BigBangGames has just announced a new xbox live indie arcade game they’re working on. It is a 3rd person tower defence titled Dead on Arrival.

This game will feature a bunch of different kinds of enemies, several types of towers you can build to help defend your wall, and an entire medal system built in. Something no game has on the indie market right now.

I’ve spoken to the lead programmer at BBG and he’s told me there are still a few bugs to iron out, and a few features he’s yet to implement. He assures me the game is coming along really well.

Anyways enough blabber, head on over to BigBangGames to check out Dead on Arrival.

Here is the first game made by Big Bang Games. Check it out on Kongregate.

Me and a friend from college are going to be starting our own little game development company. Right now its not going to be a full fledge company, but just a name to brand our games with. The name we came up with is “Big Bang Games”. It was just a random thought that stuck I guess, we both agreed on it and thats what we went with lol.

We’re starting off with flash games, because that’s what we’re working on right now. Its actually only one of many things we’re working on. It just happens to be the funnest, and easiest things to put up on the web. I dont know if we’ll just stick with flash games or move on to bigger and better things.

I haven’t made anything just yet. I’ve made small little concept type things for labs we have done in class, but no full games. On the other hand, my friend has made a full game already just for fun.  It isn’t a huge complicated game, but it is actually fun and challenging.

I’ll post up that game a bit later, right now im going to play some xbox 360.

Check out my recently published content on AC:

The Top 5 Xbox Live Arcade Games of 2008

Getting paid for playing video games at home sounds like a pipe dream, right? This is one of those things that sets off the, “too good to be true” alarms, I know! I’m writing this article to let you know that you could land one of these jobs, if you know the secret to getting inside the business. Great jobs like these only last because people don’t know how to get them, and if you have previously searched for a video game testing job, you probably know this to be true!

The video game industry is rated at some 50 billion dollars and it is growing very quickly. Experts say that they expect exponential growth over the next couple of years, as well! What does this mean then, exactly? It means that now is the absolute perfect time to get your foot in the door of this industry. With the huge growth in the video game business you can expect many gaming testing jobs opening, including some very nice high paying opportunities as these companies try to best their competitors and grab up all of the best testers. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no doubt, that computer games are here to stay. They have to be one of the most prevalent forms of software around. You can find them on PC’s, Macs, cellphones, pdas, and BlackBerrys. They even have their own genre of hardware. Specifically for gaming. There are living room styled consoles like Xbox, Wii’s, and PS3s. As well as a horde of portable gaming platforms, like the PSP, GameBoy, and DS. I can’t think of any other software that warrants it’s own hardware platform. We sure do like to play don’t we?

It’s a basic human need – for some even an obsession. Play time is a stress reliever, a much needed distraction, and arguably a self esteem builder for the winners. But another basic need that computer games can feed, is that of creation. Everyone loves to create. Whether it’s a five year olds finger painting hanging on the fridge, or Stephen Kings next great horror epic. Anyone with an emotion to express, story to tell, or movie to capture can do their thing.

I must confess to be a wanna-be game developer from way back. I first tinkered around with building games on a Commodore 64. And if I really want to date myself, I’ll confess to writing a very basic random number generator type game in Basic on a Radio Shack TRS-80 computer. Fortunately for the inspired gamers of today, the technology supporting game building has improved by several light years since then. From the simple to use yet powerful GameMaker from YoYo Games to the Unreal Editor (UnrealEd) that ships with the purchase of most games powered by the Unreal engine. This enables anyone who owns the game to create their very own version of the game using the same tools as the professionals. Read the rest of this entry »

So you’ve decided to plunge yourself into the world of game development, have assembled a team of mighty warriors to tackle all the big issues and are ready to create the next best game in the industry… trumping WoW, Guild Wars… (you get the point). You’ve chopped up all your brainstorming and assembled some really keen concepts for a storyline and you’re ready to go. But amongst all the programming, the character concepts, the dungeons, and the quests – what are truly the most important aspects of your game that will determine whether someone enjoys themself? Read on, and allow me to share with you what I think.

When we do decide to take that plunge into the development of a new game, there are five things you should consider very carefully, and pay a great deal of attention to. There are probably more of these that will hinder or help you along your way, and your ordering may be different than mine, but these are what I always hold to be the most important. Over the next week we will reveal each aspects, and at the end of the week culminate with the complete article. For today we’ll begin at the top, with number 5.

Number 5: Storyline

When crafting your game, there is no better inspiration for features and activities, quests and dungeons, than your very own highly developed and custom tailored storyline. Some may balk at this statement, claiming that storyline is easily overshadowed and un-necessary when you have intense graphics that make your fingers tingle, or when you have combat so intense that you’re literally ducking out of the way from behind your monitor. While these things definitely contribute to an awesome game, and can lead to a lot of excitement (in fact, they’re on the list too!), they cannot make up for a lack of storyline. One thing many players crave whether consciously or not, is a strong storyline that leads them into caring about the game – it entices you – and makes you feel as though your wildest dreams may in fact be possible in this environment. Storyline can be simple and to the point while being so flawlessly done that it serves as the crux of the entire game (EVE Online: We’re flying through space, blowing people out of the sky…) and at the same time being so rich and deep with lore (the complexities in lore and story surrounding EVE is so great that it entangles even the most basic ships and inventory items) that it compels players to write their own histories.

Not only does storyline help players become engaged with all that you’ve slaved over and worked for, but it helps you the developer along the way. If you’ve been smart, and from the beginning dreamed up an intoxicatingly deep history of your game setting, it will constantly serve you throughout development. It will provide clues into what features want to be a part of the game, what doesn’t need to be included, and what does or doesn’t fit. An architecture professor of mine once said, when referring to the site analysis portion of architecture that we could find out a great deal about what we should be building on the building site by simply visiting the location, and “envisioning the invisible building that wants to be built”. This is true in architecture, and it is especially true in game development and dreaming up your storyline/game setting.

Storyline may be important, but is it more important than a snazzy game setting so rich and vibrant that your tempted to stay indefinitely? Well, maybe – just as long as your 3d representation isn’t bogged down by hundreds of thousands of nasty polygons or quads. Why in the world is Artwork important, anyway?

Number 4: Artwork Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine waking up and being excited to go to work. Imagine getting paid for what you love to do. This article will show you exactly what you need to do to become a video game tester.

The first thing I did was contact game developers. Most of the companies that produce video games do not post ads in the daily classifieds or online like most other companies do. I am not sure why they don’t but I have never seen a job posting like that.

Search online for “a list of video game companies”. There are hundreds of companies that create video games that need beta testers. All you have to do is find these companies and present yourself to them. Make sure you are professional though, don’t just email them and say you want to test video games.

Create a resume. It might sound silly, but if you have a resume about your gaming experience then you will look much more professional and you will be more likely to get hired to test video games.

The next thing you need to do is follow up. Follow up with the companies that you talk to and let them know what systems you own and that you are available to start testing games immediately.

You will eventually get your first game to test and what you will also want to do is continue contacting companies to test games for. You are not actually employed by these companies so once you test a game for one company they may not have another game for you to test for a few months. It is a good idea to spend a few hours a day contacting companies asking to test games even if you already have plenty to test. You don’t want to run out of work.

Recently there has been a demand for tools which will allow the user to create video games for the PC and consoles. In the last few years many options have become available, and in this article I will outline a few of them. I will also cover some of the terminology of this subject, and provide some alternatives to creating your own games on the PC.

Make Your Own Video Games for Consoles:

The only console system you can currently make games for is the Xbox 360. To do so you need to download XNA and join their “Creator’s Club” for $99.00 a year. XNA has been designed to be fairly easy to use, but some programming experience is required.

Make Your Own Video Games for the PC:

There are many options if you want to make your own games on the PC. The first thing you need to know is the difference between a game engine, and a GCS (Game Creation System.)

Game Engines:

A video game engine is just that, an engine. Few if any tools come with it, so some programming is required. There are many commercial engines available such as the Unreal Engine or CryEngine 2, and almost as many free alternatives. Crystal Space 3D and the Irrlicht Engine are examples of the later.

GCSs:

If you don’t want to mess with any programming you need a GCS. A GCS packages a video game engine along with a variety of tools which can be used to make a game. There are a lot of commercial options, such as Torque or Gamestudio, but no comprehensive free or open source alternatives. Delta 3D is one such choice, but you will need additional tools to create games with it.

I should also mention that GCSs may not be a perfect fit for your particular needs when making a game for the PC. Most game developers use many custom tools tailor made for their needs as a result. So your best bet is to use tools that are specialized for different aspects of game development. You will need a good programming environment, a good image editor, a good sound and music editor, and a good modeling animation studio.

The current industry standard modeling and animation studios are 3DS Max and Maya. However True Space and Blender both provide excellent free alternatives, and are backed by large, supportive communities. The industry standard image editing programs are Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop, but the free alternatives Gimp and Paint.NET will work just as well. Expensive programs like Cakewalk are used for the creation of music and sounds, but Audacity is a free alternative. The best free programming environment is Microsoft Visual Studio Express.

Making video games requires a lot of work, but with the right tools it can be done fairly quickly and easily. Now that you know what tools to look for, it should be a lot easier to find what you need.

For many, working as a video game programmer at a famous development studio sounds like a dream job. I have been a video game programmer for seven years now and would like to share my four best tips for making this dream a reality.

Know what you’re getting into

Before you dive into becoming a video game programmer, spend a little time to research what working at a video game studio actually entails. You don’t want to spend time and effort becoming a video game programmer only to realize that it’s not what you were hoping for.

Working as a video game programmer takes a lot of effort. The work hours and deadlines can get stressful, especially near the end of a project. Talk with people who are in the video game business, either in person or online, about any questions you may have about the business.

Create your own games

Try your hand at making your own games at home to see what it’s like. You can start with simple projects first, such as basic text games or simple shooters. Grab a book on video game programming at your local bookstore (there are many to choose from) and dive in. C and Java are good programming languages to start out with. Read the rest of this entry »