Plan for Jay Barnson

Indie RPG Craziness

Indie RPG Craziness
What's really a little frightening is how many of my tasks right now are running parallel to work I did earlier this year on a quick & dirty "Game In A Week" exercise called Hackenslash. My new game is 3D, much more sophisticated, more elaborate, and is going to take me the rest of the year just to get the core functionality in place. But except for some issues like the 3D camera handling and the specifics of how areas are rendered (which Torque does for me, mostly), you can almost pull my task list directly out of the latter half of my development diary for Hackenslash. There's so much different between them, yet certain things have to be done when you are doing a game within a genre. Making a game is making a game - it's just a difference of scale and overhead (and the amount of management required).


Separated at birth? I sure hope not!

In a previous blog entry, I bemoaned my transition from the "Blue Sky" phase of development. It's pretty sad bidding farewell to all the things your game Could Have Been as you settle on the limitations of a concrete product. But there's an incredible joy you get hitting the stage of the process where your game begins to resemble a game - the late-prototype phase I guess. Your ideas begin taking form, and you can catch a glimpse of your dream taking form. (Now I just need real models so the form less resembles stock Torque characters...)

I've got a heck of a long way to go. But it's looking like it will be a fun ride!

Jay Barnson
Rampant Games