Heat Signature
A procedurally generated game of infiltrating spaceships, from Tom Francis.
Where Heat Signature comes up1 episode or test
- 1Start with loose premiseGo inside spaceships, see what emerges
- 2Build lots of systemsShip generation, AI, combat, galaxy map, economy
- 3Find where fun livesOn-ship combat proved most interesting
From Mark Brown on Tom Francis
What was said about Heat Signature
A fuzzy premise took years to reveal where the fun was. Tom Francis started Heat Signature with the loose idea of going inside spaceships, hoping it would find its own shape the way Gunpoint had. It took years: he built ship generation, AI, combat and a galaxy map with an economy before finding that on-ship combat was the most interesting part.
Gunpoint, his earlier game, grew from one possible hacking mini-game (rewiring) into a puzzle game; in his words, "Gunpoint just kind of told me what it wanted to be." Of Heat Signature, Mark Brown says Tom "realised that he had to make a butt-load of stuff in order to find out what made the game interesting."
Following the fun only pays off if each attempt is cheap. Heat Signature shows the cost of the follow-the-fun method: open-ended iteration makes a game's length hard to predict, which is why it suits indie studios more than regimented blockbuster production. The answer is Marc LeBlanc's "fail fast, follow the fun": throw something together quickly so a failure costs little time.
Ways to shorten the loop include game jams, quick tools like Game Maker or Godot, placeholder art, and holding to one fixed theme.
The Games That Designed Themselves
Tom Francis hoped its fuzzy idea would work like Gunpoint's, but it took years. He built ship generation, AI, combat, and a galaxy map with an economy before finding on-ship combat was the fun part.
A fuzzy premise took years to reveal where the fun was. Tom Francis started Heat Signature with the loose idea of going inside spaceships, hoping it would find its own shape the way Gunpoint had. It took years: he built ship generation, AI, combat and a galaxy map with an economy before finding that on-ship combat was the most interesting part.
Gunpoint, his earlier game, grew from one possible hacking mini-game (rewiring) into a puzzle game; in his words, "Gunpoint just kind of told me what it wanted to be." Of Heat Signature, Mark Brown says Tom "realised that he had to make a butt-load of stuff in order to find out what made the game interesting."
Following the fun only pays off if each attempt is cheap. Heat Signature shows the cost of the follow-the-fun method: open-ended iteration makes a game's length hard to predict, which is why it suits indie studios more than regimented blockbuster production. The answer is Marc LeBlanc's "fail fast, follow the fun": throw something together quickly so a failure costs little time.
Ways to shorten the loop include game jams, quick tools like Game Maker or Godot, placeholder art, and holding to one fixed theme.
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