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mdsgames-blog · 9 years

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Getting the artist to think like a programmer

One of the most educational and challenging things I’ve found from moving into game dev is learning to think like a programmer.

To do “art” you can use any approach or framework to get things done and as long as the final piece works- it doesn’t really matter how you got there- and the final work is a static piece.

So you can be a disorganized, unprofessional, nut job and still make art just fine.

To make narrative films it requires a more rigid framework and a lot more discipline that it does to make art- but again the final film is static- when you are working on the end of the film you can’t completely screw up the beginning (well technically you can ruin the narrative but thats a different story)

The animated film workflow is pretty simple and once a shot is done its done you can’t break it

When making an animated film you can’t ruin shots 0001-1000 by what you do in shot #1001 but when making games you can ruin it all at all times!

As a person who came from creating these static works this terrifies me!

I’ve made a few little games now and have screwed a lot of things up as we should when we’re learning. I’ve assumed I finished a game then tweaked a few fsm’s and broke the whole game- I’ve done this a few times-

I’ve asked some programmer friends for help and they’ve introduced me to things like the Model View Presenter model which has helped a lot

Since I’m using visual scripting tools I skipped learning programming basics and these tools allow me to do very advanced things BUT I did not learn how to think like a programmer and I didn’t learn proper procedures for programming so I can create great messes with these visual scripting tools-

Here’s a huge mecanim MESS from the Player game object on the game I’m reworking now

This WAS the Player game object for that same game- THE NUMBER OF FSM’s IS TOO DAMN HIGH!

I made that before I learned about using external/template fsm’s for redundant stuff - I was also using a ton of global variables which although convenient can make debugging a nightmare-

So in my new approach I’m reusing fsm’s as much as possible using the Run Fsm action in Playmaker and in place of most all global variables I have a singleton called GOD that holds all the variables I want accessible at all times-

I’ve also learned how to use behavior tree’s with Behavior Designer- after learning BTree’s I realized that several of my messy fsm situations came about because I was trying to do something that fsm’s aren’t really meant to do but is really simple with BTree’s

So I’ve gone back to learn about proper programming procedures and workflow so I can create good visual code I guess I would call it- so I don’t create messes that would make me want to kill myself when I try and debug it and prevent me from making my big game idea a reality.

#game development #playmaker #fsm #Unity3D

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mdsgames-blog · 9 years

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Making a game for the right reasons

So far in my short game dev career all the games I have made were not created because I had an awesome idea for a game which I would think would be the best reason for making one and would make for the best game-

I’ve really only made games to test things or for specific events/deadlines

I still feel like I’m in this learning phase and can’t make anything “real” yet but that just might be an excuse I tell myself because I’m afraid to commit to a real game-

Here’s the games I’ve made so far and the reasons why I made them-

HACMAN- I made this because I wanted to test a Unity asset for doing ai called Rain

The Bad Platform- I made this because I wanted to try developing a game for Android- I couldn’t get the Android build working right so I just made it a web player game

Magnetdroid- I made this for a one month game jam contest and because I wanted to test a magnet mechanic for a future game- I created my own magnetic system but use this asset it now as its a much better solution

Smashy Town- I made this game for a street festival in my town of San Jose, Ca- I wanted to try doing local multiplayer as I’d never done it before and to see what it would be like working with another person on a game as I made this with my friend James Id.

Powerless- I made this because I wanted to test out a dialogue asset and use behavior trees in a project as I was learning how to use them at the time- I also wanted to create my first cutscenes using a new asset

So at this point I feel that these projects have been tests leading up to the creation of my first real game that I will commit to and try to make really amazing- none of these previous projects took longer than a month to make so it wasn’t much time wasted-

I’m starting to feel like I’m spinning my wheels with these test projects and am ready to take on a real project that I will see through to completion-

Before I started any of these projects I had such a game in mind but I lacked the skills to take it on at that time- I still feel the fear and apprehension at the thought of starting it now but I know I need too or else I’ll get stuck in this testing cycle and just keep buying/playing with new assets-

I did start working on that game- you can see some of enemy ai tests for it here

One of my problems is that I’ll be working on a prototype then see some cool mechanic in some other game then I’m like “ I wonder how I would do that?” then I’ll get sidetracked trying to figure it out then I’ll eventually do it and be like “ I need to use this in my game “ but this never stops then I just have a heap of mismatched game mechanics-

I’d assume thats not the way to make a good game as then you have to try and find the core of your game in this mess of random mechanics-

I’m restarting my big game idea/project now- I picked it up again a week ago- it still terrifies me BUT I know that if I never commit and go for it I’ll never be able to make this game-

I’m doing it the right way this time as I’m prototyping the mechanics using crappy 3d objects so I can’t use good art to cover up shitty design-

I come from a background in filmmaking/animation design so I always wanted to jump ahead to the art phase- and as tempting as it is I know I won’t make a good game that way- so I’m working with 3d prims and getting my fsm’s and behavior tree’s working well-

The behavior tree below is for the enemy npc “Senses”- its not as glamorous as doing animation and adding fx but it’ll make or break the game so I’m spending the necessary time getting this stuff right in to prototype

My goal is to use this “senses” tree as an external reference tree I can load into all the NPC’s which they can use to detect the player through sight, react when damaged, and react when another npc calls for help, the game will make use of decoy objects you can throw for enemies to chase as well so that will be built in here as well-

I hope this is for the right reasons and not just more of me spinning my wheels 0_0

I’ll try to keep me on track

I’ll use this site to document my progress- thx for reading

#game dev #tlnl

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mdsgames-blog · 9 years

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Here are the games I’ve made so far- nothing too ambitious yet but I hope to change that with my next one ^_^ I’ll be posting here about making games from now on-

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mdsgames-blog · 9 years

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Enemy behavior trees from my game POWERLESS- I used the awesome Unity asset Behavior Designer to make these tree’s

Download the game for PC here http://gamejolt.com/dashboard/developer/games/view/58560/

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mdsgames-blog · 10 years

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Play my new game THE BAD PLATFORM the first PLATFORMER REVENGE game right in your browser here http://gamejolt.com/games/platformer/the-bad-platform/30324/

#the bad platform #M Dot Strange #indie game

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mdsgames-blog · 10 years

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In a faraway boxy place... You are a robot named MagnetDroid... You wield the power of magnetics... and so do your enemies...

My new game is available for download now- have fun!

#magnetdroid

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mdsgames-blog · 10 years

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MAGNETDROID: the video game I'm working on right now- will be available soon!

#M Dot Strange #magnetdroid

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mdsgames-blog · 10 years

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I make video games now- here's some images from my latest project MAGNETDROID https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOvJ0iojx1o

#M Dot Strange #magnetdroid

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mdsgames-blog · 10 years

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Buy my art to fund some new strange video games!

I need to buy some plugins for Unity3d to go forward on my second game project that I will announce soon. My first test "game" is here.

I made these hand drawn, one of a kind autographed postcards to sell so I can raise the funds to buy the Unity assets I need.

They are $25 each- Email me at [email protected] and let me know what # you'd like-payments through paypal- or bitcoin/litecoin

There's only one of each so grab the one you want before its gone! They are all 4" x 6" and I'll mail them to you with a special message. Some of these images are cropped but the original art is not.

#01 BROKE

#02 COUNT BADMAN

#03 BEFORE IT WAS COOL

#04 EMMM

#05 HOPE

#06 I'M A WORRIER

#07 LATEASAURUS

#08 I'M SPOOKY

#09 WATCHING U

#10 SAMHAINE

#11 LOST IN THE WOODS

#12 SNAILZ

#13 STRANGE SELFIE

#14 TIE

#15 TRUST ME

#16 CRABBY

#17 BREAK

I've dedicated this year to learning game development and consequently I'm making my own games- my experience in making animated feature films helps a lot but I'm lost when it comes to scripting so I'm hoping to buy some add-ons for Unity3d that will help me with that-

Here is what I'm raising money to buy

Motion Controller $65

Adventure Camera $35

Behavior Designer $50

There's a few others I'd like to get if I have the funds but those are the most important

I'd like to buy a Unity Pro license as well but at $1500 I'll have to do some more serious fundraising for that once I get this game off the ground- my plan is to use these postcard funds so I can get the tools I need to build a prototype- then once that is working and released I'll see if I can raise the funds to make the full game.

Since I'm not a coder and learning scripting has been slow- these tools allow me to create games despite my inability to code.

Thanks and best to you! I hope you get the postcard you like! If you have art requests email me and let me know as I'd love to do a commissioned piece for you [email protected]

#M Dot Strange #game development

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mdsgames-blog · 10 years

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