Seth Gorden

As some of you may know, Octodad is a clever game where you are a secret octopus, living the life of a human. Not just any human, but a good human who loves his family. How many games are this humorous and kind-hearted in premise? Very few.

I am privileged to report that Octodad’s project director, Kevin Zuhn, also works with me every day as an environment artist on our super-top-secret arcade game. He’s a smart designer, casual comedian, and an all-around good fellow to work with. Also, he hooked me up with an Octodad t-shirt. It is rad.

If you haven’t done so already, go play Octodad here. It is rad.

On Gamesauce, I recently watched a video about motivating casual players in online games.

The  term ‘casual players’ has seemed a misnomer

to me for some time, and I’m starting to figure out why. At first, ‘casual’ described a kind of play, moreso than a person. But as we love our labels, soon we assigned it to people, deeming them casual whenever their play style did not reflect a thorough knowledge and comfort with the history and mechanics of video games and how to play them.

There is a particular passage in the video linked above that talks about player grouping in online multiplayer games. Apparently ‘casual’ players don’t do it. In the examples given, this refers to clicking a ‘Group’ button from a very accessible user interface. Most of their players never click this button, even when instructed to do so. It turns out that their casual players assume that when they sign on to a game with their friends, that believe they are already grouped. Some make their avatars stand close together in the game when clicking the ‘Group’ button, and timed their clicks so that they pressed the button simultaneously. This, of course, has nothing to do with how grouping works in the game. The presenter in the video spoke about this only long enough to describe their observations and how it affected development of their online game. But let’s dig a little deeper.

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There has been quite a lot of excitement, lately, coming through the news about more developers going indie, and consequently creating games where ideas can be tested quickly, and every step is a push for quality, rather than a push for permission. Also noteworthy is the observable trade-off between working for a company like EA, and working independently. That being, in larger companies, there are several people employed whose is job it is manage and avoid risk. If you’re big and want to stay big, that is good. For indies, everyone is there create a product of some kind, be it code or art, or a webpage, or whatever. If you’re small, this is good, because you eliminate red tape, and get down to business.

It’s definitely worthwhile to consider the risks, regardless of your situation, but if you (game developers) ask yourself the reasons why you entered this industry, how many can list “Managing Risk” among them? Seriously. Get excited. Make games.

Also, a noteworthy conversation about The Artistic Necessity of Constraint is offered by Ed Fries, who has recently developed Halo 2600 for the Atari 2600. For some, the minimalism of graphics and gameplay might be lost. But for the retro-nostalgic, or those gamers and developers who find beauty in strange places, his game and thoughts on constraint are compelling an poignant. 

Pier Solar - Watermelon, juicy development

As discovered by The Artful Gamer and Retro Gamer Magazine, a new title has come to the Sega Genesis/Sega CD. Over four years in the making, a team of dedicated fans have brought their love of classic JRPGs to life. Started as a project among sega-loving forum members, they have leveraged a fan-built SDK, loads of talent, and poured their efforts into Pier Solar, a story of healing and friendship…

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Breath of Death VII - Zeboyd Games

A great accomplishment comes to us from independent developer Zeboyd Games (listed as ‘RainbowDespair’ on XBOX Live Marketplace). I learned about this game through a Kotaku article posting about the success of the title through the XBox Live Arcade service. I was excited to see an old-school RPG come out and make a splash.

The game follows several colorful characters…

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