Tuesday, May 17, 2005
This... is the sound... of radio silence.
They say the average person can only remember about 7 things or so clearly. This would lead one to believe that this is why phone numbers are 7 digits, but this would also blatantly label one as having never been to Britain, where the phone numbers are something like 2^3490172 digits long, and that's just for local calls. Hyphens are distributed arbitrarily throughout, partly for zoning reasons, partly so that when you make your phone number into something witty like 1-888-NOT-POOP, you get a complete sentence. But I digress.
I need something to do. While World of Warcraft is immensely entertaining, and while it would be quite possible for me to spend most of my time playing it over doing other things, I would like to make something. If anything, it will serve to open the door out of my currently-inevitable future as a cubicle rat.
I do not want to live as a cubicle rat.
Now there are several things holding me back, but ideas for things are not one of them. For example, I recently came up with a game idea that combines the best elements of Lumines/Tetris and God of War/Prince of Persia/Devil May Cry. Yes, it would work, and with five minutes and a napkin diagram I might even be able to convince someone to let me make it.
One of the other things I read a while ago was that if you can break everything into steps, they're easier to do. Since I just mentioned up there that seven was a good number for things like this, I present my 7 Steps for making a game:
1. Design game mechanics.
2. Design game look and feel.
3. Find someone (or maybe a few someones) that can program.
4. Build proof-of-concept.
5. Playtest and refine POC.
6. Build demo.
7. Sell demo to someone.
The last step, make a lot of money and do it all again, goes as implied. Also, some of those steps might smack a little as being a bit broad, and if you noticed that, you're right. The seven steps are recursive, see? Each step can be broken into seven more steps, and so on until you have something that can be ticked off in sequence! Amazing how that works.
Now while I would love to be a game designer, I think I would like to be a comic-y person more, because internet celebrity can go hand in hand with that, and who would turn down a chance to be a celebrity?
Therefore, as before, the 7 Steps:
1. Get sketchbook.
2. Learn to draw.
3. Come up with story and character ideas.
4. Draft comics.
5. Draw comics.
6. Set up hosting and website.
7. Publish comics.
Ultimately, you might ask why I'm posting this. Maybe I think that by announcing it to the internet (better envisioned as whispering to nobody in particular whilst standing in Grand Central Station at High Noon), it'll lend some permanence to my thoughts and get me to act on them. Whatever.
Consider this a turning point, where I state my goals, announce my intentions, and then seriously consider saying "screw it, I'm going back to Azeroth." ¶ 9:42 p.m.
They say the average person can only remember about 7 things or so clearly. This would lead one to believe that this is why phone numbers are 7 digits, but this would also blatantly label one as having never been to Britain, where the phone numbers are something like 2^3490172 digits long, and that's just for local calls. Hyphens are distributed arbitrarily throughout, partly for zoning reasons, partly so that when you make your phone number into something witty like 1-888-NOT-POOP, you get a complete sentence. But I digress.
I need something to do. While World of Warcraft is immensely entertaining, and while it would be quite possible for me to spend most of my time playing it over doing other things, I would like to make something. If anything, it will serve to open the door out of my currently-inevitable future as a cubicle rat.
I do not want to live as a cubicle rat.
Now there are several things holding me back, but ideas for things are not one of them. For example, I recently came up with a game idea that combines the best elements of Lumines/Tetris and God of War/Prince of Persia/Devil May Cry. Yes, it would work, and with five minutes and a napkin diagram I might even be able to convince someone to let me make it.
One of the other things I read a while ago was that if you can break everything into steps, they're easier to do. Since I just mentioned up there that seven was a good number for things like this, I present my 7 Steps for making a game:
1. Design game mechanics.
2. Design game look and feel.
3. Find someone (or maybe a few someones) that can program.
4. Build proof-of-concept.
5. Playtest and refine POC.
6. Build demo.
7. Sell demo to someone.
The last step, make a lot of money and do it all again, goes as implied. Also, some of those steps might smack a little as being a bit broad, and if you noticed that, you're right. The seven steps are recursive, see? Each step can be broken into seven more steps, and so on until you have something that can be ticked off in sequence! Amazing how that works.
Now while I would love to be a game designer, I think I would like to be a comic-y person more, because internet celebrity can go hand in hand with that, and who would turn down a chance to be a celebrity?
Therefore, as before, the 7 Steps:
1. Get sketchbook.
2. Learn to draw.
3. Come up with story and character ideas.
4. Draft comics.
5. Draw comics.
6. Set up hosting and website.
7. Publish comics.
Ultimately, you might ask why I'm posting this. Maybe I think that by announcing it to the internet (better envisioned as whispering to nobody in particular whilst standing in Grand Central Station at High Noon), it'll lend some permanence to my thoughts and get me to act on them. Whatever.
Consider this a turning point, where I state my goals, announce my intentions, and then seriously consider saying "screw it, I'm going back to Azeroth." ¶ 9:42 p.m.
