Category Archives: Game Design

Vlambeer: beyond the cloning debacle — Ridiculous Fishing coming soon

February 6, 2013 12:53 PM / Comments /
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After having been a source of constant worry for two years, Ridiculous Fishing has become a source for joy for two-man formation Vlambeer. The tormented duo seems to have finally overcome the trauma and is looking forward to the coming release of the iOS game.

Anyone entering Vlambeer’s little office these days will encounter a happy and clearly inspired Jan Willem Nijman. Ridiculous Fishing is nearing completion and the 22-year old designer is eager to discuss the games progress.

“There’s so much new stuff in there, the game is so much more substantial. You can keep playing for hours. You unlock new areas by catching new species of fish, and some of those fish only come out at night. No, really. You’ll have to play at night to catch them.”

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Healing the world, one hit point at a time

November 2, 2012 11:08 AM / Comments /
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Anna Sort is a nurse, a (pro) gamer, a former Blizzard employee and a visionary. And she believes that games are the answer to healthcare’s most itching problems.

The first time Anna Sort from Barcelona, took a controller in her hands she was a baby. “I was three, playing video games with my brother”, she recalls. Her brother grew up to become a programmer; she went on to become a certified nurse. But Anna’s passion for gaming has not waned over the years, and while pursuing a career in healthcare, she landed a job at Blizzard Entertainment, working there as a nurse with and for gamers. Her experience at Blizzard, as well as her continuous involvement with MMOs like World of Warcraft and League of Legends (as a player, guild member and participant in a pro-gamer team) has led her to realize that games may well be the solution for the crises that plague the healthcare industry. Coming to Amsterdam for the 2nd Games for Health Europe conference next week, she will unveil her plan in front of a crowd of both game industry and medical professionals.

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Halo 4: Adding humanity to the guy behind the mask

September 4, 2012 9:24 AM / Comments /
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Halo 4 is the first new installment in what will become the second Halo trilogy by 343 Industries. The studio was founded in 2007 to oversee everything Halo, but beside some work on map packs and the HD overhaul on the original Combat Evolved, Halo 4 is the first completely new title 343i has worked on. The studio consists of over 250 people, including some ex Bungie and ex Ensemble Studios employees. With a new beginning the development team has gone all out on the personal story of Master Chief and specifically his relationship to Cortana. Check out this 10 minute mini documentary about the story, mocap and voice acting (after the click). The game will be out november 6th.

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Inside look in the development of Assassin’s Creed III

August 23, 2012 10:13 AM / Comments /
Alex Hutchinson

With the release date of october 30th approaching, Ubisoft releases a series of six videos that show a glimpse behind the scenes of the development of Assassin’s Creed III. A marketing thingy? Sure. Hyperbole voice over? Yep. But interesting nonetheless. Check it out.

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Beyond the portrayal of women in video games

August 14, 2012 12:00 PM / Comments /
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Writer Dennis Scimeca argues that the problem of equitable representation of women in video games is just the tip of the iceberg.

In social justice circles a 101-level conversation is the kind of conversation one has with a person who debates the existence of prejudice or inequality. The 101-level conversation is often exhausting because to a social justice activist the problems being addressed are painfully obvious. I feel much the same way on the issue of the portrayal of women in video games. The fact that it’s a problem is self-evident to me. Never mind referring to the established and deep body of critical work on the subject, we need look no further than the video games in my own collection.

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Jenova Chen: Journey’s character looked like a… chicken

August 13, 2012 10:01 AM / Comments /
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At one point during development the character of thatgamecompany’s Journey looked like a… chicken? Yes, it did, according to Creative Director Jenova Chen. Control asked him about the ins and outs of Journey’s character design.

Why did Journey have faceless, non-speaking characters?

“We want the character to be an avatar which means it reflects the player’s true nature. Therefore, it should not have any personality or any feature that misleads other player’s perception on who might be controlling the avatar. No age, gender, racial definition. It can be anyone from anywhere on earth.”

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Why games need conventions — by Adriaan De Jongh

August 9, 2012 12:14 PM / Comments /
Adriaan-demonstrates-Fingle

Too many game developers settle in the current conventions of games. At GDC 2012, Nathan Vella made a beautiful distinction between games that are conventional in their experience (mechanics, visual style and stories we are familiar with) — and the ‘other’ games. He claimed it is often more difficult to sell a game that is more conventional, as you compete with 95 percent of the market, than it is to sell an unconventional game, competing with ‘only’ 5 percent. A truth I had been waiting for: I wanted to change the world with games never seen before.

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Apparently This Was A Big Trend At E3 2012

June 17, 2012 7:47 PM / Comments /

We noticed somewhat similar statements given by many developers… A compilation that may surprise you.

And You Thought There Are Too Many Shooters Already — Wait For 7DFPS

May 14, 2012 9:26 AM /
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There are WAY too many First Person Shooters under development right now. The solution? Make even MORE shooters. Sounds silly? It isn’t. It’s the first ever 7DFPS — making an FPS in 7 days.

“First Persoon Shooters could be so much more”, according to indie dev Jan Willem Nijman (half of indie duo Vlambeer, we’re still not sure if he’s the ‘Vlam’ or the ‘Beer’). “We want to revitalize the genre.”

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A Spaghetti of Theories Called “The Lasagna Theory of Game Design” And 2 More Devblogs

May 10, 2012 9:40 AM / Comments /
spaghetti

1. Ronimo’s Joost Van Dongen: The lasagna theory of game design

Van Dongen added his “lasagna theory of game design” to his devblog menu. It’s an interesting, eh… spaghetti of theories:

The point here is that lasagna contains layers, just like gameplay. A game like our just released Awesomenauts at all times has various game systems active in the player’s head, and during different phases of gameplay they will vary in prominence and importance.

Read post here: http://joostdevblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/lasagne…

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