OK Game Co

New article: Breaking into making games

2011-09-26T14:28:00.001-07:00

An interesting article on Develop from the maker of Canabalt: Breaking into making games

Creative Portal 2 level design

2011-08-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

Presumably the man who commissioned this Portal 2 level and the woman to whom he wished to propose marriage are big Portal fans. Boing Boing wrote it up:

http://boingboing.net/2011/08/23/engagement-proposal-as-an-elaborate-portal-2-level.html

or you can go straight to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8SdYz7cq04&feature=player_embedded

or download the Portal 2 level:

http://www.tophattwaffle.com/?p=2793

It has custom narration by GLaDOS (Ellen McLain) authorized by VALVe.

Unlimited Detail 3D Graphics Technology

2011-08-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

Imaginary Z directed me toward the Euclideon unlimited detail 3D graphics technology demo (http://www.euclideon.com/). It looks very interesting. They have a new demo video up as of August 4. Are you ready to create "fictional" and "non-fictional" 3D models without polygon limits?

Katamari Damacy for the web

2011-03-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

Paste the following code into the Chrome command line to turn any web page into Katamari Damacy:

javascript:var i,s,ss=['http://kathack.com/js/kh.js','http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5.1/jquery.min.js'];for(i=0;i!=ss.length;i++){s=document.createElement('script');s.src=ss[i];document.body.appendChild(s);}void(0);

Food for Thought

2010-06-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

Chelsea and I had the privilege of going out to lunch with Dan Weatherman of Oklahoma City-based Manabomb Studios yesterday. We talked shop a little bit, got acquainted, and generally had a good time. He was a nice fellow, and even bought us lunch.

We covered most of the things that developers can, but the part of our conversation that appealed most to me (for obvious reasons) was the part where we talked about our desire to be paid while working on a game, instead of producing one in our free time and then praying that someone will want to buy it. Given that many of us who might be involved in a possible future game company in Oklahoma City are not in a situation wherein it would be totally sane to attempt a publisher-ready game, I thought it might be good to hear y'all's thoughts on the subject of securing investment capital.

Granted, we'd have to have something with our name on it completed in order to shop around for said financial support, but I think it's important also to be mindful of how pleasant it would be to have a centralized location, a guarantee that next week's paycheck is coming, and a culture in which to soak our media.

Movies will never be art

2010-04-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

[Let’s imagine for a moment that I am a Pulitzer-prize winning art critic. I started looking at paintings when I was a kid and I was fascinated by them so I got a job looking at them. The New York Times or Chicago Sun-Times or some such has paid for me to go around to a bunch of museums and shows and review thousands of paintings. People know who I am and even respect my opinion about particular paintings I have seen. I have never been in a movie theater and I’ve never watched a movie all the way through, but I have seen movie trailers, movie review shows, and there have sometimes been movies on a friend’s TV when I was over playing poker with my buddies. I saw part of that movie Gigli one time.]

Movies will never be art

Having once made the statement above, I have declined all opportunities to enlarge upon it or defend it. That seemed to be a fool's errand, especially given the volume of messages I receive urging me to watch this movie or that and recant the error of my ways. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that in principle, movies cannot be art. Perhaps it is foolish of me to say "never," because never, as somebody named Gloria Swanson said, is a long, undependable time. Let me just say that no movie goer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form.

What stirs me to return to the subject? I happened across a blog post by some guy named Roger Ebert in which he seemed to claim that there was one movie or other which was art. I read it. He seems like a nice enough guy, and tells some interesting stories. But he is mistaken.

He went on and on about what art is and how some movie maker is now filming some art somewhere to make a 3-D movie.

One obvious difference between art and movies is that you can’t just watch or listen to a movie. It has cinematography, visual effects, action, lighting, dialogue, sound effects, and music. You have to watch the action, listen to the dialogue and music, and try to figure out what’s happening all at once. Ebert might cite a silent movie that has no action, but I would say then it ceases to be a movie and becomes a representation of a painting. You don’t have to follow or figure out a painting; you can only experience them.

Ebert then goes on and on about what is art and blah blah blah. Man, can that guy go on.

He also brought up an example of a movie that he thinks is art. None of the stills from this movie seemed of more than decorative interest on the level of a greeting card. Is the movie scored? He doesn't say. Do you have to follow action and dialogue and figure out what’s going on?

The movie he chooses as an example does not raise my hopes for a movie that will deserve my attention long enough to watch it. It is, I regret to say, pathetic.

Why are movie goers so intensely concerned, anyway, that movies be defined as art? Why aren't movie goers content to watch their movies and simply enjoy themselves? They have my blessing, not that they care.

Do they require validation? In defending their movies against parents, spouses, children, partners, co-workers or other critics, do they want to be able to come out of the theater and explain, "I'm studying a great form of art?" Then let them say it, if it makes them happy.

I allow movies the last word. At the end of some movie that was on that TV at the poker game there were like 15 minutes of credits: Director, Cast, Writers, Producers, Composers, Cinematographers, Editors, Casting, Production Design, Art Directors, Set Decorators, Costume Designers, Makeup Department, Production Department, Second Unit, “Art Department”, Sound Department, Special Effects, Visual Effects, Stunts, Electrical Department, Animation Department, Casting Department, Costume and Wardrobe Department, Editorial Department, Music Department, Transportation Department, Accounting Department. I rest my case.

2010-04-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_make_left_4_dead_map_google_sketchup
A tutorial on using Sketchup in conjunction with the Hammer editor to make Left 4 Dead custom content.

2010-03-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.indie-fund.com

A possible source of funding for an indie studio.

Book Selection

2009-10-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

I've been asked to select a textbook for the next semester of the Level Design Concepts course. The current book is Level Design for Games by Phil Co. I requested a review copy of Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design by Jason Busby, Zak Parrish, and Joel Van Eenwyk. It is pretty good but comes with an older version of the Unreal Engine 2 Editor and Runtime than the current book. It also has Maya 5 Personal Learning Edition. Unfortunately Maya 5 PLE requires an activation code which I'm not sure you can even get any more.

Mastering Unreal Technology has now been updated in a 2010 edition (published July 2009) as a three volume set (the third volume to come out in 2010) by Jason Busby, Zak Parrish, and Jeff Wilson. I requested review copies of the first two volumes (Mastering Unreal Technology Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3 and Mastering Unreal Technology Volume II: Advanced Level Design with Unreal Engine 3). Each of these volumes comes with a Steam Code for Unreal Tournament 3. This should work out well providing the SourceU subscription I asked for gets installed.

At this point I think I'm going to ask for the first of the two new volumes and let the lead instructor know that those Steam accounts will be required to use the software. I'm currently waiting for Steam to finish downloading to verify that the Unreal Tournament 3 software works.

The current students turned in their first crack at level templates this week. I had them each give a tour of their level. Next week they will need to include movers and triggers.

- Gadget Man

Level Design diagramming

2009-10-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Between the start of the semester, a trip to DC, my full-time job, teaching four classes, and whatnot, it appears I missed the month of September.

So far in Level Design we have done some diagramming and made lists of various things. Soon we will be making a template or rough draft of our levels. We will be using a demo version of the UnrealEngine2 editor. I'll let you know how that turns out.

The Department head has asked me what I want to change for the Level Design Concepts course for next semester. I suggested a couple of books I'd like to evaluate. I also reminded her that I want to use the SourceU, Valve's Academic Licensing Program.

There are also Level Design resources on the Valve Developer Community Wiki that I will try to use.

- Gadget Man

A Disappointment

2009-08-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

According to my department head, the technical staff will not be able to get SourceU installed on my classroom computers this semester. They'll try to get it done for the Spring semester. Evidently since this software has to be commercially licensed ($10 per student) it has to go through our technical staff, we can't just do it. I guess I will have to make do with the UnrealEngine2 Editor demo that came with the book.

The good news is that another student signed up for the Level Design Concepts course. If we get one more I'll get paid at 2/3 the normal rate instead of the current 1/3 rate. Now I'd better get busy with my syllabi so I'll be ready to teach next week.

Here is a link to content I may need later:

Educational content including Level Design

- Gadget Man

Game (Company) Development

2009-08-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Z is working on his collection of tools (he doesn't like the term "Game Engine"). TelevisioN is doing art for a commercial game with actual funding. Chex is doing art for a natural food/wellness website. I am going to document my progress (or lack thereof) understanding everything needed to make a viable video game -- and a video game company -- here in Oklahoma. I teach some game development related classes at a local university branch, so whenever something I'm doing for a class relates to my goals here I'll post my accomplishments accordingly.

This weekend my wife, Junie, and I saw Julie & Julia. Naturally, as a computer geek with literary aspirations, I was inspired to actually start contributing something to this blog.

Currently I am preparing to teach Level Design Concepts for the upcoming semester. The class has three enrollees at present, and may not actually make, but I want to be prepared in any case. Our textbook will be Level Design for Games: Creating Compelling Game Experiences, by Phil Co. So far I have read the first two chapters: How Do You Make a Game? and Defining the Game.

I also contacted Valve Software's academic licensing program (known as SourceU) to find out how to participate. Valve's Academic-Education coordinator told me what information they need about our university's program in order to write up a licensing agreement. I passed this information along to my department head who told me she would "see what we can do." Does that mean "don't hold your breath?"

I proceeded to download the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools and so far I have completed the first three steps of Left 4 Dead Level Design Basics. I'll let you know if I make anything really exciting.

- Gadget Man

Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo

2009-04-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo
and Multimedia Conference ~ April 11, 2009

I never knew this existed; This might be useful in the future!

-Z