Michael Cook's Blog
I'm a Senior Research Fellow at Falmouth University. I'm researching ways in which we can build software that design games autonomously, with creative depth and meaning. In doing so, I'm hoping to contribute ideas to building better tools for both professionals and amateurs to design games.
To find out more about my research, or the game-designing system ANGELINA, you can visit the project site: www.gamesbyangelina.org
I also organise the Procedural Generation Jam (PROCJAM) which you can find more about at http://www.procjam.com
And I'm making a game! It's a 2D action-hacking game about running through skyscrapers and hacking things in slow-motion. It's called Rogue Process and it has a website, too: http://www.rogueprocess.run
Expert Blogs
Posted by
Michael Cook
on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 11:51:00 EST
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Game design is fun, when you're not crushing bugs! This is a quick introduction to No Second Chance, an app we're making at The Metamakers Institute about game design as creative play.
Posted by
Michael Cook
on Tue, 22 Nov 2016 05:59:00 EST
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Do procedural generators have to stay behind the scenes in a game design, or can they break free and have meaning within a game? Let's look at Kitfox Game's Moon Hunters to find out!
Posted by
Michael Cook
on Thu, 25 Aug 2016 12:32:00 EDT
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The right words can motivate anyone about your game - but are we all speaking the same language? The response to No Man's Sky is the latest warning that a lot of what we mean when we talk about procedural generation is getting lost in translation.
Posted by
Michael Cook
on Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:21:00 EDT
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Procedural generation is great for infinite 'stuff', but we can do so much more - we just need new voices and new ideas to come and broaden our discourse.
Posted by
Michael Cook
on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 01:09:00 EST
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This week: how two researchers built a WarioWare-generator that automatically themed its own games.
Posted by
Michael Cook
on Sat, 04 Jan 2014 11:22:00 EST
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This week: exhaustively searching a puzzle game's design space. The Saturday Papers is a snappy summary of academic games research.
Michael Cook's Comments
Comment In:
[Blog - 10/15/2015 - 02:21]
Thanks Jord You know I ...
Thanks Jord You know I am a big fan of yours, and you 're exactly the kind of designer voice I 'd love to have reflecting on and using procedural generation :
Comment In:
[Blog - 01/04/2014 - 11:22]
I 'm not sure if ...
I 'm not sure if source is available I 'll try and get in touch with Nathan and ask him.
Comment In:
[News - 10/21/2013 - 05:28]
This seems like a pretty ...
This seems like a pretty clever idea. I was impressed by my younger brother 's ability to pick up an arbitrary Minecraft mod and rifle through YouTube learning its ins and outs. Fairly young kids are getting remarkably comfortable with simple logic thanks to Redstone - this is a cool ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 09/13/2013 - 05:34]
Comment In:
[News - 09/06/2013 - 01:22]
I think there 's a ...
I think there 's a tendency to expect immediate understanding/gratification/punch from games, especially games we 've heard a lot about, or games that are doing well on mobile platforms in particular. 868 so far has been a game I 've actually had to think about and stop rushing through. I ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 08/05/2013 - 09:55]
Hi to both of you, ...
Hi to both of you, and apologies for replying so late To my knowledge there 's no way to download the tool just yet, but get in touch with Antonios and he might have more info for you
