DevLog #4: Mighty Vision

Response to: http://mightyvision.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-do-game-jam.html

Michael Brough's "Mighty Vision" & Midterm Plans/Scoping

A start: I am not a great game programmer. Correction, I am not a great game maker. My general interest and inclination when playing games is not the game mechanics or the catch, but rather the artistic approach to the game. When I am told to imagine a game, I cannot find myself drawn to the actual gameplay itself, but rather how it looks like. Taken this into account, oddly what stood out the most in Michael Brough’s steps was the very first step. “Start with a concept,” under the assumption that you are a game DEVELOPER (which I always forget despite this class title). The fear of trying to make an appealing game always makes me resign to what I am good at, and not what I am awkward with. I also found the step to keep playing the most important to remind me that I am heading in some “okay” direction that fulfills a goal of actually making a game. Clicking play and pretending to be a player of my own game, I wanted to make something with actual fun.

So I started with something that frustrated me that very morning because I was late to class. Getting from Manhattan to Brooklyn with the sh*tty New York subway system, especially with the new L train renovation this year.

When anyone imagines a game or a concept that feels exciting to them, I think we all blow it up to its greatest and largest potential. In my excited head, the game should be large but my realistic scope will be very small and compact. There will only be one solid main game scene.

I foresee difficulties in coding passenger movements that are unrelated to the player movements. Whether to settle with an awkward AI or try to tackle a realistic (which is more aligned with the original concept) with much, much struggle on my part. I will need to learn how to ASK FOR HELP even it may be out of my current reach. Carpe… diem?