STATUS UPDATE ! I'll be heading to China at the end of February / early march in order to help get Edge of Twilight completed, I'm h...
STATUS UPDATE !
I'll be heading to China at the end of February / early march in order to help get Edge of Twilight completed, I'm hoping to have most of the character side of things functionality wise locked down and only really have minor things ( possibly one or 2 major things ) left to do before I leave.
I'll be heading to China to help get the environment side of the game completed, a side of my art that I haven't really explored before and am definitely keen to explore on a more lighting / composition, colour palette side of things. It's an opportunity to really sink my teeth in, and I'm looking forward to helping out.
MAKING A GAME!
I think I'm beginning to see what making games is all about. Here's my take:
Making a game is about problem solving, not with one mind solving a single problem, but a small group of minds all throwing solutions at problems, and then sifting through the few solutions that work, and tacking those TOGETHER, all the while ensuring that its a game that's fun to play, and getting that accomplished to a deadline.
Within that long sentence is where every failed developer has failed. It could well be because there is no ONE MIND solving the problems that so many fail. It could also be that together the small group of minds responsible for providing the solutions simply could not provide good enough solutions. It could also be that the solutions simply do not work well together, or it could be that its possible to piece the solutions together, but the Katamari ball result just plain sux to play. It works, but its crap. Finally it could have been that the responsible people simply couldnt meet any number of these hurdles in a timely fashion.
The good game developers out there, the people that get it right, no matter what the genre, how big the team or budget, what tools or programs or console or delivery method, no matter what the circumstances, the good games and game developers have found a method of running through that sentence and coming out on top, time and time again. Whether its EA Sports or Popcap.
A library of that knowledge would be awesome to read for me!
THE MYTHICAL AND EVER ELUSIVE CORE TEAM.
The core team is usually a small group of people who specialise in their respective fields, and who are at the forefront of the game development project, they hold the responsibilities, they make the decisions and accept the pressures and failures and are expected to tow the line when the going gets tough.
The core team maybe different inside alot of developers, it could be for example made up of a Executive Producer, Animation Director, Technical Director, Art Director, or it could even be broken down further to include a Character Division Director, Environment Director etc etc.
Regardless of who is considered apart of that core team, if you are in the core team, or ever find yourself to be considered apart of that core team, its your responsibility to ensure that your on target and your pushing the whole way, toward that initial idea that was your game project.
A core team would establish the idea, and the direction for each respective department, the best way to convey this direction would be for the core team to develop something to show.
A pre-rendered CG trailer containing an extremely polished look inside what the core teams game idea is.
Formats, platforms technicalities mean absolutely nothing here, its purely the maximum representation of your idea to the highest possible standards in a given amount of time and probably budget.
This can be presented to the respective teams to give them an initial idea of what the core team want to achieve.
For example,
A shadowy hooded sniper sneaks along in the shadows of a dirty backalley, she shifts from wall to wall avoiding areas of light, leaving small puffs of her warm breath in the cold night air only lit by a giant yellow moon hanging in the night sky. She stops and calmly flattens against a wall, slowing her breathing and the camera zooms in close enough to see a smirk on her face, Just then a drunken brawl erupts through a nearby door: an opportunity to make a few quick and easy $$$........ and so on and so on.
So much information can be gathered this way without worrying about anything technical at all, the atmosphere, camera angles, color palette, audio, mood - it could be taken further to show choices - do you choose to burst into the fight killing the drunks and looting their pitiful corpses and alerting others to your presence ? or do you slink around attempting to pilfer their coinpurses without them noticing and continuing on your nightly rounds before heading back to your guild-master... The information and ideas are limitless here.
Whatever this core and single idea is, it would be extremely important that a few very key things are established.
The style of gameplay you want your players to play.
The 'look and feel' of the gameworld you want to engross your players in.
and HOW you want to deliver that information to your players.
So many subcategories could be listed here, but generally those 3 things should be expressed, as accurately as possible to what the very final intended result is to be.
You'll often find that these movies or glimpses of the core teams initial idea are provided as unlockables or in the special editions of the games, such as God of War, Assassins Creed - I know for certain that Crysis used a similar approach and of course who could forget that Killzone 2 Trailer released way back when. You can bet your bottom dollar that the intention was to get the game looking as close as possible to that trailer.
http://generationdreamteam.free.fr/afrika/killzone2/KillZone2compa.jpg
Take a look at that, and you be the judge. Dont forget 2005 is when that trailer was released setting themselves a nice goal to achieve. 2009 and by jolly I think they nailed it.
Do you think they could have or would have pushed that far if they simply never had that goal post to refer to or push toward? maybe, but I bet it was an EXCELLENT reminder to the team just how far they were away from achieving it at any given time!!!
WHAT A TEAM REPRESENTS & THE ESSENCE OF A CORE TEAM
A core team cannot be hired, they cannot be superstars from all over the globe assembled in a dark room locked in and forced to come up with something great.
A core team can only be forged through trail and tribulation.
A core team needs to be GROWN.
They need time to work with one another, figure out what drives one another, they need to be able to push one another in the right ways and support them in the right ways, in order to achieve the maximum result.
Not only the core team, but the whole team.
It needs iteration, it needs failures and it needs to deal with failures, and move on past them, defeat all hurdles and emerge victorious at the end.
The yardstick or measuring post for any game development team is how well they cooperate to solve problems, its not the end result at all.
So for all those people out there that pick up a new game or buy a new game, if you absolutely love it, it feels great and everything is just working like it should, chances are that the development team is full of passionate and dedicated people who not only are brilliant individual skillmasters, but they are a TEAM, that when faced with any number of problems instead of quitting or believing that as an individual their skills or awesome ideas earns them a right to be somewhere else, they stuck it out as a TEAM, and held it together as a TEAM.
The byproduct of the ability to stick it out and push through those difficult problems or times as a TEAM, is a fantastic game.
NEGATIVITY - A KILLER!
Anyone who has negative and bad or poor things to say about working in the games industry, has lost jobs, got burned or maybe just has problems with a specific publisher or developer in general ( there are alot of people out there like this - myself included alot of the time though im really working on trying not to be anymore ) just really need to take a step back.
Think about what you are saying or doing and how you are acting while working along side people who may really wish to create something great. A single person making crap comments about something, can be devastating to some people.
The ones that can handle it are most likely seniors because they've been exposed to their fare share! But for the rest that cannot, snuffing out that spark of creativity or moment of clarity is just the worst possible thing you could do.
Simply by having something shitty and negative to say, you've made that person withhold that idea that could have sparked a conversation that made all the difference between your game being JUST another game, or being right up there with the best.
Ive lost jobs, I've lost upward of $50,000 US on a single contract, for a small business 50K US can mean surviving from month to month or not. I have bills and crap to pay like everyone else, so I've done more than my fare share of negative bitching and moaning.
But I've realised something extremely important, and for all those neg-heads out there just like I used to be (those that know me well enough, heh heh)
Bitching and moaning is not going to get a game built. Nor is it going to help in any way shape or form develop the game any further than it is. If you absoltely have to, at least think about your bitching and moaning, be a bit more tactful and tasteful.
Think about solutions, as well as critiques, because ANYONE can critique, its the easiest job in the world to have an opinion. However, Its NOT an easy job to provide an amicable solution to a problem ( regardless of whether or not the problem should even exist!)
Show some form by attempting to deliver your solution in a way that the necessary ears understand, instead of forcing your idea upon unwilling recipients, getting knocked back, and having a good old bitch and moan afterward wondering why things aren't being done, or noone is listening to your all powerful solutions.
You'll feel better to get in there and get involved in a positive manner and accomplish something, I can personally vouch for that, no matter who you are or what your profession is. Get in there and do your best to stay positive and focused.
And lastly if your one of the unlucky ones that sits next to bitcher and moaner - get away from them as fast as you can, using any method possible, do whatever you need to do to not be infected. Because negativity spreads, and the effects can be disastrous.
Take that! old version of me.
I'll be heading to China at the end of February / early march in order to help get Edge of Twilight completed, I'm hoping to have most of the character side of things functionality wise locked down and only really have minor things ( possibly one or 2 major things ) left to do before I leave.
I'll be heading to China to help get the environment side of the game completed, a side of my art that I haven't really explored before and am definitely keen to explore on a more lighting / composition, colour palette side of things. It's an opportunity to really sink my teeth in, and I'm looking forward to helping out.
MAKING A GAME!
I think I'm beginning to see what making games is all about. Here's my take:
Making a game is about problem solving, not with one mind solving a single problem, but a small group of minds all throwing solutions at problems, and then sifting through the few solutions that work, and tacking those TOGETHER, all the while ensuring that its a game that's fun to play, and getting that accomplished to a deadline.
Within that long sentence is where every failed developer has failed. It could well be because there is no ONE MIND solving the problems that so many fail. It could also be that together the small group of minds responsible for providing the solutions simply could not provide good enough solutions. It could also be that the solutions simply do not work well together, or it could be that its possible to piece the solutions together, but the Katamari ball result just plain sux to play. It works, but its crap. Finally it could have been that the responsible people simply couldnt meet any number of these hurdles in a timely fashion.
The good game developers out there, the people that get it right, no matter what the genre, how big the team or budget, what tools or programs or console or delivery method, no matter what the circumstances, the good games and game developers have found a method of running through that sentence and coming out on top, time and time again. Whether its EA Sports or Popcap.
A library of that knowledge would be awesome to read for me!
THE MYTHICAL AND EVER ELUSIVE CORE TEAM.
The core team is usually a small group of people who specialise in their respective fields, and who are at the forefront of the game development project, they hold the responsibilities, they make the decisions and accept the pressures and failures and are expected to tow the line when the going gets tough.
The core team maybe different inside alot of developers, it could be for example made up of a Executive Producer, Animation Director, Technical Director, Art Director, or it could even be broken down further to include a Character Division Director, Environment Director etc etc.
Regardless of who is considered apart of that core team, if you are in the core team, or ever find yourself to be considered apart of that core team, its your responsibility to ensure that your on target and your pushing the whole way, toward that initial idea that was your game project.
A core team would establish the idea, and the direction for each respective department, the best way to convey this direction would be for the core team to develop something to show.
A pre-rendered CG trailer containing an extremely polished look inside what the core teams game idea is.
Formats, platforms technicalities mean absolutely nothing here, its purely the maximum representation of your idea to the highest possible standards in a given amount of time and probably budget.
This can be presented to the respective teams to give them an initial idea of what the core team want to achieve.
For example,
A shadowy hooded sniper sneaks along in the shadows of a dirty backalley, she shifts from wall to wall avoiding areas of light, leaving small puffs of her warm breath in the cold night air only lit by a giant yellow moon hanging in the night sky. She stops and calmly flattens against a wall, slowing her breathing and the camera zooms in close enough to see a smirk on her face, Just then a drunken brawl erupts through a nearby door: an opportunity to make a few quick and easy $$$........ and so on and so on.
So much information can be gathered this way without worrying about anything technical at all, the atmosphere, camera angles, color palette, audio, mood - it could be taken further to show choices - do you choose to burst into the fight killing the drunks and looting their pitiful corpses and alerting others to your presence ? or do you slink around attempting to pilfer their coinpurses without them noticing and continuing on your nightly rounds before heading back to your guild-master... The information and ideas are limitless here.
Whatever this core and single idea is, it would be extremely important that a few very key things are established.
The style of gameplay you want your players to play.
The 'look and feel' of the gameworld you want to engross your players in.
and HOW you want to deliver that information to your players.
So many subcategories could be listed here, but generally those 3 things should be expressed, as accurately as possible to what the very final intended result is to be.
You'll often find that these movies or glimpses of the core teams initial idea are provided as unlockables or in the special editions of the games, such as God of War, Assassins Creed - I know for certain that Crysis used a similar approach and of course who could forget that Killzone 2 Trailer released way back when. You can bet your bottom dollar that the intention was to get the game looking as close as possible to that trailer.
http://generationdreamteam.free.fr/afrika/killzone2/KillZone2compa.jpg
Take a look at that, and you be the judge. Dont forget 2005 is when that trailer was released setting themselves a nice goal to achieve. 2009 and by jolly I think they nailed it.
Do you think they could have or would have pushed that far if they simply never had that goal post to refer to or push toward? maybe, but I bet it was an EXCELLENT reminder to the team just how far they were away from achieving it at any given time!!!
WHAT A TEAM REPRESENTS & THE ESSENCE OF A CORE TEAM
A core team cannot be hired, they cannot be superstars from all over the globe assembled in a dark room locked in and forced to come up with something great.
A core team can only be forged through trail and tribulation.
A core team needs to be GROWN.
They need time to work with one another, figure out what drives one another, they need to be able to push one another in the right ways and support them in the right ways, in order to achieve the maximum result.
Not only the core team, but the whole team.
It needs iteration, it needs failures and it needs to deal with failures, and move on past them, defeat all hurdles and emerge victorious at the end.
The yardstick or measuring post for any game development team is how well they cooperate to solve problems, its not the end result at all.
So for all those people out there that pick up a new game or buy a new game, if you absolutely love it, it feels great and everything is just working like it should, chances are that the development team is full of passionate and dedicated people who not only are brilliant individual skillmasters, but they are a TEAM, that when faced with any number of problems instead of quitting or believing that as an individual their skills or awesome ideas earns them a right to be somewhere else, they stuck it out as a TEAM, and held it together as a TEAM.
The byproduct of the ability to stick it out and push through those difficult problems or times as a TEAM, is a fantastic game.
NEGATIVITY - A KILLER!
Anyone who has negative and bad or poor things to say about working in the games industry, has lost jobs, got burned or maybe just has problems with a specific publisher or developer in general ( there are alot of people out there like this - myself included alot of the time though im really working on trying not to be anymore ) just really need to take a step back.
Think about what you are saying or doing and how you are acting while working along side people who may really wish to create something great. A single person making crap comments about something, can be devastating to some people.
The ones that can handle it are most likely seniors because they've been exposed to their fare share! But for the rest that cannot, snuffing out that spark of creativity or moment of clarity is just the worst possible thing you could do.
Simply by having something shitty and negative to say, you've made that person withhold that idea that could have sparked a conversation that made all the difference between your game being JUST another game, or being right up there with the best.
Ive lost jobs, I've lost upward of $50,000 US on a single contract, for a small business 50K US can mean surviving from month to month or not. I have bills and crap to pay like everyone else, so I've done more than my fare share of negative bitching and moaning.
But I've realised something extremely important, and for all those neg-heads out there just like I used to be (those that know me well enough, heh heh)
Bitching and moaning is not going to get a game built. Nor is it going to help in any way shape or form develop the game any further than it is. If you absoltely have to, at least think about your bitching and moaning, be a bit more tactful and tasteful.
Think about solutions, as well as critiques, because ANYONE can critique, its the easiest job in the world to have an opinion. However, Its NOT an easy job to provide an amicable solution to a problem ( regardless of whether or not the problem should even exist!)
Show some form by attempting to deliver your solution in a way that the necessary ears understand, instead of forcing your idea upon unwilling recipients, getting knocked back, and having a good old bitch and moan afterward wondering why things aren't being done, or noone is listening to your all powerful solutions.
You'll feel better to get in there and get involved in a positive manner and accomplish something, I can personally vouch for that, no matter who you are or what your profession is. Get in there and do your best to stay positive and focused.
And lastly if your one of the unlucky ones that sits next to bitcher and moaner - get away from them as fast as you can, using any method possible, do whatever you need to do to not be infected. Because negativity spreads, and the effects can be disastrous.
Take that! old version of me.
