Creating a Game [250+ Pages, Written in 2001]
Paul Eres:
This is an old, old (2001 old) article I wrote about game design, which I probably disagree with completely today and would write very differently if I had to redo it, but it still might be worth linking to. It's pretty long, about 250+ pages, and not actually a tutorial on a specific thing as much as a tutorial on creating a game itself (the entire process), and parts of it (but only parts) are specific to the Ohrrpgce engine, but hopefully it fits this forum's topic.
http://rinku.castleparadox.com/Septa/ohrmonthly/0701designa.html
SplinterOfChaos:
I just want to note from the beginning that I have some constructive criticism, and that my criticism is meant to be constructive. But, some of them are, yes, argumentative. I look forward to a reply on these differences of opinion.
It seems like a quite informative, deep, and thoughtful guide. Unfortunately, I find reading it very hard. Incredibly wordy. Sometimes, you need to write a long essay for someone to learn from it, but I saw entire paragraphs that only deserved two sentences.
Who's the audience? People wanting to design games, not so much code them? People who want to code AND design games? Based on the title, I'd say coders as coders "create" things and designers just design. Based on the content, I'd say designers as you don't suggest Tetris for your first game. Not only that, but you exclude simple, abstract games from your tut by shoveling story and linearity v non-linearity into it. Writing who an essay's for is a very important part and I would've wanted to read that before the section on deciding to make a game.
"Chances are, if you are creative enough to want to make a game, you've done things like sketching in class or writing fanfics."
I know a lot of people who want to make games. Whenever I tell them I plan to make a career of it, they suggest I make Guitar Hero 3 or Halo 4. They want to make a game; are they creative? Also: I don't sketch and I write fiction, not fanfiction. I don't like the stereotype "sketching in class or writing fanfics".
One example is the third paragraph under "What is a good game?". I really couldn't stand reading that many lines about how people like things that are good more than things that are bad. You just have too many examples for things and it becomes old fast. On the other hand, most people have to few and don't understand the subjects well enough to realize it.
Variety is the spice of life, and good writing. You have variety, just not close enough together due to the mentioned issue.
Later, talking about why games are fun, you introduce some biases into the mix. You keep saying "you". Speaking to your reader like that is supposed to make it more universal and I'm supposed to find it easier to agree. That'd work if I agreed. You never admit that the biases are yours and not mine. That really bugs me. It's way too specific to be talking as if I thought it true.
I stopped reading. My core irk is I want to read this and learn from it, but it's not worth my time. It'd take months to get through and you don't have good word economy. You have great knowledge (though some is philosophical, thus arguable, and I do argue). I wish it was in a format I could learn from.
Paul Eres:
Uh, you did read the first post, saying that I wrote that back in 2001, right? I think it's unfair to criticize the writing of something I wrote so long ago, considering that I was very young then and wasn't a very good writer. I even said that I'd write it very differently today! I'm not what good criticism of something I wrote so long ago is, considering that I don't make those writing mistakes today.
Moosader:
Maybe you should have revised it before posting it as a legit tutorial.
Paul Eres:
I think it's way too much involved to revise right now, and far more effort than it's worth, since it's 200+ pages, deals with an engine I don't use anymore, and contains a lot I disagree with today. If I had the time to revise it I'd just write a new one instead.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'legit tutorial' though. I do think there are many people who could benefit from reading it. It has some good parts. For instance, the section on maptiles is pretty good, I don't disagree with anything I wrote there: http://rinku.castleparadox.com/Septa/ohrmonthly/0701designa04b.html -- it talks about how to get terrain-border maptiles to look less grid-like:
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