I didn’t finish. I just didn’t have my weekend clear.  You really need a clear weekend to finish Ludum Dare. The tech change in the middle didn’t help.

My main take away: Unity slowed me down. I’m too much of a programmer. When a game engine gets in the way, I can see all the different ways I would code myself out of the problem, but I can’t see any solutions in the engine’s context. Code is a powerful too, and I’m good at using it. Game engine’s are alien worlds with bizarre rules and un-explainable behavior.

So, I’m going to stop using game engines (or frameworks etc.) I’ll use non-game libraries and leave all the game programming to myself. Specifically, something like SDL, SFML or even XNA are good for me, but not stuff like Torque 2D or Unity. I think XNA is “library” enough not to be considered a game engine. It’s more like a toolbox. Oh, I think the caveat here is I want to make 2D games, not 3D.

I think there is a bigger principal at work here: KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid Game Engine’s are complicated systems built by lots of programmers.  They have multitudes of  audiences with different needs.  This all makes them hard to understand with lots of bells and whistles.  In order to accommodate all these different requirements, some feature are overly complex with lots of assumptions.  Those assumptions require rigidness to keep you out of the weeds that aren’t handle so well because of those assumptions.  So at the end of a Ludum Dare weekend, you look back and see all the time lost figuring the game engine’s nuances and gotrchas.  Then you pine for a chance to go back in time and just pounded out the code you needed.

http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/21045

Garry of Garry’s Mod expirments with causal iPhone game, nice break down of revenue and graphs comparing paid and ad business models. - http://www.garry.tv/2011/06/02/the-story-of-snabbo/

Do not laugh at this: http://i.imgur.com/ldg0F.jpg

The film makers behind the Penny Arcade series are making a documentary about Minecraft (you’ve heard of Minecraft right!?!) They are using Kickstarter to fund the project, so you can take part. If you have deep enough pockets you can even get a “An actual pick axe mounted on a custom display stand signed by the staff of Mojang Specifications!”

IGDA Board Elections for 2011 have started, go vote!

I’d like to encourage everyone to support this project, it’d be a wonderful and powerful tool for indies: ExEn: XNA for iPhone, Android and Silverlight

Happy New Year!

Xenonauts

So, Roger Ebert finally accepts that he “…was a fool for mentioning video games in the first place.”  But, he isn’t convenced that some game, somewhere might be art, just leaves that it is possible, maybe.

Here’s a game that I have no doubt is art:  Every Day The Same Dream

I am funding a movie!

I knew when Amazon.com bought Reflexive that my game shoppee’s days where numbered. It is a big reason why I left Vermont and found a “real” job.  Today, my instincts where proven correct, by this email:

Dear Valued Affiliate,

I wanted to write to you today to thank you for your participation in the Game Center Solution Affiliate Program and to inform you that as of June 30, 2010, Reflexive Entertainment, Inc. will be terminating the Game Center Solution Affiliate program to focus entirely on game development.

Between now and June 30, 2010, the Game Center Solution Affiliate Program will continue its business as usual. We will continue to provide web service and support and pay referral fees on every qualified sale through June 30, 2010. We will stop processing sales after that date and our agreement with you governing the Game Center Solution Affiliate Program will terminate on June 30, 2010.

You will continue to have access to the Control Center until July 31, 2010 at which time we will distribute your final royalty report to the email address we have on file and our agreement with you governing the Game Center Solution Affiliate Program will terminate. Please be sure your contact information is current in our system.

We wish you all the best and hope that we will have more opportunities to work together in the future.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxx.

Sincerely,

Lars Brubaker
CEO – Reflexive Entertainment, Inc.

Moral of the story: Don’t build a business based on something someone else can pull the plug on.

Oak Island - A Money Pit

Imagine, there is a treasure worth $10 million buried at the bottom of a 150 foot hole.  It was put there by someone who does not want anyone else to have it.  There are lots of tricks, traps and other things that make getting to money next to impossible.  Let’s say you have already spend $9.5 million to get 130 ft.  It is the final push, the last 20 feet, but there is a problem.  The final obstacle is going to cost you $700k.  Do you keep going?

In business and economics, the concept of sunk costs is taught.  It should be taught in all disciplines, because, no matter what endeavor you undertake, the dilemma of sunk costs will be encountered.  So, what are sunk costs?  Sunk costs are time, energy and money you have already spent.  It’s the resources you can’t get back no matter what.  The permanence of this unrecoverabilty is very important in understanding the true dilemma of sunk costs.

So, back to the Money Pit.  Do you keep going?  A lot of people would answer, “Yes! Absolutely!  You’ve spent $9 million dollars, how could you stop!”  This is faulty thinking.  Those $9 million dollars are gone, spent, fineto!  There is no getting them back.  The question isn’t what you’ve already put into the project.  The question is, what is the cost of moving forward?  Is it worth investing?  This is the phenomena of sunk costs.  Sunk costs is the investment we’ve already made.  Pyscologically, this past exerition of effort and use of resources increases our committment to the project.  This committment clouds our judgement and often leads us down the path of wasted time, and money.  Instead of giving up while we are ahead, those sunk costs push us further down the path, and we waste more time, energy and money.

Now, that we are aware of sunk costs what is the true decision on the treasure we are facing?  Is $700k worth more or less than the treasure at the bottom of the pit?  Clearly the answer is yes and we should move forward.  If on the other hand we weren’t sure and there was risk involved it might not be the clear answer.  If there was a good chance that no money was at the bottom of the pit, and only small chance of $10 million, you probably should just walk away.

So, next time you are facing a decision, remember.  You’ve got to let the past go.  You can’t get it back and if you let it cloud your judgement then you are going to find yourself pouring more and more money, time, blood, sweat, and tears into a losing proposition.  Don’t believe me?  Read the sad tale of 3D Realms, Duke Nukem Forever, 12 years and countless millions spent with nothing to show for it.

PS.  If you are interested, the Money Pit is a real thing, check it out.