Tag: game development
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Toying with an MP Monster Battler
I picked up the new Pokemon Legends: Arceus last week and my boys and I are really enjoying passing the controller around to take turns roaming the open regions of Hisui in search of new pocket monsters to nab. It’s inspired me to prototype a monster battler of sorts – but built specifically for multiplayer!…
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Experiments with Airbending
My kids and I have been watching the Avatar series – both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. We love so much about the universe – the mysticism, the fight choreography, the factions, the individual journeys. It’s so so good and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to dive in! I…
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Target’s Spark Series
The folks at Target invited me to speak at Spark: a monthly speaker series at their headquarters in Minneapolis. It was really nice to have a conversation with all kinds of designers, art directors, writers, and developers about the creative process. As the first game developer to grace their stage, I felt obligated to provide some context about what’s challenging about game development and…
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Macy’s Day Balloon
This year, Eruptor took flight at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and I was lucky enough to be one of its carriers!
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Multiplayer Chat
After spending months pouring over books and tutorials on game networking, I jumped into what (I thought) would be a simple first exercise: a 3D chat room. I’m here to say that the warnings are very much true: multiplayer is crazy hard!! In this test, I built an eight player lobby that synchronizes avatar movement,…
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Lock Master (Part 2)
I’ve been having a blast recreating this Skylander mini-game, so I’ve decided to build it out a little further than I had originally planned. Besides for fleshing out additional mechanics, like teleportation and death, and implementing the actual character model + animations, I also wanted to 1) fully utilize the canvas and 2) try to…
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Lock Master
For this next test, I’ve decided to try and recreate the Lock Master mini games found in both Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders: Giants. Because the game relies on gravity to navigate the character, it really lends itself well to mobile devices. In this test, I learned how to: Utilize screen orientation Manage and limit…
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Connect Four!
For this next test, I wanted to try and tackle a grid-based puzzle game. My previous tests have mostly involved individual elements reacting relative to each other, but in a puzzle game, every asset must be accounted for in a larger system to determine a win. I chose to try and recreate the classic board…
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A Mario Clone
I’ve just finished reading the incredible book, Game Feel by Steve Swink. In it, he describes specific examples of how tight, responsive feedback coupled with expectation-altering cues can create experiences that quickly feel second nature, like a virtual extension of the self. The original Super Mario Bros. did this effortlessly and I could never articulate why the…
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A 1st Person Wii Shooter
Up until this point, I’ve been building all my tests as simple, flat, 2D experiences. With my newfound familiarity with the Wiimote’s pointer, I’ve decided to jump into the brave new world of 3D and attempt to build a first person shooter experience. This was built in the TFB Tool for the Wii. The video…
Yanman! 