Hi Thomas (and all),
You're absolutely right about the problems with the AGM-project you
describe. I applaud your persuit for the development of a new
audio game creation tool. I'd really like to see more tools because I
want
to have more audio games (I follow all threads about
tools on this list silently but with great interest :-)
I learned many things from the AGM project (such as dealing with time
restrictions, burned-down offices, ambitious interns, etc. :-)
but what is probably most useful to share is more about the design of
generic game design tools:
I've always thought that if I were to do the AGM-project again, that I
would
*first* constrain myself to a game design tool for one
specific game genre. So for instance a tool for an audio race game, or a
tool for an audio platform game, etc. Initially we had
considered this option, but we abandoned it because we thought of the
idea
too much as mere level editors (with which one could not
design a innovative/original game with) and because we thought there
would
be so much overlap between the level editors (score
systems, enemies, etc.) that we could pull off a generic game design tool
with a little bit more effort.
In the end we found that the generic approach made it a whole lot harder
to
even make a very simple racing game, or a simple shooter
game. With a lot more time (let's say 1,5 years) we could have probably
managed to make a decent working generic version, with a
better user interface (even though this one was supposed to be as simple
as
possible, it is still quite complex when you start). But
I think that we probably would have added templates for certain game
genres
anyway - just to make the design more simple.
I think that if you start with an audio game design tool for one specific
genre (let's say a shooter or a racer or a board game),
that that in itsself is already a big enough challenge. Most likely
something like an Audio Race Game Maker will feature an
incredible amount of variables and functionalities. This not only means
that
an Audio Race Game Maker is a big thing to develop, but
when you achieve it, you have probably learned a great deal about how to
create a more generic game development tool as well.
I think that you might find that even with a single-genre tool many
people
will create a whole range of fun racing games and will
very soon try to use it for stuff other than racing games. Then gradually
you can add a new feature (open terrain instead of a fixed
track, or damage variable, so that vehicles can get damaged), and another
one (pickups, or a weapon to shoot another car) and quite
soon people will exchange the car engine sound for footsteps and you have
the initials of a basic FPS. And you can have it grow from
there on.
On a side note: this is actually how our project Extant
(http://creativehero.es/Extant) is now slowly changing from a
first-person
shooter environment into an environment (in Unity) which allows us to
create
multiple types of games because we got all types of
building blocks that work together: moving around a 3D space (x,y,z),
different avatars (person, vehicle, etc.), enemies, shooting,
pickups, buildings, etc.
So my point is: start small, try not to create a generic tool for all
game
genres, but start with a tool for a single genre and
build it out from there. Maybe first build three single genre tools and
then
make a generic version out of the three of them.
Best regards,
Richard
http://audiogames.net
