03/03/2025
In our monday session we had a guest lecturer, named Louis Tailfer, to talk to us about art and programming. Louis has been working for Maze Theory for three years as a unity engineer. Below are some notes I took.
What’s a unity engineer?
- Designer
- Bug fixer
- Backend developer
- Feature Developer
Programming as an artist medium:
- Poetry
- Tools and paintbrushes
- Clay and stone
Reccomendations:
- Start small
- Stay open-minded
- Take inspiration from anywhere
- Find the solution that works for you
- Hone your craft
- Take pride in your craft
06/03/2025
Session structure:
• Explaining schedule for next week’s 1-2-1s
• Debrief from Monday
• Weird art of the week
• Creative coding intro and examples (talk)
• Creative problem solving for game design (talk)
• Break
• Group check ins
Creative coding
P5.js:
- • Javascript framework
- • Made for creative coding and browser playable games
- • Easy to create short and expressive artworks
- • Easy to make
- • Easy to test
Shader Programming:
- • Shader graphs
- • HLSL/Cg (High Level Shader Lab)
Creative problem solving
Project orientated problem solving:
- • Cutting features
- • Make it look like there are more features than there actually are
- • Deception
- • Illusion
- • Use plug-ins
Cut features:
- • No one will know what the original intention was
- • Anything that’s not the core game loop can be cut
- • Life is short, take a nap
Making it look like there’s more features than there actually are
Misdirection:
- Path design
- Dark patterns
Illusion:
• Reconnecting branches
• Fake doors
• Clutter
Use plug ins:
- Redesign your game to fit the plug in
- There’s no shame in using other people’s work as long as you’re honest about what you’ve used