Gamedev | Gamedev Brain

I Fail on a Different Scale

Posted on August 29, 2015 by magicrat_larry

I’ve always been amazed how people tend to just shoot for the minimal they need to have to be successful. I watched many people shoot for a very low bar and fail at it. It is sad, because they just don’t understand that everything fails. We are people, we are big screw-ups. We fail at everything to some degree. So if you shoot for the minimum you need to succeed then you will not make it there.

The unobtainable is always the plan. How does this set me above the others we just discussed? I fail on a different scale.

What do I do? I shoot for Perfection. If I need to make $1 a day, I shoot for $1,000,000 a day. I shoot for goals that cannot be hit. The unobtainable is always the plan. How does this set me above the others we just discussed? I fail on a different scale. Let’s keep running with the money example, if I need $1 a day, but shot for $1,000,000 and failed like all people do, but get $1,000, it is a miserable failure when you look at what was being shot at. If you look at what I needed though which was $1 shooting for $1,000,000 made me get 1,000 times my need.

See If you shoot for $1, it’ll be just as hard as shooting for $1,000,000 in our example. You have to think about the same amount. You have to come up with the same amount of ideas. You have to implement the same amount of money generating things. You simply make different decisions that allow for failure to still reach what you absolutely need.

Stop looking small, shoot of the largest thing you can think of. Don’t just make a game, make a hit. Realize that you are going to mess up everything, that is a fact. If you give yourself room for that failure, you will be surprised what success comes from it. It’s a mindset change. Don’t change the amount of effort you put in, change the scale by which you try.

If you have not checked out my current project…

Violent Sol Worlds home

IndieDB

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Am I a Failure, or No?

Posted on August 28, 2015 by magicrat_larry

Fear of all this work not paying off is looming. As we push to Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight it does cross my mind that people may not support us or even know about us. I’ve been working hard for a long time now to try and make that not happen. I suppose the fact that you are reading this is a sign that my fears are at least not 100% solid.

It will be a slightly crushing blow if our efforts do go unseen or even worse un-liked. Well our best is all we can give. I do appreciate everyone for supporting, following, and just being there through our hard work. Game development is not hard, the workload is the hard part.

Holding down the full-time job and performing on game development at the same time will kill a lesser person. I have the largest amount of respect to those who have made it before me and hope like heck that hard work pays off and I follow them in stride. All of your support is appreciated and there is a much longer road ahead. I’ll keep digging in as long as I keep getting up in the morning. I love this stuff.

As always here are some links to learn about our game Violent Sol Worlds

Violent Sol Worlds home

IndieDB

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Tell Me What You Want!

Posted on August 23, 2015 by magicrat_larry

Business or not business, that is a good question. This seems to be something people struggle with in game development on the indie scale. Why are you doing it? I’m doing it because I love it, but that does not mean you should not do it as a business right? I tend to think that people make themselves have a harder time with things they love because they put strange walls up that would not normally be there if you were just trying to sell something.

If you just were selling spatulas, you would post adds everywhere. They would be the cheapest adds you can make, and you would repeat them as many times as you could to an audience so that your spatula brand would come to mind first when you think of spatulas. That seems reasonable to us all I think. It is done by nearly every company in existence today of any size.

So why is it when it comes to indie games that the development teams think that advertisement has to be different? Are people different when it comes to games? I tend to believe they are not. I don’t think people really mind hearing about an awesome game many times. Plus if you are talking twitter and social media, the amount of times a post is missed by nearly everyone in the world is astounding. I don’t think putting a strange limit on your marketing is the most wonderful of ideas. If marketing works for Disney, it will work for your indie title.

There are proven things that work with human beings. Use them to your advantage. To try and think of ways to covertly get people to see your call to action is not the most effective way. If you want them to buy spatulas, tell them, and tell them often. Don’t just think because you are making a cool spatula that the people will know what they need to do to make you a success.

Come see my spatula…

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ViolentSol.com – Homepage

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Hey Look Game Design!

Posted on August 21, 2015 by magicrat_larry

Going full design, what an interesting transition from prototyping game-play. We spent a while getting the visual and the game play experience ironed out for Violent Sol Worlds now we have a great understanding of how this game will look, feel, and play. We now have to turn our attention to the design of a game that will encompass all that we now understand about it.

There seems to be two areas of design so far. The technical, which Aaron is running straight in to now, and the world, which I think interests me more. The technical generates things like flow charts and systems behind the scenes that all communicate together for the game loop to function well, and effectively. It is important to get that correct, especially for Violent Sol Worlds, it is going to be something we have to live with for a long while. We plan on extending this game over time to be much larger than it is at Alpha build 1.

The world design is interesting to me because it is a lot to do with what you will be seeing, hearing, reading, and interacting with. I am working on animals now and it is a bit of an experience in itself. I started with the types of biomes the planet will have, now I am thinking of how to come up with the animals that live within them.

Nothing, when done right, with love and care, is easy. So getting the creatures correctly placed and balanced with different types that will make sense is a task in itself. I need a system to think about it and that is what I am coming up with now. It is an enjoyable phase of development and I can’t wait to continue the journey.

If you have not seen the game I am a part of here are a few links…

Facebook – Like us on facebook

ViolentSol.com – Homepage

IndieDB – Indie Games Community with news, screenshots, and video

Problems Generated By Successful Actions

Posted on August 20, 2015 by magicrat_larry

I used to think that game development was this glamorous, fun, coding, experience that was intense but just a blast. I know better now. The truth behind game development is that it is a lot of work. It still is fun, but there is no glamour.

What do I mean? Well Let me tell you my story. I used to do this as a hobby. I loved to make cool things render to the screen. I would play around with it for a few hours a week. Then it turned into a few hours a day. From there I gathered people, they wanted to make games. So it turned into 20 hours a week. At that point I mostly coded, still seemed like my vision of what I though game development was was true.

I then started to think, if we get a game to the finish line, how do we sell it? Then entered marketing time. I started about 5-10 minutes every day. That turned into 30 minutes. Then it turned into and hour. Before I knew better, it was my entire 20 hours a week. Is that bad? No. I am driven by success, so as I got feedback and validation from people, like you, I spent more time doing it.

Now, I reach a problem. The fans, followers, and generally great people that I strove to entertain are pushing me further. I am out of time. Eventually I need to code the game, keep up marketing, and innovate in both areas. We have to get this to be a full-time equation soon or things have to be cut. Problem is you cannot cut either development or marketing because you’d be cutting your own projects head off.

I love this problem, can’t really have a better one. I just have to solve it and continue to grow. Love all you people out there that drive me, keep it coming and I do pass it on to our team that is working on the game. Problems generated by success mean you are participating in life and not just along for the ride.

If you have not seen the game I am a part of here are a few links…

Facebook – Like us on facebook

ViolentSol.com – Homepage

IndieDB – Indie Games Community with news, screenshots, and video

Games Are a No Brainer

Posted on August 17, 2015 by magicrat_larry

I’ve heard it over and over again, business is hard. I think peoples definition of hard is really the problem here. Business is easy to succeed in. Trust me. It’s not hard, just be smart and start something that a place needs based on a places needs, not on your love for the thing you are starting. If you do that then you have a successful business.

If you just say I love knitting scarfs. Then take that love and just open up a shop for knitted scarfs near you. You are bound to fail. Why? because you had no business thoughts that lead you to open that shop, just love and passion for the knitting of scarfs. I know you love it, but it still won’t make a terrible idea work.

The cool thing about game development is that it is location less. It is entertainment and it can be priced well for global sales. Gamed development is also a nice production model as well. You can make a great game for very little money and produce copies of that game, for nearly free, forever. The math works out great. The only things you have to do is execute a game and get it to release. That is the part that is harder. Remember business isn’t hard, it’s just work, and it takes some thought.

If you have not seen the game I am a part of here are a few links…

Facebook – Like us on facebook

ViolentSol.com – Homepage

IndieDB – Indie Games Community with news, screenshots, and video

Why Work Hard?

Posted on August 14, 2015 by magicrat_larry

What comes out of hard work? I wondered this years ago and never really answered it. Hard work in itself gives you nothing. It is not something that by itself makes anything happen. You have to be smart about what you are working hard on. With the correct focus hard work can make great things.

How you choose what to focus on is the key to success and the American Dream. Choose wisely and you will never be disappointed. Don’t listen to people. You don’t have to work hard on something you love either. What? Why would you do that? You can work hard on a smart idea that is not something you love and be successful at it. Hard work gets you that. The key to being happy though is to find something you like more that is still smart.

You cannot just work hard at the thing you love and expect great success. The fact is the thing you love is probably dumb to work hard at for business success. Find the next best thing that makes good sense and go for it. I’m lucky, the one thing I love to do is make games, and here I am making one and it makes sense for business success.

If you have not seen the game I am a part of here are a few links…

Facebook – Like us on facebook

ViolentSol.com – Homepage

IndieDB – Indie Games Community with news, screenshots, and video

Once You start You Just Can’t Stop

Posted on August 10, 2015 by magicrat_larry

You know you are having fun when you cannot stop. I’ve been going at game development for over 2 years now every day. I’ve worked probably 50-60 hours a week for that time, combining my day job and my game development “hobby”. That is a long time to have that work load.

I’m starting to feel it now, but I just can’t stop. It’s the, “just one more thing”, problem with an addictive thing you love to do. The Civilization of life. I love developing games, and I am seeing that I love developing a game studio just as much. Seeing something come out of nothing is a great experience and you all are making it that much easier.

There are awesome things coming from us in the near future so stay tuned and enjoy it as much as I am.

If you have not seen the game I am a part of here are a few links…

Facebook – Like us on facebook 🙂

ViolentSol.com – Homepage

IndieDB – Indie Games Community with news, screenshots, and video

So Little Time, So Much To Do

Posted on August 6, 2015 by magicrat_larry

You know those people that say I am so busy? We all do. Most of the time you look at them and smile and say, I know you watch reruns of “That Seventy Show” every day. Well I am here to day to tell you I am so busy. I truly am. I am exhausted, and pushing even harder today than before.

I am really making things happen. Right now, I am not sure how well, or if they are good, or great things, but things none the less. I really have no time to write this out because I feel like I should be working. So here I go off into the sunset with all those other busy people that don’t really exist.

If you have not seen the game I am a part of here are a few links…

Facebook – Like us on facebook 🙂

ViolentSol.com – Homepage

IndieDB – Indie Games Community with news, screenshots, and video

You, Yes You, Never Stop Amazing Me

Posted on August 3, 2015 by magicrat_larry

I used to get up as an indie game developer and start coding my game. Now I get up and start marketing my game. When did that happen? When did marketing win as the leading task of the day? Seems like it was a smooth transition because I did not notice it until now. I think the community might have fueled the move though.

Let me explain. I get some awesome responses from people about our game that is in development – Violent Sol Worlds. I think that feeds the want for my brain to get more, so I have slowly turned into a marketer first and a programmer second. Never in a million years would I have seen that coming. It is wonderful though.

Before now, my interactions with people over the internet has been basically them yelling at me about my mother. You know, the XBOX live crowd. But now that we are building a community around a title we all love and want to see built the interactions are much more loving. I truly hope we keep this up and you all keep motivation high for me to keep engaging on this level.

All your praises, follows, and general encouragement have been amazing. You all blow me away, and make me feel like I can do anything, even knock out a shark.

If you have not seen our game – Violent Sol Worlds check it out.