Browsing '5SD018': Game Analysis and Game Design – an Introduction

Start of new course, Welcome to Magic Writer!

The course introduction happened, we we’re introduced to Scrum and we’ve now met our senior mentor who will act as Scrum Master. It’s time to start the new project!


Magic Writer!
For this project we have:
Simon Lundgren – Lead Designer (that’s me!)Semih Parlayan – Lead CodeAra Mohammed – QAAnders Schultheiss – Lead SoundAndré Bengtsson – Lead ArtMarcus Prytz – Producer
As the lead designer on this project I will write the design document and I will try to envision […]

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Program: Programming

Start of new course, Welcome to Magic Writer!

The course introduction happened, we we’re introduced to Scrum and we’ve now met our senior mentor who will act as Scrum Master. It’s time to start the new project!


Magic Writer!
For this project we have:
Simon Lundgren – Lead Designer (that’s me!)Semih Parlayan – Lead CodeAra Mohammed – QAAnders Schultheiss – Lead SoundAndré Bengtsson – Lead ArtMarcus Prytz – Producer
As the lead designer on this project I will write the design document and I will try to envision […]

/ Comments Off on Start of new course, Welcome to Magic Writer!
Program: Programming

Space Shooter Assignment: Dia de la Piñata

Our last assignment in the course was to, in teams of six, create a concept document for a game based on two keywords with the following restrictions and requirements:
Restrictions:

2D (But you are free to decide perspective)
No Gravity (Not requiring a gravity system)
PC controls (Keyboard and/or mouse)
10 weeks (The scope of the production time of the concept should be 10 weeks)
No network (Not requiring network)
Single-player (Multiplayer or Co-Op can be optional, but the game must be playable for one player first […]

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Program: Graphics

Space Shooter Assignment: Dia de la Piñata

Our last assignment in the course was to, in teams of six, create a concept document for a game based on two keywords with the following restrictions and requirements:
Restrictions:

2D (But you are free to decide perspective)
No Gravity (Not requiring a gravity system)
PC controls (Keyboard and/or mouse)
10 weeks (The scope of the production time of the concept should be 10 weeks)
No network (Not requiring network)
Single-player (Multiplayer or Co-Op can be optional, but the game must be playable for one player first […]

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Program: Graphics

Adam Mayes Concept Challenge: Seriate

During the first week of October a peculiar situation arose were we first year students suddenly found ourselves with a week of nothing to do – or so we thought. A day later we were quite graciously handed both 100 pages worth of reading materials and a concept challenge with a deadline set for next week.
The instructions: 
The special thing about this concept challenge was that we had to build a game around a randomly generated narrative. We were offered two […]

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Program: Graphics

Adam Mayes Concept Challenge: Seriate

During the first week of October a peculiar situation arose were we first year students suddenly found ourselves with a week of nothing to do – or so we thought. A day later we were quite graciously handed both 100 pages worth of reading materials and a concept challenge with a deadline set for next week.
The instructions: 
The special thing about this concept challenge was that we had to build a game around a randomly generated narrative. We were offered two […]

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Program: Graphics

Game design introduction course completed. A quick look on the experience gained.

Now we’re finally done with the concept document for the space shooter. Hard times were had and lessons were learnt to make it easier in the future.

A game about a detective who must defeat mafia bosses in order to pass on
I was the producer for the game concept called Desert of Tombs, and it was not an easy task. We had our good times and bad times throughout the project, but I think the most important […]

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Program: Programming

Game design introduction course completed. A quick look on the experience gained.

Now we’re finally done with the concept document for the space shooter. Hard times were had and lessons were learnt to make it easier in the future.

A game about a detective who must defeat mafia bosses in order to pass on
I was the producer for the game concept called Desert of Tombs, and it was not an easy task. We had our good times and bad times throughout the project, but I think the most important […]

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Program: Programming

Desert Noir Paper Prototype UPDATE


Here is a one-page rule explanation of our paper prototype. It represents our core gameplay which is run and gun combat. When people playtested it, they found it really fun to run around freely and some people even started climbing chairs. Even though that was unplanned, it actually kept the core experience intact.
This thursday, we’re going to show off our prototypes. I believe our players will run around and have a lot of fun 😀

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Program: Programming

Desert Noir Paper Prototype UPDATE


Here is a one-page rule explanation of our paper prototype. It represents our core gameplay which is run and gun combat. When people playtested it, they found it really fun to run around freely and some people even started climbing chairs. Even though that was unplanned, it actually kept the core experience intact.
This thursday, we’re going to show off our prototypes. I believe our players will run around and have a lot of fun 😀

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Program: Programming

Paper prototype of Desert Noir, space shooter extraordinare

Now we’ve begun on our final assignment for the game design introduction course. The group seems good, we’ve got a nice concept, what more could you ask for?
The goal is to make a game concept document based on two words and some restrictions. The restrictions of no gravity, a projectile present and powerups basically makes it a space shooter.
The game is shaping up good. Today we made our first paper prototype, and it’s… special. Our game’s combat is focused around […]

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Program: Programming

Paper prototype of Desert Noir, space shooter extraordinare

Now we’ve begun on our final assignment for the game design introduction course. The group seems good, we’ve got a nice concept, what more could you ask for?
The goal is to make a game concept document based on two words and some restrictions. The restrictions of no gravity, a projectile present and powerups basically makes it a space shooter.
The game is shaping up good. Today we made our first paper prototype, and it’s… special. Our game’s combat is focused around […]

/ Comments Off on Paper prototype of Desert Noir, space shooter extraordinare
Program: Programming

Concept Challenge – Lady Lovelace and the mystery at sea

A chance to test out our skills and prepare ourselves for future assignment, the random narrative concept challenge had us pick a narrative randomly and then make a concept pitch about it.
Your main character is a fun-loving 50 year-old woman. The story begins in a boxing club. Someone is haunted by a traumatic experience at sea. It’s a story about prejudice. Your character approaches the situation extremely carefully.
We really liked the potential of this character. Our first focus was on […]

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Program: Programming

Concept Challenge – Lady Lovelace and the mystery at sea

A chance to test out our skills and prepare ourselves for future assignment, the random narrative concept challenge had us pick a narrative randomly and then make a concept pitch about it.
Your main character is a fun-loving 50 year-old woman. The story begins in a boxing club. Someone is haunted by a traumatic experience at sea. It’s a story about prejudice. Your character approaches the situation extremely carefully.
We really liked the potential of this character. Our first focus was on […]

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Program: Programming

Essay assignment: Impending Doom

Two weeks ago we received our first proper writing assignment in the game analysis course. We were to hand in an essay on a game concept with the theme “Impending Doom”.
This is how the assignment was explained to us:

Our essay had to include descriptions of gameplay and setting.
We had to explain our design decisions and why we thought those were the best.
The essay should focus on gameplay and how the sense of impeding doom was conveyed, not narrative or background.
We had […]

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Program: Graphics

Essay assignment: Impending Doom

Two weeks ago we received our first proper writing assignment in the game analysis course. We were to hand in an essay on a game concept with the theme “Impending Doom”.
This is how the assignment was explained to us:

Our essay had to include descriptions of gameplay and setting.
We had to explain our design decisions and why we thought those were the best.
The essay should focus on gameplay and how the sense of impeding doom was conveyed, not narrative or background.
We had […]

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Program: Graphics

Reverse engineering workshop: Paper Hero

Two and a half weeks ago we had the Reverse Engineering workshop with Adam Mayes. The main take-aways from this workshop for me were:
– Deconstructing a game.
– Practicing paper prototyping.
As with the Ernest Adams-workshop, this one started out with a presentation about the assignment and the subject in general. We got a short introduction to reverse enginering that amongst other brought up that:

Reverse engineering means breaking down a system to it’s building blocks.
Reverse engineering can be used to model the core […]

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Program: Graphics

Reverse engineering workshop: Paper Hero

Two and a half weeks ago we had the Reverse Engineering workshop with Adam Mayes. The main take-aways from this workshop for me were:
– Deconstructing a game.
– Practicing paper prototyping.
As with the Ernest Adams-workshop, this one started out with a presentation about the assignment and the subject in general. We got a short introduction to reverse enginering that amongst other brought up that:

Reverse engineering means breaking down a system to it’s building blocks.
Reverse engineering can be used to model the core […]

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Program: Graphics

Game Jam with Mayesrunner

Game Jam with the GAME crew. What an amazing experience. I’m happy with my amazing teammates and the 6 hours we put into our game. And we even won a reward, how wonderful isn’t that?

We had a game jam last Friday. It was called “My first jam” and was centered towards building relationship between new students and older students as well as creating the opportunity to be making games.

The team was really nice. The seniors helped us when we needed […]

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Program: Programming

Game Jam with Mayesrunner

Game Jam with the GAME crew. What an amazing experience. I’m happy with my amazing teammates and the 6 hours we put into our game. And we even won a reward, how wonderful isn’t that?

We had a game jam last Friday. It was called “My first jam” and was centered towards building relationship between new students and older students as well as creating the opportunity to be making games.

The team was really nice. The seniors helped us when we needed […]

/ Comments Off on Game Jam with Mayesrunner
Program: Programming

Backlog on the previous weeks

So somewhere along the lines I forgot about blogging about school stuff and went on the do my own analyses of games. Here are some snippets and thoughts behind the recent weeks.In the recent 3 weeks we’ve actually had quite a lot work done. Assignments to be presented the day after receiving them, writing of essays. So I’m just gonna write about the recent happenings and my thoughts/reflection on them.
SissyfightWe played Sissyfight and then we added a new mechanics to […]

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Program: Programming

Backlog on the previous weeks

So somewhere along the lines I forgot about blogging about school stuff and went on the do my own analyses of games. Here are some snippets and thoughts behind the recent weeks.In the recent 3 weeks we’ve actually had quite a lot work done. Assignments to be presented the day after receiving them, writing of essays. So I’m just gonna write about the recent happenings and my thoughts/reflection on them.
SissyfightWe played Sissyfight and then we added a new mechanics to […]

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Program: Programming

Analysis of Sushi Go!

Collect sushi with cute anime faces. Dip them in wasabi and triple their points!

Every round in Sushi Go! you collect sushi of different kinds, then you count points based on what you picked. Often you need a collection of the same dish to get the required points, but some cards combos with another card.

Every round, each player starts out with X cards in their hand. Based on the number of players in […]

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Program: Programming

Analysis of Sushi Go!

Collect sushi with cute anime faces. Dip them in wasabi and triple their points!

Every round in Sushi Go! you collect sushi of different kinds, then you count points based on what you picked. Often you need a collection of the same dish to get the required points, but some cards combos with another card.

Every round, each player starts out with X cards in their hand. Based on the number of players in […]

/ Comments Off on Analysis of Sushi Go!
Program: Programming