update

Mid Year Update

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to give a brief update on the whirlwind that is my life in the video games industry. Back in March I started working for Level-5 IA and got engaged! Between planning the wedding, work and trying to further sharpen my C# knowledge, I haven't had as much time to blog or do as much research as I would have liked. Though I plan on getting back into blogging regularly, it will be some time until I'm able to get around to it again. Until then I found another Game Design blog which I think is excellent, Stanislav 'Farlander' Costiuc. He goes really in depth into design concepts and does videos which are easy to follow. Check him out!

Aside from that I'm preparing for E3. I'll be going all three days this year! So if you're going or just in the area feel free to reach out and we can grab a bite or get coffee.

Oh! And don't forget to check back here as well from time to time! I'll be back soon enough.

I'll see you guys next time,

Scott

 

SFGD Blog post update

It’s update time! I’ve been meaning to do this update for a while now, just never got around to it due to my new busy schedule.  I picked up a temporary position as an IT Tester/Trainer for the California Department of Insurance. Very exciting! Like I mentioned, it is a temporary position so it won’t last forever. But I hope it will sustain me until I can find a more permanent position in the Video Game Industry again.

Next on the agenda! As many of you know, I have been working on a choose-your-own-adventure app. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that app will be coming to fruition due to conflicting schedules. That’s not a problem for me because every end is a new beginning, and with that I can begin work on another app/game. Currently I’m split between doing a game, which I will try to monetize and make some money off of, or doing one which will just be fun all around but due to the nature and platform it will have a smaller audience.  The first is a match 3. I’ve always wanted to do a match 3 game because you can do a lot with the genre. Frozen Free Fall alone explored this idea incredibly thoroughly, so I may have to find a different hook if I want to be competitive in the mobile space. The other game I was thinking about doing was a game that explores the idea of exploring. One of my favorite things to do in games is to just explore the world. Seeing what danger or sights are around the next corner is an exciting concept to me. So this one would do just that, but I think I would be making it for PC as the mouse and keyboard controls seem to be a better fit for that style of game.

I hope to have an update and some initial shots of the chosen app/game next month.

As many of you may have noticed, I didn’t post last week. During the time I would usually be working on the weekly post, I focused on getting a new surprise together. In some of my previous posts, I have written extensive analysis about different mechanics in a variety of games. I was trying to figure out how I could take it a step further and really show readers some of these mechanics in action. So I got all the pieces together and very soon I will begin twitch streaming! I hope to record these streams and put them on YouTube and here as well. My hope with this is that I will be able to show my research off in better detail. Additionally, I will be able to better engage readers and get your opinions. We can turn these videos into even more of a discussion on game design! So please keep an eye out here and at my twitter @Scottmfine for when I finalize the times I will be streaming. I’m open to doing pretty much any game because I believe we can learn something from every game regardless of how terrible or perfect they are. If you’d like to see me tackle a specific Xbox One or PC game, feel free to comment on this post, or tweet at me, and I’ll see what I can do. In the future, I hope to do WiiU, mobile and PS4 games as well but I will need to pick up additional equipment before I can work on those platforms with the quality I’d like these videos to have.

And with that I bid you adieu! I hope you guys had a relaxing last couple of weeks. Next week we’ll be returning with a look at Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments. Being a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works I am very excited to play this one!

I’ll see you guys next week,

 

Scott