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8/14/2019 Making Videogames: Start Simple
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DeveloperDevelopmentSession 1
Chris DeLeonSept. 8, 2006
www.chrisdeleon.com
8/14/2019 Making Videogames: Start Simple
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I love video games.
8/14/2019 Making Videogames: Start Simple
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Introduction
• 18 years playing games
Beat 300+ commercial titles
• 10 years making games
Finished 40+ games• GCS founder & former manager
Involved in 15+ GCS projects
• Past 2 summers with Electronic Arts
Medal of Honor Airborne team
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Why I’m up here
I’m graduating in May.
I want you to know everything I do.
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Topics this semester
1. Console History Paradigm
2. Effective Project Management in GCS
3. Engineer vs. Designer vs. Producer
4. Feature Complexity and Interrelations5. IP Universe Construction and Analysis
6. Fighting for a Spot in the Industry7. Classical Game Design Study
8. Summary of Recommended Reading
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Today’s Topic
1. Console History Paradigm
2. Effective Project Management in GCS
3. Engineer vs. Designer vs. Producer
4. Feature Complexity and Interrelations5. IP Universe Construction and Analysis
6. Fighting for a Spot in the Industry7. Classical Game Design Study
8. Summary of Recommended Reading
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Problem #1
The first game(s) you make will be bad.
It’s ok. Get it out of your system.
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Problem #2Having no project is better than
Having a failed projectAn unfinished project is not a game.
But it does waste a ton of people’s hard work.
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Problem #3
“Finishing a game” is its own skillLike programming, modeling, composing, managing…
It takes time, work, and experience to master it.
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The solution (kinda)
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Console History Paradigm
Demonstrate and achieve
• Atari complexity, before
• NES complexity, before
• SNES/Genesis complexity, before• N64/Playstation complexity, before
• Xbox/PS2/NGC complexity
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Console History Paradigm
Demonstrate and achieve
• Atari complexity, before
• NES complexity, before
• SNES/Genesis complexity, before• N64/Playstation complexity, before
• Xbox/PS2/NGC complexityNote: nothing says you MUST take on
more complexity if you don’t want to!
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Why?
• Earlier projects have less stable teams
• Prove work ethic, leadership, andcommunication before thinking “talent”
• Chance to focus on making a game FUN• If the game doesn’t turn out awesome,
less time and work went into it
• The finishing experience is equallyvaluable regardless of project scale
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I’m serious.
It’ll make your next games better.
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Whatever you’re thinking…
…is probably more complicated
than you’re thinking.
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Think Simpler
How can it require less complicated assets?
How can it be finished in less time?
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The trick You’ll have modern APIs, programming languages,
and hardware
Virtually all games before Playstation were programmed
entirely in assembly (incl. SNES & Arcade!)
The N64 clock speed is < 100 MHz
The SNES runs at 3 MHz with 1 MB of RAM
The Atari 2600 had 4KB game size, 128 bytes of RAM
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Meaning
You should be able to do
alone in 6 days
what took ateam of engineers 6 months
in 1977.
But “can” isn’t the same as “did.” Try it.
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Any Questions?
