We’ve switched up the art team on H+V! Now we’re collaborating with Clemens Scott and Adam Saltsman. If you’ve been keeping score, you’ll remember that Adam did 90% of the art for Paper Moon. I tapped Clemens Scott to help out with the game after seeing his awesome work on the TIGSource community project Indie Brawl. Their passion for the game and the joy they find in their work makes H+V a fun project to work on – even though I’ve been crunching pretty hard on it lately.
The game runs really well on the iPhone hardware. Here’s a shot of the current build running on my iPod Touch:
Clemens is tackling characters and animation, Adam is doing up the 3D backgrounds, Ian is developing levels, Chris is creating UI visuals and I’m programming whatever’s needed to support all of that. Chris, Ian and I are also starting to work on some sweet beats.
In other news, we bought plane tickets for GDC! We’re going to be part of a booth called “Game On Manitoba”. If you’re heading down to GDC, be sure to stop by. We’ll be demoing Paper Moon and Heroes and Villains – and we’ll be handing out some cool swag. We always love meeting and chatting with folks about what we do.
Life has been pretty hectic lately. Chris and I signed the Infinite Ammo incorporation papers amid some drama. Fortunately, I’m scheduled to do a talk at the Independent Game Summit about game development frustrations and hurdles. (with my good friend Tommy Refenes, no less) I have some good data to share that will help out other aspiring indie developers.
My game development past before creating Aquaria was not a smooth ride. I worked hard for a lot of projects that didn’t end up going anywhere. For some reason I kept trying, and managed to release something that was ours and that some people love. Based on those combined experiences, and as a build up to the epic IGS talk with Tommy, I’m starting a new blog series called “Bittter Game Developer Hints”. I love game development, but sometimes it can be a total bitch – and these hints should serve as helpful warnings to idealists striving to get into the field. Imagine me: scraggly facial hair, eyepatch, cursing, with Canadian whisky in hand – while you enjoy these tasty nuggets of hard-earned wisdom.
Bitter Game Developer Hint #1:
Vet potential collaborators extensively before you grant them big responsibility:
Intent doesn’t herald results.
Let’s follow that up with…
Bitter Game Developer Hint #2:
Failure is about growing. Take the lessons you can and move on to greener pastures.
While we’re on a roll…
Bitter Game Developer Hint #3:
Painful change is a catalyst for beautiful art.
Heroes and Villains’ deadline is GDC, so we’re going to be crunching on that for the next while. Our Alpha Milestone deadline is Monday, and its going to be awesome.
Wish us luck! 
Nava wrote a Comment on February 7, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Lookin’ good!!!
It’s nice to see everyone’s hard work coming together piece by piece, and I’m really excited to play the final, polished game. You are all the cockawesome ballbringers (in a good way).
A passerby wrote a Comment on February 7, 2009 at 6:17 pm
So, by ‘switching up the Art Team’, does this mean that Katie is no longer working on H+V?
Kyuur wrote a Comment on February 7, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Maybe shes hard at work on Marian assets. =]
alucard wrote a Comment on February 7, 2009 at 10:30 pm
DUDE this looks AWESOME i can’t wait any longer man its looking better and better
Two Jacks wrote a Comment on February 7, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Hm, I’m having trouble understanding the first rule.
JacaByte wrote a Comment on February 8, 2009 at 11:33 am
I can; collaborative projects on the EVDC rarely make their way to release unless the team is concerned with beta testing and not developing. This is usually because the project is so large that the team members who weren’t involved in starting it in the first place become tired and move on to other projects.
It could also be attributed to the fact that society in general has a shorter attention span than it used to.
Alec Holowka wrote a Comment on February 9, 2009 at 5:40 pm
The first hint is talking about making sure you can trust the people you decide to work with. A lot of people claim they will do the work involved, and then give up somewhere down the road. I think one of the reasons is because they lack the ability to imagine how much work something is going to be… or they’re just unwilling to make the commitment.
The worst is people who don’t end up fulfilling their commitment, but also don’t let you know that they’re not doing it. That can screw an entire project over pretty easily. Its hard to imagine that people would do that, but it happens!
Leenie wrote a Comment on February 10, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I appreciate the BSG reference.
Everything is looking pretty sexy, IA! =]
(Even with plain white box buildings.)
Good stuffs.
xiagan wrote a Comment on February 15, 2009 at 4:21 am
Nicey!