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Blogs

Alan Jack's Blog

Designer of games for a little company in Glasgow.

Member Blogs

That Awful “C” Word: A Student Perspective  Featured Blogs
Posted by Alan Jack on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:58:00 EDT in Design
A look at the crunch-time debate from a student's perspective - considering the value of crunch work, the cause, and the level of professionalism involved on both sides of the debate. Reposted from #altdevblogaday.
Read More... | 11 Comments

Roger, The Flying Pig: An Indie iPhone Game Post-Mortem
Posted by Alan Jack on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:32:00 EDT in Production, Smartphone/Tablet
A look at the storied development of Roger: The Flying Pig, developed by fellow Abertay Masters student & current Studio Producer Maciej Czekala.
Read More... | 0 Comments

8 & 1/2 Simple Rules for Designing My Motion Control Game  Featured Blogs
Posted by Alan Jack on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:29:00 EDT in Design, Console/PC
A look at my experiences & confusions in designing games for the new wave of motion controllers, and the rules I've discovered through them.
Read More... | 2 Comments

Funny Games: Comedy (and Horror) through Gameplay  Featured Blogs
Posted by Alan Jack on Sat, 18 Jun 2011 05:16:00 EDT in Design
A look at how comedy and horror can be crafted through play rather than scripted in writing or environment, and what effects that can have on a play experience.
Read More... | 9 Comments

Why I Don't Trust Game Designers That Go To The Gym
Posted by Alan Jack on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:20:00 EDT in Design
A wry and facetious look at the odd duality of people who craft fun for a living and then spend money to attend a place (as I see it) completely bereft of the concept.
Read More... | 7 Comments

Understanding Game Stories: Storytelling, Interaction and Emergence in Video Games
Posted by Alan Jack on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 08:38:00 EDT in Design
A look at how stories can emerge from play, the important effects this can have, and how we can harness this to make the most of out interactive experiences.
Read More... | 5 Comments

[More Alan Jack Blogs]   

Alan Jack's Comments

Comment In: Bogost: Let's make 'earnest' games, not 'serious games' [News - 06/17/2013 - 05:18]

I think there 's two ...

I think there 's two inherent issues with games for change - one being that games are exploratory by nature, while change tends to have a lot of direction. Games for awareness is a better way to think of it, but then you have to either go down the abstract ...

Comment In: Moving Forward On Race In Games: Manveer Heir Speaks [Feature - 08/05/2011 - 05:00]

Tali's story was never pushed ...

Tali's story was never pushed as far as it could be if you ask me. It was a very blatant metaphor for the Jewish religious background - a difficult background, a closed community, and a people left without a permanent home. It felt like they took the more obvious Shepard ...

Comment In: The Half-Cinderella: Why Gameplay never leaves the Ball [Blog - 08/05/2011 - 03:48]

The death issue is a ...

The death issue is a big one, but its really a facet of the bigger, tacked-on linear stories of games. Not that we can't find clever ways to get around it, but its tackling a symptom of the problems inherent in the marriage of linear story and expressive, free-form play ...

Comment In: Story Design Tips: 10 Dialogue Don'ts [Blog - 07/27/2011 - 05:44]

One interesting Do is to ...

One interesting Do is to pick actors that really understand the game and are enthusiastic for the project. I've read numerous reports from both producers/designers and from voice actors themselves saying that there's a lot of voice actors out there that won't take games seriously. On the flip-side, in the ...

Comment In: That Awful “C” Word: A Student Perspective [Blog - 07/22/2011 - 05:58]

I think perhaps I didn't ...

I think perhaps I didn't make my point quite right, because I'm right with you on this. I think part of being a good producer/manager is knowing your individual developers better than they know themselves, in regards to their work, and seeing the project as a whole: knowing that an ...

Comment In: Measuring a Designer's Value [Blog - 07/19/2011 - 07:32]

Brilliant, and a very professional ...

Brilliant, and a very professional and academic assessment of what I was planning for my next article As a student studying at Masters level, I've had a lot of practical experience in both design and production in a safe, protected environment, and its been very insightful. I've seen pretty much ...

[More Alan Jack Comments]   

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