The past month and a half has been incredibly busy.
I was able to finish all the animations in the game, which meant I was able to add an extra sequence, one which I feel improves the pacing of the second half of the game significantly. Of course, this means a few new animations, character portraits, and sprites, but it's all worth it.
The game has been cast, and we're about halfway through the recording process. I'm extremely happy with the performances everyone has given, and I feel the game will get a lot of recognition for the quality of the VO. Also, music is slowly coming in, and I'm really excited about it as well.
The best part is, we finally have a release window: Fall 2014. The game will most likely be out at the end of September, or early October at the latest. I'm extremely excited to have it out and seeing what people think of it.
Right, back to work!
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Coming Together...Slowly
The past few weeks I've been working exclusively on animations for the game, this coming after playing it and writing down a list of all the necessary (and not so necessary) animations. In the past when I was working on freeware games like the Ben Jordan series, animation was always something that tended to take something of a back seat. Since they were freeware, it was a lot easier to sacrifice the more complex and time-consuming animations I may have wanted to include with the excuse that since nobody would be paying for the game, they wouldn't mind so much if they weren't included.
Now that I'm working on something commercial, animations are much more important. This isn't to say that I'm loading up the game with animation just for the sake of it only because the game is commercial, but it does mean that I need to do a bit more showing rather than telling. Luckily, having made the Ben Jordan games over the past 10 years has given me quite a bit of practice, so animating isn't as daunting a task as it used to seem.
In other news, I am starting the process of casting voices for the game, which is great, because it means the light at the end of the tunnel is getting slightly bigger. This will be my first time working with a casting director, as well as with exclusively live actors (as opposed to having some or most of the roles done remotely) so it's pretty exciting.
Now that I'm working on something commercial, animations are much more important. This isn't to say that I'm loading up the game with animation just for the sake of it only because the game is commercial, but it does mean that I need to do a bit more showing rather than telling. Luckily, having made the Ben Jordan games over the past 10 years has given me quite a bit of practice, so animating isn't as daunting a task as it used to seem.
In other news, I am starting the process of casting voices for the game, which is great, because it means the light at the end of the tunnel is getting slightly bigger. This will be my first time working with a casting director, as well as with exclusively live actors (as opposed to having some or most of the roles done remotely) so it's pretty exciting.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Cat's Out of the Bag
Although to be fair, it was a very loud cat in a transparent bag.
In news that will surprise nobody (or maybe a very select few,) it was revealed today that the publisher for A Golden Wake is none other than Wadjet Eye Games. Now that it's out in the open, it's a bit of a relief to be able to talk about it without walking on eggshells.
You can read an article where it's mentioned briefly here on Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/214503/As_Blackwell_comes_to_an_end_whats_next_for_Wadjet_Eye.php
In news that will surprise nobody (or maybe a very select few,) it was revealed today that the publisher for A Golden Wake is none other than Wadjet Eye Games. Now that it's out in the open, it's a bit of a relief to be able to talk about it without walking on eggshells.
You can read an article where it's mentioned briefly here on Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/214503/As_Blackwell_comes_to_an_end_whats_next_for_Wadjet_Eye.php
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Stop the Presses
In a little over a week, I will be attending the annual Game Developer's Conference (aka GDC) in San Francisco. This will mark my third year attending, but it's the first one where I'll actually have a commercial game to promote. I was on the fence about going for a while, but finally decided it was worth it for that reason.
As such, I am most likely going to be talking to the gaming press about A Golden Wake, which is both exciting and terrifying. I'll do my best not to come off like a complete goofball.
As such, I am most likely going to be talking to the gaming press about A Golden Wake, which is both exciting and terrifying. I'll do my best not to come off like a complete goofball.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
A Golden Wake Updates
I've realized that lately I've talked lots about game design, but said very little on the status of A Golden Wake.
Well, I am pleased to say that the game is fully playable from start to finish. That is to say, it's in an early alpha stage, still missing several art assets like animations, backgrounds, and character portraits, as well as music, sound, and voices. The bulk of the design work is over, now it's just time to go in and make final tweaks, as well as add all the bells and whistles.
Also, I'm extremely happy to announce that the game has been signed with a publisher, which means it will actually be up for sale at some point in the future. An official announcement will likely be made in the next couple of months.
Exciting times!
Well, I am pleased to say that the game is fully playable from start to finish. That is to say, it's in an early alpha stage, still missing several art assets like animations, backgrounds, and character portraits, as well as music, sound, and voices. The bulk of the design work is over, now it's just time to go in and make final tweaks, as well as add all the bells and whistles.
Also, I'm extremely happy to announce that the game has been signed with a publisher, which means it will actually be up for sale at some point in the future. An official announcement will likely be made in the next couple of months.
Exciting times!
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Happy New Year
It's been a while, hasn't it?
First off, I should admit that I am a big fat hypocrite. In the last post I said I wasn't going to go back and redo my character portraits, and then guess what happened? I learned a better method of doing them and sure enough, I went back and started redoing them all.
Normally, I would frown upon this sort of behavior and ask myself what the heck I was doing, but taking a step back and looking at things objectively, I feel this has been the right decision. The way they looked previously wasn't awful, but there was a lot of room for improvement. If A Golden Wake were freeware, I could have left them as they were with no problems. Since I plan on selling it, I feel I need to raise my own personal bar higher and make them look the best they can within my abilities.
So what exactly did I do? Basically, I adopted the same method I use for my backgrounds, which is to say I draw them at double the size they are in game, then scale them down. Combining this with the methods I was shown about gradient maps really allows for a lot more detail and shading than drawing them at game resolution. A bit of detail is naturally lost when scaling them down, but I feel it's a sacrifice worth making. Another benefit is being able to make portraits based on real people actually look more like those they're meant to portray.
Doing portraits at a higher resolution also meant having to make a tough decision: animate or not? I've always had animated portraits in my games, and even lip sync in the later Ben Jordan games, but unfortunately it's extremely time-consuming to animate higher resolution portraits and make them look good. So in the end, I decided to abandon the animated portraits. I'll still have different facial expressions, but no moving mouths or blinking.
So here now are some examples. Looking at the old versions makes me laugh.
First off, I should admit that I am a big fat hypocrite. In the last post I said I wasn't going to go back and redo my character portraits, and then guess what happened? I learned a better method of doing them and sure enough, I went back and started redoing them all.
Normally, I would frown upon this sort of behavior and ask myself what the heck I was doing, but taking a step back and looking at things objectively, I feel this has been the right decision. The way they looked previously wasn't awful, but there was a lot of room for improvement. If A Golden Wake were freeware, I could have left them as they were with no problems. Since I plan on selling it, I feel I need to raise my own personal bar higher and make them look the best they can within my abilities.
So what exactly did I do? Basically, I adopted the same method I use for my backgrounds, which is to say I draw them at double the size they are in game, then scale them down. Combining this with the methods I was shown about gradient maps really allows for a lot more detail and shading than drawing them at game resolution. A bit of detail is naturally lost when scaling them down, but I feel it's a sacrifice worth making. Another benefit is being able to make portraits based on real people actually look more like those they're meant to portray.
Doing portraits at a higher resolution also meant having to make a tough decision: animate or not? I've always had animated portraits in my games, and even lip sync in the later Ben Jordan games, but unfortunately it's extremely time-consuming to animate higher resolution portraits and make them look good. So in the end, I decided to abandon the animated portraits. I'll still have different facial expressions, but no moving mouths or blinking.
So here now are some examples. Looking at the old versions makes me laugh.
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Monday, November 4, 2013
The Artist's Struggle
There's something which has been happening to me lately. Something that is both a blessing and a curse. It might happen to you, too, if you do art for your own games. It's something that needn't be feared, though it is a very easy trap to fall into, and, if your will power isn't strong enough, it will consume you completely and might even cause your project to be delayed, or worse still, never finished. What is this horrifying phenomenon, you ask? I'll tell you: it's getting better at drawing.
I know, I know, you must be thinking, "how is getting better at drawing a bad thing?" I'll be the first to tell you that it isn't. Improving your art is a great thing. Growing as an artist, or programmer, or writer, or any other facet of game design is truly rewarding. You can look back at your previous work and you smile to yourself, pleased in the knowledge that what you're doing now is miles beyond what you thought looked good in the past. There's just one small problem: what if that previous artwork is comprised of several backgrounds in your game?
We all know making a game takes time, especially if you're doing it on your own. If you get better at art, it might cause the stylistic consistency of your game to change. What if you learn a new technique or trick for lighting backgrounds? You feel it looks amazing, but when you look at your previous work, you realize it would benefit from said technique, so you go back and tweak everything to achieve some sort of similarity. That's all well and good, but where do you draw the line? If you have to go back and redo everything every time you learn something new, you'll be improving things forever, and your game will never get done.
This has happened to me already with backgrounds in A Golden Wake. There are some scenes I've tweaked 3 or 4 times since I drew them just because I've learned something new and want to make them look their best. Same with the character portraits. I even posted on this blog demonstrating the new technique I learned.
The other day, I tried yet another technique for character portraits, and I feel it makes them look way better than what I've been doing so far, but here is the dilemma: I've already got 31 characters in the game, and 95% of them have portraits, and most of those are already animated. So is it worth going back and redoing them all? At this point, I say no. I am drawing the line, and leaving this new method for my next game. Will I look back on A Golden Wake and wish I'd redone the portraits? It's a strong possibility, but I'd rather have the game finished and out within the next year than delay it for who knows how long just because I wanted to change something. Who's to say I won't learn something in the meantime that will make things look even better? To get caught in that cycle is definitely not worth it.
I know, I know, you must be thinking, "how is getting better at drawing a bad thing?" I'll be the first to tell you that it isn't. Improving your art is a great thing. Growing as an artist, or programmer, or writer, or any other facet of game design is truly rewarding. You can look back at your previous work and you smile to yourself, pleased in the knowledge that what you're doing now is miles beyond what you thought looked good in the past. There's just one small problem: what if that previous artwork is comprised of several backgrounds in your game?
We all know making a game takes time, especially if you're doing it on your own. If you get better at art, it might cause the stylistic consistency of your game to change. What if you learn a new technique or trick for lighting backgrounds? You feel it looks amazing, but when you look at your previous work, you realize it would benefit from said technique, so you go back and tweak everything to achieve some sort of similarity. That's all well and good, but where do you draw the line? If you have to go back and redo everything every time you learn something new, you'll be improving things forever, and your game will never get done.
This has happened to me already with backgrounds in A Golden Wake. There are some scenes I've tweaked 3 or 4 times since I drew them just because I've learned something new and want to make them look their best. Same with the character portraits. I even posted on this blog demonstrating the new technique I learned.
The other day, I tried yet another technique for character portraits, and I feel it makes them look way better than what I've been doing so far, but here is the dilemma: I've already got 31 characters in the game, and 95% of them have portraits, and most of those are already animated. So is it worth going back and redoing them all? At this point, I say no. I am drawing the line, and leaving this new method for my next game. Will I look back on A Golden Wake and wish I'd redone the portraits? It's a strong possibility, but I'd rather have the game finished and out within the next year than delay it for who knows how long just because I wanted to change something. Who's to say I won't learn something in the meantime that will make things look even better? To get caught in that cycle is definitely not worth it.
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