Video Game Design and Development

For work, I had to write a guide for the basic usage of Microsoft Project and an overview of Project Management.  Click here to download the guide.

Online (www.onlive.com) announced a new service at this years GDC.  The service allows users to connect to a remote “cloud” of servers that process a video game’s logic and your input.  They send back a high-definition stream of the video and sound, allowing you to play very complex and resource intense games on simple machine (like a netbook or their tiny little “console”).

This is big news for the industry!  It could prevent piracy, lower the cost of console hardware, and maybe even lower the cost of games (we will ignore the fact that you don’t own the game anymore for now)… But, many of the blogs and articles I have ready are saying it just can’t be done.  Much of the concern is that it is not viably possible to send compressed video through the interwebs to your computer.  I think it is highly possible.  I think they have figured out a way to do it.  And, I think it is one way it can be achieved (less the fancy compression algorithms).

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I took part in the first annual Global Game Jam this year.  I was part of an awesome team and we made a cute side-scrolling arcade style shooter… with Robots!

You can download and rate the game from the Global Game Jam website here

Hope you enjoy it!

If you want to include a storyline in your game, you must have some NPCs.  Where there are NPCs, there is dialogue.  We know that interesting storylines and characters are becoming more important as our audience widens and become more “sophisticated”.  So here are some tips for writing better dialogue by way of example (a way to make characters and NPCs more awesomer and deeper). 

But first, example dialogue:
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ERIN GARBER: “If you keep it up, he’s not going to live to tell us what we need.”

GARRETT HENNER: “You don’t get to tell me how to get it done. Not anymore. I don’t think he knows anyhow.”

ERIN GARBER: “Well, we’ll never know if you keep it up. Maybe we should let him go.”

GARRETT HENNER: “If he’s gonna break, it’ll be in the next few minutes. You’re gonna give me five more minutes with him. We’ll sort it all out after that.”

ERIN GARBER: “Garrett… GARR… ett… This is going to end badly.”

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Well, I have finally gotten to that point in my life where a personal blog seems like a good idea.  I have friends that have personal blogs and I don’t want to feel left out.

I have put some thought into what I would like to blog about, and decided on a few topics to start with: Personal Blog, Game Design Blog, and a Project Blog.  My Personal and Project blogs are fairly self explanatory (inane ramblings of a semi-crazed man), but the Game Design Blog will contain some (hopefully) helpful “insights” about Game Design, Development, and Production…  Continue Reading »