Last Online: 8/13/07
Ryan Batten
I'm a Game Design/Development student at Columbia College Chicago. I'm primarily a designer but I spend a lot of time programming too, because honestly it's something you just have to do...okay so maybe I actually enjoy programming a little bit too. Shhh...don't tell anyone
All I can say about my tastes in the industry is innovate! I'm done with sequels to the bazillionth power, I'm done with war FPS's, I'm done with kicking out sports games just because they make an easy buck, I'm done with destruction and violence as the only means to fun in a game. It's time for something new. There's a lot more out there to make games fun, and we need to find it and use it. So innovate.
I'm always looking for a good, interesting project to work on, so if you need someone with some sweet design, documenting, scripting, and programming skills give me a holler...I promise to holla back. As long as the project tickles my interest.
Some people call me Baggy. Don't ask, just let it be what it is.
All I can say about my tastes in the industry is innovate! I'm done with sequels to the bazillionth power, I'm done with war FPS's, I'm done with kicking out sports games just because they make an easy buck, I'm done with destruction and violence as the only means to fun in a game. It's time for something new. There's a lot more out there to make games fun, and we need to find it and use it. So innovate.
I'm always looking for a good, interesting project to work on, so if you need someone with some sweet design, documenting, scripting, and programming skills give me a holler...I promise to holla back. As long as the project tickles my interest.
Some people call me Baggy. Don't ask, just let it be what it is.
All words, in every language, are metaphors. Marshal
Career Summary
I am becoming familiar with Torque Game Engine and I've used flash and java before to create interactive applications. Not a lot of prior game development experience yet, but then again that's why I'm a student. What else, I know C++, C sharp, visual basic, web development
My Friends
Smart People and Things They Say
"Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either." -Marshall McLuhan
"Our Age of Anxiety is, in great part, the result of trying to do today's jobs with yesterday's tools." -Marshall McLuhan
"The medium is the message." -Marshall McLuhan
"The most debased forms of mass diversion - video games and violent television dramas and juvenile sitcoms - turn out to be nutritional after all," -Steven Johnson, Everything Bad is Good For You
"Our Age of Anxiety is, in great part, the result of trying to do today's jobs with yesterday's tools." -Marshall McLuhan
"The medium is the message." -Marshall McLuhan
"The most debased forms of mass diversion - video games and violent television dramas and juvenile sitcoms - turn out to be nutritional after all," -Steven Johnson, Everything Bad is Good For You
These are games that baggy likes. No, not just likes, REALLY likes. Baggy is a little bit picky.
Now, I'm not typically a sucker for fancy visuals (graphics get too much attention already), but Shadow of the Colossus is simply beautiful. The visuals are awe-inspiring, and the graphics aren't even that intensely great. The artists for this game were clearly given carte blanche and took full advantage of it. Not to mention the experience of fighting this goliath that is hundreds of times your size is an incredible feeling.
The same development team as Shadows of the Colossus, so this game has stunning visual art as well. But I like Ico for a little bit different reason. It's a game that promotes non-violent interaction. It's primarily a puzzle platformer where you must do things to AVOID fighting instead of getting into them. Their attempt to create a game concept based on positive interaction over negative earned it my respect.
Another visually beautiful game. It's starting to look like I only like pretty things. Once again however it's not that that draws me to this game. I love that they were able to combine the appearance of 2 dimensionality in a 3 dimensional environment in a unified way. But most of all, I love the unique gameplay elements. Using drawing to interact with the environment and invoke abilities was innovative and interesting. I only wish it had had a chance on the wii.
Possibly my favorite RPG of all times. Aside from Suikoden's standby of 108 characters (awesome!), this suikoden just had something the others lacked. The plot was outstanding, with many twists and turns and the mood it invoked was just priceless.
It almost brought the series back to suikoden II.
As with all Oddworld games, this one has an amazingly quirky mood to it. I don't have much more to say, it was just fun.
Not overly sexualized female lead, violence avoidance over violence confrontation, a good message, interesting game play, visually stunning, this game really has a lot to offer. Someone was given a lot of freedom in making this game.
The mere mention of the release of these games makes me wet my self just a little every time.
Procedural content, evolution of of a creature at your control from amoeba to civilization and beyond, a whole universe of planets filled with user created content, what doesn't this game have (potentially). Every time I hear about its delay I die a little inside.
This cute, strange, clever, and creative game features customizability and teamwork, and constructive gaming. This should be pretty amazing.
Astounding graphics set aside, the freedom with which they claim you will be able to move through the environments and the size of the sprawling supposedly accurate cities makes this game sound like a real part of the next generation of gaming. Who doesn't want to climb buildings to escape the fuzz every now and then?
