Development on my new game is coming along great. My last game is currently on the brink of being published...it's in the hands of my sponsor now. Fingers crossed it should drop in the next week or so.

This new game is pretty much the antithesis of it, however. Where my last project was slow, measured and (hopefully) relaxing, this is relentless, pretty manic & full of visual noise. It's an absolute blast to design and build so hopefully I can translate the fun I'm having into a sugary-sweet gameplay experience.

Happy New Year everyone!

well, following on from my last post a few things have changed.
The game in question has been developed significantly in response to test/developer feedback and things are a lot brighter now. People are enjoying the new version a whole lot more, I feel like I've struck a reasonable balance between player expectation and my original game concept.

Can't wait to get this game out, should be cool!

ps when it *is* released, if people are interested I'll share my design docs which'll show how much this puppy has evolved :)

So currently I'm trying to find sponsorship for a game I've made. It's my first wholly self-directed game I've come to publish in 2 years (I've been working at agencies in the meantime). I have put a whole lot of heart into it but I'm starting to wonder if it has commercial appeal...

pro
+ I am genuinely pleased with how it has come out, I am more than happy to put my name to it
+ I've learned yet more about games design - doesn't matter how long you've been at it (myself since I was about 12, thanks Klik & Play!) you MUST learn something from each and every game you make.
+ It feels right. Tough to quantify, it has the atmosphere I was hoping for.
con
- Do any of the above mean it will find an audience!?
- People seem confused by the lack of severe/game-ending penalties. Loss is replaced with lower scores, victory replaced with super-highscores. It seems people *like* losing (not being sarcastic here, I genuinely believe there is value in loss - it provides inverse value to victory). I was hoping this would be more of a 'play' experience.
- People might not, on the most fundamental level, 'like' the art-direction and sound design. Both of these are me putting myself out there. Of course it'll sting a little if nobody digs this stuff.

hope this doesn't read as too wimpy, this is just the usual run of things when creating + publishing anything but since I've never written it down before I thought I would :)

Soooo, I am about to embark on my first foray into self-employment! whoop! Left the office for the last time today to the soundtrack of:

Algernon Cadwallader - Casual Discussion In A Dome Between Two Temples
(off Some Kind Of Cadwallader)

followed by

Men - Big F*cker
(off Everything So Far)

Cool beans. Lets frickin do this.

ps gonna be quiet for a bit while I go make things. brb

So I'm moving on and as of about 6 weeks time I will be doing my own thing full-time. I've been kicking around this idea. Time to make the plunge and stand by my ideas for better or worse.

I promise some cool new games in the coming months...and eventually one pretty big game from me.

My game is coming along nicely, apologies for how sporadic my updates are - I will get better at this sooner or later! Big (to me anyway) things are on the horizon, and within a couple months development on my game will kick into high gear.

Artworking has come along in leaps and bounds in the last couple months, fitting in around work and all the other stuff life comes up with...including sunshine. The first few scenes are at a point where I could almost call them complete. I won't...but I could work on this forever so something has to be 'finished' at some point :)

The design document for the project is pretty comprehensive now and features full detail for the vast majority of what players will be doing in the game - from launching fireworks to discovering butterflies.

I've also begun actual development. I have the first part of my particle system working, its based on the principle of varying strengths of gravity well. The game can also now load and transition between scenes. Might not sound like much but the framework is in place now to really start pulling things together...and fast.

I have uploaded some more music too, again, this is pretty indicative of what the soundtrack to my game will be like. Enjoy!
Shenakima - Waves

Moved house. Got new job (now am a games designer during the day! whoop!). Having an excellent time. Have made little progress on game in the last month due to all this stuff...but have started recording an EP which I'm hoping to release in the summer. Again this is a pretty good indicator of what my game will sound like. Will also be a good chance to test the pay-what-you-like model, which from a consumer standpoint I think is the best way to go.

Anywho, I'm gonna crack on with some artworking.

Still awaiting things to come together re: my work-life so progress on the game has once again been slowed up somewhat. Did some filter tests the other day on some game backgrounds, have hit upon a really nice story-book type finish. Might well have the look I'm after now!

Been recording some music of late getting back into that process. Really excited about the prospect of recording the score for this game, its going to be loads and loads of fun. I've put some songs up on last.fm and myspace, they're a pretty good indicator of what this game will sound like...

The tracks are called "Like Fireflies" & "The Everything's Okay Alarm".

Oh, also moving house so its pretty hectic. Can't wait for the dust to settle so I can crack on with this properly again.

http://www.last.fm/music/Shenakima
http://www.myspace.com/shenakima

So we're still waiting on the paperwork but I basically asked my boss if I could go part-time so I could concentrate on making music amongst other things. This was just before Christmas, in the next couple of weeks I'll know for sure. Fingers crossed.

If all goes well I'll have extra time to work on art-working too which would be worth the world to me.

I have carried on artworking since December but the fun of Christmas ensured it went pretty slow.

What I have done is make some serious head-way formalising my design document for this big ol project. Its a dull read but its super-useful to have all the details written down so I know what I'm working toward...and to avoid feature creep (either way!).

I've also written up some designs for around half-a-dozen other little weeny games that I might get round to making in the coming months. I'm really really keen to get some stuff out there as we're looking at it being 18 months now nearly since my last release.

gaaaghhhh!!!

Work has been crazy of late and I've not had much in the way of evenings to work on my game. Very frustrating. I did manage to get some artworking done this evening but I'm shattered. Progress is better than no progress.

Hows this Christmas deadline for artworking looking? hmm maybe if I don't go to work for the next month :)

Ah well, slow and steady is fine so long as my hearts still in it and it certainly is.

It might take a while but when this artworking is finished its going to be sweeeet