#26259 - nmcconnell - Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:04 pm
Hey Y'all, I'm looking for an opinion on something. . .
I'm putting together a GBA demo. It's a puzzle game that I'm writing to teach myself about the GBA, but it's mostly for the purpose of showing to potential employers (my professional stuff is all under bloody NDA). Now that I've finished the playable elements, I'm working on bells and whistles (splash screen, instructions, load/save)
So the question is, do you have any opinion about how much self-hyping I should put into this demo, and where? At the minimum, I'm thinking that from the start-menu, the user should be able to select "about the author" and get the info that I'm looking for work, here's my email address, etc.
Do you think I should be going further than that? What about putting my entire resume into the demo? Any other thoughts on how to design a demo for maximum impact? Or should I leave out all personal info, and then just attach the demo with a cover letter when I'm specifically talking to a potential employer?
Thanks in advance,
--Neil
#26261 - tepples - Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:29 pm
When the credits scroll, have them stop on the URL of a web site with your resume.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#26284 - keldon - Sat Sep 11, 2004 1:11 pm
I would suggest contact information is a must, and I do suggest a resume otherwise they would have only the demo to go by.
#26291 - abilyk - Sat Sep 11, 2004 4:51 pm
I'd suggest displaying the credits/contact information in a way that the user is required to see it. Even if the user notices an "About the Author" menu option, he may never select that option.
Personally, I'd put the information in a non-skippable (maybe 5-10 second) splash screen that appears before the title screen. All on a single screen, I would display your roles in creating the game ("All game design, programming, and art by Neil McConnell", for example) and an URL to your website. I would recommend an URL over just an email address because while both can be used to contact you (your email address will be displayed on your website), the website can provide much more information.
#26431 - Touchstone - Wed Sep 15, 2004 3:21 pm
| abilyk wrote: |
| non-skippable (maybe 5-10 second) splash screen |
Argh, personally I think non-skippable screens are so annoying and should be avoided at all cost (even if it means not getting a job because if you think about it, would you want to work for a company that think it's ok with non-skippable screens? :)
_________________
You can't beat our meat
#26459 - Abscissa - Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:40 am
| Touchstone wrote: |
Argh, personally I think non-skippable screens are so annoying and should be avoided at all cost |
Definately. Avoid it, avoid it, avoid it. Read here for details: http://www.gametunnel.com/html/section-viewarticle-48.html
And the last section on this page for a corollary on cinematics: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20040611/adams_01.shtml#
What I do think works well is to block the user from skipping for about a quarter of a second (About 200-250 ms). That way they can skip it whenever they want, but if they're pounding the keys they'll at least see a little flash of the screen and know that it's there and know that they skipped it.
#26463 - tepples - Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:05 am
Avoid non-skippable stills at all costs, eh? Do you mean avoid displaying an unskippable still by displaying a view of an incomplete model of the game world instead of a pretty still or movie while the game loads? Granted, this is more critical on the Nintendo DS, the Sony PSP, and other platforms without directly addressable mass storage.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#26464 - abilyk - Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:30 am
To clarify, I certainly don't suggest non-skippable screens in most situations, such as in a commercial game or a demo someone released on the net just for fun. But the demo in question, which is "mostly for the purpose of showing to potential employers," is a case of a much different scenario. I would consider it a big priority that the contact information is prominent, although my previously-suggested 5-10 seconds may be a bit too long. The point here is to entertain, sure, but more importantly to impress and to let the user know what you did and how to get ahold of you, even if you have to force that info upon them.
#26466 - keldon - Thu Sep 16, 2004 8:18 am
If the purpose is purely to demonstrate to potential employees your abilities, then contact information would be looked at if it was accessible through the menu system.
Due to the fact your demo will not demonstrate your experience or other skills not related to the type of game, it may be beneficial to include your previous roles in commercial titles.
#26586 - nmcconnell - Mon Sep 20, 2004 2:05 pm
Hello Everyone,
I want to thank you all for your input; lots of good ideas came out here. What it made me realise, though, is that I want the game to be playable for casual users, and not just for employers as I had originally stated.
The final compromise was driven by the combination of my desire to self-promote, my natural tendency to despise obnoxious software design, and the fact that I just want to get this done.
One possibility I was considering (but never implemented) was to put up my contact info after each level that the user finishes, but this seemed too much like 'try before you buy' shareware. That would be okay for an employer, but I also intend to post this for people to actually play.
So now I've got my name on the splash, and my website address as an omnipresent feature during play. I put an extremely trimmed version of my resume into the 'about the author' section (complete with mode 3 / hblank interrupt scrolling).
Probably, from a marketing point of view, it would have made sense to go with Abilyk's suggestions. However, I wanted this game to be entertaining for everyone, so I scaled back on the self-promotion a bit. It's still there, but I'm not forcing anyone to see it.
At some later date, I may revisit this demo and put together a version which is exclusively meant to be seen by employers. For now, I just want to put together a few tech demos.
In the end, the bells and whistles ('About the Author' section, etc.) took significantly longer to put in than the actual game.
Thanks again for all your input. Gridlock should be up on gbadev.org soon. Anyone who wants to hire me can check out http://www.transphase.ca ;)
--Neil McConnell
#26598 - Abscissa - Mon Sep 20, 2004 10:34 pm
| tepples wrote: |
| Do you mean avoid displaying an unskippable still by displaying a view of an incomplete model of the game world instead of a pretty still or movie while the game loads? |
No, silly. :)