Why go to College to make games when you have tools like these?

You could spend four years of your life in college learning a trade that ,like many, in the computer sector changes and updates yearly if not monthly. So yes you could learn the basics but in truth if you don't continue you to learn after your education your skills will become null and void, well College doesn't guarantee a job in the game industry anyway. Until now everyone had to work their way in and teach themselves. So I invite you to do the same. Here are a few programs you can download and buy to help you learn the basics and advanced sections of game/level design! I hope these tools will help you as much as they helped me.

RPG maker (VX)

This program will cost you some money but in the long run its really worth it. I feel safe to say many if not all computers can run this program and there are a great deal of help forums on the Internet where you can get answers for any question you might have. You may import any sprite you can find and even make your own. With this program you can design an entire story driven RPG, you can even request and share completed games and resources. This program will allow you to design an entire story driven RPG.

Cons:
-It's not free and if you want others to enjoy your game they have to download a program to load your project file.
-Even with help the battle system could have more options.

Game Maker 8 (YoYo games)
This program , like RPG maker, costs money ( the "pro" edition will run you $25) but if you want to just get a feel for the program you can always download the trail version and see if it's what your looking for. This program takes tasks and scripts and makes them building blocks that just need to be placed in the correct sequence of code to preform its correct function. This is most popular in game programs for the public and again there is an option to write your own code and import it into the game.

Cons:
-You wont be making the next blockbuster with this program.
-The trial version is very limited in what you can do once you figure out the basics.

Warioware D.I.Y (Nintendo DS, Wii)

The Big N is sick of making games for you so now it's your turn. This new title in the micro games series is a step in the right direction for fans and indie developers mainly because it gives you a near endless amount of tools to not only make a little game but control the music and scripting of it. There is something for everyone here...whether you are really into making just music or drawing your own sprites this title gives you all that and allows you to package and send your games to other DS and Wii users. This is of course a retail game and one of the more expensive "game makers" but its the charm and easy access that might get most to over look the price and limitations.

Cons:
-you have to have a DS to play and a Wii to download the extra distribution channel.
-You can't really make a full game its mainly 5-10 second mini games.
-No matter how you make it most of the games will end with touch this to win...but again if you have a DS and some extra cash this should be your next DS purchase.

There are also many other programs out there that all offer different things. I didn't list them mainly because I haven't used them but I know Unreal 3 would be the best for modding and even Never Winter Nights if you can run it. both are not expensive anymore and can even be bought and downloaded from your computer. I recommend checking those out as well as the ones I have listed. Good luck and happy creating!

April 15, 2010

What games can teach us...nothing?

It's sad but true over the past I don't know 20 or so years I have been a user of games ( sounds like a drug addiction and its not far from it) at first they were just that fun and it was something to fill time as a child growing up as were action figures and playing outside. They are things to help you develop as a person and learn values to then take those "skills" and apply them to your life as an adult. As a kid I loved gaming but it came with limits such as play time and sharing. These simple rules in my opinion were the only things that kept me from getting addicted but sadly many of us are now way beyond that point as it has encroached on every facet of our lives to the point we don't even have real goals anymore. A great example would be from my time working a eb/gamestop for about 3 years. I was in college to learn game design to really put my passion to work but i slowly lost that feeling and my goals were dumbed down. It became this job sucks but (enter title here) is coming out I can't wait it's going to be so much fun. Gaming really is an addiction and those who are under it's influence need to come to terms with the fact that no matter how much fun it is and how cool you feel doing it your real life is suffering. I used to be upset with my brother over how could he not care about such and such a game when it was so close to release or the concept of the game sounded so cool but he would act as if it didn't matter to him and that's not to say he didn't like it , he did but it wasn't the end of the world for him like it is for most of us. I am jealous of that now I am starting to see that games are not everything and reflecting how "hooked" and committed as a user I was to not even see what a hold it had on me. I once made a joke that if my history class was about games I would get an "A" and that was proven years later when I began college to study how to make them but I now think about how stupid I must be to be proud that I can ace a game test about Nintendo's history but struggle over the western advances in the world markets in a business class which is a topic that relate to the real world and truth be told is far more valuable to know then what Mario's fist name was (jump man). I feel like I was brainwashed and allowed it to happen. For a few months now I have been living in an area that isn't controlled by games, games here are like a second thought still and for me that was a hard reality to get used to at first. "Your telling me I can't get the newest online xbox 360 game or the cool new DS game that uses all these features" That was gone for me and for a long time I was just like a drug addict doing anything I could to fill the hole. Download PC games on torrent sites watch game news more then real news and begin to dwell completely on trying to only solve one problem...how to get what I want where I am. Just listen to this blog it sound insane. I sound insane. So much time with only goal which all gamers share to experience the next big ride or high if you will. To be apart of it but what does it give back? Now to the meat of this blog. If your a gamer in any respect reading this then pay cation to my words this far because if your not in as deep as me its still possible and its highly destructive to every part of your life. Games as a medium so far have been attempting three things:
1. Emergent play, by this I mean creating stories and worlds that draw you in just like any movie or book. By drawing you in you can let your self go and be entertain for hours coming away from it excited to what's next or what just happened and when this happened you need more to feel that way again just like any-other addictive substance.
2. Attach loyalties, this product placement is proven with any top ten game list where the Super Mario Brothers always tend to find a way to the top three spots and that's because for many they were your first "joint" of games and so that game forever becomes something you will pay attention to even if it never lives up to your expectations you fight with yourself to stack it up with your childhood to that first Mario hit you took and compare them, you are using even when you didn't want to.
3. Taking your money, I'm sorry but this is a business and that's the thing that makes the world go round. they get you on a product sometimes under false pretenses, such as the DS isn't just a game system it can train your brain, which leads to once you have "trained" all you can train you ask "what else does this thing do?" *looks at a wall of games* and then WHAM GOTCHA! You have now went from a moderate user to a casual user and it only "levels-up" from there until your right where the rest of us are. Game don't DO anything for our lives. They are a smoke screen most of the time for us a world to hide in away from this real one. I used to joke about such thought but it's so more true now then before.

Overall games are entertainment and the trick is to not let them control you as much as you control them. Games are not more important then setting life goals games should never be a goal in your life trust me if you looked at the worlds most successful people I would like you to ask yourself if they are hardcore gamers? I would argue probability not even close and if they did play it would be minimal at best. I will leave you with one more quote I thought I was living by when it came to games but ended up being a huge hippocrate to:

"In order to be a great game designer you need to get out in the world and experience any and everything you can you don't create worlds in a basement" Shigeru Miyamoto
Now what If you take two addictive substances and use the in the same instance, such as smoking and playing games. I ran a test on myself recently on the ratio to cigarettes i smoking while engaging in a game over spending a night watching TV. During this time i would allow myself to smoke any time I felt like it for whatever justifiable reason I felt to smoke whilst playing a game "left 4 dead/Battlefield 1943" or watching Television "The Daily Show/The X-files". Let's look at the results. While playing game i tended to reward myself for good playthroughs or kills by smoking like palvios dog, then while watching TV i tended to only smoke when I became board of the show or someone in the show began to smoke making me a sheep big tobacco as a brainwashed drone. When I stopped doing both activities with smoking the effects became more noticeable while gaming. I would kill another play and become excited and begin to look around the room for cigarettes and then the game become more of a annoyance because i couldn't smoke and became aggravated and short tempered. Now people should be able to control their emotion at least behavior with games and many argue both sides but it is true if your easily aggravated in life games can amplify there emotion if you let them.

January 7, 2010

RPG Maker VX

I have been to Bulgaria to see the love of my life and it opened up a few things inside me about what's important and really it's being happy, but we all know that is not as easy as it once was but that got me thinking will people 20 years from now claim the same thing? That it was always so much better before? And in doing so claim to stop pissing and moaning and start living for the time we have. I will make my own games cause clearly my talent is yet to be taken advantage of, so screw it. You want something done go and do it yourslef and maybe that's all it takes to get noticed. (oh and yeah I walked to the mountain from where I was standing)

I have traveled far and long to find myself back where I started but do not fret my followers I have a demo from the world of (insert place) and think you could be it's savior! dare you try it?

PLAY DEMO (comming soon)

November 14, 2008