Game Dev : Day 4
I've started to work in earnest (sort of) on this game I've been meaning to create. I don't know what I'm going to name it. I don't know what I'm going to name my company. I think, at this point, none of that matters.
So, this game I've been thinking about building is going to be a bit of a mashup between the Total War series, Final Fantasy Tactics, Dofus, Magic the Gathering, and the Tower Defense genres. You begin as a weak magician in a realm which is hostile to magic. It is illegal to practice magic, so any magicians caught by the kingdom are executed on the spot for sorcery and trickery. Naturally, all magicians have gone under-ground. Some have become witches in the wilderness. Others have become priests. Others have become hedge mages. Some have even formed secret underground societies for their kind. Unfortunately, these secret societies are not regulated in any sort, so some of them may be dark and evil societies intent on summoning demonic beings, mastering death, etc. All magicians draw their power from the surrounding lands. Only one magician can draw power over a land, so magicians tend to spend lots of effort maintaining their grasp over their domains.
Over time, some magicians have become so powerful that conventional means for disposing them are useless. They openly practice their magic and flaunt it in front of all the kings in the kingdom, showing off their power and how inept the kings are in stopping them. Naturally, this affront to their authority infuriates the kings, but through the wise council of their councilors, many thousands of men have not lost their lives in vain battle.
Anyways, as a weak magician, you must avoid getting your head cut off by the kings soldiers while growing in power and trying not to get fried by another wizard.
The game play itself takes place on two types of maps. The first map is a grand strategic map which has villages, towns, cities, castles, etc. You move your avatar across the lands. You can decide to place your wizard "house" anywhere in the world. Your house is a representation of your power. Some wizards choose to create a grand tower to openly display their might, others decide to disguise it as a shack, and others live without any obvious distinction. But, be careful! That wilderness witch living in a shack out in the woods may be much more powerful than the dainty shack suggests she is!
The second type of map is the battle map. This map is much more similar to total war in terms of game play. You, the wizard, typically start off a battle facing off against another lone wizard. Unlike the Total War series, in this game the focus is a bit more on magical game play (I mean, it's a fucking magic game!). You begin by channeling into the magical ley lines for the territories you control. The opposing wizard does the same thing. Once you've got at least one ley line established, you can begin tapping it for magical energies to fuel your magical spells. Some spells will summon creatures onto the battlefield. Other spells will deal damage directly to anything else on the battlefield. And, other spells will be enchantments which strengthen or weaken your forces. Even more subliminal, you can curse your targets to death and/or deny them their magical fuel by cutting off their ley lines. The battles begin at a slow pace, but as your wizard grows in power, the battles become powerful, epic and very fast paced. You're not only controlling the spells of your wizard, you're also trying to manage your troops on the battlefield. For this reason, battle can be paused at any time to issue orders.
Anyways, blah blah blah. I could spend hours writing about what I'm imagining. None of that matters. What matters is being able to execute. The game at this point, is mostly a nebulous idea.
On Thursday, September 5th, I began working on this game. Prior to this, I've been working on creating a code library with a bunch of useful widgets and systems (such as particle systems, physics systems, datastructures, etc). Now, it's time to stop with the bullshit and just start making a game. That should be my primary focus from now on. People aren't interested in libraries -- they want games. So, I'll give them a game. Not just any game, but a game made for me and worthy of my time, love and dedication as a player and as a developer. It's going to cost me a lot of time and money to make this, but I've got both in abundance. By the end of the week, I had a black screen/window thingy. Last night, I had a working menu system and the ability to transition between the different game application states (strategic view, tactical view, menu). It's a very humble beginning, but all great things begin from humble origins, right? I'm just a level 1 wizard at this point. Going forward, I'm going to have to invest a lot of time and energy into making this game. The more time I spend on it on a daily basis, the faster it gets done and the more momentum it has and the more inspired I am to continue working on it. In my experience, the currency for game production is motivation.
Let's talk about faith for a bit.
I'm a nobody at this point. There are thousands of games out there created by very talented people. Getting your foot in the door is next to impossible. I can slave away for months or years and it could all be for nothing. I wouldn't get a single red cent from my efforts. That's just the way it goes. But, I have to recognize that some things are not in my control. Other things are. I think, the game I create is entirely in my control (considering I'm the only one creating it at this point). If the game I produce is a masterpiece of art, then it'll speak for itself and sell enough to cover my costs... I think. But, I've got a lot of failed game projects in my past. What's to say that this won't just be another failed project, like all the rest? I honestly think that I haven't actually completed one game I've started on. I've worked in the past as a professional developer and I've soloed every project and completed them fantastically. So, I know with 100% certainty that I have what it takes to see a project through to the end. Now, I'm not the only one who knows that every game project has been a failure with me. My mom knows and she takes a cynical attitude towards my future projects. "You're not going to finish it!" she says. "You're going to fail!". My mom isn't alone either. My girlfriend is deeply concerned and doubting me as well. This whole time, I'm not going to be "working" and "earning money" to put towards buying a house or something which would lend financial stability towards raising a family. By spending time on my game, I'm pretty much gambling that my time isn't being wasted. The only saving grace is that my money is earning interest on the stock market and its enough to assuage any financial worries I might have. In short, I doubt myself with everyone else, but I think my faith in myself and my abilities is greater. I can do this. The number 1 most important thing is going to be to make sure that I work my ass off harder than I've ever worked. That's the true secret to success, and if I want it, I gotta do whatever it takes.
I hope that some time in the future, I'll be writing about a successful commercial launch of my first game and celebrating with champagne.
So, this game I've been thinking about building is going to be a bit of a mashup between the Total War series, Final Fantasy Tactics, Dofus, Magic the Gathering, and the Tower Defense genres. You begin as a weak magician in a realm which is hostile to magic. It is illegal to practice magic, so any magicians caught by the kingdom are executed on the spot for sorcery and trickery. Naturally, all magicians have gone under-ground. Some have become witches in the wilderness. Others have become priests. Others have become hedge mages. Some have even formed secret underground societies for their kind. Unfortunately, these secret societies are not regulated in any sort, so some of them may be dark and evil societies intent on summoning demonic beings, mastering death, etc. All magicians draw their power from the surrounding lands. Only one magician can draw power over a land, so magicians tend to spend lots of effort maintaining their grasp over their domains.
Over time, some magicians have become so powerful that conventional means for disposing them are useless. They openly practice their magic and flaunt it in front of all the kings in the kingdom, showing off their power and how inept the kings are in stopping them. Naturally, this affront to their authority infuriates the kings, but through the wise council of their councilors, many thousands of men have not lost their lives in vain battle.
Anyways, as a weak magician, you must avoid getting your head cut off by the kings soldiers while growing in power and trying not to get fried by another wizard.
The game play itself takes place on two types of maps. The first map is a grand strategic map which has villages, towns, cities, castles, etc. You move your avatar across the lands. You can decide to place your wizard "house" anywhere in the world. Your house is a representation of your power. Some wizards choose to create a grand tower to openly display their might, others decide to disguise it as a shack, and others live without any obvious distinction. But, be careful! That wilderness witch living in a shack out in the woods may be much more powerful than the dainty shack suggests she is!
The second type of map is the battle map. This map is much more similar to total war in terms of game play. You, the wizard, typically start off a battle facing off against another lone wizard. Unlike the Total War series, in this game the focus is a bit more on magical game play (I mean, it's a fucking magic game!). You begin by channeling into the magical ley lines for the territories you control. The opposing wizard does the same thing. Once you've got at least one ley line established, you can begin tapping it for magical energies to fuel your magical spells. Some spells will summon creatures onto the battlefield. Other spells will deal damage directly to anything else on the battlefield. And, other spells will be enchantments which strengthen or weaken your forces. Even more subliminal, you can curse your targets to death and/or deny them their magical fuel by cutting off their ley lines. The battles begin at a slow pace, but as your wizard grows in power, the battles become powerful, epic and very fast paced. You're not only controlling the spells of your wizard, you're also trying to manage your troops on the battlefield. For this reason, battle can be paused at any time to issue orders.
Anyways, blah blah blah. I could spend hours writing about what I'm imagining. None of that matters. What matters is being able to execute. The game at this point, is mostly a nebulous idea.
On Thursday, September 5th, I began working on this game. Prior to this, I've been working on creating a code library with a bunch of useful widgets and systems (such as particle systems, physics systems, datastructures, etc). Now, it's time to stop with the bullshit and just start making a game. That should be my primary focus from now on. People aren't interested in libraries -- they want games. So, I'll give them a game. Not just any game, but a game made for me and worthy of my time, love and dedication as a player and as a developer. It's going to cost me a lot of time and money to make this, but I've got both in abundance. By the end of the week, I had a black screen/window thingy. Last night, I had a working menu system and the ability to transition between the different game application states (strategic view, tactical view, menu). It's a very humble beginning, but all great things begin from humble origins, right? I'm just a level 1 wizard at this point. Going forward, I'm going to have to invest a lot of time and energy into making this game. The more time I spend on it on a daily basis, the faster it gets done and the more momentum it has and the more inspired I am to continue working on it. In my experience, the currency for game production is motivation.
Let's talk about faith for a bit.
I'm a nobody at this point. There are thousands of games out there created by very talented people. Getting your foot in the door is next to impossible. I can slave away for months or years and it could all be for nothing. I wouldn't get a single red cent from my efforts. That's just the way it goes. But, I have to recognize that some things are not in my control. Other things are. I think, the game I create is entirely in my control (considering I'm the only one creating it at this point). If the game I produce is a masterpiece of art, then it'll speak for itself and sell enough to cover my costs... I think. But, I've got a lot of failed game projects in my past. What's to say that this won't just be another failed project, like all the rest? I honestly think that I haven't actually completed one game I've started on. I've worked in the past as a professional developer and I've soloed every project and completed them fantastically. So, I know with 100% certainty that I have what it takes to see a project through to the end. Now, I'm not the only one who knows that every game project has been a failure with me. My mom knows and she takes a cynical attitude towards my future projects. "You're not going to finish it!" she says. "You're going to fail!". My mom isn't alone either. My girlfriend is deeply concerned and doubting me as well. This whole time, I'm not going to be "working" and "earning money" to put towards buying a house or something which would lend financial stability towards raising a family. By spending time on my game, I'm pretty much gambling that my time isn't being wasted. The only saving grace is that my money is earning interest on the stock market and its enough to assuage any financial worries I might have. In short, I doubt myself with everyone else, but I think my faith in myself and my abilities is greater. I can do this. The number 1 most important thing is going to be to make sure that I work my ass off harder than I've ever worked. That's the true secret to success, and if I want it, I gotta do whatever it takes.
I hope that some time in the future, I'll be writing about a successful commercial launch of my first game and celebrating with champagne.