Stephen Calender Programming Blog

Reimaging Success: Lego Universe 10 Year Anniversary

The 10th anniversary originally went unnoticed by me, but not by everyone. [...more]

Tags: NetDevil, Opinion, Video.

The 10th anniversary originally went unnoticed by me, but not by everyone.

Full Article

Comments (0)

Talks With The Potential To Change Your Life

Once I experienced these I have gone back to them over and over again. The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch [...more]

Tags: Opinion, Review, Video.

Once I experienced these I have gone back to them over and over again.

The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch

Full Article

Comments (0)

Best of GDC Presentations

After 100s of hours watching the GDC YouTube channel, I have curated my top picks. In no particular order: Rules for Development (of People) by Julie Farbaniec [...more]

Tags: Game Development, Opinion, Review, Video.

After 100s of hours watching the GDC YouTube channel, I have curated my top picks.

In no particular order:

Rules for Development (of People) by Julie Farbaniec

Full Article

Comments (0)

A Tale of Two Data Sets – Data in Game Development

It might surprise you to learn that working on the data of your game is usually about half the development effort – if not more. Whether your data is bits of dialogue, images, items, or locations of objects, all of that information has to be meticulously designed and organized. [...more]

Tags: Filament Games, Opinion.

It might surprise you to learn that working on the data of your game is usually about half the development effort – if not more. Whether your data is bits of dialogue, images, items, or locations of objects, all of that information has to be meticulously designed and organized. Full Article

Comments (0)

Developing “Code Smell”: How To Gauge Programming Quality Without Knowing Anything About Programming

If anyone is interested in having more successful projects, this is a great talk for you. First presented at M+Dev 2018. [...more]

Tags: Game Development, Opinion, Presentation.

If anyone is interested in having more successful projects, this is a great talk for you. First presented at M+Dev 2018. Full Article

Comments (0)

How to Get Hired at a Game Studio: Game Engineer Edition

One of my responsibilities at Filament is facilitating the hiring process, and I will often be the first person to screen applications. Upon first review, I try to give each applicant 10 minutes of my time. Based on Filament’s structure, I need to evaluate a candidate on the following criteria: Are they capable of building […] [...more]

Tags: Filament Games, How To, Opinion.

One of my responsibilities at Filament is facilitating the hiring process, and I will often be the first person to screen applications. Upon first review, I try to give each applicant 10 minutes of my time. Based on Filament’s structure, I need to evaluate a candidate on the following criteria:

• Are they capable of building a game from start to finish?
• Can they execute at our pace and quality levels?
• Does both the studio and the prospective hire have something to gain from working together?
• Cultural fit: do they care about educational games?

I’ll unpack what it takes to answer some of those questions and give some general advice on how to make it past the first hurdle in the job application process. Full Article

Comments (0)

Learning About Learning: Dog Training

If you have been following Filament Games you have probably met my dog Euler [...more]

Tags: Filament Games, Opinion.

If you have been following Filament Games you have probably met my dog Euler Full Article

Comments (0)

10 Tips for Designing a Game Tutorial

Every game teaches you how to play. Plants vs. Zombies is an interesting case study because it made “hardcore” strategy content accessible to casual and non-gamers. [...more]

Tags: Filament Games, Game Development, How To, Opinion.

Every game teaches you how to play. Plants vs. Zombies is an interesting case study because it made “hardcore” strategy content accessible to casual and non-gamers. Full Article

Comments (0)

The Importance of Feedback

I’ve previously quoted Sid Meier who believes one way to think about game design is “a series of interesting decisions“. Besides game designers, there are a few other professions that obsess over human behavior with a particular focus on the choices we make; namely, psychologists and economists. They study phenomenon that expose flaws in how […] [...more]

Tags: Filament Games, Opinion.

I’ve previously quoted Sid Meier who believes one way to think about game design is “a series of interesting decisions“. Besides game designers, there are a few other professions that obsess over human behavior with a particular focus on the choices we make; namely, psychologists and economists. They study phenomenon that expose flaws in how we perceive the world which give insight into how our brains function. Full Article

Comments (0)

How to Design the First Five Minutes of Your Game

A common request when pitching a game idea is “walk me through the first 5 minutes (or sometimes 30 seconds) of your game”. It is a question designed to weed out who has really thought out their ideas. The truth of the matter is that you need to convey a lot information concisely and elegantly […] [...more]

Tags: Filament Games, Game Development, How To, Opinion, Students.

A common request when pitching a game idea is “walk me through the first 5 minutes (or sometimes 30 seconds) of your game”. It is a question designed to weed out who has really thought out their ideas. The truth of the matter is that you need to convey a lot information concisely and elegantly at the beginning of your game. Full Article

Comments (0)