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Monday, March 25th, 2013

Use and use again: popular computer game engines

There are many great video game engines available for developers today. The Unreal Engine has taken the lead as the most popular engine available today. Unreal Engine allows developers to easily create the game world they need. Unreal Engine works for any genre of video game. Unreal Engine allows you to develop games for all of the latest consoles. Unreal Engine has one of the easiest to use editors of all available engines.

Unity is another great engine used by many indie game developers. The Unity license is relatively Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

Their world is your oyster: the growing trend of computer game “modding”

“Modding” a game is the process of altering it so that you can play it in a different way, without actually changing a huge portion of the game in the process. Over the past few years, modding has become increasingly popular. Playing the same game can get boring over time, but with a few alterations you can change your gaming experience to be something entirely different within the same game.

The most popular computer game that players have modded is MineCraft. This game has literally dozens of mods out there that fans have made Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

An introduction to some popular independent game developers

In a market saturated with new material, it’s hard to track the latest and greatest independent game developers. We’ll break the most popular down here. Make sure to put these people on your watch lists.

First is Markus Persson, creator of a popular survival game involving mining and hiding from creatures that appear in the night. If you haven’t heard of him, that’s alright, he usually goes by his nickname, Notch. He started out programming for other game developers before striking off on Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday, August 27th, 2011

Designing characters that people will remember

Are you a budding video game designer? Are you interested in creating unique, memorable games? Do you want to find great ways to make sure your characters are realistic and believable? If so, read these tips on designing characters that people will remember!

- Realism is great, but do not overdo it.
All great video game characters are a perfect combination of real life and your game’s fantasy world. Characters that have nothing in common with your game’s audience are too difficult to relate to, but characters that are too similar to that audience Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

How to overcome graphics with gameplay

The graphics vs gameplay debate has been raging on in the video game community for years. Some gamers demand lush environments, character models where every muscle twitch is registered with pixel precision and full immersion into a world that looks and feels real. Others are more concerned about the fun factor, and are willing to accept less than perfect graphics if the gameplay is unique and engaging.

Graphical improvements in video games are slowly tapering off. Although new technology comes out every year, the changes are Read the rest of this entry »

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Great Things Games are Doing for Your Kids

You know how your kids are constantly in front of the TV or online with your www.WildBlueDeals.com satellite playing game after game after game? Well here are a few of the reasons you should be happy they’re gaming and not doing something else!
Hand Eye Coordination – The more games your kids play the better their coordination becomes and that’s probably a good thing considering most gaming kids aren’t exactly all about sports. This will Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Popular and addicting online puzzle games

There are many online games to choose from that can be very addicting. Some of these games can be available to play online through various websites. Bejewelled and Fortune Stones are just a couple games that are available to play for free online at any time.

Bejewelled has many types available, including the newest version Bejewelled Blitz. On Blitz mode, the player must score as many points as possible in one minute. This game can even be played with friends online to compete for the top score. The player must find the matching gems Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Crafting the story at the center of your game

Videogames started as something simple, with games like Pong and Tetris being purely about their gameplay. Nowadays, a story is a critical component to keeping players interested and engaged. There are a variety of ways to tell stories within video games with cutscenes being the most popular. However, newer games are utilizing in game events to tell stories in powerful ways.

The biggest thing that developers miss is the emotional connection. Before you tell a Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Coming up with a game idea

Sometimes the hardest thing to do for a game designer is to come up with a unique idea. There is plenty of space to interact still in video games if you really look at how to piece together something that hasn’t been tried before. The biggest problems are people being over ambitious in the initial design of the game.

Would it be great to be able to do everything you wanted to in a virtual environment? Yes, it would be cool but narrow your view to the story you want to tell and how game effects telling this Read the rest of this entry »

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Looking back at the first video games

The video gaming industry has became a multi-billion dollar industry. Since its inception it has been a sought after piece of history. Every kid and adult alike had to have one. No household was complete without one. Nothing has changed decades later.

The first games were one or two player, black and white, simple to play games. They had simple graphics and chances are there was no need for a 50 page instruction manual. You did not have all the media that accompanies a new release. No posters or movies or commercials. Just a game. Read the rest of this entry »

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