Topics

16

The Exilian Academy / Welcome to the Academy - Info and FAQs

« on: February 01, 2015, 05:26:02 PM »

Welcome!

This is the Exilian Academy. Here, people with personal and professional experience share that expertise in subjects from handicrafts to philosophy, programming to writing! People can work towards Exilian certificates and specialisations, or for their own enjoyment and professional enrichment.
If you are interested in taking a course, please visit the course sign-up thread.
If you are interested in running a course, you should message Lizard (Chartophylax) as soon as possible!

The FAQs have been taken from previous iterations of the Academy, as they're still relevant. Please ask any more questions in this thread!

Frequently Asked Questions

So what's so special about this?
The key thing the Academy offers is that it isn't just a bunch of things to read; the course creators will actively tutor their students to produce a final piece of work or be assessed over a few days or weeks. All the courses will be structured differently, so feel free to look around and dip in! The courses are grouped by subject, so if you want to work for one of the larger achievement awards (see below) you'll need to go for courses in a particular group.

How are the courses delivered?
There will be plenty of discussion areas in this part of the forum; these will be used for tutors to post articles which their students can then comment on & discuss. Tutors will also be accessible by personal messaging on the forum, and may also give out instant messaging details for Skype or MSN if they want students to be able to contact them that way. There will also be a shared Academy YouTube channel for the tutors to deliver lectures.

What course groupings are offered?
The current list of groupings, with codes, is found in the "Course List and Certification Categories" thread.

What do I get for doing these courses?
Courses will be worth Academy Credits; one credit approximates to a short day's work (though not usually done all at once), so most individual courses will be in the 1-5 region. For each course you do, we'll register you've completed it, and how well you did - the course tutor decides how many of the course's possible credits you get, so a 5 credit course gives a maximum of 5 credits. Credits may be given to the nearest decimal place; the expectation is that a good mark would be around 80%, an exceptional one 90%, with most people averaging around 70%. We can then email out certificates of achievement to you in PDF format.

Additionally, it's possible to work up to something bigger; those who do a lot of courses in a particular subject group can work for the following:
25 credits (Exilian Foundation Certificate)
50 credits (Exilian Academic Certificate)
150 (Exilian Advanced Academic Certificate)
350 (Exilian Degree)
450 (Exilian Honours Degree)
Certificates are available in specialisations, including Polymathematics for the varied course palette.

These accolades are designed to be difficult to achieve, but are a big possible target for particularly dedicated academy students to work for. There will be certificates available for them, as well as them showing up on the forum award system beneath your profile picture.

Can I create a course?
Yes! Information is available in the 'Running a Course' thread, or message Lizard.

What do I get for running a course?
There are no physical rewards or payments available to lecturers, but we of course do our best to show our appreciation. For any course lecturer who is also a site citizen, running courses will lead to rewards via our "triumph points" system, which is Exilian's system of showing the work of active and useful members. Lecturers who are not site citizens will find it easier to become citizens (a rank which gives full rights to vote on many vital site issues as well as other perks) as a result of the important work they are putting into the academy.

17

Delta Games Studio / UPDATE - what we're doing and why

« on: December 21, 2014, 03:55:47 PM »

So...

HyperNormal is on hold. If you've been following us you'll know the reasons why this is, but the short version is we do not have the time, manpower, or artistry needed to complete the project to the required standard.

Are we bummed out? Yes we are. Are we slowing down? No we're not!

Ludum Dare 31 was a huge success for all who attended, including Lizard - who got a prototype for a point-and-click murder mystery out of it (people interested in testing it should definitely send her a message, hint hint).

We're also heading up an exciting new project in conjunction with someone Lizard worked with at university! We have to keep it fairly hush hush, but again those who like life sims should definitely hit her up for how to become involved in testing.

Global Game Jam is in January, and hopefully that will provide another opportunity for a fun prototype of some description!

So, yeah, whilst we're bummed our big title won't be hitting shelves, we're keeping the fires burning by fuelling them with less ambitious indie projects. Watch this space!

18

The Exilian Academy / Academy Relaunch

« on: December 21, 2014, 03:51:15 PM »

No matter who gets elected as the next Academy Thing (whatever the official title is...!) - we want YOUR opinions on how to improve the Academy!

So we need to know a few things...

1. What course(s) would you ideally like to take?
2. How would you like to be assessed (if at all?)
3. What would you like Academy points/certificates to count towards?

Hope I'm not stepping on other candidates' toes by posting this, but I think whoever gets the position needs to know these things.

19

Delta Games Studio / Ludum Dare 31 - London

« on: September 16, 2014, 04:20:27 PM »

Hi there!

My company is spearheading Ludum Dare 31 - London: an event where game devs can get together and jam to the Ludum Dare tune.

Check out our Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ludum-dare-31-london-tickets-13154865557

Check out our Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/283212145217907

And finally, check out the Ludum Dare website for more info: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo

20

General Chatter - The Boozer / Tattoos

« on: August 21, 2014, 07:09:20 PM »

So, TATTOOS.

Who's got 'em, who wants 'em, and what have you got?

Bonus points for anyone with Exilian tattoos

I'll take the liberty of starting; "Do it with thy might" across my right collarbone, the square/circle from the Vitruvian Man on  my right ankle, and getting the "Stars; hide your fires" quote from Macbeth on my ribcage tomorrow!

21

Delta Games Studio / HyperNormal - Update Thread

« on: July 10, 2014, 10:34:27 AM »

This is where updates on our current project will be posted.

HyperNormal is a first-person survival horror game. Armed with nothing but a torch and a crowbar, Angel King must fight her way through her own nightmares to find out why this is all happening to her. The game explores the themes of madness, loss, and faith.

A demo for the game will be made available through the Unity web player, when it is ready.

10/07/14
The neighbourhood is starting to come together, with the exterior of houses and two explorable areas finished!

18/08/2014
We are pleased to welcome Lewis Bean of Lewis Bean Audio to our team! He's working hard providing some state-of-the-art audio for the game.
We're also pleased to announce that our fighting engine is coming along nicely, but due to a (hilarious) bug you can punch zombies into space. Woohoo?

20/08/2014
We're beginning to string the game together. For those of you who want more info, check out our website: http://deltagamestudio.co.uk/games.html

11/09/2014
We're crowdfunding to finish the game! Check us out on IndieGoGo, http://igg.me/at/HyperNormal

05/09/2014
We said goodbye to Ken and Brendan at the end of September, but now we're saying hello to Reece! He's a designer from another company looking to help us finish our game. We're super excited to welcome someone else to the team.

22

Writing, Poems, AARs, and Stories - The Storyteller's Hall / I'm writing a sci-fi!

« on: July 01, 2014, 07:46:51 PM »

There's not really more to it than that.

Here's the synopsis: Gael Valentine, captain of The Valkyrie, is wanted for treason against Earth's highest council. He escapes from custody, with the help of his crew, and takes to the stars. When running low on supplies they stop to raid a seemingly dormant ship, only to find that it is the legendary Azrael and its cyborg crew. Devoid of their humanity, the cyborgs are unstoppable in their quest to fulfil their prime directive: survive.

You can follow it on Tumblr using the tag #tsbu (or by following l-a-felton.tumblr.com), or you can follow me on Wattpad http://www.wattpad.com/l-a-felton

Just fyi, really. Also I'm REALLY EXCITED to be writing in this genre, it's new for me and I thought you Exilianites might appreciate it. x

23

Delta Games Studio / Welcome!

« on: May 25, 2014, 09:08:33 AM »

Welcome to the small corner of the Exilian which belongs to Delta Games Studio! We are a small indie company developing a survival horror title for PC, as well as being in talks about a super-secret RPG project. Please feel free to ask us any questions, we like to be open about or development processes (within reason, of course).

Again, welcome!

24

Computer Game Development - The Indie Alley / Escape! - A Lovecraftian Horror Adventure

« on: April 22, 2014, 04:18:57 PM »

Hey guys.

So supplementary to my main game development project (which I will keep you all posted about) I'm also working on a little text-based adventure in Java. I'm just trying to gauge interest really, what people think about the idea of a horror-genre text-based adventure and if you'd play it.

And when I say 'text-based' that's exactly what I mean - no fancy GUI, no maps... Real back to the 90s stuff

25

Game & program tutorials / Game Design: Mechanics and Aesthetics

« on: April 21, 2014, 12:15:49 PM »

Hello, all. I promised in my last tutorial (Game Design: Your Game Design Document, for those of you who haven't read it *cough*) that I would go into a little bit more detail about what mechanics and aesthetics are, the difference between them, how they relate and why they're important to your game. So let's begin!

WHAT ARE MECHANICS?
Mechanics dictate the way the player interacts with the game. Every game has mechanics - even if your sole mechanic is entering text into a command line and hitting enter, it's still a mechanic because it's still the player interacting with the game world. Mechanics, for a lot of gamers, are what make or break immersion, a key element in making a game successful (if there's demand I'll talk more about immersion in another tutorial). Good mechanics should be simple, self-explanatory, and above all make sense to the player - you wouldn't try and assign the 'save' and 'smite' mechanics to the same button (although I can think of many a game which does). Mechanics are what people describe when asked how your game plays. We'll look at the original Bioshock for an example of good mechanics (spoilers ahoy, so beware). Bioshock uses the mechanic of objective following to turn the gameplay world on its head (remember when you confront Andrew Ryan and you get the 'Would you kindly?' revelation?). Because the mechanic is simple (go there, do that) and the player is given a reasonable explanation for them (they're instructions from a person, not just floating objectives in the sky), they accept them as part of the experience. Which makes it all the more devastating when you find you've been being manipulated.

WHAT ARE AESTHETICS?
If mechanics give your game substance then aesthetics give your game 'feel' (this is a very hand-wavy explanation, and most people stop here. For this reason, most explanations of aesthetics are very unhelpful. I will try and explain further without getting too vague). Aesthetics range from the obvious, such as art style and in-game sounds, to the mechanics themselves (that's right, even your mechanics have aesthetics, though this is a little meta and not for this basic tutorial). Let's take an example - Skyrim and Fallout. On a mechanics level, the two games are almost identical - the player explores a large, open world, picking up quests and battling monsters - but on an aesthetics level they are very different (you would never explain Skyrim to someone by saying it's like Fallout). Aesthetics are what people describe when they describe what your game is like. At the very least you should consider everything that gives your game a 'look' - art style, text, sound, loading screens, etc - but on a higher level you should think about your mechanics and how they relate to the message you're trying to convey.

HOW DO MECHANICS AND AESTHETICS RELATE TO EACH OTHER?
We've touched on this a little bit, when I said that 'mechanics have aesthetics'. We'll look at Fable II as an example of what I mean. In Fable II, to cast spells you can do one of two things - mash the spell cast button to fire off quick-fire spells, or hold down the button to build up power. The mechanics of spell-casting are literally as I've described, but their aesthetics go a little deeper - by holding down the button to build up power, coupled with the controller shaking the more powerful the spell becomes, you've given the game 'feel' by giving the player a little taste of what it's like to wield that kind of power. Similarly your mechanics feed back into your aesthetics, and I'm going to go back to Bioshock for this one: Bioshock would be a very different game if it had been a third-person shooter instead of first-person; it would have felt entirely different to the player. When designing mechanics and aesthetics it's important to remember that they affect each other.

WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT TO ME?
I get asked this a lot when advising (especially) hobbyists - mechanics they can often see the point behind, but aesthetics? Pah, forget it. So we'll talk a little bit about why each is important, and the play between them.
Mechanics are important because they inform the way the player interacts with the game (a recent study said that mechanics play a more important part than content when linking violence and videogames: when I find the link, I'll post it), and whilst every game will have mechanics, the amount of people I run into who give them little to no thought is horrifying.
Aesthetics are equally as important as mechanics, even if you only consider your art style. It's what the player will remember about your game when they walk away from it (very few players will say something like "man, the shooting in that was great!" when asked about their favourite element of a game). So think carefully.

WRAPPING UP
The topics of mechanics and aesthetics go way deeper than I've described here, and if you're interested in learning more about these elements of game design I suggest you check out Extra Creditz, a video blog about the art of game design. They explain it a LOT better than I do, and a lot of my work when I design is inspired by things that they cover.

Hopefully this tutorial helped you design your game a little bit better, and gives you something to think about when playing other people's games.

26

Game & program tutorials / Game Design: Your Game Design Document

« on: April 15, 2014, 09:30:17 PM »

When I say 'Game Design Document' to most indie or hobbyist devs they immediately recoil in horror. "GDDs are something Big Games have!" they say, thinking their game is not "good" enough to warrant a design document. Or they scoff "GDDs are for marketing executives who don't understand games!" and go about making their game without one, thinking they'll never be such a sell-out as to need marketing executives.

As an indie game dev, I'll let you in on a secret.

They're both wrong.

Every game, big or small, governed by executives or by one bedroom programmer, needs and deserves a Game Design Document. I'll tell you a little bit about why.

The GDD forces you to think about your game, and not just in hand-wavey "Big Picture" terms or in small-detail technical nitty-gritty terms, but as a whole picture. It makes you look at each element in turn and go "Hm, where does this bit fit in my vision?"

So I'm going to help you create a GDD for your game.

First step is to create a document with seven pages. I've lost some of you already ("I don't have time for seven pages!"). Title each of those seven pages as follows:

-What is [insert name of your game here]?
-Characters and Settings
-Items and Weapons
-Breakdown of Components
-Breakdown of Assets
-Game-Flow Diagram
-Suggested Project Timeline

Now you've titled those seven pages, you're halfway there. No, really. Knowing what to put in the GDD is half the battle, and I've just told you. So lets look at each of those in more detail.

WHAT IS [MY GAME]?
Excuse my caps but the underline function isn't working.
This is where you talk about your game on a high-level, hand-wavey platform. At the very least you should detail your expectations (what do you expect the finish game to be like? What do you think players will take away from the play experience?), your mechanics (how does your game play?), your aesthetics (how does your game feel?), and your game objectives (what is it the player is trying to achieve? What will they receive from doing so?)
If you don't quite understand mechanics and aesthetics, or the difference between them, don't worry. I'm going to write another tutorial on that.

CHARACTERS AND SETTINGS
Here's where you should talk, briefly (a paragraph is about right), about each of your main characters. By 'main characters' I mean playable characters, or characters you can interact with. Monsters come later, in another document ("Oh no! Another document!") which I'll detail in another tutorial.
You should describe in a paragraph each of your main settings (key areas to your game, use your discretion to decide what's a 'key area'), and provide sentence-length descriptions of any supplementary settings.

ITEMS AND WEAPONS
You should not only list all of the items/weapons in your game, but where they're found and at what stage of the game. If you haven't thought about your game in any real depth, now is the time to start doing so. It's also a good idea to attach maps, concept art, or whatever you can at this stage to help flesh out the game world. This is where we really start to think about the minute-by-minute play of the game, so think hard.

BREAKDOWN OF COMPONENTS
Here you're going to talk about things that are needed to make your game work, but don't constitute part of the gameplay or story. Examples include the engine you're using, saving/loading mechanisms, the heads-up display, and any key mechanics which are unique to your game.

BREAKDOWN OF ASSETS
This is where you really detail the aesthetics of your game (if you don't understand aesthetics, don't worry, this will make it a little bit clearer). Aesthetics are just as important as mechanics when it comes to designing a game, although most beginner game devs ignore them. You'll want to detail your art style, text, and sound. Anything that gives the game 'feel' rather than 'substance'.

GAME-FLOW DIAGRAM
Here's where it's time to start drawing, and to start thinking about the blow-by-blow account of your game. This should be detailed enough that anyone reading it will know how your game will play out, but keep it a little bit abstract to save space and time. If you find yourself writing "start > explore until end", you know you need to think more about how your game will play out.

SUGGESTED PROJECT TIMELINE
This is the only part of the GDD which is optional. If you're a hobbyist and you're making your game for yourself or friends, you don't need to worry too much about a project timeline. If you're serious about your game getting released, this is a must-have. Detail it on a month-by-month level, or, if really necessary, by every two weeks. It should include everything through blue-sky ideas to release.

SOME HINTS AND TIPS
Your GDD is a living document! Once you've finished it don't go "welp, that's that", print it off and keep it in a drawer never to be looked at. Give your document a version, and keep updating it as your goals and the game changes.
Share your GDD! It's great to receive feedback, the detail level shouldn't enable anyone to directly steal your ideas, and it'll help you learn and improve (or discover things you missed).
Have a look at real GDDs, but don't take them as gospel.
Change it up! Is there something missing from this plan which is really vital to your game? Add it in! Don't be afraid to change the document to meet your needs.

27

The Welcome Hall - Start Here! / A Re-Introduction

« on: April 15, 2014, 08:40:39 PM »

Hello there,

I might have already re-introduced myself once, I can't remember. If I did, then I'm sorry. But so much time as passed that I feel I need to do it again.

HELLO.

My name is Liz, and I'm a programmer/game developer/game designer/robot enthusiast. You might remember me from the OOP Programming with Java module in the Exilian Academy, before I abandoned it for personal reasons. I'm sorry about that. I'll finish the tutorials one day. Honest.

Hope to see some of you at the Moot!

28

General Gaming - The Arcade / The Birth of a New Dev

« on: March 03, 2014, 05:18:39 PM »

Hello all! You may remember me for being the girl who started the Java course over at the Academy. I abandoned it due to health reasons. I sincerely apologise.

I hope you won't hold it against me, because I need YOUR help!

Yes, you. I'm not talking about the person standing behind you, although they're welcome to include themselves in this. So listen up, strangers.

I am starting a games company
A small independent developer based in the UK (place is, at the moment, in negotiations beyond my control), developing games for PC using the Unity Engine - to start with, at least, this could go anywhere and that's so exciting I can't even. But what do I need you for? Carry on reading to find out...

I am a coder familiar with Unity/C#/JavaScript, or a 3D modeler
Then we need YOU! Desperately, in fact, given this company is just two people at current. Get in contact with me personally, at lizfelton@deltagamestudio.co.uk I'd love to hear from you.

I am interested in helping, but I can't code...
No worries, we still need you! Email playtest@deltagamestudio.co.uk with your name, age, and primary gaming system, and we'll get back to you about testing and quality assurance for our game!

I am a gamer, and want to keep an eye on you
Excellent, that's what we like to hear! You can follow us on Twitter, http://www.twitter.com/DeltaGStudio. Bookmark our website, for when it's finally updated, here: http://www.deltagamestudio.co.uk. Follow us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/DeltaGamesStudio.

What else can I do to help this struggling, fledgling developer get off the ground?
Tell your friends! Share our Tweets. Talk about us. Say how you're excited for this upcoming survival-horror title (which we're in the process of developing). We need you to survive, so please, do it for us! Keep an eye out for our Kickstarter, as well, when we get that underway.

I hope you can forgive me this shameless plug and help us out in any way you can! Thanks for reading, guys!

29

OO Programming / Bulletin

« on: August 21, 2012, 10:33:35 PM »

Think you've missed something important? Check here to see if you have!

21/08/2012:
First course notes went out. Check appropriate forum.
Tutor groups were assigned. Because of the small course number at this time, all students are in the same tutor group.

25/08/2012:
There's been a delay in the publishing of the first exercise, due to computer issues. Apologies!

03/09/2012:
And we're back online.
The release of the first exercise has been delayed, due to the fact so little material has been covered so far (you really need the next tutorial sheet, which will be up ASAP!)
New course notes are up.

04/09/2012:
New course notes up.

30

OO Programming / Tutorial Group One

« on: August 21, 2012, 10:17:07 PM »

This is the area for Tutorial Group One to discuss course notes, exercises, and anything else you need to in order to finish things successfully. I'll be dropping by on occasion to sort out anything that you can't sort yourselves/clear up issues that most people are struggling with.

Keep it above board, kids, and have fun!