The Craft of Gamemaking
I presented this evening at the ACC. I think it went well. I’m definitely out of practice. The slides probably won’t be interesting without the talking, but in case anyone is curious: The Craft of Gamemaking.
If you saw the presentation, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section.
Nice, I was talking with Jason Roher and Mark Johns at The Art Of Play about replay, they seem to concede it’s mythic and not a requisite.
It’s not exactly mythic… it’s a very necessary concern if you’re making “products,” which virtually all video games are today. If the consumer is spending $60 to purchase a piece of software, they want the experience to have some replay, and its a critical design objective.
If you’re building games as consumable/disposable entertainment, or as art, or as a form of expression/communication, then replay is not necessary. I don’t write e-mails with a consideration for how they’ll read the second, third and fourth times through.
Troy–Obviously I wasn’t at the presentation but I had to post a comment to tell you how much I appreciate seeing a presentation that isn’t a transcript of all the content. Probably, just the frustrations of someone stuck in a cubicle, but I wanted to appreciate you for doing it the right way.
Thanks for noticing. It was a conscious effort. I hope the audience appreciated it as well.
You know, I was thinking about it right before I gave the presentation… it’s basically a cheat. Instead of providing a deck that stands on its own as a brief or outline of the presentation (you know something people could digest afterwards, like notes from a class), I have a list of memory queues that I use to pace myself, keep me on track, and remind me of clever jokes to make.
Heey Troy,
I’ll check the presentation. What do you think about Luis Von Ahn’s games (prof at CMU)?
good to see a new post on your blog
I have his lecture on my blog:
http://arrabi.blogspot.com/2008/03/amazing-lecture-combined-human-computer.html
this is his homepage: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~biglou/
his games ideas are AMAZING. What I can’t get is, what makes his games addictive? is there research or books written on what makes a game “good” versus “dull”?
Hi Troy,
I enjoyed your talk at ACC. Bob McGoldrick just gave out a survey (about a month before your talk) and in the comments section I asked for a casual games class where we create web browser based games.
I really think you should teach such a class if you’re interested in teaching. I think casual games are poised to receive a lot more attention (investment dollars) in the near future, plus it gives programmers a way to create a portfolio.
Looking forward to the release of your Mockingbird project.
-Cheryl
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