Animalistic
Something that frequently bothers me is the way animals are treated in games. There are a few dimensions to this: Often, the only animals represented in a game are those which pose a direct threat, aggressive predators which attack at…
Cross-Pollination
I admire innovative game design. It’s always fascinating to see new ideas for expressing things through gameplay, new ideas for things to be expressed through gameplay, new ideas for what sorts of play could even be considered a game. At…
Join the Madness DevBlog, June 2022 – Worries
It feels like progress has really slowed down recently. I think that has a lot to do with what sorts of work on the project feel like progress and which don’t. A lot of the last week or so has…
Join the Madness DevBlog, May 2022 – Dogged Determination
This has been a productive month, though much of that productivity has been invested into small tweaks and improvements that it’s hard to say much about. As I continue work on this project, I’ve been trying to develop better and…
Pause
You may have noticed I’ve fallen progressively further behind on posting updates here. I mentioned some time back that this was because some of the essays were getting too big and detailed – that is still true, I have a…
Magic/Routine
I don’t like spell-casting much in games. If I get the option between playing as a character who uses physical weapons and one who uses magic I will almost always choose the former – which is a bit odd when…
The Flow Between
In animation “tweening” refers to creating the frames that smooth out the action and make it read as a single motion. Traditionally, the frames which define a motion – the “key” frames – would be drawn be the lead animator,…
Join the Madness DevBlog, April 2022 – Strides
At the time of last month’s development update, I’d just managed to finalize the layout of the inventory screen, but was struggling to get it fully implemented. After much strife I managed to figure out enough of Unity’s UI system…
Made to Order
Solving a problem is one of the most satisfying sensations in the world. Often this satisfaction is preceded by hours, days, months, or years of tedium and frustration as we struggle to understand the problem, collect the tools and skills…
Silent Hill: The Bad Place
“In my restless dreams, I see that town.” I miss Silent Hill. The games are still around, of course, and perhaps I ought to replay them – but you can’t really go back, and any replay is going to be…