Coding is, naturally, an important part of creating a game. It is the flesh of a game, what makes it run, what makes it do exactly what you want. As said in Keith Burgun's article about programming, you don't necessarily know how to code to make a game. You can have other people do that for you. But, as again said in the article but more importantly what I observed during the Hour Of Code, you need to be able to code if you want immediate and responsive change. I saw that the most effective way of creating a piece of code was making something that you think should work, seeing where it messes up, and fixing it so that it doesn't do that. You can't get that immediate response if you aren't coding. Say your play testing a game, and notice that a certain object doesn't have physics. If you don't know how to code, you have to tell the programmers, have it put on their schedule, and it may be days before its fixed. On the other hand, if you can go into the code and fix it, its done. No one else needed. The Hour of Code also got me into the mind set that coding is trial and error. I'm going to make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. And I can't let that stop me from learning how to program because its an extremely important skill I need to know if I am to go into this field. It also really helped me understand that, once you know the language, its just making the thing do what you want it to do. Difficulties arise from interactions between coding, and human error when creating said coding. But other then that, its just logic, its just telling the computer what it needs to do and when to do it. Its just learning how to tell it that is difficult.
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Quick, effective, and most importantly potent level design comes from planning. You can't create content within a efficient amount of time without proper planning. Personally, this planning would need to be of exactly when what needs to be done by to meet my deadline. Planning exactly what needs to happen in those periods shouldn't be necessary, as I'm usually good about coming up with good and quick ideas and executing them, but I have a massive problem with time management and procrastination. Taking this into account, setting short and very strict deadlines on when specific things need to be done, such as the basic outline for the level, where the obstacles and enemies are located, so on and so forth, would be the most effective way for me to create a level. Again, going into great detail exactly what happens during this time would be redundant and useless, as I would most likely throw them out anyways and go with what makes sense at the time. Also, extensive time should be set aside for polish, as I'm extremely lacking on detail examination, so time to adjust and smooth out should be in large supply. In addition, to spur creativity and ingenuity, the first step should be the creation of a simple core mechanic that I would then proceed to build the game off of. This first step would be the hardest, as the rest should just form around it and compliment it. The story would explain how this mechanic came to be, the game play should use the mechanic to its fullest, enemies should both challenge and incorporate the mechanic in their defeat, and level design should be based around this mechanic. Once the mechanic has been set, the rest should flow right after it. This will not only make for a game literally designed for one, pure, and completely polished piece of game play, but one that is interconnected and cohesive, as it all stems from one thing.
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AuthorI am 17 years old, and currently enrolled in Durham School of the Arts. Within the Game Design field, I'm looking to become a game writer or a programmer, preferably a combination of the two.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public School Archives
June 2018
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