F.A.S.T.?! Dodge This!

Been utterly silent for a long time but I recon there is quite enough reason for this. In the past year I managed to be part of a few projects and I must say, I am quite proud with the outcome. And I mean intensive, intimate work, not just contract work. After more than 5 years I finally got a title I worked on published. Wait, not one title, but 3! One of which was designed solely by myself! Ho!Ho!Ho!

Let's start with my baby, Tickle Santa! It's a free application, available for the iPod and the iPhone. It's not perfect but I am hoping to squeeze some tome for it and polish it up. Developed over a weekend, required less work than the paperwork for AppStore, he he! I made this for my 6 years old daughter Mara and it's quite fun. You get a button, snowflakes, presents, a laughing (hysterical towards the end) Santa, and loads of fun! We implemented Facebook scores and AdMob (just to test the API). If you want to try it out, type in search field in iTunes Tickle Santa and it'll get you there. So to be clear about it: this ain't a shameless promotion, it's just me bragging about something accomplished!

So that was Santa. Now, I know most of you have heard of F.A.S.T. The team I work with are behind this tremendous success (the bad things you hear about it are corporate decisions, we just make them games darn fun). It scored well over a million in 6 weeks after launch and is a 2009 rewind entry in top 5 (at least it was last I checked). As many people probably expected, a follow up was due. And this follow up, a completely new game in effect, will be out on the 16th December in AppStore. The name of this game is Skies of Glory. A World War II setting, an improved in-house engine, a bunch of planes, a ton of missions, multiplayer (WIFI, Bluetooth, Online) with up to 8 human players and 16 players on a map. A monster, truly, because, as tired as I am of all its ins and outs, I still enjoy kicking the ace off my opponents' arse : ))

During the development of Skies Of Glory I have indeed learned a ton of stuff. While bouncing from aircraft modeling and texturing, mission editor development, HUD / GUI design. Many times during the development process I cried out for a set of tools like Torque now has for 3d and had to back down and do our own set : ) But at the end of the day it was the people and the goal that really made a difference and helped us meet the (very tight) deadlines and milestones. The tools are important, indeed but that's not enough. It's you and the drive in you that keeps it going. If there's no enthusiasm and desire to 'show off' the best in you, the output is lame and dull. And you can't be proud with that kind of output.

It was the first time working in a studio and having the same pleasure of going to work as I have lurking silently around the GG forums. Good people, powerfully driven by sheer greatness and love for games. Believe me, I went elsewhere and nowhere did I find a community like this. I am so glad I am part (if only partially lately) of this community. After we closed the projects and, you know, had the beer and the laughing about (we even played soccer one night and hit some LCD's off the desks) I felt the need to come back here and share my achievement with you guys. Not Unity forums, not Leadwerks or whatever other; In particular, Unity forums, compared with GG forums, are cold like dead. Somehow it feels like, even though silent on the screen before me, GG is out there, alive.

So, as I am having a beer tonight, let me say cheers to you guys, all of you. I haven't called my mom about it, I came here and told you all this : )

I forgot to mention the third project we just finished (no idea how, but we did and our team is under 10 people): Magnetic Sports Soccer. Another weird thing, since me and soccer hate each other, we pulled it off. I play the darn thing every night coming from work, the whole 60 minutes while I am on the subway.

I haven't got much beer lately so I guess it shows cause I am turning all sentimental and whatnot but I guess everyone's entitled to fool around after a small accomplishment.

To all iPhone developers out there, here's a piece of advice: if you have an idea you believe in, absolutely everything is possible. Just don't back down and keep working on it. One day, when you are done, grab a beer, come back here and share your awesomeness with us.