Archive for the 'Game Design' Category

05
Oct
09

Mostly Tigerproof Launched

By Craig Timpany Leave a Comment
Categories: Game Design

I’m pleased to announce my new website: Mostly Tigerproof.

“Huh, what the hell is that?”

Mostly Tigerproof is a place for me to organise my game prototypes and other hobby projects.

It has all the prototypes I’ve posted here, but in web player form, so you don’t need to go through the rigmarole of installing them. Prototypes are by their nature are small games, so I’ve tried to make the playing them as quick and convenient as possible.

If it’s not quick and convenient, comment about it and I’ll fix it.

“Yeah, yeah, but when’s the next game due out?”

Don’t know. I’m not sure what I’ll try next. If I build a game based around abusing particle systems, it’ll be next week. If I start making a 4X with a stone-age tribal theme, it’ll be a while longer.

“What’s this got to do with tigers? Are you even slightly tigerproof?”

It’s not named after me! It’s named after Aunt Barbara. She’s not allowed in zoos any more.

14
Sep
09

Osmos

By Craig Timpany Leave a Comment
Categories: Game Design

Looks like I wasn’t the only guy playing around with game concepts based on movement by firing reaction mass. Osmos is a game about collecting mass while trying to conserve the mass you’re using for propulsion. It’s played on a 2D plane and there are no sticky bullets, so I guess the territory I’ve been exploring hasn’t been completely mined out. :-)

25
Apr
08

Engagement Distance

By Craig Timpany 2 Comments
Categories: Game Design

One of the key considerations in designing a shooter is engagement distance. This is the distance between the player and their opponents during combat.

Once upon a time (2001), I wrote an arena shooter called Mojotron as a hobby project. It was somewhat similar to Geometry Wars, except that Geometry Wars hadn’t been written yet (I was inspired by Llamatron instead). After I finished it, I worked on a sequel that would take that fast-paced combat and place it into a top-down maze exploration game. Like a combination of Gauntlet and Geometry Wars.

I took the Mojotron combat model, added scrolling and hooked up a random level generator that would produce networks of rooms (DungeonMaker, very cool).

Suddenly the game became noticeably less fun.

Continue reading ‘Engagement Distance’

18
Sep
07

GTA Beijing

By Craig Timpany 1 Comment
Categories: China and Game Design

tractorthing.jpg

After one of many close calls during our tour buses’ overtaking manoeuvres, one of the other tourists joked that it was just like playing Grand Theft Auto. He has a point.

  • No apparent speed limit.
  • Right of way isn’t enforced.
  • Nobody indicates.
  • Police only get involved if they witness an actual collision.
  • Even if the police do bust you, a donation can set you on your way again.

Seems to me like Asia is the natural setting for GTA. Why do Rockstar keep setting Grand Theft Auto in New York, Miami and LA lookalikes?

Think of the possibilities:

  • Denser, more chaotic traffic, to keep things interesting. Perhaps it’d be best suited if it were a final level of the game?
  • More varied interesting vehicles. I kept seeing tuktuks, rickshaws, huge tricycles with a big carrying tray between the back wheels (pickup tricycle? ute trike?), motorbikes converted into minibuses, tractors converted into minibuses, and so on. I even saw one guy cycling through the hutongs on a ute trike with its tray removed and a charcoal grill welded in its place. He was a mobile shish kebab stand!
  • Pedestrians whose courage and stoicisim is matched only by their keen senses and finely tuned reaction times. Not to mention their sophisticated flocking behavour which allows them to make impromptu pedestrian crossings, much like a column of army ants will form a bridge out of their comrades.

hk-small.jpg

20
May
06

Prince of Persia and Myst have something in common

By Craig Timpany Leave a Comment
Categories: Game Design

Thought experiment:
If Prince of Persia: Time Warrior Within Throne of Sands was

  1. An isometric 2D game
  2. With only the platforming bits left in the game, and only the ones without timed traps
  3. With a spartan, utilitarian visual style (every swing bar looks the same)
  4. Where all the surfaces in a jumping sequence are visible from a nice fixed viewpoint

Would there be any challenge left in the gameplay?