I'm trying not to be too hyped up as I'm writing this...
A couple of close friends and I are gathering forces to make our very own video game without any of the corporate issues that tend to strangle development teams. Because strangling creativity is stupid. Cutting features due to deadlines is stupid. Because most games seemed to be designed to be played once; and that's stupid. So yeah, that's the big reveal: A video game.
The coolest part of it all: I'm at the helm.
So we're essentially building the video game I've been planning since I was in high school (if not before then). A dream project. The guys liked my pitch and the fact that I have years worth of design documents in hand really convinced them to go with it... that and the really, really crude prototype helped. So the idea is to build it, test it, fix it and repeat that process until it's golden. Production is where we feel most comfortable at.
My game is an role playing game and the mission statement is to essentially rectify what I believe is fundamentally flawed in RPGs. Cocky? Yeah, it sure sounds like it but I came up with something really cool. You think that's crazy, the more ambitious part of the project is that we want this to truly be worthy of the tag "next-gen" but not in the shallow "lets make prettier images" kind of way; we're talking next-gen game mechanics.
It seems like the trend is to either look back and make "homage" to the classic games or just make a game as lean as you can and polish it as much as possible. What? It's another run-of-the-mill game? No worries, we'll write a really cool story to draw the players in. NO! That's bad! While I'm all "if it worked back then, it should work today"; that's not next-gen! The guys and I are very frustrated with this and the previously-mentioned prototype and our current build are giving us hope.
I won't write on this blog with day-to-day updates of our progress but I just wanted to share a little bit on the four major game mechanic milestones that we have planned:
- World building
- NPC/Monster AI
- Combat
- Story
These milestones are independent from one another because we want each one of them to stand on their own in case one of them fails... like "oh shit, we can't do this; now what?" kind of scenario. If one of these four milestones fail, then the whole "next-gen" thing is pretty much dead, but at least we'll have a good game on our hands regardless. Yes, I've labeled world building and story as game mechanics. That's intentional.
We've been working on world building since august 2013. While we basically achieved what I initially had in mind within the first month (c'mon man, I came up with some of this stuff in 1998), we've drastically been improving; adding more and more detail. That's what's great about working in a team of passionate people; they take your thing that you've been dreaming of and then they go "let's make this better!" and they deliver. I fully expect world building to take the entirety of the year to complete... we are making an RPG after all.
NPC and Monster AI will most likely take another year as well... but that's just me throwing numbers out of my ass at this point.
I'm projecting a prototype reveal in the summer of 2014 at which point I'll gradually talk more and more about the game. I actually wanted to do this for Christmas 2013 but we've made so many improvements that it makes more sense to simply wait.
Just for you guys: here's a sneak peak of what the december build looks like:
Kick-starter? No plans for it; the idea right now is to take our time and get it right. The moment you involve money into this, project goals tend to skew a little. I'm personally backing a few other games and the idea of adding "yet another game in the kick-starter list" for other folks kind of disgusts me.
Hey, would you look at that? A decent log entry although I probably shared too much. Oh well.
"It's game related though, so you guys will probably like it." Hahaha. Oh, get HYPED if you feel like it! This is your dream project!
ReplyDeleteIs this different from your dream game? I'm thinking of musicians who write beautiful music, but they don't really like listening to their own music. Wouldn't creators lose that sense of discovery, wonder, mystery? Could they still enjoy their creation? Is it more like building your dream house (or world)?
I don't play games enough to make any useful game-related comments, so just good luck! It was a nice thought for the day, that someone knows and is able to do exactly what they want to do.
It's different than drawing a picture or (I assume) composing music; where you're doing everything from brainstorming to executing ideas that makes the entirety of the project. When you're working on a video game or a movie, you're one cog. You don't really know what the other guy is doing and/or you won't know the implications of what he (or both of you) did until you combine all your work together.
DeleteWhen you're animating a 3D character for a scene, for example, you have a general idea of the story and the motivations of the characters but all the info you really have is THAT ONE THING you're working on. The guy next to you? He's working on another scene... he's spending a lot of time in the mirror so it's probably an emotional scene. The guy across the hall? Well, he's busy doing visual effects like dust particles and explosions of all the scenes you worked on last week. You don't know what it's going to look like until you go into the theatres. If the studio is doing everything in-house, chances are you could will see it during screenings.
For some, seeing the pieces come together and become this living, breathing entity surges you with this barely-controllable excitement and pushes you to nurture it. It's the kind of stuff that once you look at the clock, you say to yourself: "Man, it's 11pm, I should save my work and head home!" It's what kept me doing the things I do for so many years.
To use your musical analogy, you're not composing the music and playing all the instruments... you're the guy practicing the trombone for the past three weeks and playing, for the first time, that piece with the rest of the orchestra.
So, yeah, it's my dream project and, essentially (assuming the bare minimum works as planned) my dream game.
Thank you for the thorough response!
DeleteWhen I read "a couple of close friends and I", I imagined three people crowded around a computer, or at least sharing every detail as it goes in. Now, I'm picturing you and your minions. I also thought that since it was your dream project, you might want to approve everything only after looking it over. (Maybe I'm just perfectionistic to a fault.) Is everyone generally very trusting, or is it because you are close? Hmm, I guess I'm just not a team player.
Haha! Calling them "minions" is far from being accurate but I do oversee everything that gets done for the project. From the code, to design and all the way to the art. If I tell my friends: "can one of you make me a tree? I gotta do this other thing." and I show them a crude doodle of the kind of tree I want, I have an idea of what the tree will eventually look like, but I won't know for SURE how it's going to look and work in the game until my friend sends me the file(s) back.
DeleteThen I show them the tree working in the game, they smile, and we brainstorm on whenever or not there needs to be any modifications to it.
The trust part is mostly on my teammates, as they trust that my decisions are the best for the game... I normally tell them why; in fact I won't shut up about it but it makes them more at ease while working. We're all professionals and we're on "the same page" when it comes to what kind of game this should be, so I trust them to do their best, and they trust my ideas on how to break project down into something manageable.
Most of the art that I've been doing so far are concept art... so the 3D modeling are done by my friends. As the only character animator in our team, I'll takle that also. Other than that, I'm the game designer.
Can you show us some crude doodles (if not concept art!), please?
DeleteI would think trusting yourself is the most important. Is that still a hurdle when you're a professional with years of experience? Is it mostly experience that teaches you "how to break a project down into something manageable", or are you also a natural leader?
What happened to the animated shorts you mentioned? Were those ideas integrated into the game?
What are your plans for music and sound? Are you going to put your voices into the game? You have an especially pleasant and familiar voice.
I'm just going to keep throwing questions at you as I generate them.
When it comes to my field of work, I'm an excessively confident man. I guess it helps that I've been doing this kind of stuff for a very long time. I believe that "breaking a project down" isn't so much related to leadership as it is practical experience. Knowing what the software is capable of and the potential pitfalls of some work habits.
DeleteAlthough I've been told that I have good leadership skills, I'm one of those guys who lead when no one else does.
Most of the work I've been doing for the past year on my animated short(s) is planned to be revamped as the game's cinematic... so I'm keeping all the assets but I won't get back to it until a few more years later. So yeah.
Music and sound is still a mystery as we don't have a sound guy so there's no work on that yet. I know what I'm looking for but I also want to nail the visual tone before I go asking around. There will be no voice-overs, that I know. Not because I don't want to (I really do) but it's practically impossible for voices to be convincing in this kind of game. I'm still looking at my options, though.
So confidence was always there? Do you think it comes from motivation, optimism, security, foresight, something else?
DeleteWait, there will be the cinematic AND the shorts later? :o
Why is it impossible? (Maybe this is one of your secrets. I'm afraid I'm running out of relevant questions that don't ask you to share too much.)
I've been waiting for a long time for someone to do what your trying to make. Seems like developers don't care if their game is groundbreaking anymore. I mean sure they want it too be great, but don't put in the extra effort and time to make it extraordinary. It's the little things that make a big difference in games. Too bad they are often ignored. Good luck on your dream game.
ReplyDeleteColour me impressed. Now, leaving the perdy pictures aside, could you expand on your views about the flaws that the current games have and what should be/are going to be changed? Could you write about what your vision is?
ReplyDeleteI am not a game dev and wouldn't know anything or care about how you are going to implement the game in a sense that what engine you'll be using, what algos for the AI and so on, but I am interested to hear what the mechanics are going to be, the ideas, the essence.
Could you write about that Gix?
I wish you that the passion blazes to the end with you and the people involved.
I'll see what I can do.
DeleteI'll get it because it has Gix's name on it -- similiar to what a guy said in one of your live-streams. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt DOES look cool. I'll be following this closely!
Good luck man!!
ReplyDeleteYou're making a video game? Wow! Congratulations for being the lead in that wonderful venture. I've tried my hand in making an RPG before, so I know it's not going to be all rainbows and butterflies, but the end product would be so worth it. I'm guessing that could be your masterpiece, as it is a dream project of yours. I'm excited for the prototype reveal of the game this summer! Good luck and all the best!
ReplyDeleteJason Whitewood @ Viper Online