Hello Internet! Today marks the first day of my 100-day Game Dev Blogging Challenge. I was inspired to do this after watching the recent Friday The 13th panel at PAX West on “How to Market a Game and Run Your Own Kickstarter. After giving it some thought, I realized I can improve when it comes to posting and sharing my progress instead of being secretive about it.
What are the goals for this challenge? I’d like to post daily updates (shoot for 100 and push on) on what I’ve accomplished on my game development journey and develop good posting habits. In the process, I will provide some games for people to enjoy who are reading my blog and following me on YouTube and various social media platforms.
So far I’ve made a couple of text games which have provided me some fundamentals on how to use Unity. I chose Unity over Unreal due to the community in Boston surrounding the game engine. I’ve also had several opportunities to take on consulting work if I were proficient in using and teaching the engine. I would love to one day become certified in Unity and be able to teach it to various companies, schools, and organizations. I’ll be honest, I’m still a beginner and have a long ladder to climb. But I figure what better way to level up than by posting my progress, challenges, and some cool games hopefully you will enjoy. If I get good enough where I can maybe try to sell a product in the future, maybe I can do this full time for a living. That’s the dream!
Enter Horror Block Breaker
I’ve made some text games to help familiarize myself with Unity, but the first game I’ve making with the hopes of showing to the world and getting feedback is a free challenge version of “Arkanoid” or “Block Breaker.” For those who may not know, Arkanoid is a classic game where you launch a ball towards a bunch of blocks and try to destroy the blocks by hitting the ball back. To make my version of the game unique and cater to horror fans, I’m changing the paddle and the formation of the blocks.
Crazy Paddles and Horrific Block Formations
Your typical Arkanoid paddle consists of a block and maybe two right angle triangles to help bounce the ball to the sides. To add a little more personality, I decided to alter the paddle for each level by making it into a weapon or item found in a particular horror film. For example the Friday The 13th level has a bloody machete for the paddle and Nightmare on Elm Street has Freddy’s hat for a paddle.
Since I’m using a particular item instead of a traditional square, I can experiment with Unity’s colliders so the ball might go slightly to the right or curve when you hit the handle of the machete and veer off in a different direction if you hit the angled blade. The trick to win in this game is not simply move the paddle and hit the block, but understand how each paddle works after using it and perhaps dying once or twice.
The second way I’m making this game unique, but also a bit more of a challenge is to arrange the blocks in a particular shape. On the Friday The 13th level you’ll have to destroy a full bodied Jason in block form or a large hockey mask. Each level will have a different paddle and a different arrangement of blocks resembling some semblance to a horror icon. I’ve got three levels in progress, but if you have a suggestion for a film I should try to add, let me know in the comments.
For my next entry I’ll discuss colliders and talk about what I’ve accomplished on the second day. Thanks for reading and ‘Stay Mad!’
This week I’m starting a new series with new challenges for my YouTube videos. I’d like to start branching out from Friday The 13th, so as I promised in the 1-year anniversary video, I have launched episode 1 of Mad-Eye Plays Crusty Old Games. Episode 1 features Batman Arkham Asylum. I took the boring parts and I tried to condense 90 minutes of footage into 12 minutes. It was difficult, but I think I managed to include the best parts. So if you like Batman and would like to see my new and developing approach to editing, check out the video and give me some feedback.
Rivaling Eric Lachappa for class valedictorian, Deborah is viewed as a bookworm. When Deborah isn’t studying, she is often found reading books and looking up the latest news on current events. Thanks to her academic pursuits and hobbies Deborah is quite knowledgeable when it comes to repairing vehicles and generators around the camp. While she may not be the most athletic among her fellow counselors, Deborah relies on her brains and light feet to survive. If you prefer a stealthier approach and hope to avoid Jason, then Deborah is the character for you.
Deborah is more of a lone wolf character and is good at avoiding Jason. With a perfect intelligence score of 10, she’s one of the best counselors for repairing vehicles and generators and is difficult to locate unless Jason uses Sense. Even though running isn’t one of Deborah’s strengths, her light feet will reduce her chances of being discovered by Jason and will allow her to run short distances.
Fighting Jason one on one is not one of Deborah’s strengths. Due to her low strength stat, Deborah is not very likely to stun Jason and will do minimal damage. Your best offense against Jason is a good defense by staying out of sight and utilizing range weapons such as flare guns and shotguns.
Running is a viable option as Deborah since Jason is more likely to come across other counselors who are running and making a lot of noise. If Jason is nearby however, it is easy to sneak by Jason by using a crouch walk.
Be warned though, if Jason catches you’re unlikely to break free. To help your team try to stay near objective points and repair the vehicles as parts are brought over. If you can repair the vehicles quickly and keep Jason out of arm’s length from you, you’ll have a good chance of survival.
Extra Tips:
At the beginning of a match, go for a flare gun as your first weapon. Let Kenny, Adam, Buggzy, and more melee based characters use the bats and heavier weapons.
Use crouch walk around the vehicles and stay nearby so you can repair them.
Communicate with other counselors and let them know when you’ve installed an item in an objective point.
If you’re in a cabin by the two-person vehicle and you happen to find gas, just put it in. Don’t travel all the way across a map just to put the gas or objective item in the 4-person vehicle.
If you have keys, keep them on you and let everyone know so they can protect you. Or… drop the keys off at the nearest vehicle even if it hasn’t been fully repaired yet. This way you increase the chances of someone picking you up on their way out if you’re cornered in a cabin.
Whatever you do, do not try to take on Jason alone with a melee weapon.
Pros
Cons
Has a very easy time fixing vehicles and generators.
Poor luck, so is likely to have her weapons break and get injured climbing over broken windows.
Her high stealth skill allows her to sneak across camp and less likely to be sensed by Jason
Not very fast compared to other counselors. Short distance runner.
Can tolerate the horrors of Camp Blood, but only for a while.
Not strong. Will do the least amount of physical melee damage to Jason.
Stalking as Jason in Friday The 13th: The Game – Tips and Tricks
I’ll be honest, whenever I play as Jason I almost always never use Stalk. It’s not like I don’t know it’s there, but rather I never really saw the point of using it. There’s one or two counselors left, they know I’m around so why bother? This attitude of mine was a HUGE MISTAKE! Thanks to my friend Rainskull who plays a fantastic Jason, I saw the errors of my way and now realize that Stalk is critical when playing as Jason. It sets up for memorable moments and can really change the atmosphere and flow of the game.
Time just flew by and this week I’ll be celebrating the 1-year anniversary for the YouTube channel. The anniversary is going to be on Sunday July 16th and will feature an update and some gameplay of one of my favorite games before I got into Friday The 13th. Hope you all enjoy it!
Experimental Editing
Lately I’ve been really exploring with experimental editing and have really enjoyed the process. My latest video for Friday The 13th involved a merging of the 1940’s films with modern day editing tips. It was my first real attempt at combining information with entertainment and I’m pleased with the outcome. This is a taste of where I hope the channel goes into the future and as I start to develop a brand. (Cont. below)
Have you ever wanted something, but didn’t really know how to say it? That was me until now. The past few months have been interesting in that I’ve had to ask myself: “Where am I trying to get to?” I quit my job in Japan and returned to the United States to look after family while attempting to break into the video game industry, but it wasn’t until now that I realized how vague that goal was. What exactly is breaking into the video game industry?
At first I thought it was just YouTube. I began my YouTube career while in Tokyo, Japan as a creative outlet to make up for my trapped feelings at work. I also believed it would be a great entry point into the industry, and I’m pleased to say my hunch was correct. Thanks to my identity as a YouTuber and my passion for horror, I had the honor of joining a community surrounding Friday The 13th. Within that community I met YouTubers, livestreamers, voice actors, entertainers, news outlets, and developers each with a particular role to play in the development of Friday The 13th The Game. I had no idea how important communities were and how much of an ecosystem they have. Within this ecosystem there are rules, expectations, customs, and an entirely different world from my days studying to be a translator at graduate school.
I’ve only been a part of this gaming scene for four months, and while I’m still learning, I love almost every moment of it. I have seen how a game is developed and the challenges a company faces after launching, I’ve experienced fielding questions from disgruntled customers, I’ve witnessed the marketing strategies between developers and content creators, I’ve seen dozens of strangers gather in a voice chat room to listen to fan fiction surrounding a game, I’ve seen a fan of the game get hired by a game company due to his commitment and love for their upcoming game / product. I have had the privilege to interview a video game executive producer face-to-face and then play with him in the game his company made while being livestreamed to 100 people online.
After experiencing all of this for the past four months I can say that I broke into the industry and have become a part of it. But I had to keep asking myself, “what is my role in this industry and where do I want to go?” “If I walk down a certain path, am I going to be satisfied with it 20 or 30 years from now?” For the past couple of months this has been on my mind. While I kind of knew what I wanted, I couldn’t really put it in words. Three months ago, I used to solely focus on YouTube and I measured my success based on the number of subscribers I had, but now I realize my perspective was off. I was wrong for several reasons because it’s not subscriber numbers that determine success of a video, it’s watch time. Second, and most importantly viewing your subscribers as a number, is kind of rude. Each subscriber is a person with a name, a life and a dream. Long story short, YouTube subscriber numbers is not how I measure success anymore.
What’s Next?
As of now, I hope to take Mad-Eye Games to the point where I can provide marketing and consulting services and eventually make games people love and enjoy. If I could make this a success within 3-5 years, that would be amazing. There are several obstacles in the way. These range from learning game development software, to understanding marketing, mastering SEO, to building a client base, a good reputation, and knowing people in the industry. While I am still learning, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It just means I need to work my butt off, and that’s fine.
I’ve got some goals lined up for myself and hopefully by writing them, it will give me an accountability partner and a track for which I can proceed towards my goals as quickly as possible.
Goals in order to approach my dream of starting a company and making it a success:
Learn game development software by taking lessons and then expanding upon those lessons by making free games for my subscribers and followers.
Start a weekly or biweekly podcast
Improve my video editing and content creation skills by making videos no one else has made on YouTube and separating it through high quality editing and putting a new spin on games old and new.
Make a community
Start livestreaming 1x a week and host events with the community
Learn 3D modeling and coding well enough that I can start selling assets in online stores.
Get my first client in the Boston area
Start building my client list and earning a steady income
Hire Staff
Mission Accomplished -> Now it’s time to work work work
