That is a table I keep in my files to have a quick overview of projects or experiments I have open. While reviewing the objectives of this blog I though if this is a creative lab I should sate more clearly what are the "experiments" going on. It may not be completely up to date sometimes but it is there if I need it. Now, I can use it as a foundation for a new way of representing what is going on in the lab.

I am going deep with rethinking the blog and there is more work on the way.  I got a bit stuck and I am using extensively a self-coaching technique (long story short, writing a dialogue with myself), it works great. If I don't get to the conclusions in the next two days (before the end of the week) I will just start to do "random creativity" posts to fill up.

Avast! Is this a map to the greatest treasure of all? Aye, it is! A map for motivation.

Well, it is actually a conceptual map to deconstruct motivation in two different dimensions providing some insight into different kinds of motivations. Understand better how your motivation works applying your own experiences into the map.

Another quick creativity exercise using three random words from random word generator.This time the words are wine, creature and fax. At first I imagined a fax like creature drinking wine. Then I decided to do a search in case there were anything about fax creatures, wine creatures or wine faxes. I found the brand design of "creature wines" created by Ryan Webert. So I came up with this image using one of the label design of the bottles, made by Ryan, and a fax image:

Toss the coins, make them slide and bounce around to collect all the 21 coins in this simple yet addictive game

A quick prototype developed in a few hours. Originally made just as a excuse to test the Unity web player and some javascript integration. But the result is a small game with a nice physical feel on the coins and a catchy, balanced, mechanic based on pure luck.

Do you want to embed Unity in a weebly post? There are other sites that explain how to do it. But I found that wasn't working for me because I was trying to embed the player in a blog post. I find that there are some limitations in how javascript is processed in weebly blog posts.

I provide a (limited) workaround to make it work. Read the whole story that explain all the details and how I got more than expected when realized I have developed an automatic Unity player multi loader.

When you enter the show you receive and card: "Please suggest a title for tonight's show. You should also write your NAME. The case of ________ by ____".
That's how yesterday's evening started at The Landsdown when I went to see "Murder she didn't write" by improv group Degrees of error.

The post about the alien plants, an artificial life experiment  have been updated and now the Unity web player is working!

Some controversial topics generate debates that can be seen as pendulums. For some time one position gets more attention and the opposing side tries to defend their point of view with more energy. Then during some time there may be a point of equilibrium, but the momentum of that change keep moving the attention towards the opposing side. And the cycle repeats again in a swinging motion.
I thought a concept for a game in which two players can exert a force to a pendulum by holding and releasing a button. Points will be awarded to the side that the pendulum is in.

Obviously the idea is to try to represent the situation with a metaphor. Each player only have the option to force the debate (pendulum) towards him side. The bars on the sides are the energy that is consumed when pushing the pendulum. It replenishes slowly over time.
This idea could be prototyped farily quickly. It would be interesting to see if the emergent dynamic is really a regular swinging motion and if the two players could actually collaborate together to end the "debate" and share the points keeping the pendulum in the middle.

Sometimes, the planets align and I enjoy programming long into the night.

I am not a programmer, but sometimes I like to tinker with the code and see the ideas coming to life.

The idea of Game Design Doctor is to assist and coach other game designers and game developers to achieve their professional goals. It's not the first time I am in the position of helping and teaching others about game design. It can looks similar to consultancy or teaching, but the concept is a mix of coaching and mentoring. When coaching my knowledge and experience about game design and development allow me to be able to understand better the context and situations of the coachee but I don't really need to know more, or be a better designer, than him. Then, sometimes, I can suggest some data or tools useful for the subject which I will know from my own experience and previous work with others. In the end, having a nice set of tools for a wide variety of situations in the game development process.

Selling the concept in just one sentence:

Some examples of situations can give a better idea:

1. You are stuck and need to see a situation with fresh eyes, from different perspectives.
2. You want to improve you game designing skills but are not sure what to begin with.
3. You want to improve a process or workflow in your project.
4. You want someone to look over your shoulder and suggest things to improve.
5. You want to check something you are doing in your project is ok.
6. You just need help with a game design related problem.

Not everything in that list is strictly coaching. That's why I am using the metaphor of a doctor. Sometimes is coaching, sometimes is looking at symptoms, giving a diagnostic and providing a treatment in the form of a conceptual tool or a piece of information.

The first thing to do is to start working in the idea as stated in the video above. I am looking for 2-3 people (first among my friends) to start working with to see the results and make sure I can do this and enjoy it. Then I will need to find if someone will actually pay for this service.
The other part of the project is the site www.GameDesignDoctor.com which is currently in private alpha and will be developed with the experience and knowledge adquired throughout the coaching sessions and personal research. The site aditionally supports the coachees and other users providing references to data and tools in a natural and efficient way.

Air persons is a new platform to offer live services. It's not probably going to provide me clients very soon but you can never know if you don't try and can be useful to validate the idea and try prices. I am offering the service just in spanish for the moment. You can click the banner to see the offer.