General Ramblings of the senseless....

So I have lots to write & talk about this week – this will be quite a lengthy post with many random topics; I’ll try to keep your interest.

As a future game designer I spend a lot of my time on the internet, playing games, watching streams of games, reading reviews & so on. My most noticeable view lately is that, there just aren’t enough games to capture the attention as of late – Not to say there aren’t any, there’s just not enough. I primarily talk of multiplayer games as that is what I play the most over the last few years, and I have now come to the realization that I, again, need to improve my game base. I used to play everything as a child/teen but as the years went by nothing really capture my attention, at least not enough to make me come back or leave me speechless. I need to play MORE, more single player, more genres, more indie games – Especially as a budding designer.

A game that has had my brain working overtime lately is Evoland. This game has one of the most amazing ideas I have seen, especially from an indie game. The game plays In sorts of an unlock able history of games. You, the player, unlock features throughout chests in the game, such as 16bit graphics, 16bit sounds, and 3D graphics and so on. This idea has me thinking of all the possibilities that could be made to a bigger effect ideally and I’ve been enthralled by it.

Onto the next note; The steam summer sale. This is pretty much the #1 thing all PC gamers await every year. I do have to say that some of the offers are very hard to pass up on and are a damn right steal. However, they are very lack lustre this year and seemingly the same as the year before and the year before that. Most PC gamers will have brought the majority of these games in past sales and nothing has really captured the attention of “An amazing deal” for the most part. This is a shame and I hope Valve step up their game for the remaining few days of the sale.

Esports is a huge industry of sorts. I am a big fan of watching the streams of my favourite players from different games hash it out and the crowds that support them offer a thrill akin to modern sports. The industry is growing bigger by the year which bodes well for the gaming industry as a hole. But I often wonder, with the lack of PVP (player Vs player games) being diverse as such – the MOBA/ARTS scene is taking over – will it eventually bring the downfall of eSports? Fighting games play a role in this scene as well as traditional RTS titles but there’s not a huge diverse option for competitive differences to be brought to the industry, something new needs to help spark the scene more.

The next generation of game consoles is drawing near fast and I’m eagerly awaiting more news to be released.  With titles such as Watch Dogs and Titan Fall being showcased it brings up the question of how powerful the systems really are, more so in comparison to PC’s. How powerful will my PC have to be to play these games at a comparable graphics setting to the next gen consoles? Will there be much difference? I’ve always found PC gaming to be undervalued, the games that are released have always been held back by the current gen consoles, mostly in terms of graphical playability – PC’s are rarely tested to their full potential nowadays & limits the player base of game exclusive such as The Last of Us or upcoming titles like Watch Dogs.

I'll stop the ramblings now as i could write for days and days about random things to do with games. I am eagerly awaiting my next year at university so i can start updating the blog with useful design ideas/work & so on.

                                                   Curiosity is the engine of achievement

From here to there and there to here.

So another weekly blog update - I need to draw in more viewers some how ^_^. Anyway, I've decided to put on hold the learning process for the remainder of the summer. A few reasons really; I'm really enjoying getting back into single player games (I'll get back to this later) & feel that i'd like to enjoy the summer months before i get back to my studies - I don't want to fry my brain for no reason :)

So I've been playing a few games lately, Tomb Raider, World of Warplanes, Far Cry 3, Borderlands 2 and Sonic & All stars: Transformed. All good games and I find them enjoyable, mostly with unique features and compelling stories (For the single players) which keeps my mind racing with potential ideas.

Onto random ramblings anyway. I backed a kick-starter project called Godus (Made by 22cans) not long back. With their unique take/adaptation on god mode games and constant developer vlogs via youtube I was compelled and will eagerly await this game. As a side part to this, the lead designer; Peter Molyneux will be attending my university to guest lecture so I'm very excited for this.

Along with this game I looked at Ubisofts current alpha game; The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot. I feel the game industry has a giant influx in free to play games. I feel that with the success rate of kickstarter project this is both good and bad for the game industry. I have to say though, that companies like ubisoft see to strive to destroy this payment model that is becoming ever popular - I talk primarily of Pay2Win. These kind of games award players who have the ability to just throw money at the game and progress through content at an alarming rate - Whilst I understand companies have to make money, there's other methods to do this. It severely impacts multi player games like this because players would rather not play against others that have amazing items/loot/gear just because they are willing to throw money at the game. I feel this destroys games that have such promise like this and will weaken the genre of any game type that will be created at a later date.

I'll wrap up here with saying that i've not really talked about anything of merit in this weeks blog, but will continue with random thoughts and slowly progress towards useful articles at a later date. Steam sales are upon us and many games are ready for playing during the summer.

                                                   Curiosity is the engine of achievement

All play and no work...

Another week goes by and i can blissfully say, progress has been made. Though very small amounts (got to start the ball rolling somewhere right?).

To start what seems like an exhaustive process I've finally began following a short series of tutorials i dug up off the Internet to begin learning the UI and general controls of UDK. The videos are well rehearsed, give good insight  and offer a wide array of options for each method of arriving at a solution to creation - I find this beneficial as it will teach more non linear ways to solve any problems and prefer this method of teaching personally.


I don't think learning UDK will be my main downfall - I'm quite quick at learning (especially things i find enjoyable ultimately and progressively). My main problem is all the ideas i seem to have lately. I've been playing quite a lot of games and wrestling the thoughts in my head of what are seemingly cool mechanics for games, but then, How do I implement them into a game? Is it fun? Is it unique? Then goes the story aspect of possible games, Who are the characters? What is the story? What is the world? I like all these aspects when thinking up ideas, both big and small. Though i fear my biggest issue when the time comes to creating my own ideas in a game format is, Will i be committed enough?

Well, the general consensus that seems to shroud the game industry is, from my understanding; Everyone has ideas. Everyone is talented. Everyone is creative. So, ultimately, what can i (anyone) else do to separate themselves from the huge amount of creativity in this industry without being fearful that their ideas and designs aren't good enough.


Perhaps though, I'm over thinking what it means to be a designer? And should focus more on my love and ambition to just create games and ideas for fun rather than what i think the industry needs & wants. After all, games are seldom created by one person.

Being at university seems to have given me a shrewed opinion on what it takes to be a professional designer, albeit that seems the case with most industries in this day and age. It seems the case that we're not going to make our dream game, we're not going to work for the company of our choice, we're not the next best thing to come into the industry. Well, that dampens the moods of all budding professionals. It's a flaw in the education that demeans the students and stunts their growths. I feel the negativity will only impact my ability to want to create and that shouldn't be the case. I need to shoot beyond the stars (cheesy yes) - But what's the point of being told nothing will come of anything and it will generally be menial. I strive to create. I want to be told there's no limit, not shot down at the first hurdle.

So, general ramblings aside. I'm looking forward to getting my hands deeper into UDK and any other engine i feel ready to learn over the summer and eagerly await my next year at university. With the next gen on consoles and games coming out it will only fuel my imagination more to want to create something awe inspiring - If only to myself at least.

                                                   Curiosity is the engine of achievement