Building out a game, the code, the language is different for each use, but as Rez Graham explains in great detail on this episode of Creative Mind, game design starts with the story.

If you have a Twitch account, then the statement “video games aren’t what they used to be” is a bit of a laugh, but if your last game system features a few plumbers chasing mushrooms looking for a princess, then the world of video game programming is a brave new world. Games are constantly evolving from AAA tentpole titles like Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto to seemingly simplistic story-based casual games like Florence, and everything in between.

David “Rez” Graham is the Director of Game Programming at Academy of Art University’s School of Game Development, and a senior AI programmer currently working independently on a self-funded unannounced project. He has worked in the games industry as an engineer since 2005 spending most of that time working on various kinds of AI, from platformer enemy AI to full simulation games. Most recently, he was the Lead AI Programmer on The Sims 4 at Maxis. Prior to that, he worked at PlayFirst, Slipgate Ironworks, Planet Moon Studios, and Super-Ego Games.

He is the co-author of Game Coding Complete, 4th Edition; has two articles in Game AI Pro, one article in the upcoming Game AI Pro 3, and regularly speaks at The Game Developers Conference. Rez spends his free time acting and running tabletop RPGs.

In this Podcast

Rez walks us through the major steps in what goes into designing a game. How to pick a game engine. What style of play you may be developing for. What resources you will need or should think about. Releasing a game. So if you have ever thought about designing a game or wondering how something that use to cost a quarter now generates billions of dollars a year in revenue, listen in.

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