by date
A flying end to the year
A flying end to the year
| Name: | Phil Carlisle |  |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Dec 16, 2006 | |
| Rating: |  Not Rated | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
| RSS Feed: |  or Subscribe with  . | |
| Profile Page: | View profile page for Phil Carlisle |
Blog post
You know, it's really easy to beat yourself up over every little thing when you're an indie developer. How many of us have fretted over not choosing the right games, or not having something thats saleable, or not being quite good enough or not working fast enough.
The thing I've learnt about my dev recently, is that I just have to accept that making games on ANY scale is HARD! Working as an indie developer doesnt make them any easier by far, so why would we be surprised when things take longer, or arent as well put together, or are harder to test, or are harder to sell?
Building a flight sim as an indie is a pretty mammoth undertaking. Perhaps I was over confident after our first early prototypes showed so much promise. But I figured it might take a year tops.
Man was I wrong :)
But on the bright side, even though its been a long slow slog towards completing the game, much the same as the deathmarches we used to do when I was in the industry, at least this time I can stand back and say "this is MY game". I can at least feel like it was created in part because I (and we) willed it be so.
Willpower is what seperates us I think. We need to show willpower to actually grind through the hard times, the many many hard times. I'm truly grateful to have found so many great partners in this journey, because it quite simply wouldnt work without them. I've found some great partners and great friends from doing this, isnt that actually reward enough already?
We're not quite ready to really unleash the game on the public yet, but we are growing ever closer. All of the peices are slowly coming into place, from the full list of planes (we should complete the final set of plane models sometime next week, with rigging coming over xmas), to a wonderful and more fully formed gui in the works. A huge bulk of the backend we have in place thanks to Thomas is going to work for us in future products, which is really great!
This is an experience I'd hate to repeat, yet I wouldnt have missed it. Strange when I think about it really, because I think the game marks a sea-change in my attitude to games a lot. These days I'm far less uptight about my games dev. I dont CARE if I make something thats saleable, I dont CARE if someone else likes it or not. The fact is, we dont need the money, so clearly we can do things that are outside of that thinking.
Much that I like reading forums and getting a feel for other indies, I feel in a slightly different position than most, because I dont need the money, I dont need the recognition, I dont really NEED to make games at all and yet its what I always end up doing. I guess in a way, its like an addiction. I cant stop talking, thinking about or working on games. I get to make games for the love of it. There are so many others who cant afford that sort of luxury.
I'm actually very protective of games as a medium and as an activity, working in academia really puts you up against the wall (man there are so many sniffy people in academia), but I have high hopes for the future of my chosen creative medium. I do hope to actually forge forward with my own creative visions, which I guess is why I'm here. My creative will is big enough to see me through and with a few good friends I will see my (our) visions bear fruit.
Big things are coming. I see right now as a great time for us as developers and as creatives. I know there are always problems, like figuring out how to market our products, but for the sheer opportunity and the sheer ease of development, there really hasnt been a better time. Definitely big times.
Sorry this has turned into a ramble. I so wanted to make a coherent blog about my new found warm fuzzy feeling for creating games, but I'm failing so badly.
So in order to try and recover some actual purpose behind this blog.. Let me share a couple of images of our new B17, although this is in max, you'll see the plane in Air Ace screenshots very soon in the new year.
Enjoy..
The thing I've learnt about my dev recently, is that I just have to accept that making games on ANY scale is HARD! Working as an indie developer doesnt make them any easier by far, so why would we be surprised when things take longer, or arent as well put together, or are harder to test, or are harder to sell?
Building a flight sim as an indie is a pretty mammoth undertaking. Perhaps I was over confident after our first early prototypes showed so much promise. But I figured it might take a year tops.
Man was I wrong :)
But on the bright side, even though its been a long slow slog towards completing the game, much the same as the deathmarches we used to do when I was in the industry, at least this time I can stand back and say "this is MY game". I can at least feel like it was created in part because I (and we) willed it be so.
Willpower is what seperates us I think. We need to show willpower to actually grind through the hard times, the many many hard times. I'm truly grateful to have found so many great partners in this journey, because it quite simply wouldnt work without them. I've found some great partners and great friends from doing this, isnt that actually reward enough already?
We're not quite ready to really unleash the game on the public yet, but we are growing ever closer. All of the peices are slowly coming into place, from the full list of planes (we should complete the final set of plane models sometime next week, with rigging coming over xmas), to a wonderful and more fully formed gui in the works. A huge bulk of the backend we have in place thanks to Thomas is going to work for us in future products, which is really great!
This is an experience I'd hate to repeat, yet I wouldnt have missed it. Strange when I think about it really, because I think the game marks a sea-change in my attitude to games a lot. These days I'm far less uptight about my games dev. I dont CARE if I make something thats saleable, I dont CARE if someone else likes it or not. The fact is, we dont need the money, so clearly we can do things that are outside of that thinking.
Much that I like reading forums and getting a feel for other indies, I feel in a slightly different position than most, because I dont need the money, I dont need the recognition, I dont really NEED to make games at all and yet its what I always end up doing. I guess in a way, its like an addiction. I cant stop talking, thinking about or working on games. I get to make games for the love of it. There are so many others who cant afford that sort of luxury.
I'm actually very protective of games as a medium and as an activity, working in academia really puts you up against the wall (man there are so many sniffy people in academia), but I have high hopes for the future of my chosen creative medium. I do hope to actually forge forward with my own creative visions, which I guess is why I'm here. My creative will is big enough to see me through and with a few good friends I will see my (our) visions bear fruit.
Big things are coming. I see right now as a great time for us as developers and as creatives. I know there are always problems, like figuring out how to market our products, but for the sheer opportunity and the sheer ease of development, there really hasnt been a better time. Definitely big times.
Sorry this has turned into a ramble. I so wanted to make a coherent blog about my new found warm fuzzy feeling for creating games, but I'm failing so badly.
So in order to try and recover some actual purpose behind this blog.. Let me share a couple of images of our new B17, although this is in max, you'll see the plane in Air Ace screenshots very soon in the new year.
Enjoy..
Recent Blog Posts
| List: | 11/28/08 - GDC AI sessions 09/18/08 - Tell me I'm not going crazy!! 12/05/07 - The importance of good tools for productivity 11/17/07 - Using the way back machine. 09/21/07 - Juggling cats. 09/04/07 - End of Summer. 08/27/07 - Come work with me!! 08/14/07 - The changing nature of entertainment |
|---|
Submit your own resources!| James Bond (Dec 16, 2006 at 22:14 GMT) |
| Affectworks (Dec 16, 2006 at 22:49 GMT) |
This struck a nerve with me: "Willpower is what seperates us I think. We need to show willpower to actually grind through the hard times, the many many hard times."
I can't agree more on this. After over a year of working on Switching Gears sometimes I just want to scream and throw the whole project in the trash. Yet, I keep coming back again and again just because when I boot up our game and to once more run through a level to check for misjudged distances, fixing textures and what not, there's something extremely satisfying about the whole process.
Willpower and being extremely stubborn?
Fredrik S
| Apparatus (Dec 16, 2006 at 23:18 GMT) |
A great read, Phil.
| Tom Bentz (Dec 16, 2006 at 23:43 GMT) |
| Sam Redfern (Dec 17, 2006 at 00:02 GMT) |
| William Todd Scott (Dec 17, 2006 at 00:08 GMT) |
This sounds like my mantra.
Its really nice to hear I'm not alone in my insanity!
| Prairie Games (Dec 17, 2006 at 00:13 GMT) |
Quote:
at least this time I can stand back and say "this is MY game".
It is completely awesome owning your own intellectual property... I would be *hard pressed* to write anything I didn't own now... :)
The B-17 looks great!
| Gary Preston (Dec 17, 2006 at 00:55 GMT) |
Quote:
I dont CARE if I make something thats saleable, I dont CARE if someone else likes it or not. The fact is, we dont need the money, so clearly we can do things that are outside of that thinking.
IMHO the ideal indie from an end gamer pov is someone that matches just what you've written above. Those indies are the ones most likely to follow their true passion for a specific game type and bring it to life.
I've read stories from several developers that went indie to make the games they wanted, only to find once they started making money and went full time they could no longer risk developing the game they wanted and ended up cloning/going with something more market safe. Fortunately there seems to be a number of indies that are exceptions and still coming up with nifty unique games :)
As always, still looking forward to playing Air Ace :)
| James (Dec 17, 2006 at 02:52 GMT) |
I needed to hear that.
Your timing, like your words is bang on.
Thanks Phil :)
| Simon Love (Dec 17, 2006 at 04:49 GMT) |
Sometimes I lose my way, confused by all the possibilities.
But every time I feel despair, I read a blog like this,
by someone who I barely know but respect a whole lot.
And I am reminded how, despite all the hurdles, cuts and scrapes,
being an indie game dev is the only way I want to live my life.
Thanx Phil, always appreciate your insights.
Oh and thanks James for spying on my private thoughts! hehe:)
| Vashner (Dec 17, 2006 at 06:12 GMT) |
| Thomas \"Man of Ice\" Lund (Dec 17, 2006 at 09:41 GMT) |
@Phil - you wrote what I thought. Its some days SO frustrating and other days SO rewarding working on our mammoth game.
In the end we will just have to accept, that life as an indie is not only controlled by what you desire, but also dictated by outside forces (you being "homeless" for 2 month as an example).
While we could dumb ourselves down to making yet another 2d bubble popper, we keep on working on Air Ace. Somewhere deep down fully knowing that the chances of ever making money on this are damn low - and still we keep on doing what we believe in.
At least I can now with 110% certainty say, that we will release Air Ace in 2007 :-)
| Michael Hense (Dec 17, 2006 at 12:35 GMT) |
@ Phil, Thomas... keep on it guys... i've been resisting all sorts of distractions to try and finish this 'obsession' of mine as well... i can relate to a lot of what you guys said...
that top shot looks sooooo coool... props need to be turning, and some contrails from the engines, and it would look almost real...
question... how are you guys handling expansive maps involved in flight simulations?
--Mike
| Phil Carlisle (Dec 17, 2006 at 13:41 GMT) |
| Thomas \"Man of Ice\" Lund (Dec 17, 2006 at 20:32 GMT) |
TGEA :-)
Almost the only reason we are on that baby instead of the more proven path. But the large terrains of Atlas is a must for a flight sim
You must be a member and be logged in to either append comments or rate this resource.
