Alrighty, I have some unexpected treats for those of you that have been following my long-range goal of developing a remake of C64 classic Paradroid using Microsoft's XNA software development kit. No, I did not finish the design document as I'd promised I would in the last issue of My So-Called Live, but I know you faithful fans are used to my pomp and bluster falling flaccid when it comes time for actually delivering. Still, my search for a free design document template yielded some unbelievably awesome results. I mean, like any professional journalist, my very first step in researching this deeply nuanced and complicated design process was to type the following line of text into a super-secret Internet research tool mystifyingly titled "Google:" design document template. When that returned a bunch of crazy engineering gobbledygook, I went ahead and added the word "game" to the front of my search string and wound up with a delightful surprise.
Not only did I find a magnificently thorough game design document template, but take a closer look and you will notice what had me reading this thing voraciously, pausing only to laugh my head off at regular intervals. This design document template was written by none other than Chris Taylor, billionaire rockstar philanthropist (not really, but he plays the part fantastically) and Lead Designer at Gas Powered Games. This man, responsible for the much-lauded Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander is, to put it simply, hilarious. I strongly suggest browsing through the template because it includes such choice gems as, "Our game only runs on Compaq computers. The reason for this is such and such. We believe the world is coming to and end anyhow so what difference does it make?" This appears under the heading Philosophical point #2. Go ahead, fall out of your chair with the severe case of the giggles... I'll wait.
Back? Sweet, because I have something else to show you that I hope you'll like (no, it is not my Poke-mans).
Rudimentary at Best
Pictured above is the basic, untextured first draft of my version of the Paradroid player character dubbed "001." I don't know if it's coming across or not, but I tried to put in some extra dots on the zeroes to make them look sort of angry. I also am working on getting his interior to glow like a brilliant blue fusion furnace, but I'm not sure what XNA can do render-wise. Although I'm positive I've seen this effect and many more complicated visual effects in Xbox Live Arcade games, that doesn't mean that I know how to do it yet. In fact, I'd say that the only thing that I actually have any experience in doing professionally for this project is creating the 3D models and maybe talking smack about the game once it's finished, pointing out areas in which the game falls short and applauding the good bits.
I'd like to take a moment to thank all those of you that sent in links and other reference materials via feedback email. Your help is much appreciated. Unfortunately, I haven't actually been able to check out any of this supplemental tutorial material due to the hectic schedule of this humble game critic, but rest assured that I will check it out as soon as I get the chance... which will likely be sometime after I've beaten World of Warcraft.
Thanks again for reading my column and be sure to join me in another couple of weeks when I'll have more updates on the superiority of the Xbox 360 to the PC, coverage of new XBLA titles and, of course, the harrowing saga of my eternally epic struggle versus the titanic undertaking of designing a game using XNA (and avoiding run-on sentences).
In honor of the recent release of Discs of Tron:
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