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Game design wiki

rosacarbo.notion.site

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Re: Game design wiki

#11

Post by lelanthran »

codampa01314 wrote: post #10

This seems like a good start and has the potential to be useful. But some of the documents are hard to consume because it looks like you need more context to understand nuance and how they fit together with other things. I'm not very familiar with Notion. Will this be something that is easy to expand with Notion or is this the wrong platform for such things?

> I'm not very familiar with Notion. Will this be something that is easy to expand with Notion or is this the wrong platform for such things?

It's the worst platform for developing a wiki.

Closed software, running on proprietary site, with no edits allowed without signing up to the company.

It's great for company use, but it's entirely the wrong platform for creating a valuable resource of information on the internet.

Re: Game design wiki

#12

Post by codampa01314 »

lelanthran wrote: post #11
codampa01314 wrote: post #10

This seems like a good start and has the potential to be useful. But some of the documents are hard to consume because it looks like you need more context to understand nuance and how they fit together with other things. I'm not very familiar with Notion. Will this be something that is easy to expand with Notion or is this the wrong platform for such things?

> I'm not very familiar with Notion. Will this be something that is easy to expand with Notion or is this the wrong platform for such things? It's the worst platform for developing a wiki. Closed software, running on proprietary site, with no edits allowed without signing up to the company. It's great for company use, but it's entirely the wrong platform for creating a valuable resource of information on the internet…

Makes total sense.

Any alternatives you'd suggest?

Re: Game design wiki

#13

Post by Nzen »

OptionX wrote: post #3

Kinda parallel to this, if anyone has any recommendations on a good book about game design, more focusing on design patterns, how to structure code, good practices, etc rather than how to program or use a specific engine I'd be grateful.

It's not really clear what you are asking for. You term your desire 'game design', but that generally means the arrangement of systems (ex rules) for a game . But, your first list sounds more like 'video game architecture'.

Perhaps Robert Nystrom's Game Programming Patterns fits your bill, as it discusses high and low level patterns. [https://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/contents.html]

The Architecture of Open Source Applications: Volume 1 book has a chapter on the game Battle for Wesnoth . [https://aosabook.org/en/v1/wesnoth.html]

I found Chris Deleon's Hands-On Intro to Game Programming in HTML5 a helpful book of graduated exercises that also demonstrates how to reuse components of previous games. [https://gamkedo.gumroad.com/l/hands-on-game-programming] It is, however, somewhat expensive and I only sprung for it as part of a larger bundled deal. I imagine that you could find similar works, or it might not jive with you. His udemy course, using this as the text, has a preview video. [https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-program-games/#instructo...]

Perhaps other communities, focused on this topic, might provide better answers [https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/]

Re: Game design wiki

#14

Post by briangray »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #7
OptionX wrote: post #3

Kinda parallel to this, if anyone has any recommendations on a good book about game design, more focusing on design patterns, how to structure code, good practices, etc rather than how to program or use a specific engine I'd be grateful.

The best book I've read about making games is the two Blood Sweat and Pixels by a games journalist. Regarding design, Vlambeer (Rami Ismail and JW Nijman) is kind of the template of the contemporary indie game. Watch their talks. HN frequently links to stuff that could appear on "Awesome X" lists on GitHub but I don't personally find it very useful. Honestly you will not find good books about these things. Games cult…

I would not recommend Blood Sweat and Pixels. While it does have details on publishing decisions and crunch of making games, it has little insight into any actual game development. It's more of a sensation piece on how difficult games are to make. GP seemed to be looking for design and pattern references.

Re: Game design wiki

#15

Post by lelanthran »

codampa01314 wrote: post #12
lelanthran wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not very familiar with Notion. Will this be something that is easy to expand with Notion or is this the wrong platform for such things? It's the worst platform for developing a wiki. Closed software, running on proprietary site, with no edits allowed without signing up to the company. It's great for company use, but it's entirely the wrong platform for creating a valuable resource of information on the internet…

Makes total sense. Any alternatives you'd suggest?

MediaWiki.

There is probably nothing better for a technical wiki. It's usually bundled as part of the cpanel software on cheap webhosting sites.

For $5/m or less you can have something professional looking, rather than the notion document linked above.

And if your community can't collectively (eventually) cough up $5/m for the hosting costs, then you don't have a community anyway, so it would be pointless having a wiki.

Re: Game design wiki

#16

Post by OptionX »

codampa01314 wrote: post #8
OptionX wrote: post #3

Kinda parallel to this, if anyone has any recommendations on a good book about game design, more focusing on design patterns, how to structure code, good practices, etc rather than how to program or use a specific engine I'd be grateful.

There's a book from 2014 that's all about game programming patterns: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Programming-Patterns-Robert-Nyst... I pulled it out recently and it still has its usefulnes.

Oh cool. I actually have read his Crafting Interpreters book, but had no idea he did game design as well.

Probably exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you very much. :)

Re: Game design wiki

#17

Post by reidjs »

codampa01314 wrote: post #8
OptionX wrote: post #3

Kinda parallel to this, if anyone has any recommendations on a good book about game design, more focusing on design patterns, how to structure code, good practices, etc rather than how to program or use a specific engine I'd be grateful.

There's a book from 2014 that's all about game programming patterns: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Programming-Patterns-Robert-Nyst... I pulled it out recently and it still has its usefulnes.

I second Game Programming Patterns! I created a little indie game [1] using the design patterns mentioned in that book. Still not quite complete, (good) games are HARD, but even this small game would've fumbled into a mess of spaghetti if it weren't for what I learned from that book.

[1] https://www.vanlifegame.com/

Re: Game design wiki

#18

Post by levesque »

briangray wrote: post #14
doctorpangloss wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best book I've read about making games is the two Blood Sweat and Pixels by a games journalist. Regarding design, Vlambeer (Rami Ismail and JW Nijman) is kind of the template of the contemporary indie game. Watch their talks. HN frequently links to stuff that could appear on "Awesome X" lists on GitHub but I don't personally find it very useful. Honestly you will not find good books about these things. Games cult…

I would not recommend Blood Sweat and Pixels. While it does have details on publishing decisions and crunch of making games, it has little insight into any actual game development. It's more of a sensation piece on how difficult games are to make. GP seemed to be looking for design and pattern references.

Absolutely, was thinking the same. IIRC it's also only telling success stories, so people burning themselves out but succeeding in the end.

Re: Game design wiki

#19

Post by [deleted] »

levesque wrote: post #18
briangray wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would not recommend Blood Sweat and Pixels. While it does have details on publishing decisions and crunch of making games, it has little insight into any actual game development. It's more of a sensation piece on how difficult games are to make. GP seemed to be looking for design and pattern references.

Absolutely, was thinking the same. IIRC it's also only telling success stories, so people burning themselves out but succeeding in the end.

[deleted]

Re: Game design wiki

#20

Post by pabloarteel »

I quite enjoyed "Theory of Fun for Game Design" by Raph Koster.

It has many great insights about what we'd call product or design decisions, but it feels like a philosophy book, and you'll also learn stuff that applies to daily life.

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