Plan for Paul Malyschko
by Paul Malyschko · 05/12/2004 (9:24 am) · 3 comments
Beginning fresh with my first .plan.
I'd been thinking about become more active in the GG community for a while, but underdeveloped skills and a lack of focus had prevented me thus far. So instead, I decided to put all projects on hold and focus on developing my illustration business, which is now growing.
However I wanted to at least have my finger on the pulse. Along comes Free Play (the Australian IGDC), so I volunteered to assist with publicity, which is something all indie projects could do with, and gained experience in the process. So far, the response to that has been good, and I've gotten great contacts out of it too.
During this time, I scrimmaged through all my old designs and resurrected what I thought were some good systems. While doing that, I came across our music engine. We had designed a minimalist tracker command set, incorporated events and removed most of the limitations that were in place from the days of MODs and S3Ms. The only problem was we had no tools to make the music with; the closest we had was a converter for the ImpulseTracker format.
So after a couple of e-mails, we decided to resurrect the project: the Headache music engine. I'm currently coding the tracker in Java to be as cross-platform as possible, while my colleague works on converting the Linux version of the engine over to SDL. We have a slim chance of having a workable version by the time Free Play comes around, but I'm not holding my breath.
Musicians are rare on here, so I'm unsure as to the level of response this will get. At the moment I'm looking at ways to broaden the audience of an event-based music engine. One idea I'm tinkering with is marketing it as a live DJ tool - the potential for it in that arena is awesome.
Once the tracker is in a relatively stable state, the focus will return to games. The first one I'm planning on doing is a game called Starthrall. The gameplay mechanics are fairly simple, being a 2D shooter, but it's the social mechanics of it that are going to be slightly experimental. More on that later though.
BTW, if you need concept art, don't hesitate to e-mail me.
I'd been thinking about become more active in the GG community for a while, but underdeveloped skills and a lack of focus had prevented me thus far. So instead, I decided to put all projects on hold and focus on developing my illustration business, which is now growing.
However I wanted to at least have my finger on the pulse. Along comes Free Play (the Australian IGDC), so I volunteered to assist with publicity, which is something all indie projects could do with, and gained experience in the process. So far, the response to that has been good, and I've gotten great contacts out of it too.
During this time, I scrimmaged through all my old designs and resurrected what I thought were some good systems. While doing that, I came across our music engine. We had designed a minimalist tracker command set, incorporated events and removed most of the limitations that were in place from the days of MODs and S3Ms. The only problem was we had no tools to make the music with; the closest we had was a converter for the ImpulseTracker format.
So after a couple of e-mails, we decided to resurrect the project: the Headache music engine. I'm currently coding the tracker in Java to be as cross-platform as possible, while my colleague works on converting the Linux version of the engine over to SDL. We have a slim chance of having a workable version by the time Free Play comes around, but I'm not holding my breath.
Musicians are rare on here, so I'm unsure as to the level of response this will get. At the moment I'm looking at ways to broaden the audience of an event-based music engine. One idea I'm tinkering with is marketing it as a live DJ tool - the potential for it in that arena is awesome.
Once the tracker is in a relatively stable state, the focus will return to games. The first one I'm planning on doing is a game called Starthrall. The gameplay mechanics are fairly simple, being a 2D shooter, but it's the social mechanics of it that are going to be slightly experimental. More on that later though.
BTW, if you need concept art, don't hesitate to e-mail me.
About the author
#2
I've actually been coding a website with forums, news, galleries, logins, etc. on and off for the past year, and that works (mostly), and I'll be using that when I've cleaned up the code later on this year. It's just that I'm also in the middle of designing the corporate identity for myself as an illustrator and for myself and my colleagues as a games developer, so it's hard to get it all done.
If you like I can send you some samples, though most of it is concept art.
05/12/2004 (8:18 pm)
At the moment I have no website. I'm in a mad rush at the moment doing portfolio pieces along with concept art and coding, so I really haven't had time. I'm shopping my portfolio around next week to potential clients, so I'm guessing there will be a very simple home page by then.I've actually been coding a website with forums, news, galleries, logins, etc. on and off for the past year, and that works (mostly), and I'll be using that when I've cleaned up the code later on this year. It's just that I'm also in the middle of designing the corporate identity for myself as an illustrator and for myself and my colleagues as a games developer, so it's hard to get it all done.
If you like I can send you some samples, though most of it is concept art.
#3
05/14/2004 (8:54 am)
Yes, Paul, I'd really like to see these samples. Just sent you an e-mail. 
Torque Owner Adib Murad