So some things that I need to recap which might be of interest to you folks. The first was that in January, I was a guest on the Press Play on Tape podcast - this time around, it was all focused on Acorn’s wonderful machines (which is funny - because I have appeared to on a massive BBC Micro kick again). I quite enjoyed catching up and talking micros again with Alex & Daz as always.
Along with that, we’ve been quite busy on the Reset front. (Issue 8)[http://reset.cbm8bit.com/?dir=issue8], focusing on C64 Adventure games came out a few months back, and more recently we released Issue 9, dedicated to the games of Hewson Consultants! Which is quite an coincidence, as they’re coming back into games publishing with a rather sweet shmup titled Hyper Sentinel. They’re currently running a Kickstarter to get some cash together to help complete the base iOS build, and start porting it to other platforms.
I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek of the demo, and put a small video together showing it off. If you like your retro-esque shooters, then you should consider backing it if you’ve not already. It’s still got a few weeks left (at least at the time of writing) - and there’s some nifty things you can get for your pledge!
Speaking of the channel - I finally cracked 500 subs. Twice even (no thanks to a nicely timed purge on YouTube’s part). I’m kind of chuffed with some of the recent videos - from my look at Shadow of the Beast (which was probably one of the most popular things I’ve covered in ages), along with lots of C64 homebrew, and a review of Ultima I (which was good enough for Lord British to RT himself - thanks Ant!). There’s a few minor shake ups coming up soon, but if you appreciate respectully covered 8-bit computer games, you’ll appreciate what I have in store.
I’m also trying to get back into streaming the occasional 8-bit game again - some upgrades are helping this to happen, and well - I’m hoping to get a bit of action over on Twitch over there, simply because of the audience. Truth be told, I’m hoping to talk about all this lines up soon enough.
Finally, there’s Backfire. Things have been brewly along nicely there - even if at an inconsistent pace, thanks to the having a proper job again thing. Still, most importantly is that it’ll be part of the Indie Games Room over at AVCON… THIS WEEKEND. So don’t mind me - I’m working on finalising builds, and making sure I can lug over everything I need to for demoing.
That’s quite a significant milestone to be honest. With Pocket Dogfights, I was never in the position to even attempt it - but compared to that, or even Pivotus, there’s a lot more customary elements which people do appreciate when it comes to what I’m aiming to achieve with Backfire.
So, if you happen to be heading over to AVCON, do swing by. Hoping to get some good feedback on things, along with some mailing list sign-ups. In fact, even if you’re not going, it would be greatly appreciated, if you’d be willing to sign up as we get closer to release.
I think that is pretty much it. For those who’ve been there and supporting - whether by sharing stuff I post, watching and discussing the games I’ve posted, or those who’ve thrown a bit of cash over on Patreon - you all don’t know how much that has meant over the end of last year, and the first part of this year.
Most importantly. Helping to spread the word helps. Greatly. Especially for those of us who are niche creators… with our games, videos, blog posts and whatever else we put together.
<3
]]>Platform wise, the current plan is to target Windows and OS X. Depending on circumstances, I’m open to other platforms - though that doesn’t include mobile, as I don’t believe I can make touch controls that are responsive enough (along with keeping out of your way) to make it fair to play.
So, how’d I describe it? I like to think of Backfire as a game of arcade action, where the act of firing your blaster propels you around the playfield (with the power of physics). You must then use this to swiftly avoid enemy craft and blast them for points.
Stylistically, I’ve been aiming for that early 80’s lost arcade game feeling - which led me to going with a faux-Vector style design (which is also easier for someone like myself to draw), which combined with Ant’s amazing background piece, certainly builds up the vibe.
Going along with that, I’ve been programming the audio as snippets of Atari BASIC code - whilst the current build has them all being run via the Atari800MacX emulator, I’m planning to have the final versions of sounds recorded from my Atari 800XL. There’s one example below which shows some code and the resultant sound output!
There’s still a lot of work to be done - levels, enemy variations (and bosses, let alone the bosses) - but I’m hoping it’s something which will come together over the next few months.
In terms of updates? I’ll primarily be posting videos to YouTube, and hopefully the occasional post here - I do have to get a dedicated website up, but for now, that’s something to be worked on alongside the game.
As for where it’s at right now? You can check out the latest development video below - this shows a bunch of play from the first few levels, where things are decidedly slow to introduce players to the movement and the initial enemy archetypes.
If you want to keep track about progress? Best thing to do is either subscribe to the channel (which is where I’ll post these dev videos), or perhaps you’d like to follow me on Twitter. That way, you can keep up to date with the bigger and smaller pieces in development too!
Finally - here’s the latest development video, I’m hoping you enjoy this one and can see where the game is, and where it’s going to be headed over in the near future!
]]>Part of that really comes down to decisions I’d made, which I thought would pay off. Instead, they led to things which put me in quite an unstable position. My big takeaway from that? You’ll know who your true friends are when you’re at your worst - and they’ll always be your best supporters.
I guess my big lesson for 2016 is to want to make sure I’m picking the right projects to be involved in. In particular, those which aren’t ones I own. It’s one thing to take risks on your personal or side projects, but when it comes to things which are along one’s primary path - it makes sense to be conservative.
As for personal stuff? Development wise, I’d like to finish off the current game I’m working on - it’s going well, just needing to get through the rest of development and get it out there. From there? Kicking off some old-school C64 development - I really want to work on doing some small game releases there. Yes, in Space Year 2016, I feel it’s something special to go from developing games on modern mobile or desktop hardware, to the limited hardware which an old 8-bit micro has in comparison.
Other than that? When it comes to my channel, I want to expand my coverage - more of the machines in my collection, and going into better detail on games where I can. I think there’s a lot which can be thought about when it comes to these old titles, and even more than ever, I think it’s worth being able to study them and try to get an understanding of how they tick.
So what else can be said? I have a lot of personal things I’d like to improve, but those aren’t exactly things I’m comfortable speaking about in a public forum.
Plus, whilst I know some folk do have cynicism of the new year - I honestly find it nice to mark a checkpoint and to attempt a clean slate. Honestly, if you’re someone who is jaded enough to not even entertain the thought of trying to enter a new year on a clean slate, then I’m not sure what to say. I think it’s important to at least try one’s best to be a better person, and whilst you should always strive to do that - the end of the year makes a good time to see how you went, and what else you should be doing to improve.
]]>I’m hoping that what I say here doesn’t spoil it, but in case, I don’t think its worth reading this unless you’ve actually sat down and played it. Yes, it’s a ‘walking simulator’. Yes, it only lasts 90 minutes. But if you’re a creator, or interested in that angle of things, then I consider it an essential play.
This post is pretty much a bit of self-reflection as a creator - both of games, and of my retro gameplay videos - and just some thoughts about my motivations and desires with regard to it, based on some of the things which have been running through my head once I completed the game.
The first thing it got me thinking about was why I create. Why I want to create the games I want to make, or why I record the videos I do. Or anything else really. For some folks, it’s about wanting to communicate and to create those connections, and whilst I want similar - I don’t want it to be exclusively within the realm of the game or video - but rather having something which could spark up a chat in real life.
Which I find kind of odd to be honest - I always think of my self as leaning towards introversion over extraversion. I like my alone time, I hate being in places where I can’t talk to people, and I hate being in places alone where I feel like I’m out of place. But to contrast that - if it’s a long time being actually interacting with people, then I can easily get caught up in my own head, which in its own way can be incredibly draining if I’m trying to work on something.
From that, the other topic which got me thinking was about how a creator is energised by their works. I don’t think I could get away with working on something and just leaving it hidden away if I’m happy with it. In fact, when it comes down to it, I think hearing that people are actually enjoying a game I’ve written, or a video I’ve produced becomes a critical way of knowing that work has value.
On top of that though, it’s also valuable for getting feedback on what I’m doing - if I’m throwing something out which is in development, or a draft - then its main purpose is to get feedback from others, and hopefully use that to improve it. In fact, I think this speaks to a lot of my process - if my work doesn’t get that feedback, then it becomes hard to judge as to whether or not I should even continue to work on it.
This ultimately is what led to abandoning Pivotus (a project I was working on in late 2013) - whilst I had my visions on what I wanted the game to achieve (especially with the resources I had at the time), I was hoping to get feedback on balancing the gameplay, and use that to improve the game. Though in the end, the silence, was something which convinced me the game was worth putting on ice.
All up, I guess that’s something that’s important to me as a creator - the desire to always improve my output. That desire to have one’s work find it’s audience is always tough, and I guess as the internet enables more people to do that - especially those who maybe aren’t the best connected to it, there’s more things vying for attention.
I guess I feel kind of odd about it sometimes - but that’s probably something common to all creators I guess. At least what I see from other creative folk. Or maybe I’m just a tad self reflective by comparison.
But most of all, I’d love to hear what other creators think about this? Am I just being a tad too introspective here? Am I selfish for those reasons to create?
]]>Thankfully, I was lucky to be able to record the talk, and whilst there was some noise over the intro & outro, the main talk itself came out rather well. So, using that, I synched up the audio with the slides I put together, and also replaced slides where I talked about a few retro games, with proper footage - and put the results up on YouTube for you all to watch.
Despite the problems in the outro, the links I included in the tail end are in the video description - and if anyone’s interested in more details, do shout out!
]]>Much like last year, my tasted tended to split across multiple platforms - ranging from retro systems, to modern ones, as well as mobile devices. So, without further ado time to get onto this year’s list (which is in no real order… so no real biases here!) ma
Quarries of Scred (Hammerspace, PC/Mac)
A big thing I found with 2014 is that I tend to prefer games I can just sit back & play in short bursts - one thing that I find AAA increasingly fails at.
So, the Daily Quarry mechanic in brutal-dig-‘em-up Quarries of Scred fits that particularly well. Each day, a special quarry is generated, and you have one attempt to go through it and score as high as possible.
With that constraint, and with the absolute fragility of the Quarry - it’s easy for a single mispressed keystroke to lead to your frantic death at the hands of the falling rocks, let alone the other inhabitants.
All of that danger, and for what? Just to pay off some miserable debts? Nothing’s worth that - well, actually, the tension of carefully moving though the Quarry, collecting the various gems, always careful about that one misstep, makes it a really darn engrossing game, and one I go back to, in order to try and make it out of the Quarry alive… with lots of loot!tra
Threes (Sirvo, iOS/Android)
I found in 2014 that I looked at mobile gaming a little less wistfully than I did in prior years. Perhaps it’s from the reality setting in that it’s not really a place for a developer in my position to be aiming for - and the push of Freemium models meaning that the types of games I wanted to play, just aren’t really there anymore.
But then I came across Threes. Whilst more people know the formula from the unashamed rip-off 2048, the sliding block to match them up with the aim of getting increasingly higher pairs for more points is incredibly compulsive, and is one of the games that I felt was perfect for playing in queues or waiting. In fact so perfect that it was the first time I removed a game from my phone for being just that too frustation inducing as a result.
Monument Valley (ustwo, iOS/Android)
Monument Valley’s another grand example of that type of gaming which is perfect for a mobile device. A nice sedate puzzle game which first lures you in with it’s Escher-esque aesthetic, there’s a well put together puzzler underneath.
Moving through the levels with a combination of tapping the screen to move, and interacting with switches & other gadgets on screen to reveal new parts of the level & paths in order to reach the goal.
Whilst it’s more sedate than most of my other picks, it’s still just as engrossing and rewarding, and more than worth it’s asking price (along with the DLC… which I need to get around to finishing too!)
Morpheus (Graftgold/Rainbird, Commodore 64)
I was always going to have to throw a C64 game or two in the list, and Morpheus is one of the more important ones of the year. Whether it’s down to its reputation (where due to its complexity, that no one bothered to understand it and just panned it), or down to the fact that it’s an attempt at evolving action gameplay beyond the confines of early arcade games, or maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a fan of its author’s prior works, but it’s such an unappreciated gem that it’s well worth checking out on an emulator or such.
It’s why I ended up doing a rather big LP/introduction video for it ;)
Elite (Bell & Braben/Firebird, Commodore 64)
With all the hype for Elite: Dangerous as it impressed people with build after build, I found myself going back to the (almost) start to dive in and tool about with a trusty Cobra Mk III. The fact is, it helps put it into perspective of how important Elite is, and why I’m certainly excited for Dangerous. Well, at least whenever it’s Mac port ships ;)
Snare (Thalamus, Commodore 64)
Snare’s a bit of an odd one. I remember adverts of it from back in the day, and I’d also tried out cracked versions under emulation (and later on hardware as I got my 1541 Ultimate II), but it wasn’t until I got a proper copy (as part of a compilation) and sat down to play it (and eventually do a video on it) that I was pleasantly surprised.
Whilst looking like a straight forward blasting fest at first, it reveals itself to be quite the devious action puzzler, as you navigate around the 20 levels of play, trying to get though each level
LUFTRAUSERS (Vlambeer, Win/Mac/Linux/PS3/PS Vita)
Games involving planes going into battle are always something I’ve rather dug (it’s why my first complete game was based on it!) Vlambeer’s take, in the form of an upgraded version of their original game LUFTRAUSER (a little browser freebie), is one of those arcade-esque titles that really turns up the challenge to ludicrous degrees. An example of tight gameplay, which works great in short bursts - and that’s something I found really important in 2014 to be honest.
TxK (Llamasoft, Playstation Vita)
What else needs to be said? A new Llamasoft game is always going to rank highly on the list - and considering how highly I regard the pinnacle of those (Tempest 2000), it was always going to do the same here. But, hype notwithstanding, TxK takes the formula, and brings a good 20 years of gameplay evolution into focus. From the quick-session-focused Survival mode, to Classic mode allowing you to start at any completed level with your best score - it’s geared to both short & long sessions. On top of that, the amazing (and award winning) soundtrack has gotten plenty of airtime on my phone throughout the year as a result.
Incredibly polished, darned gripping, pure pulsing arcade action.
The way it should be if you ask me!
]]>I guess, when I think about it, with the vast majority of my time this year being spent on delivery and support of a project which was purely a doing-it-for-the-money exercise, I guess it wasn’t entirely feasible to be thinking of my own projects until more recently.
Some of those, no doubt were fuelled by the gestalt of awesomeness which was the resulting combination of GCAP, PAX Australia and the large numbers of developers & friends which it brought out into place.
But there were quite the few takeaways for me, which in no particular order are:
I need to play more Tempest. Or its sequels (real or spiritual). Just when I thought I talked myself out of wanting an Atari Jaguar too ;)
Pivotus as a project is going to be put to bed. Thinking about it a lot, it was a game I wanted to play, but really struggled to make. Jettisonning it really feels like the right idea right about now - I just my design sensibilities aren’t up to the stage where I could really design a minimalistic blaster that well.
Nothing is more inspiring that seeing a pavillion of ~40 indie developers surrounded by amazing crowds, away from the monotony of the modern multiplayer free-to-play extravaganza. It does show that we have a rather great scene down here, and that it’s one to be amazingly proud to be a part of!
Despite prior feelings, I think I actually did happen to make a pretty decent first game. Yes it’s flawed. Yes very few people played it, but having it released, is still something to be bloody proud of. Especially getting a print-write up as well :) Even if it took me a long year to realise that it was the case.
I guess it’s a sign that I belong doing games stuff - being able to catch up with a lot of people I know over the week was an uplifing experience (even if it led to the dreaded Post-PAX-Blues as a comedown). Especially as the pressures of networking aren’t as high as they are in other software fields.f
This time around, it’s rather interesting - just from my own little relationship with the machine this past year. Getting back into it (and the associated scene), collecting titles, recording a steady stream of gameplay videos, and becoming part of another community.
The funny thing is, looking at how the past year’s gone - I feel that it’s also been great for making friends - something which I honestly could use more of. I’ve had quite a few great times, doing things like being a part of the Protovision 4 Player compilation review (in the latest issue of Reset), along with some other hardware adventures.
Experiences like that, that’s what I enjoy about gaming. Being able to make friends, catch up over games, and have a great time. Those I find incredibly meaningful, and what I love about the C64 is that it’s helped make a lot of those happen for me.
So, I know I had a great C64 month, and I can’t wait for next year - because I know it’s always going to be another month of fun and reflection on my favourite home computer :)fir
]]>The talk was primarily aimed to be an introduction to the frameworks and how they’re used in native iOS/Mac applications, as well as details on the available form-factors for the controllers. In addition to those, there were a couple of demos, though one of those happened to suffer a few technical difficulties on the night (as Murphy’s Law would indicate).
Thankfully, for those that weren’t there - the video is now live for you to watch, which should be embedded below, or you can view it here if it’s not.
In addition - for those using Unity 3D, you can find details about how controllers are mapped for iOS games from the following blog post.
Rob Caporetto - Game Controllers for iOS from Melbourne Cocoaheads on Vimeo.
]]>I originally started this series after being asked about my indie experiences for a piece which went up some time ago. In the interim, I found myself asking myself quite a bit about what’s next - especially with regard as to what I’d do after completing the contract I’d just started. All of that ultimately led to the format of the earlier posts in the series, as I tried to really understand where I was standing, and where I needed to be going as a developer. Especially in light of wanting to feel a little less pressured this year…
But, truth be told - looking back on the earlier pieces, it’s funny how my perspective back in March has changed. This is down to the axing of certain funding programs (which granted, wouldn’t be of direct benefit to me), and looking back and realising that I’ve not enjoyed working on a high-stress project, as sadly was the case with the one I’m wrapping up now.
Whilst I’d like to work on games projects in the future, it’s now a hobby concern than anything else, primarily down to the fact that the types of games I want to make, aren’t simply viable to get income from (as I found with Pocket Dogfights), or ones that I lack the resources & time to be able to do a solid job with. In refocusing in this way, the biggest benefit for me is simply being freed up from having to support ALL the platforms under the sun - which really means that desktop Mac & Windows releases would be at the forefront. Whilst mobile is not entirely ruled out, if I were to do a mobile release, it would be iOS only, as supporting Android has done nothing but give me endless frustrations (and yes, I’m still bitter about the immense piracy that happened with Pocket Dogfights on its release there).
Plus, it might give me an opportunity to start diving into 6502/10 assembly again to write something on the C64 - as it’s something I’ve always wanted to do (and the RGCD compo is quite a convenient goal to aim for… some time).
As a hobby concern, there probably won’t be much experimentation or jam stuff - I find myself not being the biggest fans of the time pressure jams generate, and I’ve always been a fan of small incremental improvements in process - as I’ve found it the best way to improve over time.
Consequentially - I’ll be trying to get myself back into native iOS development again. I’ve certainly been yearning for it over the last few months (based on frustrations within Unity & its tooling), and to be honest - that feels somewhat more stable over games development these days. Obviously, it’ll mean returning to full-time employment, and to be honest - with the desire for my own independent work somewhat reduced, I think it’s something I’m more than prepared for.
In short what does this mean all up? Firstly, where I previously thought Pivotus could be completed, I’m not so sure now. Secondly, if I do get back to doing more games projects - expect smaller titles rather than complex ones, and expect them either on Mac/PC or iOS. Thirdly, there probably won’t be much to talk about for a while - other than random iOS developer fanboyism as I’m absorbing the load of sessions from WWDC.
It certainly will be some interesting times ahead, and sometimes it’s nice to work out well, where you do sit on things, and where they align with your goals. Or more importantly, are your goals even viable anymore. Have to admit it’s a disappointment to realise it’s the case - and I think in some regard, it’s why it’s taken so long for this final piece in the series to come together.
]]>I’ve basically established who I am, and what I consider my values in terms of games development. The next question is working out where. Where are the platforms that are going to work best with what I want to accomplish? Where do I go to find the more receptive people to pitch the game to for coverage?
When I start to look at where I should try & publish, the first thing I think of is what is the best solution for someone like myself. A few years ago, that really was the mobile space (which I feel explains the amount of mobile games trying to do traditional genres without proper control considerations) - the low (relatively speaking) cost to access both the iOS App Store & Google Play meant is was feasible for a solo developer to get their game on there, and with a bit of promotional work - actually make enough money from it to consider another project.
However, thanks to the rise of Free to Play, and larger developers shoving their way in - even if you are able to get coverage, it’s incredibly difficult to get players to consider paying more than the base amount. I used to see mobile as a grounds for delivering small, focused games (not unlike budget labels such as Mastertronic in the 8-bit days) - small, focused, cheap games which might not be the greatest thing on the planet, but were usually fun enough for a few afternoons of play.
As for desktops - it’s a bit more complicated. For starters, desktop is always going to try & be all 3 major platforms (Windows, OS X & Linux) - I feel in this day & age, going PC only is utterly inappropriate for indies, and even though my stats from Pocket Dogfights ultimately question if that was worthwhile, I still feel it’s an important goal to aim for. The larger issue there is just getting in front of people - there’s the larger issue of Steam Greenlight, which feels much harder to penetrate than other places, yet can’t be ignored for some degree of success.
So, desktop obviously seems like the right choice - but there’s expectations there that make me wonder if small games are going to even be tolerated by the communities there - which is harder when you’re developing things on limited resource by comparison.
The second factor which I am pondering is where I should be going to build relationships. I found that with the Pocket Dogfights launch, the only press I did receive was from the result of relationships that I’d spent the last 2-3 years building. If I need to be spreading my reach wider than my local space - obviously I need to be able to that many more times over and with the right people. But to be honest, I’m not sure where that it anymore. When I did pitch, I tried to go across a spread of large & small sites - all of which are indie friendly, but when the responses are either dead air, or being put in contact with advertising departments - it can’t help but feel rather hollow.
Maybe I’m just a bit old fashioned, but I feel like I want to build two-way relationships. I’m not a fan of having to reach out all the time, and sometimes it’d be nice to feel that my development posts/tweets/etc actually are being read by more than a few people.
Which I guess brings me into the last item - I’m not really sure where I belong. I feel that trying to develop stuff on the sides means that it’s easy to feel disconnected from both sides of the spectrum - the more established indies who are able to actually earn an income from their work, and the smaller ones & students who are more focused on the artistic side.
When you find yourself between the groups - then you struggle to find the opportunity to seriously talk development, or process - or how to do things better. It’s why well, I decided to put this little series together in the first place… I’m hoping that I can at least get the chance to find out who I can discuss some of these thoughts & actions with, and at least use that as a springboard to whatever I choose to do next.
]]>What do I want? What do I want indeed? When it comes to my goals in my own game development, I’ve always held a fairly simple list of the in my head.
Primarily, I want to make games which are about not wasting your time. I’ve never been a big fan of level grinding, or of games which introduce artificial delays into gameplay for the sake of pushing you towards a paywall. I’ve always felt that you should be able to pay a decent amount of money upfront for a game, and enjoy it how you want. Not how the suits tell you to. I’ve always found that the game I enjoy most are the ones which I might not have a short play session with, but that I’ll go back to them many times over.
As an example, when you look at endless runners, I always appreciated the simplicity & purity of Canabalt over any of the countless games which came after it. The fact that I could play a few sessions, and not be compelled to continue playing, meant that I could enjoy a few bursts now & then, and yet not be bored of it. It’s one of the things I liked most about the mobile space, as it felt right for a resurgence in those types of games, though things have changed there in quite a number of way (which isn’t in scope of my little series).
Secondly, I want to create pure experiences. One of the things I’ve felt that has been lost in the last few years is just the purity of gameplay. Now it feels like games need to have customisation elements, or waves upon waves of post-launch content. Whilst larger teams could make that a feasible part of their process, for a solo developer, it’s quite a challenge to be able to deliver all of that with the resources I have to hand.
Deep down, I just enjoy being able to fire a game up, and play it. Not dealing with these bounds of the real world, or the fact that the authors are continually shoving new things to buy in my face, is something which do turn me off other games. I think it’s one of they me major reasons I’ve been enjoying a lot of games on my trusty C64 as of late. I load them, ah them - and that’s it. I don’t need to be concerned about what the game is trying to do otherwise, I can just enjoy it.
I guess it’s one of the reasons I’ve lost a lot of excitment for playing most mobile games - as they tend to be the prime example of the overdose of in-game store mania, due to the proliferations of the Free to Play model in particular, which gets in the way of the experience - and becomes critical when I’d rather just pay a bunch of money for the game upfront, and not have to be surprised for the impact of what effect buying various in-game items would be.
Thirdly, I want to be able to make games which take concepts or other ideas, but evolve them, or mutate them in my own particular way. Whilst I love that there’s an increasing segment of the indie space which is about the non-traditional sense, the fact is, those types of games just aren’t what excite me from a making perspective.
Deep down, it’s always been a bit of an educational process for me. Learning how to put a game together, how to get it out there, how to deal with the unwashed masses of the interwebs, are all parts of that. Beyond that, there isn’t much I can offer in terms of being able to say anything. As a result, I much prefer to be able to enjoy the mechanics side. Perhaps in the future that might change, but right now, I’m not really in a spot where I could offer anything down those lines.f
]]>So, Who Am I? It mightn’t sound like much, but it’s meant to trigger the deep introspection which I’m trying to do for this series, so it honestly felt like the right place to start. In doing so, I at least have a firmer ground of the types of environments I thrive in.
The first thing, where do I feel I fit in? By far, it would easily be as a coder/programmer. I’ve always enjoyed it, and considering it’s my main profession outside of the games, it’s where I can bring the most to the table. Regardless of the project, I enjoy being able to actually learn something new code wise - whether it’s how something is done, or how it can be done better for the next time. So any project I’m going to work on, is going to involve a fair bit of that.
Of course, if I had to pick a specific area of coding, it would lean towards gameplay programming. I’ve never been great on the graphics side, and whilst I’d love to get to grips with it (so I could do some shader trickery in future), it’s a case of trying to find the time to be able to justify a deep investment in learning everything I need to there.
But what about secondary skills? That comes a bit under design, and a bit under sound effects. I’ve had to try & teach myself the various lessons about designing a good game, whether it’s from books or other online sources, simply because games courses weren’t a thing when I was at Uni, and when trying to develop one’s first game on the side - it seems like it’s the best way to learn those things. As for sound effects, perhaps it’s the inspiration from early arcade games (in particular those from Williams like Defender or Robotron: 2084), or early Atari systems (both the 2600 & the 8-bit computer line) which have gotten me interested in the generative side… even if I’m still struggling to understand the basics there.
Art wise, I’m certainly no artist - despite my burgeoning interest in trying to teach myself low-polygon 3D modelling. I guess it’s why my games tend to be about inanimate objects (planes, abstract objects) - as being a coder, I lack the artistic flair of an artist.
As for how I feel I fit in with teams - the truth is, I find that I much prefer to work solo over working in a tight team. I guess it’s always been a reflection of me struggling to be able to learn everything I need to on a project (and from some bad experiences in past jobs). So being responsible for being able to know how an entire project works is my way of covering my behind in the event that something does go wrong on a project. I feel it’s also just to be the opposite of where I find myself with the day jobs of the past (or contracts now) - being on a tight knit team, and having to deal with the ins & outs of corporate life - whereas working solo, I can pretty much make the decision, or work out some way of being able to evaluate it.
Working solo also allows me to have that room for natural experimentation. Being able to just poke around with something, and being able to iterate on it without the need to work to a tight schedule, which is what I’ve found leads to compromises, especially in more commercial environments. I think this is what makes me increasingly wary of the Jam culture in games development as well - the fact that there’s more & more pressure being put on short contents which don’t allow for the room to learn & research things adequately happens to sit wrong with me for a number of reasons.
Plus, working in this way means I don’t have to stress over production issues. When developing Pocket Dogfights, I didn’t run that side as strict as it should have been run - I trusted the people who I was working with to get things done & to be able to update me as things were happening. I felt it was the best approach as a result of me working a stressful day job at the time, and wanting to save my scant nights & weekends to focus on doing the coding, being the lion’s share of the project.
Finally, it’s also a factor of the public side of things. I’m easily an introvert, preferring my personal space where I can, but in this era of development, finding that I’m having to shout out from the roof tops every time I’m working on something to get people interested is a draining experience. The fact is - it’s one of the primary factors behind why I started the shift away a few months ago. Finding that it taking too much of my dwindling energy from working on Pivotus, it served only to generate frustration from the lack of interest, rather than any identifiable means of progress.
Ultimately, I’m not sure how to work through that. Do I just accept that my work’s never really going to click with people, learn to not give a damn, and ship it? I guess the hardest part in doing that is feeling like I’ll never be sustainable in any form - even in a part-time sense, let along a full-time one.
]]>I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit as of late, in particular with GDC going on this week & the realisation that had things gone better (in terms of both sales, and in successfully landing enough work to have the cash) over the past year, that perhaps I’d actually be attending instead of watching from afar.
But in line with a bunch of other thoughts of mine over the last few months, I’ve slowly been trying of piece together a better understanding of the type of development I want to do, and how to do it in a way which won’t drive me to the pits of failure again. To do something in a more sustainable way, and too create things that are more true to my values and goals.
That of course, requires a process of intense reflection and soul searching - and whilst the period between making Pocket Dogfights free (and thus symbolising the end of this first phase) and now (where I’m otherwise engaged on a short, but intense contract job), mys not be the best time to do it - I find that it has been quite useful in its own way.
Whilst this is just the introduction - I’m hoping that over the next few posts, I’ll explore some of these questions from a high level, and hopefully be able to formulate a bit of a plan for both the types of projects I work on and the execution in order to be somewhat more successful. The result of which, should allow me to get some focus on what I’m doing and try to execute better for future projects.
You can check out the rest of the posts in the series from the articles below:
Of course, focus shifts, directions change, and I found myself doing mobile development instead. As a result, the need to maintain the VPS wasn’t as high, and well - it became overkill for my purposes. Plus, the evolution of technology has helped with that, bringing easier deployments to other environments, let alone platform-as-a-service models.
Which, as well as tying in with some personal goals to simplify certain things this year - meant it’s time to decommission said VPS. The first phase? Relocating this blog, and sites like the one for Pocket Dogfights over to a simpler environment.
In this case, with all of these sites being relatively static, the best option available was Amazon’s S3 - which I wasn’t aware could be easily configured to handle static websites. Right now, both this blog & the Pocket Dogfights website site are active via S3 (with the blog hosted in Amazon’s Sydney environment, and the Pocket Dogfights one in their California one).
Judging from the performance alone, it’s been well worth it - what I can’t wait to see is the resultant bills, going with S3 for hosting allows for some incredibly cheap rates for traffic, and combined without the need to manage configurations for Apache (or your preferred web server), it means that my infrastructure set up is simplified that little bit. Joy.
]]>Whilst there is plenty of talk about the primary aspects, the secondary aspects sometimes have just as powerful memories. One of those for me happens to be oddly enough audio distortion. Distortion caused from using an RF connection (which was by far the worst way to connecet old systems back in the day) on a rather terrible TV. I’m unsure if it was due to the tuning being ever so slightly off or just the general quality - but it was audible whenever the C64 was displaying a white screen (either the border or the background).
For most cases, it’s the type of thing you wouldn’t want - especially as it had the potential to drown out the sound of the SID chip, but in one case it was oddly reassuring. When I’d be loading games off cassette tape, the common fast loaders would flash the border through the C64’s colour palette, which resulted in various screeches played over the TV. To be truthful, it was another little sign of activity during the loading process, which makes it own sense of nostalgia.
Yet here I am, some 20 years after I stopped using my C64 full-time (as the march of technology necessitated) and whilst technology has simplified & improved a lot of aspects of using one, this one part of the experience has been lost. It makes me wonder what else can be lost from the retro experience, and if this part of the atmosphere was ever worth preserving in some way…
]]>After quick a hard look & think - I think it’s best to admit that to be honest, I’m just not cut out for the indie developer life. There’s a number of factors which have made me realise this.
Firstly, it’s the working solo aspect - I tend to prefer that simply as it was the opposite of what I experienced with day to day programming roles (being on teams, combined with things like Pair Programming which I happen to find exhausting) - but these days, whilst a individual can ship a game, there aren’t many who have been able to do it & get sufficient publicity & succes (Lance with Black Annex is easily the first which comes to mind).
It’s also down to my design methods - I’ve never been great with a formal design for designs, preferring to experiement and organically grow out a game - which, whilst having it’s own problems, feels like I can control the process, but at a cost in time.
As a result, I’ve decided it’s best to draw a line in the sand with the new year, and as such, have now gone and made Pocket Dogfights free (in the case of the mobile releases), or a minimum price of $0 (for the release on itch.io). In addition, I’m working on adding MFI controller support to the iOS release, as a little parting gift. I hope to have news on that in the next few days.
For the future? I’m not giving up on writing games, but for now - I’m giving up on them as a commercial endeavour, to focus on finding full-time development work instead.
For those who have bought PD over the last ~9 months, thank you all from the bottom of my heart - I hope you’ve enjoyed the game, and I hope you’ll enjoy whatever I do next (which, will likely still be Pivotus, but just at a reduced development rate).
]]>I’ve not sorted this list in any particular order (it’s just as it came to mind to be honest), I’ve also mentioned the platform(s) I played it on in particular. Whilst those may not be the ones individual titles were originally released on, there are cases where jumping platforms of course improves things quite a bit in terms of playability or convenience.
Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark (PS Vita): Whilst I’d grabbed this on it’s Steam release for the Mac, it wasn’t until it was brought over to the Vita that I really settled down with this one. There’s something about the platforming action which is optimised for the handheld, in terms of the short levels (making it easier to put it down when necessary), or the general feeling of the Vita in terms of controls (that directional pad is rather lovely).
Tomb Raider (Xbox 360): Surprisingly, the only 2013 AAA release here. I wonder if that’s just the result of the final year of the 360/PS3 generation winding down or if it’s something else. Regardless, I really dug this. Whilst it was more focused on combat than exploration (something which I hope gets looked at in a follow-up), there was some great environment design along with some solid character development moments.
Warhammer 40000: Space Marine: Yes, this probably has the most generic sounding name out there, but the fact of the matter is - there are times when I really do prefer a game to just be upfront about what it expects of you, and then give you that for quite a few hours.
Which is exactly what Space Marine did for me. Sure, I was a tad late to the party on playing it (which is a bit of a theme, especially when one’s a struggling indie), but I just loved the overall experience it provided. Plus, there was some surprisingly great characterisation (which is something I never expected in a genre game like this), and truth be told, I’m actually saddended that the planned arc which this game started was never completed - as the way the game ended was certainly on an interesting note.
3D Space Harrier (3DS): So, it’s just an arcade conversion, right? Nope. I think the biggest thing to take away from this port of the arcade classic is simply how important passion can be for a project to succeed. Without the attention to detail that M2 had on this, it otherwise would have just been another port.
Instead, it’s been the right feeling of the taking something from the past & bring it forward in such a spectacular way. Certainly one of the things I’ve been most excited for on the 3DS - at least outside of Ninty’s own titles of course :)
Monaco GP (Arcade): Monaco GP is an incredibly hard game to be able to play. Not in terms of challenge, but rather in terms of hardware. Due to the fact that it uses discrete logic to run the game, instead of code running on a CPU - it means it can’t be emulated by software like MAME. Thus, the only way to play it, is to find a working machine. (Granted, there is the Saturn version… but I don’t have one of those handy ;p)
Still, as an early arcade racer, there’s something incredibly unique about it - especially with the controls, as the steering provides a degree of control I’ve not really seen in an arcade racer.
I was lucky to have the opportunity to play it again as a result of being able to take my first proper holiday in years (over to the US for WWDC & to catch up with friends afterwards), and it’s one of the little reminders of that part of the year for me.
Asteroids (Arcade): Again, I don’t think there’s much to say here - I mean, like Monaco GP, Asteroids is also a reminder of my trip this year, but also a reminder into how the arcade experience can improve a game. Whilst I’ve had Asteroids emulated on my iOS devices for ages, it’s not quite the same as compared to a physical arcade cabinet - all because of the way the vector screen is rendered. The intense points of light for your weapons fire.
Pinball Arcade (iOS, PS Vita): Truth be told, I more or less missed the hey-day of Pinball - but for some reason, something clicked and I actually quite got into Farsight’s amazing collection, and have been enjoying it quite a bit. Makes me sad there’s no real venue for pinball machines locally these days - I guess it means I need to somehow try to make a reason to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame sometime and play some real tables someday…
ACE (C64): This was one I’d not played since I was much younger, but as I found when recording the play video not too long ago - it’s surprisingly great fun. In all honesty, I think that comes down to being purely focused on providing the combat experience. Not in simulating all the little nuances of flying a modern fighter jet - just enough to get it into the air, hunt down some enemies & blow them into pixellated dust.
Pocket Dogfights: Of course this was always going to make an appearance somewhere in this list. On one hand, I’m incredibly proud of getting this out there, and for having gone through the process. But at the same time, there are the negative feelings associated with feeling like a failure on it - despite all my efforts, it only seemed to gain traction with a small group of folk, and at the same time it happened to teach me quite a few things, both positive & negative.
Tempest 2000: Seeing this here (and ultimately as the most important game of the year) shouldn’t really some as a surprise to see this here. The experience of playing it properly for the first time at PAX, and the friends I’d made as a result of it serve as a great reminder of how gaming can be a unified experience.
Plus, it’s also acting as a warm-up for TxK for me - getting familiar with those tactics, those patterns, all for probably going back to stage one when my Vita becomes the TxK device (I’m guessing next year ;p).
]]>I’ve been finding myself in quite the creative block over the last few weeks with developing Pivotus - for a number of reasons.
The biggest is simply the fact I would work on a number of levels, and get them to the stage where I was fairly happy with them, then proceed to release a public build, or take it to an event or someplace & demo it there to get some feedback. That’s normally meant to be a good thing, right? Show the game, get some feedback - make it better.
But to be honest, at least for me - and what I’m working on, I’m not finding it to be the case. On one hand, I wonder if it’s just a generational thing - the types of games which I grew up with, are quite different from what my friends & peers have played. The result? When I’m demoing, I feel like I’m trying to handle two separate responsibilities: Communicating the ideas/goals behind the game, yet at the same time, try to process any feedback I’m getting to work out the core message behind what’s being said.
The result of that typically tends to be going back to the drawing board on wave designs - and doing that always results in feeling like I’m treading water, or going backwards. To be on the cycle again of having to iterate on the same patterns again - not moving onto the next set or on being able to focus on features, or focus on other systems becomes a source of energy drain as you go back several times.
Maybe it’s another symptom of the general problems I feel I’m having with working on my own projects. I have this small, somewhat refined vision - and I struggle, and iterate (perhaps too many times) in trying to get it out the door. But when I finally do, the result still feels flawed. That’s certainly something I experienced when developing Pocket Dogfights, and I’m feeling the same with Pivotus.
Which of course, leads to one thing? Was I wrong in trying to be public with the development process? Recording development updates in video form? Making test builds available as I’d been making progress? It feels like both that, and the develop in secrecy until the game’s mostly complete which I of course employed with PD both don’t work for me. Which ultimately leads to the big question - should I be trying to continue the public side of things? Or should I switch to just developing in private, with the occasional dribble of screens/footage on the development blog?
Of course, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps this isn’t the right project for me to be working on? Designing waves in a video game isn’t rocket science - so the fact I’ve needed to go back & forth this many times to create something which is really only fun for myself feels like a sign that perhaps it’s more complex a problem than first thought.
Perhaps the problem lies in other areas - such as the visuals? I’ve been a fan of the low-polygon look, and without being able to hire someone for the asset workload (due to present circumstances), it was my attempt at trying to do something within my means. Plus, it’s a useful skill to have - being able to create custom grey box art - especially when you look at events like the Ludum Dare (or other jams).
Right now, I feel the best option is to work in secret a bit (only showing details to a few close friends), focusing on some of the issues I’m aware of (bugs, levels & amongst other details), before I try and demo again (or complete a diary video) in public. Hopefully by doing this, I can save some of the energy I’ve used on trying to publicise updates or videos to direct it back towards the game instead, and making it a better experience.
]]>Growing up with the C64, I was only tangentially exposed to the demoscene via the occasional demo being highlighted in various magazines. Most of the folks I knew growing up were only into the games side of things - and whilst the demo scene grew out of the cracking/piracy of commerical games, it’s most certainly transcended that to become it’s own unique cultural item.
So, when surrounded by lots of retro coders, what could one do but join in the fun? I could have poked about with some coding on iOS, but there’s definitely more layers getting something working there effects wise. So, I decided to go the retro path & fire up the trusty C64 emulator & start trying to re-teach myself some trusty 6502 assembly language. Besides, it’s how one gets the best speed out of the trusty C64 - and it’s laughable BASIC implementation isn’t the most fun to program with when you actually want to do anything involving graphics & sound ;)
In the end, it was kind of a wash - it’s been 15 or so years since I actually wrote 6502 code, and back then I never got that serious with it (as it primarily a distraction prior to getting serious with my CompSci degree) - it’s been interesting to even have a poke around with something incredibly primitive by comparison. Also try (and fail) to get my head around trying to do 16-bit mathematics on an 8-bit processor.
Good times. Good times indeed. Whilst I was doing the old fashioned way (as much as I could) - using the 6510+ Assembler running on a C64 emulator, I think if I was going to go further, I’d be focusing on trying to it with a cross-development environment. It might have been fun typing out assembly listings on the C64 itself, but to be honest, after getting use to high resolution displays, I much prefer them for coding. Being able to comment code correctly, or even use labels (which is quite important when coding assembly language) on a text screen 40 characters wide was a bit of a dampener to my productivity ;)
Still, I think it did result in a bit of a bug being hit, and I certainly want to go back to do some more C64 coding when I have some bandwidth available, which depending on how things go, will likely be once I’ve finished up & released Pivotus onto the world.
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