I’ll get on the plane to Bodrum, Turkey in 3 hours for my summer vacation this year. I’ll be back in 2 weeks with some new thoughts to write about.
Games Convention (Developer Conference)
Tomorrow I will head to Leipzig, Germany for the Games Convention Developer Conference and another two days at Games Convention itself. Really looking forward to meeting interesting people and listening to some informative lectures. You may most likely encounter me at the Mediadesign University booth during breaks at GCDC and afterwards at the Mediadesign University booth K33 in hall 2.
Spoil the Software Pirates’ Party
I recently bought “Das Schwarze Auge - Drakensang” and it is a respectable RPG with a very well done implementation of the “The Dark Eye” pen ’n’ paper ruleset. It’s not extraordinary yet I can recommend it. But actually I do not want to go into any details about graphics or gameplay. In fact there was a thread on the publisher’s official bulletin boards that tells the players about the “pecularities” of Drakensang’s copy protection. Since the info is in german I’ll translate the given information analogously: [...] If Drakensang notices that [SecuROM] copy protection was overridden, it may happen that the player runs into the one or other “dead end”. [...] Even if not obvious, a version of the game running with a no-dvd crack may destroy your savegames permanently.
Managing Student Game Projects I - The Anatomy Of a Student Game Project
In my first article in the series “Managing Student Game Projects” I will try to analyze the anatomy of student game projects. At the end of this article I hope to provide you an overview of the main differences between student (game) projects and projects in companies.
Play-working and work-playing
When I just read Daniel Cook’s article on Gamasutra I had to think about something we are trying in our team for an experiment - incorporating a game into our Scrum-based development cycle.
The experience Daniel Cook’s wife had with WiiFit clearly shows the impact of games on human psyche and how to make good use of it in a beneficial way aside from mere entertainment - not completely removing the fun from games though.
Managing Student Game Projects - Preface
I am currently assigned to the role of an internal producer in a team of 15 students trying to prototype their first 3D game for PC that’s on a bigger scale. Since we all are still studying, the project is run completely extra-curricular, alongside other projects that are being graded. The lesson is to try to simulate the whole process of game development as it could be in reality, to the point where the game is ready for a solid pitch. That is in particular developing a stable prototype with fun gameplay, modern graphics and audio and solid narrative - and last but not least builing a team structure that allows for achieving these goals.
Now the last task obviously is my one. Accordingly this is the reason why I will write a series of articles on that topic - managing a team of students for a videogame project.
On a first glimpse you may say, “So what? Get a book on team management and game producing and get it on!”. This also was my first thought but then I realized that all these books assume projects and teams being intergrated into a company. But there’s some huge differences between a team consisting solely of students and a team formed of employees. For the future articles I will try to isolate single discrepancies and provide possible solutions fitting the needs of students trying to manage a game project.
The First Post
Wow! I finally managed to create my own little website. Only a blog right now, but I believe it will grow over time.
So what’s it all about? Basically I’ll try to regularly update it with my thoughts on game design and game development.
Why did I chose this particular topic? Because I think that games are the next step in media evolution. And although the industry around this interactive media is already huge, the medium itself has yet to mature. But this is only possible if people start thinking about games and what they are all about. So when I decided to study “Game Design” at Mediadesign University of Applied Sciences in Munich, Germany, I did not only want to start developing games but also learn about the things behind the scenes of this fascinating medium. I hope this blog will allow me to share my thoughts on game design and development with many people at least as passionate about this topic as me.
What to expect? I will try to post on at least a semi-monthly basis. Since I mayself am very interested in team and project management, game design, storytelling and a little bit of coding, I will mostly write about these topics. I am also looking for a nice design and working on additional pages about me and the stuff I am doing.
I'm a student in "Game Design" (B.A.) at Mediadesign University of Applied Sciences in Munich, Germany. I'm interested in everything about games and the science behind it. Yet my focus is on game design, storytelling, producing and team-management.