Electric Turnip
  • Blog
  • Stories
    • Story 000
    • Story 001
    • Story 002
    • Story 004
    • Story 007 - Unfinished
    • Story 008
    • Story 010 - BattleWagon
    • Story 012
  • Images
    • Adventure Caddie concept gallery
    • Page Design Gallery
    • Older Work
  • 5FEAT Video
  • Videos
  • Game Experiments
    • Climb
    • Super Shapetoy
    • TurboGarbageTruck
    • 031 - Best Games - Enchanter
    • 033 - Shader Test
  • Contact

007

12/17/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
This is my close approximation what Adventure Caddie will look like.
Have you ever had an epiphany? 

“What sort of hyperbolic nonsense are you treating us to today, you ridiculous goof?” you might ask. You would probably be right. I am a ridiculous goof, but I do have epiphanies from time to time. Usually while I’m peeing. That isn’t, exactly, an important bit of trivia. I’m not sure if I was peeing when this particular epiphany struck me, but it is possible that my pants were down. If that put any unfortunate images in your head, that’s on you. Everybody pees.

Anyway. I have spent literally months working out how the game I’ve been working on should look. I  have been more concerned with how to make all the pieces work together, than really nailing down the aesthetic. Do these shaders work? Do they work on mobile? Is the fill rate too high? Do the models need to be rigged, or can I just use hierarchical animation? do they even need to be models? Should the animation be sprite based?

When you start a game, the blank page analogy applies, but this blank page stretches out in 4 dimensions, and requires a 6 cylinder engine that you must also design and assemble. You don’t just draw a nice picture and then add ‘game’ to it.

So I drew a picture, and now I have to add game to it. Luckily the game part is already well underway.  I’ve been working on the underpinnings of the artwork, while Rich Hudson has been working on the code.

While doing this, very necessary technical work, I’ve been systematically reducing and refining what I wanted the game to look like for months. The dark secret of art, is that it never comes out like you thought it would. No one imagines a picture and then, recreates exactly, that picture. You attempt an approximation and then push, pull, and refine from there. Typically, this process only comes to an end when you run out of time. When you work to a deadline, you do what you can in the time allotted and then hand it off, dissatisfied. The client, since they were not the ones doing the work, usually is satisfied, and might even say they “like it” or “it’s good”. If you did your best, you know that you did your best, and move on. You have to be content with that.

When you don’t have a hard deadline, or you have a loose, self imposed deadline, you just have to ram into the problem as much as possible in the time you have. Sometimes, what everything should look like will become apparent quickly, and then you just do the same as you would under deadline. You attempt an approximation and then refine from there. Other times, like with this game, you might be more concerned with the function of the underlying systems than with the final look. I would never recommend waiting for an epiphany, since there really is no guarantee that you will have one. I go pee a lot, and honestly, epiphanies are rare. This time, though, I had an epiphany. That is to say, I worked on the problem long enough, and from enough angles, that the solution came to me, all at once, almost fully formed. As if it were obvious.

Now I just do the same as always. Attempt an approximation. Refine. I’ll know I’m done when I run out of time. And now I know when I will run out of time.

Adventure Caddie will launch in 2013.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    June 2012
    October 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    November 2010
    October 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    Adventure Caddie
    Best Games

    RSS Feed

Owen McManus
  • Blog
  • Stories
    • Story 000
    • Story 001
    • Story 002
    • Story 004
    • Story 007 - Unfinished
    • Story 008
    • Story 010 - BattleWagon
    • Story 012
  • Images
    • Adventure Caddie concept gallery
    • Page Design Gallery
    • Older Work
  • 5FEAT Video
  • Videos
  • Game Experiments
    • Climb
    • Super Shapetoy
    • TurboGarbageTruck
    • 031 - Best Games - Enchanter
    • 033 - Shader Test
  • Contact