Stephen Chin is a recent graduate of The Guildhall at SMU and currently looking for work. While at The Guildhall, he specialized in level design and served as a lead on multiple projects as well as re-enforcing his existing skills in art and programming.
Posted by Stephen Chin on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:42:00 EST in
I was going to go with the flow and do some sort of end of 2009 blog bit. Instead, courtesy of TV Tropes, I end up talk about a cyclic trope called Three Chords and the Truth.
Posted by Stephen Chin on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 02:12:00 EST in
A long delayed follow up to my first post on L4D and the mechanics of RPGs it uses and whether the idea of an AI director is applicable to other genres
Posted by Stephen Chin on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EDT in
In this blog post, I consider how the design and gameplay of Left 4 Dead mirrors classic pen-and-paper game design. From the role of the various Infected to the advancement of character power.
I don 't think he, or any one else at Firaxis, really has or needs to unless they really want to or in rare occasions. They 're a pretty comfortable, stable, extremely veteran company whose publisher allows them enough leeway to do their thing without giving them too much freedom ...
Valve did something similar in Portal 2. They had their writers actively working with their designers from day 1. Design affected and communicated with0 story and vice versa. When there was a conflict, they compromised to satisfy both. I think the broader lesson to take way from Portal 2 and ...
I really need to put this to bed before it becomes an obsession. r n r nMaybe. But experiments like this are both interesting and important I think. Interesting in seeing how the various models play out as well as how they compare. And important because they provide concrete evidence. ...
As far as the imprint of Michael on Angelina or any designer/programmer on an AI ... I 'm not sure that 's a bad thing. After all, even humans are influenced by those that taught them and/or the methods in which they were taught. In a lot of ways, that ...
Two part to this. The first is the average person believing they 'll get a substantial amount of money hundreds or thousands even when in all likelihood, it won 't be nearly as much as they expect unless their expectations are set right. The second is that with so many ...
Great article and a good case study on how less than a handful of very simple mechanics jumping, sliding, walking can spawn very clever and creative gameplay.
