Tag Archives: indie

“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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Desura Late Payments – A Comment From A Thankful Developer

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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.

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See “Unfinished” In Saturday, Toronto June 6!

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It’s been too long since my last post.

If you were wondering how Toronto was a few weeks ago (my last post said I was in three places at once), it was… ok. TCAF was awesome, easily the best of the three. And I think I’ve learned my lesson about promising to be at three places at once. Of course, this is coming from a student who secured funds to book a table at PAX 2014.

Oh, I was also at Ottawa’s International Game Conference (http://oigconf.com) last week too. That was fun, and a useful pool of experts and hobbyists to talk with. I missed out on a chance to have a table there (it was explained at the conference that the organizer only began working a few weeks before the event, the organization should be much better next year), but it was nice to be on the other side for once. Although, I wondered if it was better to pay for a table at these types of events or just to wander and network with people for free. After this one example, paying for a booth/table it probably very worth while (I talked to a couple dozen people VS a table getting up to a hundred wanting to hear what you’ve brought). On the other hand, certain events are more fun to go to then to promote at. Anyway, I was in Ottawa, my Twitter feed is easier to update than my blog.

Next on my trip schedule: I’m showing off “Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” at Stage Select Gaming Expo on Saturday, June 6 in Toronto! See the website here for details: http://stageselect.ca/

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