A Hardy Developer's Journal

There are fewer things more enlightening about what is really wrong with a game than play-testing, and if you’re lucky, physical play-testing with a real, breathing person. The creator of a game always views things in a certain lens that skews the true perception of what’s going on, what’s needed, and what’s really visible to the player. For instance, in some of the play-tests I’ve had, I would run into a recurrent problem about the player’s visual direction–I want the player to go a certain way, open a certain door, or go down a certain ramp–but what’s the obvious direction for me is not the obvious direction for the player. (more…)

Jarosław Kuczek

Set in 2099 Shanghai Butterfly is an independent cyberpunk adventure game to be released as freeware Winter 2009. It’s an ambitious project with striking graphics and many of the cyberpunk genre’s more hardcore staples. The author of the game Jarosław Kuczek – passionate about android-related projects and the constantly evolving technology, with experiences of such vastly different cultures like Polish, Japanese and Chinese – promises to deliver much more than a traditional adventure game with a few sci-fi gimmicks. Below is everything he told us about his project – from its origins to major attractions – coupled with general thoughts about sci-fi and adventure gaming. (more…)