Dev Links: Body Parts
Today’s Developer Links encourage you to face the music. This means asking the hard questions before you start. Thinking about how you want your players to feel about your game’s content. And… oh, yeah, literally considering how best to approach music for an indie game.
Is Game Music All It Can Be? (Gamasutra)
“This piece is directed toward those who make, compose for, and/or enjoy a cinematic game experience common to most triple-A and an increasing number of indie titles. It touches on elements common to all video games in many places, but the purpose is not to play the nagging Jewish mother to two-man developers about how they should be more like their big brother who graduated summa cum laude and landed a big contract with Activision and will probably cure cancer someday. The purpose is to help producers communicate with their composers, help composers hone their craft, and help the end consumer become more educated about the potential value of game music.”
Starting A New Game Project? Ask The Hard Questions First (AltDevBlogADay)
“We have all been there. You wanted to start a new game project, and possibly have been dreaming of the possibilities for a long time, crafting stories, drawing sketches, imagining the dazzling effects on that particular epic moment of the game… then you start to talk to some friends about it, they give you feedback, and even might join you in the crazy journey of actually doing something about it.
Fast forward some weeks or months, and you’ve been pulling too many all-nighters, having lots of junk food and heated discussions. You might even have a playable prototype, several character models, animations, a carefully crafted storyline, a website with a logo and everything but… it just doesn’t feel right. It’s not coming together and everyone involved with the project is afraid to say something. What happened? What went wrong? How such an awesome idea became this huge mess?”
Let’s Make Chasing Aurora: #2 Tuning Waterfalls (Broken Rules)
“We’ve been polishing Chasing Aurora for the last weeks. I did a few screencasts while working in the level editor, to show you guys how we work. This time you can watch me tune a waterfall.”
Your Thursday Dose Of Classy (Owlchemy Labs)
“Have you added a bit of class to your critters yet?”
Cherry Tree High Comedy Club Review (Zeboyd Games)
“The premise to Cherry Tree High Comedy Club should be familiar to anyone who has watched a lot of anime. You are a high school student who wants to start an unusual school club – in this case, a comedy club. Unfortunately, the school rules require a minimum of five members for a club to gain official status (i.e. receive funding & a club room on campus) and you only have two people so far (yourself and your roommate). Oh and you’ve only got a little over a month to come up with three more members before the submission deadline has passed.”
Content. (Bientôt l’été)
“I am very concerned with the experience that players of Bientôt l’étéwill have. How the game makes them feel. What it makes them think. It’s delightful to hear that it inspires them. That they find meaning and value in the piece.”
Leveling Up In Heileen 3 (Computer Games)
“I know the title seems weird. After all Heileen 3 is a dating sim, a life sim, but not a RPG. So what’s about this level up thing? Well first of all in the game there will be all the classic relationship bar/values we’re used to in sex dating sims as you can see in the screenshot below:”
Good Morning Gato # 103 – Through the Looking Glass (Ska Studios)
“Well, we missed two weeks of Good Morning Gatos. I’d love to point the blame at the storm that exploded the East Coast last week, but the fact is our area of upstate New York was remarkably untouched, aside from a brief bit of wind that miraculously blew all of the leaves from our yard into the street. Many others south of us were hit hard by Sandy and we can only count our lucky stars that we and the cats are safe and toasty warm. The cause for this Gato delay can only be attributed to good old fashioned ‘we have been very busy’.”
