by Annie | Feb 9, 2011 | Game Design
I was up late last night. Doing what? Programming in my PJs, of course. I proceeded to dream about design docs and prototyping and was out of bed before my alarm clock went off. You see, we’re in the midst of preproduction for our final game projects, which means mountains of design docs, multiple prototypes, and countless brainstorming sessions. Oftentimes with game projects, my interest starts to wane after brainstorming the initial game concept and hammering out the mechanics. This time around though, with the challenge of creating a full game in just a handful of weeks, the pressure is on, and I’m loving every moment of it. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing than designing games. Back when I first created my website, I wrote that I breathe design. And it’s true. Game design is pumping through my veins. This is the stuff dreams are made...
by Annie | Feb 4, 2011 | Game Design
Learning a new program can be both exciting and stressful. For our final game project, we’ve decided to use the Unity game development engine. Unity allows us the flexibility to use prefabs and object oriented programming that will be especially useful for the mechanics in our game. While programming logic is easily transferrable from one programming language to another, the nuances and syntax can take a bit to get used to. Here’s one developer’s account of getting started with Unity:...
by Annie | Feb 2, 2011 | Game Design
Last week, our class took a field trip. When you take a field trip in a game design course, where do you go? Why, to Electronic Arts, of course. EA Canada is right around the corner in Burnaby, BC, just a hop, skip, and a jump outside of Vancouver. After spending time filling out forms and playing around with some super fancy swivel chairs in one of the EA meeting rooms, we were escorted around the premises by EA employees. In game design, you’ve got to work hard AND play hard, and at EA, it shows. The facility includes a soccer field, basketball court, state of the art gym, library stocked with games and movies, and fancy coffee machines on every floor. Not a bad place to...
by Annie | Jan 31, 2011 | Game Design
You know how some people seem to be absolutely amazing at one thing in particular? They can wipe the floor with you in foosball or complete every Sudoku puzzle you put in front of them or cook like a five-star chef. Well, I’m not one of those people. Those people are well-lopsided, and all my life, I’ve been well-rounded. In other words, I’m good at a lot of things but not great at any one thing. I’m a decent writer, good at math, enjoy puzzles, win board games every so often, and am getting better at Street Fighter. Though there are days when I wish I could just focus on one dominant strength, most days, particularly in game design, I’m quite thankful for my well-roundedness. The title ‘game designer’ encompasses a wide array of skills and tasks. Sure game designers work on designing game concepts and mechanics, but they must also possess the communication skills to express their ideas, the scripting savvy to throw together quick prototypes, and knowledge of basic visual design principles. In the past few weeks, shoulder-deep in brainstorming sessions and preproduction document writing marathons with my final game team, I’ve capitalized on my well-roundedness as much as possible. My left brain has been tasked with creating working prototypes, and my right brain is busy designing a cohesive and memorable visual experience for our game. I guess I’ll never be truly well-lopsided. But when there’s so much to learn, so much to do, and so much fun to be had in game design, I’m quite happy to be...
by Annie | Jan 28, 2011 | Game Design
The latest issue of In Focus magazine focuses primarily on the VFS game design program. Take a...
by Annie | Jan 24, 2011 | Game Design
I am not a social butterfly by any means. Social caterpillar, maybe. But after a weekend at the Game Design Expo surrounded by people passionate about game design, I’m starting to grow quite fond of networking. I prefer to think of networking as making friends. You never know when you might hit it off with someone or find someone who shares common interests and aspirations. Sure networking can be incredibly intimidating. You’re almost guaranteed to run into awkward situations. But keep in mind that people are there because they want to get to know you. So be yourself, ask honest questions, and be an attentive listener. That’s all there is to it. I can’t begin to tell you what an amazing experience the Game Design Expo has been. Meeting so many people so interested in game design makes me fall in love with it all over again. Here are my top five moments from the weekend: 5. Coat Checking I was up at 5am Saturday morning. Why? So I could get to the Expo by 6am to help with setup and coat check. Volunteering to hang up people’s coats for 4 hours might not sound like the most glamorous job, but it allowed me to get to know a lot of the attendees and speakers as they arrived, ready and excited about the day. 4. VFS Open House I think yesterday’s open house was one of the largest that the VFS game design program has ever held. Me? I got to help man the main VFS booth, meeting dozens of potential students interested in diving into the field of...
