Tom used to be a lawyer. Now he's a game designer. The two have more in common than you think.
. . . Days left in the semester, that is.
As a reminder, the NYU Game Center’s End-of-Year Show is this coming Thursday. It has left me with sadly little time to contemplate design theory; I’ve had to pour all my energies into bug-fixing and polishing. Still, it’s all in a good cause, and the event will be great. Stop on by!
If you’re in the New York City area, drop by the NYU Game Center’s End-of-Year show!
You can grab tickets (which are free) here. Two teams I’m on will have games there; one of the games is an experiential journey that mixes Panoramical with Banished, while the other is an artistic wargame. I’m extremely proud to have been involved with both–and that’s just a fraction of what will be on display.
You’ll find a sport played on an infinite field, a competitive heist game, and a family-friendly puzzler. There’s a game that zooms in on the moment-by-moment of a MOBA teamfight, an adventure game in which you decipher mysterious glyphs, a game that shows you the world through the eyes of animals and insects . . . I could go on and on, and not do any of the projects justice. Come and see for yourself!
Please pardon the late update; a big deadline falls tomorrow, and alas, a final round of bugs are demanding a late night.
On the plus side, the game that’s been the subject of recent posts on juice will be done and ready to go by Friday. I’m looking forward to showing it; while it won’t be perfectly polished, one tester described himself as “intrigued.” I’d say that’s the response I was looking for. 😉
It’s back to the debugging trenches for me. Wish me luck!
I feel like I should have lots to talk about. After all, I’m working all the time. 😉
Unfortunately, all of the work is very much at the “in progress” stage. There’s plenty going on, but it’s foundational. Games will emerge down the line . . . when these projects are much further along.
In the interim, getting to post Pray for Rain was a lot of fun. Over the course of this semester I’ve done a bunch of prototypes of similar or slightly smaller scale, and I’ll post a few of them over the coming week. Some of them taught me some very interesting lessons; hopefully they’ll be of interest to you as well.
So, my apologies for the rather brief posts recently, and brace yourself for some slightly silly, slightly buggy, and generally offbeat micro-games. 😉
First and foremost, let me apologize for missing Friday’s update. Travel got in the way, but I’ve now learned how to update reliably from the road. The same issues won’t arise next time.
Second, I’d like to encourage anyone planning on attending GDC next year to drop by the Shut Up & Sit Down board game lounge! The players had a great time and the games were spectacular. Networking opportunities abounded for those so inclined, but it was also a low-key environment ideal for anyone who just wanted to take a break. Helping out with the board game area was the highlight of my time at GDC, and I’m confident that it was for many of those who visited it as well.
Hope to see you there in 2017!
I’m very happy to say that I’ll be helping out at the Shut Up & Sit Down booth at the Game Developers Conference this year! I’m excited and grateful to have the chance to work with them. Come by the booth and try some games!
It’s the time of year when jobs are sought, and so I’ve been updating the portfolio page. There’s not much text here, but there’s quite a bit of new material over there. 😉 Take a look!
It seems traditional that every game design blog must sometimes say “I’m too busy working on X to post.”
Far be it for me to break with tradition. 😉
I’m bug-fixing a game for class. The current bug has proven quite remarkable: it’s revealed a number of problems with my code, but fixing each one only reveals a deeper, more profound error. As a result, I keep thinking I’m having the “eureka” moment, and then discovering that I have instead found only a new tip of the same iceberg.
I hope it’s the same iceberg, anyway. If there’s two (or more?) icebergs below the surface . . . hoo, boy.
On the plus side, this is one of the games that’s motivating me to get a better website up and running. I think it’s actually pretty neat. When it doesn’t crash. 😉
My portfolio of digital games can currently be described, generously, as “modest.” It’s starting to grow, however, with Through the Jungle and some student games I’m currently working on.
So long as this site is hosted by WordPress, I can’t easily make these games available. Thus, I’m looking toward other hosting options.
Does anyone have a hosting service they would recommend, or recommend avoiding? Thoughts on the wisdom of taking on independent hosting? All comments and advice are appreciated!
Here at NYU I’m doing so, so much more design than I ever have before.
I just have so little time to talk about it!
Since coming here I’ve built or collaborated with others to build a physics-based action game, an abstract chess-like game, a whole different abstract game based on overloading people on resources, a card game, and I think some other things that I can’t even remember right now. Currently I’m contributing to an altgame about different forms of embarrassment while also creating a game loosely themed on warfare in ancient Greece. It’s been amazing!
Of course, it’s also meant 80+ hour weeks. That’s limited my ability to post recently.
So, I apologize for the content-light updates over the last month. There’s design work happening in the background, and I hope to be able to show you more soon. Until then, please bear with the short posts, and get some sleep for me. 😉
The Law of Game Design 