The Baron Language : Dev Diary #1

I've started a GitHub for my vanity project which is to develop a high-level & very simple scripting language for quick 2D UI prototyping.

 

I'm going to be developing my "proofs of concept" in Unity for reasons that the framework permits me to write a wrapper language & it's a great environment to run 2D prototypes.

GameJam Judge

Last January, I had the pleasure of being invited as a judge at the Montreal's Global GameJam. It was a very interesting experience because the previous year, I had participated at the same event as a contestant.

So this year, instead of being in the mist of a 48h prototyping process, I actually experienced the event from a completely different perspective.

Being able to play a series of prototypes & give direct feedback to the teams, really helped me sharpen my abilities to give on-the-spot constructive design criticism.

Because one of the most important skills to have as a game or level designer is communication, the design process is very iterative and base on constant feedback, and the ability to express clearly concepts, ideas & intentions verbally is almost equally as important to mastering the actual techniques of game/level design like S&F, composition, progression & structure.

I noticed that those that delivered the best prototypes, were also able to express to us clearly their vision & design intentions during Q&A session.

I recommend to anyone that have participated to GameJams as developers to try at least once being a judge, it's a great way to contribute to the event & meet new talented developers.

Explaining Game Design

One thing I've been struggling with recently is how to explain to my family & friends what exactly I do for a living, being a level designer is a very abstract concept to someone that doesn't know how games are made.

But after mediating on the subject, I think have to come to able to explain it by this simple principle that a designer in the game industry main responsibility is crafting the player's experience, whatever it's by balancing systems or building layouts.

Achievements

I hope you get an achievement for this epic body pile.

As a lot of players are noticing, most achievements or trophies are being integrated as static waypoints instead of contextual rewards for players that explore & exploit the game's systems.

And at the end of the day, a good player is like a hacker, he's in a constant search to master the game by finding the subtle weaknesses in a targeted system, this should be rewarded for it's what true gaming is all about.

Cooperation and Engagement

Extremely insightful lecture by Matt Leacock, game designer of the co-op board game, Pandemic.

I especially found interesting how he approaches iteration and he seems very well read in game design theory.
Also, his visualisation of Mihaly Csikszentmihlyi's Flow principal is very well presented.

Beyond the Game

I've recently watched Beyond the Game, a documentary about the competitive Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos scene in Asia.
It's very interesting, especially the fact that they compete at a high level and train like professional chess players.

But the difference is that chess is an open game system, the "algorithms" & mechanics of the game are exposed and played in a physical space.
But Warcraft runs in a total virtual plane were the game mechanics are somewhat hidden, I know, as a player, that there's a certain randomization on almost every damage hit but I don't see it being run, I only see the result exposed by the visual feedback layer.

A dice roll in a video game compared to one done with a real dice and thrown by an human hand will always have a certain degree of suspicious development because we don't see the actual process but only the result.

That's why I find it very fascinating that some will want to develop mastery of a video game when at the end, complete understanding of the system & control over it can be subtly manipulated by the makers of the system, especially in the context a lot of competitive gaming do not actually freeze to a specific build of the game but do take into account the developer's patches.