I’ve been playing around with a variety of styles for Space Crack. Everything from giant robots to completely abstract shapes to Sanrio-inspired space monkeys. Assuming for a moment that you have a decent game design, one of the most difficult decisions facing a game is the setting and theme. It is a topic so important that many gamers often mistake the theme of the game with the actual design of the game. You’ll hear “I […]
What a pleasant surprise. Michael Bayne of Puzzle Pirates fame dropped me a note that mentioned he had created a prototype of Space Crack in his spare time. You can find the Java applet here. He used his game creation system Game Garden, demonstrating once again the benefits of using established middleware in the rapid creation of a prototype. You’ll need a Game Garden user name and a friend to try out the game. The […]
This weekend I had a chance to put together a little test rig for a revised interface I’m trying out. I had two goals. First I wanted to rectify some of the complaints about my first interface. Second, I was playing with some of the artistic bits based on the comments folks had in the earlier art thread. Click here to download PlanetTest8-7-2005.zip (2.62 MB) The Test Rig I’m following the list laid out in […]
Cute or Hardcore? I’m a relatively decent artist. This poses a problem. I have the unholy power to skin Space Crack with an acceptable facsimile of almost any popular art style out there. The result is too many choices. So here’s a question for everyone who has been kind enough to read this blog: What art style should Space Crack use? I’ve got a couple of seed ideas that I’ve been playing with. The first […]
Introduction This is part 13 of an ongoing game design document written as a blog. Be sure to catch up on previous posts. In the last installment, we talked about the benefits of plot. This time we’ll look at what it takes to design money making capabilities into an online game. First Post: Introduction Previous Post: The Space Opera Your kind isn’t welcome here In the various financial scenarios I’ve put together, the most glorious […]
How I stopped worrying about ludology and learned to love game plots Introduction This is part 12 of an ongoing game design document written as a blog. Be sure to catch up on previous posts. In the last installment, we talked about creating a component bible for all our art assets. Ah, game design 101 is over! This time we’ll have a bit of fun looking at the concept of story and how it really […]
Introduction This is part 11 of an ongoing game design document written as a blog. Be sure to catch up on previous posts. In the last installment, we talked about getting the game ready to prototype. This time I’ll create a bloody long list of all the assets we’ll be needing. This is more exciting than it sounds. First Post: Introduction Previous Post: Starting the game and ending the game Breaking the rules of prototyping […]
Introduction This is part 10 of an ongoing game design document written as a blog. Be sure to catch up on previous posts. In the last installment, we talked about the use of stub mechanics and how they can be used to create a simple combat system. This time we’ll apply some additional stub mechanics and learn an important lesson about iterative game design. First Post: Introduction Previous Post: Simple Combat Starting the game and […]
Introduction This is part 9 of an ongoing game design document written as a blog. Be sure to catch up on previous posts. In the last installment, we talked about ships and the various systems involved with movement and stacking. This time we’ll talk about combat and the joys of stub mechanics. First Post: Introduction Previous Post: Ships Combat I’m scared to design the combat system in SpaceCrack. All the actions we’ve built up so […]
Introduction This is part 8 of an ongoing game design document written as a blog. Be sure to catch up on previous posts. In the last installment, we extend the concept of player-created environments with the notion of territories. This time we’ll talk about ship tokens and try to solve some of the major issues associated with complex unit management in turn-based strategy games. First Post: Introduction Previous Post: Using Planets to Build Territories Space […]
LOSTGARDEN 