Development Update

Right! I have purchased a copy of The Game Maker's Apprentice, a technical manual by the creators of the Game Maker program of which I happen to hold a professional license. The program is as easy to use as expected, with the first chapter of the manual providing simple enough instructions one can use to navigate the drag-and-drop interface. Progress is slow only due to the upcoming midterms, but I've successfully gone through the opening bits and made the book's first game off resources gleaned from the included CD -- a sparse introductory experience known as Evil Clutches:


As an assignment for my CS 1107 class, I've recorded a demonstration of a process I intend to use numerous times in completing actual independent games of my own -- the process of creating transparent "sprites": two-dimensional objects with invisible backgrounds, which can be manipulated and adjusted as the game program sees fit. This video was recorded in CamStudio, edited with VirtualDub, and compressed with Mediacoder. Music is "Fade Out", by Jazzanova off their album "In Between".

Game Ideas and Workspace Photographs

As though the previous post wasn't enough, I have since uploaded to my Picasa folder a series of images related to my heroic ambitions. Twenty pictures are in the gallery at the moment, though more may be uploaded soon. There are two game concepts within, which I'd like to touch upon here: S-T-U-N-G, a legacy graphic adventure loosely in the style of the older entries in the Leisure Suit Larry series of games, and Dream Tower, a two-dimensional platformer based vaguely on the fluid movement mechanics found in Mirror's Edge. Also included are five photographs of my current workspace and the enormous binder from which many of these images are lifted.

It should be noted that the assignment was for twenty images, but the emphasis was on the notion of getting a camera out and snapping some photographs related to my project or any related subject matter. However, when it comes to graphics in the context of game design, I found it very difficult to come up with any further reason for breaking out the camera, or any other items of which pictures could be taken which would have any remote connection to any project I could make. In any event, please read, experience, and enjoy.

Game Concepts

Methods of Game Programming

So, I've established in the opening few posts that the independent creation of a graphic design portfolio is the highest priority for a budding game industry professional such as myself. For now, I have two priorities:

• To come up with the concept for a game (or series of games) which would suit the creation of stunning graphics to add to the portfolio.


• To come up with a low-impact method of demonstrating these graphics in a real environment. The most effective way of doing this, naturally, is to include them in an actual game. This also has the benefit of exposing me to the process of game creation, and any requirements for video game graphics of which I am currently unaware. The "low-impact" aspect of this endeavor cannot be emphasized enough.

If the prospect of one burly woman such as myself creating a game sounds ambitious, that's because it is. However, several solutions exist on the Internet to make this a slightly less ambitious goal for someone primarily with graphic artist experience such as myself:

1. 
   
   Adobe Flash
   
   Pros: Immense levels of versatility, excellent for testing animations/animated sequences; can be used with all sorts of media
   Cons: Atrociously high price tag, primarily for the creation of Web-based multimedia presentations; though amazing games can be made with the interface, it requires every interface element to be manually programmed in great detail


2. 
   
   Multimedia Fusion 2
   
   Pros: Extended lineage of game-creation programs (from the creators of Klik & Play); ease of use; Kayin Nasaki was able to create I Wanna Be The Guy with a limited knowledge of programming
   Cons: High price tag for the purposes stated in this blog; Kayin himself describes the interface as "limited" and "clunky"


3. 
   
   Game Maker
   
   Pros: Very little experience needed; introduces the user to basic programming mechanics in an object-oriented manner; unlimited trial version
   Cons: More versatile elements are locked in trial; needs complicated workarounds for the purposes of including more nuanced mechanics


4. 
   
   RPG Maker
   
   Pros: Makes console-style role-playing games with relative ease
   Cons: Clunky, extremely limited; uses cheesy pictures of large-breasted anime girls to market product; no desire whatsoever to create RPGs

For the purposes of this blog, Game Maker will work marvelously. The license is cheap (a mere $25), online tutorials are commonplace and widespread, and it seems versatile enough to allow me to easily showcase my graphics in a working environment.

So, that's that for this entry! Coming up next: Game concepts!

Presentation 1 (Statement of Intent)

Good morning/afternoon/evening, whenever you are. Through the second session of the CS 1107 class, I have created a presentation via Google Docs to present a general thesis and explain the purpose of this blog. The presentation goes into distinct levels of detail, but in a nutshell, it deals with the practice of what I intend to eventually do for a living: design characters, interfaces, and graphics for video games. Formerly incomplete, after only an additional hour or two of labor, it is now finished and available to view. Please do so and enjoy.