Reno 911 reminded me: “If you can’t get excited about your work, how can you expect anyone else to?”
Category Archives Caleb’s Game Devlog
Thoughts on Game Development and Game Design. Expect quick-thought blog posts, scripted videos, and even podcasts. If you want to learn my philosophy on video game development, this is a great place to start (and end).
I call this scene “Desk Golf.” My lamp model makes a comeback in this lesson! This time, it’s helping a golf ball reach the hole at the top of a stack of books. I cheated a bit by looking up a tutorial on how to make the golf ball. And somehow, even with the tutorial, I managed to mess up the golf ball. The dimple pattern is weird in some places. But, I have to remember that golf is weird in some places. Looks like I just turned this bug (ugly ball) into a feature (ugly ball...because golfers like it that way). Also, the transition from the cylindrical metal eraser ring on the pencil to the hexagon shape of the pencil is pretty jarring. I’m excited for future lessons where I might learn about ways to fix this. A few things I learned while making this that I can apply…
Always follow passion. Right now, I have a passion to learn more about 3D modeling. It sure doesn't hurt that I'm having a ton of fun doing it (Fun is the strongest direct motivator).
There are infinite ways to eat an apple. Some may be better than others, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat the apple.
The game-making lessons we mentioned are:
- Don’t waste the player’s time. A novel input system cannot survive on novelty alone; it MUST serve good gameplay. Otherwise, the forced input falls from delightful to frustration (Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask)
- Movement in a platformer MUST feel great above all else. If a game has secrets to find via exploration, that exploration had better not suck. (Sackboy: a Big Adventure)
- Visuals afford function. Therefore, nothing is ever only cosmetic. If a character looks tall and fat, the player expects the movement to be slow. If a character is short and thin, the player expects the movement to be quick and nimble (Sackboy: a Big Adventure)
- Is there a formula for determining the proper melee attack range for a character based on character speed and height? There should be. (Sackboy: a Big Adventure)
This dev log will inform how I approach game development (design, coding, etc). It may cause a populace uprising that will change how my approach governs my code. My code = the government. My dev log = the will of the people.
Listen in as we talk about our game development “ah ha” moments, including:
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The importance of commenting even as a solo dev
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Self-documenting/readable code
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The importance of having fun as part of the learning & development process
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Shaders are black magic
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Unity events are suuuuper useful
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The absolute need to LEARN THE TOOLS YOU USE and…
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DO NOT FIGHT those tools your learned to use (even if fighting the tools feels like a “neat old’ fashioned way to do it,” as Jo so eloquently states)