Life has a funny way...
Posted 03-22-2011 at 03:49 AM by Ancalagon
So, its New Year's Eve 2010, and I've ended up spending the night with family who live on a farm about 2 hours east of me. Everyone goes to bed except my cousin's husband, his friend (who happens to be the youngest brother of a famous rugby player) and myself. Eventually, even my cousin's husband goes to bed, leaving the rugby player's brother and I talking.
He's a little older than me, and in true older person style, decides to give me some advice. Now, alcohol and time have made the memory a little fuzzy, but it was something about making sure that you do what you really want to do. This was in reference to a job. Not what people expect of you, or what you think you should do, or what is safe.
For some reason, the words really resonated with me. I made the stupid mistake of telling my brothers that I was considering writing a book. After that, every now and then my oldest brother would ask how it was going, and I would tell I hadnt started yet. I realized now why I never started writing a book (*) - it was because I didnt want to. I wanted to become famous and earn lots of money, and writing a book is one way of doing that. I didnt want to actually write a book, I just didnt know it and didnt want to admit it to myself.
But I finally did. Some months later, I got a craving for an action FPS RPG (even made a thread about it). Heretic and Hexen had to suffice to scratch the itch, but left me with another itch - there didnt seem to exist a game like the one I wanted to play. So, I decided to make it.
Its still in the early stages. I've done the investigation into the technologies I want to use, and settled on Java as the language with the jMonkeyEngine3 providing the bulk of the engine. I've started writing the random level generator, which is a lot harder than it sounds. Or perhaps my problem solving was out of date. In any case, my solution has improved quite a bit, to the point that I'm nearly ready to apply a basic texture to the generated maze rather than uniform bright colours.
The whole experience made me envious of iD software, when they just started out. It must have been so amazing to start your own videogame company, back in the days when videogames were not produced by multi million dollar corporations with tight deadlines, PR nightmares, DRM and marketing budget limitations. Just yourself and a few friends sharing your parent's garage or basement and making something that you all would love to play. Magic. A few days ago, there was an xkcd comic in which the author states he doesnt trust anyone who is more excited about success than what they will do to become successful. Strikes true with me - I cant write a book because I'm not passionate about it. I love stories but writing is a different kettle of fish.
Sadly I'm too late for that era, but perhaps if I end up finishing this game (no guarantee that I will) and am able to sell it, I'll start my own video games company. That would be nice.
He's a little older than me, and in true older person style, decides to give me some advice. Now, alcohol and time have made the memory a little fuzzy, but it was something about making sure that you do what you really want to do. This was in reference to a job. Not what people expect of you, or what you think you should do, or what is safe.
For some reason, the words really resonated with me. I made the stupid mistake of telling my brothers that I was considering writing a book. After that, every now and then my oldest brother would ask how it was going, and I would tell I hadnt started yet. I realized now why I never started writing a book (*) - it was because I didnt want to. I wanted to become famous and earn lots of money, and writing a book is one way of doing that. I didnt want to actually write a book, I just didnt know it and didnt want to admit it to myself.
But I finally did. Some months later, I got a craving for an action FPS RPG (even made a thread about it). Heretic and Hexen had to suffice to scratch the itch, but left me with another itch - there didnt seem to exist a game like the one I wanted to play. So, I decided to make it.
Its still in the early stages. I've done the investigation into the technologies I want to use, and settled on Java as the language with the jMonkeyEngine3 providing the bulk of the engine. I've started writing the random level generator, which is a lot harder than it sounds. Or perhaps my problem solving was out of date. In any case, my solution has improved quite a bit, to the point that I'm nearly ready to apply a basic texture to the generated maze rather than uniform bright colours.
The whole experience made me envious of iD software, when they just started out. It must have been so amazing to start your own videogame company, back in the days when videogames were not produced by multi million dollar corporations with tight deadlines, PR nightmares, DRM and marketing budget limitations. Just yourself and a few friends sharing your parent's garage or basement and making something that you all would love to play. Magic. A few days ago, there was an xkcd comic in which the author states he doesnt trust anyone who is more excited about success than what they will do to become successful. Strikes true with me - I cant write a book because I'm not passionate about it. I love stories but writing is a different kettle of fish.
Sadly I'm too late for that era, but perhaps if I end up finishing this game (no guarantee that I will) and am able to sell it, I'll start my own video games company. That would be nice.
Total Comments 2
Comments
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I feel the same way about writing a book. I can get excited about an idea and even have a lot of it in my mind but when it comes to sitting down and pecking at the keyboard for months at a time I can't do it. I lose interest too easily.
Did you consider modding an existing game to start? It sounds like you are jumping right in. Nothing wrong with that. Good luck. Keep us posted on your progress. |
Posted 03-27-2011 at 09:28 AM by rein
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I'm more excited about story ideas than I am about writing. I get ideas all the time, its the translation from ideas to novel thats the problem. And I think in that sense creating a game is a much better fit, since its both an exercise in creativity and logic.
I've modded games before. I even released a Diablo II mod. Well maybe a mini mod. I've modded quite a few of the games I've played over the years, like Baldurs Gate 2 (new kits), Star Trek Armada 2 (tried to weaken the borg fusion cubes because they were overpowered), produced maps for Duke Nukem 3d, Doom 2 and even Wolfenstein (always wanted to mod Blake Stone though). None of those were huge mods. Game development is going okay, I first produced a tech demo with some of the concepts I needed to work, such as random map generation, and with that working I've started doing the framework for the game itself. Using the jMonkeyEngine 3 is saving me years of development time. |
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Posted 03-30-2011 at 03:41 AM by Ancalagon
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Recent Blog Entries by Ancalagon
- Life has a funny way... (03-22-2011)
- South Africa, Part Deux (03-26-2010)
- I'm Baaack! (02-12-2010)
- Going home.... (11-20-2009)
- The whole bank thing (09-28-2009)
