--- LAST LIFE ---
(condensed production diary)
THE BETA IS FINISHED!!! Go to Katie's site to download it:
http://www.katokarnage.com/last_life.html
(site address updated - this is the right one now)
Design & Programming by
Max Vasey
Artistic Design and Assets by
Katie Grech
Cinematics by
Ellena Linden
Original Music by
Trav Jenkins
So you’re the last of your species alive on the planet. But wait... You’re a plant.
I’ve been studying video game design academically for a while now. I believe being able to actually complete a video game is an achievement well worth working for and if my background in film has taught me anything, it’s that creating art is all about making compromises. That said, how good you are as an artist is almost always measured by how well you deal with those compromises.
Late last year, I went about organising a team of students to make a video game. The idea was one I had come up with on the fly only a few weeks before and as the summer holidays were coming up, I figured we’d have some time to get a feel for the project.
Unfortunately, our team was short two key positions - programming and animation. As this situation didn’t look like changing in the near future, we pressed ahead without those positions filled. The result of that decision was that I had to do all the programming on my own, in darkbasic, with no animation and less than six months casual programming experience and still finish the project beta in under two months, ready for next trimester.
It wasn’t any easier for the others in the group. We started out with six members and ended up with four. That’s one third of the workforce gone. Our second designer decided not to show any interest in the project and our second musician was overwhelmed by professional duties. Our modeler and artistic designer had to create all the in-game assets on her own, the cinematographer had to create all the cinematics on her own and the remaining musician had a whole bunch of catching up to do, again all on his own.
This was the most ambitious video game project I’d done and to my knowledge, the only one any of us had ever worked on as a true production group. And after two months of hard work, we’re adding the finishing touches to the first beta release. We’re all exhausted, busy with paid life and ready to sleep for a week - so the shine of our product has certainly faded in our eyes; nonetheless, it is almost ready and will be available for beta testing 15th of February as planned. So check back then for the web page and download link!
I’ve included some basic production screens so you can see the kind of process I used to make the game. Bear in mind that most of the mechanics simply couldn’t be planned in the design document because I had no idea how I was going to do them; I just wasn’t that experienced at programming. So I basically spent all my time learning intensively and finding workarounds for each of about a hundred separate problems.
AI TESTS
BUILDING TESTS
TEXTURE TESTS
NPC MODEL TESTS
SCREEN TESTS
UPGRADE TESTS
ADVANCED GAMEPLAY TESTS
The last thing we decided upon was the name of the game. We had been working under the title of ‘Melon Grow’ in an attempt to keep the project secret (which worked, incidentally) but finally decided on a full title of Last Life for the beta.
What Did I Learn?
Well the first thing I learned was how to program in darkbasic. Hell, how to program, period! I haven’t done any form of computer programming before. A couple of darkbasic tutorials at college and that’s it. So above all else, I learned how to work this language. And consider this - I’m still a novice, having only just scraped the surface.
The other thing I learned was to do with teams. I’ve worked in teams all my life and I already know that the interest of the tradesman is nothing compared to the interest of the creator. It’s difficult to get working people enthusiastic about your idea, specially when you’re not paying them. If you’re gonna do a project like this, I’d suggest offering something more than a resume filler to your team members. Maybe aim for a specific competition or something. We were considering the possibility of GCAP later this year.
Finally, morale. I’ve never been in a team where a member either cannot or will not do what is required of them - until now. It’s a horrible feeling and crushes morale throughout the entire group. We never truly bounced back from it. With the benefit of reflection, I’d advise this - if you have a team member who doesn’t appear to be working as hard as they need to, make them leave earlier rather than later AND find a replacement; if only to fill the void. Fixing the wounds is just as important as finding the hurt.
So, I guess all we can do now is await the Feb 15th beta release date. As part of this beta, we’ll have two versions of this game for download; the first is just the compiled executable for play testing and the second is both the game and a selection of the source code. Out hope is that we'll get some outsider feedback from this material without keeping volunteer testers in the dark.
So close to a finished beta, I can taste it!
*excited - hopes this post works*
