At one point it was about giant robots attacking a city!

The first idea was pretty far from a breakout variant;  in fact it was a platformer that dealt with action and puzzles using forces such as push and pull. The logistics of a platformer put this idea beyond our budget and so we looked at alternatives. The first mistake was probably not looking at what was currently selling aside from playing Peggle and sayings “hey, let’s make a ball bouncer!”

So the choice was made for some sort of ball bouncer, eventually landing on a pinball/golf combination where players took careful shots in a platformer view while scoring was mostly related to golf.

An early test level for ball bouncer design.

After having many problems with TGB’s collision and physics we eventually decided to do something more proven and we settled on a breakout variant with a twist which was a match three element with falling gems.

The original golf game had 27 levels which would make a breakout style game quite short, so I increased that to 81. The levels have been the largest part of the game so far from a design standpoint and honestly haven’t received the attention they deserve. I still think they turned out but if there is ever a next time I think I’m going to do a project that has one game screen like a match 3 with interchangeable elements and more random variation in gameplay.

The current codebase is built on top of Torque Game Builder 1.5 (from 1.4) from scratch using TorqueScript, it supports profiles, high scores, awards, cut scenes and a lot of customization through xml.

Using Torque Game Builder helped us to quickly prototype the game and it came with a large community of developers from which to pool resources from.

Doing a breakout variant was also good as it’s a simple and proven game which lowered the risk on the project. This also potentially puts it in a position where it may not likely be noticed with the most popular game types being match3, time management and hidden object and arcade game like Orb Blast may well be overlooked which it was. I believe the lesson learned here was that we played it way too safe; sure we got a game out but is it anything that defines Space Monkey as a developer? Could we have done something different at a higher risk and still manage to get it out the door?

Video Game Design programs are great as they cover a broad range of topics important to video games and are even better if you already have something to fall back on. The down side is they tend to be quite costly making it a huge commitment and even after that if you don’t have anything else to help you fit into a specialized job, you’ll have a long road ahead of you be it working on self funded projects, heading back to the classroom or changing careers.

Sure, there are a small percentage of graduates who manage to sneak in the door and have made a career for themselves but this is more often than not a rare occurrence and unless you have a lot of luck on your side you’re going to have to play it smart.

If you’re still thinking of attending a video game school ask yourself what it is you really want to do regarding video games, if you hate math and don’t think programming will ever interest you then why attend a course that will make you take programming and only speckle it with a few good art classes that you could probably get through a workshop? And likewise if you’re a programmer, why put yourself through art?

So maybe you’re undecided, then try doing some stuff on your own, read some books or maybe join a mod team to find what really suits you and if you’re still serious about heading to the classroom then at least you have an idea of what to take. You can then look into courses that deal specifically with your chosen field. Want to be a programmer? Look into computer science. Want to be an artist? Then get an art degree and focus on just that one field. I can guarantee that you’ll have more of a chance in landing a job in video games over someone who is generalized or a ‘jack of al trades’.

Now before I paint a completely negative picture here I’d like to point out that while most schools offering game design follow a business-only approach the experience itself is real and that’s NOT a scam, your fellow students, your portfolio, friends you make and even some sincere teachers can’t be faked – they believe in what they are doing and if you do to then perhaps the experience can be worth it in that way.

For example, the International Academy of Design which I attended back in 2004 had a video game design program which spanned 18 months. It was costly and there were times when sadly the professors were assigned to teach classes for which they knew little about (I can remember at least one that was honest enough to admit this) but there were also a lot of professors who knew what they were doing and were able to teach quite a bit. In the end the school closed and reopened under a similar name to essentially ‘scam’ new students starry eyed for a career in video games.

So what if you attended anyway?

Does this mean the diploma earned is essentially useless? Well just what does a diploma prove? It proves that you have the commitment to see things through and all of those experiences you had were real and hopefully character building. School is more than a piece of paper, it’s a safe place to make mistakes even if you believe going there was the only mistake – you still did it and you weren’t alone so make the best of it.

For me though it symbolizes a personal and professional journey into territory I haven’t trekked, like the first monkeys shot into space exploring the unknown if only for a brief moment and if I crash and burn at least I’ll be able to say I gave it a shot.