God help me, this looks so delicious...

OK, you know how the title of this website promises "other nonsense" than video games? Well, here we are.


(just what does this have to do with bacon?)

While looking around for "explosions" on Google image, I came across an intriguing listing for something called "The Bacon Explosion."

The Bacon Explosion is: cooked bacon wrapped in sausage wrapped in woven bacon strips which is then barbecued.



Did you see that picture above? OMG! It looks SOOOO good!! The recipe for those of you brave enough to try it at home can be found here.

Bon appetite!

Level Up! advance copies in hand!

That's right, I received my advanced copies of Level Up! this weekend and it is thick!

Here are ten reasons to pre-order at your favorite e-tailer or bookstore (or just click link to the right!) Level Up! RIGHT NOW!

1) It has over 15 years of video game design experience packed into one book
2) Over 400 original illustrations and diagrams
3) It's funny (at least that's what I'm told)
4) It contains a full outline for writing a Game Design Document and making pitches
5) It has hand exercises to prevent cramping from playing games
6) It contains an award-winning chili recipe
7) Did I mention it's thick!? (almost 500 pages of Game Design goodness!!)
8) Anyone who buys the book is entitled to a custom made unique and free level design
9) All the cool kids are doing it
10) I will be your best friend forever

Level Up! due out June 11th!!

Hey all,

Things are really heating up here at Level Up! central!

First off, Level Up! has an official release date - June 11th (just in time for my birthday! Did I mention it makes a great gift?)

Secondly, there is a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) 94 page preview of the book at Amazon.com including the introduction by Danny Bilson, the infamous "wife-blinder" chili recipe and the debut of "Farm Wars" the greatest game never made!

Don't forget there's plenty of time to pre-order a copy of the book - just click on the link at the right!

Enjoy!

A little advice

A co-worker of mine just had his first child - which reminded me of the time when my own first child was born.

For those of you who haven't been there, even though we do almost none of the work, being a expecting father can be pretty stressful. besides all of the worrying about whether you are going to be a good dad (or at least better than your own dad), you worry about whether your wife is going to get through the pregnancy alright, that the baby is going to be healthy, that the doctor doesn't screw anything up like dropping the kid on the floor or cutting the wrong thing during the circumcision.

Once the pregnancy was over (which happened around six in the morning) and all the tests were done and Mom and baby were all cleaned up and all the family and friends had come and gone and everyone had finally settled down for the night (this was around 9 pm), I finally felt like I could relax.

A gigantic weight of nine months of worry lifted off of my shoulders and for about five minutes, I experienced the greatest peace in my life. Pure, unadulterated relief.

And then I looked over at my new daughter and I realized I was going to have to worry about this little person for the rest of my life. And then the weight came slamming back down twice as hard as before. But that's OK, that's what being a father's all about too.

So my advice to my co-worker and everyone else out there is to savor those fleeting moments of peace and happiness. They don't come that often, but when they do, they sure are great.

Two great things that taste great together!

One of the first handheld games I ever owned was the Nintendo Donkey Kong Game N' Watch a friend of mine brought back for me from Japan. I loved that thing and sadly had to sell it while in college for some rent money. SIGH.

Years later, I designed the hydra boss fight for the original God of War - It's a pretty well-loved level and pretty damn hard, but had some great visuals (Par for the course with the talented GoW team)

How do these two topics go together? Behold!

The mad geniuses at Swing Swing Submarine created Greek and Wicked - a mash-up of Old Skool tech and New School cool... and it is glorious!!

By the way, have you ever wondered what inspired the "Kratos in the jaws of the Hydra" sequence? Well, wonder no more.

Exclusive Level Up! excerpt!

While Level Up! The Guide To Great Video Game Design isn't due out until July, I wanted to share a sneak preview of the book with you:


YOU CAN DESIGN A GAME, BUT CAN YOU DO THE PAPERWORK?



A Japanese game director once visited the studio where I worked to impart his wisdom to our team about his philosophy of game design, which mainly had to do with how much money his latest game had made. As he was leaving, he asked our team a cryptic question: “I believe making games is like fishing” he said. “When I return, you will tell me why this is so.” If he had been wearing a cape, I’m sure he would have swooshed it mysteriously as he left.

I spent a lot of time thinking about just exactly how making games was like fishing. In the end, I decided that making games is nothing like fishing. Fishing is quiet and slow and involves waiting for something to happen that may never happen. I also decided that this game director was full of crap. So I developed my own analogy.



Making games is like making chili (bear with me — it’ll make sense). Like making chili, you first need a recipe and that recipe is the game’s documentation. Having the right recipe is important. You are not making soup or stew. You want to make sure your documentation not only has what is in it, but how it can be made: just like a recipe. Be sure to follow the recipe, but be mindful that it will have to change, especially if something doesn’t go right. And, just like making chili, remember that you can season to taste. Some parts of the game will be “meatier” than others and you will want to adjust your game to make those parts more pronounced.

Next step is to assemble the ingredients. Just as a chili needs ingredients, a game’s design needs people and tools to make the game. You’ll also need the right equipment to make your game, just like you’ll need spoons and pots and pans and a stove to make your chili. However, you might not have exactly what you need on hand. Sometimes you will have the team and resources you want, sometimes you have to improvise with what is available. That’s OK; I hear cowboys made some pretty good chili with nothing more than a campfire and a tin can.

Add these ingredients together. The beauty of chili is that it usually works no matter how you prepare the ingredients. You can carefully cut and chop everything or just throw it together in a big pot. Some game productions are very methodical and well organized. Others are a mad dash to get all of the elements into the game as soon as possible. Just make sure you follow the recipe so you don’t forget anything. Prepare the ingredients in the right order. Always brown the meat before you add it to the pot. (I learned that one that hard way.)

In chili, everything is brought to a boil and then left to simmer. Crunch Time reminds me of boiling: a frantic burst of energy and effort to get everything in and running. However, if you boil for too long, you can ruin the chili, burn the pot and catch the stove on fire. Games and studios have been destroyed by too much crunch time, so be responsible. Game polishing and bug squashing reminds me of chili simmering. Chili isn’t ready the moment you finish assembling it. You need to take the time to make it just right. Games, just like Chili, need time to be iterated on, improved and seasoned. Bugs, code, art and design problems with the game, need to be found and fixed. That takes time. Allow for that time - just like you need to allow for cooking time for chili. Sometimes it’s good to let the team play with a part of the game to find out what works and what doesn’t. I find that chili always tastes better the day after you have made it.

Your chili may need something added to it at the last minute to make it work. Unless you’ve royally screwed it up, chili can usually be salvaged. I’ve seen troubled games get turned around in the eleventh hour. However, I don’t recommend making games this way. It can lead to stomach upset. Chili can also deceive. It may look horrible, but still taste delicious. Some games may not be perfect or even pretty, but if they have good gameplay they can still entertain. Good games and good chili satisfy soul as well as the stomach. (Or the head - if you think with your stomach.)

You see? Making games is exactly like making chili.

Who's the Boss?

Bossrush is a great fun internet game and idea that I'm surprised no one thought before now. In it, you play as the boss in a top-down shooter.

Go play Bossrush now!

Now THIS is art!

Two years ago, I reviewed Passage, the "game" from Jason Rohner.

If you never got around to playing it, never fear, you can just play the Ten-Second version instead.

How to kill creativity.

We often talk about how to be creative, but we rarely talk about what can kill it.

Youngme Moon posted a video outlining his 14 points on how to kill creatativity. I'm sure we're all guilty of doing at least one his points. For those of you who'd rather get the straight info, here's a transcript of his video:

1. Play it safe
2. Listen to that inner voice – what if someone thinks it stupid
3. Know your limitations – pigeonhole yourself
4. Remind yourself it’s just a job.
5. Show you’re the smartest guy in the room – make skepticism your middle name
6. Be the tough guy – demand to see the data/there’s no evidence this will work
7. Respect history – give the past the benefit of the doubt
8. Stop the madness before it can get started – crush problem ideas early
9. Been there, done that
10. Keep your eyes and mind closed.
11. Assume there is no problem.
12. Underestimate your customers. That’s not what they’re asking for.
13. Be a mentor and give advice to others.
14. Be suspicious of the “creatives” in your organization
15. When all else fails, act like a grown-up - get back to work.

I've got nothing

I'm always torn about April Fool's Day.

I appreciate when someone does a great April Fool's prank (like today's Google changing their name to Topeka) and love reading about them, but I felt like I've never come up with something epic... or even good... for an April Fool's joke. Usually they just come off as cruel.

Conversely, my 8 year old daughter is fascinated by the concept. In the first hour after I woke up, she tried to "April Fool" me three times. Once by telling me that the stove was broken. (To which I replied "What are you doing using the stove?"), the second time that she didn't love me (there's that cruel streak) and third that there was a big spider in the bathroom. That last one was pretty good because she had drawn a picture of a spider and set it on the toilet. Maybe she can teach me a thing or two.



Anything's better than resorting to Rick Rolling

This brings me to thinking about April Fool's jokes in gaming. We've had Christmas Games...



...Halloween Games...



...even Groundhog's day is represented...



...but April Fool's day is woefully under-represented.



I guess the closest thing to an April Fools prank shows up in Metal Gear Solid's Psycho Mantis Boss fight where the character reads your memory card and spouts off all of the titles you've played. Then he uses his psychic powers to "move" your game controller (actually activating the controller's actuator.)



But MGS is an amateur compared to the pranking in Eternal Darkness. As the game's heroes lose their sanity, the game tries to convince you that your character's head has popped off, the video has gone black, the volume has turned off, the game has crashed or deleted your save files. Fantastic, especially if you don't know it's coming. It's especially impressive because this type of pranking requires dedication and planning throughout the entire game design. Which must be why you just don't see it that often in games.

Here are a few things I've realized about putting pranks in games:

1) The player can't see it coming. The fun of pranking comes from the surprise/shock of the prank. It's like a scare but going for the laugh rather than the scare. Although often the two go hand-in-hand. (as Eternal Darkness went for)

2) The prank has to make sense within the context of the game. The MGS and ED pranks made sense because they were tied to the game's hardware. If you go too "out-there" it's just going to feel completely random and confuse the player.

3) Gamers are really good about keeping secrets. Player's did a great job not spoiling the ending to Bio-Shock or Portal or Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter. They want others to get pranked/surprised just like they did.

Eternal Darkness came out in 2002. I think it's time for another good "prank the player" game. I wonder who will step up to the plate?

As for my own April Fool's prank, I guess I'll have to come up with something good for next year. Happy April Fool's Day!