Today was a moderately successful day. I got a lot of thinking and sketching done. I’ve seen a lot of animators use mirrors or video cameras to get reference footage, but as you can probably see, I don’t have a mirror or camera I would be willing to fasten in such a way that I could get references for this stuff.

Mostly, it took a lot of posing and imagination based on that posing.

In other good news, I think I’ve come up with a way to save some animation time. I’ll let you know if it works. If not, well, that’ll make a good story too.

Gameplay before graphics. Gameplay > graphics. Gameplay over graphics.

It’s a common argument that what a game looks like is not as important as how well it plays. On a basic level, I agree, though in some spaces, the argument is taken so far as to completely discount the role that graphics play in making good gameplay. Graphics don’t matter? If that were true, my game would be done.

My game currently has no final visual assets, and that makes it almost totally unplayable. Enemies all look the same so there’s no way to tell how to attack them. The player character doesn’t change so there’s no way to tell what state he is in. Heck, some characters are just text so it’s hard to tell whether they’re part of the gameplay space or just part of the heads up display.

Clearly, graphics do matter, if not for such crucial aspects of gameplay but also in the gameplay experience. For example, GTA IV and GTA: Chinatown Wars have very similar gameplay elements such as driving and shooting, but can anyone honestly say that the graphics play no part in differentiating the two experiences?

Gameplay might come before graphics, but graphics are important too.

A new topic focus for Savepoint Hype starts today!

The concept for my first game came to me, partly because of the way Achievements have changed the way I view playing video games. For better or worse, I tend not to play games that don’t have some sort of achievement system anymore. Sorry, Wii, DS, and PSP games. You’re out. Terrible, I know. So, the fact that XBOX Live Indie Games made on XNA, which my game is, can’t support Achievements bugged me a lot. In my mind, why would anyone want to play a game that didn’t offer anything that couldn’t be carried beyond said game?

The answer for me was to find something else to offer players, something more valuable than a few Gamer Points.

Knowledge.

Now, before you scoff, know that games are a very effective means of teaching people new things. Think about Mega Man games. Essentially, each level you play teaches you how to control your character to overcome different obstacles and each boss battle is a test of your newly acquired skills.

While Mega Man mastery probably isn’t what most people would consider “knowledge” the method of Mega Man can be applied to more traditional types of learning. Pretty sure. Of course, I believe that it is important that my game not look like, play like, or feel like an overtly educational game.

What will it be about? How will it play? Stay tuned to Storpi.com’s Savepoint Hype for more in the coming days and weeks.