Blog for Stephen Burns at GarageGames.com

Free Puzzle Design Kit released

Stephen Burns — 2007-06-14T10:15:50+00:00

Hello Everyone

My first free design kit has been released. Feel free to download it and use it to develop your design documents for simple puzzle games. Also if you have any comments or suggestions you can email me as well.

The kit contains

* 2 Design documents (1 for a puzzle game and 1 for a action game)
* Place holder art files
* Folder layout (The ones I use for my projects)

Direct download link here.

Click Here

www.silkjade.com/Lightforge/Puzzle-Pack/Puzzle-Pack-home-1.html

Being Confident

Stephen Burns — 2007-06-08T08:33:40+00:00

Hello All

This is from a part of my mega blog written on the 6th in which I wrote about 6000 words. I share some of my thoughts on all the areas I feel that I am involved in when I produce a game. I got back into production on March the 26th after I returned from holidays overseas. Now its June the 7th and we have our first product on the market. Also we have another product coming out next week. And the week after that another product. The good news is we have about 4 weeks between the 3rd and 4th products release date :).

Click Here

Confidence for me comes from a solid plan and a clear vision for the company.
So I have a overall 1 year plan and 2 year plan. Get confident by getting
educated and aware of the whole business. Get confident in knowing that if your
first game is not successful according to your success markers, your ok. The
two biggest things you can lose is "time and money". You will however gain
experience and you will grow as a person. For a investment of 6 months part
time and about $ 2000 US dollars I believe this is a very cheap eduction course.
Also from putting together a product and giving it a go you will have something.

Personally for me I feel it is great. I will have lots of products at the end of the
year and a lot of experience in lots of areas. I have gained people skills,
management skills, art skills, marketing skills, project development skills, website
development skills, design document skills etc... Look at all these things I am
gaining this year from my investment of time and money. I think and feel this is
making my resume look "hot". If I go do a 1 year course in the city to round off
my art skills I am a game making machine. Companies who hire people like
confident people and they like to see commitment. What better commitment can
you have then 1 to X products you have created and invested in!.

In 2005 I played World of Warcraft for a solid year. It costs me about $780 which
was $100 AUD for the game, $ 280 for the sub and $400 for a flat panel monitor
(easy on the eyes for extended raiding sessions). So if I invested that $800 AUD
into hiring a coder plus my time and effort I could of created a product across
that year (a simple one). I would have gained valuable skills and would of
progressed in the real world. My epic items in World of Warcraft got made
redundant when the rules changes and the level cap was lifted to 70. So I made
a loss on my 2005 investment as now I am not leet in PVP anymore ;). Also one
of my simple products this year only cost $800 so a simple game can be done.

Main points.
* Only invest what you budget can handle ( $1000 to $ 5000 a year?)
* Get confident in your time table and plan
* Balance your time table and don't over commit
* Select simple projects and work your way up to bigger projects
* Be aware of the gains you are receiving by investing into your business
* Get and ask for support from your family and indie friends
* Treat your business like hobby. Instead of $100 a week on Golf invest it into
your business

Here is a look at Molipops timeline across 50 days of production.

Must have Bling and a budget

Stephen Burns — 2007-06-06T23:45:48+00:00

I have totally tanked on a big project back in 2002-2003. Mostly after that it was smaller projects that got to the alpha stage.

silkjade.com/Resume/Resume/Art-2002.html

Started production March 2002 and finished for me in March 2003. The other team members took longer and I think the game came out in June 2003. I was working in a full time job at that stage. I started the project when I was 21 years old so I can claim I was a little inexperienced. Even back then I wanted to do a smaller games in a 6 month production time frame.

If I got a awesome full time job at the supermarket (work at Coles supermarkets dawn filling atm 15-25 hours a week and a Warehouse 8-16 hours per week) I would of made a cool 551 AUD before tax.

12 months on the game project and if I wanted the minimum OZ wage = $28652
So to return my wages the game would of had to sell 7163 copies for my wages ($ 4 per sale for me :) ).

Have a look at Gish and its not to pretty. 12 month recovery looks hard to achieve for a full time 12 month commitment. Also I got a nice 0 sales and -something $$ :) for the 12 months and wiped out my bank account. However I did gain a nice chunk of experience and met my Wife in 2003 :). Because I was online so much making the games we met. So everything in life can have positive outcomes if your looking for some positives (for me it was a awesomely successful/failure game :) ).

www.gameproducer.net/2007/05/09/sales-stats-gish-121000-sales/

This below is from my online indie kit in production. The Kit when done will take a developer all the way up to the must have bling stage which is Code,Final art and Final Music. If portals and game players bought my place holder art then the kit would be good. However even with awesome Bling bling art the fish won't bite. Its a tough market to please.

www.silkjade.com/Lightforge/Silk-jade/Silkjade-Budget.html

I have two part time jobs which provide the income for my family and the projects (just the 2 of us). People take out loans for cars easy so why not a loan to start up your company? Well you get the car and it makes you feel good (instant happiness, long repayments). But for me I feel good completing projects. Also if I went to University it would cost me $10000 AUD to do the course I want to do per year. Well I plan to spend $10000 AUD this year on making 8 games. Just cap your budget and deploy your chips wisely.

The game production is fueled by 45% of my wages plus what was left of the war chest from last year. We have cut back on everything and just do the basic things. Also I don't smoke, drink or go out to parties. Me and my wife do a lot of bush walking and hire out 2 movies a week for $2 :). I use a credit card with a $2000 limit and at the moment we are on target to complete 4 projects within our budget. Also if I need I can hook into more working hours to feed the credit card if I need to. My car has some problems but I patched it up myself.

I may be crazy and people tell me a new car doesn't break down as much as my old beast. But at the cut off date of March the 26-09 we will make a choice to continue or not. If by the 2 year mark the 16 games did not much then I will have to consider other options (get a hair cut and a real job).

Hard Numbers: $25000 over 2 years or $12500 per year.
Product Target: 16 Average product net return per sale $12 AUD per sale
$25000 divided by $12 = 2083 units sold for investment recovery
$25000 divided by 16 = $1562.5 per game
$1562.5 = 130.2 Units sold per game

Now that 130.2 is not in the first day (I wish :) ). To me its over a 2 year cycle at least or

65 per year
5.4 per month
2.5 games per week
0.3 games per day

Now the most important factor. We complete 4 games per semester at a average time of 1.5 months our time. To get my part time minimum wages back and my wifes wages back for our time investment of 1.5 months or 6 weeks (390 hours).

Month (25 for me and 40 for my wife) 390 hours per game X $14.5 AUD = $5655
Year (25 for me and 40 for my wife) 3120 Hours per year X $14.5 AUD = $45240

Hard Numbers: $115480 over 2 years total investment or $57740 per year
Product Target: 16 Average product net return per sale $12 AUD per sale
$115480 divided by $12 = 9623 units sold for investment recovery
$115480 divided by 16 = $7217.5 per game
$7217.5 = 601.2 Units sold per game

Now that 601.2 is not in the first day. To me its over a 2 year cycle at least or.

300.1 per year
25 per month
5.7 games per week
0.8 games per day

Currently Molipop is on target to pay itself off after 6 days on the market (just released by us on our own website with only about 200 Downloads). However that sweet spot of 5.7 is not quite there yet. We win at Silkjade with our solid work ethic and fast no fuss 1.5 month production. If Molipop was a 16 month project then god help us get the money back for our wages. But due to our fast tracked production game development is within reach to be a viable hobby business.

Remember your hired teams can go past the 1.5 months or 6 weeks. As a team you should be onto your next project and just receiving updates from your coding/art/music teams.

This is just our strategy to keep the bean counter happy which is me :). Your time is valuable use it wisely. Don't make the best product make the best strategy for sustainable growth.

Game development page, game finished

Stephen Burns — 2007-06-06T10:17:11+00:00

Hello all

Last year I was going to work on art packs for indie teams. Well its about 1 year late. I was getting married last year so everything went on hold. Good news is I am back with a finished game and some indie info.

You can check out the info and spelling bobo's here. Also I did this all today the whole site and about 6000 words. The first art pack is a few week off so don't let the coming soon make you excited. Starter kit puzzle pack should be free, maybe :). I will update the website later on in the week as I have to get back to 2 projects and marketing.

www.silkjade.com/Lightforge/

The Silkjade 2007 Strategy is located here.

www.silkjade.com/Lightforge/Silk-jade/Silkjade-Plan.html

Also I have completed my first game and got my first sale a few days back :).
Also I am still listening to Lift :).

Click Here

www.silkjade.com/

Work and art

Stephen Burns — 2006-08-11T07:35:08+00:00

I showed some cool art off but real life things like money need to be attended too.
So I got 2 new jobs and I am busy plus tired ;). Also I have a few puzzle game art sets to finish off so they
can chew up my free time on Sunday. I love 2D art and TGB. Output >> PNG = done.

The 3D art is fun to make but it doesn't pay the bills.
I can't help any teams make battle ships, tanks, RPG levels, robots etc...
Also a RPG map pack is about 3 weeks solid full time work. So that's about 10 weekends which
is better spent on puzzle games and family.

So I would like to apologize for making this commitment which I could not meet.

The models below are not new. I just dropped them into Vue 5.
Vue 5 makes my old models look nice. Even a ship I made in 1998
comes up looking Babylon 5 ish which makes me happy :).

My first passion is cool art. Its a bonus if one day I can complete a little computer game.
As for huge games they cost 10 million to make. The bar for hardcore games went up with the Xbox 360 Specs. I wonder when the gameplay bar will go up ;)

One day Projects and fun

Stephen Burns — 2006-07-15T04:09:24+00:00

Hello All

I am now doing one day projects for fun. Below I will give examples of two one day projects I have completed so far. The goal of the one day project is to get those cool ideas into a 3D picture. I personally want to get off the fence and make some cool art for "fun". So with my 6 days a week I will allocate
2 days were I let my creativity go walk about. Its like getting my dream game ideas out of the head and onto the 3d canvas. Also I can learn some new tricks too :).

The main goal of a one day project is to have a idea from pencil to one picture in under 1 day.
For example a set of coin objects can be done in under 1 day. However this is just a part of the puzzle game. But each part adds up to the whole. Imagine doing 500 parts ! Now that is 500 full time days.
A puzzle game has around 14 major parts then its polish time etc...

The map below was done in under 3 hours today.

My wish list for this one day project.

* Texture maps on tap

I used a few old texture maps to give it some life. Probably next week I am going to do a one day
texture map project as my texture skills are lacking. Also I have to head off to work so I can't spend the extra 4 hours on the texture maps.

I started at 9:30 AM and at 10:00 AM I had the foundatiion down.

At 11:15 AM I had some extra parts placed in.

At 12:00 AM I had all the models completed

At 12:30 PM I added in some textures maps. ( Note these are just imported from old projects)

The Chinese Temple and Pagoda were completed on Friday the 14th 2006.

Next week this map might get done :).

RPG maps

Stephen Burns — 2006-07-05T02:05:24+00:00

Hello All

In about 2 days I will recieve my update to lightwave Version 8.5/9 from 5.6.
Bellow is my old maps for a game like Baldur's Gate. Next week I can
start putting these parts into T3D to see if they work. Also I can get any
bugs out so the parts all can match up etc...

As you can see from the wire frames they are very simple for the rooms.
The maps look good from the lighting and textures.

I have added in a FPS shot. It looks ok from down there as well :).
No roof on the parts as well.

Update 12-07-2006

At the moment waiting for my lightwave hardware key to be updated.
Testing the first parts of the map in T3D and getting to know what T3D likes model wise.
Once the hardware key arrives I will output the first map items with lightwave 8.5.
I will miss the old 5.6 version :(.

The model below took 5 hours to complete.

The model below took 4 hours to complete.

Church was made back in 2004.

Stephen

You have to lift, you have to believe

Stephen Burns — 2006-05-09T09:43:20+00:00

Howday all

Climbing the tallest mountain in the world takes courage.
Believing in yourself and abilities takes more.

Here is the mountain.

www.peakware.com/peaks.html?pk=80

Game making is like climbing to me.
It takes courage, commitment, learning, focus and a lot of self belief.

Lets Climb.

A huge 120 meg movie made for a film festival Jan 2003 in 5 weeks
from art after the strategy game collapse.

lightforgegames.com/Movies/CFX-8-DVD.mpg

Some short AVI clips. Very large files 4-36 meg.

lightforgegames.com/Movies/T-M-Argon-F-M2-LX.avi

lightforgegames.com/Movies/09-T-M-Argon-F-M2.avi

lightforgegames.com/Movies/D-Star-Aw-1.avi

The year in 1998 the inspiration is ... Babylon 5. I loved that show.
After failing in school and getting a fail for Art ( I wasn't into clay) I took
up drinking a lot. Had a dream woke up and decided I have to lift.
At the end of 1998 I produced these screens.

The year is 1999. Again I lift.

The year is 2001 I start working for free on game projects.

The year is 2002 and I lift. My first full project cycle.
I feel I have made 1998 level TA art. The project fails.

2003 I perpare for the 2004 tropfest film festival. Again I lift. I work
on some more smaller projects after the strategy game failure. I get
a full time job to recover from a 0 bank account.

2004 I start work on art for a RPG. I believe I as one artist can match the 10+ artists that worked on BG games.
I lift and create the snap lock mines in under 4 weeks which can create a 20 level dungeon in
1 day by snap locking like Lego. This is the peak before the fall to World of Warcraft.

Snap lock Church 40% done.

2004 Onwards I get a new job and work at a supermarket. I play Wow and I give up art.
2005 I begin my journey in World of Warcraft and join the front line in the top Alliance
guild on our server. I level two 60's one 54 one 30 and one 28.

Artist, Dreamer, game designer ...

Stephen Burns

Sunday Sep 29 1:40

Stephen Burns — 2002-09-29T01:40:42+00:00

31-10-2002

A good design document is like a good map. It can help you get you to were you and your game making team want to be heading.

Why don't people learn? I am tired of working with groups that send me very little description of what they want. For example I wrote a 40 page design document for the programmers working on the strategy game. Plus also I made concept pictures of every screen in the strategy game. This is a part of game making that people leave out. A lot of starting up groups I find does this (mostly the young people like me). Lead game designer "I am going to make a counter strike clone err make some guns for me". I am sorry I can work with this I like to see a design document first even if its two pages long. A design document sort of lays out what's going to be built for the game (like a design for a House). Now tell a Builder "Make me a house with stuff in it" and he will tell you he needs a " Plan/ design" to work from. So a good plan/design document is the first thing a game making team needs. Or the lead designer must be very good at feeding information to the members of the team and keeping them updated.

Well I am working on a new design document for a Space strategy game. I am laying out the game on a website using front page. My programmers can then go through the whole game as a web site and look at each area. Also I have just completed all the notes for the research tree, games units and Planet management. This new game project will start maybe in January next year and I have already done a bit of work on the design document for it (about 20 pages of ruff notes plus a test website laying out the games screens).