What Games Are

Is a Post-Programming Age Possible? [Questions]

A discontinuity (for me) as computing continues to evolve is how the tools for developing software still seem remarkably basic. While software has fundamentally changed how we make content, programming itself is still a byzantine world of text instructions, compilers, debuggers and arcane syntax. And so it remains the preserve of the technical rather than the creative.

There are tools that have attempted to bridge this gap such as GameMaker, but have always involved massive trade-offs in performance and flexibility. There have also been changes in programming itself, such as object oriented programming and new languages, to make many operations easier than they used to be.

And yet development is still a complex and cold process where one day of design requires 90 days of development to see if it works. Is that the way it has to be, or is it an area ripe for disruption? Are we ever likely to see tools that allow users to design proper applications or games based on logical rules, and yet use a much more intuitive interface to do so?

A Simple Reason Why Games Aren’t Finished

CNN recently asked why games are never finished by most players. In an age when production values are so high, it’s a very valid question. The industry response is often that older players with work and family commitments simply can’t play as much as they used to, so this makes the case for shorter, more intense, games.

I disagree. In my experience, players find the time to play just as readers find the time to read. Online games also indicate that games can occupy many hundreds of hours for motivated players in the right circumstances.

The uncomfortable question to ask is whether the problem is the games rather than the players. Simply put, are players not completing games because they’re boring?

Worlds in Motion [Game Design]

Game worlds are a subset of all kinds of worlds, defined by a specific quality that other worlds lack. There is a problem to be solved, an area to be explored, a reward to be earned or a contest to be won. There is a kind of pressure when playing in a game, and a sense of risk. There is change, death, rebirth and a state of flux.

So in a sense the difference between a game world and a virtual world is one of motion. Game worlds are built for movement.

How Many Root Gameplays Are There?

As I sit in Madrid airport awaiting a flight home, the question occurs: How many root gameplays are there? By root I mean modes or elemental types, not individual games.

I can think of three: Strategy, obstacle courses and gardening. The first covers many boardgames, the second many single player games and puzzles, the third sim, farm, animal and so forth.

I'm probably being intellectually too reductive. What do you think?

Do Your Players Know Their Role? [Game Design]

Some games are made of smaller games, like Wii Sports or the Total War games. Other separations are softer. Vehicle play in Grand Theft Auto feels quite different from on-foot, and GTA is essentially two games which link strongly.

When games mix they can create exciting new experiences, but many mixes just don’t work. Rather than being enhanced by their interaction, these games pull on each other, leaving the overall experience to be one of dysnergy, the opposite of synergy.

Perhaps the game design has forgotten the importance of the player’s role. Role is not a marketing issue. It is how players understand your game and why it's awesome

Is Google+ the Next Big Thing? [Platforms]

The social games industry sprung back into the news last week after a quiet few months with the exciting revelation that Google+ had officially opened up its games business. Offering a clean design, an attractive financial package and even a hosting solution, it seems like it could be the next hot ticket platform.

But is it?

Getting the Jumps Right [Testing]

In games, like any art, nothing is as it appears, not even something as straightforward as Mario’s jump. What initially seems to be the simplest action in all of gaming is actually fiendishly hard to bring to a finished state. Taking the time to get the basics right marks out a polished game from a typical one.

So the question for your game is, irrespective of budget, time or platform, have you got the jumps right?

Your Rage Is Pointless [Motivation]

Network is my favourite film. It tells the stories of Howard Beale, and more broadly of network news itself, as Beale goes insane on air and taps into the rage of a generation. “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more!” he cries, and the whole nation cries with him.

Sometimes it’s like that in games. Consider how many developers hate Zynga, Ian Bogost’s declaration that gamification is bull, or a recent thread on Facebook asking whether Angry Birds is really that good, to be met with a torrent of acidic responses. Consider many of the threads in forums like The Chaos Engine where shared misery is a state of being.

Resentment, anger, begrudgery, disappointment and so on are common in any creative field. Yet they serve no purpose and can sap your enthusiasm for trying to do something awesome if you let them.

Would You Play It? [Passion]

So maybe you have an idea but you’re not really sure whether to develop it or not. How would you know? Well how about:

Do your thoughts keep drifting back to it?

Do you find yourself carrying around a notebook and scribbling half-imagined thoughts at inappropriate times?

Are you obsessing on particular parts of it just for fun?

These kinds of behaviours are what passion looks like. They’re the point where game making is not just an intellectual exercise or a problem to be solved, but instead where you’re excited. The most important question to ask is this:

Would you play it?

Small Ponds [Development Strategy]

Bright lights, big city. Developing for a hit platform often feels a bit like being a young ingénue getting on the bus to New York City in hope of becoming a Broadway star. There are huge opportunities, but also massive competition, so for every star who makes it there are a thousand who don’t.

Often the smart move is to start somewhere quieter. The actress who starts in smaller venues learning her trade and developing a following has more chance of making it than the ingénue off the bus, and similarly in games the developer who focuses on a quiet platform can often achieve something much more sustainable.