When Ish Is Enough

By the way...

2010-02-28T00:28:00.001-07:00

Everything's amazing.

Sitting in a chair in the sky

2009-07-16T14:17:00.003-07:00

There's no such thing as "getting settled".

In a crazy turn of events, I've joined the DC Universe Online team as a designer. Yes, a designer. Cue George Takei.

I've joined a team of remarkably knowledgeable and passionate people. My only hope is to learn enough to contribute in some small way.

For now, I remain a humble sponge.

A good reason to suck at updating

2009-06-20T09:18:00.004-07:00

Since my last update, I've attended another amazing GDC, moved to Austin, started a QA job with SOE and eaten about 48 Volcano Tacos (yes, they're back).

So yeah, I've been busy. Hope to start writing here again soon once I get settled.

Procrastination Prototypes

2009-03-19T09:39:00.002-07:00

Here I am programming when I should be finishing up homework and getting ready for GDC.

Oh well. Just a quick prototype of an idea that woke me up at 5am:

Scribble Defense
-Draw to block bullets
-Mouse-over enemies to shoot missiles

Difficulty scales with score, so if you can get past 3000 points, you're better than me (or your browser is running it slower than 30 fps).

Okay, back to work.

I choose you Brett Favre!

2009-03-11T22:18:00.001-07:00

Fantasy Football is Pokemon for men.

Yeah, think about it.

Subscription Driven RMT in MMOs

2009-03-07T08:13:00.004-07:00

RMT (Real Money Trade) and microtransactions are extremely controversial topics in the MMO space (at least in the West). I would argue that both sides of the debate have valid points; however, I think there's room to compromise. Here's a system inspired by Eve Online's PLEX.

Everyone loves buzzwords, so I'm dubbing this:
Subscription Driven RMT.

The basic idea is players can buy a special in-game item, we'll call it a Gem of Longevity, for about the price of a normal month subscription. This item can be freely traded amongst players and sold normally on the Auction House. At any time, the player can "use" the gem in their inventory to gain a month worth of free time on their account.

To make this system worth it from a business standpoint, I would recommend that the Gems cost a bit more than a normal subscription. For most games, this would be around $16 (a dollar more than a normal subscription).

What this allows:

For players on the hardcore side of the spectrum:

Can "buy" their subscription with in-game currency
Those with extra time on their hands can realistically play for free

For players on the casual side of the spectrum:

Can buy a Gem of Longevity for real life money and sell it for in-game currency
Those with limited playtime can still progress at a competitive rate

Things to Note:

In-game currency is not created, it is merely transfered between players
The in-game value of the Gem is directly controlled by supply and demand
Subscriptions are still being bought at the same rate, only the purchaser is changing
With in-game Auction House fees, there's a small money sink (always a good thing)

Community Relations Tips:

This is a *service*
In-game value is controlled by supply and demand, developers have NO control over it
Players will never be required to take part in this service (it's a SERVICE, it's there to help players)
Safe and secure way to trade with other players
Service, service, service

System Extensions

There's a broad range of possible extensions to this system. All depend heavily on the type of MMO in question and what design goals it may have.

Gem Splitting

A Gem of Longevity can be split into smaller parts. These parts can be sold and bought normally. At any time, a Gem can be reformed (if enough parts are present).

Example:

1x Gem of Longevity --splits into--> 4x Quartergem of Longevity
1x Quartergem of Longevity --splits into--> 4x Fragmentgem of Longevity

If you've been keeping score, that means the real life value of each item is:
1x Gem of Longevity ($16.00)
1x Quartergem of Longevity ($4.00)
1x Fragmentgem of Longevity ($1.00)

These smaller gem parts should also be purchasable with real-life money (or at least the Quartergem should). This allows players to participate in the system in more manageable bite-sized parts.

Splitting the gems into smaller pieces also opens the system up to even more possibilities.

Power Gems

Special items can be purchased with the smaller parts of a Gem. Note: None of these should ever give a special advantage over other players.

Power Gem of Training

Bought from NPC vendor for 1x Fragmentgem of Longevity
Equipable by max level characters
When experience would normally be gained (either from a quest or a monster kill), a portion of it goes into the Power Gem
Charging a gem takes a moderate amount of time (but can be equiped anywhere, including a raid or instance)
When a Power Gem is fully charged, it becomes a Charged Gem of Training
Can be traded normally

Charged Gem of Training

Can be consumed by a non-max level character
When consumed, the player receives a double experience buff
Double experience lasts up to a predetermined amount of experience (scaled by level)
Character must still work for their experience, they only receive the limited buff (they don't automatically receive the experience stored in the gem)

Power Gems can only be charged by max level characters. This means that these items would only be usable after players start hitting the level cap. If a level cap is increased (such as through an expansion) currently charged gems should only work up to the previous level cap (new charged gems can be created at the new max level).

The purpose of such a system is to allow players to level at a faster pace, but still requires the time investment of leveling a character. A player might have an alt they wish to level up or a friend that joined the game late. Traditionally, a year (or so) after launch, most of the player base has hit the max level. Older content can sometimes be totally deserted. Most new content is made specifically for higher level characters. This helps cut down on the large level gap that can be seen in aged MMOs.

Players need not spend real-life money on these gems. Again, because they are tradable, players can easily buy them for in-game currency.

Dual Currency

It might even be possible to develop a dual currency model (depending on the type of MMO). Many others have suggested and even implemented such a system.

Conclusion

Subscription Driven RMT has potential to bridge the gap between the two sides of the RMT controversy by offering both a valuable service. The basic system is simple enough to work on its own, but there are also many additional opportunities for extending the service for players and providing additional revenue to the developer.

I'd really like to hear some feedback on this (such as what types of problems the system might encounter, or what issues players would have).

Real Life vs Virtual

2009-02-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

Role of government in real life:
Catering to the majority while protecting the minority.

Role of developers of virtual worlds:
Catering to the majority while protecting against the minority.

These are the thoughts that keep me up at night.

MMO Community Enhancement

2009-01-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

It is done.

trentish.com/community.html

Or as done as it can be at this point.

So what is "it"?

I'd say it's 50% compilation, 50% white paper, 50% proposal; which if my calculations are correct, adds up to 150% pure awesome.

I started this project for a few reasons. First, I love this stuff. I enjoy analyzing MMOs as much as I like playing them. I also learned a ton through doing the research for this. In fact, I'd say the second main reason I did this was for completely selfish reasons. I hope that someone somewhere gets some benefit out of it, but really, it was rewarding enough on its own to make it worth it to me.

I don't pretend to know everything and I'll be the first to tell you I have so much more to learn, but I hope I've at least managed to present some good ideas.

I welcome any and all feedback.

Time Soars

2009-01-29T13:37:00.002-07:00

Has it really been a year already?

That would seem a ridiculous prospect, if not for everything that has happened. My desire to break into this industry has only intensified since then. I awake in the mornings with thoughts of game development grandeur and fall asleep to tomorrow's aspirations. I continue to strive to learn as much as there is to learn here on the outside.

My excitement has grown even more recently. I feel as if my debut is just around the corner. I'm ready now. Ready to take that entry-level step.

I'll probably look back next year on such words and see the naivety dripping off of them, as we are apt to do after a year's worth of personal growth. But I suppose that's the nature of growing older.

In March, I'm going to the Game Developers Conference as a Conference Associate once again. This time I return wiser and ready. My goal is to find an entry-level position or internship inside of the industry proper.

I'm hoping for entry-level production position, but those are rare enough as it is even without the current economic downturn. I'm more than willing to take a QA job or something in customer service. I'd prefer something relating to MMOs, but I'm not burning my bridges. At this point, I just need to break in and start showing people what I'm made of.

So there we are. One year down, with many on the horizon.

Happy Birthday blog.
Happy Birthday me.

Bagpipes and the Undead

2009-01-12T07:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I would consider myself a follower of the genre, but I've always had a soft spot for Celtic music. There's not many things that can consistently have the effect of instantly taking me to a different place. I often wonder why this is.

Is it because I am of Celtic decent?
Is it merely from the knowledge of my heritage?
Is a susceptibility buried somewhere, hidden away in my DNA?
Or is it ingrained into us as humans, as beings, children of emotion and sensation?

Do others see as I do? Floating on the notes of a soft bagpipe, the swaying grassy plains of the highland stretched out beyond, standing atop a craggy cliff in a land I've never been to, chilled by a salty sea breeze from the western surf. Do others see it?

Maybe I need to stop watching Braveheart at 4:00 in the morning.

In reality, the right music can have the deepest of effects on us, even if it shouldn't. Take some footage of someone chopping vegetables, put a Clint Mansell score over it, and you'll somehow find yourself empathizing with the plight of the common celery. This of course leads to the dilution of great works. When everyone and their dog uses Lux Aeterna, it begins to lose its effect.

Blanketing your creation with great music will only lead to ineffectiveness through repetition. Successfully coupling the auditory high points with the visual ones is a vital part of creating those all important "neck-shiver" moments. This of course becomes exponentially more difficult when the medium is nonlinear.

Which, of course, brings us to games. (Oh don't pretend like you weren't expecting that transition. I can segue to the industry from eating pancakes with your Grandmother at a Japanese IHOP.)

Linear singleplayer games have an easier time with this. Not only are they generally shorter, but because they follow a set path, designers have a better idea of where to put music cues. They have somewhat more control over what the player is experiencing. Of course, they still can suffer from being too repetitive, depending on the length of the game and how much music is available.

Spore used a generative music system. It seemed to work well for that type of game. The music was always recognizable, but it still felt mostly fresh.

Unfortunately, music in multiplayer games generally gets shut off by players after awhile. It just gets too repetitive after multiple play sessions. Also, for the most part, the music is played at random times or might even be on repeat.*

*(Related note about Red Alert 3: I love you EALA, but dear god, looping music hurts me in the face. Also, there's a reason we love Frank Klepacki; give him more to do.)

Valve's Left 4 Dead has attempted to remedy this. As Tim Larkin explains in the audio commentary, "We took several steps to keep the music interesting enough that the players would be inclined to keep it on as they play. We keep it changing so it won't become tedious; to this end, we created a music director that runs alongside the AI director, tracking the player's experience rather than their emotional state. We keep the music appropriate to each player's situation and highly personalized. The music engine in Left 4 Dead has a complete client-side, multi-track system per player that is completely unique to that player and can even be monitored by the spectators. Since some of the fun of Left 4 Dead is watching your friends when you're dead, we thought it was important to hear their personal soundtrack as well. This feature is unique to Left 4 Dead."

From personal experience, turning off the music in L4D is a very bad idea. The gameplay cues (such as when a Witch or Tank is nearby, or a zombie horde is incoming) you get through the music are very important. And honestly, even after playing it awhile (read: too much), I have no desire to turn it off. In my eyes, they succeeded.

So what about MMOs? Is it possible to have effective music that lasts?

A few people over at Slipgate Ironworks (John Romero's startup) are trying to do just that. They're developing what they call a "Generative Adaptive Music System" for their MMO. Rather than only having a set soundtrack, music is generated on the spot. Different zones might have different instruments or "feels" associated with them. As Jim Hedges explains in the article, "We don't want the music to tell the player how to feel -- we want to create a sound canvas that hopefully supports how the player is feeling." It's hard to know how successful it will be until we hear it in action, but it sounds very innovative.

These sorts of systems are trying to bring us to the next step in music. They're striving to not just be generative, but adaptive. That is, matching the high points in the music with the high points in gameplay. The music adapts to what is on the screen.

I think this is where the future lies. Luckily, there's a large trend in the industry to make gameplay itself more adaptive. By watching what our player is doing, as well what challenge level our player seems to be at, we can cater to them better. The more we can keep track of this and act accordingly, the better our players will be immersed and achieve a flow-like state. Hopefully, music can be a part of this trend.

The next logical step, of course, is in a few years when we might even have access to what our players are actually feeling. That's a blog post for another time, but my neck is shivering just thinking about it.

Color and Perception

2009-01-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

I have to plug my friend Caleb here on his recent blog post about being a color blind gamer. It's not something most of us think about. As he says, "I give green Sour Patch Kids to my wife when she asks for red. Other than small things like that, I live a pretty normal life."

When it comes to games, however, it can quickly become a big deal. Not being able to distinguish between certain elements can obviously be devastating to gameplay.

I know it strikes a little close to home for me, although in a different way. My Father has Retinitis Pigmentosa and therefore has been visually impaired for the better half of his life. Besides the more obvious (and arguably more important) side effects, growing up as a kid gamer, it was always difficult to share the games that I loved with my Dad. Because of his sight, he had trouble participating or even watching me play.

I remember one specific instance where I tried to get him to play Goldeneye with me on Nintendo 64. He made a valiant effort, but in the end, I could tell that for the most part he was faking. He would do his best to respond to any flashes or change in imagery. It was just too difficult for him to see and understand everything on the screen.

Obviously anything like a first person shooter is going to be difficult for the visually impaired, but other genres might be much easier to manage. Games like Civilization might be doable but the amount of information can be overwhelming. Simpler games, such as your average Flash game, would be much more suited.

I kept many of these things in mind while developing Fugashu. I wanted my Dad to be able to play it without special help. This was one of the reasons I made the numbers nice and big, and made sure to make them contrast well with the cards. (Contrast is something he can actually see very well. Occasionally he'll pick a tiny piece of lint off of your shirt, much to your confusion.) I gave each action a specific sound. Positive actions were rewarded with a nice "bloop", but moving a card where it shouldn't go gives you a not-so-nice "bleep". Special cards all have their own sounds, to tell you when they act.

I also showed him how to make the SWF file go full screen, which meant he could play it on his computer without any kind of magnification.

It worked quite well and he's definitely Fugashu's biggest fan (although, he might be a tad biased).

I guess my point to all this is we as developers should do our very best to make our games as accessible as possible. There will always be budgets and deadlines that force us to focus on other things, but we should try to at least keep in mind how our decisions affect others. A small change might make a large difference to someone. Whatever gives us the most bang for our development time buck.

I encourage you to read Caleb's post.

Volcano Tacos

2009-01-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

The revolution has begun.

(I know I'm slightly crazy.)

More Prototypes

2008-12-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

Here's another quick prototype I did.

This one sort of evolved from another idea. (Note: There's no point to the "game" quite yet.)

I might actually continue this one, especially since the code is really interesting to me. We shall see.

The Doomed Memory of Tou Tou - Part 3

2008-11-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

There are a few approaches one can take to game development. Business, art, creation, monetary gain, entertainment, experience, any of these and more can make up a large portion of how we view games. In truth, the most successful of us probably have an equal part of them all.

For me, it has always been creation at the top of my list. It's about the end product and what new worlds it brings. I want to get lost in another place and I want others to come with me. Call it escapism, call it phenomenological, call it what you will.

I don't think I'm alone in my point of view. The true goal is to create a world with the right kind of immersion. That comes from not just a graphical standpoint, but sound, music, story background and most of all, flow.

We want our players to visit our worlds and we want them to have shareable memories.

So I ask, why do we do so little to help them remember? It's akin to sending them on an African safari without a camera.

It's past time we make an effort to provide the tools required. MMOs and some other PC games have had a screenshot button for awhile now. Unfortunately, for most, saving them to a hard drive is a death sentence. Most will not survive the inevitable crash and new PC purchase cycle.

Luckily, the dawn of cloud computing is here. It's time to start incorporating our games into the cloud.

We've already started to do it with Achievements. Players on Xbox Live can browse their friend's profiles and see what they've been doing. Why not take that a step further? Make the Achievements visual. Attach a screenshot to each, or at least the important ones. Give players a chance to show off what they've done; and, more importantly, give them a record of their accomplishments.

Furthermore, while a screenshot feature should always be offered to players (especially in MMOs), it's time we start looking for ways to do the work for them. There are certain highs and lows we want the player to remember. However, it's rare for a player to be experiencing such an event and take a screenshot. In fact, pressing the screenshot button is a major break in immersion. The best moments happen when we're not fully conscious of ourselves, when we're deep in flow.

I've been working on a proposal that includes specific solutions, but there are far more innovative people out there.

We need smarter and better tools. We need ways of knowing when a player is experiencing something memory-worthy. We need to catalog such events for them. And we need to present those memories in visually appealing, easy to use ways.

These are the challenges that must be met. Not just for the sake of nostalgia, but for the supreme belief that great things should be remembered.

The Doomed Memory of Tou Tou - Part 2

2008-10-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

The search for Tsung started out as a massive scavenger hunt, spanning days. One clue would lead to another which would lead to another; all the while, pieces of the puzzle began to be filled in. I participated as much as I could, even finding a few of the pieces myself. Every night, we would meet back at the tavern, to discuss what we had found and any new leads.

Finally, we figured out what had happened. Tsung had been researching portal magic, desperately trying to find a way back to Ispar, his homeland. In his efforts, he was using lesser Shadows (an evil, phantom-like people) as test subjects. The more powerful Shadows did not think this was such a great idea. They found and captured Tsung while he was resting in Shoushi.

For revenge, the Shadows sentenced Tsung to the same fate as their brethren, he was put directly into portal space. Tsung was permanently "between portals", trapped seemingly forever.

In the candlelit upstairs room of the tavern, a plan was quickly hatched. When we set out from Tou Tou that night, it was dark and raining, a setting eerily matched by our own world, when I looked out the window of my room.

We traveled far into the Direlands, a place I had only explored once--before realizing it was much too dangerous to dwell in long. We were searching for a particular caste of Shadow, one in which would, upon death, open a portal to a bastion of the Shadows.

After an hour of scouring the land with search parties, the message of "found" was sent through the ranks of the Silver Citadel, along with map coordinates. We regrouped there and engaged our enemy who fell quickly to our numbers. Upon the death of one of the Shadows, a strange portal appeared (I learned later that this specific game mechanic was actually used for a different quest).

One by one, our group reassembled on the other side, weapons drawn. Shadows of every type and caste populated the dimly lit dungeon. We plowed through them like a flood of fire and steel. Not truly knowing what to look for, our fellowship wandered through the maze like halls until finally finding a small room. In the center was a small blue crystal being guarded by some particularly intimidating looking Shadows. Luckily they were no match for our group.

Finally, we were alone with what someone identified as a "portal crystal". Inscribed on it was a few phrases in a language I could not decipher. There were a few minutes of relative silence as we examined the quandary in front of us. Finally someone said, aloud, "Now what do we do?"

Immediately, an Unknown Voice whispered to me, "Who's there? Please help me!"

I realized everyone else must have heard the same whisper when a member of our group replied aloud, "Who are we speaking to? We represent the allegiance of the Silver Citadel. We're searching for a lost member by the name of Tsung."

The Unknown Voice responded quickly, "Hahah! My friends! You have found him! The portal stone that lies in front of you is the true cage that holds me within this portal space. I can only theorize that your close proximity is allowing our communication."

"How do we get you out of there?" a few of us asked, simultaneously.

"I can only assume by breaking the stone." the voice of Tsung continued, "It is my supreme hope that I survive such a shattering."

The pause that followed was most likely caused by another simultaneous thought we all had of "how the hell do we do that in the game?"

Finally, a clever mage by the name of Borls volunteered. He picked up the stone in front of us. An emote from him followed: "Borls takes the stone and with all his might, shatters it against the wall."

In truth, I think all of us were irrationally expecting something to happen visually. Instead, after a moment of silence, all of us received another message from Tsung:

"Ah... I think it worked! Portal space seems to be dissipating... Yes... I can see... Wait. This isn't right! Something is..."

More silence, as we wondered what had happened.

"Where did he go?" someone asked.

"He said portal space was dissolving, could it have dropped him somewhere?" another responded.

Borls again stepped forward. An emote from him followed: "Borls gathers the broken shards of the portal crystal."

"I have an idea," he said as he began casting a spell. Moments later, a humming blue portal appeared in front of him.

"This should be the place it dropped him," Borls explained to us all. "Everyone in!"

So on we went, through another mysterious gateway, not really knowing what was on the other side.

It was at this moment when the door of my room opened. It was my Mother and the time was 3:00AM.

Now, I've always been a pretty good debater/persuader, but I can think of no greater achievement than what I managed to pull off that night. I do not recall our exact conversation, only that come 3:15AM, I was still playing. At age fourteen. On a school night. Yes, I'm awesome. (Or at least my Mother is.)

When I came back to the game, I found myself in a dark, ominous cavern. Alone.

The group had gone on without me and I had no idea where I was. I drew my sword and board, chose a random tunnel and proceeded down it. It wasn't long before I began to hear a "chittering" noise that I didn't recognize at first, but the more I heard it, the more I felt as if I should know its origin.

As I rounded a corner, too quickly, I came face to face with a hulking bipedal mass of scary, scary death. An Olthoi. It let out an insect-like scream, half-chitter, half-roar.

It only took a few blows from its massive claws for me to realize I was far outmatched. I turned and ran. And ran and ran and ran.

Down another tunnel I found two more large Olthoi Soldiers who joined in the pursuit. Another tunnel, more soldiers. By the time I found my group, I was screaming. I had amassed quite the following of walking pincers. It was a long fight, but the group managed to squash each and every last enemy.

Someone asked, "Where the hell did all those come from?"

My embarrassment kept me silent. Luckily, we were off before any more questions were asked.

We searched each tunnel and cavern, until finally, we found a half naked man lying down near the edge of a pit.

It was Tsung.

Our group rushed over to him, calling his name. Slowly he rose, not quite sure what had happened.

"You have found me, my friends..." Tsung said. "I cannot put into words my gratitude."

One of the leaders of the group spoke up, "The Silver Citadel looks out for its own. Glad to see you back, Tsung."

"I'm happy to be out of that dreadful portal space," Tsung replied. "Now lets get out of here before the Olthoi show up!"

I gave Tsung a spare sword and shield, which he thanked me for. We made our way out of the lair, killing the swarms of Olthoi that poured out to meet us. Finally, the exit was in sight. A few of the stronger warriors stayed behind us as the rest of us left one by one.

Outside, we stood for a moment to catch our breath. Our long journey was over. Tsung was safe.

Soon, a portal to Tou Tou was summoned.

"To the Tavern!" someone cried as we piled in.

Before hopping in himself, Tsung sighed and muttered, "I hate portals..."

I followed the group through and we made our way back to Tou Tou Tavern.

There, we had an impromptu party. Someone spent a few thousand Pyreal on drinks and food, passing them out to everyone. Tsung told a more detailed story of what had happened and others joined in, telling their own mini-adventures that had occurred along the way.

It was then that I noticed my room was very well lit. The Sun had risen and I realized I had to be at the bus stop in a little less than an hour. Intelligently forgoing sleep for a shower, my eyes could only squint at the overly bright world.

At school, you wouldn't have guessed that I hadn't slept, from the way I fervently told and retold the story to my friends that shared my interest in the game.

It was a memorable moment in my gamer history; one that will be with me for a long time to come. Though, in truth, I have forgotten much of the journey and have only tried my best to reconstruct it here.

I do not remember if I took any screenshots or recorded any of what went on during the event. Regardless if I did, any file that was created is probably sitting on a burnt out hard drive somewhere, unreachable.

There's a lot of points I could make relating to this, but there's one in particular that sticks out:

We are doing our players a disservice.

Part 3

The Doomed Memory of Tou Tou - Part 1

2008-10-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

It was the year 2000. I was fourteen and in junior high. When I wasn't trying to hold hands with girls, I was playing Perfect Dark at home. Or, more importantly, during those special times when my family could manage without our phone line for a few precious moments, I would connect to the magical world of Asheron's Call.

My character was not a powerful one, not by any means. It was my first MMO; every mechanic and statistic was bathed in mystery. The term "character template" was foreign to me. Instead, my attributes and skills consisted of whatever piqued my fancy at the time. War magic? That sounds cool. I bet it will go well with my sword skill...

I was a mess. But back then, it didn't matter. In those days, it was about discovery. Discovery and camaraderie.

I spent much of my time in a town called Tou Tou. (I never really learned the proper pronunciation, to me it was always homonymic to the pink, frilly thing.)

Tou Tou was a small village, off the beaten path. It sat upon a small peninsula near an ancient lighthouse that looked out over the pixely bay. The town was looked over by most, but on the Leafcull server, it was always populated. It was the official headquarters and home of the Silver Citadel, my guild (or rather, my "allegiance").

Any hour of the night, you could travel to the Tou Tou tavern, one of the first buildings on the way into town, and find a group chatting about the day's adventures. It was here that I stood, for hours on end. I do not recall how much of the conversation I contributed, nor do I know if I talked at all; rather much my time consisted of listening intently to the higher level players.

It was through such talk that I learned all about the land of Dereth and its inhabitants. Of the Lugian giants and the conniving Virindi. Here I first learned the name of the large insect-like creatures that I saw in the opening game cinematic, the ones that plagued the land. The Olthoi. From the tales told, it was probably a good thing that I had never come across one in person.

So there we sat, in Tou Tou tavern, the place we called home. Occasionally, when the fever of boredom took us, we would buy as many Small Beers as we could hold from the NPC barkeep downstairs, Mi Chi (who, unfortunately for her, got hit on a lot). She didn't talk much, but her pointy polygon boobs and size (literal) zero waist, kept us interested. After consuming copious amounts of (regrettably fake) alcohol, it would be time for the ceremonious mass suicide jump off of the aforementioned lighthouse.

During one of our calmer nights at the tavern, a hooded figure that I did not recognize walked upstairs to us. He stood for a moment, surveying, before asking, "is this the headquarters of the Silver Citadel?"

A few of us responded, asking if we could be of assistance.

"I found this note in the middle of the Direlands," he said, dropping the parchment in question on the floor. "Thought it might be of interest."

Everyone who was in the tavern walked over to examine the note. It read:

TO WHOM FINDS THIS, IT IS IMPERATIVE TO MY SURVIVAL FOR THIS NOTE TO BE DELIVERED TO THE SILVER CITADEL WHO RESIDE IN TOU TOU TAVERN.
FRIENDS, MY STUDIES HAVE DRAWN THE ATTEN--[the note is torn here, making most of the rest unreadable]
--EASE LEND YOUR ASSISTANCE. FIND MY JOURNAL. LEFT IN SHOUSHI. -TSUNG

I immediately recognized the name. Tsung was a regular in the tavern, though I did not know him personally.

The room was still for awhile, as everyone read the note a few times through. I wasn't quite sure what to think.

Finally, one of the higher-ups asked, "When's the last time someone saw Tsung?"

Again, silence.

"It has been at least a week or two." Someone said.

Another added, "That's not like him..."

"Shoushi isn't far, we should check it out," a leader declared.

And so began the journey to find Tsung. We set out immediately down the road, leaving the bearer of the message where he stood. At the time I felt like we should have probably given him something for his troubles, but I had little to offer. In hindsight, I realize now he and many others were all a part of the grandest of roleplays: a player quest.

Part 2

One Hour Games

2008-09-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

I've had a simple flash game idea kicking around in my head for awhile. So I decided to take an hour and prototype some of it out.

www.trentish.com/portikul.swf

The result is terribly exciting, I know. Unsure if I'll continue with it; we shall see.

16 Bagels and No Cream Cheese

2008-09-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

It bloggles (you see that? you see how funny I can be at 7am?) my mind how quickly the Summer came and went. So much has happened and so much more needs to.

I do apologize for neglecting you, Mr. Blog. Though, I happen to have some good news, some bad news and some very bad news for you!

First the good, our friend Caleb got a job with SOE-Austin. This is also sort of the bad news, as he was our main and best programmer on TOTO. We could design and metagame and do mockups in photoshop all day long, but Caleb was the one who would consistently squeeze out the results. He will be sorely missed on the project and I'm not even sure he'll be replaceable.

Still, I maintain it's only a 10-90% bittersweet ratio. It's awesome that he broke into the industry and I really think he'll go far. Plus, next year when I graduate, he's totally going to get me a job and/or internship (I am unsure if he knows this yet).

With Caleb off getting his job on, as well as hitting some busier-than-normal finals, supplemented by a couple other speedbumps, for now, TOTO is in sort of a transitional period. I don't want to say the project is dead, but it is in a comatose state. The original plan was to reassess our progress and future at the end of the Summer semester. That's where we are right now. My main concern is finding the talent necessary to take us to the next step. That sort of dedication is in short supply, unfortunately.

I'm getting fairly confident in my higher-level programming skills. I'm hoping to progress down a bit and become more comfortable with that new fangled C++ stuff I keep hearing about.

In the mean time, I'm working on a couple smaller projects. One of which I'm pretty excited about. It's primarily text and mockups, something I feel I've grown quite good at. Progress has been made quickly, so hopefully it will be up on my website soon.

As for you, Mr. Blog, I'm going to try to visit you more. I promise.

What's that you ask? What's the "very bad news"? Read the title of this post.

HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN.

I'm so hungry. =(

Frosting and Dorothy's Dog

2008-04-17T00:47:00.000-07:00

For all of my cake analogies, my love of the band Cake, and my deep, almost loinal, love of Portal, I really do despise the dessert.

This isn't really relevant, but I hadn't posted in awhile.

In truth, I've been increasingly busy and this whole blog thing tends to be my last priority. Only when I'm in the grip of a powerful wave of procrastination might I come here (and even then, Digg seems to consistently be my solace).

So what have I been doing? Well, we've officially announced Half Life 2: Tyranny of the Overwatch, a multiplayer modification [website]. As Project Lead, it very well could be the flagship project of my student career. The one that gets my portfolio a second and hopefully third, let's-give-him-a-job glance. Plus it has an awesome acronym.

In the back of my mind I've known for a long while that I would eventually do something like this. I've tried my best to read everything I could find on successful and failed projects (particularly student ones). I've spoken to many people, some of whom will be advising us as we go. I think at this point I'm as prepared as I can be in this situation. It's really going to come down to having a good team and finding the will power to get us through.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised with the response I've gotten for recruitment. The only real thing we seem to be lacking at the moment is artists, which I was fully expecting. I think this will be solved down the line once the project starts going.

I wanted to go into some of the things that make us different, so instead of retyping everything (for the hundredth time) I'll just paste part of our recruitment post:

-Why will this project succeed?-

First and foremost, by having the right team with the right realistic goals. While we all have the time constraints and responsibilities that go along with being students, it is important for our future that we accomplish something in our time here. A degree is not enough to get a job in the game industry, at least not the ones we want. This project is ultimately about finishing something. It is large enough to get us noticed and be proud of, but not too massive to be unfeasible.

Secondly, one of the design decisions from the start has been: new art is optional. We are going the route of a traditional modification and using the art assets of our parent game (Half-Life 2). Project after project fail because the game design is too dependent on new assets. While this school has some extremely impressive artists, it's just not feasible to expect them to create all of the art required in a total conversion or from-scratch game. Just look at any modern developer team now days, current games require huge art teams. By making the design not require any new art assets, the project can viably survive even if we are short on technical artists.

That said, this comes with a large caveat. We will be pushing for new art. We like shiny new things as much as anyone. We will try to have new textures, weapons and maybe even new models. Furthermore, because of this design choice, art will be able to be on more of a contractual basis. Since the art itself is not truly vital, we can have artists come and go as they choose. A person might create a single new weapon model for us and then be done. Never will the project be on hold due to lack of art.

Another thing that sets us apart is our openness. Recently, student projects have been getting more and more secretive. While they are free to have such policies, we are following a different road. We believe good ideas are everywhere and can come from anyone, what really matters is doing something with them. By fostering an open environment, we can receive help from many of the brilliant people here at UAT. Anyone who is able to contribute, can.

Ultimately, this project will succeed because we need it to. As much fun as it will be, our own amusement is not the final goal. We want jobs. Those involved with this project will come with the knowledge that this may very well be their flagship project. This might be the deciding factor in their portfolio. Our work should and will reflect that.

---

So, without getting too dramatic, this very well could be it.

The job-getting project.

I should probably be a tad afraid, but right now I'm just phenomenally excited.

Of Sponges and Witches

2008-03-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Before I delve into my fantastic time at GDC, I recently found out UAT was gracious enough to do a press release on Fugashu last week. While I don't expect to see a Kappa Card on the front page of anything anytime soon, I guess it's cool to see someone talking about you in the 3^rd person.

I should also give props to JayIsGames for putting Fugashu in their Friday links. They're one of the best flash and casual game review sites out there.

A couple months ago, I was lucky enough to secure a spot as a Conference Associate at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. After some audible woots and unavoidable dancing about the room, I soon sobered myself with more serious thoughts. While I am not in the industry yet, every action I was to take at GDC might send ripples throughout my future career. I knew then, many (most) of those who I would meet in the CA program would be in the same situation as me, heading, but not quite there, to be in the industry. Anyone I met could be my next boss, coworker, best friend, or any other number of social positions.

This was, naturally, exciting and a tad terrifying. So after some super secret CA training and some me-on-me pep talks, I felt ready. Or at least as ready as a newbie can be.

So, last week, I set out and joined the ranks of the Pink Shirts. Setting up, badging, helping attendees, briefing/aiding speakers and more badging, together we formed the lifeblood of the conference. Side by side, we formed an impenetrable phalanx of structure and order, the only thing between complete euphoric harmony and utter chaos; the hordes of industry developers and press marched in, practically foaming at the mouth, dry eyed from the night before full of free booze and those little crackers with odd toppings. They circled us, hoping to find a weakness, a chink in our florescent armor. Nay, not this day, for you are a mere Exhibitor and your badge does not allow entry to sessions and tutorials. You will find only the icy bite of unceasing politeness here! Back to your shwag, fiend!

But if you would like to upgrade your pass, please see guest services on the first floor.

Oh, we were good. So good, on the last day of the conference, CMP sent us John Romero and a popcorn machine. The details of such I cannot go into here, and truly I've already said too much. For what happens in the Lounge, stays in the Lounge.

As for me, I had a fantastic time, and one that I'm only now starting to truly appreciate and miss. Any lack of sleep or soreness is worth that week.

Sunday, the start of my journey, involved many hours of sitting in LAX paying too much for wireless internet. The pure excitement of which can be highlighted by my passing of Ron Jeremy in one of the terminals. The original flight I was suppose to board on to SFO was grounded due to weather in Kansas, where I'm assuming it ran into a tornado (or possibly Toto).

Eventually, after receiving misguided direction from a bum who was planted outside the transit station (no quarter for you!), I somehow found myself inside the Moscone Convention Center. And, after being given more unfortunate misdirection (apparently "bagging" and "badging" are far too similar of words), I was stuffing and organizing a few hundred CA badges. Soon, Ian MacKenzie, one of the all-powerful leaders of the Pink Shirts, found me downstairs; realizing I was a CA and not an employee, he explained I was actually suppose to be up helping stuff bags, but he thanked me for doing the badges (a job that was not suppose to be ours, apparently).

The rest of the day consisted of helping a couple hundred other CAs stuff several thousand conference bags, and then orientation.

Monday involved working and attending a few sessions and tutorials. One of which it was my job to brief a round-table moderator who was less than nice to me, and because of this, I am now prepared to say that he has a silly, silly mustache.

Tuesday was about the same, though the night was a little more interesting. After attending the Linden Labs party, I soon found myself wandering the streets of San Francisco in search of my hotel at around 2:30am. Now, when I have told this story before, many have assumed I must have been too drunk to know where I was going; but let me set the record straight, I am more than able to get myself lost while being completely sober, which I happened to be. A singing/dancing bum, a call to my sleeping savior of a girlfriend back home and some google mapping later, I reached my hotel.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday involved some more working, a couple of interesting keynotes and sessions, and a few more heavily populated parties. Wow do developers like their free booze...

All in all, I met some wonderful people, which was my number one goal for the trip. From day one I again realized how much I have to learn and how far I still have to go.

In every conversation I was in, I tried my best to become an information sponge. Every person I met I attempted to soak up as many experiences and as much advice as I could. I was aware from the start that I was still a newcomer, unblooded, with not much to offer anyone yet.

I came home with an overflow of information and a to-do list as long as my arm. But, I'm more excited for the future than I have ever been.

This year is going to be full of work, but by next GDC I will be ready. I will have at least a few projects to show off, my skills will be honed and I will be prepared to find my way into the industry.

GDC and Beyond

2008-02-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

In a few days, I will be flying out to San Francisco to be a Conference Associate at the Game Developer Conference. It's my first of (I hope) many to come.

I've heard nothing but good things about both the conference as well as the CA program. I'm extremely excited to have the opportunity to go. I also feel nervous about the whole thing. They say if you walk down the right hallway in GDC, you can find anything.

Come to think of it, that might actually be Sin City. But I'm sure it still applies.

My goal is not to get a job, though if Will Wright walks over, comments that the reason Spore has been taking so long is because of a recent Fugashu addiction, then offers me a job, I would certainly accept (it is my understanding that this happens all the time at GDC, no?) I've always said I would put school on hiatus if the right job came around. Most of what I learn is on my own anyway; UAT is merely a place to meet and be around fellow aspiring students like myself (though I really do like many of the teachers and faculty). I'm there to meet, discuss, create and gain experience, with the ultimate goal of finding my spot in the industry. If the process goes faster than previously thought, all the better.

My true hope for the conference is to meet as many cool people as possible (who happen to make or want to make games for a living). I've never been a terribly outgoing "I'm going to meet everyone in the room" kind of person, but I tend to get along with everyone and I love meeting interesting new people. Just being around intelligent people tends to make me happy, especially when we have something to talk about.

It would be nice if one of these new contacts would lead to an internship, but I'm not terribly concerned with that (though, I should probably start fretting, graduation is looming closer and closer). I'll be satisfied if I come home with a few new friends.

I'm trying my best to prepare, my portfolio website is almost complete. I still need to plan out my conference schedule a little more, but it's proving a hard task. I can't decide if I should go to Robin Hunicke's Game Design Workshop that I've heard so much about. Robin seems to just excrete passion (which is actually more attractive than it sounds). Two days is a lot of time though, especially with other events going on. I'll also probably have some CA duties to fulfill sometime in there. I at least want to stop by for a bit, so we'll see.

I requested to work Raph Koster's Metaplace Postmortem (shouldn't that be premortem?) on the off chance that I'd get to shake the guy's hand. MP looks like it has loads of potential as well.

Another talk I'm looking forward to is, of course, Ray Kurzweil's keynote (and not just because I have a soft spot for Ray and futurology in general). At the very least, the talk will be an interesting one, but it has the potential of being the best of the conference (at least from my humble point of view).

On the more logistical side, I am now in the possession of 500 business cards with my name on them.

Nobody actually told me how many 500 really is, because holy crap. I may have to plant a few trees when I get home to balance this all out.

I will try to hand them all out, but I realize most people will toss them before the end of the conference.

My real goal is to have at least a few people want to keep them.

Can't wait to finally meet you, GDC. I have a feeling this is only the beginning.

Eleven Cents

2008-02-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Fugashu, my first released flash game, went public last Friday. For those (and here I'm pretending people actually read this blog) who haven't heard about it, it's a puzzle game with elements from Solitaire, Sudoku and something entirely new. You can play it at www.fugashu.com (though the Kongregate link on there has a version with no ads).

So far feedback has been mostly good. Many of the criticism has been that I need to do more with it (ie. scripted levels instead of random, more gametypes). I guess that means the core concept is good. A few have asked me if it was an entirely new design or if it was an existing game. It was, although it evolved a bit from my original concept. I'd like to go a bit more into depth, but I think I'm going to save that for a post-mortem, uh, post.

While Fugashu wasn't my first game project, I do consider it my first true game. It feels good to have something finished under my belt that I can be proud of.

What still surprises me is the entire project was only 3 weeks worth of work. To me, it seemed at least thrice as long.

That said, I don't think I'm entirely done with Fugashu. If the feedback continues to be positive, I may expand on it. Also, there are still 1-2 rare bugs that have managed to resurface that need to be squashed. As excited as I am with being basically "done" with it, I still believe it has a lot more potential.

Yesterday, for the first time in a month, I woke up and realized I had nothing to do. I got up and played a game other than Fugashu, also the first time in a month.

How this experience compares to being on a large game project, I hope to find out soon.

Good luck, Fugashu. It feels good to be apart from you, at least for now.

It feels even better that on February 1st, the release day, I made 11 cents from the game loader ad.

11 cents.

Hi, my name is Trenton Lloyd Kennedy and I make money from creating games.

It starts todayish

2008-01-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

What better day to start a blog than on my 22nd anniversary of escaping the womb.

My name is Trenton Lloyd Kennedy and, as you can tell by my middle name, I am a skinny, middle-class, white boy. I live and was born in Mesa, Arizona. After high school, I spent 3 years down at the University of Arizona (where I switched majors about every other month between Computer Science, Media Arts, Philosophy, Political Science, Writing and, yes, for a week or so, Economics). Since then, I have moved back home and started at the University of Advancing Technology with a major in Game Design. This leads me to my next paragraph. (Note: I am exceptionally good at transitions.)

I love games.

No really, I love games. If a 7 year old, upon hearing me say this, attempted to mock me by saying, "If you love video games so much, why don't you MARRY them?" I would reply, with sincerity, "You smell!" (God I hate 7 year olds.) But, later, as I sat alone with my computer, thinking of what that smelly kid said, I would sigh and say, "Someday... someday..."

In truth, if it wasn't for my other passion, I might never stop playing. Ever. God forbid we ever get holodecks, I would be the first case of holo-addiction. So what's this other passion?

I love to create.

While it remains to be seen if I'm actually any good at creating things, it's what I love none the less. Not only is the journey itself rewarding, but also the spectacular high you get from having created something you're proud of. The feeling also grows exponentially when others enjoy what you've created as well. In hindsight, I knew it growing up, but it took me a bit to realize that this is what I really loved. And since I've always been told to do what I love, there was only one logical action I could take...

Play games that let me create things!

Errr, no. That's close but not quite. Maybe that's why I enjoy MMOs so much? What I really want to do is...

Create games.

Ohhh do I. I want to create worlds. I want to create universes. I want to fill them with things no one has thought of but have always wanted. I want players to be affected by what they do and see. And I want them to remember.

But I don't want to do it alone. I want to create with others. There are brilliant people out there, and I want to create with all of them.

That is ultimately what this blog is about. A (hopefully at least biweekly) blog about ideas, thoughts, events, experiences, games, worlds, universes and my journey to become a creator.

Happy Birthday blog.
Happy Birthday me.