E3 2015 – A Review From A Little Indie’s Perspective

E3 seems bigger this year. Maybe it’s because of Bethesda and Square Enix entering the fray, joining Ubisoft, EA, and of course Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo (and PC?) to try to convince you why they are the company to look at.

This is all a further sign of modern times both in industry and culture, how everyone is trying to not only be in the spotlight but steal the spotlight entirely for themselves. Such selfish people. I’m just as guilty: if I had games that stood out like that, I’d be trying to steal the show too (my current games “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” and “Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” are not even close to worthy… although if you haven’t yet seen those hand-drawn 3D games, do take a look). All the same, I ended up being more pumped then ever this year, with this many groups and now years into the current generation, surely everyone had something to show. Even Youtube had it on their homepage logo, advertising their new game-streaming service, helping ensure millions could comfortably watch it all (although I had some unusual slow down times in streaming, maybe even Youtube can’t handle that many viewers at once).

Continue reading

“Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” Could Use Your Help To Be Finished!

Stage Select Expo 2015 in Toronto this week was good fun, met some great people. It’s one of the only game-centric events in Ontario, it’s a shame it doesn’t get more support from local gamers and developers.

If you happened to see me at Stage Select, you’ll have heard my proposition, which I make open here. Give me an unfinished work of art, a drawing or sketch, and I will include it in the background environment of “Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament.” Additionally, as a thank you, I will add your name to the credits AND give you a free copy of the game as thanks.

“Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” is a small game about creativity, identity, purpose, and difficulties all artists face trying to finish a piece of work. You play Sketch, a unnamed doodle of a stick figure. Knowing you could be so much more and seeing the artist’s pencil continuing to draw in the distance, you follow after it, hoping to be finished one day to understand who you were meant to be. The game features a 2D hand-drawn character in 3D space, extending the use of “3D Cel Animation” as used “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth.”

Continue reading

Desura Late Payments – A Comment From A Thankful Developer

If you follow indie-developer news lately, you probably noticed since late 2014 that Desura, a online store prominent for small indie games, has been late to pay many developers. I was one of those developers waiting to get paid, although I did eventually receive what I was owed in January 2015. The only reason I post this now is that I feel some responsibility… several game news-sites have only recently started writing stories about Desura’s excuses, and most have specifically referenced a reddit page I made asking if this was a common problem.

The reason I bring this up is that I’m scarred. Legally, developers that have waited months for their owed payments have a case to sue Desura if they wanted to, but doing this type of action always seemed petty and out of anger and spite to me (America has a reputation of treating suing someone as a business rather than a legal action). I don’t think it’s worth the effort. I don’t think it’s worth the pain.

Continue reading

Behind On Blog Posts…

(just a note to myself of blog posts I want to make this summer)
– E3 2015 review
– “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth”, one-year retrospective
– Developer site stores in review (experience applying and using Steam, Desura, IndieGameStand, GOG, IndieRoyale, Groupees, and more)
– Indie Developer conventions in Ontario
– More posts about “Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament”, including new trailers and game demo (unfinished.fromdustscratch.com)
– (plus, see “Unfinished” at ConBravo 2015!)
– comments about game pricing
– post about how awesome “Gardenarium” is (http://www.ko-opmode.com/gardenarium)
– links to talks and presentations about animation process used in my games
– brief review of school research