I got a new iPhone today and I'm posting this while waiting for my truck yearly inspection. I should probably link in some twitter or other short message because a long blog will take a long time. Oh yeah, I've been working my day job a lot lately but I'm still making slow progress on my games. Expect to see one in about a month, around the time of the austin gdc. Now if only I had an easy way to do development while sitting here.
I'm still working on my next company project, but I have also started working with some others on a project. We are still working on the vision documents for the game, and I need to work on filling out the technical spec document. I'm a little concerned because it is a fairly large undertaking (ok, it's a multiplayer online game) for such an unitiated group of people. I have no doubt we can get it completed given enough time, I believe we mostly have the necessary skills. My concern revolves around the whole time thing and keeping motivation up during it for everyone involved. Especially since all of us are part time. I can see this project stretching for a year or more. If we are able to get funding once our demo is complete, then that should help get it complete faster, but it's still going to take a while unless we can get enough funding to go full time.
We'll see in a few months when our demo is done and we start showing it to publishers.
You caught me. I didn't shut the site down. I was going to, but didn't. After taking a few weeks off I started back up. I spent some time learning XNA and I am currently in the process of converting Sky Defender to XNA 2.0. Then I plan on jumping into my next big game. I am currently undecided if I will use TorqueX, which I have a license to, or just use straight XNA. I'm leaning towards XNA since TorqueX hasn't been updated to work with 2.0 yet.
I've recently become involved in some projects outside of my company, Starlit Sky Games, and it's going to take me atleast another year to finish my next project for SSG. At my day job, I'm being kept busier as well. I've also been making great strides in my personal life. I just don't have the time to maintain this website, which is still on outdated 2 year old version of Community Server.
In short, I will be e-moving and shutting down this site over the next few weeks. For those who want to keep up with me, there will be several ways: I am TOgburn on gmail, myspace (http://www.myspace.com/togburn), and my new blog on spaces.live.com (http://togburn.spaces.live.com). All future posts will be on my spaces.live.
So, my divorce has been over for a while. In the end I got pretty darn close to what I wanted, which is much more than I was led to believe I would get in the biased Texas (US?) family law system. We have joint custody, with me having a little over half of Alexandria's time and determining primary residence and I had to give up very little. Of course, my attorney suggested I not talk about it or my daughter online anymore, so if you want details contact me privately. Suffice it to say, if there is something you feel strongly enough about, go for it; the only real loss would be if you never try.
Since then... Starlit Sky Games is back on track. I've begun work on my next game which will be an old-school 2d platformer and I will be looking for artist (anime style) and musician contractors soon. More on that in a future post.
Also, I've met a brilliant, sexy woman, but she needs to relax a little with a good massage. Yes, I know you are googling me now and that is an offer. ;)
Future posts will be a little more professional and business oriented, but I had to indulge my loyal friends who have been wondering if I was still alive and asking for an update.
My work laptop had a hard drive failure the middle of last week. I was working at about 8:00 pm when I heard the drive start scratching and struggling to read. Two minutes later I got a blue screen and a refusal to boot or even recognize the drive existed. Recovering from a hard drive crash is hard. Well, more annoying than hard. I backed up my dev data on a weekly basis, so I really only lost a few days worth of work. The annoying part is I didn't back up my favorites, RSS feeds, and Start Menu settings. Basically all the little things that really make a computer yours and make it comfortable. In the end, it's probably better to get a fresh start on favorites and feeds; if I can't remember it then I probably don't need to waste my time on it. But it's still really annoying to lose all those links I used once in a blue moon, but that took forever to find in the first place. I'm currently using a loaner laptop while I wait for my new one to be ordered. My old one was just a few months beyond old enough to be fully depricated so they couldn't fix it and I had to get a new one.
I do plan to add all those little things to my backup scripts so I don't have to go through this again.
Note: This post is a part of an article and series of blog posts about my ongoing divorce and custody battle for my daughter.
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I learned my next life lesson from an unexpected source, a complete stranger.
I took Alexandria in search of a Gymboree with a play area that one of my friends had told me about. The only one I knew about was in the Arboretum area. So, after I got off work I gave Alexandria a bath and got her dressed up, then we headed out. We found the Gymboree there, however it was only a small one with clothes. So we walked around and saw an Amy's Ice Cream. I asked Alexandria if she wanted some, and her usual response to any "Do you want ..." question is yes.
While we were eating our ice cream (a small mexican vanilla) I was talking to my friend on the phone about some of the events of the past few days. A young lady whom Alexandria had been waving to and smiling at overheard part of the conversation and we started talking. She talked about how when she was only 2 her parents got divorced. She couldn't remember much, but she did remember that every weekend her dad had her they would see a movie together. Even now, that is "their thing". She suggested that we do something similar to help keep a strong bond, perhaps even a weekly ice cream trip. After that her friend showed up and they left. I have Alexandria late on Wednesdays so that would give us more time to do something... Maybe it will be just getting ice cream and watching the people go by.
Life Lesson Learned: Have a Daddy Daughter Day. Something unique that the two of you do together, just spending time and building memories. It can be as simple as watching a movie or having ice cream. Just do it consistently week after week (or every 2 weeks, or any set time) and make it a priority. Make that your time together, bonding, and show that your time together is important enough that only extreme emergencies should interfere with it.
Things went from bad to worse. Apiwan took Alexandria and refused to let me see her for a week and a half. Anything else I could have put up with, but not kidnapping my baby and refusing to let me see her. So on July 21 I wiped out my savings, borrowed as much as I could from friends, hired an attorney, and filed for divorce. Because at the time she was holding Alexandria hostage, neither of us had filed yet, she apparently was legally able to do that. After I filed for divorce I was able to file for temporary custody orders and got Alexandria back part time. Now we are trying to work out a permanent schedule. The problem is I'm running out of money. I'm cutting my bills, turning up the A/C and trying to minimize my spending to have as much as possible for the looming custody battle.
My plan:
I'm going to give away Sky Defender for free and develop a few other small games. Why? To drive traffic to my site to ask for donations for my legal fund. Yes, I'm becoming an internet beggar. My daughter is the one thing that can cause me to swallow my pride and do whatever it takes to make sure she is in the best of care (with me). So over the weekend, I'm going to write up a timeline of the events that have happened and create a page to ask for donations. I'll also be adding a post to this sites main page with links to that page as well as all my early blog posts about my daughter. Over the next few weeks I'm going to create a flurry of free mini games to add to the page to help drive traffic. I will also probably be digging my old baseball cards collection out of the attic and try to sell them on eBay. If anyone needs any programming done, I'm more than willing to do work.
If any one is able to help me at this early stage it would be very much appreciated. My PayPal id is TOgburn+paypal@gmail.com.
My wife told me she was leaving me on July 2nd and moved out July 9th. I don't expect to post much or release my game anytime soon as I will be spending as much time with my daughter as possible. The stress on her and the dogs is horrible, I hate seeing them like this. When I pick her up in the afternoon she seems depressed, and the dogs don't eat during the day and just lay around. After I get her home she gets happier and the dogs go out and play, but I can definitely tell it is taking a toll on them. It just kills me inside that there's nothing I can do to help them or explain what is going on. :`(
So, it's been a month since my last post and I have been busy. For Sky Defender, I have an artist I am working with to replace all the default graphics and I have worked a lot of bugs out of the game. I am mostly working on balancing gameplay now and deciding if I want to spend the additional time adding an online highscore table or not.
"Sky Defender" has now managed to get this site in the top 10 on all major search engines, even though I haven't done any advertising yet and almost all of my (very few) links and posts have been in private developer forums. That's also with my break in blogging. On the other hand, how many people are going to be searching for Sky Defender. What I really need to focus on is getting to the top of the search for Space Invaders since my game is a modernized derivitive of that, and it is a more well known phrase that people will search on. And I'm nowhere to be seen in those searches... Yet. :)
GarageGames is about to release Torque 2D (Torque Game Builder) from the early adopter phase and the pricing is going to jump. I've been considering getting the commercial license, like many others have done, while the pricing is still reasonable for an Indie. Basically it allows me to not have to show the GarageGames splash screen on startup and I believe commercial licenses are owned by the company rather than individual. So if I later decide to focus on the business side and hire a programmer, I can transfer the license to them. Of course, if I'm making enough to consider that then the price of the license would seem very minor.
As I said above, I've contracted out the art for my Space Invaders derivative Sky Defender. I will also be looking soon for a composer to potentially replace the music and sound effects. Along with the launch of TGB to production, Garage Games is expected to announce the Breaking Into Games (BIG) contest. Depending on limitations they put on that, I am considering my Admiral Alexandria platformer game (a Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario derivative). If that is the case I will be looking for a 2D animated sprite artist and a composer/musician for paid contracts. Yes, that is right. I am an Indie game developer that has paid contracts, not vague promises of possible royalties. Just remember I am an Indie game developer and cannot pay amounts competitive to EA or other major studios.
Expect the Beta 1 release of Sky Defender very soon. It will definitely be on the PC, I have a Linux (Fedora Core 5) Virtual Machine that I am going to try to get it working on as well. Sorry Mac guys, I just don't have a Mac system yet and there's no easy way to get one in a VM. I really do want to get it on there, but it may have to wait a while until I can afford a Mac Mini.
I was really hoping GarageGames would have Beta 3 of Torque Game Builder out by now so I could update and release Alpha 3 of Sky Defender with any bug fixes they might have added. Since they don't and I've received some emails from people who want to play (Alpha 2 expired April 20), I'm putting out an Alpha 2.5. this extends the timeout to July 31. It also has a few minor fixes in it. I think I might have fixed the issue of the game slowing down to the point of being unplayable in higher levels. I also added some changes based on feedback from Dave D, Jason Swearingen, and Isaac Squires.
PC (5Mb): Sky Defender Alpha 2.5 download here.
--Tom
Sky Defender - Alpha 2 from Starlit Sky Games is now available for testing.
Defend our planet from the invading Mingian buggers. Upgrade your weapons and grab the shields and extra lives while pushing back the aggressors from Earth. As you successfully fight back you will go deeper into space where they have more ships and it will take longer to get upgrades to you, so get them while you can and prepare for an adrenaline pumping experience.
If you liked Space Invaders, you'll love Sky Defender. With updated graphics and particle effects, retro gaming has been kicked up a notch.
PC (5Mb): Sky Defender Alpha 2 download here.
notes: This alpha version ends 2006 April 20. Online high scores are not yet available and I still need to polish the graphics.
Well, maybe not a monkeys uncle, but I am now an uncle. I just found out my older sister had her baby at 5:47 today. She is named Sara Elizabeth. I don't know size or anything yet, but I should find out everything this weekend.
My parents had 4 boys before they got their little girl, now as grandparents they have 2 grand-daughters in less than 7 months.
There's a new show on ABC named American Inventor. I saw the first episode tonight, there was a lot of stuff that was ridiculous and a few that were brilliant. There is no way I would stand on the street, wrap myself up in a piece of plastic and "go number 1". On the other hand, I would absolutely love to get my hand on a solar powered cooler with built in radio. The beach is the one place you really want to keep drinks air conditioned and cool, and has the sun to pull it off. Another excellent idea was the 1 person sandbag shovel. I personally don't need one, but I can see a lot of use for it in other areas of the country.
The kid was brave, smart, and a decent salesman, but there's no way here in Texas that I would leave my dogs in the truck in summer with 110 degree Farenheit temperatures. Not even with a little fan. It may work up north where it doesn't get quite so hot. He should definitely keep at it and I'm sure he'll come up with better ideas as he gets more life experience.
I don't care about the ladys psychology degree. I would not put my daughter in a bubble cage, and really not when she's acting up and teach her that being bad and violent is a fun, rewarded activity.
I think I'll like this show more than American Idol. Speaking of,... Simon is just a producer on this one, not a judge. I think that "professional inventor" guy is trying to fill his shoes and failing. He is trying, though, which is more than I can say for the British guy whom I thought would have Simon's straight-forward comments and dry wit that I expect of British now.
My little girl turns 6 months old this Thursday. She is almost ready to start crawling. She can push herself up on her arms or legs, but not both at the same time yet. She tends to push more with her arms so she getting pretty good at sliding backwards. She can roll around with ease. We have to watch her closely when she's on the floor because she rolls right off her blanket. She is also getting ready to talk. She says "dadadadada lalalalala mamamama nananana" among other incomprehensible stuff. She does say dadadada first, so she knows who spoils her more even if she doesn't realize she's saying it. ;) And last, but not least, we saw the top of her first tooth this morning.
Where does the time go.?
On the game dev front I am also almost ready for alpha testing of Sky Defenders. It's sort of a modern Space Invaders clone. Once some alpha testing and fun-factor testing is done I will hire someone to create all new graphics since right now it is using the images that came with the engine (Torque 2D Game Builder). I'm also going to need some music. All of that is around 2-3 weeks out. I plan to file for my DBA this week and go ahead and set up a business account. It should make it a little easier to file my taxes next year. :)
I just got back from my day job trip to India Sunday night. I was supposed to get back Saturday, but there was a little problem in the Narita Airport after a few inches of snow.
All together it was an excellent trip. There was some concern before I went because all of my co-workers there were new to the team. However after the first day I saw it wouldn't be an issue. They were all competent and very eager to learn and get the work done. We didn't get through everything I would have liked to, but we made enough progress that I feel confident any issues can be resolved once everyone is back from vacations, etc.
It was a very exhausting trip. I woke up at 6 am (slept in late from my usual 4:30 am), got to work around 9 am, stayed until 7 pm, then worked again from 10 pm - 1 am so I could work with my co-workers in the US on questions that had come up during the day. I went to the mall Wednesday evening for an hour or two, but other than that I didn't do any tourist stuff. There just wasn't time with all the work we needed to complete and with me getting there Monday afternoon and leaving Friday afternoon. Next time I will have to definitely plan to stay through the weekend so I can enjoy it a little.
I was in Fry's on Friday and saw a guy walk by with 2 Xbox 360's in his cart. I immediately went straight back to the games section and asked if they had anymore. They just got them in and were still unloading them from the truck. Needless to say I stood there and waited. then proudly walked to the front of the store to pay for my new Xbox 360 Pro. I spent some time over the weekend playing Need For Speed Underground 2 and Halo 2. I spent a lot of time playing Hexic.
My gamer tag is below for anyone that wants to add me to their friends list or play a game sometime. It should show my gamer card in an IFrame. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I really need to roll my own website so I can have better control over what it does...
Grand Wizard
I'm back from the holidays. We drove up to visit my family in Kentucky for Christmas. Imagine my wife, the baby, 2 dogs, and myself all stuffed into my truck with our stuff for an 1100 mile drive. With all the stops, that came out to about 18 hours of driving. On the way up there, we stopped halfway for the night. On the way back, Ann decided she was ready to be home so I got to drive straight through. I was tired when we finally got home. The dogs did ok; Turbo slept almost the whole way there and back while Sky stared nervously out the window. I think she was afraid we were going to leave her somewhere so she was memorizing the way home. :)
Alexandria slept most of the way too. She really didn't like Tennessee and cried during most of the drive through it. I think it is because all the big hills and corresponding change in air pressure made her ears hurt. She drools a lot because she hasn't learned she's supposed to swallow yet. I think if she was beyond that she would have been ok. She got to meet her great-grandmother, her grandfather (her grandma was there when she was born), and her aunts and uncles. We got pictures of everyone holding her, they were all excited.
Due to the trip and the neccessary sleeping afterwards, I didn't get much work done on my game. I think that's ok, though. It was much better to take an actual vacation, get away from computers, and just spend quality time relaxing and catching up with family. Oh, I forgot to mention this before. Turns out my sister is pregnant after years of doctors telling her she couldn't have children. The baby is due in March I think. They don't know if it is a boy or a girl because it was hiding during the ultrasound as opposed to Alexandria you wanted the world to know she was a girl. ;)
In my day job, I might be going to India for a week. That would be fun. Getting to meet many of the people I've worked with over the past few years, training them so we can work on some future projects together, travelling first class, ... On the other hand, if I don't go it would mean I don't have to spend a week away from my baby. I can see the bright side either way so I'll be happy either way. I'm also trying to feng shui my cubicle a little bit. I've added one of those little waterfalls to the corner of my desk (south west I believe). I'm also considering getting a mirror so I can see the entry behind me and maybe a little plant.
2006 will be the best year ever. Happy New Year.
Yesterday I went to donate blood at the
Blood and Tissue Center of Austin. It was to be the day I had donated a total of a gallon and get my nifty little coffee cup to prove it; except my blood didn't want to co-operate. I usually have no problems and am able to get out of there pretty quickly. I'm not sure if it was just too cold or if I was a little dehydrated or what, but about 3/4 of the way through my blood decided to clot up. And if it hasn't happened to you, let me tell you it hurts. At first I just felt pressure building up and the blood flow going through the tubes slowed down, so the technician (nurse?, medical student?) tried moving the needle around. Poking around in there with a sharp object didn't make it any more pleasurable. And the pressure just kept building. After a few minutes of poking I said that's enough, she pulled out the needle and there was a clot that looked about an inch long attached to the end of it like a piece of string. I didn't want to keep the cup since I didn't feel I had completely earned it, but she said since I got most of the way done and had to endure some pain that I deserved it.
I have been listening to Earl Nightingale's "Lead
the Field" series every night this week when I walk my dogs. I've
made it through most of the way, past the magic word, acres of
diamonds, etc... I vaguely even remember some of it.
:) However, the phrase above did jump out at me and stuck in my
head. It wasn't even a main concept of his, it was just a
supporting phrase mentioned once. When I heard it, my life ran
through my head and I realized how true it really is. I was
discontent with the environment I grew up in and wanted to get out, I
worked hard and the universe converged to help me move. I was
flat broke and had the shadow of moving back home to my parents
house looming overhead, again I worked hard and the universe rewarded
me with a job. I was discontent with my job so I worked hard and
did much more than the job required. It paid off quickly with me
getting big raises and promotions every year. Then something
changed. The stock market crashed and the company I worked for
had massive layoffs. I lost many good friends to that time.
For a long while I felt partly responsible, after all I was the one
writing programs to automate their jobs and made them redundant.
I made the job so easy it could be done with the click of a few buttons
and shipped over seas. I still feel that way sometimes, but I
know there's really nothing I could have, or should have, done
differently. Anyway, at that point something inside me
changed. I was just grateful to have a job and stay in the status
quo. Losing so many friends and money in the market made me focus
my discontent on my job. Having a manager that I didn't like
didn't really help the situation either. My motivation suddenly
went from doing the best job possible to working my 8 hours a day and
getting out of there to feel sorry for myself. I did a darn good
job of that if I say so myself. After all, I'm salaried now, why
should I put in all those extra hours if I'm not getting paid for
them. I'd worked hard for years and it was time to enjoy it.
Now, though, my original motivation is starting to
come back. I'm discontent with my environment and want better for
myself and my family. I was offered an opportunity at my day job
that would give me a lot of opportunities to learn new stuff and put me
in the spotlight more. Sure, I don't really like the attention
and would much rather just be another anonymous individual, but my
discontent is starting to build back up to be more than
discomfort. So I took it and I plan on my career starting to sky
rocket again after years of being on a plateau.
I just need to rememer to keep my discontent focused on what I'm really
discontent with and can affect, rather than focusing on something
meaningless that I can only complain about.