No Name Games

Ok, so as I think I alluded in the past, I’ve been practicing really crappy stuff, to make sure I’ve got the basics down. And there was one thing in particular I was playin around with making that was really… really crappy looking. I spent a little bit of time on it last night (probably a total of about a half-hour’s time, not including spacing out here and there) and it started to look semi-decent.

Mind you, this is, by no means, anything revolutionary, nor even interesting, of a game. In fact, I acknowledge fully this game has been built a million times over by god knows how many people, but I’m just practicing basic concepts, so gimme a break, eh?

Anyway, here’s how it looked after miniscule tweaking and actually becoming mildly playable for a minute or two. And I certainly hope you have no trouble recalling what this game is. It should be reeeeeally obvious.

Overly simple, no?

I thought I would show off a bit more concept work done by one of our artists for our new game…  Enjoy!

This is just some of the new concept art, hope you like it!  Stay tuned, more to come

I am a decent game programmer, but when it comes to actual game design I still have a lot of learning to do…  So I have been looking around the net trying to find some good sources on how to make a quality game design doc, this is what I have found so far.

http://mysimplemindedworld.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/10-game-design-commandments/ I found this article to be pretty interesting, basically it’s a set of do’s and don’t s when it comes to designing, or just well making a game.

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991019/ryan_01.htm This is a pretty in depth article on game design

http://bbrathwaite.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/creating-a-game-design-document/ brief view on game design

http://digitalworlds.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/the-process-of-game-creation-the-game-design-document/ Gives a nice general idea

http://www.pagtech.com/2006/07/04/how-to-write-a-game-design-doc/

Unlock achievements and get the highest score in this exciting 3D space shooter!

Click the image to play the game

AstroMines is a 3D space shooter in which you blow up asteroids to earn points.

You can register with us and we’ll keep track of your scores, and you can even earn achievements. The scoreboard will show you your scores, and when you click the ‘online’ button, it’ll show you all the high scores saved to our database. See if you can top our scores!

In Survival Mode, you’re flying through space with asteroids continuously coming at you. You’ll have to keep blowing them up and dodging them as they split into smaller asteroids and get faster and faster!

In the mini-game we included, you play a twist on a classic! If you were into the old one, you just might like this version.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do as much as we’d wanted to do with the game (no missions, had to scrap the storyline, fewer objects in space, things like that…) - largely due to time and Flash performance constraints. But hopefully you’ll enjoy what’s there! If you like it, be sure to say so - we just might include that stuff in a sequel!

And remember! Gold asteroids are worth 5 times as much.

===== Basic Instructions =====
To bring up or get rid of the options screen:
-Enter

To pause while play:
-Escape

Survival Mode:
-Movement: W/S/A/D or Up/Down/Left/Right
-Shoot: Space bar or Ctl keys

Mini-game:
-Turning: Left/Right
-Accelerate/Decelerate: Up/Down
-Shoot: Space bar

-Developers
Joseph Burchett: Project Lead, web and game play programmer
Gary Deng: Physics and game play programmer
Eli Ross: Sound Engineer, 3D Modeler, game play/UI programmer
Joseph Grasso: Concept artist, texture, and 3D modeler
Lauren Zeier: Contributing concept artist
Andy Dicochea: Contributing artist
Zach Rhyenolds: Q/A, designer, tester

-Tools used
Platform: Flash player 9
Animation: Boostworthy Animation Library
3D engine: Sandy 3D Engine

Special thanks to
Everyone who helped test the game, and to the Sacramento Game Developers Meetup, without it none of this would have been possible