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No game is created just out of thin air without any idea of how to set it out first. What it is going to be about, map design and realism all have to be thought out carefully before any development can take place. Without an idea, a game has no skeleton, or structure to follow and therefore falls apart before it has a chance to be put together. The idea needs to follow a storyline and flow easily from section to section, level to level, cut scene to cut scene. Whenever a player speaks, it has to have some relevance to the games storyline, unless there is one good reason not to.
A good example where a character does something that isn't relevant to the game is inside Arsenal Gear in Metal Gear Solid 2. When Colonel Campbell begins to glitch and go haywire because his operating system, GW, has been overrun by a computer virus. He begins to call you at random times and when you answer him, he blurts out things in Japanese, or things relating to the previous MGS, or just plain, whacky comments like telling you to turn the console off.
Once an idea has been thought up, it's a case of deciding on how realistic the game is going to be. Is it going to be set in a real place, with buildings and inventions that actually exist, or is it going to be a fictional game with hardly any relation to the real world, with unreal weapons and weird, deformed creatures ripe for the blastin'? And if they choose the realistic approach, will it roll on into a sequel, and how much research must be done in order to make it realistic? If you ever watched the DVD that came with MGS2 then you would've seen the documentary about the making of the game, where the team acted out how they thought the guards would manoeuvre around the map, or how they when on expeditions to photograph and film real places in order to get the correct pictures, texture and feel for the game to seem like you were actually in the game.
But before any of that can go ahead, what exactly gives the producer the idea for the game in the first place? What is the inspiration or thought which sparks off the development of a game? Some of the ideas and aims behind games are obvious. Take Goldeneye from the N64, for example. That was basically designed after the producer had seen the film, and his aim was to make to first descent film-based video game. And by Jove, he reached his goal! Oh yes! Hideo Kojima had several memories which gave him the ideas for certain things in MGS2, like missing his wedding, or whatever it was. This is why, in the game, Rose keeps asking Jack if he can remember what happened on April 30th. This wouldn't be in the game if Hideo hadn't forgotten his special occasion.
Then there are graphics and maps. When a game is created to look exactly as the developers want, to match their ideas and inspirations, they must try hard to perfect every texture, every polygon, every angle, shape and movement. When one thing is misplaced, usually the average gamer doesn't notice it, so it wouldn't really matter, but if the producer was a person like me, a perfectionist, then they would get really aggravated unless it was put right, absolutely perfectly. Because, although no-one else would notice it, they couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong, and wouldn't be happy about it being that one tiny little bit out.
So, what do you think about the ideas behind a game, or the places featured in games? Do you have any comments on the feel and story of a game?
Thanks for reading
Happy days
Twain
A good example where a character does something that isn't relevant to the game is inside Arsenal Gear in Metal Gear Solid 2. When Colonel Campbell begins to glitch and go haywire because his operating system, GW, has been overrun by a computer virus. He begins to call you at random times and when you answer him, he blurts out things in Japanese, or things relating to the previous MGS, or just plain, whacky comments like telling you to turn the console off.
Once an idea has been thought up, it's a case of deciding on how realistic the game is going to be. Is it going to be set in a real place, with buildings and inventions that actually exist, or is it going to be a fictional game with hardly any relation to the real world, with unreal weapons and weird, deformed creatures ripe for the blastin'? And if they choose the realistic approach, will it roll on into a sequel, and how much research must be done in order to make it realistic? If you ever watched the DVD that came with MGS2 then you would've seen the documentary about the making of the game, where the team acted out how they thought the guards would manoeuvre around the map, or how they when on expeditions to photograph and film real places in order to get the correct pictures, texture and feel for the game to seem like you were actually in the game.
But before any of that can go ahead, what exactly gives the producer the idea for the game in the first place? What is the inspiration or thought which sparks off the development of a game? Some of the ideas and aims behind games are obvious. Take Goldeneye from the N64, for example. That was basically designed after the producer had seen the film, and his aim was to make to first descent film-based video game. And by Jove, he reached his goal! Oh yes! Hideo Kojima had several memories which gave him the ideas for certain things in MGS2, like missing his wedding, or whatever it was. This is why, in the game, Rose keeps asking Jack if he can remember what happened on April 30th. This wouldn't be in the game if Hideo hadn't forgotten his special occasion.
Then there are graphics and maps. When a game is created to look exactly as the developers want, to match their ideas and inspirations, they must try hard to perfect every texture, every polygon, every angle, shape and movement. When one thing is misplaced, usually the average gamer doesn't notice it, so it wouldn't really matter, but if the producer was a person like me, a perfectionist, then they would get really aggravated unless it was put right, absolutely perfectly. Because, although no-one else would notice it, they couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong, and wouldn't be happy about it being that one tiny little bit out.
So, what do you think about the ideas behind a game, or the places featured in games? Do you have any comments on the feel and story of a game?
Thanks for reading
Happy days
Twain
Thanks guys. Not bad for a second GAD, eh? 'tis a shame, though, that no-one replied.
Cant say im not dissapointed, but hey well done.
No-one replied at first but it's their lost as that was a very good post Twain, congratulations on the GAD!
:D
:D
No game is created just out of thin air without any idea of how to set it out first. What it is going to be about, map design and realism all have to be thought out carefully before any development can take place. Without an idea, a game has no skeleton, or structure to follow and therefore falls apart before it has a chance to be put together. The idea needs to follow a storyline and flow easily from section to section, level to level, cut scene to cut scene. Whenever a player speaks, it has to have some relevance to the games storyline, unless there is one good reason not to.
A good example where a character does something that isn't relevant to the game is inside Arsenal Gear in Metal Gear Solid 2. When Colonel Campbell begins to glitch and go haywire because his operating system, GW, has been overrun by a computer virus. He begins to call you at random times and when you answer him, he blurts out things in Japanese, or things relating to the previous MGS, or just plain, whacky comments like telling you to turn the console off.
Once an idea has been thought up, it's a case of deciding on how realistic the game is going to be. Is it going to be set in a real place, with buildings and inventions that actually exist, or is it going to be a fictional game with hardly any relation to the real world, with unreal weapons and weird, deformed creatures ripe for the blastin'? And if they choose the realistic approach, will it roll on into a sequel, and how much research must be done in order to make it realistic? If you ever watched the DVD that came with MGS2 then you would've seen the documentary about the making of the game, where the team acted out how they thought the guards would manoeuvre around the map, or how they when on expeditions to photograph and film real places in order to get the correct pictures, texture and feel for the game to seem like you were actually in the game.
But before any of that can go ahead, what exactly gives the producer the idea for the game in the first place? What is the inspiration or thought which sparks off the development of a game? Some of the ideas and aims behind games are obvious. Take Goldeneye from the N64, for example. That was basically designed after the producer had seen the film, and his aim was to make to first descent film-based video game. And by Jove, he reached his goal! Oh yes! Hideo Kojima had several memories which gave him the ideas for certain things in MGS2, like missing his wedding, or whatever it was. This is why, in the game, Rose keeps asking Jack if he can remember what happened on April 30th. This wouldn't be in the game if Hideo hadn't forgotten his special occasion.
Then there are graphics and maps. When a game is created to look exactly as the developers want, to match their ideas and inspirations, they must try hard to perfect every texture, every polygon, every angle, shape and movement. When one thing is misplaced, usually the average gamer doesn't notice it, so it wouldn't really matter, but if the producer was a person like me, a perfectionist, then they would get really aggravated unless it was put right, absolutely perfectly. Because, although no-one else would notice it, they couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong, and wouldn't be happy about it being that one tiny little bit out.
So, what do you think about the ideas behind a game, or the places featured in games? Do you have any comments on the feel and story of a game?
Thanks for reading
Happy days
Twain
A good example where a character does something that isn't relevant to the game is inside Arsenal Gear in Metal Gear Solid 2. When Colonel Campbell begins to glitch and go haywire because his operating system, GW, has been overrun by a computer virus. He begins to call you at random times and when you answer him, he blurts out things in Japanese, or things relating to the previous MGS, or just plain, whacky comments like telling you to turn the console off.
Once an idea has been thought up, it's a case of deciding on how realistic the game is going to be. Is it going to be set in a real place, with buildings and inventions that actually exist, or is it going to be a fictional game with hardly any relation to the real world, with unreal weapons and weird, deformed creatures ripe for the blastin'? And if they choose the realistic approach, will it roll on into a sequel, and how much research must be done in order to make it realistic? If you ever watched the DVD that came with MGS2 then you would've seen the documentary about the making of the game, where the team acted out how they thought the guards would manoeuvre around the map, or how they when on expeditions to photograph and film real places in order to get the correct pictures, texture and feel for the game to seem like you were actually in the game.
But before any of that can go ahead, what exactly gives the producer the idea for the game in the first place? What is the inspiration or thought which sparks off the development of a game? Some of the ideas and aims behind games are obvious. Take Goldeneye from the N64, for example. That was basically designed after the producer had seen the film, and his aim was to make to first descent film-based video game. And by Jove, he reached his goal! Oh yes! Hideo Kojima had several memories which gave him the ideas for certain things in MGS2, like missing his wedding, or whatever it was. This is why, in the game, Rose keeps asking Jack if he can remember what happened on April 30th. This wouldn't be in the game if Hideo hadn't forgotten his special occasion.
Then there are graphics and maps. When a game is created to look exactly as the developers want, to match their ideas and inspirations, they must try hard to perfect every texture, every polygon, every angle, shape and movement. When one thing is misplaced, usually the average gamer doesn't notice it, so it wouldn't really matter, but if the producer was a person like me, a perfectionist, then they would get really aggravated unless it was put right, absolutely perfectly. Because, although no-one else would notice it, they couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong, and wouldn't be happy about it being that one tiny little bit out.
So, what do you think about the ideas behind a game, or the places featured in games? Do you have any comments on the feel and story of a game?
Thanks for reading
Happy days
Twain