tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938443881293314598.post1838272456328810545..comments2008-10-20T05:42:54.845-07:00Ben304http://www.blogger.com/profile/09140754043724405446noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938443881293314598.post-2493287433123701612008-10-20T05:42:00.000-07:002008-10-20T05:42:00.000-07:00Ghost - Heh, interesting and fun (until it crashed my poor, weak internet). I'm interested to hear that my 'insights' are having an effect - I saw this journal more as a place to develop my own thoughts than other people's, but your welcome to share :D<BR/><BR/>Ian - Not likely to happen this month, man, as I'm trying to keep it to 1 a day to save you from getting bored too quickly. Maybe next month ;)<BR/><BR/>Twinmoon - Yep, I was sure people had used it in music, but yeah, I meant easy to compose music :D<BR/><BR/>I like your popsong analogy, it works quite well, and is probably a fairly effective guide to designing levels pacing and balance wise. Then again, some cool songs buck this trend completely (Bohemian Rhapsody, anyone?) and still work very well... Thanks for sharing the thought anyhow :DBen304http://www.blogger.com/profile/09140754043724405446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938443881293314598.post-24574628637947287802008-10-20T05:24:00.000-07:002008-10-20T05:24:00.000-07:00The golden ratio has been used in classical music (Satie has used it consciously) but in popmusic it does seem a tad more difficult.<BR/><BR/>There are things to be learned from a good popsong in terms of sequencing:<BR/>the most common form for a popsong is:<BR/>intro - verse - chorus - verse - chorus - bridge - chorus<BR/><BR/>You can use this skeleton when designing a game:<BR/>- Start with a short (and easy) sequence to draw the player into your game.<BR/>- The verse can be seen as a level or a bunch of puzzles;<BR/>- The chorus as the end of one thread of your story (or perhaps a boss).<BR/>- The bridge in my analogy would be a bonus level.<BR/><BR/>If you're making frogger or space invaders, you'd have more use of slowly increasing the difficulty, but in a story-heavy game (like graphical IF/Adventure is) this sort of sequencing can really improve the player's response to a game.TwinMoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08981871980894114930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938443881293314598.post-70620257049052748132008-10-20T02:12:00.000-07:002008-10-20T02:12:00.000-07:00You do realise you're in danger of having more blog entries than days in the month? I'd actually like to see you reach 32 by the end of October.ENKChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06968232879166794421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938443881293314598.post-19240031824533385242008-10-19T05:22:00.000-07:002008-10-19T05:22:00.000-07:00To test how simple dynamics and a subconsciously chosen difficulty level can alter a gaming experience, look no further than here: http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/core.html<BR/><BR/>Spore's first game stage is clearly based on this, and the theory behind it is a) laughably simple and b) totally true. ;)<BR/><BR/>Your insights are starting to do something to the way I look at games, Mr. Ben. Do carry on!Ghosthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03370828117625696175noreply@blogger.com