EVOLV's Design and Development Blog

Far and away, one of the things we get emails about the most has to be requests for info on submitting portfolios from potential game artists. This is awesome and flattering, plus we get to see some amazing art. However, this day in age, it's not exactly the correct protocol for landing a gig as an artist for a game. Just as game development has had its playing field opened up to independent programmers, so too has it to artists. That means a great many people who got the awesome job of producing art for games, especially indy games, are the creators of the games themselves. Here at EVOLV, it's a little different. We are a team of 4 programmers -- one of whom is also our Creative Director. What drew us to our current CD was more than just an outstanding portfolio. It was that ability to join in as a developer and partner. Game devs wear many hats. This might seem discouraging at first, to someone who is at this point in his life 'just an artist/writer', but it sho

Most people would be surprised to know that Age of the Four Clans has been in development since 2015. We were looking through some old files this morning when we came across these old screen shots from our Skywyre based engine, before we moved to Intersect :   Old Laurasia Port Old Tethys Port Old Iza'Nagi Port And now the comparison with some newer screen shots from the PTR as of 7/7/17:   New Laurasia Port New Tethys Port New Iza'Nagi Port It's also funny to say that we have been working on the content which will appear in Beta for so long now, that even the "new" screen shots appear a bit old to yours truly. The point is made, however -- game design is like making any piece of art. It doesn't come together all at once.   I one time likened game development to sculpting. You start with a vague impression of what you want to create. It's rough, it's edgy, but by and by, it starts to take shape. After enough chisel

We've briefly discussed what you'll need if you're going to dive into the realm of creating a video game. Now it's time to drill-down and get into what it takes to create a Massively Multiplayer Online game, or MMO. Since this will be the major focus of this blog, we won't be exploring every single aspect of MMO creation in a single post. As always, we can post some of the basic items that an MMO needs in order to run and be successful. You need the game itself. If you don't have a game, then you need to make a game. If you have a game concept, then you need to make a game. If you have art and some programming and maybe even an engine but don't have it all mixed together into a game, then... well, you get the point! Make your game. Download a pre-made engine if you want, or get to coding the base of the thing. Work in Unity, work in Flash or work in 1970's era index cards. It really doesn't matter what you make your game in, so long as you are

For those looking to use the Intersect Engine to create animations within their games, I've just developed a new tutorial. Check it out, here: Creating Animations in the Intersect Engine

So if you've come to this website looking for information on creating an MMO or other game for yourself, there's a good chance you have limited experience in game making and want to know if it's even possible. Here's the good news: Thanks to the internet and thousands of intrepid developers worldwide, game design has never been more accessible. There are loads of resources online, including pre-built games, editable engines, and no-programming-required interfaces. Of course, what you get out of any of these systems is up to you and the time you devote to making it. If you've been browsing Netflix, lately, you may have come across the two Indie Game movies. While most game developers could appreciate the movie and the independent titles it featured, I personally can imagine a few people might have been left with the wrong impression about the majority of devs in the industry, today. A few of us have been lucky to get a game out which did well and perhaps won a few

If you hop over to the Intersect Forums, you can check out a guide we wrote about creating quests for your MMOs running in the Intersect Engine: Step By Step Quest Creation in Intersect