{"id":25236,"date":"2011-05-06T22:34:51","date_gmt":"2011-05-06T22:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/mapping-the-playspace-heres-the-process-i-used\/"},"modified":"2018-12-05T22:30:41","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T05:30:41","slug":"mapping-the-playspace-heres-the-process-i-used","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/mapping-the-playspace-heres-the-process-i-used\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-25236 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/mapping-the-playspace-heres-the-process-i-used\/attachment\/25237\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_lkspe3N6Dq1qbup7mo1_400-100x100.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><strong>Mapping the playspace <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s the process I used to map the playspace and create the various play modes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Identify: Identify the variables. Many of the important variables in the original Steambirds were hidden away in code. Andy surfaced these in an XML file so they could be readily tweaked. <\/li>\n<li>Explore: Methodically explore the space. I created a matrix of planes, each with one variable pushed to the extreme. Then I played them. The majority were unplayable and I&rsquo;m not sure a single one made it into the final game. However, through the process of testing concrete variations, I gained a sense for what worked and what didn&rsquo;t. I was mapping out the Goldilocks zone. <\/li>\n<li>Theorize: Now that I had some data, I created theories for fun planes. &ldquo;I think that a slow, short range plane that needed to trap enemies in webs of poison trails would result in interesting tactics&rdquo; <\/li>\n<li>* Test: Then I would change a few variables and try it out. Did the theory yield a new way of playing the game? <\/li>\n<li>Refine: At this point, we&rsquo;d iterate on the plane many, many times to get the feel just right. <\/li>\n<li>Cull: We made a lot of planes. Some were more fun than others so those got chopped and the good ones stayed. This follows the philosophy of designing from a position of plenty, where you are overflowing with good content and can choose to put forth only the best.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0(via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lostgarden.com\/2010\/12\/steambirds-survival-goodbye-handcrafted.html\">Lost Garden: Steambirds: Survival: Goodbye Handcrafted Levels<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mapping the playspace Here&rsquo;s the process I used to map the playspace and create the various play modes. Identify: Identify the variables. Many of the important variables in the original Steambirds were hidden away in code. Andy surfaced these in an XML file so they could be readily tweaked. Explore: Methodically explore the space. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-words","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-6z2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25238,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25236\/revisions\/25238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}