9:30pm Got most of the core mechanics going, and have added some sounds. Need a break, so I’m putting up what I have here for now. Still no score or loss condition.
Category: News
So, I’ve got a year’s worth of game designing and prototyping under my belt at this point, and I’m getting the feeling that it’s time for me to move on to projects that are a bit more ambitious in scope. There’s a few directions I’m looking at going with this, and I’d like to hear what you all think:
- Rework one or more of my existing games for a mobile platform and publish it through an app store
- Create a proper PC game of a moderate scope, similar to The Polynomial, and put it up for sale
- Create a PC game of an ambitious scope, with a Wolfire-style public development process, either solo or with a small team
- Finish and publish a non-computer game, such as the card-based tactical game I’ve been working on
- Something else I haven’t thought of yet – suggestions?
My overall mission is to create a game that is financially successful within a year; my personal deadline for picking a project and starting work on it is the end of this month.
Also, Dessert Stressed will be going up tomorrow night – need to keep my game-making skills honed. 
So, first of all: I am slightly flattered, and more than a little miffed. The current top-selling game for iPhone is pretty clearly heavily inspired by my game Wavespark, published a year and a day prior. I’ve got lots of mixed feelings about this. I’ll readily accept that Tiny Wings has much higher production values than Wavespark; if nothing else, it looks exactly like one expects an iPhone game to look these days. I also recognize that you can’t copyright gameplay – objectively a good thing, as there’s be no room for incremental innovation or variations on a genre, things necessary for the health of games as a whole. All the same, a nod of acknowledgment at the very least would have been appreciated.
Oh, and to all those who were clamoring for an iPhone port of Wavespark: you told me so.
It’s become uncomfortably clear to me that I’m facing some pretty severe writer’s block at the moment. For now, I think I need to step back and re-examine my approach to dealing with this project, and possibly find some more varied outlets for my creative energies. I’ve got a card game on the back burner that’s wanting some attention, for example, and a few other things that I’d prefer to keep under wraps until the ideas solidify a bit more. I’m hoping to still keep this site updated with a reasonable pace of interesting stuff, whether it’s more games of my own, commentary and reviews about other games, or the fruits of my various other creative endeavors — photography, music, fiction, D&D houserules, and so on.
More news to follow as I figure out where exactly I’m going with this. Stay tuned.
Nearing completion. Stayed up all night coding. Have been awake for over 24 hours. More later.
x_x
Sorry for the slow progress on this one. Been spending a lot of time sorting out weird bugs rather than actually implementing gameplay. It’s not a game yet, but you can see what I have so far here.
1/17/11 7:47pm – Starting to look more gamelike.
1/17/11 8:40pm – Delayed further on account of spilt Spaghettios.
I’ve reworked the title scoreboard a little, ranking it in points rather than flat monetary value. This is because I’ve added a score multiplier system. By completing the following missions, you can earn a bonus to your next donation, getting you more ranking for your buck. Note that these are additively cumulative, so for example if you bought two soundtrack albums and linked me from your blog, your next donation’s score would be multiplied by 145%.
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Added:
* Improved music
* Spin attack
* Additional weapons
* Additional enemies
* More terrain variation
* Level 2 sword
* Boss fight
There’s still more to be added, but right now it’s bedtime.
Setting the record straight
Okay, it seems a number of people are either inadvertently misinterpreting or willfully misrepresenting my stance here, so for the record:
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