The 10 Commandments

2007-05-14T01:27:00.001-07:00

Commandments for the layout of a game creation:

1. The hammer should be on the concept/design, and not on graphics/animation.

2. Make sure the “Right Tasks are not handled by the wrong people” (this is something very difficult to analyze, so be careful on your choice of resources)

3. Right Resource Management – Adding on to the above, make sure that all involved are responsible for the right task, A flaw in this could result in Mis-Management or an Unknown failure in delivery of a much superior game[Ex: A Producer who heads the studio team, who has inadequate knowledge, and misses on an important aspect or is trying to accomplishing only a responsibility, could result in an unknown failure as stated above]

4. Status Reports are required, should not be mandatory. Everyone involved should achieve something new on a daily basis, else contributed their best in the creation of the game or value add to the existing process. This should be monitored/guided/trained actively but not a mandate practice.

5. The game is not a project it’s a game, all gamers are not good testers hence all good testers need to be creative gamers. QA is not only testing, its Quality, ask them their say on the game, and give it ample consideration, after all most of them are gamers!

6. If your leader is static, make sure you are dynamic, don’t give up.

8.A Political environment is present everywhere you step, ensure that you stick to doing what is right and go by the book. Sometimes its required to decide on your career or the game or the company in terms of priority, judge your passion and go by it. Incompetency & Politics go hand in hand, never give up on doing what is right and good, do not engage in non-productive talk/activity.

9. A company is not yours, but treat it as if it were yours but do not form a bonding, this is a really tough task to achieve but reduces mental strain and increases productivity

10. The balance of Productivity vs Quality is important, on a micro level it sounds more like efficient delivery or a better game, ensure that you do not loose out on either.

Begin implementation of the above 10 points with a smile, and add more points on your own, lay them not as rules, but as tasks. Think about success in game creation, pay/position will come with time/work/exposure. There might be many who live by the hard work you put in, and you constantly might feel the pinch of smart coworkers who steal contributions or engage in smart loose talk, close doors and free your mind, leave it for the day of judgment, for all we are souls trapped on earth, so live by it with a smile, do good, be good & make the best of games sticking to good ethics and morals. Frag your way out!

To conclude, this world needs Games, Genres & Gamers. Create it not re-create else’s idea, Think of Investment on returns, not Return on Investment.

Cheers, Peace & Best of Luck
Anonymous

MMOFPS

2006-06-27T04:55:00.000-07:00

“Massive Multi Player Online First Person Shooter”

This thought process is documented w.r.t me being a dedicated F.P.S gamer. Most of my explanations might not be accepted by all due to the non-involvment of other brains . I Prefer pointing flaws and –ve aspects first, and discuss about +ve succeeding it.

MMORPG:

I don’t have anything against RPG but, for an unknown reason could never get hooked onto MMORPG, I assume it was due to the low & slow paced intensity of thoughts a gamer would require in order to play, the formula for MMORPG in my view can be classified as below:

MMORPG = [Game –(A.I + Graphics Detail + good Game Play, Effect, Sound, Real Time Action)] / TIME

The more time you virtually spend is a simple winning formula, Logical application always seems missing, Customization of specific user input (i.e Sensitivity) is Missing,

Example of a good RPG game POP [All versions](one good logical RPG I’d say to be created & known)

The games we play Q3, UT, Half-Life, CS, ES IV & many more, now I have a question

Q What could be the next biggest thing for an FPS gamer???

Ans. MMOFPS [Obviously]

I wouldn’t really enjoy the way gaming is progressing as a revolution,

2D Game -> 3D Game -> AR (Absolute Reality). I’d say instead of having more reflections more pixels, simplicity would be the right answer, at-least within my friends who have advanced from the Pac-man genre. The last addiction was for me Q3 & CS (counter-Strike), Lately Elder Scrolls(One Fabulous FPS RPG game, I’am sure most game designers would agree that ES is definetly a perfect mix and match of everything you could think of and things which you would have missed too) After which the rest games failed to deliver satisfaction, why? Well, Satisfaction for a Gamer is not in Advanced Graphics & millions spent on development

“Most of the games today fail to deliver good game-play, the story-line is useless, it’s clearly visible that either they have developed the game concept in a studio with guys trying to secure their jobs or its been developed mirroring a pre-existing game”

Q Now if all these are the factors of a -ve game, then what is a +ve game?

Ans. “SIMPLICITY + Creative interesting STORYLINE + Interactive & Extensive GAMEPLAY +the other good factors (i.e. Sound, Bearable graphics (not too many reflecting surfaces))”

Complications are made where unnecessary; Bots are designed with formulas in skill level & not with A.I. If you say bots have A.I I’d say they are just a bunch of jerks running around with formulated skill level, For example if I were to select Skill level as “Easy”, It becomes much easier for me to kill the bots, and in the “Expert” mode its quite irritating and difficult WHY SO?

Because the Bots have not been programmed they have been formulated, the bullets, rockets they hit you are all formulated, A bot can kill you tentatively in one-two shots in the Expert mode, but in Easy mode, It takes an entire clip to reduce maybe 20% of the player’s health, hence making you feel like an Idiot. Hence, the meaning of a good shot, headshot & kill is LOST in such a scenario. [Read Again Very Imp.]

If MMORPG has to be a hit, then firstly they should start taking real-scenario’s or near-futuristic scenario’s (i.e. an MMO in GTA, MMO in ES would be a killer!)

It has always either been a mythical country, or way ahead too futuristic scenario’s adopted by MMORPG creators. Since RPG is not our mainframe interest lets chuck it and proceed!

MMOFPS:

Wonder if we have Q3 DM 17 as a guild, which has to be conquered, or Xearo as our Character to be upgraded with 100+ weapons to select or craft from, that’s MMOFPS

An MMOFPS game, which the world is waiting for under production, is: Huxley

“Huxley is a massively multiplayer online first person shooting game utilizing the UNREAL3 engine to create a world of up to 5,000 players in the same gaming environment. Huxley takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where human beings have mutated and are divided into two opposing races, Sapiens and Alternative. At the center of the battle for survival is Lunarites, a promising new energy source highly coveted by both races. Forced to battle against one another for the continuance of each race, Sapiens and Alternatives will do whatever it takes to wipe out the opposition and gain control of the world and its resources.” ---IGN.com

Sound’s good! 5000 players! But what kind of a story is that. I’m sure this concept was developed in a studio (as earlier mentioned) unknown races and world’s??

Check this http://www.huxleygame.com/huxley_races.htm

Fear for example on the positive side, has one of the sound concepts, though developed in a studio & on the track of “The Ring” The hard-work reflects.

Game concept as known, is the myth, the game revolves around. Running an existing FPS game on MMO could to be a good start, for example having Q3/half-Life/Fear/ES in an MMO version with a meaningful/active/intensive storyline should be a solution.

We could expect 5000+ people on the same server, with a game running on an Unreal Engine, but WHAT ABOUT THE LATENCY? A game is supposed to be made for the masses; there would hardly be 5000 FPS gamers who have a sound rig implemented on their system to accommodate this game.

I think its high-time the Studio team start implementing after a long concept/storyboard session, and not hurry things up randomly (Producers this one is for you). The Pre-Prod should be carefully analyzed/deployed. Things need to done step wise, the GDD should be equipped with all the functions/flaws, so that pre-post prod problems become easy to tackle.

Commandments for the layout of a game creation:

1. The hammer should be on the concept/design, and not on graphics/animation.

2. Make sure the “Right Things are not handled by the wrong people” (this is something very difficult to analyze, so be careful on your choice of resources)

3. Right Resource Management – Adding on to the above, make sure that all involved are responsible for the right task, A flaw in this could result in Mis-Management/Unknown failure in delivery of a much better product [Ex: A Producer who heads the studio team, who doesn’t have much idea on an important aspect or is trying to accomplishing only a responsibility, could result in an unknown failure as stated above]

6. If your leader is static, make sure you are dynamic, don’t give up.

8.A Political environoment is present everywhere you step, ensure that you stick to doing what is right and go by the book. Sometimes its required to decide on your career or the game or the company in terms of prioritization, judge your passion and go by it.

9. A company is not yours, but treat it as if it were yours but do not form a bonding, this is a really tough task to acheive but reduces mental strain and increases productivity