Bytesize Adventures

Astro Noughts is currently “In Review” and with any luck should be in the App store next week. Whilst I’m impatiently waiting, I though it would be interesting to write up all of the hardware and software I used to create the game.

Each game you create is going to require different tools and it’s highly unlikely you’ll find a single piece of software to cover all of your needs. In fact, you’ll likely need multiple pieces of software to cover each of the disciplines. I’d encourage you to explore and be creative. Find tools you like, stretch them to their limits, and find alternative uses for them. Sometimes you can achieve the effect you’re looking for in really unlikely places. Its not the software that matters but the effect you can produce with it.

I’ve tried to make this list as comprehensive as possible and it therefore does include some obvious things (such as a desk) as well as some luxury items. I’ve included my reasoning behind each so I’ll leave it up to you to decide how necessary they are. I’ve split this list into sections to make it easier to refer to. keep reading…

By Chris | Posted in: Development Diary, Tangents | Tags: astro noughts, audacity, brainwave, cfxr, coffee, gorillapod, imovie, instruments, macbook pro, opacity, particle designer, photoshop elements, sennheiser, thumbjam, twitter, wacom, wordpress, xcode
20 Comments »

So I’ve been thinking recently about legacy. You know, that thing we all supposedly strive for. Creating something that has an impact on those around us long after we leave this mortal coil.

Plenty of creative outlets accommodate this. Books do. We all know who shakespeare is right? Films do. Kubrick is well know and his films have had an impact. Even TV. Honestly I bet they’re still playing re-runs of Friends long after you and I are no longer around.

Narrowing the field a bit, what about games? Have any games left a significant legacy? Board games have – Chess is as relevant today as it was centuries ago. What about video games? Sure they’re relatively new but we have a few that have a legacy, albeit one with slightly less impact – pong for instance.

What about the digital space? I mean downloadable games. Any stand out for you? Any that you think will leave a lasting legacy? Nothing springs to my mind (I can tell you that it isn’t Angry Birds or even Doodle Jump). More importantly, how will these games be consumed in future? These downloadable games by their very nature are throwaway. They exist on platforms that will soon become defunct. How will they be passed down? Whos responsibility is it? Apple, Microsoft, Sony, etc have the master copies of these potential legacies. How long will they keep them and at what point will they decide that they are no longer relevant?

Are downloadable games even capable of creating a lasting legacy? Surely someone will create a work that transcends its creative shackles and speaks to a wider audience across generations. I’d like to think that I could create such a thing. A game that gets people thinking. Something that has an impact. I haven’t considered it before but shouldn’t we strive to create something that leaves a lasting impression? something other than crappy clones of existing games with forgettable game mechanics (Of course I include my own games in that sentiment).

One day, someone will look back at what you did. They’ll look at your games (if they can find a way to access them) and say “something”. What will they say?…

By Chris | Posted in: Game Design, Tangents |
4 Comments »

Last week I asked my Twitter peers a couple of questions relating to Sound Effects and Music. I got some really useful responses so I thought I’d share them here.

• freesound.org
• soundsnap.com
• mediacollege.com
• sound-effect.com
• partnersinrhyme.com

(courtesy of @partnersinrhyme @DazeEnd @minimaxgames @celsiusgs @madgarden)

• shockwave-sound.com
• incompetech
• soundclick.com
• flashkit.com
• ccmixter.org

(courtesy of @MarkusN @celsiusgs @jsepia)

@MarkusN also suggested that for the right game it may be worth sourcing a local musician to write a short piece of bespoke music for say the menu screen. You could still use generic music in the main game but people are more likely to remember the bespoke music.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but I hope you find it useful. Feel free to share your own resources in the comments below.

By Chris | Posted in: Development Diary, Tangents | Tags: music, sound effects
15 Comments »

I’m conscious that I haven’t written anything on this blog for a few weeks. As Star Fusion HD edges closer to launch I’ll begin to post smaller tasters of some of the art and gameplay. In the meantime, I felt compelled to write a short post listing the blogs I read most frequently. These are the ones that stick. The ones that I look forward to each day. I hope you find them useful and I’d love to hear your recommendations in the comments.

NOTCOT (Heaps of unique and inspiration things)
Bloesem (The “Lets get personal” posts are excellent)
Swiss Miss (Design inspiration)
Its Nice That (The printed publications are really nice)
Where we design (A nice diversion. I like seeing other people’s creative space)
Creative Applications (Really unique Apps)
Gas Powered Games (Not really my sort of game but the video blogs are really interesting)
Gamasutra (These articles provide valuable insight into studio game development)
Applied game design (A personal game development blog)
The psychology of games (In depth articles on the psychology behind game related topics)
HasBlog (Great for Coffee lovers)
iDevBlogADay (The best aggregated blog for independent game developers)
A List Apart (Reasonably meaty web related articles)

(blog post image courtesy of mariareyesmcdavis)

By Chris | Posted in: Design, Tangents |
2 Comments »

About 5 months ago I spent a weekend creating a project management tool (named BrainWave) for my game development. I received positive feedback and a few developers were interested in trying it out so I launched a private beta. During the last 5 months I’ve had a steady trickle of invite requests. I’ve also continued to develop BrainWave. keep reading…

By Chris | Posted in: Development Diary, Tangents | Tags: brainwave, ideas, project management
No Comments »

I’m eschewing the pursuit of useful information this week to instead bring you this frivolous post on coffee… enjoy.

Coffee, like cooking and baking, seems to be synonymous with being a game developer (Why do game developers like cooking and baking so much?). I’m sure some game devs out there don’t actually enjoy coffee (purely for the purpose of disproving my theory). So, for those of you that fall into that camp… sorry. Keep enjoying your tea, water, or whatever (maybe someone can write a herbal tea guide). For the rest of you, here’s my guide to coffee for game devs.

Coffee is very much a personal thing and you should create a process that works for you and produces coffee that you like. This is my process. keep reading…

By Chris | Posted in: Tangents | Tags: americano, coffee, espresso, iDevBlogADay
9 Comments »

We’ve all started work on games only to abandon them part the way through. There can be many reasons for this but for me it’s usually because they just aren’t fun to play or were too ambitious. My iPhone game graveyard is the place where all of my abandoned games are laid to rest (or put on indefinite hold). One day I may mutter some incantations to resurrect some of them, or even pieces of them, but generally speaking they are dead and buried. I’m about to lay another game to rest so I thought now would be a good time to share my iPhone game graveyard with you, along with the various reasons for its undead residents. keep reading…

By Chris | Posted in: Design, Development Diary, Tangents | Tags: cancelled games, colour mix, explorer, iDevBlogADay, interactive fiction, personalities, puppet, spinit, text adventure
11 Comments »

To date I’ve designed, developed, and published a couple of iPhone games and am currently knee deep in a third, and as of this weekend a fourth. Whilst I don’t yet feel that I have enough experience to advise you on what to do to ensure success, I can turn it on it’s head and tell you my top 10 don’ts of iPhone game development. Here they are… keep reading…

By Chris | Posted in: Tangents | Tags: iDevBlogADay, tips
13 Comments »

I’m going to make a sweeping, possibly inaccurate, generalisation. Modern games are highly derivative, boring, and predictable. They nearly always involve some form of shooting; be it people, robots, zombies, or indeed anything that moves. They are set in the same environments we have seen a million times before; WWII, SciFi, or Fantasy settings. Now, if this is something I feel, I’m sure at least one other person out there must feel the same.

As game developers/designers, this is our source material. This is where we gather our inspiration and “research” our next big game. keep reading…

By Chris | Posted in: Design, Tangents | Tags: iDevBlogADay, inspiration, retro
3 Comments »

Last week a great blog post, followed by a seemingly innocuous tweet from @mysterycoconut, escalated into what is now known as iDevBlogADay. The concept is fairly straightforward; Every day a developer (or two) will post on their blog. We all have an allotted day so that there is at least one blog post published every day of the week. @mysterycoconut has done a great job of organising it with the #idevblogaday hashtag, a twitter list for the participants, and even an aggregated RSS feed of all the blogs. There’s a wide variety of developers joining in – Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the roster.

We’ve already had great posts from Game from Within, Acorn Heroes, Retro Dreamer, Rizer Games and Québarium. For my post I wanted to cover something I’ve been meaning to write about for some time…
keep reading…

By Chris | Posted in: Design, Development Diary, Tangents | Tags: beginner, code, Design, graphics, iDevBlogADay, iphone development, opacity, photoshop elements, project management, sound, xcode
5 Comments »