week+7+notes

Follow Up Budgeting/Scheduling exercise from last week Any questions about how game studios are organized, job titles and roles? Any questions about the flow of a development pipeline? Any questions about the differences between indie/small studio and large/established studios? __Michel Gagne__, __Machinarium Trailer__, __Flower__, __That Game Company__ There are countless more examples of artistic or progressive games made by indie studios (Braid, Limbo, etc.) But small studio don’t have to only make artistic games, they can also make very profitable games like Castle Crashers, or Angry Birds for instance

Contracts or Signing Your Life Away The NDA You will probably need to sign one of these before you complete a job interview, take a studio tour, conduct a press interview or game preview, start an internship, begin a freelance or contract job, etc. Examples: __1__, __2__, __3__ (they all basically just say that you don’t talk about fight club) Employment Contracts These are scarier (I can’t even show you one) Non-compete clauses I.P. ownership: a good idea to declare your personal projects and ideas in writing before you sign Trade secrets (like there are any) Level Design The Problem Players are backtracking

Why this could be an indicator of weak level design

Reasons to prevent players from backtracking

In-Class Assignment Write or draw ideas for preventing players from back-tracking

To simplify you can assume the game is a 2D side-scroller in which players can’t fly or jump more than half their own height

Be creative Discussion Share student solutions

Mini post-mortems

Meet the Sawtooth Other Methods Examples Follow Up Analyze the next game you play Note how backtracking was prevented (if it was) Were their methods effective? Did you recognize a sawtooth?