From Twitter
There was a twitter activity floating around: First, you'd post an image explaining the rules. The rules were, for each like you got on that post, you'd post a game dev tip-- some bit of knowledge you had discovered and wanted to share.
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I switched it so I could post something about game dev I needed tips on, instead. Some of my questions were a bit tongue-in-cheek, but actually they are all things I struggle with on some level— and some of them, mightily!
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There were some some great responses. I collected them here to share and to reference, only very slightly edited.
Zach Gage (@helvetica) : i always start w the idea that is the easiest to try solution to the issue at hand. also, look for things that solve more than they add
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Ian Kettlewell (@kettlecorn) : "A good idea is something that does not solve just one single problem, but rather can solve multiple problems at once."-Shigeru Miyamoto
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Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : what matters is what you care about the most in the game. Try to care a bit about everything but there's probably something you like more :)
Zach Gage (@helvetica) : for me these always come out of trying to explore a single mechanic that seems fun and trying to make it work as quickly as possible
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Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : I think it's: go from the solution to the starting point when making a puzzle.
Also don't make your puzzle a hide & seek game.
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Ashley Pringle (@AshleyPringle) : i concluded recently that i don't get most puzzle games. like i'll can solve puzzles but i don't enjoy it and feel like i've gained nothing
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Ashley Pringle (@AshleyPringle) : and i also have no idea what makes a good puzzle game. they all feel roughly the same to me? i'd have a lot of difficulty making one
Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : what you should anticipate before starting this: collisions are hard :X
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J. West (@JRCWest) : I've started 3 games so far, collisions have been the hardest wall I've hit on each one.
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Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : haha nice one
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J. West (@JRCWest) : ...damn that wasn't even intentional
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[N.B. This reminds me of @MattThorson's great post on Towerfall Physics]
Zach Gage (@helvetica) : for this i just dont work on anything that doesnt show signs of being great right away. i throw out a lot of prototypes
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Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : your project is a living thing, you should totally make small modifications to the design along the way. big irregular modifications are bad
Zach Gage (@helvetica) : thats ok if it's fun! expanding games is really hard. i try to do many variations on a small game to make it bigger instead of expanding
Zach Gage (@helvetica) : me too its fucking crazy
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Christopher Whitman (@SeeBeeWhitman) : They have a staff of like 100-1000 people and a lot of producers keeping everything on track! It's (ideally) very organized!
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Calvin (@PsySal) : It's so amazing to me to think off this...
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Christopher Whitman (@SeeBeeWhitman) : I mean really what it boils down to is a profession of people whose only job is to be in meetings all day every day
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Christopher Whitman (@SeeBeeWhitman) : Without producers nothing would ever ship
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Andrew Winn (@AWinnr) : Sometimes I am amazing that anything gets created at all. Buildings, movies, school systems. It seems like so much work.
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Calvin (@PsySal) : I rent office from construction industry, and read all the magazines. The construction industry are (or can be) incredible planners.
Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : Nope! Try making it move faster and bob up and down a little if your perspective lets you and add footstep sfx!!@p_end
Zach Gage (@helvetica) : i use http://oryxdesignlab.com sprites for my prototypes a lot
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RobertClemmonsjr. (@RobClemmonsJr) : @itchio ALSO has several art asset packs too.
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RobertClemmonsjr. (@RobClemmonsJr) : There's also opengameart too.
Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : find assets make game with found assets, create the minimum needed ??? release profit
Blörkfisk med Vitpök (@pixelworship) : Easy: Nintendo rules, dude
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Calvin (@PsySal) : It's hard to argue with this :) And why would anyone!
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Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : There really good at family games! That translates into really good control accessibility and attractive gamefeel! :)
Megan Fox (@glassbottommeg) : OpenGL Is The Literal Devil. Seen here, the process by which you get it to render a simple lit reflective sphere: [N.B. gif animation of a person in a red bodysuit carrying a red balloon, being chased off a golf course by a golfer, who then trips and, it would seem, pulls a hamstring]
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Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : Nope you're ok! Lots of people like Unity, I hate it. A lot. I would rather work with OpenGL, for sure! :D
Travesol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : that's actually good. details make things good.
Trasevol Dog (@TRASEVOL_DOG) : They have shader wizards [N.B. I can't disagree but this is a very unsatisfying answer! :P]
Sven Bergström (@___discovery) : /[Link to article: Assassin's Creed: Black Flag - Waterplane]/ :P
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Rounding J. Error (@rje) : For the water animation itself, the Tessendorf paper is probably a good place to start? /[Link to PDF file]/
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Calvin (@PsySal) : Ah wow! Thank both of you this will be some niiiice reading :)
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Rounding J. Error (@rje) : at one point there was an nvidia implementation of the Tessendorf stuff as a compute shader but I can't find it now. Enjoy!