Update 7/19/2014 also Elemental Tetrahedral

Update!
So!

I've gotten a lot of progress done on Save The Animals! I talked to Dave and it seems to be what he needed. We've have two sessions where we sit down and get work done. to top that off, I have imported animations, and we are looking at sound effects for the animals.

Yay!

In other news! I have talked to my friend Dale about his project. It sounds cool but all together too far out for something I want to work on. I'm sure I'll end up working on it anyways cuz I love games but that's further down the road.(if at all) He's going to introduce me to a friend of his who is working on some sort of Occulus rift project. I won't say more as I am not signed on to either project so I can't really give anything away, but if I do get on one of the projects I will be sure to talk about the issues involved and any interesting revelations that I hear.

Now then I wanted to talk about something interesting I read from the book The art of Game Design: A book of lenses. This is about the elemental tetrahedral of game design. It says that there are four basic elements to just about any game and they are: Mechanics, Asthetics, Story and Technology. The latter one is the least obvious. It refers to the technology you use to interact with the game. For example, a controller or a joystick or a mouse or even a rollerball such as at an arcade machine.

These elements are crucial to any and every game. You can be very good at one and bomb another one. However, typically, on a team of developers, you don't need to be good at all of them, because it is likely that one of the other developers is good at one of the other ones. Unfortunately, as a indie game dev I kind of need to be good at all of them. Being one of the only two people on a team means I need my bases covered. Not complaining just saying that it requires a wide field of understanding to do indie game development.

more on the elements:

Mechanics: These refer to game mechanics. Such as currency systems, and character skills, or just general gameplay mechanics. These are crucial to a game that it has good game mechanics or the game will feel boring.

Aesthetics: These refer to visual aesthetics as well as audio. It also refers to aesthetics both in game and out of game (Think box art, or art on the side of the arcade machine). Aesthetics are important for a lot of reasons. It gives pleasing visual appeal. Some players will want to play through a level, even if its not so interesting, just to see a cinematic or because they like the look of their character. Think of the last time you had a choice between characters or gear and you made a decision because you liked the way some thing looked! Some people will even buy a crappy game because it looks nice!

Story: This should seem obvious, but its importance may not. Story is a great way to give meaning to pixels. It's also one of the best ways to give a game a sense of progression. Rather than just beating level after level, each level is actually a part of a story and you are going along through this story, one level at a time. This is a great element!

Technology: Technology can cause all sorts of restraints on processing speed, or definition of visuals, memory size, etc. It also can create a tactile sense of game interaction. A game where your a ball that rolls around on a level feels very different when you are playing that game with a rollerball. papers please is played on mouse and keyboard (mostly mouse) and moving the mouse around, gives you a sense of moving papers around on your desk. This tactile sense end of the technology element falls almost simultaneously into the Aesthetics element.

These elements are greatly useful for dividing your game design up mentally, and ensuring that each element feeds well into each other element, and to think about what parts of the game you have designed for each of the elements to ensure none are lacking!

Awesome. Keep gaming my peeps!