magazine 2014.2

Eye For Games is about game design and development • • www.efgmagazine.com

OnikiraDigital Furnace Games | Dublin, Ireland

New in version 2014.1External Control SurfacesMIDI for Interactive MusicSampler and SynthMac AuthoringLinux PortMixer Plug-in FrameworkLFO & EnvelopesAnd much more...

Wwise® is the most advanced, feature-rich interactive audio middleware for games, bar none. Whether you’re an indie or a multi-million dollar production, Wwise will work for you.

Booth 161I Cologne, GermanyAugust 11-12, 2014

© 2014 Audiokinetic Inc. All rights reserved.

Visit us at the GDC Europe

*Visit www.audiokinetic.com for details

ART DIRECTOR

Rai Sewgobind

COPY EDITOR

Jerry Kline

WRITERS & CONTRIBUTORS

Rémy van den WijngaartNicholas MamoTom SchoenJerry KlineRai Sewgobind

COVER DESIGN

Game: OnikiraDeveloper: Digital Furnace Games

Eye For Games is a platform about game design and development where students, young professionals and developers can network and connect. By looking from different perspectives we provide inspiring, motivating and educative content.

EDITION SUPPORT

NIS AmericaDigital Furnace GamesHobbyGameDevGrotmanbitSmith GamesSaintandSimonKnick Knack

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form by print, photo print, microfilm or any other means without written permission from the publisher/author.

The Art and Design ofVideo Games

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New in version 2014.1External Control SurfacesMIDI for Interactive MusicSampler and SynthMac AuthoringLinux PortMixer Plug-in FrameworkLFO & EnvelopesAnd much more...

Wwise® is the most advanced, feature-rich interactive audio middleware for games, bar none. Whether you’re an indie or a multi-million dollar production, Wwise will work for you.

Booth 161I Cologne, GermanyAugust 11-12, 2014

© 2014 Audiokinetic Inc. All rights reserved.

Visit us at the GDC Europe

*Visit www.audiokinetic.com for details

www.efgmagazine.com

EFG magazine 2014.2

For more information you can contact us at: contact@efgmagazine.com

KAZUTAKA KODAKAINTERVIEW

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BIOMEIN DEPTH

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FranknJohndevspot

Tribal and Errorin development

Tomb Raiderthen and now

A Song for Viggodevspot

We asked: What’s your main struggle or challenge while working on a game?eye for... 24

Polishing a Game’s Environmentdesign | development

Onikira; creature and boss designsin depth

Grim Fandangoconcept story

Interview with HobbyGameDevinterview

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Taking a closer look to the character setting and design in Danganronpa 2.

Kazutaka KodakaINTERVIEW WITH

In Danganronpa 2, 16 new high school students are brought to a tropical island against their will for a “killing school trip.” Monokuma and his little sister, Monomi, are present on the island as well. Why did something like this happen...? Well, you’ll have to play the game yourself to find out.In addition to Danganronpa and Danganronpa 2, there is a novel called “Danganronpa Zero” that depicts the events leading up to Danganronpa. We’re also in the middle of producing a spin-off game called Zettai Zetsubou Shoujo (Absolute Despair Girl) depicting the events between Danganronpa 1-2. Unlike the main Danganronpa series, this will be an action game.

What was your inspiration when creating the character Monokuma?

In Japan, a guilty or not guilty verdict is often referred to as “black” and “white.” For this reason, we really wanted Monokuma to have a monochromatic design from the very beginning. From there, Character Designer Komatsuzaki and I worked at my desk for about five minutes and finished the rest of his design. As soon as we finished, we immediately thought, “This is it.” The design hasn’t changed between then and now. As for Monokuma’s personality and mannerisms, those were established based on my whims and other random ideas that popped into my head.

All characters have very strong personalities. What goes into creating these? Do you draw inspiration from a certain source?

In the beginning, we determine each character’s archetype. For example, if they’re privileged, or quick thinking, or proud of their physical strength. Afterward, we set about creating the characters by bringing together whatever comes to mind—their design, their role in the story, and their conversations with one another, along with the main plot and any twists in the story. We create the perfect story by not just adhering to one idea and by bringing new ideas as required. Depending on the character, there are even times when we might change the way they talk after we’ve cast the voice actors.

Sometimes twisted personalities can be

charming and other times levelheaded personalities

can be charming.

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The story build up worked so incredibly well! From the premise, to the revelation all the way through the ending. Do you feel satisfied with the way the story turned out?

What character was the hardest to formulate?

When we created the characters we thought it was extremely important to not let them be reduced to side characters. Personally, if I can see myself using a character as a protagonist in a novel, then they deserve to have a role in Danganronpa. Sometimes twisted personalities can be charming and other times levelheaded personalities can be charming, so we weren’t really particular about the details of each personality as long as I felt they were charming. I felt super guilty about having to kill such charming characters one after another... actually, that’s a lie. It felt really good.

To be honest, there were some parts I wanted to develop a little more, but I was satisfied with the outcome. It took a lot of painstaking focus to create a story that takes place entirely inside a school, but I think I was able to work within those limitations and produce an amazing story. However, after creating Danganronpa 2, I’m even more satisfied with how the story turned out.

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EnvironmentThe game's environment is where the game is set, the part of the game a player is in contact with and experiences throughout the game. It's only natural that the environment is where developers and artists pour most of their time and efforts in. It's also understandable that after spending hours working on the game's graphical style, frustration follows when there still seems like something’s missing. Having a polished environment is far more important than having pricey assets but figuring out how to fill that inexplicable void can be demanding.

Creating polished environments for a game is an incessant process which starts with level design. There are no rules dictating how to polish a game's

Polishing a Game's Environment

Article by Nicholas Mamo

Stunning, alluring, magical - some games strike you from the very first moment. Although seldom do we admit it, we do judge books by their covers and first impressions count more than we realize. As players, our first relation with the game isn't with the story or its mechanics - if love at first sight exists, it's between players and graphics. Games such as Fez, Minecraft and Anodyne show us that there is no such thing as an ugly style, and that a game doesn't have to have next-gen graphics to stand out. So what makes a good style outstanding?

Trine 2

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environment; it's up to the artist to adapt to the game's world and its specifications. Avoiding cluttered environments is a good way to start, and balance is key in creating levels which aren't just functional, but look and feel natural to the player. Guidelines from other disciplines such as photography can also be utilized to enrich the game's visuals. For example, using the rule of thirds in a boss fight could enhance the environment and put the focus where it really matters.

Level DesignWhen designing a level, filling up the environment can be as simple as using more assets or playing with their placement. Sounds simple? It is! Varying the arrangement of a subset of assets or changing the colors used in a particular scene can be an effective way of rendering a level remarkable.

If all else fails, you can also introduce new assets, or create variations of existing ones. Classic games such as the Mario franchise and contemporary ones demonstrate the efficiency of using enemy variants that are indigenous to a particular level to refresh gameplay.

PolishPolishing a video game level isn't just about making it look better, it's also about transforming the mundane into something memorable. Different video games use various techniques to achieve this effect, such as diversifying color palettes every few levels. Alternatively, introducing special assets can make a level distinctive.

Special assets could be anything from an ancient oak tree inhabiting a particular level to a defiant forest sprite. Whether in the form of a non-player character (NPC), a background ornament, or as a storyline-related object, special assets tell a story of their own, make a level more interesting, and spice up the environment.

Video game environments are purely artistic, and alongside everything which is art, it's up to the artist to decide what best suits the game. Only one principle governs level design-polished levels are the fruit of planning, experimentation, and evaluation. The result? A stunning environment for your game.

Torchlight II Dragon’s Crown

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design | development

Hey I am Tom, a.k.a. NinjaMonkeyBrain, and I am the character artist and animator for Onikira.

Onikira is a 2D combat focused action game set in a fantasy feudal Japan. We are currently deep in development working on refining our mechanics and gameplay to make this game as good as it can be. We hope to release sometime early next year on PC first and hopefully everything else too.

CREATURE AND BOSS DESIGNS

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What kind of enemies and why?

Our fantasy version of Japan is divided into four clans with different ways of life defined largely by martial ability and a single main weapon style. Unfortunately for them, the barriers separating the underworld, or Yomi, from the land of the living have been weakened. The ancestors of these clans, led by a long-dead emperor, have become corrupted and are tearing their way out of Yomi, possessing and warping the living into vile undead creatures. The various characteristics that these clans have are exaggerated in their demon form and inspire the various enemies’ powers, weapons, and attacks.

So for example the basic grunt enemy is called an “ashigaru.” They are low level warriors of the Samurai clan. Being Samurai, their main weapon is their katana, which has been warped and melded directly onto their body. A higher level enemy is the Kanabo Oni, a giant mass of twisted rock and flesh. The Kanabo Oni was from the Stone clan, a clan of hulking warriors whose main weapon is the tetsubo, a large studded club

weapon. As a twisted demon, these guys have massive tetsubo arms, and can tear up chunks of ground to hurl at the player.

In terms of art direction the game has a wide range of influences coupled with my personal love of bright color palettes and dynamic figures. Some notable works of inspiration are Berserk, Samurai Champloo, and Afro Samurai.

We’ve designed eleven basic enemy characters. There’s variations on some of those base ones to spice things up. We may not get to fit all eleven in the game because we’ll probably run out of time, but we’ll get as many in as we can.

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How did you decide which creatures were good enough design-wise to be included in the game’s final build?

We usually discuss the mechanics of an enemy character before building a prototype so that we are confident as a group that they will be worthwhile and hopefully fun to face off against. Then we will try and prototype the character quickly, maybe in two days and re-evaluate the character then. If things are looking good I will create the character’s art assets, build a skeleton for it, and start fleshing out its moves, with someone else tackling the behavior tree for it.

Currently we have a couple of enemies that we have prototyped to test out different mechanics. Although some enemy attacks didn’t work as we hoped, we learned from those prototypes

and will invest time in finishing them so that they work well against the players moves. We try not to waste the work it takes to get a character working, so if its original design isn’t working we will probably change its design so as not to waste the time invested in art.

What are the main differences between the normal enemies and the bosses?

One of the difficulties of designing grunt type enemies that you encounter a lot is that if they have a strong, individual design they can look quite silly when you are fighting a large amount of them. In this case you become immediately aware that you are fighting multiple copies of the same opponent rather than multiple enemies of a similar type. So to stop this the visual

Some enemy attacks didn’t work as we hoped; we learned

from those prototypes.

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in depth

designs are somewhat restrained and such characters are often seen with their faces covered. Think stormtroopers. If every stormtrooper looked like Darth Maul it would be weird. It’s brain science.

With the visual designs of the bosses the intent is the complete opposite, and we try to create characters that are visually unique and memorable while at the same time designing their abilities and attacks to challenge a particular aspect of gameplay.

What has been the most challenging part of designing the game?

The most challenging thing for us is probably balancing player moves and combos with enemies that those moves are useful

Developer: Digital Furnace Games Game: Onikira Website: http://honourboundgame.tumblr.com/

against. There’s a lot of work and balancing that needs to go into every enemy that we create, and we probably find it hardest to finish enemies as we are constantly improving our systems and working out some kinks in our mechanics.

In contrast the funnest part is the early conceptual stage when we just chat about what they might be like or might do. I talk about dragons a lot. I think dragons solve most of our problems.

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in depth

concept story

Grim Fandango

Article by Rémy van den Wijngaart

SPOILER ALERT!

In this article, we take a look at the narrative of Grim Fandango, the noir adventure game by Tim Schafer that conquered the hearts of fans

and critics everywhere. The black text describes what the player experiences directly, while the gray text shows what is happening outside

the player’s perspective. This allows us to simultaneously observe the story (the sequence of events) and the plot (the significance of those

events and how they relate to each other).

YEAR 1

When your life comes to an end, a new journey begins: The Four-Year Journey of the Soul. This journey through the Land of the Dead is long and dangerous but luckily the Department of Death employs the finest travel agents to help get you there as fast as possible. Those who have lived a particularly good life might even find themselves eligible for a Double-N ticket on the Number Nine, an express train making the trip from El Marrow to the Land of Eternal Rest in four minutes instead of four years.

Back in the golden days, travel agent Manny Calavera handed out Double-N tickets like candy, but lately all the good clients end up with his rival Domino Hurley, leaving Manny scraping the bottom of the barrel. On the Day of the Dead, after setting yet another poor schmuck on his way with merely a walking stick, Manny decides to turn his life around: he needs to find a premium client.

What Manny doesn’t know is that his recent misfortune isn’t just bad luck; it’s a dastardly plot by crime boss Hector LeMans. Hector plans to steal all the Double-N tickets and sell them for exorbitant prices to the rich people who would pay anything to skip the four-year journey. Using his criminal connections, Hector has spread corruption throughout the D.O.D., rigging the system so that all the premium customers end up with Domino, who can rob them of their ticket. There is a resistance group, the Lost Souls Alliance, but its small operation is of no consequence to Hector. He is going to be filthy rich.

official artwork by Peter Chan

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concept story

In this article, we take a look at the narrative of Grim Fandango, the noir adventure game by Tim Schafer that conquered the hearts of fans

and critics everywhere. The black text describes what the player experiences directly, while the gray text shows what is happening outside

the player’s perspective. This allows us to simultaneously observe the story (the sequence of events) and the plot (the significance of those

events and how they relate to each other).

Manny enlists the help of Glottis, one of the D.O.D.’s mechanics, who builds for him a vehicle faster than any company car: the Bone Wagon. Its speed allows Manny to race ahead of Domino and get his hands on a premium client: Mercedes “Meche” Colomar. But when he tries to get her a Double-N ticket and comes up empty once more, he realises that someone inside the D.O.D. has rigged the system in favor of Domino. When he leaves to do some snooping, his boss locks Manny up in the garage. Luckily, someone has been watching Manny from a distance. Salvador “Sal” Limones, leader of the Lost Souls Alliance, frees the unlucky travel agent and recruits him into the L.S.A. But Manny isn’t planning on staying around to help — he needs to find Meche and set things right. After supplying Sal with access to the D.O.D. computer system, he and Glottis head off after her. The Bone Wagon quickly gets them to Rubacava, a small port town, ahead of Meche. With nothing to do but wait, Manny takes up a job as janitor in a local restaurant.

YEAR 2

The road to Rubacava is dangerous when you don’t have transport, and Meche’s year-long journey is complicated further when Domino Hurley catches up with her. Seeing in her an opportunity to lure out Calavera, Domino takes her prisoner. Meanwhile, the L.S.A. is slowly growing, gaining a foothold back in El Marrow. They are not strong enough to take on the powerful Hector LeMans just yet, but Sal is determined to see his mission through to the end. Hector, on the other hand, sees no reason to slow down, and he expands his fraud scheme. Not only is he stealing Double-N tickets, he’s also producing counterfeits now. Double the sales, double the profits.

A year after arriving in Rubacava, Manny has worked himself up in the business and converted the roadside restaurant into Café Calavera, a luxurious nightclub to rival Rubacava’s finest establishments. With people like police chief Bogen and known counterfeiter Chowchilla Charlie trying their luck at his rigged roulette wheels, Manny makes a decent living here. But every night, he looks out over the small town, hoping that tonight will be the night that Meche arrives.

That night finally comes on the Day of the Dead, but it’s nothing like Manny had envisioned. When he learns of Meche’s arrival and goes down to the dock to meet her, he sees her sail away with Domino on a large ocean liner. Manny immediately decides to leave his comfy life in Rubacava behind to give chase, but the only ship heading to the same destination, Puerto Zapato, is the S.S. Limbo, a small cargo boat that doesn’t take passengers. While trying to secure a place onboard for himself and Glottis, Manny uncovers a murder plot, fuels a workers’ strike and discovers that Chowchilla Charlie is making counterfeit Double-N tickets. When he is ready to leave Rubacava for good, Manny forces the closure of Café Calavera and sets off on the Limbo.

official artwork by Peter Chan

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YEAR 3

The ship Domino and Meche are on might be heading to Puerto Zapato, but the sleazy salesman has an entirely different destination in mind. He instead brings Meche to The Edge of the World, a coral mining facility where he and Hector have imprisoned all the people they robbed to keep them from spilling the beans.

Meanwhile, Hector again expands his operation in El Marrow. The souls who are not willing to make the four-year journey, or pay for a Double-N ticket, need entertainment. Who is he to deny them that? With El Marrow fully in his grasp, he starts building casinos, taking even more money from the souls stuck there. He appears to be unstoppable, but the L.S.A. is becoming stronger, gaining more members every day. The time to strike back is nigh.

Another year has passed, and Manny has once again risen through the ranks; he’s now the captain of the Limbo (which he renamed the Lola). Thanks to Glottis’s love for speed and engine tinkering, the two friends quickly arrive in Puerto Zapato. The victory is short lived, though. A message from Sal arrives, informing Manny that Meche never made it to port — she has thrown herself overboard somewhere down the line. What’s more, the customs officials currently boarding the Lola are Hector’s assassins. Manny and Glottis barely manage to escape, but they eventually reach The Edge of the World, where they find Meche imprisoned by Domino.

When confronted, Domino audaciously tries to have Manny take his place, but the grim reaper isn’t tempted by Domino’s shady promises. As punishment, Domino drops Glottis into the ocean depths and throws Manny out of his office. While exploring the island facility, Manny finds Glottis alive and well, frees Meche from confinement, and discovers even more counterfeit tickets. Glottis brings an old ship back to life, giving them a way off the island, but Domino spots them leaving and attempts to stop them. During the escape, Manny faces off against his arch-enemy and defeats him for good. Feeling responsible for the fate of those now looking to him for guidance, Manny promises to see the journey through to the end.

YEAR 4

In the following year, Hector takes over El Marrow completely, renaming the city to Nuevo Marrow and turning it into a corrupted shade of its former self. The L.S.A. has grown strong enough to take the fight to Hector, but Sal knows he can’t just take the fat criminal head on; the plan calls for a subtle approach. The revolutionary starts sending agents in undercover to infiltrate Hector’s operation, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

official artwork by Peter Chan

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concept story

Having made their way over vast oceans and scorching deserts, Manny’s group finally arrives at the final Number Nine train station, the gateway to the Land of Eternal Rest. The end of the journey seems near, but the gatekeeper throws a wrench in the works by informing Manny that none of his followers can board the train. They need the tickets that Hector LeMans stole from them. There is only solution: Manny, Glottis, and Meche have to get back to El Marrow to retrieve the tickets.

But the hiking journey has taken a heavy toll on poor Glottis, who is now deathly ill. To be cured, he needs to drive, to fly, or to race at breakneck speeds. Using his last ounce of strength, he designs one last hotrod: a rocket sled that uses the same train tracks as the Number Nine. It will be able to heal Glottis and get the trio back to El Marrow in no time. After the local mechanics build the sled, and Manny finds the right fuel, they strap Glottis to the roof and set off.

The sheer thrill of cruising at an insane velocity completely revitalises Glottis, who wakes up halfway to Nuevo Marrow. Unaware of his surroundings, he accidentally derails the sled and the trio ends up back in Rubacava. But all is not lost, as Manny and Glottis soon reunite with the Bone Wagon. Before they continue the journey, the owner of a Rubacava jazz club Olivia Ofrenda joins up with them, eager to fight for the L.S.A.

Upon arriving in Nuevo Marrow, Manny infiltrates Hector’s casino with the help of Sal’s resistance. Using his experience as a salesman, he manages to get Hector alone in his old office. Hector escapes with the case of tickets, but after a chase across the rooftops, the crime boss loses his balance and falls to streets below. Manny retrieves the case and instructs Meche to return it to the gateway, but she is ambushed at the train station. As Glottis jumps to Meche’s rescue, Olivia arrives in her car and tells Manny to get in. Manny demands to know why there were no resistance members there to back them up; Olivia answers by tossing something on the back seat. It’s Sal’s head, disembodied but still alive. The traitorous Olivia takes Manny to the greenhouse of Hector LeMans, who has survived the rooftop fall. Hector tries to rid himself of Manny, but thanks to some clever tricks and an heroic sacrifice by Sal, Manny finally turns the tables and ends Hector once and for all.

With the crime boss out of the way, Manny finds the stolen tickets and receives one of his own from the D.O.D. as a reward for his valiant efforts. He and Glottis head back to the gateway, where Meche and the rest are still waiting. With the Double-N tickets back where they belong the gang is allowed to board. After saying goodbye to his dear friend Glottis, who has to stay behind, Manny joins Meche aboard the Number Nine. As Glottis waves from the platform, the train takes off into the unknown. What is next for Manny and Meche? What will the Land of Eternal Rest be like for them? The answer is just a train ride away.

AUTHOR’S PERSPECTIVERémy van den Wijngaart

Grim Fandango is my absolute favorite game narrative. Perhaps it’s the film noir feeling, inspired by works like Casablanca and Double Indemnity. Perhaps it’s the unique take on the Mexican holiday Dia de Muertos. Perhaps it’s the memorable characters, the striking art direction, the superb music — I’d say it’s the combination of all of the above that makes this game such a brilliant work of art.

While much of the story’s nuance is lost in the translation, I hope this article helps illustrate just how expertly Tim Schafer drives the narrative forward. By consistently maintaining Manny’s viewpoint throughout the game, the player unravels the conspiracy at equal pace, offering an almost first-person experience while binding the player to the main character. We are both an observer and participant of the story; we are ourselves, but we are also Manny Calavera.

Tim Schafer once stated that, in order for a world to feel alive, it must be like a painting: a window that gives us a glimpse of the world beyond but never reveals all. I feel Grim Fandango is the ultimate implementation of this. Schafer sets up enough of the world to make it seem believable, functioning, and real, while also leaving our imagination to fill in the blanks. In a way, the same process happens on a plot level, where our minds are constantly going through those “whodunnit” motions.

In short, Grim Fandango is why I love game narratives, and it is why I am on a journey to become a game designer myself.

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concept story

It’s a great feeling to see and have all these different developers

in one place and with the same purpose, to talk about what they

love to do, creating games.Rai Sewgobind, founder Eye For Games

The Art and Design of Video Games explores facets of

game design and development from over twenty different

developers, of all sizes, from around the world. Drawing on

interviews with artists, designers, and developers, this book

enables you to peer into the world of game development.

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eye for...

Thankful and proud!

For more information, or to find out about a second printing, visithttp://hardcover.efgmagazine.com/

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I grew up in Missouri, worked in California some years after college, and after a detour in Atlanta for graduate school I recently returned to California again. I've always lived and traveled in North America. I've worked on about 90 completed games as a solo or lead developer, which can be found at ChrisDeLeon.com. The majority of those projects have been medium-sized non-commercial side projects, club projects, and class projects. I was in and out of professional game development at various scales - AAA, web casual start-up, indie mobile - from 2005-2011. My main skill areas are design and programming, although I make a point of practicing enough fluency in art and sound effects to fill in when needed or to make small solo projects. In recent years I've increasingly shifted my focus towards teaching and helping others get into (or further into) making their own games.

HOBBYGAMEDEVIf you’re a developer and using Twitter, you may have have heard of Chris DeLeon, a.k.a. @HobbyGameDev, who is keeping developers inspired by regularly asking questions about their game development. But who is behind HobbyGameDev, and why is this person so passionate about helping others achieve their goals?

My days variy wildly based on which business or side objectives I'm currently taking on. Lately most days consist of waking up at 7 a.m., working out, getting ready for the day, driving my girlfriend Laura to work (it's nearby, and the parking situation there is tricky), and then my work day is filled with interviewing other developers for my upcoming podcast, writing or recording new content for my game development blog, and making or updating game development training products for my business. In the evening I pick up Laura from work, after which we eat dinner with a show on, maybe run some errands, and chat about how our respective work days went.

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For my first ten years or so I enjoyed it as a challenging craft. I just liked making things, I enjoyed that in contrast to other craft activities, this one didn't require materials, didn't need space to store the end results, and produced outcomes that others who didn't share the same hobby could still understand and enjoy. For some years after that it was my profession.

I changed course when I found myself wishing I could do more to help other people. After a brief tangent in exploring the use of games for the purposes of education, communication, and other non-entertainment endeavors, I realized that most of the good I'd done through my game making wasn't actually the end products. The good I had done was instead from things I had been doing on the side: forming game development clubs, sharing articles and tutorials online, and otherwise helping more people make progress on their own projects. Building bridges to help more people make videogames contributed to their professional skill development, got them real experience working with people that think and work differently than they do, and otherwise has often become a healthy and positive part of their lives. Now creating videogames is something that I mostly engage in as my way of trying to help others.

Can you tell us something about your passion for creating video games?

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About five years ago it started as GameDevLessons, a series of monthly newsletters about videogame creation. I was making iPhone games as my primary income, and on the side wanted to help more people get started. At the time I also explored one-on-one lessons, doing them a bit like piano lessons though often remotely via Skype. I only had a few students then. Many people at the time were seeking to get into game development as an immediate business venture, and I found I was facing more questions about pricing and ads than I was about skilled game design or practicing good development. The hobby aspect began at first from my own transition into finding other ways to earn my income (research and teaching) while making games on the side that I wanted to make. In the years since, the hobby element has increasingly become about helping others make the games they want to make, independent of business aspects.

How did you came up with this concept?

What is the main goal of HobbyGameDev?

I want to help more people make the games that they want to make and further spread the word that games can be well worth making even when they're not commercialized products. For some people that may eventually lead to new career opportunities, but for many more I think it can be a fine and enriching collaborative creative activity to enjoy on evenings and weekends. My angle is often that it's something people should think of more like woodworking, playing an instrument, or painting.

How are things going at the moment?

In terms of sheer number of people reached: very well! In terms of the positive and encouraging stories that I hear back from readers, some following my materials for years, some starting clubs at their schools, and some finding my approach is what helped them cross over from wishing they'd start to actually making finished projects and learning as they go, extraordinarily life affirming. The stories of people I've helped have absolutely kept me going over the years.

Commercially, which I only began at all in 2014, and full-time starting even more recently this summer, slowly so far. I'm in the process of rethinking my approach and preparing some new materials to offer. I'm more teacher and developer than salesman or businessperson, but I'm learning the ropes. I respect that it's up to me to create (more) compelling products, convey their value, and ensure they're known about by people who'd be interested in them.

I've always felt at home working with small teams, especially with beginners or students. I've worked with companies of various sizes in the game industry, and I can respect why processes have to operate very differently than they do with small amateur teams or solo projects, but it isn't what I prefer doing. If nothing else, I enjoy teaching and mentoring, and on projects being made by beginners I of course have more opportunities to do more of that.

I recently collected my thoughts on a related matter in a blog entry, A Frank Look at Making Videogames Professionally: http://www.hobbygamedev.com/beg/a-frank-look-at-making-videogames-professionally/

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interview

“I want to help more people make the games that they want to make.”

What would be the most interesting thing HobbyGameDev has to offer?

I make a specific effort every month to provide at least four separate articles or other materials intended for different skill levels: beginner (hasn't made a game yet, in the process of learning), intermediate (has completed some practice games at least), advanced (has completed a number of original games), and special topics (varies, for example this is sometimes a more research or theory angle rather than developer approach to material).

I originally started making my content with the expectation that teenagers and college students might make use of it, since those were just the people I had personally known who were trying to learn it. While they've certainly been a major part of my audience, I've also learned over the years that people of all ages,

Start with small, simple, and unoriginal practice projects before trying to take on large, complex, or original games, working up toward the latter incrementally. Also, put the time into learning how to program, even if primarily interested in game design, so that you'll be able to prototype and iterate on your own mechanics ideas rather than being at the mercy of someone else doing it on your behalf.

Chris, if you could give any starter advice about getting into game design or development, what would it be?

including many older than I am, have been finding it of interest or help as well. Many of the adults following my materials have a day job in something technology related, and in their off hours have started adapting those skills to game development.

Visit the website: http://www.hobbygamedev.com/

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Getting art assets with a limited number of artists. That number being one makes it even more difficult.

Making the game / theme around it. I love developing mechanics for small prototypes but I have learned there's a huge difference between making a neat mechanic and then creating a fun and complete gameplay experience around that single mechanic. The partners I have had the best success with have helped me put my excited programmed mechanic ideas into a larger overall project.

Staying motivated has never been that difficult either but fine-tuning a mechanic can be difficult only because 90% of the work is done and usually to get that last 10% it takes a lot of testing and patience to get exactly what I am looking for. It's always worth it and that small level of polish can make a world of difference on your end product, but it can be very difficult to keep pushing for perfection at that point.

The largest hurdles I face are explaining the difference between prototype and demonstration games. The vast majority of non-gamer customers and business development folks are unaware of all of the work that is necessary just in the design phase, let alone the development and testing phases of building a game.

While any of us nerds know prototypes are boxes and spheres (at best!) proving theories behind code based on the design document(s), and a demonstration is at least an Alpha or even Beta ready game including art assets.

More often than not the prototype is ignored, forcing game teams to stumble right into development, hitting all of the glorious snags along the way that could have been ironed out beforehand. Terminology has different meanings to different people and within differing tasks - almost requiring a translation guide for the non-gamer.

It is as if people believe since a game is fun to play, it must be fun and easy to build, when in reality the fun parts are mostly in the concept design and testing. The rest is hard work and cannot be accomplished by waving a magic wand.

One of the most challenging aspects I tend to face is developing a proper design plan. It's easy to have an idea in your head and start working towards that end goal but lack of a good design plan tends to lead to a long list of half finished projects. A good plan/approach is a never ending process throughout game development and something I've had to dedicate some time to doing. Whether it's designing a level, making assets, coding mechanics, or marketing, I think having a plan of attack is the first and most important part, but should also be something that allows for change.

Prototyping and gray boxing can be a good first step to this, but I always try to think about how does this prototype/idea fit into the larger game concept. Any game idea can feel overwhelming when thought about in its entirety and because of that I try to think about the smaller parts of the larger whole to remain focused on what is important.

WE ASKED

What's your main struggle or challenge while working on a game?

Jonathan JenningsUnity Developer at Fuel Industries

Tony GarciaDirector / Project Manager at Sage Management Enterprise, LLC

Tim PelhamCEO at Nitrous Butterfly

Brian FaulknerProgram Designer/programmer at iFF_Games

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eye for...

Developer: Grotman Game: Tribal and Error Website: http://www.tribalanderror.com

IN DEVELOPMENT

Tribal & ErrorWe are team Grotman. We are students studying at the University of the Arts in Utrecht. Right now our

team consists of six people. We are all in our second year studying Game Design and Development

and Game Art. For sound design and music we are working with a Sound Design & Music Technology

student called Mathijs Wiermans.

developer: Grotman

moodboard

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in development

INSPIRATION

Oskar: Before I pitched the rough idea to the team the basic language mechanic swam around in my head a few years. I had just watched movies such as I, Robot and The Matrix, which led me to think how a game would work if you yourself play a true artificial intelligence. A game where you became intelligent and gained abilities by observing and repeating everything in your surroundings, like a baby taking its first steps. The original idea was an abstraction of learning in general and language was just a part of it. Back in 2009 I tried to write a game design document on it. I did not however possess the skills back then to tackle the game design challenges the concept created. Five years later together with game designer Joel Sjouke and sound designer Mathijs Wiermans we picked it up again, took the core of what we thought was great, and filled in the details. The three of us pitched this new concept with this pitch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4rVnyumd3I

The students and teachers could vote on different concepts. Tribal & Error was approved and Tim Haerkens (our developer) and Moniek Schilder (extra artist) joined the team.

Joel: When Mathijs and I joined him for the concept pitch, we took the idea for a language mechanic and created a story and world around it. Several ideas came to mind from aliens to spaceship travel and time travel to cavemen. The bottom line of the game is that the player must be able to learn and experience a complete unknown language. We also decided that we absolutely didn’t want any existing written or spoken language in the game itself, making the game more accessible as it is ironically without a language barrier. For the game mechanic to work we had to come up with a way to make it really clear to the player what each symbol means. In order for this to work both the animations and audio should be simple but understandable. When I designed the symbols I wanted to make them look abstract enough to be unable to guess and yet recognizable when you know its meaning already.

IDEAS

Joel: I’m sure there were more but here are some examples.Real images/symbols: Before we chose to use abstract symbols we thought about using “thinking clouds” for the cavemen with images in them to explain to the player what their problem was. For example, a caveman being hungry could show an image of some sort of food to explain he is hungry. We soon found out that this would spoil too much to the player and would kind of defeat the purpose of learning their caveman language.

Time travel paradox:Story wise we got ourselves stuck in some sort of time paradox. We wanted the robot to have a clear goal and communicate that to the player. Our initial idea for the robot

was that he was sent back in time involuntarily and that he should find a way back to the future. We thought it would be cool if he found an old dead/decaying version of himself somewhere around the cavemen. In this early version of the story the robot would have used a time machine which the cavemen would have taken apart and used as some sort of relic. With your own time machine broken you could salvage the parts of this other time machine to fix your own time machine, only to find out that it was the same time machine and the same robot. That’s where it gets so complex that we spent too much time on the story and forgot about the most important thing of our game: the language mechanic. We chose to focus on the latter.

Clicking objects: We considered giving the player the option to click objects and combine that with the making of sentences. With this option it would be as if the player could point at something and speak out a sentence of symbols to go with it. For instance, when you want a caveman to lay a stick on the ground you could say the stick symbol and then click on the ground. Although the clicking option gives us more options from a designer’s perspective, it seemed that it would all soon become too complicated. Perhaps in the future we’ll look into it again.

DESIGN

Oskar: An important aspect of the character designs was that they needed to incentivize the player to help cavemen, so while wanted them to have a wild appearance they also needed to look appealing, so that the player could empathize with them. Some of the earlier designs had this wild appearance but not the appeal. A lot of the design considerations were made based on the characters’ functionality in the game. The animation needs to clearly visualize what the cavemen are trying to express. Because of the large amount of animation the game requires we also needed to limit the complexity of the design while still retaining enough elements to allow for expressions. This was one of the reasons we didn’t go for characters without eyebrows.

Learn and experience a

complete unknown language.

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in development

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in development

Before the full project started, when we still had to pitch the idea, we wanted to explain the game visually with a trailer. So we needed a rough idea of the look and feel. At the time I was able to spend just one day making some sketches and paintings, but what came out of that even though rough was already something with its own appeal. When the full project began we kept iterating on that until we had what we felt was the right feeling for Tribal & Error.

“The core mechanic is not ABOUT language, the core mechanic IS language.”

It’s a game about helping cavemen survive the coming Ice Age but to help them you’ll need to learn their language first! This is done by observing the cavemen, repeating what they say, and by experimenting through trial and error. You see the symbols, the robot stores them, you repeat the symbols. The reaction that follows shows the player the meaning of these symbols. The player can interpret the meaning in his or her own way and there is no right or wrong answer per se. Again this makes it possible to make the game universal and without language barriers. With these symbols you build a vocabulary which you use to solve puzzles.

CHALLENGES

Joel: The problem with the symbols is that in theory the player should be able to make every combination possible. With each combination there should be a reply of some sort. This requires a ridiculous amount of animations so we had to choose which symbol combinations we really needed. We are looking for ways to make as many animations as possible to give the player the optimal experimental experience. The most crucial part of the language mechanic is the animations. If the reaction of the cavemen aren’t clear and readable, the player will not understand what the symbols mean. If the player gets the meaning of a crucial symbol of a puzzle wrong the player could get stuck. Of course we don’t want that to happen, so our goal is to make the animations of the cavemen as simple and readable as possible. That in combination with good audio, giving away emotions of the cavemen, will hopefully result in a fun puzzle full of experimentation through trial and error.

Another challenge was the interface. The hotbar we use to store the symbols in resembles the look of a typical RPG items bar. When we tested the game a lot of people thought they were collecting items instead of recording language symbols. We solved this problem by making the hotbar look similar to the robot. When a symbol in it is clicked the robot shows an animation of a text bubble and

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in development

presses a play button with a green light on his own body. When the robot walks to a caveman and that caveman says something, the robot again presses a button on his own body but this time with a red recording light. Also, in both situations the eyes of the robot, which are tape recorder reels, spin when playing or recording. The players also tried to drag the symbols in the hotbar on top of each other like in crafting games like Minecraft. To avoid this we decided to make the symbols in the hotbar look like pressable buttons. With all this the players understood almost immediately that the robot’s skill was only that of recording and playing sounds. The next problem was a space managing issue for the interface. Right now we have a hotbar with nine slots for symbols to take place in. In the game demo right now we only use six symbols. At the end there will be a whole lot more symbols and the problem is the storage and managing of those symbols for the player. We decided to create a database for the robot which will probably be displayed at the left side of the hotbar in the game. The player can enter that database, scroll through different categories of symbols, and choose to exchange symbols with the ones that are in the hotbar. This way the player will be able to choose which symbols he/she wants to use for a certain situation.

DEVELOPMENT

The player can walk around, collect new symbols, and use the recorded words. The player can also write the explanations above the symbols but is also free to ignore that part of the game. If the player has a good memory and doesn’t need to write down the descriptions then it’s possible as well, though we quickly discovered the players who focused on memorizing the meaning of words had a smaller capacity to solve puzzles then players who used the notes.

As the player learns more symbols, the more room for experimentation it gives. The player must achieve a few main goals in order to help the cavemen survive the coming Ice Age, but there will be short puzzles along the way, some just useful, some purely entertaining.

We released a press demo which contains the first cave level with the objective to create fire. We’ve recently done a business pitch of the game at the end of our second year at the HKU (University of the Arts Utrecht). Our pitch was approved and we have permission to work on the game full time next semester (5 months). We hope to get a lot of work done during this time and for the first time we hope to be able to make a good estimation on how much time the production, marketing, and publishing is going to take.

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into EFG

WHAT IS Eye For Games?Eye For Games is a platform about game design and

development, where students, professionals, and

developers can network and connect. By looking at

design and development from different perspectives we

provide inspiring, motivating, and educational content.

When taking an in-depth look towards a game’s

development, we provide a great opportunity for

developers to showcase their game in a unique way.

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into EFG

PODCAST (beta)

MAGAZINES

Go to the podcast

Go to the editions

We are also working on a new podcast. Currently in beta, our podcast will focus on new topics each month, as they pertain to game design and development.

Hosts:Jerry Kline, Nick Lustig, Robert Busey, Evan McAnulty

Segments:*Observe - What’s new or what have we observed about the industry lately?* In-development / in-depth - We discuss one topic related to the process of creating a game.*Eye for - What has caught our eye lately?

To expand our concept we are also releasing high-quality digital magazines to showcase the concept behind EFG.

Read full exclusive articles only in the magazine editions or get inspired by the One-Topic-Only edition where we discuss only one topic related to game design and development.

The November edition is about highlights of the year, not just major highlights but also personal highlights from developers.

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DEVSPOT

meet bitSmith gamesbitSmith Games was formed in 2012 by three friends with big dreams of making great games. We were quickly joined by two more foolhardy adventurers. Our merry band of five strides fearlessly into the gaping maw of the game dev wilderness.

FranknJohn has been in development since May 2013. The team brought

an early protoype to GDC 13 (Game Developers Conference 2013) which

provided them with a platform to continue developing the game. The

game was inspired by Paul’s memory of being a lonely, vulnerable child

in a strange world, where he kicked and scraped his way through it until it

made sense. The sense of detachment when growing up as you figure out

who you are is something that will resonate with most people. Recapturing

that same sense of growth and discovery in FranknJohn is the aim.

Developer: bitSmith Games Game: FranknJohn Website: http://www.bitsmithgames.com/

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devspot

DEVSPOT

meet SaintandSimonSimon Karlsson: Creates the art, writes the script, composes the music and does the programming. A guy who lives for creating. Sits on a tiny chair in a tiny workshop and folds paper into a tiny world, often together with his cat Klara.

A Song for Viggo contains five chapters, each one revolving around

a different one of the difficulties you can experience after losing a

child, such as marital problems, depression, and suicidal thoughts. In

order to portray this as credible as possible I have interviewed several

people who have lost their children (even some who share Steve’s

fate.) It’s one of my goals with the game: to bring their stories to you,

to make people who may be in this situation-trying to maintain their

everyday life in the wake of a disaster-feel that they are not alone.

Developer: SaintandSimon Game: A Song for Viggo Website: http://www.saintandsimon.com/

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devspot

BIOME

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in depth

Hi! I’m Tom Kail, and together with Jon Tree, we’re developing an relaxing digital toy called Biome.

Why a low polygon game?

The visual style was ripped directly from the work of the wonderful Timothy Reynolds, who is, in my eyes at least, the godfather of the low poly style, although from what I hear, he’s too humble to admit it. Originally I was simply experimenting, but when I discovered how well matched the style and programming perspectives were, I started thinking about what Biome might become. It was a long while later that I started working with Jon and we found an answer. I guess the short answer is that it was simply never intended to be a game! In fact, we’re still adamant that Biome is a toy rather than a game.

We experimented briefly with texture and size, but because Biome originated so organically from the relationship between the art and code, we spent most of our time polishing our art style rather than reinventing it. You can actually play the original demo here and see for yourselves! It’s still low poly, although the worlds have twice the detail, and the lighting is much harsher. www.tomkail.com/snowbound

Why pick “change” as the theme?

It came out of a long, experimental design process. We knew that Biome had to be about the world, rather than simply using it as an area for gameplay, and we slowly realized that we wanted players to spend their time exploring for their own reasons, rather than chasing any goals we enforced. Having the world perpetually shift prevents players staying too long in any single world and helps them to see the life and death cycle as a way of life, rather than as an inherently positive or negative thing.

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in depth

How did you keep the visuals balanced?

The worlds are generated using a bunch of algorithms and rules. We try to keep them fairly loose to allow for a wide range of worlds but also just tight enough that they still fit together visually. It’s a balance that doesn’t always work in every situation, but we’re happy with it for now. We’ve found that embracing a wide and varied color palette, mixed in with a good amount of abstraction, makes most worlds feel “right.”

There are about twenty unique templates we use to generate our terrains. Each template can be regenerated indefinitely, and they can be pretty varied on their own. Every world in Biome is created from a mix of several of these templates, allowing for millions of combinations. We’re looking to add many more templates as we get closer to release.

Let’s say you start in a coral reef. By interacting with the sand the water level falls, and the coral dies as the environment transforms into a beach. From there you might touch the trees, leading to a jungle, or continue touching the sand, taking you to a desert. Desert rocks can yield cliffs, canyons, or mesa. Rather than let you tug and mold the world as many other games do, Biome lets you guide evolution of the land while millions of years pass.

One of the benefits of not having a deadline is that we can take the time to implement features the way we want to rather than having to compromise our vision due to restraints. The best part is that the longer it takes to optimize, the better devices people have, so the problem goes away on its own! We’ll try not to make you wait too much longer though!

Did this bring any challenges?

Plenty, but the hardest challenge by far was getting the worlds to evolve naturally, infinitely. It’s a challenge that most games that use procedurally generated environments (like Minecraft) don’t have, because they’re either static, or only change in relatively small ways through player actions. We’ve very recently changed how the evolution process works, but we’re certain that it’ll change again before release as we require more from the system.

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in depth

Developer: Knick Knack Game: Biome Website: http://lowpolyworld.com/

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in depth

Crystal Dynamics' 2013 Tomb Raider reboot was well received by critics and fans alike, selling millions for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. The “Definitive Edition” for the Xbox One and Playstation 4 includes improvements to the original game. The upgraded definitive edition includes improved visuals, making Lara's re-introduction to the gaming world an even prettier one than before, and includes all previously released downloadable content (DLC).

But what makes Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition so...well, definitive? The game itself is the same in terms of gameplay and story, but technically it has been revised and upgraded. Then it was Tomb Raider, now it's Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition.

THEN & NOWTOMB RAIDER

Tomb Raider (2013)

• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360• Reboot of the popular franchise that started in 1996

for the PC, Sony PlayStation, and SEGA Saturn• Developed by Crystal Dynamics, who has been

handling the franchise since Tomb Raider: Legend

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (2014)

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One• Improved visuals• Contains all previous downloadable content

Article by Jerry Kline

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then and now

Object PhysicsThe physical objects Lara carries, such as her climbing axe and bow, now have realistic physics. As Lara moves throughout the island of Yamatai, climbing, running, and leaping, the items on her body bounce accordingly, as opposed to simply looking as if they are plastered to her. Her bow will bob as she runs, and her axe will swing from her hip. Individual arrows will jostle around in her quiver. The new item physics mean that Lara's accessories look less plastered to her body, and more natural and attached.

To Tessellate or Not to Tessellate?With tessallation on the edges of characters' faces and bodies they look much rounder, smoother, and more realistic. It's an especially noticeable effect on rocks and pathways. Unfortunately, tessallation is only available on the PC edition of the game. While the Xbox One and PS4 versions came later, tessallation is still exclusive to the PC edition.

It Must Be the TressFXAMD's TressFX was one of the most noticeable differences between the previous console versions and PC. TressFX allows Laura's hair to move in a more realistic manner. Her ponytail is affected by wind much more than non-TressFX versions. Individual strands of hair are affected by wind and movement, as opposed to larger clumps of hair. Originally TressFX was PC only, but the definitive edition has brought it to consoles in the form of TressFX 2.0, an update that allows better hair rendering.

Depending on how far away the camera is, it will render hair quality accordingly, so rendered strands of hair will be reduced depending on how far the viewer is from the hair. The remaining hairs that are rendered are then thickened. This helps render Lara's hair with less performance issues.

Sub-surface ScatteringThe definitive edition added sub-surface scattering, which mean means that light now penetrates the surface layer of an object and scatters. It allows a more realistic rendition of lighting. This is especially noticeable in Lara herself, as she has more of a “glow” when light hits her skin.

New LaraFor the definitive edition, Lara herself has been rebuilt. Textures on her have been upgraded. But even more importantly, her face has been remodeled to be more expressive and detailed. Her jawline has been re-shaped. Lara eyes are meant to be more expressive. She is literally a new Lara.

“We did start with the idea of updating just her skin or a few extra polygons, but as we started to learn more about the hardware and what was possible, we felt Lara deserved even more attention.” - Crystal Dynamics Executive Producer Scot Amos

And Then SomeThere are other changes to the definitive edition as well. Dynamic foliage movement is one highlight point, making for better movement of plants as characters move past them. Wind will shake trees and foliage, making the environments more realistic. The definitive editions run at 1080P resolution. Frame rate wise the Xbox One version is reported to have the lowest, clocking in at around 30, while the PS4 is unlocked, but is usually closer to 60.

Tomb Raider Moving ForwardPresumably we’ll see some of the definitive edition’s changes come to the next game in the franchise, Rise of the Tomb Raider. No doubt it will have better textures than the previous game, and TressFX will probably be refined and implemented once again. The story will continue to show us the rebuilding of a new Lara, as she copes with the fallout of the events of Yamatai island.

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validated by Middlesex University in London

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