Experiences and fun facts from videogame practice & research
05 February 2023
Have you ever felt creeped out or even repulsed by a video game character but couldn’t really tell why? It happens when you subconciously hit a so-called uncanny valley, a phenomenon when humans realize there is something off with the human-like looking entity in front of them.
The primary objective of level design is to clearly communicate to players where they have to go or what they can or cannot do within a level. Color coding and lighting are just two of some level design techniques relying on visual perception to convey design intent or highlight important parts of a level. Recently released Stray, where you play as a cat finding its way back home, gives a lot of good examples of such techniques. In this post I’m adding some science behind it to help explain why navigation with color and light works the way it does.
Back in April 2022, I was adamantly convinced that I don’t have a speck of design thinking in me and am artistically dumb as clay. But I wanted to learn how to build levels in video games. Three months later, I’ve landed a game design internship at Warhorse Studios (we’re hiring!), and as we speak I’m bridging the gaping gap of being a total noob to becoming a junior level designer. I still have so, so much to learn about level design but I’ve been told I am good at it, so I’ll keep leveling up.
29 June 2022
Znáte ten mem, co říká, že když jsme byli malí, měli jsme spoustu času, ale žádné peníze na hraní videoher, zatímco v dospělosti máme konečně peníze, ale už ne ten čas na hraní? Já k tomu přidávám ještě další dimenzi: pokud máte peníze i čas, většinou vám chybí mozková kapacita, neb jste po dlouhém dni v práci tak vyšťavení, že na rozsáhlé, příběhově komplikované a na mozek jinak náročné hry nemáte ani pomyšlení.
03 January 2022
Herní design je velmi přístupná disciplína, i přes zvláštní auru, která ho obklopuje a často říká opak. Následující seznam herních editorů, kitů a enginů sdílím pro ty, kteří by si chtěli zkusit vytvořit hru a buď neumí programovat nebo neví kde začít.
29 October 2021
Most video games have almost transcendental qualities. They take their player to the worlds that don’t exist, let them experience things they would not normally be able to live through, and leave a mark of some sorts. Tell Me Why does that within its two main topics – gender transitioning, and overcoming of a shared childhood trauma. As heavy as these topics sounds, the game does an amazing job with portraying both in a loving and daring way, showing a player there’s always multiple perspectives needed to be taken in an account, and that judgement should be left to the well-informed.