Game Development

Programmer's Role in Game Development -part 1: Better Code Organization This will be a bit different blog post compared to the previous. It will be a sub-series of the role of programmer in the game development. The first part of the sub-series will explain how a game programmer is more effective alone or in a team. Code organization is in my experience essential, as the amount of code quickly increases, especially if the game has many features. It includes: knowledge of the programming language, APIs, dev kits and make sure you know the techniques with which will you finish the project  list of steps to get there a clear to read and understand GDD a clear task list don't rush to learn everything about everything related to your project-set to make a project which you can actually handle(=have learnt 98%-100% about it) There you go, one step closer to understanding how to make a classic game.

Good Difficulty Before we dive into the main subject, I want to remind you I'm still on a mission to make a definition of what makes a game a 100% classic. One of the main problems with games is difficulty curve. Which leads to very steep learning curve. The curves are in relation between each other. Let me make a couple examples of the difficulty and learning curves: - Painkiller: good difficulty four settings, but the game relies on finding secrets, which can take months to solve, and it kills the tempo in the game  - Unreal Tournament: like many other games, there is a high jump in the difficulty-earlier levels are easily beatable until you reach a level which you can't beat for half a year plus(literally) I think I have to say I prefer a learning line instead of a curve. Same goes for difficulty. Why? Because an exponential curve is the opposite of a well-balanced game. So what's the solution? In my opinion as constant as possible line, not too flat no...

Street life After seeing so many repeating themes in games(FPS competition and war-theme, strategy, tactics, teamwork) I have of making a refreshing one. While I have likes for many themes in games, I thought adding a new, refreshing theme would be nice. Why street life? Because I have so many bad memories with street fighting, being broke and cold blood pumping trough my veins-the last one because of heavy schizophrenia, and it is not a pleasure feeling. How would you implement it in a game? I'm not sure, but I can readily it was cool in GTA San Andreas. So many rappers draw inspiration from it. The street life, not GTA. If we conclude, GTA is based on street life. I think this is important to notice, as many people(including myself) live many kinds of street life, so it would probably smart to fix this hole in games. Let me talk about my schizophrenia: ugliest form of schizo. When I first had it(12 years ago), I could see colors flying around me, demons, ... on th...

Lesson in physics I think distinction of whether game physics will be real or fantasy/sci-fi is an important to make. This is in my opinion an important aspect of a good game. Either way gravity is a law of gravity you just have to understand and same goes formula. It's good if you know about friction, fraction, quantum physics, and most importantly, even relativity of time, and electricity works. Gravity is important in space games as well. How much do you remember of this from high-school? Either way if you remember a good deal or not, this is an important reason why you should Wikipedia and Google for thorough research on math, chemistry, physics, literature, art, music and poetry. This is the lesson I tried to get across: research your problems and you'll have much better chances at making a game. That and if you're still in school/college, don't cheat at tests and actually listen to the professor: so keep learning, no matter how much you have mastered ...

Basics of level design What is difference between "overall" game design and level design? In my opinion a good game designer should be well-skilled in basics of level design and vice-versa. What should a "in-general" game designer know then about level design? First of all, how to use a 3d modeler, 3D paint, the game engine if one exists. What about the other way around: what should a level designer know about game mechanism design? A level designer in a RPG(role-playing game) should be very well-informed of the story and quests. Furthermore, a level designer should understand how to make levels which encourage replayability. What kind of levels would encourage it? -the hardest form would be non-linear quests, which we already described -an easier form would be a well-calculated difficulty system -wide open large manually created world(like Darkfall Online) -lots of Achievements which would prove player's skills even after one has beaten the campaig...

Structure of a game A game normally consists of some challenges to overcome. This can appear in the terms of a campaign, chapters or skirmish(battle-only) levels. Challenges can be single-player or multiplayer. On the development aspect, this means the Game Design Document must include the core game mechanics. Furthermore, games include a certain quality of graphics, while some have no emphasis on graphics whatsoever. But have would one implement graphics in a GDD? Myself I find it an impossible task. While I'm not saying some games don't have remarkable graphics, I don't think they have a place in the Game Design Document. Another example is game physics. They can be described even if they are set in normal ("real") physics environment. Let's try to describe graphics in a GDD by an example: All levels need great textures, lightening effects, weather system, beautiful models and landscapes. Let's try to incorporate this into test-driven devel...