The Woes of an Indie Game Developer

It's been a while since I posted a blog, but with so much going on with me of late, I thought it was about time I corrected that. I'd been toying with the idea that I really need to move on from my obsession with terrains, and given that I'll probably need to be employed sooner or later in the games industry, probably as an environment artist, I went ahead and purchased ZBrush so that I could learn that while also learning Blender. Let me state this right now though; ZBrush is a major pain in my arse! This could quite easily be the worst designed interface yet conceived by human-kind. It's even worse than (and I find it strange to be saying this) Blender, in terms of user friendliness. Or unfriendliness. But I digress...

ZBrush is an incredibly powerful tool when one overcomes the interface. Through pain, sweat and quite a few tears, I've managed to discover some of this power for myself. I can only imagine what I'll be able to do with it in a few years. Couple this with the awesomeness of Blender and I've got some serious tools at my disposal. At the moment I'm trying to keep my test projects small, just trying out different things to get a feel for both programs. It'll be a long while before I feel capable with either however, and I won't be posting any renders here yet. But I do feel optimistic.

That aside, I've been playing a lot with lighting in Torque, and tinkering with postfx with some success. I'm not overjoyed with the SSAO in T3D, but it does add to the overall visual quality I think.


I've also been trying to get my own game started, which has proven to be a monumental undertaking. It's an ambitious concept to begin with, and the fact that I am just one guy, and an artist at that, just makes it that much harder. However, I am committed to getting at least a workable project developed, so I'll continue to work at it until I feel I have something I can show to the world.

One of the things I wanted to get working first, even though it's technically unimportant at this stage, is a character I can call my own, so I can feel like I really am making a game, and not just tinkering with Torque. So, armed with nothing but my PayPal account and Google, I set out to find someone to help with this aspect.

Warning: The following may not be suitable for posting, but I'm doing it anyway.

I found an artist by the name of Steven Davis, whose online portfolio is to be found here. I talked with Steven on Skype to get an idea of how he could help me, and as he seemed to have a good sense for his craft, and seemed to be a nice enough bloke, I agreed to have him start work on my character and I paid a small deposit to get the ball rolling.

Initially I was very optimistic at this stage, and excited to see one of my game's characters come to life, but it was short lived. Steven proved to be uncommunicative, neither replying to emails or to hails on Skype (even though it showed him as online). I started to worry a bit. This is not how I wanted the development process to work at all. I'd expected him to ask a lot or questions, and to send me regular progress updates so that I could make adjustments along the way. Not silence.

I managed to get a hold of him on Skype and get a tentative "I'm still working on it" reply from him, but I wasn't happy. I asked him to work to a deadline, which he agreed to, and was feeling better about it. Until he missed the deadline. I caught him again and after hearing his reasons for missing the deadline, decided to extend it by a week, which he also agreed to. Just over a week after that, and with him missing that second deadline, I'd had enough. I wanted a refund, or at least the completed model. He refused to pay a refund, but wouldn't send the model because it wasn't done yet. Not happy.

So, I started a PayPal dispute, but PayPal closed it immediately, stating that they do not protect against virtual goods or services. So, that's it. Money gone. Steven made an easy profit and walks away smiling. I'm left broke and with nothing to show for it except some hard won experience and a lesson learned; Do not buy virtual goods online via Paypal.

So, back to square one again, I'm using the blueGuy as my character and being very careful about how I pay for 3rd party assets. I've discovered Mr. Necturus who makes some fantastic stuff, and have purchased way more than I can actually justify. He's been very accommodating too, converting all assets purchased into COLLADA for me, and even tweaking the models when I've asked. Great guy. Still, I don't have my own characters yet, and it looks like it'll be too much work to get his into Torque in an efficient manner, so I'm sticking with Blue Guy.


I'll keep plodding away on my game, and one day I hope to share it with you guys, but in the meantime, I need to learn 3d modelling so that I can make my own damn game characters.

Thanks for reading, and please heed my warning about paying for services with PayPal. And don't get that guy to make anything for you!