Technical difficulties

Phase 1
As I mentioned in my last post, I have been working on this game for about two years. The first year was spent hashing out details of the story while a programmer friend worked to build a game engine from scratch.

Difficulties arose when it became apparent that this approach was, well, insane, so we (along with my brother and another friend) raided our piggy banks and pooled together $25 each for an indie license of the Torque Game Engine. Thus ended phase 1.

Phase 2
With an impressive list of features that seemed to promise everything we could want (weather and particle effects, blended animations, a terrain editor and GUI editor), Torque promised to kick our game into a new gear. Despite Torque's quirkiness and steep learning curve, I slogged away, implementing many of our gameplay ideas on the little blue box man included with the engine.

Difficulties arose, again, when it became apparent that Torque's long list of features had some rather large holes, and filling them would require major changes to the source code (also included with the engine as a "feature").

Then I remembered reading about a Mac-based game engine called Unity. Having passed over it a year ago because it lacked some things needed for an RPG like ours (a terrain editor, a GUI editor, and a Windows client for my programmer friend), I gave it another look and discovered that the imminent release of Unity 2.0 will include both terrains and a GUI editor, not to mention a host of capabilities (and flat-out better design) that Torque only pretended to offer. Being a Mac owner, I took the plunge. Thus ended phase 2.

Phase 3
This blog officially marks the beginning of phase 3. I'm rolling along with Unity, awaiting my free upgrade to 2.0. I have created my very own blue box man for testing and am quickly catching up to where I left off with Torque. No doubt there are more technical difficulties ahead, but for now, things are good.

Over my head

Hello, I guess. Welcome to the awkward birth of my blog.

As my first baby step, it seems appropriate to explain -- to whomever might be reading -- why I'm here. Only one explanation comes to mind, so I'll go with it: My game needs me.

For the last two years or so, I have been working on an independent (read, "self-funded") PC video game (single-player, story-based RPG). I have everything I need: an epic story; fascinating, heart-breakingly human characters; pages and pages of concept art; a 3D game engine; a stack of programming books, and a lot of spare time. Really, it's all there. I lack only one minor ingredient -- immortality.

Indeed, I have started down a path that seems to have no end (despite being well trod here at the beginning). The reasonable voice in my head (sounding something like Ian McKellan in that soothing Moria scene in The Fellowship of the Ring) tells me to take the next exit and find a more feasible hobby. And yet, the frightening-compelling voice of Sauron tells me in some kind of gibberish that I have to continue -- that the story of my game needs to be told.

There is already quite a lot of discussion out there about game design, narrative, more narrative, and geekdom in general. I'm sure I'll touch on all these things as I go, but I intend this blog to chronicle the development of my indy game, at least until Ian McKellan convinces me otherwise.

So, here I go, tentatively dipping my big toe into the roiling waters of blogdom. I must say though -- despite my trepidation about blogging -- that I do take some small comfort in the fact that I'm already in way over my head.

P.S. -- To give credit where credit is due, the title of my blog is taken from the title of a fantasic Minus the Bear song. The song has nothing to do with video games, but it seemed oddly appropriate nonetheless.