Kyle Conway - Dumbest Designer

Last year felt a tad off for me as well (though maybe not as bad) hence skipping this year.

It felt weirdly small to me. Like beyond the students (who were great) there weren't that many game devs around.

Reminded me of old 90s stories of game expos where sleazy arcade salesmen were the front men.

An Art Nouveau staircase decorated with curved patterns and soft colors, with a nature-themed background and rounded windows on the walls.

Art Deco staircase. An angular, grand design in dark colors.

Art Nouveau is when stuff looks like it was made by Elves.

Art Deco is when stuff looks like it was made by Dwarves.

Big games are only big because big smart people work in big groups. Collab early collab often.

Now onto the next level!

We could definitely do better about using our design budget and I'd be concerned with how LOUD this level is visuals wise. In some ways that is what I'm going for but also I would want to collab with my level/env artist far before my blockout hit this amount of "detail".

For it being a few days I'm feeling pretty good about this blockout but to be honest there's A LOT of work to do here if it were to hit production. There is simultaneously not enough and too much given the size of the space and the amount of interaction.

Aaand the end. You made it to the market congrats. Not much to say here. For starting on this area it definitely got left unattended towards the latter couple days when I was filling in the rest of the level. The interior is especially basic.

As we pass our crescendo we enter the falling action where the player must...well fall. Some very light traversal down the side of the building. Only real callout here is notice the small adjustments to the camera when in tight spaces. Important for player experience. Framing

The big crescendo moment in this traversal puzzle. Using the zipline is a nice switch up in traversal and is a fun way to get players to the other side of this police blockade. Taking advantage of the elevation.

Continuing to climb on up. Getting a better idea of the underbelly of this city and seeing the area from different perspectives.

Want to make something cool? Make it big. Want to make it REALLY cool? Make it big AND move.

Just trying to reward the player with some neat vistas

Side path time, now we're getting into some basic traversal and the "rules of the game". I heavily use fire pits to "subtly" direct the player to where they need to go while also lighting the space. Also cool vantage points.
TBH a lot of work to be done here still, that's life

To be a bit clearer here that crime scene will block the player in, forcing them to turn around and re-assess. If they found the side path before walking up to it (idk they think treasure is down there whatever) they might solve the puzzle before they even know it's a puzzle

Movement creates great opportunities to not only frame the player but misdirect their eyes to what you want. Here I'm using the cop car to not only create a moment but to better ensure the player does walk up to the crime scene. I want them to miss a side path.

Doors before keys

Alright that wraps day 4 and this level. Tomorrow is a new blockout for #Blocktober #gamedev

Breakdown
I love transitions and dynamics. It's in all the work I do. Setting the player properly in a subway and unveiling the city is a simple and effective trick. Cyberpunk did it why not I

1/??

Swapped over to night lighting. Def need some work here but will have to make some slight adjustments before moving on. Tomorrow is all on blocking out the middle spaces and giving it some character/interaction. We have a lot of the building blocks. Need to tape it all together

#blocktober #gamedev

First #blocktober for me over on Blue Sky. Hopefully this sticks because the other websites is shit.

Started this over the weekend, only going to spend a couple days on it. Focusing in on fundamentals. Getting my framing, references, and POIs together. Might squeeze in some gameplay.

I grew up on these streets

When people know you have a first name, you know you've made it

Influential enough to merit your own press release and immediately follow it up with a picture of your extremely old ripped boxers.

The game dev dream, I aspire every day to reach this level

Gave the new team a whole lot of criticism (it was asked for) and it was handled very well.

Very much liking how this shaping up. I'm sure some of my criticisms were ridiculous as I'm still getting acquainted with the new workflows but the fact the team handled them with grace is such a good sign.

Yeah it's something I need to do more. It definitely doesn't scale. The lag time between layout and initial block out to get the team on board isn't exactly great for people looking to be convinced on the initial idea.

Honestly with tool sets these days I try as much as possible to limit layout time.

Listing out my major beats, moments, etc are all necessary but then I just want to get in the engine and start trying stuff out.

That being said I'm always jealous of those who can draw beautiful layouts.

One constant in game dev is me being jealous of artists. Being able to convey what's in your head on paper/screen is such a valuable skill and never fails to impress me. It's the closest thing to magic and something I always struggle with.

Need to find some drawing tutorials and stick with them.

Hell yes it's that time of year again

Now I know how I'll be ending my emails from here on out

Is the gamedev crowd here big enough that it's worth posting my videos on here yet? Just released a new one on how to start making (OG) Doom levels in less than 5 minutes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTIc...

Congratulations!

Given my profile picture this is very accurate

Even after digesting the unity news for hours I'm still getting basic details messed up.

Higher fees for smaller audiences
Fees start AFTER the threshold is hit

It's like they have a treasure map but they flipped it upside down before reading it out loud what are they on.

Also new game dev update just joined Electronic Arts as a Game Designer.

Not ditching my Level Designer roots, but the opportunity here is very exciting especially with the job market being the way it is.

Some very cool things coming down the pipe.

Also early days but I'm really digging the combat systems/environments.

Definitely seeing some shooter/immersive sim DNA in the layouts and I'm digging it.