GBGamesAction announced a new Indie Game Dev Podcast, this time featuring an interview with Andy Schatz, founder of Pocketwatch Games.
Andy’s Venture Africa was a finalist in the Independent Games Festival. He talks about how he got started making games at an early age, and he has some advice for aspiring indies as well. It’s a long podcast, weighing in at almost 65 minutes.
For this week’s Thousander Club update:
Game Hours: 88.75 / 1000
Game Ideas: 403 / 1000
Target: 399
I only spent an hour and a half on game development this past week. I left for Ohio for two graduation parties this weekend, and so I didn’t have Saturday and Sunday to do much; however, I did read and do a bit of thinking.
I have been pretty excited about a number of different projects, but I am afraid I am spreading myself too thin. Since I want to do a number of things, I don’t get any of them done, and as Henry James said, “Nothing is so fatiguing as the hanging on of an uncompleted task.” I need to focus on accomplishing some specific tasks and not worry about some other projects. Otherwise, I’m exerting more energy than I need to, and nothing of substance is accomplished.
I keep forgetting to post about it when it happens, but the Carnival of Gamers is here! This time it is hosted by Kim Pallister at …on pampers, programming & pitching manure. My post about Roger Ebert is featured this month, as well as a number of great posts by other participants.
Yesterday I worked a bit on Oracle’s Eye Prime. I managed to get a simple window to open. Nothing special at all, but it is a good first step. When I last started working on OE, I had the benefit of an existing codebase from last year’s June Game in a Day. Since I am starting a new engine, I had to reimplement some basic functionality.
The upside? I have a much better idea how the code should look. It took me less than an hour to get this functionality up and running, and I imagine getting Kyra integrated will take even less time.
I plan to use a configuration file throughout the development. Previously I would have hardcoded everything and worried about loading data later. Now, if I hardcode anything, it is meant to be replaced once the functionality is implemented. For instance, the title bar of the window has the string “Oracle’s Eye Prime”, which is specified in the code. Once I get a working loader for the configuration file, that name, as well as the dimensions of the window, can be loaded dynamically without recompiling.
I think I should be able to get quite a bit accomplished before June 15th. Epic, I’ll still play Quake 3 Arena with you if I manage to get OE’ to the same point as OE was when I stopped working on it. B-)
Some time back I was wondering how to implement the game loop. I’ve since become comfortable enough with the concept that I am no longer afraid of doing the wrong thing. Still, it is nice to know whenever someone tackles the subject. The Game Loop by Koen Witters covers three possibile ways to implement one. The article covers some of the reasons why you would not use certain implementations, especially with regards to extremely fast or slow hardware.
In Calendar Aggregation, Seth Godin asks why there isn’t already a single place to go to find out what is happening in your area.
Isn’t Metromix exactly what he’s talking about? Do cities outside of Chicago not have similar tools available?
“Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.” “Fear kills us time and time again.” “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
A lot of people know that the last one was a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt. Most of them forget the rest of it, though: “- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
Everyone has fears. The problem is allowing allow fear to be in control of your life. Fear takes over your ability to think clearly. When your mind is clouded with fear, you lose the ability to make decisions, and without decisions, you can’t act. It is this ability to prevent action that gives fear the reputation of being a killer.
Some people are afraid to do something because they’ve never done it before. What if I fail? What if I can’t do it? Why should I do it if no one else is doing it? These are natural questions to ask, but you should recognize that you might not actually be asking anything. For a lot of people, “What if I fail?” is the most they let their minds get. They don’t actually attempt to answer the question! It just becomes a demoralizing mantra.
Questions are tools. You use questions to learn things you don’t know. Leaving them unanswered is a terrible joke on your own mind. You’ll constantly worry about the question, but somehow you’ll also forget about seeking the answers.
When I’m afraid, I try to focus on the fear. I find that fear is usually the result of a lack of clarity and information. When I was younger, the monsters in my closet were only scary because I didn’t think about how they got there in the first place. Why would monsters materialize just because the lights went out? Why would they show up in the closet of all places? Why haven’t the authorities taken action to protect people from closet monsters? Now, you can’t expect a child to know to ask these questions, but these kinds of questions don’t get asked when the child grows up, either.
“What if I fail?” Well, what if you do fail? Honestly sit down with yourself and start thinking! What is the worst that can happen? You learned how not to do something? Is that really so bad? The worst case scenario is still a plus for you, but until you realize that fact, failing is still going to be scary. Unfortunately, most people don’t think past the “What if” part, and they can’t make progress because they’ve already let fear defeat them. Once you can start thinking about your reasons for being afraid, you can start thinking about more productive things. “What if I fail?” becomes “What can I do to reduce my risk?”, which is a much more productive question to ask. The answer to questions like this one becomes your next action, and taking action is what will make all the difference.
The fear of failing will paralyze you. I think it is an even bigger failure to let fear prevent you from attempting something than to actually fail in the attempt. For example, starting a business is scary for a lot of people. Starting a business doing something that no one has done before is scarier. Starting a business doing something no one has done before in a market that no one thinks exists is terrifying. But don’t let that fear scare you from doing it. Don’t let fear prevent you from taking those needed actions to advance. Recognize your fears, but don’t let them rule your life.
As Mark Twain said, “Courage is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it.”
For this week’s Thousander Club update:
Game Hours: 87.25 / 1000
Game Ideas: 378 / 1000
Target: 378
I left for Iowa on Thursday night to visit some friends. I also had to watch my parents’ cat while they were out of town earlier in the week. Between driving to their house and preparing for the trip, I didn’t have too much time to myself. Not that I didn’t squander the opportunities that I had, but they were few and far between.
I spent a little time while I was out of the state with a notebook and pen. I have a few use cases that should help me focus on how my engine will work.
I also have two cats now. Diego and Gizmo might be a handful. I’ll see if I can get some pictures up. Yes, my blog will actually feature pictures of my cats. It’s come to this.
The Cloning Innovation is an article at Game Tunnel that focuses on the indie innovation issue. It essentially says much the same that Jeff Vogel claims: innovation doesn’t pay.
In the mainstream games industry, making clones of existing games is a sure-fire way to make your offerings mediocre, resulting in poor reviews and horrible sales. In casual games, however, cloning a successful game means that you can also be successful.
Weird? I think so. Then again, I don’t spend much time on casual game portals. I’m not familiar with what millions of people are playing in terms of casual games. Perhaps people loved Bejeweled so much that they wanted to play the Bejeweled clones as well. Would a Professor Fizzwizzle clone do as well as the original? Apparently so, especially if you find an audience that never heard of the original game.
If it is the case that you can be financially rewarded for simply engineering the same exact game that your competitors are making, what does it say about the importance of innovation? If the customers don’t care, then the only incentive is for the indie to be proud of making innovative games on principle.
No, principles don’t pay the bills, but there are a lot of moral choices that people make simply because it is the right thing to do and not because there is something in it for them.
Some of you may have been reading Spiderweb Software’s Jeff Vogel’s “View from the Bottom” series of articles. I think he is generally pessimistic when it comes to indie games, and his previous articles basically show that he thinks innovation won’t come from them. His latest article, #3, seems to make the argument that innovation isn’t rewarded, giving Jeff’s personal account as an example.
I really hate trying to do something new. Sure, it gives personal satisfaction. But you know what else is fulfilling? Staying in business. Not losing your house. And you can’t pay for food with Creativity checks.
…
If you are an indie and your game flops… well, small companies have a real hard time surviving the blow. And I don’t want to lose my house.
Remember that the next time you look to the independent developer to be the source of innovation in this industry. There is nothing scarier that aiming at a market that doesn’t exist yet. It might not exist at all.
It’s hard for me not to get upset about such words. Unfortunately, I also don’t have the authority to say anything to it. I don’t have my first game published yet, let alone sales figures to argue against Vogel.
Luckily, David Michael has something to say. Blaming Innovation is Michael’s take on the issue of innovation. He agrees that it makes sense to continue investing in what already works. Innovating means you’re leaving your established audience and trying to find new ones.
But if you never move past what you know works, you’re in what’s called a “rutâ€. And I’ve never heard that described as a good thing.
Sometimes you just have to face the uncertainty.
You might as well try to enjoy it.
I’d argue that finding new audiences is a good thing. Yes, you may have your loyal customers, and yes, innovating might turn some of them off. I think that if you have a core audience and great customers, you should reward them well.
But isn’t it possible that doing something refreshing and unexpected means you’re expanding and diversifying your base? Are you stretching yourself too thin? It’s possible, but it is also possible that by not innovating, you’re locking your potential audience to the same exact audience you already have. Game players grow older and stop playing games. Without new customers, you’re not only stuck with the same customers, but it’s also possible that your customers will leave you. Who will replace them if you don’t try to appeal outside of them?