Blog for Joshua Gertz at GarageGames.com

Making Progress

Joshua Gertz — 2006-07-26T17:46:58+00:00

Well I have no new screenshots to show of my progress. I had to stop to ramp two people up on the project, at least the design portion of it. I also am now working with one of those people putting together a prototype document that just has the base features and concepts of the game so people wont get so bogged down in the feature set.

So the people that jumped on are a Masters student here that is a project manager and has experience. He is a friend of mine and I showed him the game doc in the hopes he would give me some feedback, I think I may have had the idea in the back of my mind that he would want to work on the project as well. He not only gave me feedback but really wanted to work on the project.

To start with I decided that we needed to find someone that could do some typing and coding so he went on a recruitment spree and came back with a network guy that isnt a great programmer but was interested in working on a prototype. So with that we have three of us working on the project.

From what I heard yesterday, by Friday, we will be playing a prototype in a cafe in old town Scottsdale and then deciding on some features to throw into the game beyond just the networked deathmatch.

Here is to progress....

My Photoshop Mock Ups

Joshua Gertz — 2006-07-20T19:30:02+00:00

So Ive been trying to find programmers here on campus at UAT and I cant find any. Everyone thats is somewhat interested is already working on something at the moment so I am at a loss as what to do. The game itself requires a lot of network code for it to work and the networking guys here on campus are not really interested in gaming, I still have some feelers out for people but I have decided to start mocking up evrything in the meantime to try and get people interested and if I have too recruit people from the other gaming colleges around town here in Phoenix or find people to work with online.

So first off the main menu for the game:

The maim function of the screen is to chat and find people to start games with.

Then the ship upgrade and garage screen: (the wireframe is not mine nor something that would be in the game its just there to give an example of style. The game is a 2D game)

And there we have it for right now.

Some things that I discovered while doing this:

1. There is a lot of small art details that I was not thinking about.

2. GUI/HUD Design, for the sake of getting some things done and set I was not really looking into usability but now I can start rearranging and adjusting things to suit needs.

3. The networking integration will make or break the project and from what Ive been looking at the networking for TGB is non-existant or hidden very well. I saw the tutorial about taking the code from TGE and putting it into TGB but I may need to find a network programmer to do what I need to do.

4. People are very lazy at my school, most are here because they hink game design is cool but none are taking the initiative to make anything. I think I have been on most of all the major projects here at school in some sort and they all have the same group of people working on them.

-Josh

Getting out of the Gate

Joshua Gertz — 2006-07-17T18:14:56+00:00

So initially I started working through the tutorials that come with TGB. Mostly I have no idea what Im doing other than typing scripts into the main.cs file and executing the game.

Some of the comments on my initial blog post gave me the idea that maybe I should concentrate on the skills I am better at. So I started creating the art. I ran into an issue though, since I have been doing some commission work I am in a frame of mind of creating peices that get put together by another person, well right now I have no other person to put the peices together for me.

I've had to go back and recreate stuff as a whole rather than in peices, but I have also kept in mind that at a later date someone will need the peices so I have been paying attention to keeping my assets all on seperate layers in Photoshop so I can break them up later.

I've also realized that I should probably get a personal pipeline down so I know what I need to make and what the essentials are. I started out and got lossed on what I really needed to make to get my concept across to other people.

So now I have stopped creating anything for the game but I am concentrating more on creating a pipeline for the game to keep me on track and so I can just give it to someone interested in helping me out.

Taking the Bull by the Horns!!

Joshua Gertz — 2006-07-16T02:41:29+00:00

Well being an artist I sometimes, well most of the times, have a problem getting my ideas into something that I can get people excited about. Mainly getting programmers to buy in and help me out. I bought T2D after GDC in 2005 because I wanted something to try and prototype with, it was a bit much for me and I got involved with a bigger MOD project here at school.

This past GDC I was able to talk with Jay Moore at the IGDA meeting and had dinner with Ben Bradley, both were nice chats about Torque, Education, Art and Design. Mainly though it was a nice chat about games and having fun. The MOD project was still going at the time so I didnt think much of it, now that I am about finished with the MOD project I have begun to think more and more about my project. In fact I used it as a basis for my Game Documentation class, the final turned in was a game design doc, business doc, art bible and Gantt Chart for the entire project.

Now back to this week....

I attend UAT here in Phoenix, AZ. Thats The University of Advancing Technology for anyone interested or anyone that does not know. We have a Technology Forum twice a year, for the forums we invite industry people to talk about everything about the industry. This weekend Mr. Ed, AKA Davey Jackson was here to talk about Torque in Education and Indie Development. Of course after the talk and chat it peaked my interest in T2D again.

About two hours ago Davey left nice sunny 120 degree weather Arizona and went home, after a few games of Guitar Hero. I went home about the same time and decided to check in here at Garage Games and download, install and toy around with T2D again.

If I attempt this I know I need to own it as much as possible. For me that means creating a prototype that I can get people excited about, mainly get some programmers involved. So from this post I start my project:

Constant