Working on ROLLAB has really proven itself a dream project for me. I have played and loved video games most of my life, and I don't think there's a gamer on the planet who hasn't wished at some point that he'd get a job making games.
But where do you get an opportunity like that? For the most part, you'd have to be in California or Montreal or somewhere to work with a good development studio if you wanted a career in game design. But things are changing, man. The little guys in Knoxville have some muscle in their corner now.
Dev platforms for the iPhone, Android, and Xbox Live Arcade are giving independent developers the chance to build games on a small scale and get them seen by a built-in userbase of millions. The financial investment required to develop and launch a game has been cut dramatically, and that means a couple dudes like us actually stand a chance of seeing profits from our work.
Adam and I would likely never have had the resources to design, build, market, deploy, retail and support a game - even a small one - on our own. It's not something we could effectively handle while still having day jobs. But managed platforms, like Apple's, make it possible for us to design and build, then let Apple handle the deployment, distribution, retail, and even marketing (if we get lucky enough to be a featured app in iTunes).
I mean, we have to follow-up with support and add new features if we want people to keep playing and buying for the long term; but so much of the hard work is handled for us.
I can't tell you how grateful I am to have an opportunity like this. Really, it just happened to be a perfect storm of technology, time, and people. Even with good ideas, I'd never have been able to pull off a game by myself - I don't have any development knowledge or programming skill. Without Adam's interest and abilities, none of this would have come together. It's a good combination of our individual talents, and I'm glad he's as excited to work on this thing as I am.
Speaking of being excited - man alive! That's the best part! I freaking LOVE working on this game. Coming up with concepts, working through the mechanics and features, designing sprites, illustrating, animating ... it's incredibly satisfying work. I haven't had this much fun on a project in a long, long time. Hell, I don't know if I've ever enjoyed a project this much.
Ha. So let me take a quick inventory of my current pursuits here:
1) Making a video game.
2) Drawing ridiculous comics.
Dude, what a great life.
Anyhow, I've got some more technical posts coming soon with actual process notes. Maybe some of it will be interesting to you. Mostly, I want to chronicle the process for posterity, but I think it's pretty interesting stuff.
Stay tuned.
