With such stellar graphics for a handheld available on PSP, the latest Crash game Mind Over Mutant maintained a wide range of cinematic styles and free roaming environments seen in versions for Xbox360 and other platforms. In response to the interest in highlighting developers, Notes on Game Dev nabbed up an in-depth interview with Radical’s Mind Over Mutant team including Game Designers Bob Churchill and Kasan Wright, Art Director Yousuf Mapara, Lead Programmer Ian Gipson, and Producer Glenn Dphrepaulezz.
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All Environment Artists work slightly differently, partly to fulfill their own role or specialty and also as a result of personal preferences. Since the Environment Artist is to responsible for creating an immersive 3D world in which the game takes place, the production pipeline is an important process for all game development. Here I’ve outlined an example work-flow based on my experience for creating a game level.
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Just when I believed my attention span was shot and I didn’t have it in me to commit to a role-playing game…. I picked up Tales of Vesperia on the Xbox 360. The core of the game maintains familiar Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) mechanics that are so well executed that is the soul cause of Xbox 360 sales skyrocketing in Japan. Given the relative difficulty the 360 has had selling next to its native competition in the Japanese market—this is an impressive feat.

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The role of the Environment Artist is to help create an immersive 3D world in which the game takes place. Usually taking up the majority of the screen space during play, the environment graphics are a very important aspect of the games visuals. A good game environment needs to be immersive, fitting and consistent in style with enough interesting features and variety to keep its exploration fresh.

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A panic is fermenting among established men of letters.  “Video games will kill the narrative!” they say, and shut their eyes and ears against the perils of lions and tigers and video game writers, oh my!  Keep your eyes open, though, and you see the narrative art is in no mortal danger from pixels and d-pads.  But though predictions of narrative’s imminent demise are hysterical, they draw attention to an important point.  Video games suffer from an ignorance of traditional narrative form and tools.  Story lines are sloppy and weak, character development is non-existent, and I could go on.  Game narrative must have a central role in game design and writing; however, the art is still underdeveloped and its place in the medium still uncertain.

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Now don’t lose me here. There is a good side to being a Quality Assurance tester, despite my long list of bad things in the first part of this series. If you want to be in QA, there is light at the end of this tunnel. And hey, I’ve been in QA all this time, so there must be reasons that I stay. So if you’re still interested in the dream of a QA Tester, read on.

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Do you want a QA Testing job really bad? Does the idea of playing games all day and getting paid for it your glamorous dream job? Do you want to see you name in lights with the latest video game hit?

Are you insane?

I’m going to rain on your parade a little bit, but there is sunshine at the end, I promise.

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Or otherwise titled, “Nine Things I Wish I Knew (Before I Went Indie and Made Two Hit Games).”

There was a day, four years ago, when I was not a media whore.

I’ve been indie for almost four years now.  As the sole full-time member of Pocketwatch Games, I tend to do a little bit of everything.  I regularly have to code in C++, PHP, HTML, TorqueScript, Javascript, and Actionscript.  I build games and social media with the Torque Game Engine, Flash, the Wordpress platform, and a PHPBB forum.  I am an Executive Producer, Lead Programmer, Art Director, Customer Support Specialist, Community Manager, Marketer, and Media Whore.

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I can’t remember when I first heard of design patterns. It was several years ago, I’m sure, but my awareness of them was a somewhat gradual buildup, not unlike the sudden dawning that the boss is calling my name while I’ve been daydreaming during a meeting. Whenever it was, I came a bit late to the party, because UI design patterns made their debut into interaction design society about 10 years ago….

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Jenova Chen, creator behind the multi award-winning student game Cloud and flOw, co-founder of thatgamecompany,  is dedicated to expanding the emotional spectrum of video games and making them available for a much wider audience. And how did Jenova “make it” as an independent developer? With a lot of support and a drive for innovation.

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