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Game Design anyone?

Urkgarr's picture
Submitted by Urkgarr on Tue, 2009-06-16 21:11. Public

I know most of you guys are avid gamers. But have you guys considered designing/making a game? I recently started making a puzzle game (one reason why I haven't come back to WoW) like Tetris for the Xbox Live community games using XNA. It's windows based for now. I plan to enter the game in the http://www.dreambuildplay.com contest first and see how it'll do. I also found a neat blog for game designers and the blogger does a prototyping challenge and gives out free art, http://lostgarden.com/labels/prototyping%20challenge.html. If anyone is interested, please PM me and maybe we can cook up something. The best art I can ever do is stick figures and I probably suck at that. That's why I'm sticking to programming and looking for those how can draw. I rather build small fun games that take a few months than overly complex 3D games like Halo and World of Warcraft that take years. The best genre of small games are casual games all over the net based on Flash. For those of you who has played Travian, you realized how horrible that interface is and wonder if you can do something better. Or maybe a Travian clone on the Xbox?

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Gyst Starblayze's picture

Booyah!

Submitted by Gyst Starblayze on Wed, 2009-06-17 10:06.

Wow, talk about perfect timing. Very happy

I've been getting pretty involved with game design lately. Right now I do it just as a hobby, although I definitely plan on pursuing a career in interactive entertainment (most likely a startup, but we'll see).

I just finished my latest game, which began as an educational experience for myself but then I decided to finish it up into a complete product. It's a 3D version of the old arcade classic "Asteroids." Like you, I really believe in pursuing small projects with quick turnaround times (this latest game only has 6 levels).

Feel free to download the game to try it out (this is an open invitation to everyone, not just Urkgarr). It's a free download for both Mac and PC at http://drop.io/AsteroidBlast. Lemme know what you think.

I'd love to hear more about your projects. I'll PM you.

Anyone else here involved in game design?

Gyst Starblayze
Faint heart never wins fair lady.

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blackrabbit's picture

Oh I like it Gyst! It takes

Submitted by blackrabbit on Wed, 2009-06-17 11:44.

Oh I like it Gyst! It takes a few moments to get the timing down, but after the first level I was fine. Smiling The graphics are lovely, I could have floated around in space looking at the stars quite happily for some time. Smiling I'm impressed!




Assistant GM/Mistress of Admissions, SCARAB, Whisperwind - Alliance

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Gyst Starblayze's picture

Thanks!

Submitted by Gyst Starblayze on Wed, 2009-06-17 14:59.

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. I really enjoy the feeling of flying around through space too. I spent a lot of time making it visually appealing, so I'm glad that came across well.

Gyst Starblayze
Faint heart never wins fair lady.

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rangersfury's picture

Loved it!

Submitted by rangersfury on Wed, 2009-06-17 20:56.

Once I got a feel for the targeting it was a blast. The controls were smooth and the backgrounds really reminded me of when I played Freelancer.




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druids of different spec should be able to combine their powers to form a giant voltronesque owlcattreebear siege weapon piloted by small woodland creatures

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Urkgarr's picture

That's a pretty kick ass

Submitted by Urkgarr on Wed, 2009-06-17 23:09.

That's a pretty kick ass game you made. How long did it take you?

I'm really into making quirky games because a lot of genres are overly saturated with clones. I want to explore procedurally generated content so you never see the same tree twice and every time you play the game; it will be different.

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Gyst Starblayze's picture

The making of Asteroid Blast

Submitted by Gyst Starblayze on Thu, 2009-06-18 08:08.

Ooo, procedurally generated stuff sounds sweet. Just yesterday I started playing around with random terrain generation for my next project. My initial tests have been successful, but it still needs some tweaking. If it all works out the levels will be completely unique every time you play the game. I'll be sure to post alpha and beta versions to the guild when I get further along.

To answer your question, Asteroid Blast took me about three weeks to make, if you don't count a 6 week break I took in the middle before deciding to finish it up. It went quickly because I borrowed resources extensively. The ship 3D models was a free download I inserted (I planned on replacing it with my own, but never got around to it). The space images are just edited versions of some of my desktop wallpaper, and I borrowed a bunch of movie soundtracks for the background music.

Naturally if I were to make it all from scratch (which I'd have to do if I intended to release the game commercially) it would have taken a lot longer. But, it was mainly just an educational experience for me, so I got to skip all that nasty stuff and go straight to the fun parts. Smiling

Gyst Starblayze
Faint heart never wins fair lady.

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Urkgarr's picture

The game engine is the core

Submitted by Urkgarr on Thu, 2009-06-18 23:44.

The game engine is the core of a game. Once you get that done, you can add content later. I might have found a local musician to do some music for my game. I also found a potential artist. I already have an artist help me make the blocks for my puzzle game.

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