The following text was written by Alan
Wong:
In my last article, What Makes a Good
Game, I made several suggestions to improving the games made for TI graphing
calculators. One of those that got people angry was that of the engine idea. Although some
people liked the idea, many others opposed it, due to its non flexibility and lack of
feasibility. But here's an interesting note on that idea, the ones that liked it the most
were mostly the ones that could not program, and the ones that opposed it were mostly the
ones that could program. But this article is not about engines. Its not about fun. Its not
even about replay value. If you do not know what this article is about, then I suggest that
you read the title once more. This article is about the one idea that I barely touched on,
but most of the people liked. It is the concept of team. In the responses of my last
article, nearly everyone liked this idea, and in my opinion, most poeple think it is the
next logical step in the world of TI calculator gaming. But are there downsides to what
seems like the best way to go? And what does it take to bring a team of programmers and
artists together to make a game? Read on for my opinion of the issue.
First of all,
the team approach does not guarantee good games that are fun. They just give us more chances
to see good games that are really good. A team is also not made up of 10 full time
programmers and artists. In this small world of TI calculators, a team of 3 is about the
right number, but any where from 2 to less than 10 people is good. I would prefer 3 people
if I had a choice, since you have 2 programmers that can help each other and a full time
artist making what the programmers need, or the other way around. This team is also easy to
manage, since there are only 3 people, and basically all of them have to do the work for it
to be successful. If you have too many people, some will slack off and still take credit. If
you have less, then it may be a fuller load of work for both of you. Anyway, let us look at
more of the good sides of the team approach. You finish games quicker than if one person
were working on it, since you have, well, more people working on it. This is a plus if you
do not want to be bored by the same game for months on end, since your finished in a couple
months if you have great partners. Also, you can share ideas and skills. If its a small
group, then maybe the programmers can teach the artists, and the artists can teach the
programmers, then each can have a better understanding and respect toward whatever they do.
Plus, they learn something new that they may have had to slave over for a long time if they
did not get the lesson (but there are exceptions to this!). Anyway, this could also increase
the amount of games that appeal to more people, since you have more than 1 person's opinion
going into the game. This is all very positive, but when you have the good on something, you
also have the bad.
The most obvious negitive to the teams approach is that you have
different people in the team. Even if you knew each other for a long time, you still have
your differences. These differences get increased when each member wants to do something
differently, and argument breaks loose. But this can be worked around by including
everything (which is a bad idea to start with) or by knowing ahead of time that this is
going to happen and plan a plan. Second, when you have a team, you have to manage it
somehow. One person does this and that person does this and you do that. This is hard to do
though, since in real life, people have different and varying schedules. You must compensate
for this, and make sure you can cover for that person to get the game out on time. And what
if someone just does not have the time? Well, that person should not have joined in the
first place. This sounds harsh, but it has to be done. Even if that programmer is the best
in the world, just quiting (except for extraordinary reasons. which should be created prior
to the team being built) is not good, and really gives the rest of the team (or that one
remaining person) a lot more to do. This could cause the game to be rushed (the "who cares,
just get it done" phase). There are more bad things I could say, but we all know these do
not happen everyday, and those that actually have the motivation will get it done no matter
what (almost).
Well, we have the programmers and the artists. These guys are the
most important in the TI calculator game world (sorry music guys), but some other people
that we may not think of as part of the team are part of the team. These are the testers.
They have the tedious job of playing the game a million times and tell the programmers (or
artists) whats wrong with the game. Sometimes, having a lot of these guys helps, since bugs
can come in the strangest of places. The more people that test (full time, not just 10
minutes a day) the more chances you the programmer can find and fix a bug. A 3D shooter that
is now being made for the TI-86 has a large testing team, and I believe this will quicken
the development time by shortening the testing phase, and also have the luxury of testing as
they program, not test all at once in the end. This could also get rid of the need of betas,
which I never download by the way.
Finally, this team has got to work together.
Everyone that is in the team, no matter how trivial the task they are made to do must work
together. If this does not work, the team will not work. If the team will not work, the game
will be doomed to be one of the millions of never released but promising games.
Oh,
and to the maintainer of the site, could you make a new little page that allows us to post
information on gaming ideas for the TI calculators, and ask for programmers and artists?
This could allow us to better get in touch with each other, allowing teams to form, and
games to be made.
The new game ideas list:
- Pinball (suggested in a comment
on my previous article, but physics may be hard to do but would be similar to Vertigo)
- Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Command and Conquer type game
- Street Fighter type games
- Zelda overhead type adventure games
- 2-player linked games (card games, puzzles,
etc.)
So far, I believe teams are the way to go. And to all you game makers
in the TI world, keep up the good work!!
