I know where my strengths lie. More importantly, I am acutely aware of my deficiencies. I’m a decent programmer, but I can’t draw to save my life. I’m definitely no artist. I’m also not a designer. By the end of this project I will definitely have needed the assistance of people who can fulfill these roles. For the time being, I need no art, at least not until the game play is ready. Design is another matter. In a bit of bad news, I was hoping to be able to work with a talented designer friend of mine, but contractual obligations have restricted this option. Looks like I will need to quickly improve on my design skills.
On a more positive note, my copy of Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design has arrived early (personally courier’d over from the US, thanks Dad). I’ve been scouring the net over the last 6 weeks for a good game design book, and this one looks like it really hit the mark. I’m excited to sink my teeth into this one. I know I won’t magically become a designer over night, but this should tide me over until I find another available designer I trust.
I’ve been keeping quiet on my time targets. Let’s just put it out there now: I am working towards the Independent Game Festival deadline (November 1st). I’ve hesitated until now to make that personal target public for fear of failure, but if I am going to try to be transparent about my progress, I might as well be as open as possible. I don’t know if I will actually submit an entry to the IGF – that really depends on whether I have an actual game to submit (or at least a promising prototype of such a game). That statement is not meant to cover my ass if I fail; I’ll be disappointed if I don’t have the game mechanics worked out by then, but I won’t let it discourage me. Having a time target gives me a clear timetable to work to, and will help drive me (remember, I work best under stress).
Work Done Last Week
I was away for most of the week on holiday. When I was back I played around with the Box2D integration which is going well. It’s an excellent engine, and it’s been an interesting learning experience digging through the source code.
Work Planned This Week
This week, I will be focusing on two areas: the physics simulation and game play experiments. There are still various improvements to be made to the physics simulation, and I’ll be working through my list of issues. I’ve also got a few game play ideas to experiment with now that my framework is in place. Oh and I am finally forced to implement a small matrix class to allow me to handle rotations easily. Yeah, yeah, I know. I “blame” rapid prototyping methodology for allowing me to go this long without one.
September 16th, 2008 - 5:09 am
Hi Yac! Hope you like the book! Please feel free to contact me with questions. People like you were exactly the audience I had in mind for the book, so I’d love to hear your thoughts about it. If you like it, you might consider the cards that go with it, available at artofgamedesign.com.
-Jesse
September 16th, 2008 - 6:20 pm
Thanks for the comment Jesse. I’m only a couple chapters in, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s living up to the high expectations I’ve built up for it. I will definitely write a follow-up post on my impressions of the book once I’ve gotten through it and applied some of its teachings. And I’ll make sure to bug you with questions too, you can count on that.
Cheers,
Yacine
September 18th, 2008 - 5:24 pm
Hey Yacine, stop wasting your time with writing a diary. Believe me, no one is interested in your thoughts. You should better start working right now. Go on, feed and support Magda, you can’t live off the land.
Btw: Nice design!
Take care
Helge
September 18th, 2008 - 5:36 pm
Ladies and Gentlemen, German humor at its finest. Thank you Helge.
September 22nd, 2008 - 11:32 pm
[...] emphasis on what is important now has allowed me to progress certain parts of this project rapidly. As I mentioned last week, I hadn’t implemented a matrix math library up to that point because I hadn’t needed it [...]
October 21st, 2008 - 12:05 am
[...] I put it out there a few weeks ago that I was targeting the IGF submission deadline. The date is just around the corner now, and it is becoming clear that I won’t have a decent demo ready by then. There isn’t a game there yet, and it’s better to accept that now than to submit something that is sub par. [...]
February 16th, 2009 - 3:25 pm
[...] also spent more time immersing myself again in the design book – something I had neglected while I was focused on the editor. It doesn’t always have the [...]
March 6th, 2009 - 12:01 pm
[...] mentioned the design book The Art of Game Design several times before. As an absolute novice designer, I bought the book to shore up my skills. Whenever [...]