Plan for Bryan Edds
by Bryan Edds · 02/10/2005 (8:39 pm) · 5 comments
As George Orwell said, in some form or another, 'I write to clarify my thoughts'. So I figures I'll do the same.
Let's get right to the point. There're 3 games I'd like to make -
The first game is a stealth FPS game. It's cool and innovative and fun, etc. There's only one problem - The visual art assets alone will take approximately 771 manhours to get done. Ask around, and you'll find that that's a lot of hours for an indie! If I were to pull this project off, I'd need two artists working for 15 hours a week for 6 months, and that's ONLY if I planned the assets perfectly and there are no delays. Which means it'll probably end up take 9 to 12 months in reality. That's quite a lot. Fortunately, this isn't my first big project, so I have some experience to fall back on, and I can handle all the programming myself. The only problem is getting 2 great artists to stay with me for the duration without them getting any pay up front.
That's what makes this project an unlikely one.
Moving on, the second game I'd like to make is a fun little puzzle game that I can submit to Yahoo games. To deploy this game via Yahoo's online game service, I'd need to code the game in Flash. I had looked into using Java for it, but Java just couldn't handle the speed requirements of an action-puzzle game. Now, I 've never done any Flash before, but I hear it's a fun little authoring environment, especially with it's fully object-oriented scripting language ActionScript 2.0. And while I can't say I'm looking forward to learning Flash and paying the $500 Flash MX 2004 software licensing fee, I am looking forward to making a fun game in what will hopefully be a comparably fast development process.
The caveat? To be frank, I'd rather be working on the first game simple cause I like it better. Ain't that always the case? There's also the problem of the game itself being a dedad-end, but we'll cover that later...
The third game is be a side-scrolling space shoot-em-up (known also as a 'space shmup') with T2D. I think that this game would be extremely viable in terms of development considerations. The hardest and most skilled part about 2D game development, IMO, is animating living 2D characters. Any 2D human or animal animation is extremely costly and time-consuming, especially when it concerns moving the art to videogames. The reason a side-scrolling shootemup is so appealing to an indie like myself is that most of the objects will be static mechanical objects whose animation consists of them turning and winding about without any of the extremely nuanced joint, muscle or tissue animations involved in animating a living character. Further, using renders of a static 3D model from different angles to implement the animations will be a breeze for the artist, and make the game look sweet as a warm juicy Georgia peach.
Mm!
The obvious problem? T2D ain't out yet. So that's on the back burner no matter what. The more subtle problem is my own doubt about the market-viability of major 2D games. Everybody wants 3D-everything nowadays, and they don't appreciate the real heart of a game development - gameplay - anymore. That may be the doubter in me talking, but I can't shake the feeling I'd just be wasting my time - as much as I'd LOVE to do a space shmup... I feel it would be a labor of love and nothing more.
So, these are my oppurtunities and my problems. Maybe you'd like to know what I plan to do about it, this being a .plan and all? Well, I'd like to know too, so hopefully writing this will help me clarify my thoughts on that as well!
I was thinking about simply developing the first two games simultaneously. I know it sounds crazy, but I can't seem to find a better compromise. I REALLY only want to do the stealth FPS game, but the only game I feel secure about being able to get done is the puzzle game. Relying on two artists (maybe 3 if it turns out I can't get them to work the full 15 hours a week...) who will only get paid royalties and partnership is a scary thing. It's even more scary considering the amount of time it will take to get done. In terms of development scope, I would say my game is closer to the first Lore game than the other GG games here - which means I'll be going out on a limb. Of course, I would have a very nice working, fun, playable prototype to get people to join the effort, but will that be enough to attract the requisite talent? What is the price of loyalty in this business? Does it exceed the promises of royalties on a damn sweet game?
This I do not know. can the stealth FPS game really rely on others? It is a risk, and it is unsure, This is what keeps me from developing it by itself. I have to be able to know I can, in all probability, go all the way. When it comes to relying on others, I am usually doubtful. Perhaps unusually doubtful.
In the end, we can only know oncee we try, and we accept the consequences of the riskes we take.
I do have the option of developing for the puzzle by itself (which is the option is recommended to me generally). But the problem is - what do I do AFTER I finish it? You see, because of this games particular design elements, it doesn't lend itself very well to sequal-cashing. Even if the game is a success, I HIGHLY doubt that it will give me even a fraction of the money I'd need to afford 771 hours of art work needed for the stealth game. Worst of all, I don't believe GG will publish it because I don't believe they will publish a Flash game. GG just ain't that kind of publisher from what I hear. So at best, the puzzle game by itself is a dead-end. One might think that I could make yet another puzzle game... but I would argue that it's HIGHLY unlikely. In my 6 years of game dev, I've only thought up 1 and ONLY 1 puzzle game that might be fun. I am just not the puzzle game-making kind of guy. The puzzle genre just ain't mine.
So now you (and I) see what my thoughts are. I'm scared, confused, and my stomach hurts from the Taco Bell. What does I do? For now, I'll do first two games at once... I think. Maybe someone out there can think of something I haven't. Given my limited intellectual ability, I would consider it probable. So, please tell me what you think below. Now that all my contract programming is all gone - I've gotta start doing my own thing again. A kept man I am no longer. :)
Let's get right to the point. There're 3 games I'd like to make -
The first game is a stealth FPS game. It's cool and innovative and fun, etc. There's only one problem - The visual art assets alone will take approximately 771 manhours to get done. Ask around, and you'll find that that's a lot of hours for an indie! If I were to pull this project off, I'd need two artists working for 15 hours a week for 6 months, and that's ONLY if I planned the assets perfectly and there are no delays. Which means it'll probably end up take 9 to 12 months in reality. That's quite a lot. Fortunately, this isn't my first big project, so I have some experience to fall back on, and I can handle all the programming myself. The only problem is getting 2 great artists to stay with me for the duration without them getting any pay up front.
That's what makes this project an unlikely one.
Moving on, the second game I'd like to make is a fun little puzzle game that I can submit to Yahoo games. To deploy this game via Yahoo's online game service, I'd need to code the game in Flash. I had looked into using Java for it, but Java just couldn't handle the speed requirements of an action-puzzle game. Now, I 've never done any Flash before, but I hear it's a fun little authoring environment, especially with it's fully object-oriented scripting language ActionScript 2.0. And while I can't say I'm looking forward to learning Flash and paying the $500 Flash MX 2004 software licensing fee, I am looking forward to making a fun game in what will hopefully be a comparably fast development process.
The caveat? To be frank, I'd rather be working on the first game simple cause I like it better. Ain't that always the case? There's also the problem of the game itself being a dedad-end, but we'll cover that later...
The third game is be a side-scrolling space shoot-em-up (known also as a 'space shmup') with T2D. I think that this game would be extremely viable in terms of development considerations. The hardest and most skilled part about 2D game development, IMO, is animating living 2D characters. Any 2D human or animal animation is extremely costly and time-consuming, especially when it concerns moving the art to videogames. The reason a side-scrolling shootemup is so appealing to an indie like myself is that most of the objects will be static mechanical objects whose animation consists of them turning and winding about without any of the extremely nuanced joint, muscle or tissue animations involved in animating a living character. Further, using renders of a static 3D model from different angles to implement the animations will be a breeze for the artist, and make the game look sweet as a warm juicy Georgia peach.
Mm!
The obvious problem? T2D ain't out yet. So that's on the back burner no matter what. The more subtle problem is my own doubt about the market-viability of major 2D games. Everybody wants 3D-everything nowadays, and they don't appreciate the real heart of a game development - gameplay - anymore. That may be the doubter in me talking, but I can't shake the feeling I'd just be wasting my time - as much as I'd LOVE to do a space shmup... I feel it would be a labor of love and nothing more.
So, these are my oppurtunities and my problems. Maybe you'd like to know what I plan to do about it, this being a .plan and all? Well, I'd like to know too, so hopefully writing this will help me clarify my thoughts on that as well!
I was thinking about simply developing the first two games simultaneously. I know it sounds crazy, but I can't seem to find a better compromise. I REALLY only want to do the stealth FPS game, but the only game I feel secure about being able to get done is the puzzle game. Relying on two artists (maybe 3 if it turns out I can't get them to work the full 15 hours a week...) who will only get paid royalties and partnership is a scary thing. It's even more scary considering the amount of time it will take to get done. In terms of development scope, I would say my game is closer to the first Lore game than the other GG games here - which means I'll be going out on a limb. Of course, I would have a very nice working, fun, playable prototype to get people to join the effort, but will that be enough to attract the requisite talent? What is the price of loyalty in this business? Does it exceed the promises of royalties on a damn sweet game?
This I do not know. can the stealth FPS game really rely on others? It is a risk, and it is unsure, This is what keeps me from developing it by itself. I have to be able to know I can, in all probability, go all the way. When it comes to relying on others, I am usually doubtful. Perhaps unusually doubtful.
In the end, we can only know oncee we try, and we accept the consequences of the riskes we take.
I do have the option of developing for the puzzle by itself (which is the option is recommended to me generally). But the problem is - what do I do AFTER I finish it? You see, because of this games particular design elements, it doesn't lend itself very well to sequal-cashing. Even if the game is a success, I HIGHLY doubt that it will give me even a fraction of the money I'd need to afford 771 hours of art work needed for the stealth game. Worst of all, I don't believe GG will publish it because I don't believe they will publish a Flash game. GG just ain't that kind of publisher from what I hear. So at best, the puzzle game by itself is a dead-end. One might think that I could make yet another puzzle game... but I would argue that it's HIGHLY unlikely. In my 6 years of game dev, I've only thought up 1 and ONLY 1 puzzle game that might be fun. I am just not the puzzle game-making kind of guy. The puzzle genre just ain't mine.
So now you (and I) see what my thoughts are. I'm scared, confused, and my stomach hurts from the Taco Bell. What does I do? For now, I'll do first two games at once... I think. Maybe someone out there can think of something I haven't. Given my limited intellectual ability, I would consider it probable. So, please tell me what you think below. Now that all my contract programming is all gone - I've gotta start doing my own thing again. A kept man I am no longer. :)
#2
From the sounds of Josh's plan, T2D is fairly imminent, so it might be worth you doing your game design for the space shooter now, and by the time you are ready to start coding, T2D should be out.
Even if T2D is a bit longer being released, you have a ready space shooter game design, and you could fill the gap with your flash game, or even try to recruit some artists with your design.
Or just eat more Taco Bell's!
02/11/2005 (3:20 am)
Quote:All in all, the release candidate will be out almost immediately!
From the sounds of Josh's plan, T2D is fairly imminent, so it might be worth you doing your game design for the space shooter now, and by the time you are ready to start coding, T2D should be out.
Even if T2D is a bit longer being released, you have a ready space shooter game design, and you could fill the gap with your flash game, or even try to recruit some artists with your design.
Or just eat more Taco Bell's!
#3
I have said it over and over again. You can't do the same old thing and expect to make money. If you are doing it for fun or learning purposes, then knock yourself out. Just have the proper exepectations going in.
-Jeff Tunnell GG
02/11/2005 (9:29 am)
T2D will be released very, very soon (way soon enough to accomplich any of your plans). To be honest none of these game ideas will attract much attention. The stealth 3D game is way too big. Puzzle games in Flash will not get you into Yahoo unless you already have a working relationship with them. Side scrolling space shooters are a tough sell. In fact, we will probably do a space shooter for free just to show off T2D. That will pretty much take away the market around here. I have said it over and over again. You can't do the same old thing and expect to make money. If you are doing it for fun or learning purposes, then knock yourself out. Just have the proper exepectations going in.
-Jeff Tunnell GG
#4
The stealth FPS game, while completely stripped down to the nuts and bolts, still seems too big. Apparently the puzzle game is even more of a dead end than I thought...
Back to the drawing board, eh?
02/11/2005 (12:53 pm)
Jeff, thanks for the heads up on GG plans to do a shooter. Would I be correct to assume that it is not in GG's interest to publish 2 of the same game genres in close proximity to one another?The stealth FPS game, while completely stripped down to the nuts and bolts, still seems too big. Apparently the puzzle game is even more of a dead end than I thought...
Back to the drawing board, eh?
#5
02/12/2005 (9:59 pm)
I don' think you should be thinking of how much money you are going to make. You should make a game that you are passionate about. if it is good and it sells, great. If not, then you made something that you are proud of. 
Torque Owner Jeremy Alessi
Anyway, do the puzzle game and then prototype the stealth game to attract other developers to help you out. I worked solo on games for quite a while before Aerial Antics and it was Jeff who convinced me that teamwork is essential. Find some people who you think can do the work (base it soley on the work at first) and trust them. It can work ... it's worked for many others before and in order to do really great things in this world you must rely on other people. Good Luck!