Time to start some brainstorming

So its almost certain my first ever (and hopefully first of many) homebrew game will be for the Commodore 64.

For the past few days I've been scouring the net for resources and reference, in my attempt to learn some retro programming. I didnt realise how much I had forgotten even the most basic BASIC, which was as far as my knowledge stretched back then.

So with that decided, and with some SID tunes playing for inspiration, I started thinking about the game.

The way I see it, I have the following options:

Create something new.

Remake a game - the purpose of which would be to improve a flawed original, or to bring a game to the C64 from the 8 bit era that was not available for the C64 originally.

Create a 'sequel' or homage to a C64 or other classic. Or a direct rip off.

Create an 8 bit version of a game from later generations.

Then there are the genres to consider - platformer, shooter? I think they are the most obvious genres, and most accessible. Making a decent puzzle game, for example, is hard enough at the best of times. Sport is almost certainly a definite no-no.

Next update I should have a more focused direction.

Slight change of direction.

I started this blog primarily to help aspiring game developers learn about the industry from the perspective of someone who has a slightly different outlook on game design. The idea was that I would start at the extreme basics before slowly building into the juicy stuff.

However my workload suddenly picked up and the blog fell onto the backburner. I am finding myself increasingly frustrated in work because the incompetence and lack of confidence in decision making displayed by so-called senior staff is soul destroying - I suggest a journey from A to B, no one really listens, then a few months and later they suggest travelling from A to B, but only because they have travelled through Z,Y,X and so on, landed at C and realised there is no where else to travel.

I'm all for interation and experimentation, but this is a really unique experience which beggars belief.

So do I let this get me down? Maybe a bit if I'm honest, but to keep myself motivated until the skies clear, I have decided to make my very own 8 bit wonder of a homebrew game.

What is it going to be? I have no idea at this point, and thats exactly what excites me. I will use this blog to record every step of my homebrew enlightenment. What I do know is it will either be on the ZX Spectrum or the Commodore 64, and I know nothing about programming for either of them. But I hope to get some help on board as the weeks pass, not least from you guys.

But what about all the advice I promised? Well I will still try and write about the things I promised, just in a more scaled down manner. Of course the offer is still open for you to request/suggest areas you want to learn more about, as is the invite to email me with any specific questions you have.

Which leads me to my next point - I recently started reading 'Dave Perry on Game Design' and I have to say - it is essential reading. It puts my advice to shame - I cannot recommend it enough.

http://www.gamedesignbook.org/

So back to me. Let me know what you think about my change of direction - good idea? Or would you prefer I just stick to the old direction?

Introduction to light and colour

Games have many techniques for relaying information to the user, and with clever and thoughtful use of light and colour you can both point out the obvious or subtly play with the user.

First the obvious.

I probably don't even need to point them out, but as a refresher, you see a locked yellow door but you have a brown key, a bit further along you find a yellow key - here colour is used to inform the player of a connection between objects, a similar scenario would have an elevator with a red light, you throw a switch on the other side of the room and the red light becomes green. Here light colour is used to inform the user of the current state of an object.

Some games, especially those with multiple factions of characters, use a subtle aura of colour around the character to inform the player if they are friend or foe.

Using neutral light can also be used to simply signpost an exit or a vital object, although it could be argued that if the level design is tight, there is no need for such explicit signposting. Regardless, I'm sure there are times where it is necessary.

But how else could colour or light be used? Say for example you are in a corridor and you reach a t-junction. To the left the ambiance is a cool blue, to the right, a subtle red. Players of a more nervous disposition, or those who like to fly through a game on easy settings might choose the safety of the blue corridor, while those who like a challenge might be drawn to the imminent danger of the red. Here you have given the player foresight, a nod towards the dangers ahead.

But, what if you turn that on its head? What if the player navigates a series of such corridors, each time choosing the blue, then for the final one you throw all the enemies at the end of the blue corridor? Here, after leading the player into a rhythm of relative safety, you suddenly betray them and throw them to the wolves.

Or what if both corridors lead to the same room that may or may not have enemies, but the journey down the red corridor yields more collectibles? Fortune favours the bold.

Okay, so thats just a brief introduction to light and colour. I'm sure we will come back to the subject in the future, but for now I want to cover the basics of as many aspects as possible.

Meanwhile, set some time aside to read up on colour theory and colour therapy, and maybe think of ways you could implement it into existing games to make them more focused and coherent.

Common misconceptions of being a designer. Part 1

We have all read forums that are in some way connected to the games industry, and it has become apparent that a lot of people are misguided about what a career in design holds for them. I have also had the opportunity to mentor and attend the presentations of students, who appear to be in the same mindset.

So before I start going into more focused content over the coming weeks, I thought I would make sure everyone is on the same page so hopefully you will appreciate why I am sometimes talking about things that may seem trivial or irrelevant.

I want to make my game.

Sure thing, but before you do could you possibly spend a few years honing your skills and learning how the industry works? It is borderline shocking the amount of people who say 'I want to work in the industry, but only on my game'. Like any job, you have to work your way up into a position of power, and if you think your arrogance is enough to make it happen then remember this: There are a lot more people in the industry with as much arrogance and inflated ego's than you, also with their own agenda - and they are already in a position of power.

I only want to design levels.

Not quite a misconception as such, but to limit your aspirations to just level designer will seriously limit the amount of studios you could work for. Most studios will expect the designers to all muck in together, which means you could quite easily be designing menu systems, cameras, even assisting coders with AI decision trees. Believe me you will spend a lot more time performing so-called menial tasks than you will the tasks that drew you to wanting a career as a designer in the first place, but every little thing counts, and the more you do, the more valuable you become and the better you will be at your job. (I'm basically pointing out the obvious, but its worth remembering anyway).

I am a good artist (or at least think I am).

There are certain studios who bestow the honour of level design on their artists. This is a bad idea which makes bad games, and is usually limited to studios who care more about art and effects than gameplay - studios who still believe the games industry is a place of rock stars. Granted there are many aspects of art that can enhance your skills as a designer - but first become a good designer. (I will be covering such things in later blogs).

I am not taking away the amazing talent that artists have, but they are not design minded, they have spent many years mastering their craft and in the process become natural at such things as composition, which means they create levels which, while aesthetically pleasing, usually tend to be bland and uninspiring from a gameplay perspective.

I'm a hardcore gamer.

Good for you. Doesn't mean you are the missing link the games industry is looking for. Lets be honest would a hardcore movie fan automatically have what it takes to make a masterpiece movie?

So to summarise, think long and hard about what you want out of a career in the industry, whether you have the dedication and attitude to climb at a steady rate and whether you are prepared to put up with a load of egomaniacs?

You are? Good, because regardless of the negatives, its one of the most fun and rewarding careers out there, but you have to work for it. So if you are still reading this we are all ready to start digging a little deeper.

Agree? Disagree? Have I missed something? Most likely I've missed lots, but my excuse is I'm trying to encourage readers to join in, so let me know.

Decision tree: A branching set of conditions, similar to a flow chart, that enables the AI (artificial intelligence) to make realistic decisions.

Know your target audience part 1: Kids.

One of the most annoying things about this industry is a studio’s willingness to exploit a child, and also exploit a parent’s willingness to please their child.

I’m talking about games targeting children. Normally I talk in broad strokes and try not to name specific games if I am being negative, but on this occasion I think to get my point across, names will have to be mentioned.

The biggest culprits seem to be studios developing games based on CG movies – ‘Wall-E’, ‘Ratatouille’, ‘The Incredibles’, ‘Madagascar’, ‘Ice Age 3’. The games look good, not great, but good enough to please a child, the engine seems pretty solid, but I imagine they are using a middleware engine most, if not all of the time. There are also the abysmal games based on such popular brands as Barbie and Bratz which have had no effort at all put into any aspect of the game. But you have to ask the question: do the people designing the gameplay and the people approving the gameplay actually care about their audience?

No.

The average kid playing such a game will probably have an age range between 5 – 14 years old. The average gameplay of the above mentioned consists of bland yet difficult exploration, maybe some fiddly platforming, intertwined with other bland set pieces.

I think the designers of these games, rather than make a game that will stimulate and engage a child, choose to design a game that shows they are capable of making the games they probably want to design. I imagine the lead designer on ‘Ratatouille’ would love to work on a Metal Gear Solid game, going by the stealth based antics of a rat in a kitchen.

I dont think I need to expand more, I think you get the idea. So what can you do as a designer to not fall into the same trap?

Firstly, as I’ve stated previously, and will continue to state, the game isn’t about your ego – it’s about your audience. If you can design a game that will keep a child engaged and stimulated, then surely that brings greater pleasure than making another generic and bland game that feeds your desire for greater things.

Think about what entertains children, what makes them laugh? What keeps them quiet? My 4 year old daughter spent 5 minutes playing the ‘Wall-E’ game before getting annoyed; she got frustrated with ‘Ice Age 3’ because there are sequences that require rapid button pressing – younger children are physically unable to do that. Yet my daughter happily played with the caramel pudding in ‘Warioware – Touched’ for hours, and spent a solid 45 minutes doubled up laughing at the part of ‘Metal Gear Solid 2’ where Raiden slips on bird poo, or letting them poo in your face in first person mode.


Watch your own younger relatives at play, if there are no children in your family then watch children’s programmes that have children participating. If you are already in the planning stages of a children’s game then get in touch with a local school and see if you can go and spend a few hours in a classroom and set activities as part of an art lesson, find out what kids want to play – ask them.

Quick tip – You can probably hold a child’s interest for around eight minutes - this is how long a child will spend on one drawing before moving on; this is how long they will spend at the dinner table before they start getting restless and asking for dessert. If you are struggling to create engaging content then make sure things change every eight minutes, even if they are collecting coins on a level then eight minutes later you change it so they are collecting chocolate – it refreshes their stimulation.

If you are a parent yourself and your kids are nagging for the new game based on their favourite cartoon, download a trial if possible, chances are the trial will be enough for them. If you can’t get a trial then try it in the shop, if it annoys or frustrates you – think of how it will affect your child, leave it on the shelf and go and buy a jigsaw with the same characters on it instead – it will be a tenth of the price and will be far more stimulating.


Middleware: Off-the-shelf tools that developers can use for various reasons, from rendering solutions to entire engines.

How do you like your eggs?

I thought I would let you all know about a great toolset for making your own Dizzy adventures.
For those who havent heard of him, Dizzy was an egg character created by the Oliver twins and released on various 8 bit formats in the 80's and 90's.

Now I havent had a chance to have a proper look, and the scope of some of the features may be beyond the skillset of beginners, such as scripting, but I recommend you check it out.

As always, the tools alone will not make you a great designer, but they are certainly a good workshop for you to practice and master your craft.

If I have time to learn the tools, I might do a more in depth feature at a later date, meanwhile go and check them out:

DizzyAGE (toolset)
Dizzy (wikipedia)
Oliver Twins (Blitz Games)

On the subject of eggs - I havent forgotten about a follow up to the Chuckie Egg level editor feature - I'm just waiting for a few more folk to join in. So if you're reading this and havent joined in - say hello and get stuck in.

I want fabulous!

There was a time when the highest accolade a gamer could achieve was to input their three character tag at the top of a high score table. As games grew and spread into bedrooms across the world the high score remained a highly sought treasure, but slowly and surely there became a new treasure to unearth – endings.

For many gamers it became an easier way to get rep amongst their peers – the last man standing endurance battle suddenly became the first past the finish line. But that was cool; reaching the end of a game was still as much a sign of dedication and skill as seeing your high score ranking slowly rise, but in a way more self satisfying because you are only competing against the game, once you complete that game no one can steal your thunder.

That is how it remained for centuries, until the arrival of achievements, gamerscore, trophies. (I will just use the term achievements from now on, for ease of reading; I am in no way singling out the Xbox 360.)

If we look beyond the obvious of the concept – they’re basically points in disguise, there are many great things to be done with achievements, and occasionally developers do, but for the most part you are awarded for completing a level or other such occurrences that the player does anyway during the course of play.

Would it be cynical to suggest that this is the work of lazy designers? It probably would, and I try not to be a cynic, so what is more likely is that achievements are an afterthought – stick a pin in the design document.

Now, this is not an achievement bashing thread – there are some genuinely great things you can achieve, but some games award achievements for the most ridiculous things – such as starting the game!! While other games make it possible to get a full quota in a 5 minute burst of gameplay. This has led to gamers playing through otherwise mundane games simply for the easy achievements on offer. Even with good games, there seems to be an urgency to get through it, as if playing the game is nothing more than the process of unwrapping the gift.

So as gamers priorities shift from the game to the reward, the next evolutionary step has already begun – real prizes. How long before our digital stores (and possibly real stores) are swamped with games whose only purpose is to encourage you to have a shot at winning a prize? Are they going to be the new premium rate phone prizelines, made as easy as possible on a pay-per-play basis? (In fact there are already interactive television services that offer such games).

Maybe that’s going off topic a little, chances are if prizes do become more commonplace then they will not be achievement dependent.

So my point is – make the effort to make your achievements count. As I said, they are a good idea and can improve the playability of a game, not just the shelf life. In a way now is the ideal time to start improving, now that all the achievement hoarders are addicted, let’s make them actually start working to earn them. We don’t need to reward a player for completing a level – the reward is the next level. We don’t need to reward the player for maxing out their curdled splatter gun – having the maximum power of the gun is the reward, and if you need to reward the player for collecting all of the one million hidden trinkets, then maybe the process of collecting said trinkets just isn't compelling enough.

Some achievements are good, but need refining – don’t just reward a player for completing a level without getting hit, make it only available on levels where not getting hit requires sheer skill and focus.

As soon as you start planning the game – start planning potential achievements, you might even find in doing so you come up with some ideas that can improve the overall game. Have an achievements brainstorm, try to think of things the player can do that A – require skill or dedication and B – are not a result of the course of standard gameplay. If by some chance you are unfortunate enough to work for a studio that makes bland and mediocre games, at the very least make the achievements only accessible on a second playthrough, because to do that would take dedication.