As a Game Designer, in meeting with a client

Something I've pickup after having several meetings with a Japanese client.

In meetings with a client,

1. Don’t give clients ideas
   -In a game development project, its OK if the clients give inputs on features he wants when the project is still in early production stage. But when development reach the middle of production, its best not to ask for ideas for 'improving' the game. The middle of the production stage is the time when you cut down on the features not adding them.
   
   
2. Be decisive
   -As the game designer, you must be decisive on the features that can be done. Don't make empty promises that you can't deliver (and even if it can be done, doesn't mean you have the manpower and time to do it).
   
   
3. Print out designs on paper
   - If you have several design variation, and you want the client to choose one. Its best to have them printed out and gave it to the client to review them overnight.
   If its need to be approve immediately, print them out and paste them of the walls (or place on the floor). Let the client go thru them. This is a good chance to discuss with the client on the design variations, or the client can look thru it for themselves.
   
   
4. Always leave a email/paper trail.
   - Put things in black and white, and get the client to sign it. It can be meeting minutes, design specs, design document.
   So that the client can't turn the tables on us. Saying that he didn't agreed to things already done.
   If the client just gave verbal approval only, they can change their mind and demands something else in the future.
   Best if there's a clause in contract stating that if producer/client doesn't sign, the project can't continue forward.
   
   

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LINKS, my dear

Sunrise, Sunset

Hard Gay's Sunrise, Sunset rap translated by Bakafish.
Yes, I'm a big fan of Hard Gay Razor Ramon. And Yes, this song just cracks me up.


Tenacious D
Tenacious D - tribute act
Tenacious D/Tribute - Music Video
Lip Synching to Fuck Her Gently by Tenacious D
Some Tenacious D video links :p
I can't get Fuck Her Gently video link cause the video itself is pretty "sexual explicit", hope the lip synching video can make up for it.


Movie trailers
Frank Miller's 300
DeathNote
These 2 are my most anticipated movies this year :D
Death Note is already out in Japan, but I don't think they gonna show it in Malaysia. And 300 doesn't seem can pass the censorship board.
Looks like I have to buy the DVDs.


Nintendo's Wii games lineup
Upcoming games for Wii, seems more fun than those lousy Xbox 360 and PS3 :p


Poke The Bunny
Try poking the bunny









on some serious side......

What Came First, the Violence or the Video Game?
by Nelson Rodriguez



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Quote of the week - School

"
How do you explain school to a higher intelligence?
                               "
-- Elliot, "E.T."

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White and Nerdy

"Weird Al Yankovic"'s new video.

Dammit, I understand everything he says.
ROTFLOL


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Are you proud to be an OTAKU?

An Otaku lifestyle?

An old news article got me intersted in writing this entry:
Self-professed 'real otaku' rips into 'moe' fetish fakers


The response to the article on some anime blogs:
kenny-liu.com
www.anime-ni.co.uk
heiseidemocracy.net
anime.jefflawson.net
and
Forum discussion in Anime News Network


Some info on the interviewee:
Interview session with Mimei Sakamoto

When No Choice is a Good One
A girl's guide to finding happiness in Japan
By Mimei Sakamoto






'Otaku'
A term still in debate for its meaning.

It interest me that in campus recently there are people who proudly proclaiming themselves as Otakus.
To them the word 'Otaku' means an avid fan of anime, manga and games.

In Japan (the origin of the word), most people associate 'Otaku' with "people who stayed at home all day, had no social life, and just watched hentai all day".
And these negative connotations is still prevalent in modern japanese society.
Interesting enough, the term 'otaku' became famous after tabloids (in the 80's) start calling the serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, the Otaku Murderer.

Is calling oneself an 'otaku' a good thing?
I rather opt for the non-enthusiastic sounding 'hobbyist'. XD

If anyone wants to argue with me that 'Otaku' means something else in wikipedia, then let me ask you this: "Do you trust a source that can be edited everyday by anyone?"

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LINKS for all season

Imperial March - Star Wars/Lego


and...
Star Wars 2007, a game only playstation 3 can handle.



www.dontclick.it
Experience a button-free world



Indian Superman
Indian Superman Part 2



Cave Story ~ Doukutsu Monogatari
A really good doujin game by a japanese hobbyist game developer called Pixel. RECOMMENDED

Sling
Sling your way to victory in this interesting puzzle game, I may not be a fan of casual games like this...but this one is really well made.








On game development side.....

Game Maker
A really good game development tool, new developers should try it :D

7-days game (experimental gameplay project)
Interesting concept of game development. See what kind of game you can do in 7-days. Challenge yourself :p


The Role of Director in Designing the Halo 2 Interface
by David Candland, Bungie Studios

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Quote of the week - Speaking correct English

"
Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to
speak it to?
                               "
-- Clarence Darrow

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Memory hack

Definition from counter-hack.net:
Memory Hack: When games are ran, their code is mapped in memory. This can be useful to hackers, giving them the ability to do everything from enhancing their characters speed, to gaining the position of enemies.


This is really bad for online games. As hackers can easily modify their characters to gain god-like weapons and abilities.

This kind of hacking usually happens because the client program itself stores most of the game data to lessen the strain on the game server.


An interesting concept to handle this is by storing the attributes of characters and events in the game server, the client will take the values from the game server and process it. There won't be much stress on the game server as for this it only does balancing and checking only, and lets the client handles all the calculations.

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A good game designer needs good communication skills

Somehow people listen to you when you're holding a machete



A good game designer needs good communication skills. This is because they must be the ‘middle man’ to the different part of the development team. They must able to communicate ideas to programmers, artists, sound engineers, UI team, the producers, and occasionally clients.

Game designers must be able to convey instructions, requests, and informations between the teams. So that there are no misinformation and the project can proceed following the designer's vision, and not other people's.


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How do you handle Double Login?

A common situation in online games, where a same account ID being login twice at the same time.



Situation:
User A logs into a game using his account ID. After a few minutes, user B enters into the game using user A's account login (user B could have borrowed or stolen user A's account ID). How do you handle this situation?

From server side, there are a few ways to handle double login:

1. Push out the earlier login
   Kicking out user A and let user B enter the game. User A have to login again (and kick out user B from the game) to enter the game again.
   A common practice in local game servers, but it can turn into a pushing war between the 2 users. Currently, the most effective solution.
   
   
2. Deny the new login
   User B cannot enter the game as long as user A is logged in the game. But this could lead to problems like user B is logged in for a long period of time and user A (the owner of the account) cannot enter the game.
   
   
3. Can enter from other PC with the same login
   When user A enters the game, he is issued an electronic key(Key A). As long as he has the key, he can move freely within game.
   When user B enters the game(with user A's account ID), as long as user B uses a different computer (with different IP address), he also was issued a key (Key B).
   This solution seems favorable, but is not recommended for online games that have paid subscription.
   

In the end, the best way is always to take good care of your account ID, including never reveal your password to anyone.

By the way, Game Masters doesn't need to know your password when you're reporting problems to them, all they need is your account ID and they can find out everything else from the database. So beware of scammers!!


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LINKS is life

Melody-chan sings the LocoRoco song


If you want to sing along, here is the lyrics for the part in the clip:

Bajumbo moi noi noi jecker
Dabatto bunkergait jun jun
Nora juerue-rotto pura-pura petto
Puraret dum dum
Papuranoi noi noi jecker
Dabatto bumperget tum tum
Ora poerketino bookeran tan-tan-so

*LocoRoco is a PSP game. Lyrics are from lolitron.org



www.googleityoumoron.com
When someone ask you a stupid question.....


(1978) Japanese Spiderman
The Amazing Spiderman....with a Mecha??


How to eat sushi at a sushi-ya
A humorous take on "Eating sushi for dummies"


Dice War
A game almost similiar to Risk, it utilizes dice to represent your armies. A really inovative tactical game, with equally smart AI opponent. Kudos to the game designer who made this wonderful game.


Werewolf
A wonderful party game, utilizes some basic psychology to spice things up (Evil Grin). Its a game of accusations, lying, bluffing, second-guessing, assassination, and mob hysteria. Do try it :D







Usability in games
The age old debate of Fun vs User-friendlyness. Are they really that important?
Read on....

Are Games Suppose to be User Friendly?
by David Dick

User Interface Design for Games
by David Kieras

Heuristics and Usability Guidelines for the Creation and Evaluation of Fun in Video Games
by Melissa A. Federoff

And a quiz to see how good you are in user interface design:
A Quiz Designed to Give You Fitts
....before that you need to brush up on Fitts' Law


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Quote of the week - Overcoming adversity

"
However, never daunted, I will cope with adversity in my traditional
manner ... sulking and nausea.
                               "
-- Tom K. Ryan

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Dumping LINKS for a Better Tomorrow

RedesignMalaysia.com
Tired of bad broadband speed in Malaysia? Check this site for how you can make the change.




Interesting reads on science in movies
*The Biology of B-Movie Monsters
*Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics




Love Bleach
An upcoming love simulation game...featuring Bleach male characters!!!!








Moving on to game related items.....


Utada Hikaru is a gamer girl!!!
A Tetris DS gamer girl to be exact. In a recent Nintendo Tetris DS event, Utada-chan challanges 30 people and 2 professional players to show her how much of a gamer she is XD




- Tilt!
A deceptively simple game that gets harder the shorter your balancing stick gets.
A fun and innovative game, simply genius :D


The Game-it-Yourself Canonical List of Free Print-and-Play Games
Got a printer? Got scissors? Want free boardgames? We got'cha covered.


Links to sites related to board games
www.tomvasel.com
www.dicetower.com
www.boardgamegeek.com
www.boardgamenews.com


Paper Burns: Game Design With Agile Methodologies
By Rory McGuire



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Golden rule of gaming

Continuation from my last post, these are some rules you have to remember as the game organiser or Game master.

1.You are the Game master

• You set the rules, you enforce them.

2.If the game doesn’t go well, immediately stop or switch

• The reason for using games in the classroom is to make learning fun. If the situation is becoming hostile (kids getting too involved in the game) or the kids are not having fun, stop or switch to another game.

3.Keep the game exciting, quick and fun

• Kids have short attention span, so keep the games fast and exciting.

4.Know your game

• Before you start the game of your choice, make sure that you know how to play that game. It can be frustrating to the kids and yourself if the game stop midway because of problems or disputes over the game rules.

*Golden rule of gaming by Tom Vasel


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Using games to teach by Tom Vasel

Continuation from my notes from Tom Vasel's talk on "Using Games to Teach".



Why use games in the classroom
-change of pace
-fun for students
-fun for teachers
-an excellent way to teach

• English
  
• Thinking skill
  
• Logic
  
• Social skill
  
• Strategy
  

“Don’ts” when teaching with games
-don’t win at all cost. This isn’t about the best player
-don’t allow fights between the students
-don’t allow ‘friendly’ cooperation
-don’t let the game slow down.
Keep the game moving, keep downtime to a minimum
-don’t be rigid an un-flexible
-don’t worry about finishing the game


“Do’s” when teaching with games
-keep it fair
-do simplify if necessary, but realize that children are smarter than you think
-do change the rule if necessary
-do explain everything thoroughly in English
-do enforce penalties and rewards
-do improvise
-do setup and prepare
-do play a variety of games



and remember, when choosing a game (be it a board game or party games);
If the game rules are too complex, it will spoil the game.


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Quote of the week - SCSI cable

"
Just think -- blessed SCSI cables! Do a big enough sacrifice and create
a +5 blessed SCSI cable of connectivity.
                               "
-- Lionel Lauer

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Quote of the week - Peace and Government

"
I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.
                               "
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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