(by Ian Strandberg) I’ve chosen to use Unity 3D more or less exclusively for my game development projects. I’m just getting started and that could change, but so far, I feel I’ve made the right choice. Essentially I believe that Unity makes it possible for me to come as close to being a one man [...]
(by Ian Strandberg) As I’m making the transition to independent game development as a career I’m faced with plenty of choices about how I’m going to shape my future from here on out. One of the things I know about myself is that I can’t be comfortable without backup. Another thing I’ve learned is that [...]
So, enough about the software. I made a number of very small images (which are all shown in this article and appear here and there on this site) and one or two very simple animations. Predictably, exact pixel placement and color choice is stupidly important to this process. I found myself spending a lot of [...]
(by Greg Greene) Coroutines… Raycasting… Colliders, oh my! Those are just a few things I had to wrap my head around recently. You see, I’m entering the world of game programming. Or, more accurately, the world of Unity 3D game programming. The guys (and girls) at Unity Technologies in San Fran put together a decent [...]
Exploitation of Confirmation Bias in the Fire and Fixate Gameplay of Peggle and Angry Birds or Blah Blah Blah, Syllibles, etc, Something Similar About Those Two Games (by Ian Strandberg) Both Peggle and Angry Birds feature a style of gameplay which I call Fire and Fixate gameplay. That is, the player offers an initial input [...]
David Lancaster of Rebel Planet Creations made a couple of videos on game design in 2009 and uploaded them to YouTube. I don’t know the man so I’m not sure what HE would call them, but I’d describe them as short informal video essays on the subject. Essentially his message is: focus on the gameplay. [...]
Since pixelling seems to be a big part of many game making efforts, I figured I’d better refresh my memory on the subject and dip my toes in the pool. I’m not attached to it as an aesthetic for future games, but I do like the look a lot. Also, its fun and easy… at [...]
Dead Space 2 tries to walk a fine line when it comes to pacing. Given how subjective the perception of pacing is, I’m not surprised that sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn’t. The long “exploratory” segments (by which I mean, explore the artwork in the linear corridors) raise the tension level for me [...]
Session notes are a collection of my casual thoughts from a recent gaming session. They are not reviews and may not reflect my overall view of a game accurately. Instead I just take note of design choices and my experience playing the game. There are no inline spoiler warnings so consider this it. I’m somewhere in [...]
A day or two ago I ran across the Scratchware Manifesto, an at times angry-toned rant against common* practices at game development studios and among publishers and other parts of the game industry machinery. It also proposes an alternative called “scratchware.” It was written in 2000 and appears to be the work of multiple anonymous [...]
Why Choose Unity 3D? (Part 2)
Why Choose Unity 3D? (Part 1)
A Wee Bit’o Pixelling (Part 2)
I’m in the jungle! And, Unity is my tour guide
Fire and Fixate Gameplay
Here be Wisdom
A Wee Bit’o Pixelling (Part 1)
Dead Space 2 Session Notes (part 2)
Dead Space 2 Session Notes (part 1)
Scratchware Menifesto Reaction (Part 1)
My name is Ian. I want to make games. There are no local jobs and no local training prospects. It`s just me, the internet and free time. Actually, that`s not half bad.
