by Annie | Jan 19, 2011 | Game Design
Did you know that the first software bug was an actual insect? Indeed, in 1947, Grace Hopper found a moth trapped in a relay of the Mark II at the computation laboratory at Harvard. And people have been debugging ever since. As we prepare for our final game projects, one plan we must prepare is a testing plan, complete with an estimate of the total number of bugs in our game. Wait a minute. Estimate the number of bugs before the code has been written? Seems like a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled. Why not just write code that’s bug-free? While this did occur to me, I imagine that most seasoned programmers would laugh in my face. Programming is a combination of trial and error, critical thinking, and on-the-fly problem solving. Throw in some time constraints, changing requirements, and evolving ideas, and things are bound to get hairy pretty quickly. I guess all I can do is brace myself and code...
by Annie | Jan 18, 2011 | Game Design
You know how some people seem to have a knack for languages? They effortlessly learn new terms, nail pronunciations, and possess a seemingly limitless memory. I am definitely not one of those people. My first language was Mandarin. I’m told I was quite the talker when I was little, telling stories to strangers left and right. I could read and write over 500 Chinese characters by age three. Of course, most of that was lost when I moved to the U.S. at the age of four. Nowadays, I can barely guess my way through a simple newspaper article. I went on to study Latin all four years of high school, progressing through advanced classical texts and nabbing prizes in Latin exams and competitions. Now? I can barely remember what carpe diem means. In college, I decided to give Mandarin another shot. I was still fluent in speaking and listening but struggled with reading and writing. A few courses later, I was writing essays and reading short novels. But as with before, as soon as those courses ended, my memory of the vocabulary quickly dissipated. So how does all this relate to games? As a game designer, I’m constantly learning new languages, not only in terms of new game mechanics terms and design vocabulary, but also in terms of different scripting languages. I am by no means a great programmer, but I can say unequivocally that I love learning scripting. I find an unexplainable beauty in the process of breaking down the most complex events and actions into simple if/then statement building blocks. While world languages may be based on verb...
by Annie | Jan 10, 2011 | Game Design
Coming up with an original game concept is quite possibly the most fun and difficult piece of the game design process. Sure, iteration and fine tuning down the road can be riveting as well, but it’s the open ended realm of possibility during the initial brainstorming phases that allow for infinite imagination and creativity. And of course, as with all open ended endeavors, progress can be daunting, if not paralyzing. With creativity comes great risk. Team brainstorming means allowing others to see what’s inside your head. To discover that perhaps there isn’t much in there after all. Just as writers happen upon writer’s block every so often, game designers can experience similar droughts, often brought about by that inner critic taking over the creative process. Is my idea good enough? What will other people think? Has it been done before? Tons of self-help books have been written on this very topic, so I won’t attempt to dissect the creative process and try to provide empty bits of advice on believing in yourself and sticking with it. Personally, I find the brainstorming process both exciting and stressful. I can almost feel the electrical impulses dancing around my neural synapses, firing up parts of my brain that often lie dormant. I heartily believe that there’s no such thing as a bad idea; just ideas that may not be good yet. Right now, at the heart of the brainstorming process for our final game design projects, my notebook is quickly filling up with unripe ideas. Ideas itching to be dug up and brought to...
by Annie | Jan 4, 2011 | Game Design
With air this cold, huffing and puffing is no picnic. You see, I’m a biker. No, no, not the kind with the leather jacket. I’m talking about bicycles. I started biking to school at the start of term 1 and have developed quite an affinity for my time on the road. Now, I’m not a hardcore biker by any stretch of the imagination. I bike in street clothes. I switch to super easy gears on hills. My bike has a bell. But despite my sometimes unavoidable grimace at the mention of biking, I’ve grown to love it. Dearly. It’s the only time of the day that I have entirely to myself. Just me, my bike, and the road. No emails, no phone calls, no projects, no deadlines. Some of my best game ideas have come from these bike rides. About a month ago, I got a flat tire. With little free time to fix it, the tire remained flat and my bike remained indoors. For over a month. Today was my first day back behind the handlebars. The funny thing about taking a hiatus from biking is that you never forget how to ride the bike. You just forget all the little things that go with it. The red light I’d always tried to speed past. The sequences of gear shifts I’d used for uphill and downhill stretches. The cold morning wind. But as soon as my foot pushed down on the pedal, it all came rushing back. It felt like coming home. I biked past familiar neighborhoods, saw familiar scenes, smelled familiar smells. Before I knew it, I’d...
by Annie | Jan 2, 2011 | Game Design
Ever wonder about the man behind Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., and Wii Fit? Take a look at the recent New Yorker article on Shigeru Miyamoto that profiles Miyamoto’s playful curiosities about the world around him, his insatiable passion for analysis, and his seemingly effortless ability to infuse fun into every part of...
by Annie | Dec 22, 2010 | Game Design
Consider this my official apology for scoffing in the faces of all those who tried to warn me of the intensity of a year at VFS. You were right. And I was wrong. Now that winter break is in full force, I can take the time to fully appreciate just how intense the past 6 months have been. Between tight deadlines, team projects, game pitches, and late night UDK crashes, there was barely time to blink. Coffee became my drug of choice, and piles of junk food containers crowded my desk at all times. We are now officially 50% done with the year. People are often surprised when I tell them the program is only a year long, and I can definitely understand their surprise. There’s enough crammed into these 12 months to last several years. But of course, the year wouldn’t be what it is without the intensity and craziness of it all. Here are the most important things I’ve learned over the past 3 terms: Term 1: No game designer is an island. One of the most valuable pieces of the VFS experience is the people you get to go through it with. Over the months, I’ve gotten to know the people in my class extremely well. There are the jokers, the workaholics, the wallflowers, and of course, a few nuts. But I dearly love them all, and this experience wouldn’t be the same without every last one of them. Term 2: Level design is hard. But fun. Not too long ago, level design class represented the three most dreaded hours of my week. UDK is not...
