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• Spreadsheets in Game Design?

  - by Joey Green

  There have been two instances from the past two weeks that I've heard from well known successful game developers that they use spreadsheets when designing games. The first being David Whatley in this GDCVault video: http://gdcvault.com/play/1012372/From-Zero-to-Time-Magazine The second being the guys that do Walled Garden Weekly: http://walledgardenweekly.com/ David said he models everything out and uses excel models to see how everything plays out. What on earth is he talking about? Is it seeing how the game mechanics react to each other? Is there somewhere where I can learn more about how to do this? Thanks

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• Coming up with manageable game ideas as a hobbyist game developer

  - by Kragen

  I'm trying to come up with ideas for games to develop - as per the advice on this question I've started jotting down and brainstorming my ideas as I get them, and it has worked relatively well - I now have a growing collection of ideas that I think are relatively original. The trouble is that I'm a solo hobbyist developer so my time is limited (and I have short attention span!) I've decided to set myself a limit of 1 working week (i.e. 35-40 hours) to develop / prototype my game, but all of the ideas that really spark my imagination are far too complex to be achievable in that sort of time (e.g. RTS or RPG style gameplay), and none of my simpler ideas really strike me as being that good (and whenever I get a flash of inspiration I invariably end up making things more complicated!) Am I being too picky - should I just take one of my simpler ideas and have a go?

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• Advices fo starting a video game design career

  - by Allen Gabriel Baker

  I'm 24 and have a passion for video games and game-design. I've decided I want to design video games as my career. I have no experience with designing video games or coding but I'm interested and willing to learn. I want a job at any level but what would I need to land a job? I have no college experience and I have no money. What is a cheap school, or do I really need to go to school for this, or can I learn on my own? Is it possible to do this with no money? I'm literally broke but I want this so bad I feel like its the only career I'll enjoy. I want to call up company's and ask them what they are looking for in someone they want to hire, is that a good idea? Also I don't know the history of video game design and I don't want to sound like a dummy when someone says something about this field or talks about a famous designer and I have no idea who they're talking about. So what is key info when it comes to this field and where should I find it? Hopefully some of you guys and girls can help me out: I know in the future I will create something everyone will enjoy and you guys will remember when you gave me advice and I will always remember you guys for helping me. I'm gifted I know I am and I want to share my gift with the rest of the world by making games that change the Industry. Help me out please.

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• Penalty for collision during a racing game

  - by Arthur Wulf White

  In a racing game: How should we penalize the player for colliding head on into obstacles such as walls, trees and so on. What is the way it is done in your favorite racing game? How is it done in other successful racing games? Do you think temporarily disabling the engine for a second is too severe? If I do go that route, how would I convey the 'engine is disabled' to the player in a subtle and easily understood way? Is this 'too much' of a penalty? Would the slow-down from the collision be sufficient to discourage the player from driving too carelessly? Which one is more fun? Should I consider a health-bar and affect engine performance for 'low health' status? Could you offer examples of games that handle this well and one that do it poorly? Please share your experience with racing games obstacles and reference games you feel perform well in this aspect. I am sure we all enjoy our racing games differently and I would like to hear different opinions regarding this issue. I would also like to hear how you feel we should penalize or reward for colliding with other vehicles? Should enemy vehicles be destroyable? Should they slow down severely when they hit the back of your car or would that make the gameplay imbalanced?

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• How to create a legally valid timestamp of unpublished game artwork

  - by mm24

  Before publishing promotional material of my first indie game I wanted to mark all my artwork with a legally valid timestamp. There are two ways I know to do this: 1 go to a sollecitor/lawyer and pay for them to certify the document 2 use an online webservice to mark any given file/folder readable to the service Anyone has already done this and if yes how (e.g. which website have you used? which type of solecitor have you contacted? etc..)? Kind Regards PS: I know that there is always the good old "send yourself a mail with a stamp and a date" but is not very strong as proof.

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• Other games that employ mechanics like the game "Diplomacy"

  - by Kevin Peno

  I'm doing a little bit of research and I'm hoping you can help me track down any games, other than Diplomacy (online version here), that employ all or some of the mechanics in Diplomacy (rules, short form). Examples I'm looking for: Simultaneous orders given prior to execution of orders In Diplomacy, players "write down" their moves and execute them "at the same time" Support, in terms of supporting an attacker or defender "take" a territory. In Diplomacy, no one unit is stronger than another you need to combine the strength of multiple units to attack other territories. Rules for how move conflicts are resolved Example, 2 units move into a space, but only one is allowed, what happens. I may add to this list later, but these are the primary things I'm looking for. If you need clarification on anything just let me know. Note: I tried asking this on GamingSE, but it was shot down. So, I am unsure where else I could post this. Since I am researching this for game development purposes, I assume this post is on topic. Please let me know if this is not the case. Please also feel free to re-categorize this. Thanks!

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• Simple 2d game pathfinding

  - by Kooi Nam Ng

  So I was trying to implement a simple pathfinding on iOS and but the outcome seems less satisfactory than what I intended to achieve.The thing is units in games like Warcraft and Red Alert move in all direction whereas units in my case only move in at most 8 directions as these 8 directions direct to the next available node.What should I do in order to achieve the result as stated above?Shrink the tile size? The screenshot intended for illustration. Those rocks are the obstacles whereas the both ends of the green path are the starting and end of the path.The red line is the path that I want to achieve. http://i.stack.imgur.com/lr19c.jpg

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• Game Timer In C++

  - by user1870398

  I need to be able to find out how many milliseconds since that last update. Is there any way I can find it out with time rather then a thread that counts like I did below? #include <iostream> #include<windows.h> #include<time.h> #include<process.h> using namespace std; int Timer = 0; int LastTimer = 0; bool End = false; void Update(int Ticks) { } void UpdateTimer() { while (true) { LastTimer = Timer; Timer++; Sleep(1); if (End) break; } } int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE par1, HINSTANCE par2, LPSTR par3, int par4) { _beginthread(UpdateTimer, 0, NULL); while(true) { if (Timer == 1000) Timer = 0; Update(Timer - LastTimer); } }

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• Making a game "resize-safe"

  - by CPP_Person

  It's one thing to get the graphics aligned perfectly, it's another to do this for every single resolution and not take too much time and/or make the code unreadable due to size. Games like Battlefield 3 and Minecraft seem to manage this. But what do they do to keep things from stretching or going off the screen? I don't know any algorithms to do this. I'd like some help on this topic. I've always programmed games that only handle a single resolution, so help would be appreciate.

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• Balancing game difficulty against player progression

  - by Raven Dreamer

  It seems that the current climate of games seems to cater to an obvious progression of player power, whether that means getting a bigger, more explosive gun in Halo, leveling up in an RPG, or unlocking new options in Command and Conquer 4. Yet this concept is not exclusive to video or computer games -- even in Dungeons and Dragons players can strive to acquire a +2 sword to replace the +1 weapon they've been using. Yet as a systems designer, the concept of player progression is giving me headache after headache. Should I balance around the players exact capabilities and give up on a simple linear progression? (I think ESIV:Oblivion is a good example of this) Is it better to throw the players into an "arms race" with their opponents, where if the players don't progress in an orderly manner, it is only a matter of time until gameplay is unbearably difficult? (4th Edition DnD strikes me as a good example of this) Perhaps it would make most sense to untether the core gameplay mechanics from progression at all -- give them flashier, more interesting (but not more powerful!) ways to grow?

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• How was your experience working as a game tester?

  - by MrDatabase

  I'm currently an independent game developer. I'm open to the idea of working on a team in the game industry. I'm under the impression that being a "game tester" is a relatively easy way to get a job... however that job may be somewhat undesirable. So how was your experience working as a tester in the game industry? Some interesting experiences could include: Did the game tester position lead to other more desirable positions? How were the relationships between testers and developers? Did you write any code? (test "frameworks", unit tests etc) If bugs made it into production was any (potentially unfair) blame put on the testers?

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• What are the best ways [programmatically] to speed up a 3D game engine without going into much effor

  - by Lela Dax

  What are the best ways [programmatically] to speed up a 3D game engine without going into much effort? Tips that most people don't know.

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• Alchemy like game for the web, open source. Any ideas for element combinations?

  - by JohnDel

  I created a web game like the Android game Alchemy. It's open source and in the back-end you can create your own elements / your own game. I was wondering what elements - ideas would be good to implement as a prototype / demo? Some ideas are: Colors Programming languages Chemical Compounds Same as the original alchemy Evolution of biological organisms What do you think? Any specific combination ideas?

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• How or why would this mechanic (not) work to bring game balance to a singleplayer RPG? [closed]

  - by 0xFFF1

  Mechanic details The player, the monsters, and the merchants act as three separate parties. The player needs to beat up monsters for exp points and resources to sell and to buy potions from merchants to continue to fight. The monsters need healing and reviving to survive (also bought from merchants) and the merchants need potion ingredients from the player and the monsters to make potions to sell. These potions are only able to be processed in such bulk by merchants thus their potions would be cheaper than making them yourself. Only the monsters can farm ingredients in bulk. Only the player is or has to be overly aggressive (in bulk). Monsters can farm and produce "Level up candies" that do the work of exp. they are eaten right away after they are made and are never stockpiled or held for fear of the player and merchants who want to sell to the player. The monsters will defend themselves. Reviving is very expensive. The merchants can be found either with a concerned expression or a grinning expression based on how much profit they are making compared to their morale standing. The economies of each monster town and merchant city are distinct but interconnected. Magic Swords are worth a lot. So what I need to know is what concerns would there be to design a game around this mechanic and/or design this mechanic around a developing game. which would fare better? Is game balance an issue here? (how strong the monsters get or how quickly they die off based on the player's input into the system), Or is game balance solely in the hands of the player? (he decides if he overkills monsters or get underleveled.) What do I need to think about to make sure it isn't too easy or too hard to swing the amount/strength of monsters compared to the player and the amount of profit the merchants get vs the player. Would indicating how out of whack things are getting in game help with this?

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• How does this game loop actually work?

  - by Nicolai

  I read this playfulJS post, about ray-casting: http://www.playfuljs.com/a-first-person-engine-in-265-lines/ It looks really interested, so I decided to look at his javascript. I am no expert in javascript, so I quickly got lost. It's the game loop "object" that really gets me. I simply don't understand how it works. From the code: function GameLoop() { this.frame = this.frame.bind(this); this.lastTime = 0; this.callback = function() {}; } GameLoop.prototype.start = function(callback) { this.callback = callback; requestAnimationFrame(this.frame); }; GameLoop.prototype.frame = function(time) { var seconds = (time - this.lastTime) / 1000; this.lastTime = time; if (seconds < 0.2) this.callback(seconds); requestAnimationFrame(this.frame); }; var loop = new GameLoop(); loop.start(function frame(seconds) { map.update(seconds); player.update(controls.states, map, seconds); camera.render(player, map); }); Now, what really confuses me here, is this bind stuff and how this actually loops. I am guessing, that if less than 0.2 seconds have passed, since the last time the loop was run, it simply goes back to re-check the time. If more than 0.2 seconds have passed, it leaves the frame function, and executes the 3 lines in the loop. But, if this is true, then how does the loop.start() get called again? And what on earth is the meaning of this.frame = this.frame.bind(this);? I've looked up prototypes bind() but I really don't understand it.

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• Limiting game loop to exactly 60 tics per second (Android / Java)

  - by user22241

  So I'm having terrible problems with stuttering sprites. My rendering and logic takes less than a game tic (16.6667ms) However, although my game loop runs most of the time at 60 ticks per second, it sometimes goes up to 61 - when this happens, the sprites stutter. Currently, my variables used are: //Game updates per second final int ticksPerSecond = 60; //Amount of time each update should take final int skipTicks = (1000 / ticksPerSecond); This is my current game loop @Override public void onDrawFrame(GL10 gl) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub //This method will run continuously //You should call both 'render' and 'update' methods from here //Set curTime initial value if '0' //Set/Re-set loop back to 0 to start counting again loops=0; while(System.currentTimeMillis() > nextGameTick && loops < maxFrameskip){ SceneManager.getInstance().getCurrentScene().updateLogic(); //Time correction to compensate for the missing .6667ms when using int values nextGameTick+=skipTicks; timeCorrection += (1000d/ticksPerSecond) % 1; nextGameTick+=timeCorrection; timeCorrection %=1; //Increase loops loops++; } render(); } I realise that my skipTicks is an int and therefore will come out as 16 rather that 16.6667 However, I tried changing it (and ticksPerSecond) to Longs but got the same problem). I also tried to change the timer used to Nanotime and skiptics to 1000000000/ticksPerSecond, but everything just ran at about 300 ticks per seconds. All I'm attempting to do is to limit my game loop to 60 - what is the best way to guarantee that my game updates never happen at more than 60 times a second? Please note, I do realise that very very old devices might not be able to handle 60 although I really don't expect this to happen - I've tested it on the lowest device I have and it easily achieves 60 tics. So I'm not worried about a device not being able to handle the 60 ticks per second, but rather need to limit it - any help would be appreciated.

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• HTML5/JS - Choppy Game Loop

  - by Rikonator

  I have been experimenting with HTML5/JS, trying to create a simple game when I hit a wall. My choice of game loop is too choppy to be actually of any use in a game. I'm trying for a fixed time step loop, rendering only when required. I simply use a requestAnimationFrame to run Game.update which finds the elapsed time since the last update, and calls State.update to update and render the current state. State.prototype.update = function(ms) { this.ticks += ms; var updates = 0; while(this.ticks >= State.DELTA_TIME && updates < State.MAX_UPDATES) { this.updateState(); this.updateFrameTicks += State.DELTA_TIME; this.updateFrames++; if(this.updateFrameTicks >= 1000) { this.ups = this.updateFrames; this.updateFrames = 0; this.updateFrameTicks -= 1000; } this.ticks -= State.DELTA_TIME; updates++; } if(updates > 0) { this.renderFrameTicks += updates*State.DELTA_TIME; this.renderFrames++; if(this.renderFrameTicks >= 1000) { this.rps = this.renderFrames; this.renderFrames = 0; this.renderFrameTicks -= 1000; } this.renderState(updates*State.DELTA_TIME); } }; But this strategy does not work very well. This is the result: http://jsbin.com/ukosuc/1 (Edit). As it is apparent, the 'game' has fits of lag, and when you tab out for a long period and come back, the 'game' behaves unexpectedly - updates faster than intended. This is either a problem due to something about game loops that I don't quite understand yet, or a problem due to implementation which I can't pinpoint. I haven't been able to solve this problem despite attempting several variations using setTimeout and requestAnimationFrame. (One such example is http://jsbin.com/eyarod/1/edit). Some help and insight would really be appreciated!

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• Alternative to Game State System?

  - by Ricket

  As far as I can tell, most games have some sort of "game state system" which switches between the different game states; these might be things like "Intro", "MainMenu", "CharacterSelect", "Loading", and "Game". On the one hand, it totally makes sense to separate these into a state system. After all, they are disparate and would otherwise need to be in a large switch statement, which is obviously messy; and they certainly are well represented by a state system. But at the same time, I look at the "Game" state and wonder if there's something wrong about this state system approach. Because it's like the elephant in the room; it's HUGE and obvious but nobody questions the game state system approach. It seems silly to me that "Game" is put on the same level as "Main Menu". Yet there isn't a way to break up the "Game" state. Is a game state system the best way to go? Is there some different, better technique to managing, well, the "game state"? Is it okay to have an intro state which draws a movie and listens for enter, and then a loading state which loops on the resource manager, and then the game state which does practically everything? Doesn't this seem sort of unbalanced to you, too? Am I missing something?

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• As an indie game dev, what processes are the best for soliciting feedback on my design/spec/idea? [closed]

  - by Jess Telford

  Background I have worked in a professional environment where the process usually goes like the following: Brain storm idea Solidify the game mechanics / design Iterate on design/idea to create a more solid experience Spec out the details of the design/idea Build it Step 3. is generally done with the stakeholders of the game (developers, designers, investors, publishers, etc) to reach an 'agreement' which meets the goals of all involved. Due to this process involving a series of often opposing and unique view points, creative solutions can surface through discussion / iteration. This is backed up by a process for collating the changes / new ideas, as well as structured time for discussion. As a (now) indie developer, I have to play the role of all the stakeholders (developers, designers, investors, publishers, etc), and often find myself too close to the idea / design to do more than minor changes, which I feel to be local maxima when it comes to the best result (I'm looking for the global maxima, of course). I have read that ideas / game designs / unique mechanics are merely multipliers of execution, and that keeping them secret is just silly. In sharing the idea with others outside the realm of my own thinking, I hope to replicate the influence other stakeholders have. I am struggling with the collation of changes / new ideas, and any kind of structured method of receiving feedback. My question: As an indie game developer, how and where can I share my ideas/designs to receive meaningful / constructive feedback? How can I successfully collate the feedback into a new iteration of the design? Are there any specialized websites, etc?

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• Level Editor + Game -> Duplicating rendering/game specific code?

  - by Utkarsh Sinha

  I've been reading about how to design code for a game. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is - how do you manage writing an outside-game level editor (not an 'in-game level editor') without 'copying' code from the game? For example, you might have to copy all code about the different types of entities you can have. You'll have to add the game rendering code. My guess is this can be done by making a DLL out of the 'engine' part of the game. Then, share it between the actual game and the level editor. Or is there a better/easier way to do this?

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• Dizzy-like game level representation (format)

  - by topright

  How would you store game level for a Dizzy-like adventure game? How would you specify walkable areas and graphics? Is it tile-based, pixel-based or walkable surfaces can be described by vectors?

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• Evoland: A Video Game About Video Game History

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Browser-based Evoland is, hands down, one of the more clever video game concepts to come across our desk. The game itself is a history of video games–as you play the game the game evolves from a limited 8-bit monochrome adventure into a modern game. You start off unable to do anything but move right and collect a treasure chest. That treasure chest unlocks the left key (keys are configured in a WASD style keypad) which in turn allows you to move around a simple monochromatic forest clearing to unlock the rest of the movement keys. From there you begin unlocking more game features, effectively evolving the game from monochrome to 16 and then 64 bit color and unlocking various game play features. The game itself is short and can be played in about the same time you could watch a video covering the basics of various game changes over the last 30 years but actually playing the game and watching the evolution in progress is far more rewarding. Hit up the link below to take it for a spin. Evoland [via Boing Boing] How To Switch Webmail Providers Without Losing All Your Email How To Force Windows Applications to Use a Specific CPU HTG Explains: Is UPnP a Security Risk?

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• Help with game development. Render loop?

  - by John

  Hello, I'm working on a simple game, this is my first game project. Most of the samples I find have a Render Loop where all the game logic is made too and I just don't like this. Let's say I have a ball with X=0, and a wall in X=10 and in a slow machine, the first loop places the ball in X=7 and in a second loop, it places the ball in X=14. It would just crash the game! Is this "render loop" the right way to make games? Should I write code to check for things like this in every frame? Example, new frame X=14, last frame have X=7, so I should check if there's anything from X=7 to X=14?? I was thinking that I should have a separated thread for the game logic and in the render loop, I should just "take a snapshot" of the current game logic and display that, no? How do you guys, experienced game developers work around this? thanks!

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• How do I choose the scaling factor of a 3D game world?

  - by concept3d

  I am making a 3D tank game prototype with some physics simulation, am using C++. One of the decisions I need to make is the scale of the game world in relation to reality. For example, I could consider 1 in-game unit of measurement to correspond to 1 meter in reality. This feels intuitive, but I feel like I might be missing something. I can think of the following as potential problems: 3D modelling program compatibility. (?) Numerical accuracy. (Does this matter?) Especially at large scales, how games like Battlefield have huge maps: How don't they lose numerical accuracy if they use 1:1 mapping with real world scale, since floating point representation tend to lose more precision with larger numbers (e.g. with ray casting, physics simulation)? Gameplay. I don't want the movement of units to feel slow or fast while using almost real world values like -9.8 m/s^2 for gravity. (This might be subjective.) Is it ok to scale up/down imported assets or it's best fit with a world with its original scale? Rendering performance. Are large meshes with the same vertex count slower to render? I'm wondering if I should split this into multiple questions...

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• What benefits does a game design degree have for a hobby game programmer?

  - by sm4

  I am interested in studying game design, not because I want a job in the games industry, but because I am interested in the subject itself. I read the following questions, but they mostly deal with the effects on your career in game industry. Should I consider a graduate degree in game development? Game Development Degree vs Computer Science Degree First I thought a game development degree could be beneficial. But from the websites of colleges that offer such degrees, I feel like its more about basic programming with examples from games. This college offers game design degrees, for example. My question is, can I benefit from such a degree when I already have a degree in Computer Science, I already know programming, I'm already developing a game and finally, I have this site to help me when I get stuck?

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