June Already

This is an update for development from the past week, and also the significance of today being June 1.

The main thing I did this week was look for an artist. Inspire has gotten to the point where I can’t do much more without outsourcing the bulk of the artwork. While I had designed the game and assets in such as way for me to do them, it was taking too long, and I wasn’t happy with the quality. I want this game to scream awesome, and frankly I don’t believe it will be successful or profitable unless I spend some money to do it properly. Inspire has a distinctive look, and I havn’t found any content packs that do the game justice. Inspire needs its distinctive look to stand out. I’m fed up with mediocre, samey MMOs. Games need hooks, and as shallow as it may be, graphics are a big pull.

So I put out some ads for a concept artist. While I need a lot done, I thought I’d start with some character and item concepts. It turned out that one of the applying artists was not only a great 3D artist as well, but had plenty of experience with the exact style I am after. Someone who I am very excited to work with, there will be an official announcement once work gets under way.

Again, thanks to the artists who applied. There was some amazing work on display.

Speaking of art, I finalised the GUI design this week also. See it here. I also made a banner for my signature, and for cross-site promotion. See it here. Not much else got done this week, due to my paying jobs, and sorting applications.

So June 1. I started working on games full time at the start of the year, January 1. After 3 months, the Dream Games competition launched, so I decided to start a game properly, and entered it. On January 1, I had expected to be in beta for a small, tight game by this date. The main thing I’ve learnt from this project, is game development is hard, content takes time. Unforeseen events ruin milestones and deadlines. So it’s 2 months into Inspire. The good news is once I have the basic animated character model, testing can begin properly while more assets are developed.

To end, I found an excellent quote from some early development notes this week:

• KICK ASS
• KEEP IT SIMPLE & TIGHT [do one thing well]
• NO ONE CAN SCREW IT UP BUT YOU
• LOVE YOUR PLAYERS
• RELEASE EARLY, OFTEN, ITERATE [unpolished but fix right away]

Words to develop by. In addition, a phrase I started telling myself this week:

• DON’T OVERENGINEER. THERE IS A SIMPLER SOLUTION

I was having trouble designing characters, and realized I was aiming too high, and too complicated unnecessarily. That happens a lot, often there is a simpler, and more elegant solution.