4 ms·

10 years or so ago, when I was a game programmer, I used to have the same "I've got an idea for a game" problems. Most ideas were useless, some were poorly tho

10 years or so ago, when I was a game programmer, I used to have the same "I've got an idea for a game" problems. Most ideas were useless, some were poorly thought out "Like X but Y", for example "Like Command and Conquer but set in space"; others were far too difficult to construct. Then, I was told an idea for a great puzzle game. I decided the idea was so great I made the originator of the idea my wife ;)

shasta 15y ago
Is she comfortable with the fact that it was primarily an IP acquisition?
- boyter 15y ago
  I don't normally up-vote amusing comments but I really could not resist for this one. The most amusing comment I have read on hacker news so far and the only to really make me smile today. Thank you!
  - shasta 15y ago
    Thanks... I don't submit many longer posts since I've limited myself to checking news sites from my phone (for productivity reasons). So this one-liner generated about six months of Karma for me :)
- 0x12 15y ago
  I'd class this as a talent acquisition, the IP was obviously secondary.
ido 15y ago
Which game was that? Was it successful?
- CJefferson 15y ago
  It had a slight iPhone success. ~5,000 copies, never got very much publicity despite an average review of about 4.5, now taken down I'm afraid. I'm currently playing around doing a HTML (DOM, not 5) version. Unfortunately I don't have as much time as I'd like to play with such things on the side. Everyone who has played it agrees it's fun.
  - aerique 15y ago
    Why be so vague about which game it is?
jamesgeck0 15y ago
Limiting the scope of your idea helps a lot with execution. Kenta Cho blows me away with the crazy number of games he releases. He releases a new one every few days! [1] But if you look at his source code, it's very short and about 90% of it is reused each time. 1. http://wonderfl.net/user/ABA/codes http://wonderfl.net/user/ABA/codes The tower building game mechanic in World of Goo was the result of a similar rapid-prototyping exercise. Braid started out as a quick prototype, too. Having lots of ideas isn't bad; you just need a way to spew things into a playable state quickly so you can filter out the chaff.
- CJefferson 15y ago
  This talk by Jonathan Blow (author of Braid) has totally changed how I think about writing games, and certainly since I listened to it I've got much closer to finishing any of my personal projects than I have in years, hopefully will release something soon (I believe that games are one of the few areas where 'release quick, release often' is a bad idea, although I seem to be getting proved wrong by minecraft). http://the-witness.net/news/2011/06/how-to-program-independent-games/ http://the-witness.net/news/2011/06/how-to-program-independe...
  - glimcat 15y ago
    Minecraft is one of those games which is, first and foremost, a bucket of legos.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
adrianN 15y ago
"Like Command and Conquer but set in space" You mean Star Craft?
atomicdog 15y ago
>Like Command and Conquer but set in space Yeah, that kind of game could never become popular, right? ;)

shasta 15y ago

Is she comfortable with the fact that it was primarily an IP acquisition?

boyter 15y ago
I don't normally up-vote amusing comments but I really could not resist for this one. The most amusing comment I have read on hacker news so far and the only to really make me smile today. Thank you!
- shasta 15y ago
  Thanks... I don't submit many longer posts since I've limited myself to checking news sites from my phone (for productivity reasons). So this one-liner generated about six months of Karma for me :)
0x12 15y ago
I'd class this as a talent acquisition, the IP was obviously secondary.

ido 15y ago

Which game was that? Was it successful?

CJefferson 15y ago
It had a slight iPhone success. ~5,000 copies, never got very much publicity despite an average review of about 4.5, now taken down I'm afraid. I'm currently playing around doing a HTML (DOM, not 5) version. Unfortunately I don't have as much time as I'd like to play with such things on the side. Everyone who has played it agrees it's fun.
- aerique 15y ago
  Why be so vague about which game it is?

jamesgeck0 15y ago

Limiting the scope of your idea helps a lot with execution. Kenta Cho blows me away with the crazy number of games he releases. He releases a new one every few days! [1] But if you look at his source code, it's very short and about 90% of it is reused each time. 1. http://wonderfl.net/user/ABA/codes http://wonderfl.net/user/ABA/codes The tower building game mechanic in World of Goo was the result of a similar rapid-prototyping exercise. Braid started out as a quick prototype, too. Having lots of ideas isn't bad; you just need a way to spew things into a playable state quickly so you can filter out the chaff.

CJefferson 15y ago
This talk by Jonathan Blow (author of Braid) has totally changed how I think about writing games, and certainly since I listened to it I've got much closer to finishing any of my personal projects than I have in years, hopefully will release something soon (I believe that games are one of the few areas where 'release quick, release often' is a bad idea, although I seem to be getting proved wrong by minecraft). http://the-witness.net/news/2011/06/how-to-program-independent-games/ http://the-witness.net/news/2011/06/how-to-program-independe...
- glimcat 15y ago
  Minecraft is one of those games which is, first and foremost, a bucket of legos.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

adrianN 15y ago

"Like Command and Conquer but set in space" You mean Star Craft?

atomicdog 15y ago

>Like Command and Conquer but set in space Yeah, that kind of game could never become popular, right? ;)