Mr. Phil Games’ Blog

Pixel Art: Lemon

I'm going to try my hand at pixel art.  Here's my first piece:

Ludum Dare 40

I participated in Ludum Dare 40 this weekend!  The theme was "The more you have, the worse it is."

I've spent a lot of my spare time in November learning Game Maker 2 by trying to build a Tower Defense game. So, when the theme was announced I immediately thought, that sounds like a Tower Defense game!  So, that's what I made.  You play as a mage who’s been imprisoned in a maze built as a prison for criminals with magic abilities.   There are monsters patrolling the halls and you can cast a spell that creates a Totem (tower) that can shoot fireballs.  It's pretty basic, but I think it works pretty well.  I think it'll be very hard to beat.

Game Maker preformed great!  It was one of the most productive gamejams I've done.  Game Maker did get on my nerves in a few places but overall I was impressed how quickly I could get ideas working.  I can see using it more going forward.  But, I must admit a part of me still wants to dump it and just write something from scratch, typical programmer.

The game itself is pretty interesting and I can see a lot of ways to make it better.  It's basically a Roguelike mashed with Tower Defense.  So, making the maze procedurally generated is the clear next step.   I'll see how the reception goes, if is does a tiny bit okay, then I'll probably make a post-compo version and expand on the ideas.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/the-prison-maze-of-ozxu

Tower Defence: Ludum Dare 40 Warmup Game


Ludum Dare is coming soon, Dec 1 and occasionally I like to use new techs during the jam. So, I’ve decided to try Gamemaker 2 this time. And in preparation for that I’m going to make a Tower Defence game as a warm up exercise and to familiarize myself with Gamemaker 2.

 

Unite Austin 2017



I attended Unity’s Conference, Unite, in Austin this year. There are a lot of interesting improvements coming down the pipeline but nothing ground shaking. I think the biggest announcement was for artists: direct integration with Autodesk’s Maya and Max. Other things I’m looking forward to are:

  • the integration of TextMesh Pro

  • the new Asset Bundle system

  • the new Entity framework

  • the 2D Tile system



The main focus of the show seemed to be film, but I think most Unity users are not that excited about those features. It’s a completely different audience, and one Unity is still trying to capture. The interview with Neill Blomkamp, the writer and director of Distrik 9, during the keynote was exciting and important feeling but at the end I felt underwhelmed by the interview. It didn't come across as a strong endorsement of Unity specifically. It felt more like rough vision centered on how real time movie making might be important to up and coming indie film makers. The short film also was kind of confusing to me because the story didn't fit with what I remember from the original Adam movie. The original short implied that their crimes didn't matter, hence the screens on the chest going blank, but Blomkamp's follow up seemed to emphasize their crimes but didn't give you a strong sense of how the characters felts about the crimes, good or bad.

While the Unity party was high caliber and fun as always, I didn’t really meet a lot of new people. I’m not sure if that was because of the large size or because I just know so many people now that they absorbed most of my time and energy. But, it was great to see some folks I hadn’t seen in a while and catch up.

Weird Fractal Thing

It isn't a game, but I made this interesting looking thing, a sort of moving fractal. I know my Grandpa would have thought it was cool because he loved math and fractals where one of the things that drew him to computers. The fractals he made didn't move, but he did use color animation to give it the feeling of moving, but this kind of movement would is like a whole new world.

Unity Subscriptions, What You Need to Know

Update: Unity has announced some changes here: http://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/06/16/evolution-of-our-products-and-pricing/  I've made edits below to reflect them.

  1. There will not be a Unity 6, just continual improvements.

  2. All Platforms

  3. All Royalty Free

  4. All Engine Features

  5. Personal will remain free, limits revenue to $100,000 a year and you must show a Made With Unity splash screen.

  6. Plus is $35 a month and gives you nice to haves, like priority in the Cloud Build queue, limits revenue to $200,000 a year, the Made With Unity splash screen is optional and the dark theme is included.

  7. Pro, after 24 months of paying for a subscription you can quit paying and keep your current version (but you don't get any more updates, support or services but you do get the next three patches.)

  8. If you have a subscription now and/or a perpetual licenses:



We will launch the new products soon, for new customers to buy. As an existing Unity 5.x perpetual license customer, you will no longer get new updates after March 2017. However, you have a few options if you want to keep getting updates:





  1. For up to five seats, you may subscribe to Unity Pro at the special price of $75 per month for a limited transition period, after which the price will revert to the normal subscription price of $125 per month:

    • If Unity 5 Pro is your first version of Unity, your transition period is one year.

    • If you owned Unity 4 Pro, your transition period is two years.





  2. If you make less than $200k per year, you may choose Unity Plus and pay $35 per month with an annual commitment.



Check out this nice graphic (Out of date):

Notes on How To Design Deep Games with Jonathan Blow

I watched Jonathan Blow's talk How To Design Deep Games with Jonathan Blow which is actually kind of a misleading title because the talk is about the concept of "Deep Work" and how to sustain work on a long project.  This is one of those talks where you need to watch it a few times, so these notes are probably not capturing the full picture.


What is "Deep Work"?




  • Changes you, you are a different person in a substantial way and a unique specialist in something at the end.

  • You are follow a Guiding Compass, a feeling, hunch or vague notion that seems like the right direction because the destination is unknown, it's an exploration not a journey with a fix end goal.

  • The work is Deep to you, this isn't about meeting someone else ideas or standard:


The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution. - Paul Cezanne


  • It is built on first principals, what makes it special is your technique and view of the world.

  • It is not working on fundamentals, you need to be ready and already done training to get good.

  • Avoid burn out, take care of your Human Animal (see Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.)

  • Sometimes you need to take a break, a good rule:


You're only allowed to take a break to work on something smaller than what you have already shipped.


  • Take Showers - you have to rest, make yourself open to ideas aka invite a visit from your Muse

Notes on Jiro Dreams of Sushi

I watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Jonathan Blow's recommendation, he calls it an example of "Deep Work." Jiro Ono makes sushi, and has been doing it for 75 years. Jiro has seemingly limitless passion and commitment to the craft of sushi. He is on a literal life long journey exploring, reaching, testing and experimenting with all elements of what great, perfect sushi IS. He pursues this perfection of sushi knowing it is bigger, greater and blindingly impossible to contain. Jiro is not an emotional man, he seems serious almost always, but you find his passion in the film through the juxtaposition to his son, Yoshikazu. Yoshikazu is obeying the Japanese tradition of flowing his father's footsteps, carrying forward the mantle of the family, being a dutiful son (I believe the word in Japanese is oyakoukou). Several times in the film, Jiro says he is "in love with work." Yoshikazu does not even hint at such things, he's seem empty of passion for sushi, and full of a deep sense of respect for tradition and duty to make his father proud.

In the film, the Japanese term Shokunin comes up several times as a way to capture the essence of Jiro. This seems to mean master craftsman and life worker. Googling the term turned up this article talking about the film, Shokunin Kishitsu & The five elements of true mastery,  which does a good job of capturing the five elements food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto describes in the film which make Jiro a true master at his art:

A true master:


  1.  is serious about the art.

  2. always aspires to improve oneself and one's work.

  3. works in a clean, fresh and organized space.

  4. is stubborn, obstinate, impatient and individualistic in his pursuit of excellence.

  5. is passion and enthusiasm.


Always...
look ahead and above yourself.
Always try...
to improve on yourself.
Always strive to elevate your craft. - Jiro Ono

Notes on Jonathan Blow's Reddit Ask Me Anything

Jonathan Blow did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit Friday: I am Jonathan Blow, game development person; ask me stuff.

I was specifically interesting in advice type tidbits, here are my notes.

Who Is Jonathan Blow?
Game designer and programmer for the games Braid and The Witness; Partner in angle investor Indie Fund; And creator of programming JAI.


What advise do you have for aspiring game designers?

  • #1 advice for the creative process, do "Deep Work" as explained in this lecture:

  • Ideas aren't worth much, it is execution that matter.

  • Learn to program, because then you can create your vision. (see above)

  • Take on ambitious projects

  • Design is an interactive process, try stuff, keep what works, throw out what doesn't.

  • "In fiction writing, there is this concept that you want every sentence to do more than one thing: you want to describe the setting and set the mood and introduce the character. You want to say what happened and show how a character feels about it and foreshadow a later consequence."

  • Video's that go in depth about the puzzle creation process (some is universal to game design):






  • Do not listen to the Internet: "The internet is an extremely distorted lens. It is basically useless for understanding how your game is really reaching people."

  • How did you keep at it for so long without giving up? "There are low points, as with anything, but you just know what what you are working on is good, and you keep going. 7 years is not that long. If you watch a movie like Jiro Dreams of Sushi you'll see someone who is very serious and for whom 7 years is no big deal."

  • How much time do you put into the craft of making games?  "Most of them."


What games to you recommend?