Bud Leiser

Crafting Games: How to make them feel good.

Games that got it right:

Minecraft

Don’t Starve

Subnautica

Games that missed the mark

Crosscode

???

Crosscode is a fun top down Sci-Fi ARPG with great storytelling. But I wasn’t getting into the crafting n collecting experience and I think I figured out why. In Subnautica , Minecraft and Don’t Starve you have a very core crafting experience let’s compare the experiences between them vs crosscode.

FREE GAME DESIGN – Timetravel MECH ARPG

TIMETRAVEL MECH ARPG

Note: This game design is free for anyone to use but it would be nice to be compensated if you use it to make a game. Such as company equity, royalty or at very least designer credit in the game credits. This happens to be a game design I would really like to make so if you want a partner to help with design, feedback and fundraising kindle email me.

So this morning I had an…

Indie Game Dev House

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh0ZOeEkCxA%5B/embedyt%5D

So lets take a moment and talk about the following

What is the IGDH?

Why you should join.

Why am I starting it?

What is the IGDH?

The Indie Game Dev House project (IGDH for short) is similar to ‘Art Houses’. It might be rare but there exists individuals, wether or artists themselves or not, who share their good fortune to provide…

It’s been over a year since I’ve posted an update to my own website. Thankfully, I guess, no one reads it. So there is no pressure to maintain it. Just a $11 a year renewal fee from Godaddy, and a $2 a month hosting fee from Dreamhost. I managed to lock in a WordPress promotion that no longer exists. $2 a month for ‘unlimited websites, unlimited emails’. The bandwidth is limited I’m sure, but…

The voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.

It’s been too long since I have posted an update on my own site. Truth is I’m still very active right now. Will have more to show once things are further along.

  Lusory attitude

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The lusory attitude is the psychological attitude required of a player entering into the play of a game.[1]To adopt a lusory attitude is to accept the arbitrary rules of a…

Journey from Designer to Developer Part 1

You can download a demo for this game CLICK HERE

Custom Art

For the past year I’ve been working with artists to create my own custom assets to use in future games. My goal is to re-use these characters over and over in a series of games. This accomplishes several things

It forces some restriction (focus) to my designs. That may sound counter intuitive, but like art it’s very difficult to work…

MAKING GREAT VIDEO GAMES IS LIKE MAKING TOAST

Design is Design.

I’m discouraged whenever someone asks me “what kind of design do you excel at/focus on/enjoy most?” because it tears apart at my belief that design should be all encompassing, contextual and interconnected. When something doesn’t work right, it sits in the wrong place or could be drastically improved we often say “That’s a design flaw”. Well who’s job is it to decide where each…

When making their first game, 100% of people who have never a made a game will make the same mistake.

Ok that is obviously hyperbolic, but I have yet to bump into someone working on their first game who hasn’t made this same mistake: They want their first game to be the big perfect game they imagine and want to play.

Solution: Reduce your scope!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z06QR-tz1_o…

Candy Crush is still relevant

It’s amazing that Candy Crush is still relevant. Estimated to be grossing almost $1M every day!

I recently attended Casual Connect and people were asking how does this game continue to make money? Of course I taught a workshop on this months ago. I’ve skipped to part 4 where I begin to discuss the importance of your layout. It’s importance can’t be understated and for some reason I still see good…

Make free game sound effects!

http://www.bfxr.net/

Make 8 bit style sound effects for your games. Super easy with sliders and stuff. (FREE!)

No need to download you can play with it right in your browser. Check it out.

[vimeo 86752226 w=640 h=360]

I teach Game Design each week. People come out to learn professional skills they can take back to their studio or improve their hire-ability. Each class is designed to have a 1 hour lecture on an important design topic and…

January 26th San Francisco - 3 Hour Game Design Lecture & Workshop

  On the 26th I will be hosting a Game Design Class that includes a 1 hour lecture and 2 hour hands…

Prototype - Uboat Wargames

Without any prodding from me (the host) everyone played this game multiple times and hacked it with…

Game Design Workshop - Post Mortem

  As the host I think it went fantastic. I covered a ton of content during the Lecture part of…

Wallpaper - Game Studio Flow Chart

Click on image to view full size. Then right click “Save As” to download. 

Enjoy and Happy…

Designing "Bullies" - Part 1

Backstory

Every monday night is board game night at Gamescape in San Francisco. As it happens with…