Up and Going, Once Again

Classes are up and going here at Scad, which is fantastic!

Now that I have a stable schedule to work around, it will be a lot easier to get some time for updates.

Most importantly though, is that I’m taking one of my most challenging classes yet, Applied Game Design.  It’s taught by Brenda Brathwaite, whose blog you can see on the right of the same name.  This is the closest to simulating real life design teams within the college environment, and we’re off to a fantastic start.

This post was more just a note that things will be going back to normal and posts more frequent, so I’ll leave the plans vague and let them be surprises over the weeks to come.

For Shame

Sorry for not updating today or last week.

Been having trouble thinking of anything noteworthy of mentioning here.

I’m trying, just have a lot on my plate for once and I’m re-learning how to balance it all.

Woo! What a quarter!

Alright, obviously there has been a heavy, HEAVY abscence on my blog.  Lets walk through the reason.

-Classes:  I finished up my first Studio class this quarter.  That was a great amount of time put in.

-Outsourcing:  I was outsourced for a few projects, which required time.

-Life:  When you sit in front of a computer all day, your leisure time desires change.

So, I won’t give the gritty details, but now I’m into summer, which is fantastic and devastating at the same time.  On one hand, I don’t have as many set deadlines for projects.  On the other, I need to create some portfolio pieces, which means for the digital things, constructing a proper pipeline so I make things efficient.  Also, making some ideas to create.

Also, as any student does during the summer, I plan on playing many a game and pointing out some of the positives from each,  as well as some things I feel could improve the game.

Most importantly I plan (plan being the key word), to design some board games over the summer as well.  After working on a digital project, theres this strong desire to create something tangible, with my hands, that is accessible to a larger audience.  I feel somewhat constrained with digital designs right now as my understanding of programming is slim to none.  Yes, my imagination has a great way of figuring things out, but I need some proper education on it as well.

Anyway, setting a schedule to update right now on Tuesdays.  Why?  Because it seemed better than the other days.

So close

So close to being done for the school year, then things shall be changed up and i can finally write on here again.

Ugh…

Sorry I’ve been down and out lately; not much going in the industry and my brain has been somewhat on standby from having Bronchitis pop up mid last week.

Things are rather hectic.

Steven King - Still Smart

Got directed to this article today.

Steven King, yes the same one that writes all those books your mom reads (and probably one or two yourself), comments on the Massachusetts legislature that is proposing to ban all violent game material from sale to people under the age of 18.

What I like about this is the fact that this observation is coming from someone who does not game, and is not tied to the gaming community.

I could talk about it here, but King makes a better argument so go ahead and tap that link.

“Rats!” Postmortem on GCG.

Found out today that the postmortem Dave McDonough wrote for our game Rats! made it onto GCG.

Rats! was a very rewarding experience in that it was the first time I really sat down with a group and we did awful.  Just plain awful at the beginning, but we kept with it and by the end of the project had a game play experience that all of us were very excited about.

Dave McDonough, Brian Shurtleff, and James Caskey are all incredibly talented people whose dedication towards learning and trying new and different things with game design have enabled me to become a better game designer myself.  I’m proud to have worked with these gentlemen on not just one, but two projects now, and hope to do so again in the future.

Also, I suppose a link to the article is in order.

Hah!

I spotted this over at Raph Koster’s blog.

Nothing simplifies the design process more than this game.

Now add a few million dollars, a more complicated control scheme, and another 7 hours and you basically have the same thing for a boss. I wish we’d move away from high-budget…

Loners playing Team Games.

I’ve always considered myself a little strange in my choice of favored games. I love games that involve in depth teamwork. Obvious ideal games would be MMOs for raiding or tactical FPS’s that have a core around skill base rather than spreadsheet dispersions, culminating in a focus on team tactics for superiority in most situations.

A new quarter…

And so spring quarter is upon us!

I’m both frightened and excited; I’m taking Studio I and the EA class (professional production practices), as well as looking into working on an outside project with some people.

Lots of work to be done this semester, but at the same time, I feel like it’s finally time that I can apply the things I have learned, the things I’ve always known, and teach other people the things they probably should know.  Of course, this also applies to me!

Been playing a few games as well; I’ll tell you what I think soon!