Great Games Experiment - Game Writers group

I've just set up a new group on GGE for game writers. If you're interested in the subject in anyway, please join GGE and add yourself to the group.

Mr. Smoozles

Creative crisis.

Please comment here if you wish to do so.

ComicSpace

And while I'm at it, here's another specialised site that uses a similar structure to MySpace, but because it's geared towards comics is tons better. Take a look, tell your friends.

The Great Games Experiment

It's like MySpace for games. And a million times better. Go take a look.

Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso - CD version?

The online sales of the game appear to have dwindled somewhat. I know that people in some places were asking about a version on disk and I wondered how much interest there might be in this. If I could get some idea of the potential numbers I could gauge if it was something I could set out to do.

The idea would be to burn the game to CD (along with a few extras, perhaps) and print out the cover. I'd need to set up the payment side of things, too, of course.

Any takers?

My nose hurts...

... like I have a spot growing on the inside of it. Don't you just hate weird stuff like that? Particularly when the pain travels up into your head - I hate headaches at the best of times. Though "best of times" and "headaches" in the same sentence doesn't come across as right, somehow...

Just sent off another document to the company I'm designing and writing for. Another deadline bang on target. Two more weeks will see the design complete, apart from the detail that the rest of the design team will put into it. I'll have a couple of weeks of work a little later on for editing a polishing, but I'm looking for another project, now.

One of the things I'm exploring is the possibility of working with an old colleague on a game project of our own. We're actually pretty excited by the ideas we've been having, so cross all your fingers for us that we can get the right parties interested.

I'm also spending some time, when I can grab it, on an idea for a novel. I wrote about six pages of the first chapter and I've been making notes for some time, but then I realised that I needed to plot out the book before I went any further. This was a wise move as it's already thrown up a few exciting developments that weren't there before. It's also giving me a clear picture of how the story progresses and the characters intertwine with one another. It will also be much easier to work through plot issues in this format than if I'd written the whole book first.

Another reason I'm taking this approach is that it's similar to how I've designed and written the game I'm currently working on. Although the process is not that different to other games I've worked on, this is the first time that I've done the whole thing on my own (with feedback of course) and certainly the first time that I've written dialogue before implementation.

It then occurred to me that it wasn't so very different from creating a novel; at least, the type of novel I'm writing. the breakdown of the story into chapters, how the character moves through the story, the obstacles (puzzles) they have to overcome, etc. Yes, the interactive dialogue is very different in structure to the prose and dialogue scenes in the novel, but in many ways, that's just the presentation style.

And just when I'm feeling pretty jolly about my projects, I have an idea for the most original game ever (yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before). I even wrote a couple of pages of notes for it, but it's going to have to take a back seat for a while.

I'd be okay if I didn't have to sleep. And my nose didn't hurt.

Writing for video Games - Book Review

Gordon Aplin, over at the Quandary games site, has published a review of my book, Writing for Video Games. I enjoyed reading it and it feels good to get such a positive review. Thanks Gordon.

"Ince has distilled his own knowledge and experience of the industry into a highly readable volume"

"It could easily become recommended reading for the many courses that are springing up covering aspects of game design and development."

Happy Birthday

I've been a fan of David Bowie for nearly 34 years and today is his 60th birthday. Although it's highly unlikely that he'll read this, I'd like to wish him a very happy birthday and thank him for many years of excellent music.