Stuart Lilford

Scared Square Showcase

I made a video that showcased some of the games I’ve made over the past few years. Take a look-see!

3 New Games!

I uploaded 3 New Games since my last update.

TP Etiquette – a game about trying to learn the CORRECT way to place the toilet paper on the role.

ScaredSquareCast EP 01 – Technobabylon

I got the podcasting itch again. You may remember my ill-fated ‘I Suck at Games‘ Podcast from last year, well this is a re-brand as the ScaredSquareCast. It’s pretty much the same thing: Each episode I’ll focus on discussing a particular game that I’m playing in order to inform my own game design knowledge. The podcast is recorded on my phone in the car during my commute to and from work (as well…

Hello

Just a quick update to say that I’ve been wanting to create my own Twitter Bot for a while now, but never had the knowledge on how to make one. Then I discovered Cheap Bots Done Quick which is great tool for making your own automated Twitter Bots. The tool uses basic programming language Tracery.

The Bot I made is Insult Bot.A Twitter account that randomly generates a silly insult aimed…

Massive Update on the past 12 months (ish)

Okay, phew! it’s been a while since I updated this…

Why that is? Because I’v been very busy. Within the past few months I’ve got a new job, we decided to move house, oh and we’re expecting our second child in July. Also I had to prepare students for a programming exam, I planned a residential for 20+ students to visit Berlin for the A MAZE festival and planned a visit to Paris (we drove there…

5 Common mistakes made by students making their first games and how to fix them

Game by Jack Rawson (student)

As a lecturer in game design I see and play a lot of student games. These are often the first games these students have ever made. I have seen some really talented students develop their first games and I’ve noticed a few recurring mistakes in some of their early work (even the really talented ones).

Obviously everyone’s first few games are awful, mine own…

We lived at Swiss Cottage One day it snowed. Only 2 days into 2018 and I made my first game of the year! Swiss Cottage is a game made in Bitsy in under 24 hours for the BitsyJam theme “Snow”. Swiss Cottage is a game about Cottages, Snow and KFC. If you like those things then please play this game. PLAY IT HERE >> https://scared-square-games.itch.io/swiss-cottage<< HOW TO PLAY PC – Arrow Keys to…

The Secret of The Tree Garden

I attended the AMAZE Festival in Berlin in April and a particular game caught my eye there which was called The Berry Garden by Menno Stas. It was a large print on a wall that you could “play” by using a website using your smart phone. This game made me nostalgiac about the paper-based game that I used to play as a child in the back of the car during long journey’s. There would be things like…

Impostor Syndrome: I’m not really qualified to write this article

I recently attended Feral Vector – an independent games festival in Hebden Bridge in the UK. It’s a fantastic event if you’ve never been, I recommend it. This year I wanted to get involved with it, so I did short talk on Imposter Syndrome which focused on mental illness and creativity. It was an honour to get up on that stage and for a hall full of people to listen to words that I said.…

The Temple of Adventure

AdventureJam is a game jam that I’ve always wanted to take part in, but haven’t been able to or perhaps simply couldn’t be bothered to… yes, that’s probably it. The jam has always appealed to me as adventure games were a big favourite of mine growing up and I have made a small number of adventure games in the past. What’s that? Oh yes Time Stone *did* win the 2013 AGS Award for Best Short Game.…

Splodey Vaders Update #06:

I’ve not posted an update in a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy! Check out below for what I’ve been up to. Splodey Vaders Updates   LEVELLING UP & UNLOCKS – This is something I wanted from the start and had pretty much decided to drop, but then, against my better judgement, I went and implemented it into the game. At its core, the game is a high score chaser. You have a game, get…

Splodey Vaders, Game Jam, Game Design Idea Generator & Podcast!

Hello! Boy that blog title makes it sound like I’ve been up to a lot. Since the last blog post it’s been a hectic Christmas-New Year period, but now we’re halfway into February and there’s been a few things I’d like to share with you. Splodey Vaders Updates First up is progress on Splodey Vaders. Updates on Splodey Vaders have been a bit slow since December. There’s been some bits and pieces that…

Splodey Vaders Update #04: The game is now on Android (in Alpha)

There comes a point in the development of (some) games, where it stops being fun. You get bored of working on the same game over and over again and your brain is subconsciously looking for something to tear you away from working on this project anymore. You want to just work on the game and get it finished, but your brain is sat in the office in your head eagerly sketching ideas down for a new…

One night my baby daughter pooped in the bath, so I decided to make a game about it (as you do). HOW TO PLAY Super Diarrhoea Baby is an Arcade Game where you play as a baby propelling itself around a bathtub by shooting poop out of its butt. Collect as many bath toys as you can before the timer runs out and Dad has to clean up the mess. Space/LMB is pressure/time sensitive, so the longer you hold…

Splodey Vaders Update #03: Boring Menu Stuff

Wow! Was it really APRIL when I last posted about this game? Well I will blame that on the fact that I am a full-time lecturer at a college and it was the back end of the academic year, which is the busiest time for us due to marking and visits from external moderators and such, but you don’t want to know about that, you want to know about the GAME! Work on the game is slow as I’ve also been on…

Splodey Vaders Update #02: GaMaYo

I showed  Splodey Vaders off at GaMaYo last week. GaMaYo stands for Game Makers Yorkshire and is a networking event held twice a year where game developers from across the region and beyond get together, have a few pints and play each other’s games. I’ve been to GaMaYo a few times and have even shown some games there, but never on one of the big screens like I did at this one. It was a great…