CreativeCommons image Tool Stash by Meena Kadri at Flickr.com
SUMMARY
This week I learned the process to go through when making and testing the beginnings of a game, and came up with some ideas for what those games could be
The playlist provides an overview of how to use the core functions of the Unity game engine by making a simple game with Unity and showing what is going on every step of the way.
CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)
I learned that minimum viable product for a game is a very good indicator of if the game will be fun, and that it’s very important to get this out as soon as possible. It tells you if the core mechanics for your game will be fun, or if they need to be rethought.
Game Genres from the Simplest and Most Difficult to Create
Racing Game
Top-Down Shooter
2d Platformer
Color Matching Puzzle Game
2D Puzzle Platformer
3D Platformer
FPS
JRPG
Fighting Game
Action Adventure
Western RPG
RTS
LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)
When play testing you need to look back while you’re playing and realize why what you’re doing is fun or not. It’s also important to do this with other games that you play, not just your own.
OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY & THE BRAIN)
Go for a walk. Think about your life as a narrative for today. A story of today. You as the protagonist. What/who is your nemesis? Are you trying to win/accomplish something? What? Write notes here about what you thought… and experiment with your blog. Maybe change the theme? Have fun!
If this day is a story, my nemesis would be my cat. I’m trying to get my homework done, and he’s meowing at me to open seemingly every door in the house. He secretly knows when I begin to actually get focused, and he’s using every tool in his limited kit to sabotage my life.
STUDIO (GAME DESIGN)
Idea one: A game where you are a circle that can travel instantly in a straight line to wherever on the screen you click. If you run into a smaller circle, you absorb its mass. If you run into a larger circle, you lose (kind of like agar.io). The goal of the game is to scramble to get as large as you can, eventually becoming the only circle on the screen. Once you do that, the screen zooms out and another level starts. This would not be multiplayer, and only a small number of the other circles would be able to move (5-15) controlled by ai. It would gradually get harder with the ai moving faster at each level.
Idea two: A 2D Platformer that focuses on climbing up, with every different color of surface has a different function.
Idea three: A boat racing game where you can design custom boats and race them, trying to balance speed, acceleration, maneuverability, durability and how deep the boat sinks into the water, with different routes and shortcuts available to boats that can drive in shallower water. Boats would also be able to ram one another, with bigger boats being able to sink smaller boats due to increased durability.
Idea four: A top down shooter where you have to exterminate mutated Bears from overrun cities in the apocalypse, with different types of bears having different abilities.
Idea five: A 3D Platformer where you can only move by jumping, and have a certain number of jumps at the start of each level. However, you can also throw objects as well as push objects to cause different environmental reactions.
