An Apology To Full-Time Workers With Passion Projects

I haven’t written a blog post in about two months, which is the longest I’ve gone since I started this site. The reason is simple: I have a full-time job now.

What bothers me the most about this is how much I’ve given up to make a living. I barely spend more than a few hours each week on making games anymore. Not long ago I had the opinion that no game, no matter how big or small or size of the development team, should take more than a couple of years to make. My experience now gives me a whole new appreciation to full-time workers who make games in their spare time.

Continue reading

Why My Indie Game Company Isn’t Incorporated

I’ve made “Dust Scratch Games” over two years ago. This was and still is a “sole-proprietorship,” a special type of business label. When I started, I also considered the idea of incorporating this game company. This is still something that eats away at me from time to time.

While I fully intended to jump into incorporation this month, I decided at the last minute to cancel and stick with what I have now. I thought a lot to reach my current decision. I suspect many other startup entrepreneurs are in the same boat, and not many resources online give a point of view appropriate for my situation. This article outlines my logic and reasoning, and I hope it guides other game developers when they decide what to do for themselves.

Continue reading

Game Conventions In Ontario & Beyond! A Helpful Guide For Local Indie Game Developers

One of the best parts about indie development is the ability to participate with the community. There are many conventions and events every year throughout the world that celebrate video games, anime, comics, television, and geek culture in general, perfect opportunities to promote yourself. However, I noticed that most major game events in North America are on the West, East and South sides of the United States, central North America (specifically Ontario, Canada) has very little for indie games. Comics and tabletop games, sure, but indie games don’t really have much to be at. Its also really difficult to find any reviews or information outside the events’ homepages, so its hard to know what to expect.

If I Want To See Indie Games in this "Dead Zone," Where Do I Go?

If I Want To See Indie Games in this “Dead Zone,” Where Do I Go?

The following is a list of events I’ve been to, with my impressions of what type of atmosphere they provide. I hope the following information will be useful to developers in the Ontario area. This comes from me being in Windsor, Ontario, depending on your location you might have other better options.

Continue reading

Special Thanks To Some Press That Covered Me & My Games!

SOME COOL ARTICLES THAT MENTION ME BEING AT CONVENTIONS:

(A shout-out to a handful of the awesome people who wrote about me and/or my games, this list also gives a fair representation of how much “press” going to such events gets you. Generally, very little: larger events may have larger press representatives, but its still a lottery as to whether they even see your work, let alone care about it. Sadly, small press will also garner little to no business, but small press is better than no press. The dates give a vague idea of where the writers/bloggers saw me. For a detailed list on what conventions I’ve been to that correspond to these, see my next blog post.)

Continue reading

Windsor, Ontario – The Comic Book Capital of Canada?

I take pride in being from the Windsor, Ontario. That being said, I also know it’s very easy to make fun of. It’s one of the most southern parts of Canada, at the very bottom tip of Ontario. It happens to be a major border crossing with the United States, being across from Detroit, Michigan, which has its own infamous reputation.  We used to be a city with a big part in the automobile industry, until it crashed in the late 2000’s and we were left without any real identity. You could write a joke book of “dissing” Windsor based on this information alone.

However, I’ve spent the last couple of years living near enough to the downtown area to start to notice public events that make our city what it is. One of our biggest identities right now is comic books: we love them, and 2015 has been a big year of showing it, with multiple comic conventions and even an art gallery exhibit.

"Comic Book Syndicon," one of several Windsor Comic-Cons in 2015

“Comic Book Syndicon,” one of several Windsor Comic-Cons in 2015

 

Continue reading