Plan for Cody Mc
by Cody Mc · 09/23/2004 (12:54 pm) · 6 comments
Many saw the recent Dev Snapshot Eric Forhan put up about his awesome City Pack - since we finally got it up for sale on our site, and we're nearing the end of the dev on our first game, I thought it was time to come out from under the collective rock my partner and I have been hiding under. :)
First of all - the pack. I don't want to get (too) spammy, so I'll just say that you can see it all it's glory here:
www.digital-snow.com/citystarterpack.htm
Most people know Eric - they may not know that he does incredible interior work. We were referred to him by Davis of Midnight Ryder Technologies fame, and at that time the game we were looking at was more complex (big surprise) and I told him I needed a city. We went back and forth on it, and came to an agreement for him to make us a City on a non exclusive basis. He'd do it, we'd get first dibs on using it in a game, and he'd be free to sell it others. Well, he definately delivered. As time went on, we talked about the possibility of us helping him to distribute it, and last week we hammered out the final details. The pack is great, we used it in the game we're almost done with, check it out.
Who the hell is Digital Snow Inc? We're two guys, and we literally work out of our Garage. Literally. David is my partner and room mate, and when we moved into the house we're currently living in, my wife said: "I'll setup my computer in the bedroom - you can set yours up in the Garage. " Being a gentleman, and understanding the intricacies of the pecking order on certain issues, I of course agreed with this plan.
So here I sit, where it's hot in the summer and cold in the winter, trying to make a game while wearing a either a pair of swim trunks or two sweaters, depending on the season. :)
David and I are both avid game players. Game ADDICTS is probably more accurate. Yes, we're proud members of that sad group. You know the group I'm talking about - the ones who, while watching Lord of the Rings and listening to Gandalf explain about beating the Balrog, murmured under their breath "Wow, that must have been a ton of experience points. He must have seriously levelled up." My neighbors must wonder about me sometimes, when I stumble out at 3 AM in front of the house to have a smoke, and stand there plotting out loud about what attributes I'm going to allocate points to in my zillionth time through Diablo 2. That group.
Thank God my wife is the hot chick who loves nerds.
So we decided to make a game. Torque, after a lot of research, was the logical engine. Not just because of the engine itself, but because of the community. After not much searching, I found Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - who really is a programmer extraordinaire, in addition to being a great all around guy. He's been working with us on our existing project for the past 4-5 months, and it's been a great time all around, as well as a huge learning curve.
We kept quiet up to this point because I just didn't want to jinx it. You know - show up and trumpet 'WE'RE MAKING THE NEXT HALF LIFE ' and then proceed to do nothing and end up making a game about a lizard carrying a crowbar who fights his way out of the Brown Mesa facility, all in Commodore 64 graphics, while fighting off Cease and Desist orders from Valve, because they don't want 'HALF LIZARD' to be released - EVER. I had this vision of being Dirk Diggler and his buddy from Boogie nights, talking to those guys at the recording studio: "Yeah - the tapes - the tapes are yours. But the magic ON those tapes is ours..." You get the idea.
However, we're probably days away from wrapping up Marble Attack, so it was time to slither out, blink at the sun reflecting off our pasty pale faces, wave, and say 'Hey, how are you?' or something else equally clever. Because we're sly like that.
Anyway - you'll probably poke around our site, and see the game we're working on. Once it's done, I'll write another equally long and mildly moronic .plan to announce it, eyes wild because I'm on my 12th cup of coffee and fantasies of receiving game awards from the E3 babes are dancing through my addled, deluded mind.
The reality will fall far short, I know. But it's a start - and that's exciting.
I'm going to go back under my rock now. The mushrooms and blind albino dwarfs are waiting.
First of all - the pack. I don't want to get (too) spammy, so I'll just say that you can see it all it's glory here:
www.digital-snow.com/citystarterpack.htm
Most people know Eric - they may not know that he does incredible interior work. We were referred to him by Davis of Midnight Ryder Technologies fame, and at that time the game we were looking at was more complex (big surprise) and I told him I needed a city. We went back and forth on it, and came to an agreement for him to make us a City on a non exclusive basis. He'd do it, we'd get first dibs on using it in a game, and he'd be free to sell it others. Well, he definately delivered. As time went on, we talked about the possibility of us helping him to distribute it, and last week we hammered out the final details. The pack is great, we used it in the game we're almost done with, check it out.
Who the hell is Digital Snow Inc? We're two guys, and we literally work out of our Garage. Literally. David is my partner and room mate, and when we moved into the house we're currently living in, my wife said: "I'll setup my computer in the bedroom - you can set yours up in the Garage. " Being a gentleman, and understanding the intricacies of the pecking order on certain issues, I of course agreed with this plan.
So here I sit, where it's hot in the summer and cold in the winter, trying to make a game while wearing a either a pair of swim trunks or two sweaters, depending on the season. :)
David and I are both avid game players. Game ADDICTS is probably more accurate. Yes, we're proud members of that sad group. You know the group I'm talking about - the ones who, while watching Lord of the Rings and listening to Gandalf explain about beating the Balrog, murmured under their breath "Wow, that must have been a ton of experience points. He must have seriously levelled up." My neighbors must wonder about me sometimes, when I stumble out at 3 AM in front of the house to have a smoke, and stand there plotting out loud about what attributes I'm going to allocate points to in my zillionth time through Diablo 2. That group.
Thank God my wife is the hot chick who loves nerds.
So we decided to make a game. Torque, after a lot of research, was the logical engine. Not just because of the engine itself, but because of the community. After not much searching, I found Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - who really is a programmer extraordinaire, in addition to being a great all around guy. He's been working with us on our existing project for the past 4-5 months, and it's been a great time all around, as well as a huge learning curve.
We kept quiet up to this point because I just didn't want to jinx it. You know - show up and trumpet 'WE'RE MAKING THE NEXT HALF LIFE ' and then proceed to do nothing and end up making a game about a lizard carrying a crowbar who fights his way out of the Brown Mesa facility, all in Commodore 64 graphics, while fighting off Cease and Desist orders from Valve, because they don't want 'HALF LIZARD' to be released - EVER. I had this vision of being Dirk Diggler and his buddy from Boogie nights, talking to those guys at the recording studio: "Yeah - the tapes - the tapes are yours. But the magic ON those tapes is ours..." You get the idea.
However, we're probably days away from wrapping up Marble Attack, so it was time to slither out, blink at the sun reflecting off our pasty pale faces, wave, and say 'Hey, how are you?' or something else equally clever. Because we're sly like that.
Anyway - you'll probably poke around our site, and see the game we're working on. Once it's done, I'll write another equally long and mildly moronic .plan to announce it, eyes wild because I'm on my 12th cup of coffee and fantasies of receiving game awards from the E3 babes are dancing through my addled, deluded mind.
The reality will fall far short, I know. But it's a start - and that's exciting.
I'm going to go back under my rock now. The mushrooms and blind albino dwarfs are waiting.
#2
Actually, GID spawned the idea for the game we're almost done with. We started on a pretty ambitious project, and after crashing back down to Earth, I was talking to Davis, and he mentioned GID. It got me thinking along the lines of 'fun, not MMO'. Of course, it ended up being more like 'GIQ' (Game in a Quarter), but hey...
09/23/2004 (1:20 pm)
Thanks T - I've heard disturbing, haunting stories about GID... :)Actually, GID spawned the idea for the game we're almost done with. We started on a pretty ambitious project, and after crashing back down to Earth, I was talking to Davis, and he mentioned GID. It got me thinking along the lines of 'fun, not MMO'. Of course, it ended up being more like 'GIQ' (Game in a Quarter), but hey...
#3
09/23/2004 (10:31 pm)
wow, that's awesome -- actual garage gamers making games in their garage!
#4
09/23/2004 (10:40 pm)
Thanks Josh. :) Though it would be more awesome for me if was a metaphor rather than a reality. Heh heh. But I know what you mean, and we're having a good time, which was goal number one. 
#5
09/23/2004 (11:19 pm)
Ah, `nother not-so-sane-anymore individual! Welcome to the fold :) 
Torque 3D Owner Tom Bampton
Congrats on being almost done. The pre-release high is beaten only by the post-release high. That is unless the game flops, in which case you cant beat the pre-release high ;-)
T.