Theoretical work in your Portfolio

[2d-chris]

theoretically this is a great idea, practically not so much but do it if it makes you happy.

[Campaignjunkie]

yes, agreed, that's why I'd try to get your theory articles published somewhere -- if it's some random article on your blog, who cares -- but if this is on a big website that someone respects or visits a lot, they're a lot more likely to read it and think highly of it...

"oh, it was featured in game developer magazine // oh, it was a GDC presentation // maybe this is worth reading"

[Campaignjunkie]

Let me take this opportunity and ask this: do you think I should do something similar and submit those two articles I wrote (and linked above) to a game news blog?

You'd have to re-write them. Mainly because those articles (I flipped through them) are solely about your level, and I haven't played your level, so I don't care about reading them?

Go back to your essay writing lessons in school. You need to have a main argument that you develop and support. What's interesting about your work or design thinking?

I think one possible format for this kind of article would be:

1) State general design idea / design structure that you'll talk about

2) Talk about 2-3 examples of that idea in other games, where that idea came from, pros / cons, BE SPECIFIC

3) Talk about your own implementation, explain it, compare to examples, assess, BE SPECIFIC

4) How do you know it worked / connect to general idea, BE SPECIFIC

5) Now, add further insight onto your original general idea and suggest future directions

example:

1) "There are many games that use level design to induce fear in the player. What is the architecture of fear?"

2) "Amnesia uses rooms with narrow hallways and dim, floor-height lighting in its second chapter... Half-Life 2 uses a stairwell that makes you turn right 4 times, then puts a headcrab at the top, designed to scare you when you turn left..." etc.

3) "In my map Gangster House, I combined narrow hallways with repetition of turns. In this room pictured below, I..."

4) "I think it worked because players often lost 5-10 health and ran into the barnacle. But is this fear, or is this surprise?"

5) "Maybe the architecture of fear is more about breaking a functional pattern unexpectedly, rather than just making something "look" scary according to what's traditionally scary in our culture norms? Or maybe there's another type of scariness possible in level design, one that's foreshadowed and unsurprising?"

one test of your writing: would my father / mother / bf / gf / friend, whoever has little interest or experience in games, be able to understand roughly the general idea I'm trying to get across?

Edited January 13, 2013 by Campaignjunkie

[selmitto]

That's very insightful and I agree with it all.

If I happen to write more articles I will keep everything you said in mind!

Thanks

[Puddy]

Thanks for all the input guys! I'll skip including stuff like this on my folio and instead put in a blog post or on a gaming site.