Development Basics for Non-developers recap
Hey all! Before I start, I wanted to thank everyone who came out last Wednesday to good old Knight Library 41 for a night of thinking and playing. I am very happy with the the way the night unfolded. Much was said about good game design, and a surprising amount was discussed about game development concepts.
That is what my portion of the night was devoted to: Game development. Specifically, I wanted to pound the point home that video games are simply the combination of assets and code. I was worried that my “talk” was going to turn into some sort of terrible lecture on the basics of computer program design, but I was proven very wrong as the night progressed by everyone’s zealous input on everything from spawning algorithms to the game cycle.
At the conclusion of what I like to call the development portion of the evening, we decided to break into play. Super Meat Boy was up, the idea being that we would all think about design while we were playing; What is good design, what feels good/bad, ect. I figured SMB was a perfect candidate for good design because the controls are so tight and the game is runs so smooth. Afterwards, we played VVVVVV and Limbo. Much was said about the super-interesting art style of Limbo; My favorite was the discussion of the very narrow range of focus that gives Limbo that old time movie feel.
Plenty of platformer goodness to go around!
A great night was had by all. If anyone wants to talk more about game development, design, or even a game idea, please leave a comment and I would love hear from you. Oh, and did I mention we had some tasty cup cakes at our meeting? Please join us tomorrow at 7pm in Knight 41 as Iris takes us to the cuboid world of Minecraft to craft items, mines, and lively discussion.