Archive for December, 2009

30 December, 2009 | No comments

Grey Alien Games: 2009 Review and 2010 Goals

pNow is a good time to review the goals I set for 2009 and think about my goals for 2010, so here goes#8230;/p
pstrong2009 Review/strong/p
pHere#8217;s what happened to my 2009 goals:/p
p1) Release my next game mid-late Jan. em(Almost. Unwell Mel was released mid-Feb and got to no.2 on BFG.)/em/p
p2) Develop 2 hit games for BFG that will hit no.1 and gross at least $1,000,000 each. One of these may be a new genre#8230; em(Didn#8217;t happen (yet). Unwell Mel took a while to localize into 4 languages inc. Japanese. Current game is taking quite a while but is looking damn good.)/em/p
p3) Start an Indie/Casual Game scene in Vancouver. em(Had a few small meetups and one big one but have not started a scene.)/em/p
p4) Meet some really interesting people. em(For sure. Developers, new agers, fun friends.)/em/p
p5) Play more games at home. em(Did this mainly on the XBox 360.)/em/p
p6) Start an Aikido club in Vancouver. em(Succeeded in September.)/em/p
p7) Get married. em(Had an engagement party in the UK when we went back there for a holiday but the wedding will most likely be in the spring now.)/em/p
pGenerally most goals were met, so I#8217;m pretty happy with that./p
pOther achievements include:/p
p- Joined Toastmasters and did my Icebreaker speech.br /
- Did several professional speeches and a workshop.br /
- Learned Actionscript 3br /
- Bought a car (Subaru Impreza Wagon)br /
- Bought a bike and did lots of cycling to work.br /
- Gave up alcohol all year.br /
- Had an awesome summer./p
pstrong2010 Goals/strong/p
pSo then, here are my 2010 goals:/p
p1) Finish recently started secret BFG project and watch it make tons of money.br /
2) Release a top 10 download title (in progress).br /
3) Get married (in Spring or Summer)br /
4) Complete 9 more toastmasters speeches so I get the competent communicator award.br /
5) Get a Canadian driving license (my partner drives the car because my UK license is not valid here!)br /
6) Build up my Aikido club, get some decent mats, and become profitable as a club.br /
7) Build up my health and fitness more.br /
8 ) Improve life work balance.br /
9) Sort out my looming tax situation. (It#8217;s complicated having to do tax returns in two countries.)/p
pThat#8217;ll do for now. In reality I have tons of goals (some are more like outstanding tasks), almost too many, but it#8217;s probably best just to focus on a few so as not to get overwhelmed. As I complete some goals I can choose new ones, and I#8217;m sure that new ones will crop up anyway as the year progresses./p
pstrong2009 Mistakes/strong/p
pAnd now the time for honesty; what mistakes did I make in 2009?/p
p- I crunched really hard to finish Unwell Mel and didn#8217;t see my family for about 6 weeks at a time when they really needed me (we had just moved continent). I wish I could have gone about this differently somehow but I had just started a new job and my boss set a tight launch date for the game#8230;Really I should have got more of the game done in England before I moved, but moving continent takes a lot of time to organise./p
p- I had some trouble adjusting to being an employee in a company with a tight (but normal) anti-compete clause (I was an independent developer used to running my own company before). This lead me to to feel frustrated and have some probably not very #8220;tactical#8221; conversations with my boss./p
p- I lost a $1000 a month income stream (which I really needed) and fighting over it probably caused problems in the long run too. Can#8217;t really talk about this one much#8230;/p
p- I got off to a slow start with my new game. Partly this was due to the learning curve of making sure that my team had enough stuff to do each day and, because they were new to making games, they needed a lot of guidance. This meant that I spent too little time doing what I was supposed to be doing (designing and making prototypes). Also because I tried to do things the #8220;proper#8221; old-fashioned way and made a giant design doc before starting coding in earnest, there wasn#8217;t much visible progress to show. In future I don#8217;t want to have a team until I have made prototypes and thrashed out the design so that I can focus and be productive./p
p- I waited too long to set up an Aikido club. I was searching for the perfect venue when in reality it didn#8217;t exist. When I finally realised this, I found something that would work and just started the club. Now I need to refine things, but at least I#8217;ve been teaching since September./p
p- I#8217;ve hardly played the guitar, or made any music. Also haven#8217;t done many hobbies except play games. Need to fix that, but need more of that illusive #8220;free time#8221;./p
p- Haven#8217;t explored Canada much or gone skiing or snowboarding. We didn#8217;t have a car until fairly recently due to our tight financial situation (it costs a lot of money for a family of 4 to live in a nice location in Vancouver). We now have a car and our finances are a bit better and, in the words of the Beatles, #8220;getting better all the time#8221;, and so we should be able to explore more and do cool stuff now./p
p- Haven#8217;t eaten that healthily and I#8217;m less fit than in 2008. I#8217;m doing less Aikido (and the Aikido I#8217;m doing is less intense) so I#8217;ve lost fitness although cycling in the summer helped. Now the winter has set in, and I recently had swine flu, I#8217;ve lost some fitness which I have started to reclaim. Also it#8217;s very easy to eat unhealthily here, and the office has lots of #8220;candy#8221; and #8220;soda#8221; in it, which is nice, but oh too tempting. These things can, and will be, easily improved in 2010./p
p- We rented a house that was too expensive for 10 months, and although our current house costs less, it#8217;s still too expensive really. They are both great houses in a great location but our finances have felt very tight all year, lots of juggling going on, and not much of a feeling of financial freedom. One good thing is that since attending the Millionaire Mind seminar in the spring we set up a #8220;jars#8221; system that is working very well for us and we now have some savings and contingency money and money in other jars (bank accounts), and I even have a pension, gasp!/p
pThere are probably tons more, but those are the biggies./p
pSo what about your goals for 2010, and your successes and mistakes in 2009? Please let me know!/p
img src=http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GreyAlienGames/~4/-AwCH43EMVw height=1 width=1 /

28 December, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Mobile Monday

strongPlatform: Mobile (iPhone, iPod Touch) #8212; /strong

a href=http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/12/mobile_monday_49.phpimg alt=Mobile Monday src=http://jayisgames.com/images/icon_mobilemonday.gif align=left width=50 height=50 //a

Games featured this week: strongSpider: Hornet Smash; VectorTD; Stair Dismount/strong #8212;

Hugely, hugely, emhugely/em addictive games on this edition of Mobile Monday, apps we just couldn’t keep our smudging little fingers off of for very long. Each should be familiar to anyone who follows the casual/indie gaming scene, but their transition to the mobile platform introduces new controls as well as our favorite hook: complete portability!strong Tagged as: /stronga href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/blogblog/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/iphoneiphone/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/itunesitunes/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/mobilemobile/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/mobile-mondaymobile-monday/a

25 December, 2009 | No comments

GBGames: Merry Christmas, Blog Readers!

pI hope that everyone is having a relaxing and enjoyable time during the holidays. Last minute shopping, gift wrapping, and driving through horrible weather should all give way to the fact that you#8217;re spending time with loved ones. /p
pTwo years ago I took a picture of me with my cats for a Christmas card. It came out funny, partly because it was obvious that the cats wanted nothing to do with the camera. /p
pRecently I tried again, and this time I put some more effort into it. The end picture came out great, but I had to go through over 170 pictures, my ineptitude with a camera, and two cats who wouldn#8217;t sit still no matter what treats or toys I presented./p
pI hope you enjoy this video I made of the process! /p
p/p
pMerry Christmas from me, Diego, and Gizmo!/p

23 December, 2009 | No comments

Game Producer: GP Xmas Calendar 2009 - Door 23 (Indie Attitude)

div class=tweetmeme_buttona href=http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gameproducer.net%2F2009%2F12%2F23%2Fgp-xmas-calendar-2009-door-23-indie-attitude%2Fimg src=http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gameproducer.net%2F2009%2F12%2F23%2Fgp-xmas-calendar-2009-door-23-indie-attitude%2F height=61 width=51 //a/divpIndie attitude is something that#8217;s easier to describe in one picture than with a lengthy blog post./p
pSo here we go. This dog has indie attitude. I#8217;d only wish we all would be equally motivated to succeed in this stuff. a href=http://bit.ly/6gsyTwClick here to open Door 23/a./p
bIf you liked this entry, feel free to a href=http://www.gameproducer.netvisit GameProducer.net/a to read more similar articles./b

21 December, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Mobile Monday

strongPlatform: Mobile (iPhone, iPod Touch) #8212; /strong

a href=http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/12/mobile_monday_48.phpimg alt=Mobile Monday src=http://jayisgames.com/images/icon_mobilemonday.gif align=left width=50 height=50 //a

Games featured this week: strongTomena Sanner; Vortex; Undead Attack! Pinball; bitFLIP/strong #8212;

This week’s Mobile Monday fell off the wacky train! Fortunately it hit a pack of wacky grass which cushioned its fall, but the train kept going to Wacky Town all the same. Now Mobile Monday has to hitchhike. The bus from Wackyville should come by soon, Tomena Sanner is driving today.strong Tagged as: /stronga href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/blogblog/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/iphoneiphone/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/itunesitunes/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/mobilemobile/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/mobile-mondaymobile-monday/a

18 December, 2009 | 1 comment

GameDevBlog: Scheduling Mistake #37

pThis one’s going to be obvious to most people, but I have read a book that says to do the opposite, so:/ppspanA lot of the scrum / agile guys advise against splitting your schedule up by resource: #0160;don’t have a bunch of quot;QAquot; tasks that are estimated separately from your quot;Designerquot; tasks that are estimated separately from your quot;Coderquot; tasks, and are all tracked independently, because that creates an us-against-them mindset. #0160;quot;We desinger types are done with our responsibilities, it’s you coder types that are holding us back.quot; #0160;It should be one-for-all, all-for-one: if you’re falling behind, your designers and QA guys and whatnot should find ways to help in whatever way they can, even if it’s just getting coffee for and giving back massages to those poor coders. #0160;*Agile Estimating And Planning* is one book that recommends this practice.br //span/pdivquot;Man, that’s beautiful,quot; I thought, when I read this. #0160;And that’s how I scheduled emSchizoid/em, lumping the art tasks and the code tasks and the music tasks into one big pile. #0160;Of course, in reality, there’s no way James Chao, once he was done making his beautiful art, was going to help me fix network play bugs. #0160;Even if he did want to roll up his sleeves and start programming. #0160;(Or get me coffee and give me back massages.)/divbr /divSo, for games anyway, don’t do that! #0160;Typically what we do - Schizoid being the exception - is schedule in a matrix that looks something like this:/divbr /divspan class=Apple-tab-span /spanCodespan class=Apple-tab-span /spanArtspan class=Apple-tab-span /spanDesign/divdivMain Menuspan class=Apple-tab-span /span2span class=Apple-tab-span /span5span class=Apple-tab-span /span0br //divdivEyeball Enemyspan class=Apple-tab-span /span5span class=Apple-tab-span /span8span class=Apple-tab-span /span3/divbr /divWe’re still using a lot of techniques from *Agile Estimating* - such planning poker, fibonacci-size numbers, estimation in generic work-units instead of days, and a serious aversion to Gantt charts. #0160;But the result we end up with gives us a better idea of how many coders vs. artists we need, and let’s us track velocity separately./divbr /divBut is tracking velocity separately a good thing? #0160;Some would say it divides the team. #0160;(And there’s often a rift between coders and artists to begin with.) #0160;But it’s probably worth knowing whether art or code is behind and by how much, so you can adjust staff and cut features accordingly! #0160;At least you’re not singling out individuals./divbr /divInterestingly, Clinton Keith told me recently that he now works specialization into his agile consulting and training. #0160;I wonder how his approach works?/divbr /br /br /br /p/p

16 December, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: A Cold Escape

strongPlatform: Flash #8212; /strong

a href=http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/12/a_cold_escape.phpimg alt=A Cold Escape src=http://jayisgames.com/images/icon_coldescape.gif align=left width=50 height=50 //a

Despite all the silliness, there’s lots of real escaping fun to be had in A Code Escape from Japan. A nice mix of puzzle solving and use of found objects; with the need for the animals’ own special abilities thrown in for good measure makes for wonderful gaming experience. There are even two endings to be found in this little gem. Marvel at the leaping dog and the punching cat, just remember to use them well while you are playing nurse.strong Tagged as: /stronga href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/browserbrowser/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/cogitoergosumcogitoergosum/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/escapeescape/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/flashflash/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/freefree/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/gamegame/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/japanesejapanese/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/macwinlinixmacwinlinix/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/pointandclickpointandclick/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/rating-grating-g/a

14 December, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Mobile Monday

strongPlatform: Mobile (iPhone, iPod Touch) #8212; /strong

a href=http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/12/mobile_monday_47.phpimg alt=Mobile Monday src=http://jayisgames.com/images/icon_mobilemonday.gif align=left width=50 height=50 //a

Games featured this week: strongBeat It!; Tipoli; Decades; Arcade Solitaire: TriTowers/strong #8212;

Ever wonder what it would be like if we lived underwater? Like, if it were normal that everything was surrounded by water and we could breathe with gills and stuff. I’m thinking ice cream would be an entirely different concept on that wet world…strong Tagged as: /stronga href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/blogblog/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/iphoneiphone/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/itunesitunes/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/mobilemobile/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/mobile-mondaymobile-monday/a

11 December, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Link Dump Friday

a href=http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/12/link_dump_friday_143.phpimg alt=Link Dump Friday src=http://jayisgames.com/images/icon_linkdump.gif align=left width=50 height=50 //a

Games featured this week: strongInfectonator; The Ant Explorer; Fox and Roll; Zoo Escape; Pac Vs Alien/strong #8212;

It’s Friday, and you know what that means, don’t you? Zombies, foxes, ants, and more! If you guessed correctly, you get to play this week’s Link Dump Friday lineup! If you didn’t guess correctly, well… you can still play, but you’ll sense our parental disapproval the entire time. We’re not upset. Just… disappointed.strong Tagged as: /stronga href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/blogblog/a, a href=http://jayisgames.com/tag/linkdumplinkdump/a

9 December, 2009 | 1 comment

Game Producer: GP Xmas Calendar 2009 - Door 9 (What If I’m Wrong?)

div class=tweetmeme_buttona href=http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gameproducer.net%2F2009%2F12%2F09%2Fgp-xmas-calendar-2009-door-9-what-if-im-wrong%2Fimg src=http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gameproducer.net%2F2009%2F12%2F09%2Fgp-xmas-calendar-2009-door-9-what-if-im-wrong%2F height=61 width=51 //a/divpA few days ago I blogged about #8220;social gaming#8221; and mentioned the slight chance that I might be wrong. /p
pWhat if I am wrong? /p
pFeeling quite picturous, so here#8217;s something I found from google to answer to this tricky question: What if I#8217;m wrong? /p
pAnswer is a href=http://bit.ly/85WiILbehind Door 9/a./p
bIf you liked this entry, feel free to a href=http://www.gameproducer.netvisit GameProducer.net/a to read more similar articles./b