Kickstarter is, I think, much on the minds of game designers these days–both as an opportunity and as a source of potential pitfalls. That being the case, I found this article very interesting. While it’s not directly related to games, it certainly points out issues that designers might encounter, and provides warnings that we can sensibly heed.
Tag: link
Link: Africade
An interesting window into a game design culture on the other side of the world: Africade, a tumblr with links to some brief movies and articles on an indie game development scene in South Africa.
I was particularly struck by “The Choosatron,” a choose-your-own-adventure game played on what appears to be a modified receipt printer. One of the articles points out that this makes it possible to take one’s play home afterward; playing the game inherently involves creating a permanent record of the experience. It’s a fascinating approach.
Link: Phaser
As I work on Phalanx, it’s struck me that I owe a shout-out to the engine it’s built on, Phaser. Phaser is an HTML5 engine for browser games. It’s got a lot to recommend it, even if there is the occasional drawback.
First, the good! Phaser is:
Chock full of features: Need a physics engine? There’s several to choose from. A particle system? You’re covered. Phaser does the vast majority of the things you want a game engine to do.
Broadly compatible: I’ve not yet found a browser that Phaser doesn’t like.
Used to make browser games: OK, I’ve already mentioned this one. However, I think it’s fair to list it as a selling point. As one of my professors noted, there’s no better way to get your game in front of lots and lots of people than to just let them play it in their browser. After all, not everyone’s got a PC, or a Mac, or an Android device, or a PS4, or an Xbox One, or an iDevice, or an Ouya, or whatever . . . but everybody’s got a browser.
Open-source: Better coders than I can modify the engine to get it to do exactly what they want.
Free: Perhaps this is a necessity in the era of Unity and the Unreal Engine, but it’s still important.
In honesty, I do have to concede that there are a couple of issues a potential Phaser developer should be aware of.
Documentation: Phaser’s documentation can perhaps best be described as “uneven.” It’s good enough for experienced programmers. Beginners can find themselves at sea.
Performance: More an HTML5/Javascript issue than a Phaser issue, perhaps, but you’ll have to keep in mind some pretty hard limits on how far you can push your game. Phalanx uses simple 2D sprites with some minimal particles, and that’s enough to heat up a 2015 Macbook Pro.
Javascript: Not the programming language I’d prefer to be using.
In my mind the benefits Phaser brings substantially outweigh these weaknesses, two of which aren’t even fairly laid at Phaser’s door. If you’re looking for an HTML5 engine, or just a way to make games that will help you bring them before a large audience, give it a look.
Theory & Link: Video Game Tutorial Design
Another great resource, sadly not centrally indexed anywhere: Julia Keren-Detar’s talk on designing video game tutorials.
What’s particularly striking to me about this situation is that this talk isn’t hosted on the GDC website, or DiGRA’s, or at any other location where one commonly goes for this sort of discussion. One has to know it exists to find it. That’s clearly not OK; we really need a better clearinghouse for industry knowledge!
Link: No Girl Wins
Yesterday, a woman played at Warmachine night.
In a perfect world that wouldn’t be exceptional–but, sadly, it very much was. After playing miniatures games up and down the East Coast over the course of years, I can still count the number of women I’ve seen at the minis tables on one hand. It’s so rare that I think to count them in the first place.
That was on my mind this morning when I saw No Girl Wins, Juliet Kahn’s excellent article regarding the forces, some subtle and others blatant, that discourage women from playing video games as they get older. It’s easy to see a number of the same dynamics at work in other gaming genres, minis among them.
If you haven’t yet, I would encourage you to give the article a read. It’s thought-provoking and filled with concrete factors to consider while designing. The article is well worth your time, even if video gaming isn’t within your bailiwick.
The Law of Game Design 