DreamFeel

On the Thursday night before the IGF deadline, and after a few drinks, I decided 'fuck everything' and that I would attempt to get at least a trailer finished for the competition after all. I had previously given up and felt pretty awful about the prior month (most of the actual work just involved a couple small games which are neat and some writing). With new motivation, I pulled it all together a little and submitted. Right now this is 'It Clicks'; the name seems to change faster than I can type it.

I'm unsure about the video quality, Youtube - even in HD - isn't quite friendly to it, but it was nice to stake a marker of the game's development into the ground. Indie Statik noticed it and Cactus! It also continued my IGF submitting streak for the third year, so with that in mind I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the other games I've entered in the past and whether that might illuminate over two years of making games.

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To finish the catchup here's the status of everything I'm working on right now. Seven! :O

One More Cup of Coffee - I finished a version of this unusual music game back in December. It was almost certainly an unsuccsessful experiment, players were totally lost. The core game concepts were so unusual and they weren't communicated very well, but I've had ideas of where to take it next. I started working on it again a couple weeks ago but it felt wrong scrapping all the content and particularly the ending I had written.

Shortly afterward the new ideas morphed into a new game, what is currently called Isis. Only a few days ago I got the IGF feedback on this experiment, and it was really constructive and interesting, inspiring me even with Isis to get a chance to go back and polish this sometime soon for public consumption. There's bits I still really like.

Isis - This is my newest project, no pictures yet! Hopefully will take the audio experiments of One More slightly further but also more understandable. Really excited to work on it and at the moment it could go lots of different ways but alas I don't have much time to experiment and finish before deadlines!

To get this pic explained and read about the other 5 (!) games click on. :)

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Much against my better judgement I took a few days away from Uni work to lovingly finish the game.

The game now consists of an intro stage, introducing the singing concept and the story; the forest snow, whereby a boat goes down a river and two people talk; the caves, full of cave paintings, minimalist Glass-indebted piano and much more interested singing scales; and a final, short outro sequence to put a nice bow on the whole affair.

More info and pics after the jump!

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So, just as Beat Box Story was nearing completion I had to unfortunately take a break to kick what is now called 'One More Cup of Coffee', formerly a Window Phone game, into PC shape. Honestly, I'm really excited about it now that it's played with a keyboard rather than the touch screen (the midi keyboard will be amazing) and seeing the big fat pixels full-screen makes them stand out a bit more too. Here's the trailer:

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1st November. I've set myself a deadline, and it's not a coincidence that it's the final date for submitting to the Student IGF. Motivation!

I harbour no delusions; the short list for previous year's was largely made up of flashy 3D, team projects developd over months, and I have a under four weeks to make a highly obtuse game that I'm not even sure will work. BUT, if it is good enough to submit, I hope I can good feedback and maybe even a little press from it.

Also, my 3D 4th year project will have to be written up and submitted soon. I have no Plan B at the moment so I really hope, some lecturer will accept it! Apart from that I'm still in the preproduction stages of my other two indie games which I wonder whether I'll even be able to make alongside my college project.

I do think I have hit upon the dénouement for the final 2d game of three though, which I can't wait to make. Is it bad form to introduce a completely different kind of gameplay right at the end? That doesn't quite do the idea justice, but there's only one way to know for sure. >: )

Is any of these vague musings interesting to anyone but me? With luck, it'll be something to look back on! :D