Caleb J. Ross's Blog, page 2

The post Suddenly I was a Shark! My Time with What Remains of Edith Finch appeared first on Games are Real.

I know learning animation is importantI’m intimidated by learning animation, so I’m avoiding it as much as possibleI have no practical use in mind for animation, which supports my aversionLooked forward to a future devlog where I inevitably dismiss animation as “super easy”

The post Learning Things I Don’t Want to Learn but Need to Learn Anyway (Maybe) appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.

 Today we talk about that stuff that goes in your ears when you play a video game. No, not the wet fingers of an annoyingly immature roommate or little brother (though, in this case I’m pretending both the immature roommate and the little brother are named Wily, so getting a “wet Willy” at least […]

The post Video Game Music is Pretty Damn Great appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.

 The game-making lessons we learned are: Button combos don’t have to be complicated if the designers leverage “domains of knowledge” (also mentioned: Caleb’s video, “Button Combinations Should Be Complicated! Why Aren’t They? (Video Game Controls)” “input recycling”… “input pairing”…? Almost every virtual action in the game shares a physical input with another virtual action […]

The post We Talk Video Game Controls appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.

I learned an important lesson: things move much faster when other people are helping.

The post I Made a Chess Set…and a Chess Game appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.

 The game-making lessons we learned are: Lack of exposition + personal artifacts = introspective environmental storytelling. Gamifying the mundane. Anywhere decisions can be made (ex: where to place physical items in a room) a game can be born. (Unpacking). Shout out to Ian Bogost’s “How to do Things with Video Games.” All characterization is […]

The post Solve a puzzle with cats and laser pointers? We talk Brainstorming!!! appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.

 The game-making lessons we learned are: Music both directs and enhances the mood. Chill must support a chill atmosphere but also it provides feedback to the player that this is a game (or section of a game) that should allow for chilling out. Lack of enemies alone doesn’t signify a conflict-free scenario. (Valheim) Pawns […]

The post What is Procedural Generation and How Can We Get Caleb to Not Hate it? appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.

Reno 911 reminded me: “If you can’t get excited about your work, how can you expect anyone else to?”

The post If you aren’t passionate about your project, do you really understand your project? appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.

I call this scene “Desk Golf.” My lamp model makes a comeback in this lesson! This time, it’s helping a golf ball reach the hole at the top of a stack of books. I cheated a bit by looking up a tutorial on how to make the golf ball. And somehow, even with the tutorial, […]

The post Desk Golf, where a ball named Juan thinks everything is a golf hole. appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.

I call this scene “Desk Golf.” My lamp model makes a comeback in this lesson! This time, it’s helping a golf ball reach the hole at the top of a stack of books. I cheated a bit by looking up a tutorial on how to make the golf ball. And somehow, even with the tutorial, […]

The post Desk Golf appeared first on Video Game Thoughts and Reviews.