Friday, September 26, 2014

This Ain't Yer Typical Western! Part 1

Game's name will be changed to "Grimslingers", as that is what pretty much everyone voted for, and I like it too!

Every really wondered what the game was about? The setting, story, blah blah, well here it is! (part one anyway). Don't expect the grammar to be fantastic...=P

--------------------------------------

You awake to a sudden jolt of pain, your nerves ablaze, vision blurred. Hovering over you is a metallic object, difficult to make it out exactly.


A scruffy looking man walks up and greets you with a rotten smile, offering his hand. He pulls you onto your feet and dusts you off.


“Greetin’s, the names Bo, which is short for Bo. Friends call me Bo though!”.


“I’m sort’a the know-how ‘round these parts. Ya see, I’m a sneak of sorts, a listener, a spyer, a peeper, a uh...well you get the picture".


“Bet yer wonderin’ what’s going on, eh? Always enjoy explainin’ it to the new ones...”


Sired


The Iron Witch has been abducting individuals according to his fancy to be sired by him. Folks ‘round here have been a bit on edge since it started happenin’. Can’t say I blame em!


Guess he found something special about you. Most of the scars ya see all over yer body will go away in time.


The Iron Witch didn’t just sire you for fun, nah, he’s got a plan. Who the hell knows what it is though! Judging by the increase in sirings...he’s raisin’ an army.

What good is an army inside this place, you ask? Ain’t got the slightest idea!


The Iron Witch/Icarus


Heh heh, the Iron Witch. Oh boy, what a peculiarity, wouldn’t you say? Legend has it that he was created by some “Architect” eons ago. The Iron Witch is an automaton, a uh... machine like thinger, given a soul through some long forgotten thaumaturgical spell used to give life to Golems.


Not the only Golem though I hear, others been scattered throughout this fine universe. Ya know... I never been able to figure out if the Architect was from this dusty rock we’re callin’ earth or not.


Anyhow, “Icarus” is what the ol’ witch refers to ‘imself as, after the greek myth. Guessin’ he identifies with the story somehow. Also been known to refer to himself as Helios and Selene from time to time. Suppose in reference to his ability to use both the Sun and Moon for magic with precision ‘n skill.


Those within the coven refer to him as “Sire”, and those without usually don’t address him directly. I’m partial to “Creepy hunk’a metal”, though I don’t think he’d take too kindly to that.


The Iron Witch is a rather aloof presence within the Forgotten West and even among his own coven. Reserving his conversation, motives and desires for those within his close inner circle.


My guess is you and I will never be in that circle. No bother, always been more of a square m’self.


One last thing you need to understand: The Iron Witch is an all powerful being, heck, he’s God if that helps get it through yer head. Best to stay on his good side.


The Coven of the Iron Witch


Non existent until the Iron Witch decided to start siring y’all these past few months. It ain’t run by you-know-who, instead the first sired took it on themselves to organize a coven. They ain’t got many rules, more or less just pledging loyalty to the Iron Witch and not killing yer fellows.


Not like the Forgotten West is full of real upstanding individuals (no offense), so abiding by any law is a feat. Think there’s the uh…, what do they call it? Oath and Covenant? I nabbed one’a these awhile back, guess you’ll be gettin’ one yerself pretty soon.






Grimoire Animus/Grim


Wish I had me one of those, without, you know...the Iron Witch forcing me into deadly duels at a moments notice.


Well if yer familiar with regular, run-’o-the-mill witch lore, a “grimoire” is a textbook of sorts for castin’ spells an’ performin’ rituals. The word “animus” is latin for livin’, among other things. So there you have it! A livin’ floatin’ magic textbook thinger, with a quirky personality to boot! (not sure why the Iron Witch gave em those…).






So, as you now know, the Grim (that’s what the locals call ‘em) is linked to one sired by the Iron Witch. Gives ‘em the abilities to cast spells and draw from various sources of power to cast them spells. Word is, as you’ll soon find out, they’re linked to you both physically and spiritually.


Get what that means? It meeaaanns that if you die, it dies. It dies, you die. You die, it die-oh I said that already, heh heh. Word of advice, treat it like yer own flesh and blood. Yer soul mates now! Betcha thought you’d end up with someone’ a bit more attractive, didn’t ya?


It’s fairly common magic practice to use an object of some kind, like a talisman, to channel spells through. The Grim is a bit like one of them talismans. Not only that, but they're meant to be your mentor and guide into the realm of the supernatural.


Don’t quote me on this but, I heard they got a direct link to the mind of the Iron Witch. Quite the special little friend you got followin’ you around.


By the way, locals call the likes of you “Grimslingers”, for obvious reasons.


Grimslingers


It’s a fitting nickname for those that’ve been sired by the Iron Witch and linked to one of them Grims. When you ain’t bein’ called upon to duel, I guess yer free to roam about the Forgotten West. So long as you don’t cause enough trouble to deserve the awful scorn of your Maker.





The Duels


Wouldn’t be the same in this God forsaken land without duels! But we’re not talkin’ about the impromptu gunfights that break out across the Forgotten West, now are we?


These duels he’s got you participatin’ in are trainin’ fer somethin’. Ain’t to the death though, so don’t worry (well, not usually anyway). At any given moment you’ll start feelin’ an unnerving desire to head to a specific location, yer own feet’ll probably take off under ya! It’s what Grimslingers refer to as “being called”. You’ll end up at a gatherin’ with the Iron Witch and some other Grimslingers (likely some regular ol’ bystanders too).


Then, he’ll pit you up against someone else and it’s all magic and blood from thereon out. He’ll be judgin’ yer performance, so be clever.


Most ‘slingers sit on the sidelines a distance away from their Grims, seein’ as yer linked ‘n all. No point in doubling up the pain if you both get blasted, now is there?


The Temple


Course you seen it, that big upside-down pyramid like thing in the sky? Far as I can tell, it’s floatin’ right in the heart of this here prison land. I had the guts one time to ask the Iron Witch what it was...a’right, a’right, maybe not so much guts but the booze in them guts, either way, he answered little ol’ me.


Cryptic as it was, he said it were “a craft to not only traverse creation, but add to it”, whatever that means. Few have been inside, they say it’s somethin’ like...machines and lights and such, a laboratory of sorts...if that’s a thing.


Makes for a good landmark to get around though, don’t it?




Thaumaturgy


Oft been referred to as magic, miracles, sorcery, witchcraft and the like. It be the ancient art o’creation and manipulation, the power to communicate with them laws of the universe. You know..the ones that bind all things together and set ‘em in motion all complicated like.


Sad lot for Thaumaturgy though, almost since the start it’s been segmented, apostatized, and altered by cultural and personal preferences. Hundreds and thousands and millions and...maybe not millions, but hell, there be all kinds of denominations of magics spread across the face a’the earth with roots in the one true source.


As far as is known (as in...as far as the walls of the Forgotten West go), it was taught to mankind by the “Light” to establish order and exaltify mankind to higher realms of peace and unity with the universes and all that hogwash. 

The “Darkness” came along and put it in the hearts of men to use it for their own gain. Down right evil lot they are...but no more than us I guess, ha ha!


Magic can only be practiced by one who has a soul (that’s you an’ me) and been ordained by either the Darkness or the Light through the use of an “Ochre” stone (certainly ain’t me). Once ordained, I hear it becomes part of that there bloodline, rarely surfacin’ though.


What a shame…
-----------------------------------

STAY TUNED FRO NEXT WEEK'S LORE DROP FEATURING:

  • Origin of the Forgotten West
  • Current state of the Forgotten West
  • The Light
  • The Darkness
  • Golems
  • Ochre Stones

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Pay To Lose

In my opinion, pay to win games are in reality pay to lose. And what you're losing is a proper game experience.

Well, the reality is, allowing players to pay for an unfair advantage over those who do not pay to play your game, makes money. And we're all about making money right, regardless of how it jeopardizes the integrity of our game? I don't think that's what indies are all about...

I prefer games that are free-to-play, without pay walls (can't progress in the game without spending money), and without any pay-to-win (spend money to have an advantage over other players).

I think you lose as a developer when you treat your player base like children, and I find pay to win does that, at least in a competitive player-vs-player situation. It shows a lack of creativity in how you monetize your game, and ruins what could be a fair, competitive experience. 

Ever play "APB: Reloaded"? Great game, but extremely pay-to-win. It created an environment where you'd want to stop playing the game because another player had dropped $50 for a grenade launcher that obliterated everyone. Sure..it WAS possible to kill them, but WAY harder to do so. And honestly, the experience was ruined.



Similarly it's why I stopped playing Hearthstone. Better cards were better, and you could pay (a lot) to get better cards, or spend an eternity playing for gold, buying booster packs and MAYBE getting good cards. No thanks, I'm not into gambling with my money.

As soon as players think someone has an unfair advantage mechanically (as in, the game itself gave the advantage, not the player's personal skill) they stop having fun, and start resenting the game. It feels like the other player is cheating. And the only way for me to win is to cheat also. 

Personally I hate cheat codes or anything that undermines the intended experience of a game. It's also why I dislike "booster" packs in games. I can pay to get insane XP boosts and breeze through the game. Why do I want to breeze through the game? Don't I want to PLAY it and be challenged? Or did you not design your game to have a fun leveling experience and I need to pay to bypass the torturous grind and get to the actual fun?

But there are plenty of people out there who like to cheat. I'll save that psycho analysis for another day though. 

I don't really mind if developers include cheats in their cash shops. It's the players' choice to purchase it. But, as I stated earlier, I do mind if they include purchase options that give you an unfair advantage over others. 

So for you game devs out there, treat your players with respect. Don't give them any mechanical advantages over their peers, let their skill decide how well they fair. Design your content so that they don't want to skip it.

That's my plea anyway.

Friday, September 19, 2014

High Moon Is No More.

As a noob game developer, I've made a few mistakes. Ok fine, a lot of mistakes. One of them being a misunderstanding of how trademarks work.

Now, I haven't been accused of infringing, and I don't think I ever would be. But the reality is, I could be. There is a webseries comic called "High Moon", which I knew about after I started using the name High Moon (but totally should have known about it beforehand) and thought distinguishing my IP as "High Moon The Game" and "High Moon: The Elements" would be good enough to avoid any legal troubles.

Well, this week, for the third time in the year I've been using the name High Moon, someone asked if it was at all related to the web comic. Both are westerns, both feature supernatural things.

As I understand it, trademark infringement depends a lot on if your IP can be confused with another, and seem logically linked. If the other High Moon was a research lab dedicated to studying the lunar cycles, there wouldn't really be much of an issue.

So, before any issues arise, I'm changing the name of the game.

It's a pretty big hit in terms of progress. Seeing as everyone knows the game as High Moon. The transition itself will take awhile too as I've got to change the name everywhere. But this is the consequence of not doing my research. Learn from my bad example! LEARN!!!



The new name is...


Undecided so far! But here are a list of candidates that are available (all of them would likely have subtitles, like High Moon: The Elements): 
Dusk 'til Death
Iron & Magic (the game has a lot of robots in it)
Sundown: Duels (this one probably sounds the most like a game)
Sunset Slinger
Grimslinger (Grim is short for Grimoire Animus, which are little companion robots you use to cast magic. It's what gives you your abilities really. So, technically you play a grimslinger in the game. More on that to come later!)
Wild Iron



Which do you prefer?

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Perfection Is A Fallacy

Perfect is an interesting word. I think society's general idea of it is "without flaw", but how that translates into the real world is very subjective and even ambiguous to ourselves.


I'd like to talk about the pursuit of perfection first. We all do it in some way or another. We either want to look perfect for a date, create a perfect work of art, a perfect game, whatever. I don't think we usually expect to achieve perfection, but we pursue it, often to some degree of frustration. 

In terms of game development, perfection comes in the form of the feature creep, or tirelessly working on details that are irrelevant, or will be glossed over. Or focusing on every aspect of the game equally. If your game is combat oriented, you better make dang sure it's solid before wasting time on other features.

Well, the reality of it all is...you can't create a perfect game. So stop trying. Perfection, "without flaw" isn't attainable. Sorry. So if you ever find yourself in that mindset, please abandon it. 



As a general rule, I usually ask myself "Does this increase sale value? Will this increase people's desire to buy it? Will this help the majority of people enjoy the game more?", and I try to be brutally honest as I answer my own questions.

I'd like to offer a new pursuit, and that's "Purpose". What is the purpose of this feature? What is it trying to accomplish? If the purpose is to say...increase longevity of the game, then work on that feature until it accomplishes it's purpose. But go a step beyond, be specific with each feature's purpose. Instead of "increase longevity", make it "increase gameplay time by 1 hour". The more specific the purpose (or goal) is, the better off you are. You'll know exactly if you're fulfilling the purpose of that feature or not. 

For instance, I wanted High Moon to be a quick game that was casual friendly. Thus I needed gameplay to last between 5-15 minutes. So I set about refining various aspects of the game until a duel was fun, and only lasted for the amount of time I wanted it to. I also wanted it to be hardcore friendly for those who wanted a more difficult challenge and a lengthier play duration. So again, I worked on features that would allow the game to be both a 5-15 minute game, or a 20-30 minute game and just as much fun either way.

I guess this post is really about setting goals, and avoiding a more ambiguous vision for your game. When I first started designing High Moon, I had a few goals, but the majority of what I was trying to create was quite ambiguous. Overtime I refined and refined until I knew exactly what I was trying to create, and then set about doing that. 

Glad to say, I've finally achieved it, and you can too!


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Failure Is A Reality...

But it doesn't have to be your destiny.

This post isn't meant to bum you out. In fact, quite the opposite.

First I just want to muse about the reality of failure. It happens. It'll happen (or already has) to you, me, your parents, your friends, small businesses, multi-million dollar conglomerates, societies, civilizations, empires, etc.

We all fail in some way or another. Having millions of dollars or a huge team behind your project doesn't guarantee your game or venture success. Surely it helps, but offers no guarantees. Indie games on a 0 dollar budget are really just as likely to succeed these days as game produced by a AAA studio.

So don't let your situation define what you think your chance of succeeding is. It's nothing external that defines your success (though I'm sure many would argue against that notion), it's internal. It's your creativity, your tenacity, your ambition. When we come to realize we are in control, even when it doesn't seem like it, you become empowered to do what it takes to succeed.

Failures are just stepping stones to success, that's a pretty common idea nowadays and it's true. At first I stated failure doesn't have to be your destiny, and by that I meant you don't need to stop short of success. Don't walk up three flights of stairs when there's only 1 more flight to go to the top (the view is breathtaking...I hear).

For myself, High Moon may not make a lot of money. Heck, statistically speaking, it likely won't. But that's not how I decided to define the success of my game. Success for High Moon is finally finishing the product and delivering it. Learning the ropes of game development along the way, establishing a foot hold in the industry and having at least a handful of people really appreciate what I made. Avoid defining success in ways that are out of your control, because then your success is in the hands of others, not your own.

Make it happen folks :)


Monday, September 8, 2014

Is it fun?

Here is a list of things I generally consider when designing a game (in no particular order). These are personal preferences/opinions based on my own experiences.

  • Progression
    • Players need to feel as if they are progressing in a meaningful way as they play your game. Whether it's for 5 minutes, or an hour, or more! (depending on how long you intend a play session to typically last).
  • Challenge
    • EVERYONE that plays needs to feel challenged. Challenges are fun, but don't make it too hard because it can easily discourage players. Challenges comes in all shapes and sizes. They can be puzzles, opponents, figuring out how to build your deck, etc. 
    • Each facet of the game should typically offer some kind of challenge to the player. Something to "figure out". It doesn't always have to be hard, but things generally shouldn't just be handed to the player.
  • Customization
    • Players should be able to differentiate themselves from others in a meaningful way. Cosmetics and Abilities are what it really boils down to. Altering your "stats" is essentially altering your abilities so attribute/stat customization is really ability customization. 
  • Reward
    • Players MUST be rewarded for their actions.
    • Rewards should be satisfying and something the player is interested in.
    • The more challenging something is, the greater the reward should be. 
    • Offer micro and macro rewards. For instance, in High Moon you are rewarded +1 damage for "Apexing" during a face-off (micro reward) and then doing damage/effects for winning the face-off and avoiding damage/effects (macro reward). 
  • Consequences
    • Along with rewards, there should be a punishment for playing poorly. Technically a reward is a consequence as well but typically we think of consequences as a negative.
    • Consequence means player choice has weight and meaning. If the player has options in a game, those options should matter and alter their experience. 
    • Punishment shouldn't be so severe that it discourages the player. They are playing a game to have fun, and over penalizing a player isn't fun. Punishments that require a player to sink a significant amount of time back into the game are bad (I'm looking at you, Everquest corpse runs!).
  • Different ways to win
    • Players should have different paths and options for winning the game. Guild Wars 2 is a great example of this. Each quest usually had 2 ways to complete it that suited different tastes.
    • The different ways to win should be equally viable. This means no overpowered build in your card game that results in everyone wanting to play that build. It means in an MMO, no OP builds for classes in games. It means balanced options that treat all player's preferences equally (this is extremely hard to do, and developers spend years trying to balance their game). If designing paths in a level, each one should be equal but different. Example: Path 1 is shorter and takes less time, but has harder monsters or more traps. Path 2 is easier but takes longer. 
  • Immersion
    • An important part of immersion is simply how you present the game to people. Do you have a cluttered UI? Does the game constantly take you out of context with pop-up boxes and notifications? (*cough*neverwinter lockboxes*cough*). 
    • Story. Story is important, and how it's presented is even more important. I feel it is better to present story in small bits throughout the game, not all at once or several giant chunks. Allow the story to unfold in smaller ways, it feels more fluid. Star Wars: The Old Republic (and other bioware games) do an amazing job at immersing you with the story because you choose what your character says. The game treats you like you are actually there, instead of like a spectator. 
    • Bad Example of presenting story: "John! Oh I'm so glad you're here. The town is on fire and I couldn't find you! Please you must go rescue my cat, whiskers. He's all I have left after my grandpa died. I'll give you 5 gold coins if you do it, just please! Please John!"
    • Good example of presenting story: "John! I need you, I lost my cat escaping the flames, please go find whiskers!" (after the cat is found) "Thank you! Whiskers is all I have left after my grandpa died. Here's 5 gold, you must take it for your troubles". 
    • It's also not important how unique the premise of your story is. Sure, your game may be the 100,000th zombie apocolypse game. That doesn't matter. What matters is how you tell the story. That's where people get immersed, that's how it becomes compelling. 
  • Social
    • Games are often more fun with friends. Mobile games have some pretty unique and simple ways of making their games social...even for single player games. Example: Dead Ahead allows you to connect to facebook and see your friends' high scores. It also lets you see where they've died in any given level/how far they made it.
    • If the game is meant to be multiplayer, that should mean more than just people are sharing the same online space. Give player's GOOD reasons to play together. Make the experience altogether more rewarding and more interesting when player's work together. Make it easy for people, and especially friends, to play together. 
    • Example: Rift allows you right click any player and form a group with them without their consent. It has no negative consequences whatsoever. 
    • Example 2: Guild Wars 2 gives you a map notification of defeated players who can be brought back to life, and then gives you experience for doing so. 
    • Example 3: Tomb Raider: Guardian of Light, players MUST work together to solve puzzles and progress, it cannot be done Solo. 
    • Example 4: In Warframe, if you are playing with others, there will be locked doors that require two players to press buttons at the same time for them to open. This is small, but it forces players to work together instead of independently. 
    • Independence is not something you want in a social game. Interdependence (i.e. "I could do this on my own, but it will be better and more rewarding with someone else) and dependence is best.
  • Art/Graphics
    • Whatever style you choose, do it well. Art is the first impression a player gets of a game. Make it count. Art needn't be lavish or expensive, just make it look good.
    • Art cannot save a poorly designed game. Many mobile games try to cover up horrible design with good art. Good art makes a game seem more legitimate, a higher production value and thus we think it would offer an equally good game design...but it's just a trick to get you to download the game, open it up and see ads while you waste your time realizing the game sucks.
  • K.I.S.S. 
    • Keep it simple, stupid! Don't over complicate your game. This doesn't mean the game needs to be simple. What it really means is simplify. 
    • Don't make it look like there are millions of choices when 99% of them have the same result. Don't make skills that look different but do the exact same thing, just have the one skill or make them each different! 
    • Don't offer a million choices for different game types because you CAN (board games do this all the time). Figure out what is most fun, and offer that. 
    • Don't spend 10 hours working on something a player see's for 1 second. Don't spend hours writing out a generic dialogue players will skip anyway. Refine it, simplify it to it's core purpose.
    • DO spend 10 hours writing significant dialogue that is well written, moving, and important to the story. 
    • Etc
  • Is it fun?
    • "Fun" is completely subjective. Though there seems to be some general objective things that people find fun, many of which we're listed above. 
    • Because fun is subjective, you can't expect everyone to love your game. That's why we choose a "target audience", a group of people who generally share the same subjective opinion of what is fun or not. 
    • A lot of mobile/free to play games aren't actually fun. They are designed the same way a slot machine or lottery is, it appeals to a psychological weakness in the human brain that urges them to continue playing beyond any true logical reason. Sort of a "waiting for the fun to happen" (payouts). Real fun is immediately rewarding. It's not a gear treadmill, it's not a grind, it's not a "title" or an empty "achievement" that took hours and hours of monotonous, punishing gameplay to get. It's not, stop fooling yourself. Get out of the casino, put down the lotto ticket and go do something worth your time and money.
So do you agree or disagree with the points in this list? How do your favorite games stack up? Or for you indies, how does YOUR game stack up (challenge issued!)?

Friday, September 5, 2014

The Reckoning

Howdy Folks, 

Today's post is a small update to the game, with large implications!

I've been writing a blog on game design and I realized I missed one of my own points in High Moon. So I decided to add it in. The general idea is "multiple ways to win". 

Essentially it's a scoring system that determines how well you played, instead of just win/lose. The app implementation of High Moon was going to have this regardless, but I've found a way to add it to the physical card game that should be fairly satisfying and provide for more unique play styles and motivations.

Here's how it works: 

Phase Four - The Reckoning (ONLY IF A PLAYER HAS BEEN DEFEATED)

The Iron Witch will pass judgement upon you and your opponent, scoring how well each of you has done in this duel.


1. Use the list on the “scoring list” card to calculate each players’ score.



2. The player with the highest score wins the duel, and the Iron Witch’s favor. In the event of a tie, the Iron Witch will be equally pleased with all players.

If you can't read it on the card, the scoring is as follows:

  • +1 for each health point you have left
  • +1 for each energy point you have left.
  • +1 if all your elements are active
  • +1 if you were not defeated
  • -1 if you were defeated
  • -1 for each of your discarded element spells
  • -1 for each of your active signature spells
  • -1 if you are suffering from withdrawal
These are all things that can be figured out at the end of the duel, so you don't need to keep track of the score throughout. 

Why does this make the game better? Well! It gives you different incentives while playing. Do you try and force your opponent to discard as much as possible? Do you choose void as your signature spell to make discarding guaranteed? Do you use Ice to reduce your opponent's energy AND health? Do you use water as your final blow to give you a boost in HP? Or do you use Ice again to plunge them into withdrawal as they are defeated?

Lots of different strategies for reducing their score and improving your own. So the focus is now more on how you play, instead of win/lose. To me that's a lot more rewarding for all players, even those who are defeated. Maybe I only lost by 1 point? Maybe I was defeated but still had a higher score!

Along with this change, the health tracker no longer says "death", instead it says "defeat", which makes way more sense in the context of the story anyway.

Speaking of story...I updated the introduction in the rulebook to reflect these changes:

--------------------

Somewhere beyond God’s reckonin’, is a place called the Forgotten West. A prison land of sorts, housing the damned, the mysterious, the unfortunate. You ended up there, God knows why, and you sure ain’t leavin’ anytime soon.

The Iron Witch, a downright mysterious bein’, has sired you into his coven, grantin’ you the ability to use powerful magics. It’s unclear why he chose a scruffy low-life such as yer self, but he did...and now it’s time you showed ‘im what yer made of! The Iron Witch is requirin’ all his newly sired to duel each other at High Moon, so that he can make y’all into witches proper.

But you ain't brandishin' no pistols in this here duel, no sirree. That’d be too cliché. Instead you’ll be battlin’ foes with the elements! Freezin’ em to bits, blowin’ ‘em to bits, electrocutin’ ‘em to bits...well you get the picture. There’ll be lots of bits when all is said and done.

Equally matched against your fellow witches, you got to master the elements with all their particular strengths and weaknesses. Mind yerself now, this ain’t just about winnin’ or losin’. The Iron Witch is more interested in how y’all duel. Any fool can throw down hellfire and burn up the whole damn town. Nah, he’s lookin’ for the clever ones.

So stay sharp, focused, and try not to get dead! It’d be such a waste...
--------------------

What do you think of these changes? Post a comment :) 

Also, big thanks to everyone who helped with wording!









Thursday, September 4, 2014

Don't Look Down!

This one is for all my fellow indie developers.

Do you ever feel discouraged? Ever feel like you've lost your way or your game has fallen out of grace with fans? Ever feel like giving up and moving on?


I'm not here to say "STOP THAT!" because it's okay, all of these things ultimately define you as a developer. Adversity is a refiner's fire and will make us into something far more shiny and worthwhile than the lumpy piece of ore we started out as, stuck deep in a pile of dirt. 

Opposition in all things.

Another way to define adversity can be opposition. Not to say that anyone is really "opposing" you, aside from the follies of life in general. I'm going to quote a scripture I read that I think define's how important this opposition can be. 

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

Opposition gives us context, a context for our happiness, success etc. A tangible thing to compare it with. Don't you think that Chris Gardner (guy the pursuit of happyness movie is based on) appreciates his fortune a lot more than say...Paris Hilton? (celebrity born into wealth...as if you didn't know!! :P ). 

He does, without question. And so will you, my fellow indie! 

You don't know what's around the corner.

There have been many times in the last year that I've been doing indie dev that I was quite discouraged. But ALWAYS, right around the corner, was something to reignite the flame of passion I needed to keep going. 

I'll give a very recent example. I've been making a lot of changes to High Moon...frequently for the past year (that's normal in development, just ask any indie). Problem was I was very open about my development process and the many changes. 

I think I lost some fans along the way who preferred the original, broken concept, or the original pixel art presentation of it. One such fan was Insomnicron (that's his twitter handle). He liked the original game so much he went and made a boardgamegeek.com entry, full with an articulate rundown of the game and all it's details. 

I loved it! But as I kept changing the game, he became less and less vocal and participated much less. So yesterday I was musing about this and a lack of fans in general, when out of the blue I get this tweet:


Cannot tell you how happy that made me. It swept away my discouragement. He followed it up with a direct message (which I hope he doesn't mind I share...):

(um...ignore the typos!)

You may not have fans like this yet, but if you let discouragement get the best of you and stop refining your game (or working on it in general), you never will. 

Then, on my deviant art, I got this message the same day:


I realize now that sometimes you have more fans than you know, they just aren't vocal. Reflecting on my own fanness (is that a word?!? nope) I tend to stay silent most of the time for games I LOVE...it's just my personality. The point is, the future holds amazing things you for, but only if you don't give up (I know sometimes it IS the best option though). 

Opposition makes you better. Perseverance makes you
better-er, and being indie just makes you awesome :)

Side Note: We're all fans of indies, so lets try and be vocal (even if it's not your personality, like mine). Because who knows...maybe that indie game you're in love with is about to fail from discouragement? Or just in a big slump...So let's offer encouragement wherever we can!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

The Social Curse

Some of High Moon's more active fans have probably noticed that as of late, I haven't been posting much to social media.

The simple answer is...keeping up with the entirety of social media is exhausting, and inhibiting to actually designing your game and producing it. But in a catch 22, it's absolutely fundamental to the success of your game.

So how do we reconcile this? I spent some time researching what other gamedevs do and the answer seems to be: WRITE A BLOG! 



A personal blog is great because it's a central location that people can go to and see what's up with the game's development, they can share it on every social media site (and so can I..which is probably how you found this blog) and subscribe to the blog as well. 

Lots of sites offer blogs, but I consider them more niche blogs, specific to that website. Boardgamegeek.com is all about board games, IndieDB is all about video games, and so on. A personal blog can be about all of it, specific to your needs.

I decided to choose blogger by Google instead of various other sites. The fact that it's linked to your google + account and therefore your gmail is a HUGE bonus. It also allows for WAY more free customization of your blog visually and mechanically so you can get it just the way you want it. It's also extremely easy for people to comment and share your blogs (especially because people are usually already logged into their gmail). Plus it's Google...come on, was there ever any real competition when it comes to excellent service for free?

So from now on, I will be writing a blog for High Moon and all the things Isaac Black's Studio is up to. Posts from this blog will be shared to the various media/social outlets, and a newsletter with a monthly wrap up will be sent out too. 

Problem solved! Now all you have to do is click that little subscribe button :)

Expect short, frequent blog posts from here on out!

P.S: I just released another newsletter too detailing major updates to High Moon! Check it here: Newsletter Link