I didn't win. That means you do!

Well, it appears that I did not win a spot in GammaIV. But that means I can release the final version of the game! This makes me feel better, as I can now ignore it an go on to better things.

On the other hand, if you have any feedback, no matter how vague or small, I would be really pleased to hear from you, either by email, or by comment right here on this very page!

The Underground - Download
(Sorry, it's still Divshare. I'm still slowly investigating alternatives. You know, Google Code doesn't have an about page. That makes things difficult.)

I have not said anything about the game itself. That is intentional. ;)

One Hundred and Fifty Four!

So, GammaIV closed recently. 154 games were submitted. 154! And they plan on choosing 5 to 7 games to be presented. That won't be me, but you never really know. I will release a public version of The Underground after GDC.

In the meantime, I've been attempting to make a space combat game involving the limitations of light-speed on communication. Not sure if anything will come of it, but it'll probably be a first of it's kind.

Hmmm... what next?

Well, I finished The Underground (the version for GammaIV anyway. I plan on releasing a slightly different version after the event). I actually did so a while ago now, but I didn't say anything because I wasn't going to let anyone play yet.

And no one reads the blog yet. I think I shouldn't advertise this blog till I actually get something for people to play.

I wonder what I should do next. I have a number of ideas, but a competition with guidelines seems to be a good way of getting me to settle on something. Until I find one, though, I will probably experiment till I find something I like. Or maybe I'll find a small group of enthusiastic testers in close proximity to help me test the multiplayer on my samurai game. Or maybe I'll make a nice graphic for the top of this blog. Make it more professional.

The Underground - GammaIV version finished. Full version to come.

Whew!

I was hoping this whole thing would be easy, but I spent half an hour trying to come up with a name for the blog. And what did I end up with? "Albey Amakiir's Game Development". Oh well.

Anyway.

I'm Albey. Hi. *Waves* I've been designing games for yonks, but I have yet to release anything. There's a good reason for this, in the form of some very good advice I once read. It was something like "In any creative endeavour, NEVER release your first completed piece. You may think it is wonderful, but you will regret it later." Well, that may be good advice, but it wasn't really the only reason. I was also (and maybe still am) petrified by the possibility of public recognition, good or bad.

But, maybe this will be good for me.

So. My current game development status is as follows:
The Underground - 99% complete.
Unnamed game involving samurai - prototype 1 sort-of complete.

The Underground will not be released until GammaIV is over, as it will be an entry. Actually this brings me to my first piece of game design advice. If you can't get something done, make a deadline. If you still can't do it, use someone else's deadline. For example, join a competition. It seems to be working for me.

And with that, here's to a long and fruitful career as a game designer! Yay!