls working!
It’s nothing but functional. It leaves me satisfied knowing that I finally got it to work, so I’m happy.
Felix Kramer was the keynote speaker at GCAP Loading, the talk was based around marketing your game and could even carry into marketing yourself, but let’s just stick to the game. So here is my short summary/takeaway from the talk, Others would have gained different ideas and thoughts.
- Marketing should be planned, it needs to be a process just like pre production, production, business planning, financial planning. Without a plan marketing will not be as sufficient. When it comes to planning out your marketing, plan it around your production milestones.
- Eg. Alpha you could possibly release an early teaser trailer, if not even before alpha if you had made a vertical slice. This will allow a seed to be planted which you can now nurture to grow your audience
- It’s important to have a clear timeline, this allows you to know when trailers need to be completed, or when that advertisement needs to go live. The last thing you want during production is to make a really horrible trailer because you didn’t plan for it.
- Ensure you’re marketing towards your intended marketplace, if you do this I can only assume(because I haven’t had to market a game yet) that marketing your game will be a little easier, and perhaps even financially cheaper due to knowing your target market, rather than marketing to the masses.
Some other hot tips from this talk, which could be obvious, but just forgotten are:
DON’T DO IT ALL BY YOURSELF
- If you can spend the money, hire employees or contractors to help you out
- Have a support group that can assist you when times get tough
IF YOU DO TAKE THE ROUTE OF DOING IT ALL BY YOURSELF
- Ensure you don’t burnout
- Create achievable goals
- Do one thing at a time, not all at the same time
today has been a very new experience for me and hopefully a small glimpse into my future. walking into PAX not as a consumer, but as someone trying to promote a game (Shadowverse), lead to an entirely different experience that gave me a new perspective on the community of gaming. https://shadowverse.com/
So I was volunteering for Cygames ‘Shadowverse’ booth as a general hand, so handing out flyers, teaching people the rules of the game, playing it with people, monitoring tournaments the whole bit. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun, getting to know the community and see people really passionate and eager to play was really awesome and infectious. https://shadowverse.com/
However being on the other side of the coin wasn't without its downsides. watching as people would walk straight past because they didn't like the art syle or wasn't being made by a AAA studio was heartbreaking. I didn’t work on the game but over the last week or so of playing it to make sure i knew it well enough to explain it to people who were new to it at PAX, I really started to getting an attachment to it and could see how much work and love went into making it as fun and appealing as possible. I'm not usually a fan of the turn based card game genre but this one really grabbed me and opened my eyes to how just small things like making sure there is always plenty of player feedback with particles and effects make the experience so much more enjoyable. This may be a contributing factor as to why i never really gave the genre the second chance it deserved.
I could see people flocking to all of these big AAA game booths and leaving the indie games that are doing some amazing things in innovation to try and get noticed with the bigger studios. now don't get me wrong I love the big name companies as much as anyone else but if you get the chance go to the Indie booths, its where the magic is at.
So GCAP17 has come to a close, and being my first time i have a lot of thoughts about the experience as someone that is trying their best to find a place to start.
[WARNING LONG READ]
As a whole i managed to get around and meet some really cool people, and the talks were so inspirational. I’ll do my best to go through summaries of the talks that i went to over two days as a way for me to decompress my thoughts and take away’s from each.
(A quick disclaimer, my notes were a bit haphazard in places so if i miss crediting anyone for a talk please let me know and i will update it)
Opening Keynote
After registration was the opening keynote got underway with Steve Gaynor and Karla Zimonja started us off a talk getting us thinking about this years theme, the ripple effect. The basic premise of which was about the connections you make in your life as a dev and how over time those connections turn into a network as those people scatter to the winds with their connection to you with them.
Main take away’s
Make connections so that you can make connections that make connections.
Apply for jobs even if you think you aren't qualified as you never know where they can lead.
Nobody can do this by themselves, get help from your peers.
Design Hindsight's From Long Running Games
This was the first of the many design talks i was planning on going to in GCAP. Emilie Poissenot gave a fantastic speech about long running games or games as service as another way of putting it. It covered things like how documenting everything is ten times as important in games that you need to keep working on for five plus years and how the industry changes so quickly that it is impossible to plan for it, so plan that your plans won’t work.
Main take away’s
Plan for mistakes due to industry changes.
Readjust to those changes by making informed decisions with as much current relevant data as possible.
Creating A World And Making It Stick
Following on from one design talk to another this time with David Gaider talking about the creation of the Dragon Age universe and the pitfalls that it fell into. The talk was a very interesting look at what kind of diverging paths your team can naturally go down if you don’t touch base and make sure that your team is working on the same product. Again this talk went into the importance of documentation and how even if you have written an encyclopedia full of information, if you don’t have the cliff notes somewhere no one will read it.
Main take away’s
Don’t work in a bubble making assumptions about the work of others.
The lore and gameplay should serve into each other, they are not entirely separate things.
You are writing a guide for your team, not an encyclopedia.
You don’t get to decide what statements your decisions make. analyse what statements you could potentially be saying and ask yourself if you are okay with that.
Designing Ethical Interfaces
Onto a talk very close to my heart, accessibility. Alayna Cole and John Kane were fantastic in getting into the nitty gritty of the issues to do with not only what we traditionally think of as accessibility such as colourblind options, subtitles etc. But also the kind of accessibility options that not having push people away from your game such as representation of queer people in your media that when done poorly puts those people off of your game. It went in depth into how all of these things you should be talking to people that the options are for so as to make informed decisions on how they are implemented.
Main take away’s
There is no excuse for not thinking about accessibility for your game
Act early, with language especially as there are many design impacts that easy to implement early but hard to put in after the fact.
Consult with people whenever possible, get a wide range of perspectives for you game.
If you offend someone use it as a learning opportunity.
Tackling The Fear
Moving away from design talks for a bit and onto some business, Producing. Emre Deniz from OPX talked a lot about pitching your idea and how getting funding for your studio is not straight forward as it took 5 months of iterating on how the game presented before the idea was sold. It also touched on the idea of planning for failure and having contingencies in place that helped OPX adapt to the declining VR market. In amongst this were the themes of cultivating a healthy and rewarding company culture.
Main take away’s
Pitch a business that you would invest in
Pay people properly so they can focus on the work and deliver a better product in the end.
Think about how your going to defend your idea.
Stress is corrosive not explosive, avoid burnout by taking healthy breaks from your project if needed.
Positioning - How To Discover And Amplify What Is Remarkable About Your Game
This talk AKA “why should anyone give a F###”, was one of the most applicable talks i went to as an aspiring indie/solo dev. Marla Fitzsimmons, Felix Kramer, and Chris Wright talked about how to position your game for widespread appeal by mainly standing apart from the crowd and understanding what makes your game special.
Main take away’s
Think about your potential competitors and how you stand out from them.
Elevator pitches should:
What is it about
What makes it special
Described in easy to understand terms
Should create intrigue that leads to deeper questions about your game
Do as much research as possible to find out what is remarkable about your game and how you can push that.
Day 1 - Final Thoughts
At the end of the first day i was just so overwhelmed with information and inspiration. The speakers were all so amazing and i would like to thank them for their time and effort in making a fantastic day of learning. I will be collating and posting my summary for the second day in the coming days, as i have so many notes to go through so i will be taking my time with it as i let it all sink in.
So it’s an exciting time of the year for all people Game-Dev related, especially in Melbourne with Melbourne International Games Week approaching!
So just in time for the major event (especially GCAP) I’ve thrown together my first business card, and as much as I’d love to have some really cool, clever design, at the moment I’m just going for something clean and readable!
I’m hoping to engage people enough using my goofy face, making a memorable experience for them!
Well first lets discuss what GCAP is and when the event is held. GCAP stands for Game Connect Asia Pacific, it’s a conference for game developers to come attend talks, make friends (otherwise known as ‘networking’, personally not a fan of that word), socialise and celebrate all that is game development. GCAP itself runs over 2 consecutive days (Tuesday, Wednesday) within the week of MIGW.
Side note: MIGW stands for Melbourne International Games Week , and is always run within the month of October. Usually at the end of the month.
Now that's just a quick summary of what GCAP is, now what’s “GCAP Loading”.
GCAP loading is a one day event, aimed at students and graduate game developers. In other words a small bite sized chunk of GCAP, which still packs a punch of useful information. Here was the talk schedule.
With all that information in one day it’s pretty hard to process it all. Hence why I’m only starting to blog about it now.
So over the next few weeks I’ll be writing summaries of a few of the talks and posting them here, hopefully they can be some benefit to others.
Explore the impact of Melbourne gaming culture and live streaming technology on the gaming industry
The game industry is a large and diverse industry, covering many aspects such as game development, production, publishing, marketing, sales and services. The development of the game industry is affected by many factors such as technological progress, market demand, and cultural influence. It has become an important economic and cultural field worldwide.
Melbourne International Games Week: a platform for diversity and cultural exchange
Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW), as a high-profile gaming event, brings together various activities such as industry conferences, consumer expos, and independent games festivals, attracting the attention and participation of various stakeholders (Keogh, 2020) . The event showcased the diversity of the video gaming space, proving that it is a cultural field shaped by different values, practices and communities, challenging traditional perceptions of the homogeneity of the industry.
MIGW is not only a platform for displaying games, but also an important occasion for communication and discussion of game culture. By showcasing various types of games, hosting discussions and workshops, MIGW promotes dialogue and cooperation within and outside the gaming industry and promotes the development of gaming culture (Keogh, 2020). The complexity and diversity of Melbourne’s game scene provides useful discussions and inspirations for the development of the game industry, and also provides a unique communication platform for game enthusiasts and practitioners.
Live Broadcasting Technology: Changing the Landscape of Esports and Competitive Gaming
On the other hand, the rise of live streaming technology has changed the landscape of e-sports and competitive gaming. Traditionally, viewers of e-sports competitions mainly watch recorded events through online video platforms, but with the emergence of live broadcast platforms, viewers can watch the games in real time and interact with other viewers and players (Taylor, 2018). This change significantly increases viewer engagement, allowing them to experience the game more deeply and play their part in the game.
Melbourne gaming culture resonates with live streaming technology
To sum up, Melbourne’s gaming culture and live streaming technology have had a significant impact on the gaming industry. Melbourne International Games Week provides an important platform for the development of the game industry and promotes the exchange and development of game culture. At the same time, the rise of live broadcast technology has brought new development opportunities to e-sports and competitive games, promoting the progress and growth of this field.
Keogh, B. (2020). The Melbourne Indie Game Scenes. Independent Videogames, 209–222. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367336219-18
Taylor, T. (2018). Broadcasting ourselves. Watch Me Play, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc77jqw.4
