{"id":1401,"date":"2014-12-01T12:29:06","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T12:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/?p=1401"},"modified":"2015-12-01T10:40:45","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T10:40:45","slug":"new-video-game-project-annual-information-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/?p=1401","title":{"rendered":"New Video Game Project: Annual Information Update 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new video game project that I started working on a year ago, precisely<\/a>, is going great! With respect to maintaining confidentiality, I still can’t share specific details with you, but I am more than happy to say that everything is going on “as planned”<\/em>. – Something quite contrary to the nature of game development in general \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

One for all, all for one<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the co-producer of the project, I have many responsibilities in addition to the usual things that I have to do. Game design, story development, programming, conceptual artwork design, 3d modeling, texturing, music production, etc. Although sounds like a one-man-army<\/em> project, actually it is not.<\/p>\n

\n

“Only one artist takes all the responsibility…”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In order to preserve game’s artistic style, it is quite normal that only one artist takes all the responsibility of designing & planning everything, and making sure that things will be kept\/done in that way. And, this is exactly what I am doing nowadays. – (At one point, we will have developers and artists contributing to the project, naturally. Until that moment,\u00a0everything must\u00a0be “well-defined”<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Coding<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of creating detailed game design documents, some\u00a0game development projects begin with “conceptual coding”<\/em>. Same goes for this project. Contrary to traditional game\u00a0development\u00a0workflow that begins with documenting the game design, I decided to start with implementing a proof of concept.<\/p>\n

\"\"Similar to LEGO building bricks, I have been coding\u00a0fundamental elements of “gameplay”<\/em>.\u00a0As a result of these coding sessions,\u00a0I have\u00a0clearly\u00a0envisioned a number of next-gen\u00a0features that\u00a0can possibly enrich our game.<\/p>\n

We are currently evaluating the options. When the gameplay implementation is over, I’ll go back to game design document for sure. – (Yes, I know that it sounds a bit unorthodox, but I have my reasons. Sometimes it’s good to break\u00a0old habits for the sake of creativity.\u00a0In this game, I will\u00a0let “gameplay” define and drive the game design!)<\/em><\/p>\n

Spinners and Probability<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coding is all about making decisions. Getting your hands dirty in\u00a0Mathematics\u00a0has always been rewarding.\u00a0Going back and forth between Calculus<\/a> and Geometry<\/a> is\u00a0more than a stellar experience.\u00a0\u00a0Not because it makes you a better programmer, but simply because it turns you into a “wise decision maker”<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In terms of design and implementation, this\u00a0game development project is full of complex decisions. Thankfully<\/span>, “coding”\u00a0is the glue between questions and answers.\u00a0When used wisely, coding offers new ways of dealing with decisions that you derive from Mathematics, and this is exactly what I’m trying to achieve throughout this project.<\/p>\n

Content is King!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I spent a lot of time creating a narrative hook<\/a>, which I believe is the most underestimated element in today’s\u00a0game design trends!\u00a0With references from 16-bit retro gaming era, I am quite sure that a well-defined hook creates a huge\u00a0impact on gameplay.<\/p>\n

\n

“Admittedly, I had to make 7 revisions for a ‘great’ hook…”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was a tough job. In order to fine-tune the hook, I had to\u00a0rewrite\u00a0it again and again for many times.\u00a0After each rewrite, I left it on my\u00a0bookshelf at least for a few weeks, so that I can completely concentrate on other things as well.\u00a0\u00a0When I picked it up\u00a0weeks later, I was objective enough to assess the tension and come up with\u00a0fresh ideas. Each iteration added\u00a0more flavour to the previous version. Admittedly, I had to make 7 revisions for a great<\/em>\u00a0hook,\u00a0which later turned out to be “Level One”.\u00a0– Worth every minute spent!<\/p>\n

Hidden Treasure: “Workflow 2.0”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most distinguishing element of this project is the optimized workflow<\/strong> that I have been working on as a side project for\u00a0many years. Thanks to this workflow, our project will have the luxury of really<\/em> dramatic cost savings, a more “talent oriented” development process, and the competence of keeping game design\/style integrity throughout the development process.<\/p>\n

So far, so good…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Still thousands of things to do, so I’m going back to work now.<\/p>\n

I’ll keep you posted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new video game project that I started working on a year ago, precisely, is going great! With respect to maintaining confidentiality, I still can’t share specific details with you, but I am more than happy to say that everything is going on “as planned”. – Something quite contrary to the nature of game development … Continue reading New Video Game Project: Annual Information Update 2014<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,7],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-1401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-gamedev","tag-new-video-game-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}