Sporadic Play
Today I found a really interesting text about Sporadic Play on Raph Koster's blog. Raph is a persistent world game guru and has made games like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies.
http://www.raphkoster.com/2010/03/10/gdc10-sporadic-play/ (11/3/2010)
In it, there's a lot to learn about how sporadic play works, some pro and cons and even some tips about how to make it better.
It's a lot about how we can make players feel attracted to the game because they don't have to spend a lot of time with it per session. Heck, they can't spend a lot of time with it.
I don't think it's a bad thing to spoil the ending, instead I think it's a good tease to make you read the entire thing:
Sporadic play has been around for hundreds of years. It can be integrated into many types of games. It can be used to create companion experiences for existing games. It can help small developers extend their content, and it respects the players’ time.
Another thing. Since the movie "The Hurt Locker" won a bunch of Oscar's, I watched it yesterday and maybe it's just me... It's probably just me, but I think Jeremy Renner, the guy playing the main character looked just like David Jaffe (creator of God of War) and that thought stuck with me during the entire movie.
The cheeks? I don't know why I think they're so alike...
Unexpected Downtime
I don't know what happened exactly, but ArcadeBerg.com's host have been having trouble since yesterday; resulting in unexpected downtime for more than 24h.
My guess is that it's because of a Zerg rush.
I'm sorry about this, but hopefully it'll all work fine from now on.
Downtime
Zoho?
Maybe I've been living under a rock or something, I don't know. Or maybe it's because it isn't established in Sweden, where I live but apparently there's this huge Online Office Suite out there that people claim to be better than Google Docs.
And as some of you might have noticed, I love trying out new tools and tell you about them if they can help you out in the design process.
http://arcadeberg.com/web/textflow/ (Textflow)
http://arcadeberg.com/causerie/office-live-workspace/ (Office Live Workspace)
http://arcadeberg.com/misc/my-new-best-friend/ (Evernote)
http://arcadeberg.com/causerie/organize-my-designs/ (DropBox)
The Suite I've stumbeled upon is "Zoho". They seem to got it all, writer, presentations, wiki, project management, you name it. And apparently, from what I've gathered so far, they're good! Their writing tool sure is prettier than Google's and if you're into formating your text, Zoho seems to be a better choice.
Zoho, sounds like a redneck town.
I've always been a Google fanboy so it'll be hard to like Zoho, but I'll give it a real chance and hopefully it's even better than what Google is offering. Although, I haven't found any drawing tools in Zoho yet.
There's nothing like always having your docs within reach!
http://www.zoho.com/ (22/2/2010)
More Google Wave Invites
I got another bunch of Google Wave invites, so I thought I'd give 'em away here again.
http://arcadeberg.com/web/google-wave-invites/ (25/11/2009)
Just like last time, comment or e-mail me, providing your mail adress and I'll invite the first seven people. But this time I want one more thing than your adress, I also want you to mention one game you like. That's it.
googlewaveinvites [at] arcadeberg [dot] com
I'll update this post when I run out of invites as fast as I can.
Update: I'm all out folks. Enjoy.
Google Wave Invites
Hey guys.
I just got a bunch of Google Wave invites and I thought I'd give 'em away here.
Just give me your e-mail and I'll give them to the first seven people to reach me. Either post a comment, or if you don't want to write a comment visible to all, send me an e-mail on:
googlewaveinvites [at] arcadeberg [dot] com
I'll update this post when I run out of invites.
Oh, and even if I add you to the list, you won't get the invite at once.
Invitations will not be sent immediately. We have a lot of stamps to lick.
Update:
Woah, that was fast! I'm all out now, sorry.
Congratulations Markus, Frédéric, Tom, Stephen, Philip, Axel and Patrik!
Unreal Development Kit
Feel like making games using Unreal Engine 3? Then, go right ahead:
http://www.udk.com/ (5/11/2009)
UDK
TextFlow
I got a link from a friend of mine for a tool that I find really interesting! I haven't had the chance to try it out myself yet, but I sure as hell will and I think I might enjoy it quite a bit! But then again, I love trying out new tools!
http://www.textflow.com/ (26/10/2009)
It's a (seemingly great) way to handle different versions of the same document, so it might be a great way to handle feedback on something you write, something that happens a lot for designers working in teams.
Click the "See"-button and have a looksie yourself.
I'll be sure to get back to you once I've tried it! Oh! And if You've tried it, lemme know what you think!
Unity3D is now free!
These are the best news ever for indies!
The really AWESOME game engine Unity3D, previously priced at (very) reasonable $200 for an Indie-licence is now FREE!
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25840 (28/10/2009)
The project I've been posting about, "Iskall" is using Unity. I've been using Unity for some of my own projects. I personally recommend it.
I really think they're right with the following statement:
For the pros, the difference between a $2000 fee and a $0 fee is almost nothing, except that individual developers can just try it out for free and fall in love with it. We think it's really exciting. The [Unite] conference is already underway, and we already had a couple hundred people do classroom sessions.
- Unity People
Now, go get it at: http://unity3d.com/ (28/10/2009)
AboutGameDesign.com
Hey y'all!
Just wanted you all to know that a new project starts today.
We're a bunch of game designers from various parts of Europe that's gonna share a blog and write about game design. The "twist" is that there's always an active topic that we have to post about and the topic is changed every two weeks.
We got people from ex-GRIN, Outbreak Studios, Radon Labs, Strabreeze, Spellbound and Freelancing.
I'll re-post the stuff I write there here on my blog as well with a day or two of delay, but to read everything the other great guys write, you'll have to visit the site:
I really think About Game Design (AGD) can become a great learning experience. Oh, and feel free to join the AGD fan page on Facebook.
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