Tag Archives: creative

“Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” is coming August 4, 2015 (so here’s what it’s about)!

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“Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” was originally planned for a release on July 31, 2015 as of two weeks ago. I wasn’t certain I could keep this release date, so I didn’t advertise it too much… sure enough, animating the ending cutscene and adding certain features took a bit longer than I hoped. The current build was finished on July 31, but I moved the release date to Tuesday, August 4 to give the stores some time to prepare. Steam and IndieGameStand will host the game, and hopefully so will MacGameStore and WinGameStore.

To prepare you, this post provides a detailed rundown of the background of the game, from development to now, to guide you as to what to expect. I hope it helps.

"Unfinished - An Artist's Lament" is now finished!

“Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” is now finished!

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Good News Everyone! “Unfinished” is Greenlit, Gets New Music, & Is Coming To ConBravo With “Arcane Bullshit”

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A lot happened in the last week or so.

Firstly, it was Canada Day this week. Happy Canada Day. Today it is also the 4th of July. Happy America Day.

Secondly, my latest indie game “Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” has just been Greenlit on Steam! This is unusual: based on the data, games in general are easier to get passed on Greenlight since last year because older popular stand-outs are slowly being passed through, even-ing out the playing field a bit. The game was around 60% to the top, similar to my last game “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” when it got greenlit. I can’t say my game is at all popular, the only big difference is that, overall, the game received more positive votes than negative compared to “Drew.” That alone seems to have helped me in getting passed. Which is strange, since I uploaded “Unfinished” long before the gameplay was finished enough to make sense, and despite this unclear design it seemed more universal. Further, no bundles were used to help get me ahead in votes, so if I’ve learned anything here, “up” votes are more important than I thought.

Greelight stats after passing to Steam for "Unfinished - An Artist's Lament"

Greelight stats after passing to Steam for “Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament”

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

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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.”

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Dust Scratch Games Is Taking Over Toronto May 9 – 10!

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I like going to events to promote my games. Or rather, not the games (which are questionable in quality), but the unique animation style that I want to see more of in other games. And so, it was announced weeks ago that Dust Scratch Games will be in Toronto Saturday May 9 and Sunday May 10 at:

… Yes, this means I will be in three places at once Saturday, May 9. For the record, I didn’t find out I was accepted to be at Bit Bazaar until two weeks ago, something must have went wrong with the contact information. Thankfully, I’ll have a little help from my friends, I’ll be showing up randomly at all of these places throughout Saturday, expect to see a “representative” at the tables if I am not there.

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Good Leadership

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For the last few years, I was a (semi) active member of my school’s game development club. Last year, it was almost disbanded due to a lack of members, which was due to a lack of a leader. I stepped in at the last minute, but missed opportunities ensured no one knew we existed that year. Thankfully, a new group of friends were much more involved the following term and invested in taking the club in a new direction.

Having been a “leader” for this club for a short time, another student one day asked me how to get friends involved and invested in working on a team project. It was a general question that could be used for club leaders, class projects, or general fun stuff to do with your friends or family. If you have a project to finish, and are able to get other people to join your “team,” how can you get them to contribute and get excited in the project as much as you are? Having been a poor club leader, I had no real answers. It didn’t help that people in my area happen to be very laid-back and uninvested in general (whether this has to do with being Canadian, being from Windsor, or being from my lazy generation, I may never know). But after seeing a handful of ambitious students struggle to encourage involvement, including my own experiences, I think I see several cases where people have gone wrong. I hope this post helps guide wannabe directors and leaders in the right direction. Keep in mind that there are thousands of other good website posts that also state similar advice (see wikihow or google), but mine comes from my personal experience as an indie game developer and as a student, even though it can likely be applied elsewhere for project-based work.

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