Yearly Archives: 2018
Regional collaboration for serious games
Universen (“The Universe”) is a magazine for Uppsala University employees. Issued six times a year, ~7100 copies are sent to the homes of all employees and other interested parties. In the first issue of 2018 our colleague Lina Sors Emilsson is interviewed about her course Product Development for Games, 15 credits (5SD952).
Lina Sors Emilsson at the Gotland Game Conference 2017.
The interview is unfortunately entirely in Swedish, but she’s talking about how we use this […]
Regional collaboration for serious games
Universen (“The Universe”) is a magazine for Uppsala University employees. Issued six times a year, ~7100 copies are sent to the homes of all employees and other interested parties. In the first issue of 2018 our colleague Lina Sors Emilsson is interviewed about her course Product Development for Games, 15 credits (5SD952).
Lina Sors Emilsson at the Gotland Game Conference 2017.
The interview is unfortunately entirely in Swedish, but she’s talking about how we use this […]
How the boss is going to attack
In our team, we have discussed a lot about the boss. My team chose the Aetherial design document, and the core part of it was that you were supposed to hunt a huge monster (the boss) and feel like a champion. Because of this, it is quite an important part for as the designer, to design the boss in such a way that it gives you the thrill of battle, but is still winnable.
To make it a challenge, I came […]
How the boss is going to attack
In our team, we have discussed a lot about the boss. My team chose the Aetherial design document, and the core part of it was that you were supposed to hunt a huge monster (the boss) and feel like a champion. Because of this, it is quite an important part for as the designer, to design the boss in such a way that it gives you the thrill of battle, but is still winnable.
To make it a challenge, I came […]
Boss
Boss – A Design process
This week I have taken a first stab at designing the boss for our game. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, the boss is of very high importance to our game. Everything before you face it is simply practice, the boss itself is the main course.
So, in hopes of gaining some understanding into what makes an enjoyable boss fight for a shoot ‘em up game, I have analyzed some boss fights from different kinds of games. […]
Boss
Boss – A Design process
This week I have taken a first stab at designing the boss for our game. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, the boss is of very high importance to our game. Everything before you face it is simply practice, the boss itself is the main course.
So, in hopes of gaining some understanding into what makes an enjoyable boss fight for a shoot ‘em up game, I have analyzed some boss fights from different kinds of games. […]
Comment #2 – Jesper Bergman, Team Z
Hi Jesper! Great Post. The post clearly explains what your guys have done drawing all the assets, except for the player, in a 45° angle. The problem with this angled view affects the movement of the boat is explained as well.
However, I do not find any reasoning behind the decision to have all the assets in a 45° angle. I will presume that the reason why, is that the assets in a top down view can be unclear and sometimes […]
Comment #2 – Jesper Bergman, Team Z
Hi Jesper! Great Post. The post clearly explains what your guys have done drawing all the assets, except for the player, in a 45° angle. The problem with this angled view affects the movement of the boat is explained as well.
However, I do not find any reasoning behind the decision to have all the assets in a 45° angle. I will presume that the reason why, is that the assets in a top down view can be unclear and sometimes […]
Game Design Blog #2
For two weeks I have worked on the full implementation of the pick-up powerup called the flare. A powerup in any videogame is there to make the player feel powerful while also trying to ease them out from a serious situation. The reason our group chose this kind of a powerup is caused by the similarities it has with the flashlight mechanic which essentially is a light that when held upon a blurry sprite, reveals what the actual sprite holds […]
Game Design Blog #2
For two weeks I have worked on the full implementation of the pick-up powerup called the flare. A powerup in any videogame is there to make the player feel powerful while also trying to ease them out from a serious situation. The reason our group chose this kind of a powerup is caused by the similarities it has with the flashlight mechanic which essentially is a light that when held upon a blurry sprite, reveals what the actual sprite holds […]
Game Design Blog #1
This weeks sprint planning for me included the enemy spawn mechanic change and the flare pick-up mechanics. The change of the spawn of the enemies was bound to happen as my older static and preplaced spawn system was criticized by the project manager and the lead programmer to being too predictable, thus making me change the old spawner this week into a random spawner which makes the game less predictable. As one of the most important aesthetic goals of the […]
Game Design Blog #1
This weeks sprint planning for me included the enemy spawn mechanic change and the flare pick-up mechanics. The change of the spawn of the enemies was bound to happen as my older static and preplaced spawn system was criticized by the project manager and the lead programmer to being too predictable, thus making me change the old spawner this week into a random spawner which makes the game less predictable. As one of the most important aesthetic goals of the […]
Paradox
Я и онИ
I and thEy
островА и морЯ
Island and sEAs
нОчи и дни
dAys and nIghts
тЕни и сны
Air and grOUnds
вОздух землИ
fIre and wAters
огОнь и вОды
[…]
Paradox
Я и онИ
I and thEy
островА и морЯ
Island and sEAs
нОчи и дни
dAys and nIghts
тЕни и сны
Air and grOUnds
вОздух землИ
fIre and wAters
огОнь и вОды
[…]
Help us create a “Woke award”
The Gotland Game Conference is looking over its award categories this year. There will be many changes, but one of higher priority than most is the addition of a… “diversity award”, for lack of a better term.
We work hard in the education and with the conference to engage thoughtfully with issues like representation, gender, intersectionality and the perspectives and lived experiences of the non-[white […]
Help us create a “Woke award”
The Gotland Game Conference is looking over its award categories this year. There will be many changes, but one of higher priority than most is the addition of a… “diversity award”, for lack of a better term.
We work hard in the education and with the conference to engage thoughtfully with issues like representation, gender, intersectionality and the perspectives and lived experiences of the non-[white […]
Где я?
Где лица, улицы, звуки, места.
А вокруг лишь ничто и везде лишь вода.
Со всех сторон окружен безымянный мой остров внутри никогда.
Но здесь многие были и сейчас, и всегда.
Где безконечные ночи и вечные дни.
Где не видно людей, но видны их огни.
И где слуги законов учат нас видеть сны.
…наяву
Где я?
Где лица, улицы, звуки, места.
А вокруг лишь ничто и везде лишь вода.
Со всех сторон окружен безымянный мой остров внутри никогда.
Но здесь многие были и сейчас, и всегда.
Где безконечные ночи и вечные дни.
Где не видно людей, но видны их огни.
И где слуги законов учат нас видеть сны.
…наяву
Enemy spawners and Prefabs
Today’s post will be about the way we handle spawning enemies in Aetherial and how this system can be used to tweak and balance the game.
The camera is static in the scene and the parallax effect of the background gives the illusion of movement. By having the scene be static it becomes easier to control and design the movement of the enemies and player, since we don’t have to account for any camera movement.
Then we have a game object called […]
Enemy spawners and Prefabs
Today’s post will be about the way we handle spawning enemies in Aetherial and how this system can be used to tweak and balance the game.
The camera is static in the scene and the parallax effect of the background gives the illusion of movement. By having the scene be static it becomes easier to control and design the movement of the enemies and player, since we don’t have to account for any camera movement.
Then we have a game object called […]
Niklas Nylund, on Finnish gaming through the centuries
Niklas Nylund is a museum researcher working for the Finnish Museum of Games in Tampere, Finland. He is also working on a PhD at the Game Research Lab at the University of Tampere. He’s visiting us at the end of the month, and we’re taking the opportunity to have him share his deep knowledge and passion for the native gaming scene of our Scandinavian sister country!
Room: F20
Time: Tue 27/2, 16:00
Title: Finnish gaming from the 19th […]
Niklas Nylund, on Finnish gaming through the centuries
Niklas Nylund is a museum researcher working for the Finnish Museum of Games in Tampere, Finland. He is also working on a PhD at the Game Research Lab at the University of Tampere. He’s visiting us at the end of the month, and we’re taking the opportunity to have him share his deep knowledge and passion for the native gaming scene of our Scandinavian sister country!
Room: F20
Time: Tue 27/2, 16:00
Title: Finnish gaming from the 19th […]
Flip a paper prototype to digital in 5 days
To initiate works on the student shoot-em-up game project, and to open a group discussion about development, I prepared a paper prototype to specify movement mechanics and dynamics. Then I asked the team to flip the paper prototype to a digital prototype, using Unity2D and C#. The purpose of the paper prototype was to clarify the basic movement mechanics of the character in 2D Euclid space, whereas the digital prototype was requested to test the current abilities of the team […]
Flip a paper prototype to digital in 5 days
To initiate works on the student shoot-em-up game project, and to open a group discussion about development, I prepared a paper prototype to specify movement mechanics and dynamics. Then I asked the team to flip the paper prototype to a digital prototype, using Unity2D and C#. The purpose of the paper prototype was to clarify the basic movement mechanics of the character in 2D Euclid space, whereas the digital prototype was requested to test the current abilities of the team […]