Gameblurg

The Blind Date

Kenneth Florence — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:00:54 +0000

Do you remember your teenage years where that one guy seemed to be a natural at dating women? Do you also remember when the same guy would hook you up with the bottom of his tier list? You know, the girl that pretty girls keep around to boost their self esteem. This is the same reminiscent feeling I get when my friends start recommending Japanese games for me to play.

Give yourself permission to paint

Mauricio Bowers — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:59:10 +0000

When an artist grabs a paintbrush, whatever hits the blank canvas afterward is his responsibility. If he is suddenly crippled in the middle of a project from a lack of inspiration and begins to "think instead of paint", the painting may become a disaster. An artist can't let uncertainty and fear stifle him during in the middle of a project. An artist must continue to explore his mind and fill creative space with the results of his daydreaming. Videogame designers go through a similar creative process. In fact, it's an exact replica of what any designer in any medium goes through.

I think what I learned from Mr. Miyamoto is kind of the methodical, calm, creative approach. It's not just willy-nilly ad-hoc creative approach - just closing your eyes and swirling the paintbrush. He was very methodical in his approach to the process and highly iterative, and I think it was the secret to his success.

In the September 2009 edition of Game Informer, Howard Phillips recalls specific qualities that one must have during the creative process in order to create a successful product. An important factor in creating art is losing fear. Don't fear the results of a vague and blurry experiment. Stop being so afraid to daydream at work. Lose fear in blotching your paintings. If anything will benefit from just "swirling the paintbrush", your work will. Give yourself to your dreams, calm down and start doing whatever the hell you want.

The world is enough

Mauricio Bowers — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:49:29 +0000

All I want is a pretty world to excite my imagination. Ideally, if I can dive into a game and forget what time of the day it is when I come back to reality, I'm a happy camper.

A lot of times, people think they want realism when what they really crave is internal consistency within a given universe.

In the January edition of Game Developer, Zen of Design author Damion Schubert subtly but swiftly dissects what gamers really want in their games. A beautifully crafted game will envelope you in a culture of its own. Just as long as you aren't peeking around the corners at work looking for zombies, you should be fine.

EA, won’t you be my neighbor?

Mauricio Bowers — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:00:37 +0000

Whether you need a development center to make your new fancy Facebook games or work on more Madden builds, Atlanta is a premiere place to do so. We offer economical incentives, our landmarks are better and we're not New Orleans. As a caring resident of Atlanta, I have offered my assistance to make your decision much easier, Electronic Arts.

2010 predictions, foresights and fairy tales

Staff — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:25:11 +0000

With 2010's arrival, many people are expecting a huge year in gaming. The abundance of delays that occurred in late 2009 it made 2010’s 1st quarter look strong enough to make us forget about 2009 completely. We here at Gameblurg have some predictions both big and small for this upcoming year and we would like to share them with you all.

Give me all the bad dialog you got

Mauricio Bowers — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:48:57 +0000

I have a friend who simply can't resist bad dialog. No matter how hard he tries, he can't ignore the laughing sensation of shallow one-liners during a videogame's epic action scenes, or some stereotypically corny "hero-line" during a game's climax. And it doesn't ruin anything for him. In fact, he enjoys it. "It's awful," he proclaims. "But although it's bad, it's a "funny" bad."

More fun time

Mauricio Bowers — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:51:46 +0000

The Xbox 360 has received a bump in hardware sales throughout the past 2 months but where has this sudden rise come form? Is it the booming software sales? No. It is because of its strategic product bundling? No. The responsibility of the recent Xbox 360 surge lies on the shoulders of the sassy Jane Lynch.

How to fill Dead Space

Mauricio Bowers — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:00:48 +0000

A sequel to a creative title garners my personal excitement, but whenever the bar is set high, there's always the heartbreaking possibility of expectations being crushed by the notorious sophomore slump. Thus, there are issues we'd love for Dead Space producer, Visceral Games, to address in its upcoming title.

Now Playing: Assassin’s Creed 2

Mauricio Bowers — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:09:05 +0000

Assassin’s Creed 2 historical highlights captures my interests much like attractive artifacts would at a museum. Initially, I didn’t know how to take this. I’m not used to stopping and raising my eyebrows at small facts and tidbits in a videogame. I’m used to enjoying exhilarating, emotional roller coasters that force me to cringe at [...]

Ooh…pretty pictures

Mauricio Bowers — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:19:30 +0000

This month, Game Informer celebrates their top 200 games of all time in unique fashion. The lure to these covers is that they strip away the normal routine of displaying teasers to the inside content and instead, reveal a simplistic showcase of their main focus (In this case, the games that have inspired creativity in [...]