Game ideas born at the lunch table
I know that a lot of the people reading this are game developers who make games themselves. So to that audience I ask, how often do you find yourself sitting around, talking with friends, and coming up with hilarious ideas for weird little games? If you’re like me then it probably happens a lot - I find that at GAMBIT we discuss weird concepts for little games all the time, especially when we’re eating lunch. Normally these ideas are funny in theory but would probably be terrible in execution, however this time I think that we came up with something that could actually be both funny and enjoyable to play.
So I think we’re going to try to actually give it a shot, and maybe put on a small game jam to make the game a reality. I won’t spill the beans about what the idea is about, but I will say that it involves explosions. I’ll either post a link to the results in a few weeks, or I will come back on the blog and admit, head hanging heavy in shame, that we did not succeed in making the game because we are super lame. Stay tuned!
June 29, 2009 | | Comments (0)
Category: Games, Random
Tags: challenge, explosion, GAMBIT, game jam, MIT
What We’re Playing: Grow Cube
Got a few hours to kill? Are you really into trial and error? Then do I have a game for you! Grow Cube is a fun and addicting little game in which you add elements to a cube and watch them interact. It seems simple but the combinations possible through trial and error make the game really interesting. It’s also wicked cool to see the little dudes do their thing and run around the environment. While the end goal may not be clear I can assure you that you will know when you’ve won.
If you like the game I’d recommend checking out all the other offerings at by EYEZMAZE, like the Grow RPG. I might do a separate blog post on that one later.
June 22, 2009 | | Comments (0)
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: addicting, cube, eyezmaze, grow, rpg
Who wants to join a Fire Hose D&D campaign?
Dungeons and Dragons is something that I’ve always wanted to play, but in shame have never really gotten around to it. Sure, I’ve played variants like Final Fantasy (the original) and Baldur’s Gate II, and last summer I even played around two minutes of an awesome campaign headed up by Josh Diaz at GAMBIT, but I can’t say that I’ve honestly ever spent time with it.
Well, no more! I’m planning on starting a new campaign using the new 4th edition rules. And I need people to join me! 4-6 people, specifically. So I thought I’d have some fun and invite you, loyal Fire Hose blog reader, to play. Want to join? Here are the requirements:
- Must live in Boston/Cambridge
- Must be free on Monday nights, from 7-10pm
- Must be super awesome, and have fought dinosaurs before
- Ideally we’ll have a mix of guys and girls, game developers and non-game developers
If you’re interested shoot me an e-mail! You can use my super secret address of my first name at firehosegames.com to profess your desire to join, and if you make the cut we’ll get you set up.
June 19, 2009 | | Comments (2)
Category: Random
Tags: baldur's, campaign, diaz, dragons, dungeons, fantasy, final, GAMBIT, game night, gate, josh, wizards of the coast
GAMBIT Prototyping Slides Available Here!
Today Sharat and I gave a talk at the Singapore MIT GAMBIT game lab on rapidly building video game prototypes. It’s something of a rip off of Ethan’s and my IGCE talk from last month but this has a stronger focus on development and how to make different types of prototypes. I suggest checking it out! For more info on prototyping you can also see my guest blog from last week on Sande Chen’s game design website.
June 15, 2009 | | Comments (0)
Category: Words of Wisdom
Tags: Ethan, GAMBIT, how to, MIT, prototype, prototyping, Sharat
Words of Wisdom: Prototyping - Do it Quick + Dirty
Sande Chen recently asked me to a guest post for her monthly blog on game design. I was happy to help, and honestly a little bit flattered/stupefied that she would even ask me to help. Nevertheless I was happy to help, and I’ve copied the entire post below. It’s a bit of a how to on video game prototyping, with emphasis on getting shit done and why this is important. Enjoy!
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So you’ve got an idea for a game, but you’re missing an artist, you don’t have the design nailed down, you need to find funding, and you don’t know what platform you’re going to develop for, you’re not sure that the concept is even feasible, or you [insert development hurdle of your choice here]. How do you even start? With prototyping!
Prototyping is the process of making a small, crappy, slapped-together version that demonstrates certain key aspects of your final vision. It’s a great way to start making games since it is far less daunting, and during the process you’ll learn a lot about what you should actually do in the full version. Prototypes are throw away, but that’s a good thing since it’ll give you more freedom to experiment in ways you might not normally try.
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June 10, 2009 | | Comments (0)
Category: Words of Wisdom
Tags: chen, design, how to, prototype, prototyping, sande
E3 2009: New Video Game UIs!
There were a lot of announcements from this year’s E3 conference, including all sorts of fun, awesome games that I can’t wait to try out. It seems like the conference is getting back to something of its former glory after a few years of mediocrity. Even the booth babes were back!
However, the most exciting announcement by far (in my book) was that both Microsoft and Sony seem really dedicated to doing new, exciting things with user interfaces. Microsoft announced project Natal, which seems to be a camera that uses both the visible and IR spectrums to make some 3D guesses about where a user is and what they’re doing. I’m a bit dubious of the tech as there is no controller involved (what happens when users get tired?) and a straight up camera has other limitations based on the environment. However, Microsoft apparently has Johnny Won working on the project, which makes me feel a lot better. Let’s see what he can come up with.
Sony unveiled their own new tech with the PS3 Eye, and Rick Marks spoke about the advancements they had made with the tech since last year. They used a weird controller with glowing bulbs to help with camera tracking problems, and while this may seem less sexy than Natal I believe the controller will ultmately be more reliable as a result. It’ll also be nice to be able to push buttons on occasion if the user wants to. The Eye also has a microphone array so it can do voice detection - I assume the Natal does also but I haven’t seen anything about that yet. Rick’s a super smart guy (I got to chat with him last year at MIT) and I’ve got a lot of faith in his work too.
So will either, both, or neither of these controllers be successful? Time will tell.
June 7, 2009 | | Comments (0)
Category: News
Tags: camera, E3, interface, johny, marks, microsoft, richard, rick, sony, user, won
What We’re Playing: Effing Hail
We like simple games, and we like simple games that are pretty, polished, and funny. Effing Hail is all of these things, and certainly worth a go! You take the role of a pissed of gust of wind, and try to juggle huge balls of hail in order to rain destruction onto the unsuspecting society below. You’ll get the chance to destroy homes, skyscrapers, airplanes, weather balloons, an even satellites. Fun stuff! Greg Wohlwend is the nut behind the game, and it looks like he’s made a bunch of other titles too and has an awesome portfolio that is like old school Logo.
Take five minutes and go rain some destruction down up the masses!
June 1, 2009 | | Comments (0)
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: effing, greg, hail, logo, wohlwend
Boston Anime Con
What did you do this weekend? Maybe you dressed up like your favorite Anime/Video game character? A lot of people did in Boston. Test your geek knowledge by naming the video game characters below:
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Can you name them all? Mouse over for the answers! You can also follow the jump for two bonus characters. (more…)
May 26, 2009 | | Comments (3)
Category: Random
Tags: anime, cosplay, costume
Using Mojo for Games
Our fearless leader was interviewed recently by Play As Life, discussing his role as founder of Fire Hose Games, his ideas about video games (and space), and he even got hockey in there. Eitan discussed his ideas for games, especially accessibility, learning, and having fun. He used these ideals for examples of how video games can have an impact and the obligation he, and Fire Hose, feel as developers to aspire to having this kind of impact through video games.
Random trivia - did you know Eitan bought his first game console with money earned from his paper route in 6th grade?
You can find the full text of the article here. Enjoy!
May 22, 2009 | | Comments (2)
Category: News
Tags: audiodyssey, GAMBIT, immuneattack, MIT, Play As Life
What we could learn from Star Trek
I just saw the new Star Trek movie a few days ago, and I have to say that it was pretty fun! Sure there were some ridiculous plot holes, and Kirk manages to get choked to near-death 3 times in one day and is still running around, but that’s not important. What is important is that the movie is fun, and makes Star Trek feel new and exciting again.
But how? One of Star Trek’s biggest problems is that it is mired in this crap canon built up from decades of series. The entire goddamn Star Trek universe history is laid out for some 200+ years, and between the books, tv shows, and movies it is almost impossible to write new material in this universe without either contradicting canon or making the story especially lame. The film does a great job of bypassing all this by inserting some useful time travel and effectively declaring that we are now in a new Star Trek universe, which while similar to what you’re used to, is an entirely different entity and capable of new, original story lines. Bravo, writers!
So what could video games learn from this? We’ve got a bunch of brands (Zelda, Metroid, Warcraft, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest, etc.) which are now long running series with largely derivative sequels due to built up expectations for what the game should be. This is the game equivalent of canon, IMO. What if the new versions in these series bucked these expectations through some smart twist (perhaps time travel?) and clearly stated that we are in a new universe where there are new rules for the series? It could make an old series really exciting, and allow it to actually innovate. I’m not holding my breath on the big names though…
*Update: Sharat has pointed out that the Zelda series is probably not the best example, as it tried to reboot with Majora’s Mask and didn’t really succeed so well.