The "Make Game" Button

Last week I saw another one of those annoying "you can be a game designer" commercials. In it, the two guys were in this huge room, lounging around and talking about how this was their work! To prove it, one of the guys said, "add that sound to that character" and the other guy complied by reaching down and pressing a button on the arm of his chair, like he was Captain Kirk or something.

Here's the way it works, folks. Computers are stupid, stupid things. Making a video game means getting this stupid, stupid machine to do the same thing, without fail, every time, even while the player is doing any number of other infinite things. It takes planning, tools, and careful use of resources. And yet, there is still this public perception that all it takes is pressing a button. Oh, if only it were that simple.

Arcade Update - Exterior Complete
Wahoo! It looks like a real game! Now I need to start scrounging for computer parts to upgrade the interior. Click here to see all of the pictures and see how it looked before I began.