Viking Breakfast

My first game is a head-to-head runner. Play as two hungry vikings on a mission to eat chicken. Dodge houses and collect poultry to score points. The high score after one minute wins! Play it now.

Generating Game Ideas

When I invented Game Bootcamp, I was daunted by the task of designing so many unique games. Then I remembered something Mark Rosewater, head designer of Magic: The Gathering, wrote:

The key to being more creative is learning how to use randomness as a tool. [...] When I'm trying to design new cards and I'm stumped, I like to give myself random challenges. Design a card inspired by a donut. Design a card that doesn't have the letter "e" in its text. Design a card that would make sense if the Mona Lisa was the art. What this does is force me to approach the problem from a vantage point I've never had before. While not every solution is golden, it does free me up to think about the problem in a whole new way.

Mark is also the man who originally inspired me to pursue game design as a career. So, in honor of MaRo, I'm going to base my first game off of a random Magic card. I reached into my box and pulled out the card Armageddon. (For those of you unwilling to click the link, it says "Destroy all lands")

Wow, that's a bad-ass phrase! And a great starting point for this week's game. Tune in next Thursday to see the result.

Welcome to Boot Camp

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mike Salyh: Game Designer, Artist, Animator, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. 

And I'm on a mission. I plan to make a new game every week for an entire year. I want to push my creativity (and sanity) to the breaking point. New content will be posted every Thursday by 11:59 PM pst. 

The Origins of Game Boot Camp:

This project has two main inspirations. The first is Noah's Art Camp. Noah Bradley is an incredibly talented artist who hosts a twelve-week long painting program. I've attended twice and both times were great. He showed me how much I could achieve by keeping my nose to the grindstone. Second, I teach a game design course at Digital Media Academy. My students work in teams and produce simple games over one or two weeks. I'm always impressed by their creativity, especially under such tight deadlines.

Game Boot Camp feels like the natural extension of everything I've done up to this point. I hope to have a fun year developing, playing, and learning just what makes games tick. So, let's get to work!