Café people: Creepy sleeping guy

There were times - especially back before I was married - when my schedule was thrown hideously out of whack. I'd wake up at 3am, full of vim and vigor, strangely itching to work but not wanting to hang around the apartment.  So I'd walk the ten minutes to Union Square and enter a 24 hour Starbucks.  Late at night, it's like a different world.  I'd see drug addicts, drunks, late-night partiers just coming out of the nightclubs or bars, and yes - a homeless guy or two.  The staff would crank up the music to ridiculous levels in order to prevent patrons from falling asleep (which they did, often). 

My schedule is pretty normal these days, but if you ever play Blackwell Legacy or Blackwell Unbound, you can play them knowing that a good chunk was programmed while some frazzled drunk was at the next table, squinting at my screen and wondering what the heck I was doing.

Anyway, I was reminded of those carefree days when I entered one of my usual cafés this morning.  It was a Cosi's, one of several that are scattered downtown.  I went to this one because it is close to home and it was absolutely pouring rain outside.  The staff know me (I go a lot) and it has a wall-length window that gives an awesome view of the street.  The only problem is that there is only one decent electrical outlet.  If the table is free, it's a sweet spot to work.  It's tucked away in the corner and nobody bothers you.  For some reason, this table is usually free in the mornings when I show up.

So this morning I enter the cafe, drenched from the rain, and see that the table is free.  I make my way over, but then notice one small niggle.  The outlet was partially blocked by a chair - one of those big, faux leather things.  Normally not a big deal, as I'd just maneuver my electrical cord around the chair.  The problem was what was IN the chair - an overstuffed, scruffy, middle-aged guy in dirty clothes who was snoring away with his head slumped on his chest.  Next to him was a small coffee - evidentially purchased to justify his staying there - but he wasn't planning on drinking it any time soon.  The staff at the place were looking at him with distain, but were saying and doing nothing about it.  I asked one of the staff ladies, and she said that the "Manager said it was OK, since he bought a drink."  Like it or not, the guy was staying.

So, I had a choice.  One - I could go to the table and start working without plugging in my laptop, hoping the creepy guy would get up and leave before my battery ran dry. Two - I could actually WAKE the guy so I could move his chair and plug my cord in. Or Three - go back out into the torrential rain and go somewhere else. 

I took another look at the guy. He was starting to drool. My mind made up, I chose the third option.  I walked out into the drenching downpour and made my way to another place.  So I began my day significantly wetter, but significantly less creeped out.

What would you have done in this situation?

-Dave

From programmer art to final art

Hey, who remembers this?

One month ago, I showed off this lovely piece of programmer art for Blackwell Deception.  I drew it myself, using such high-tech drawing tools as a white piece of printer paper and a ballpoint pen.  I then scanned it into my computer and incorporated it into the game so I could program the basics of the location.  I made sure to add the words "This is a yacht" for the benefit of anyone unlucky enough to actually try it out. 

Eventually, Pepe (the background artist) took pity and did a preliminary sketch of the room:

It actually looks like a boat now!  Kinda.  You can faintly see Chelsea Piers in the background, which is where the boat is docked before setting off.   I greedily incorporated this sketch into the game so I wouldn't have to look at my own artwork.  Eventually, after several bouts of going back back and forth with the coloring, the final product emerged:

Overall, I am very happy with this.  It's the very first scene in the game, so I wanted to make a good impression.  There are clouds that drift by and a water reflection that shifts around.  When the boat starts moving there's a nice image of the George Washington Bridge that scrolls in the background.  Simple effects, but they do the job nicely.

Like with Convergence, I plan on releasing a free stand-alone demo to show off the game.  You should see this background (along with a few others) incorporated in that demo a month or two before release.

-Dave

The iPhone question

In case you haven't heard, iPhone and Facebook games are, like, huge.  And whenever I am interviewed for an article or a website, or I get into a design discussion with a fellow gamedev, the question inevitably gets asked: "Dude, why don't you port your games to the iPhone or iPad or Facebook?" 

It's a reasonable question.  iPhone and iPad games are earning bagazillions of dollars.  For some, anyway.   But me?  I have no intention on going there.  At least not yet.  There are several reasons for this, which essentially boil down to:

1 - I am not a programmer by trade.  I muddle through by using middleware tools that are specifically geared to make my types of games (point-and-click adventure games) on the PC. There are no middleware tools for making these games on the iPhone.

2 - So there's no middleware.  Why don't I go and make some?  Well, yeah.  I guess I could, but that would cost quite a bit of time, effort and money. Not only that, but once the tools are made we'd have to completely program the games from scratch, which would also take quite a bit of time, effort and money.

3 - Even assuming I could manage #2, I would have to sell the game for 99 cents after spending all that time, effort and money. Which is absurd.

4 - As I said a few posts ago, I am a coward.  Even though I sell PC games, I earn enough to live on. It's asking a lot to risk everything for such an untested (for me ) market.  I like being able to pay my mortgage and eat.  I'd rather spend all that time, effort and money on something that's proven, rather than something I have no experience with.

5 - Couldn't I just make a small game to test the waters?  See #1 and #2.

So that's the gist of it. It seems perfectly logical to me, but whenever I voice these reasons I am met with skeptical looks.  Apparently I am crazy for not jumping on the bandwagon.  Do iPhone games mean instant success?  Certainly not.  Unless you are Apple, or a major developer, or extremely (extremely!) lucky, it's a gamble like everything else.

True, the PC market has been neglected while major developers move onto greener pastures, but it certainly isn't dead.  It's just hungry, and indies like us are in a good position to feed them.  The iPhone market doesn't need our help.  It is well-fed enough. 

-Dave

Context is everything

One of the great things about creating programmer art is that I can indulge my narcissistic desire to post screenshots without revealing anything at all of substance. 

What is this?  A wedge of cheese?  A network of caves?  A bad attempt at juggling?  There's no way to tell!

What is Joey so impressed by?  A blank wall?  The back of Rosa's head? Or something else?  What the heck is this room anyway? Thanks to my amazing art, THE MYSTERY REMAINS.

-Dave

Coming up short?

Once in a while, a big indie game comes out to fantastic reviews but ends up being criticized for one specific something.  Then I take that specific something and talk about how it applies to my own work.  Last January I wrote about VVVVVV and how it was criticized for being $14.99, which led to my own thoughts about indie game pricing.

If you follow indie games, you might have heard of Limbo, a recent platform game available now on Xbox Live Arcade. It is deliciously atmospheric - you play a lonely little boy jumping his way through a minimalist black and white world that manages to be hauntingly beautiful without being pretentious.  Limbo has been universally praised by reviewers, but there has been one universal criticism: it's a little on the short side.

Like VVVVVV, this is a criticism that has been leveled at my own games more than once.  "The game is great - but it's too darn short!" the critics say.   To which I can only respond... "Well, you're right."  There's no denying it.  A typical Blackwell game can take you from 2-4 hours to complete if you are a hardcore adventure gamer.  Maybe 6-8 if you are more casual.  There are those who even play with a walkthrough handy on their first go-round, and they zip through it in no time at all - often faster than me!

So yeah, my internal games tend to be on the short side.  Why is that?  There are a lot of good reasons for short games - they don't overstay their welcome, people don't have as much time to play games these days, or simply because the game is better served by being a smaller experience (Portal is the game that is usually used as the best example of this).

But for me, the reason is simpler than that.  I am a trembling abject coward.

Read any indie developer blog and you'll often hear that they are "one flop away from going out of business."  As an indie developer, and an indie adventure game developer at that, I don't like those odds.  Adventure games are a tough sell even for mainstream AAA companies, and they have bigger marketing budgets than I do.  If I spend a year or more on just one game, spending lots of money and man-hours on it, only to have it sell poorly... well, that would be the last you hear of me. 

So... I tread carefully.  To make a game, a developer can spend money to pay someone to do the work, or spend time doing it him/herself.  If I spend more money, I will have to earn that money back.  If I spend more time, it's time that the game is not earning any money (which I will still have to earn back).  As a result, I tend to keep my games tight and lean - making them deep instead of broad.  So if I screw up and the game bombs, then it won't be too much of a financial burden for my little studio to bear.  I can just make another game and move on.

This is not to say that my games can't be long, epic works of grandeur..  It's just that they won't be long, epic works of grandeur yet.  As I've gained more customers and fans I have slowly increased the length of my games.  Convergence was easily longer than Unbound or Legacy, and the upcoming Deception is shaping up to be significantly longer than Convergence.  Baby steps, kids. Baby steps.

So to answer the question of "Why are my games on the short side?"  The simple answer for me is because I want to keep making games.  I love making these games. And, for some strange reason that I am eternally thankful for, enough people like them enough to spend their money on them so I can continue to do this full time and make more (even during these crazy economic times).  It's a great way to live, but there is always that little ever-present fear that it could all end if I am not smart.  I'd have to - gulp - get a real job.  And we can't have that.

-Dave

P.S. 
This blog post is one in a series of posts for what we've called "Size Doesn't Matter Day."  For other blog posts on this topic, check out:

http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/?p=810
http://24caretgames.com/2010/08/16/does-game-length-matter/
http://2dboy.com/2010/08/12/too-short/
http://blog.wolfire.com
http://brokenrul.es/blog
http://gamesfromwithin.com/size-matters
http://macguffingames.com/2010/if-size-doesnt-matter-where-do-you-get-the-virtual-goods
http://mile222.com/2010/08/a-haiku-about-game-length/
http://retroaffect.com
http://the-witness.net/news
http://www.copenhagengamecollective.org/2010/08/17/size-does-matter/
http://www.firehosegames.com/2010/08/how-much-is-enough/
http://www.hobbygamedev.com/
http://spyparty.com/2010/08/16/size-doesnt-matter-day/

Placeholder art

The first placeholder art screen is a go!

Yes, this is a yacht.

-Dave

Deception Design Diary #1: Where I try to expose a phony psychic

Those of you who follow my Facebook or Twitter feed probably already know that the next game in the Blackwell series - entitled Blackwell Deception - is underway.  Things are moving a bit slowly while I get the last few design issues sorted out, but I envision things to start taking off very soon.  I am aiming to get it done before Christmas, but I'm not going to officially announce a release date until I am sure.  This has been the first time in a long while that I've been able to design and produce something completely in-house without any distractions from a publisher, so it's very exciting.  I feel like I've got my indie cred back.  Anyway, I thought I'd start a design diary to talk about the ups and downs of making it. 

The Inspiration

A few years ago, I got a call from a friend.  She needed a favor, but was embarrassed to ask it.  To respect her privacy, I'm going to use a fake name and call her Cindy.  For around six months or so, Cindy had been seeing a psychic.  One of those storefront psychics that you see on every other block in this city.  At the time, she had been drifting a bit aimlessly, unsure about her career choices and her place in life, and the psychic totally took advantage of that.  The psychic told Cindy that her aura needed energy work, which cost about $200.  After Cindy paid this amount, the psychic said that she would immediately buy a special candle and meditate on it.  From there, Cindy just went deeper.  By the time Cindy wised up, she was about $5,000 in hock to the psychic.  Angry at herself, she decided that she was going to expose the scam and prevent the same thing from happening to others.

So, she called a news network.

The news network was interested, and they wanted someone to go in with a hidden camera and get footage of her defrauding someone.  Did Cindy know anyone who'd be willing to do that?  Yes, it turns out, Cindy did.  I had just finished the first Blackwell game and she knew I was interested in that kind of thing.  "I figured you'd think it was cool," I remember her saying.  She was right.

I met up with Cindy and the news crew and they affixed a button camera to my shirt.  It was pretty slick, even though it was a slightly different color than the other buttons.  "Don't worry," the news lady said. "You just look like a guy who doesn't care about his appearance."  Fair enough. 

So I went into the psychic's office to get defrauded.  She asked me a bunch of questions about my personal life and did something with tarot cards.  Sure enough, the psychic eventually told me that I needed energy work and it would cost $200.  I told her I'd think about it, and I left feeling proud of myself for getting it all on camera.  Unfortunately, my life as a spy was a short-lived one.  I had aimed the button camera one inch too far to the left, and ended up with 20 minutes footage of her wall.  James Bond I am not.

In the end the network decided not to pursue the story, but the experience opened my eyes to a subculture in New York that not many know about.  Cindy's story is not an isolated one.  Fortunately for her, she got out before any major damage was done.  She's now kicking butt and taking names in the self-esteem department. Others... are not so lucky.

The inspiration becomes a Blackwell story

In the years since this happened, it's stuck with me.  I would walk around the city and I would see one of those psychic storefronts and I'd flash back to what happened to Cindy and what the psychic attempted to do to me.  I have read reports of victims who got totally brainwashed by these psychics; giving over their life savings and breaking off from their families, simply because their psychics told them to.  They attract the kind of people who are confused or lost, and then milk them for all they are worth untill they are dry.

I knew there was a Blackwell story in this somewhere, and as I've seen more and more of these storefronts my imagination began to wander.  It's weird, I'd say to myself, there sure are a lot of them.  I know of four psychic storefronts in my neighborhood alone.  Move up towards midtown and you'll see them even more frequently.  They've all been in place for as long as I have lived here.  Even in this economy, they are still around.  How come major bars, restaurants, and shops - which have been in existence for 50 years or more! - are all going out of business left and right while all these parasitic phony psychics remain open?

Surely, I felt, they must be organized.  There must be some kind of unifying power behind them.   Something beyond the mere storefront.  Something even more sinister behind the scenes.  But what could it be?

I think Rosa and Joey are about to find out.

-Dave