Utah Indie Games Night - November 2013
Okay I've been negligent in getting my writeup of Indie Night done, but here it is. We had a good Indie Games Night this past Wednesday evening (11/20/2013). It was an average turnout with a little over 30 people in attendance. Thanks again for the EAE department of the U of U for hosting this.
Vladimir Chopine of GeekAtPlay gave a great presentation on Concept Art and started his presentation off by showing samples of his and his daughters work. He also contended that the most important part of your game is not the art, code, or game play, but rather the "story". He also made the point that even with abstract games like Tetris there is still a story there. However it may be the story that we as the play are putting into the game ourselves. He then mentioned that concept art (and art in game) can tell a story. It helps communicate the story of the game as well as the vision and feel of the game. It's certainly needed to unify that vision for a team making the game.
After Vladimir's talk we opened the floor for game demos. I believed I missed a couple of them, but here's the ones I saw.
CyberHeist
This one is a two player co-op game. One plays as the hacker to open doors and give directions to the other player. The other plays as the thief/spy that infiltrates to get the item or data they are after.
Bug Out
This is an interesting mix between Galaga and Arkanoid. The game play is similar to Arkanoid where you have a paddle and break bricks with a ball, however instead of bricks they are space aliens (like in Galaga). Occasionally one alien will break off and try to attack your ship/paddle.
Spectrum Specter
A retro looking maze game with four different colored walls. There are different buttons that change your characters color and you can move through walls of that color. There are also enemies of different colors to watch out for, and they too can move through walls of their same color. The object is just to survive as long as you can.
RoboHobo
Josh Jones showed his Zero Hour game jam entry. You give directions to a hobo whom you hope to convince not to commit suicide and stay alive. There is food there which he'll need to eat to not starve and of course he can die if he goes over the cliff.
The Preordained Spot
Josh also showed his entry from the Latter Day Game Jam. The object is to find where the golden plates might be buried.
Avatar Paint (Working Title)
This one is a interesting puzzle game where you have to paint the ground with different colors to match the goal pattern. You can only switch colors by moving to a color changing space (sort of like a paint can space). Often you'll have to paint and repaint a space several times to reach the desired pattern.
It was a great evening. Hope to see everyone at the next one!
Viva la Indie!
(EDIT: Added the name to Josh's second mini-game)
Vladimir Chopine of GeekAtPlay gave a great presentation on Concept Art and started his presentation off by showing samples of his and his daughters work. He also contended that the most important part of your game is not the art, code, or game play, but rather the "story". He also made the point that even with abstract games like Tetris there is still a story there. However it may be the story that we as the play are putting into the game ourselves. He then mentioned that concept art (and art in game) can tell a story. It helps communicate the story of the game as well as the vision and feel of the game. It's certainly needed to unify that vision for a team making the game.
After Vladimir's talk we opened the floor for game demos. I believed I missed a couple of them, but here's the ones I saw.
CyberHeist
This one is a two player co-op game. One plays as the hacker to open doors and give directions to the other player. The other plays as the thief/spy that infiltrates to get the item or data they are after.
Bug Out
This is an interesting mix between Galaga and Arkanoid. The game play is similar to Arkanoid where you have a paddle and break bricks with a ball, however instead of bricks they are space aliens (like in Galaga). Occasionally one alien will break off and try to attack your ship/paddle.
Spectrum Specter
A retro looking maze game with four different colored walls. There are different buttons that change your characters color and you can move through walls of that color. There are also enemies of different colors to watch out for, and they too can move through walls of their same color. The object is just to survive as long as you can.
RoboHobo
Josh Jones showed his Zero Hour game jam entry. You give directions to a hobo whom you hope to convince not to commit suicide and stay alive. There is food there which he'll need to eat to not starve and of course he can die if he goes over the cliff.
The Preordained Spot
Josh also showed his entry from the Latter Day Game Jam. The object is to find where the golden plates might be buried.
Avatar Paint (Working Title)
This one is a interesting puzzle game where you have to paint the ground with different colors to match the goal pattern. You can only switch colors by moving to a color changing space (sort of like a paint can space). Often you'll have to paint and repaint a space several times to reach the desired pattern.
It was a great evening. Hope to see everyone at the next one!
Viva la Indie!
(EDIT: Added the name to Josh's second mini-game)
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