Universal GameDev Challenge Entry

I had a go at Unity's Universal GameDev Challenge last month, with an action/stealth RPG based around the Battlestar Galactica canon. Obviously I didn't make the finals (as I wouldn't be posting about my design otherwise), so I've included my design document here. If you love a flow diagram, then take a look.

Rome Total War on iPhone

Although at least five of the projects I am currently working on cannot be blogged about at the moment (well, I could, but an NDA says I really mustn't), I can at least mention I've been working on Rome Total War for iPhone. 

Retroactive - Interview with Lionheart on Rome Total War for iPad

Where Retroactive = I forgot to blog about this first time around.

After the release of Rome Total War for iPad, Edwin and I (the designers on Rome Total War for iPad) did an interview with Lionheart for his YouTube channel, and you can watch it here if you're so inclined:

GRID on iPad and iPhone

Well, somebody doesn't know how to blog properly.

It's been a while since I've updated this, and since that time, GRID Autosport has arrived on the iOS Store for iPad and iPhone, and we did a Twitch livestream to commemorate the event! Sadly, that was a while ago, but the full stream is due for a rerun in October. Witness Hannah's mad racing skills, and my weird inability to distinguish between the names Def Leppard and Led Zeppelin when under duress. 

Sneaky Peeky

There's been a sneaky look at one of my next projects on Twitter...

I'm just going to leave this here.

iPad Invasion

If you saw Rome: Total War was available on iPad (or you glanced at the post below this one), then you probably saw this coming... Barbarian Invasion is now available as a separate app.

To celebrate this, we drank the blood of our enemies and made a two hour Twitch livestream, which has been retained for posterity.



All our post-release work on Rome to improve those niggling issues went into Barbarian Invasion, so you can enjoy new features such as displaying troop paths and statuses in battle in the first release. It's been fun working on the improvements, and always interesting to see what people find they like (and don't like!) when you let your app out into the wild.

Rome-ing All Over Your iPad

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, as I've been rather busy on a project at work which has finally been revealed - Rome: Total War on iPad. It's been a fun and challenging experience getting the full uncut version of the game onto a tablet, and one we hope people will enjoy. If you like Rome: Total War and you like iPads, this is probably the game for you!

You can see the best bits of the design team (i.e. myself and Edwin) live-streaming a sneak-peek of the game below:



You may notice the best bits are sadly bereft of terrible Rome-based puns, but this might be rectified on the Total War official Twitch channel tomorrow. We're going to be showing the game ahead of release, and we'll try not to wilfully murder our general this time.

A Grimm Journey: Narrative

December's Ludum Dare may be over, but we're still working hard on A Grimm Journey, albeit in dribs and drabs due to our other commitments. While both the Robs have been making loads of improvements (see Rob de Jager's blog post here*), I have been looking into the narrative of our game.

So far, the story has largely been confined to an introduction screen with a rhyming explanation, to fit with the fairy tale feel of the shadow puppetry art design.

Shadow puppet art for 'A Grimm journey'

Ludum Dare: A Grimm Journey - Results

The results for the Game Jam I participated in last month have been released, and here is how our game 'A Grimm Journey' ranked out of 2,640 total entries:

400 Graphics(Jam) 3.48

406 Mood(Jam) 3.17

449 Audio(Jam) 2.85

746 Overall(Jam) 2.92

785  Innovation(Jam)  2.57

866 Fun(Jam) 2.52

890 Theme(Jam) 2.96

That means we made the top 16% to 36% across all the above categories, which isn't bad going. Well done to everyone involved!

Ludum Dare: A Grimm Journey - Post-Mortem

Last week saw me participate in my first ever game jam! Ludum Dare organise one monthly, and teams or solo participants have to make a game in 72 hours. What could possibly go wrong?

The team we had comprised of:

Rob de Jager - Programming (team lead)
Rob Best - Programming
Stacy Lovage - Art
Laura Mitchell (Me!) - Design 

At the start of the jam, we were given the following theme: 

Everything on One Screen

You can see the fruits of our labour here.

Shadow puppets trapped on a single projector screen...

I will largely go through the project from a design point of view; needless to say, the game artwork was amazing and what got coded in 72 hours would have taken me weeks.

IF Competition: Building the Right Stuff

Back in October, I entered the Interactive Fiction competition. The voting results came through in November, and I managed tied 33rd place out of 42. Not great, but not the worst. If you want to take a peek at my entry, the link is here.

Here's what I learned from the experience.

Marvel at the high quality graphics...

Game Jammin'

I'm currently 26 hours away from the deadline for the Ludum Dare 31 game jam!

Rob de Jager kindly asked me to join his small team in a design capacity, and it's been great fun. 72 hours to make a game; what could possibly go wrong?

I posted an update on our progress on Rob's Ludum Dare blog here, so go check it out. We have just under 26 hours to go.

I'll do a more detailed review after the event (along with a piece about another game competition I entered a while ago, in a moment of madness).

Completed Mini-Game: A Cumber-Adventure!

After yet another hiatus, I'm posting again!

I do have a couple of fairly decent excuses for my absence; I've had exams and started a new job for one. More relevant to the content of this site is the fact that I've technically been busy making a full-length game to a remit. I say technically, because  it's a) more a collection of mini-games under a single narrative and b) that remit is of my own choosing.

Some background on this latest fare; a friend of mine has quite the crush on the actor Benedict Cumberbatch (you may know him as Sherlock in the titular BBC series, or as that actor whose name you won't remember, but you can say almost anything with a similar number of syllables and people will know who you mean) and her birthday was coming up. As I was struggling to find a suitable present for her, the idea hit me: I would make her a game. Not only could I tailor something perfectly to her, but I could try out some new game building software I had acquired*. So, 'Susie's Cumber-Adventure' was born!

The title screen. My friend totally didn't stroke the screen when she first saw this.

Only the names have been changed, to protect the guilty.

Now, this isn't a game for distribution, as it's both a unique gift for a friend (who has graciously agreed to let me write about it) and it breaks all copyright laws of God and man. With that in mind, if you wish to take a peek, the zip file can be accessed here. You need to extract all the files into one folder in order to run the executable.

Level Demo - Spider Wars

I finally have a demo of my level design! This is for the first level of 'Spider Wars', so it focuses on getting the player used to the hazards and power-ups. I changed a couple of things from the initial design, most notably the arrangement of holes in the middle of the level to provide more of an obstacle. If you want to have a play, the link to download it is below.

Spider Wars: First Level Demo

Level Design - Spider Wars

I sketched out a brief level design that I am in the process of building for the game concept Spider Wars.

The sketch below shows dotted lines throughout the tree; these separate the tree out into screen-sized sections. The level is scrolling and the player will move smoothly through these as they navigate Steve the Spider to the top of the tree.

Game Design - Ten Page Game Concept: C-List Saviour

Here's another game concept, although I'm not too sure about the title. Marvel once again at my superlative primary-school artistic skills!

PC/Online

Target Age: 18-30

Rating: PEGI 18 (for violence, potential suggestive scenarios and drug use)

Game Design - One Pager for Vertical Shoot 'em Up

While I'm still working on creating more detailed game design documents for my previous two ideas, I thought it was about time I came up with a little idea I might actually be able to demo; in fact, I'm working on just such a thing.

Spider Wars!

Platform: PC

Target Age: 7-12

PEGI Rating: 7+

Level Design - C-List Saviour (Now in 3D)

Well, I finally managed to cobble together a 3D representation of the first level.

Mission One: P... P... P... Pick up a Porno!

The whole area is roughly scaled to be 200 ft by 200ft. the two narrow roads are 10ft wide, and the main street is 15ft wide.

Level Design: C-List Saviour

Instead of producing a ten-page concept document for 'C-List Saviour' straight away, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out some level design ideas and see how they worked out.

Here is my first effort, a 2D sketch of the first level. Once again, be prepared to be astounded by my peerless graphical skills and sophisticated handwriting.

Mission Title: P... P... Pick up a Porn Mag

Mission Statement: Collect and deliver a copy of 'Pink Porno' magazine to 'Barry the Ballkicker'

Risk: Low - It'll take several paparazzi to convince the public that Bailey is a porn fiend, but Barry doesn't like to be kept waiting.

2D Initial Level Map

The HUD will feature an iPhone 'radar' app, where Bailey can see a map of the area with the paparazzi and the fans' movements displayed.

The next step is a 3D mock-up, where scale can be specified and characters can be moved around an area.

Game Design - Ten Page Game Concept: Trader Scum!

Well, I've finally put together a mini ten page document covering one of my game ideas; it can be viewed below. Oh, and please don't feel intimidated by my obvious graphical prowess and mastery of primary school colouring techniques - illustration is not an area I intend to try and get into at any point in my life. 

PC/Online

Target Age: 18-30

Rating: PEGI 16 (for potential suggestive scenarios and drug use)