Scott Washi's Den of Design

Ludum Dare 48

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:03:00 +0000

Made a game for the Ludum Dare competition with Will and Kenny:

Barriers

IGF 2012 Entrants

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 04:36:00 +0000

So the IGF main competition deadline was a few weeks ago, and as the entrants finally emerged onto the IGF website, I got super excited to delve through them. There happened to be a bunch of games that I have already played, and others that I'm super excited to get my hands on. So here's a fairly big list of the games I'm hoping to see get nominated for the IGF 2012.

Anomaly Warzone Earth

Blocks That Matter

Dungeon Defenders

Dustforce

Entanglement

Captain Jameson

Fader

Frozen Synapse

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Johann Sebastian Joust

Krautscape

One Chance

Parallax

Proun

Skulls of the Shogun

Q.U.B.E.

Snapshot

The Swapper

Spelunky

suteF

Where is my Heart?

Techtonic Games Presents: Bust-n-Rush

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 07:52:00 +0000

If by some reason you read what I write and don't happen to know me in real life, I have been working at Techtonic Games since May (2011) and we have recently announced our first title: Bust-n-Rush.

I'm technically a designer, but because of our indie status, I'm doing all sorts of jobs like game design, coding, rigging, video editing, and more. Check out the trailer and let me know what you think. We should be announcing something soon about it's release.

Fight Stick Part 5: Finale

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:10:00 +0000

Bought a lot of stuff, hooked it all together. The only thing left is the triggers, but I am waiting for a part to complete the connections. The last parts I needed were some terminal strips, wire, rubber feet, desoldering bulb, soldering tip, solder, 10k ohm resistors, hex inverter chip, multimeter, circular spade bit, disconnects, another clamp, cabinet hinges, door latch, nuts and bolts set, letter labels, spray paint primer and yellow spray paint ($97.46).

Total cost of project: $250

Fight Stick Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 21:14:00 +0000

I've put together and glued the base of my fight stick, but ran into some problems. Turns out I cut wood like a one-armed drunk man. Most of the pieces kinda fit together and ones that didn't need extra glue and a finishing nail that accidentally went through the base. So far this is the ugliest fight stick I've seen but hopefully one that will function well enough.

Fight Stick Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:27:00 +0000

Started putting together my fight stick this weekend, but had to acquire some tools in order to get the job done. I bought a tarp, some screws, a hacksaw and blades, gloves, a clamp, and a toolbox to finally store everything ($54.90)

I made some slight, and major, cuts on the pieces to get them to fit properly. Not having much woodworking experience, I unfortunately screwed up a bunch to the point that I am hoping people don't stare at the side much. All in all, I'll probably pay for cuts next time so that my edges aren't slanted or jaggy. The base should be dried by tomorrow and I must figure out how I'm approaching wiring, painting, and the top.

Total Money to Date: $152.70

Fight Stick Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:14:00 +0000

Ordered a bunch of stuff lately off of Amazon. First was the Mad Catz 360 controller I'm going to take apart to put into my fight stick ($23.99).

Then I bought 6 Sanwa OBSF-30 yellow push buttons ($23.47) and a Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT-SK 4 & 8 way joystick ($31.28).

I still need to order more buttons, wires, and a soldering kit to put it all together. In good time.

Total Money to Date: $97.80

Fight Stick Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:08:00 +0000

Now that I have a full-time job, I've been looking into experiencing other hobbies besides gaming. So I decided to create a custom arcade style fight stick for my Xbox/PC. Though the goal of my current project is not technically gaming, it greatly involves other skills that I haven't branched off to very often. I'm going to be crafting the fight stick out of wood (pine & particle board), designing the graphics in Photoshop/Illustrator, and hooking up the controls through a torn apart Mad Catz controller, push buttons, a joystick and soldering. Although buying a controller would be slightly cheaper, I want the opportunity to fail at many crossroads ahead and learn things I possibly would never have before. I even got 2 friends/co-workers to build one along with me.

The first purchase was the wood, sand paper, finishing nails, and wood glue costing $19.06 (After split among 3 people).

Total Money to Date: $19.06

Arcade Cabinets Continued

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:45:00 +0000

I found a sweet deal on Craigslist where a guy was selling a Simpsons Arcade Machine for a really great price. So I took a van two hours away to pick it up. It has always been kinda a life-long goal to own one, and now that I do, I feel much superior than before. The machine works perfectly, from what I can diagnose so far, and just has some minor aesthetic problems with scratching and dirt (which I'll be sure to carefully get fix). Also, some of the joysticks are ball tops and some aren't, which is kinda bugging me.

Arcade Cabinets

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:05:00 +0000

I'm thinking about making my own arcade machine, but also the following arcade cabinets are on my hit list:

Sunset Riders

X-Men (6 Players)

Street Fighter II (Championship or Turbo)

Neo Geo (w/Super Baseball 2020, Double Dragon, Samurai Showdown II, and Aero Fighters [any])

Killer Instinct 1 (May settle for 2)

The Simpsons

Relentless Dungeon Public Beta

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:04:00 +0000

I've been working on a game with my roommate called Relentless Dungeon. It's a quick paced, statistical focused, tactical, monster fighting game.

Check out the game at http://www.scottwashi.com/RelentlessDungeon_v087.zip

After you played a bit of the game, please fill out the survey at (if you couldn't get it installed, please fill out the first question of the survey) https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDFVNUlHcF95MEtLUmN4VGlkVm1lMkE6MQ

Thanks

40 Stories Propeller Awards Semi-Finalists

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:19:00 +0000

Indie Pub Propeller Awards Semi-Finalists

Out of some number of games submitted, 40 Stories made the top 24 semi-finalists. Unfortunately we didn't make the cut after that though.

40 Stories Version 1.2

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:07:00 +0000

40 Stories Version 1.2: So We've been working on making slight updates to 40 Stories and it eventually snowballed into a bunch of major changes. Overall, we made the par times harder and devices to use more noticeable. Check it out over at IndieDB.

Top 10 Simpsons Episodes

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:21:00 +0000

A buddy of mine recently wrote about her top 10 South Park episodes, so I thought I'd do the same with my favorite 1990's show, the Simpsons.

Honorable Mentions

Girly Edition, Realty Bites, Homer vs. the 18th Amendment, Bart After Dark, Bart vs. Australia, And Maggie Makes Three, Homer the Great, Lisa's Rival, Bart of Darkness, Deep Space Homer, Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy, and I Love Lisa

10. Last Exit to Springfield, written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky (Season 4)

- This episode highlights the fact that Homer's incompetence is the reason why so many things work out in his favor; from pretending to exercise to thinking Mr. Burns is coming onto him. Some of the best novelties occur in this episode including "D

ental plan! Lisa needs braces," and "The Big Book of British Smiles."

9. Cape Feare, written by Jon Vitti (Season 5)

- Here is where Sideshow Bob first tries to kill Bart, and meets his other nemesis: the rake. This was the most brutal Bob gets in the show, as all of his other schemes are very elaborate, here he just tries to run a machete through Bart. But Bob's love of theater dooms him as he is tricked into performing the entire H.M.S. Pinafore until cops arrive.

8. Lisa on Ice, written by Mike Scully (Season 6)

- Great episode where Lisa and Bart are rivals in the hockey rink. Homer competes them against each other for his love. And a sappy ending is brought apart by a riot.

7. Lemon of Troy, written by Brent Forrester (Season 6)

- The thing I love about this episode is that many of the jokes and quips that happen within the first few minutes are referenced later: the Roman Numerals, Professor Frink's flying car, and the wet cement. The Bizzaro Springfield was also a wonderful touch.

6. Lisa the Vegetarian, written by Dan Greaney (Season 7)

- This episode was a nice character arc as Lisa turns from carnivore to herbivore and finally starts respecting other people's beliefs. Fun Fact: Paul McCartney only agreed to do the episode if Lisa stayed a vegetarian throughout the Simpsons run.

5. You Only Move Twice, written by John Swartzwelder (Season 8)

- Amazing episode where you see the side of super villains for a change. You see Homer screw over James Bond for a second time (since Burn's Casino), and Albert Brooks turns in another amazing performance as Hank Scorpio.

4. Homer Badman, written by Greg Daniels (Season 6)

- An ill-gotten trip to a candy convention results in Homer's accused sexual harassment as he tries to grab his Gummy Venus de Milo from his babysitter's cheeks. This episode was an excellent parody on how fast American media can accuse and turn on someone. This episode borrow from the O.J. Simpson trials, as they were just ending that year.

3. Homer's Enemy, written by John Swartzwelder (Season 8)

- This is the ultimate episode for long time Simpsons fans. It shows how terrible, yet how good, Homer really is. Homer's enemy, Frank Grimes, had such a terrible life and seeing someone who achieved so much by doing so little, broke him. Frank points out all the idiotic things Homer does and every other Springfieldian doesn't seem to be bothered by it. R.I.P. Grimey.

2. Homer the Smithers, written by John Swartzwelder (Season 7)

- Smithers is not recognized much, even by the audience, so seeing how much he does for Mr. Burns, through Homer's help, is hilarious. Catching cereal on fire has to be my favorite moment ever. After being knocked out by a punch from Homer, Mr. Burns learns to work for himself, making Smithers position useless. The episode then culminates in an excellent fight between Smithers and Homer.

1. King-Size Homer, written by Dan Greaney (Season 7)

- Homer gains 61 pounds to reach a weight where he can work from home, avoiding the new 15 minute-a-day exercise routine forced at work. Excellent computer jokes, awesome fat jokes. There's very little time in this episode to catch your breath.

Top 10 UDK Games of 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:09:00 +0000

40 Stories made the Top 10 UDK Games of 2010 at IndieDB today. Pretty sweet. Congratulations to the winner Sp.A.I. and the other nominees.

http://www.indiedb.com/features/ioty-2010-best-udk-game

Super Meat Bro

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:46:00 +0000

I made this as a tribute to Super Meat Boy as a concept for a new special character. Just added an afro to him. His special power is being invincible to any damage to the afro.

40 Stories Design

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 18:28:00 +0000

I'm updating my website and in the meantime, I made a video about some design choices we made in 40 Stories. Check it out.

40 Stories Release Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 10:02:00 +0000

Here's a quick trailer I made for the release of 40 Stories. Tell your friends.

40 Stories Released

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:55:00 +0000

After 1 year, 6 months, and 4 days we finished 40 Stories last week. There are still some bugs to fix, but hopefully the few people who are left will be able to fix those by early next year. But for now, it's up for download at IndieDB.

Game Design Quote

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:19:00 +0000

Based on my experiences, here's something I thought of:

How you design your game dictates your production. As you produce your game, you must alter your design.

It's cyclical or something.

Using A SCOPE To Finish Your Game

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 09:12:00 +0000

Now that we're coming to a close on 40 Stories, I reflected back on things we did right and things we did wrong. I realized that I retained so much information from working on this project, as well as previous games and animations, that I needed to write this information down. I didn't include every single detail that came to mind, but I think it accurately depicts our issues and solutions in 40 Stories.

Video Game Development: A SCOPE

40 Stories Around the Net

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:54:00 +0000

So after submitting 40 Stories to the IGF compeition, we received slight recognition from some websites. Here's some links so far pertaining to 40 Stories:

(Update) Looks like we have some more sites too.

DIY Gamer: Know Your IGF

Blitz 1UP: 60 Developers, 40 Stories

Blitz 1UP: IGF Favourites

Indie Games Channel

Geezam

Indie Highlight: VVVVVV

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:48:00 +0000

VVVVVV was just released on Steam for $5 and I was quick to pick it up. I’m a sucker for any game that uses the entire screen for gameplay. I’ve heard of Terry Cavanagh before, have seen the VVVVVV Giant Bomb Quick Look, and have heard nothing but good things about the game, so I decided to take a closer look at the mechanics that make up VVVVVV.

The flipping mechanic of VVVVVV was a fresh take on the platformer/adventure genre, which was used tremendously well. It was responsive and worked exactly the way it should have. You even move in a ‘v’ direction most of the time you’re traveling. Every other aspect of the game supported this mechanic, including disappearing platforms, moving platforms, forced upward scrolling, falling, and forced mid-air flipping. Each one of these obstacles needed the flipping mechanic to be used correctly. There was nothing in the game that seemed added for the sake of adding complexity. The puzzles use your knowledge of flipping and the traps were based off of your reflexes, timing, and awareness of the entire game space. However, when you do make a game where traps are instant death, I would expect a little tighter control on my character.

When starting or stopping your character, there is a slight sliding to his (or her) movement. Now, since many of the difficult obstacles need exact timing and accuracy, this made the game immensely more challenging. Landing or moving off of smaller platforms and navigating through enemies or spikes were really challenging. I ended up with over 1800 deaths in a game that to 3 ½ hours to complete. That’s 514.28 deaths per hour.

Even though the difficulty was possibly higher than it should, it was compensated with challenging puzzles, ideal save locations and rapid reload times. Though I could solve the puzzles in my mind, my reactions sometimes weren’t fast enough to keep up with the speed of the game. As I fell, impaled, or slipped to my death, my character was back and ready for action within seconds. It always gave me enough time to rage out, be calmed by the excellent chip tunes music, and ready my fingers again for another quick death.

This is probably one of my favorite gaming experiences of the year so far. I have completed the game and collected all of its shiny trinkets. To sum it up, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience playing VVVVVV, even though it was frustratingly difficult.

Experimental Game: Banana Defense

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Washington) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:40:00 +0000

Pulled a Game out of my Afro last night

Figuratively of course. I saw the latest topic for the http://experimentalgameplay.com monthly experiment for a game with no buttons. I've been up for the last 12+ hours making it, by far the quickest game I've ever completed. So I present: Banana Defense

The premise of the game is you control 4 canons that shoot oranges(?) at these blue dudes who are trying to eat your banana (randomly located). When you mouse over the canons, where your mouse is will move the canon in that direction and when you mouse over the 'fire' buttons in the corners, they fire. Really simple.

Too tired to write more, will update Experiments section when I can spell straight. Night, er, day.