For Marian Mondays today, we bring you a glimpse into the past… all the way back to one of the first concept pieces for the character. (by Katie de Sousa)
… from way back in the day, when we were playing around with building little physics demos a modified version of the Aquaria engine. (and thinking of calling ourselves “Bit-Blot North”) After many trials and tribulations, the game is alive and evolving in Unity.
Usually when you start something, it’s all smiles and hope. It’s thinking “this will be the best ___ ever!” You’re not worried about how it’ll all come together exactly, you’re just excited and giddy – ready to jump in and give it everything you’ve got.
But life can be a dick, especially where creative motivations are concerned. Working on a big (i.e. multi-year) project can be very difficult at times. Even if you’re working on something you care very much about, and you want to make it the best thing it can be – some days you have to dig really deep into your soul to find the motivation to carry on. It’s not just sunshine and giggles and then a game pops out!
If you want to finish something that’s larger in scope, you have to muster up a great deal of tenacity on a regular basis. There are times when you’ll feel like throwing in the towel – or just throwing up. It’ll start to seem like taking that position as janitor at the local McDonald’s may not be such a bad idea after all…
But in the end, you love your baby too much to just give up. You find a way to ride out the bad times and discover that you still love your project – but in a whole new way. You break down the parts that don’t work, and rebuild them better than they were initially (and naively) planned to be.
Hopefully. 
Next week I’d like to talk a bit about one of the “least fun” elements of commercial game development – BUSINESS.
PsySal wrote a Comment on April 12, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Amen!
It’s not all sunshine and giggles but it is at times really satisfying. When you get something to really come together and *click* you sit back and feel the best confusion you can possible feel, which is:
“Wait… This is *my* game I’m playing. Wow.”
Tom wrote a Comment on April 12, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Great post. I kind of needed to hear that myself.
Nathan Demick wrote a Comment on April 13, 2010 at 10:25 am
I have lots of respect for folks who are able to overcome their own doubts and persevere to the end of a difficult project.
As an aside, I find that concept of Marian to be a bit creepy…
Rodolfo wrote a Comment on April 13, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I’ll soon post my fanart of Marian! It’s just what I first imagined when I saw some of katie’s work, and I think it’s completely different from what the game is, but whatever
I’m sure you guys made a great job with the game!
JacaByte wrote a Comment on April 13, 2010 at 6:41 pm
I find that picture to be extremely creepy, like some type of alien. I mean no offense to Katie, but her face is not something I would have imagined I’d find on Marian, it’s not human, I find it hard to empathize with.
Samantha wrote a Comment on April 13, 2010 at 11:26 pm
The drawing speaks great sadness to me. It is so fitting with Aquaria… all the emotion flowing from the drawing.
Chrissy wrote a Comment on April 14, 2010 at 6:57 pm
@5: She’s not human, she’s a marionette
Raphael wrote a Comment on April 14, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Great post, I am following your work and game Marian from Rio de Janeiro.
Greetings from Brazil!
Infinite Ammo » Blog Archive » Marian Mondays: Money Bags wrote a Pingback on April 19, 2010 at 10:13 pm
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