I have decided to begin a personal blog, where I hope to post regular updates on my status and progress.
I run an independent game development company called Cheese and Bacon Games. I recently released a game called Hubert’s Island Adventure: Mouse o’ War for Windows. It’s a platformer (every indie developer has to make at least one platformer). Hopefully, making platformers is out of my system for a while, and I can try some new ideas.
One reason I wanted to start this blog was as a method of motivating myself. I keep a blog for Cheese and Bacon Games, but that is reserved for more “official” posts. I don’t really have a place to jot down thoughts and keep a record of my efforts on a more ongoing basis. Here, I can post frequently about what I’m doing, and where I hope to be going. Theoretically, this will force me to improve my planning and efficiency. Over the coming months, we will find out together how well that works.
I currently have a few game projects in the works.
My primary focus is an Android game called Bit Beast. It’s a virtual pet, much like the popular key-chain toys that were all the rage during the 90s. It takes all of the best features of various old virtual pets, mixes them together, and adds a few new ideas, too. I would like to have this done by the end of April/beginning of May. In the past, I have been terrible at meeting my own deadlines, but I am improving, so hopefully I can meet that date.
Before starting on Bit Beast, I knew no Java (the programming language used for Android stuff), and very little about Android. Thus, working on this game has been a huge learning experience, and I’ve still got a ways to go, but I am pleased with my progress so far.
I am also continuing to publicize Hubert’s Island, through a variety of means. I hope to use this first game as a means to learn as much as I can about marketing and such. For example, I just today concluded a giveaway contest in which I offered 3 free copies of the game to people who emailed me. That contest was, unfortunately, a failure. I only got a single entry, and that was my mother-in-law, who my wife bugged about it until she entered. I do plan on trying the contest idea again in the future, though.
I’m going to write a postmortem for the Hubert game as well, and I plan on trying to get it published somewhere online. Failing that, I will post it on the CaB site.
I am also planning a major round of sending reviewers copies of the game, in the hopes of garnering some attention.
Other plans for Hubert’s Island include some kind of “making-of” content (which will be free), and a near-future sale.
I think I might make another post soon about Hubert’s sales so far, as I’ve read many of those written by other indies, and they are always helpful. Spoiler alert: it has not sold very well!
The other game I am working on is codenamed Project Hestia. It is a real-time strategy game, in which you control your people indirectly (giving broad orders such as “capture this city” or “build a new city over here”) You also have the powers of an ancient god-type being. You can send down lightning bolts, choose a follower as your mighty avatar, and more!
This project is on the back-burner while I work on smaller, quicker things. I plan on trying a Kickstarter(or some similar fundraising effort) for it soon, though, and if it is successful, Hestia will return to primary project status.
A note on Kickstarter: The plan for trying this actually predates the release of Hubert’s Island. Since that time, however, Double Fine has had their incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign. Everyone and their brother are now trying the Kickstarter route, and I do not know if that will help me or hurt me. I still very much want to try it out, but now I am more uncertain than ever of its chance for success. On the one hand, this might be bringing lots more people willing to pledge funds to places like Kickstarter. However, it might also lead to everyone getting burned out on the whole idea. I guess we will all find out together!