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Andrew is an aspiring game designer, working on all areas to become as communicative and integrative as possible. His current specialties are matte / concept painting and programming languages. Outside of the video game industry, he is an avid WoW player, writer, cinema fiend, and fitness nut.
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Member Blogs
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Diet and Exercise: An often overlooked aide for success! |
| Posted by Andrew Calhoun on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:14:00 EST in
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| Though appearing unrelated, diet and exercise is an often overlooked and potentially necessary component for the success of designers, artists, and programmers. Take a 15 minute break and do some Vanyasas, forget the platitudes and look at the advantages. |
| Read More... | 0 Comments |
iOS: Thoughts on Objective-C For Games  |
| Posted by Andrew Calhoun on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:48:00 EST in
Programming
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| iOS:Objective-C has opened new markets for devs, and is increasingly expanding as development restrictions get lifted or lightened. A visual artist cum hobbyist programmer gives his insights. |
| Read More... | 3 Comments |
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A Sociopathic Comedy of Errors, Player Cruelty in Open World Games and Developer Savviness |
| Posted by Andrew Calhoun on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 02:31:00 EDT in
Design
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| Open world games have offered players the opportunity to engage in antisocial/sociopathic behavior without consequence. Developers supply the tools in modern games, but is it a case of absurdist catharsis or boredom that makes players engage in this way? |
| Read More... | 8 Comments |
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Are young designers getting less creative? |
| Posted by Andrew Calhoun on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 01:40:00 EDT in
Design
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| Are young designers getting less creative as a result of the glut of annualization and other media that tries to one up itself, or is it a result of more people trying to get into the game causing a hypothetical on-average creative brain drain? |
| Read More... | 30 Comments |
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The Case for Traditional Education for Prospective Industry Candidates |
| Posted by Andrew Calhoun on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:30:00 EDT in
Business/Marketing,
Design
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| Proprietary schools offer tantalizing programs and accelerated degrees, but traditional education has advantages that might give candidates a distinctive edge in the long run, and other opportunities for those whose dreams might not or are slow to develop |
| Read More... | 14 Comments |
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Starcraft II, Blizzard, and the Power of Doing What Works |
| Posted by Andrew Calhoun on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:33:00 EDT in
Design,
Production
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| Fun is not something guaranteed by innovation, but by forming a solid core that is accessible and relatively simple. Blizzard seems to have nailed down the x-factor of fun and doing what works with its products, as evidenced by Starcraft II. |
| Read More... | 7 Comments |
Andrew Calhoun's Comments
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Comment In: Study: Most Americans Want Gamifications At Work [News - 06/08/2011 - 10:55]
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I think Jane McGonigal had ... I think Jane McGonigal had this idea presented in her book Reality is Broken . Though it has not been explored too much in this article, it is sort of an incentivization and glamorization of the work environment that rewards productivity and achievement by offering bigger and better projects. |
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Comment In: BioWare 2011: The Doctors Speak [Feature - 05/19/2011 - 05:10]
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The Reel Big Fish song, ... The Reel Big Fish song, Sell Out comes to mind, in a playful sense. I still love their games, but they do smell of EA interference now. Perhaps though, getting them into a wider audience will benefit the genre in the long run. That remains to be seen. |
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Comment In: Games Beyond Entertainment: Applying Positive Psychology To Games [News - 05/18/2011 - 01:00]
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Good distinction. Again, my bias ... Good distinction. Again, my bias has been colored, as that's when I came of age in gaming. |
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Comment In: WoW in Decline and Blizzard in Denial [Blog - 05/15/2011 - 12:47]
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Bobby Kotick. nods sagely ... Bobby Kotick. nods sagely |
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Comment In: Is it reasonable to use the prefix increment operator ++it instead of postfix operator it++ for iterators? [Blog - 02/18/2011 - 03:15]
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Prefix iterators are usually done ... Prefix iterators are usually done to do the count before declaring the status of the variable, at least how I understand it. If you are adding up items or tallying score, it's a poor iterator and that's best used for suffix. Suffix iterators are likely better for games, whereas prefix ... |
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Comment In: Zelda's 25th anniversary [Blog - 02/21/2011 - 05:55]
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Not bad, I like that. ... Not bad, I like that. And the style is fairly dead on. |
[More Andrew Calhoun Comments]
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