Another Indy Video Game company.

I've been working on the preliminary stages of a video game. I'm doing the whole thing alone, minus some royalty free assets like sound effects. I'm a pen and paper game designer who hasn't been able to get a shot at designing video games, so I've decided to do it mostly alone (Who needs those other guys?). I'll be asking friends for help with things I can't do, like female voices, or extra assets I don't have time for.

I'm lucky enough to have led a life that gives me most of the talents and abilities I'll need. As I said I've designed pen and paper games, I taught myself to draw during a stint as a security guard, I've done impressions and voices since I was a kid. I'm working on screenplays in my spare time.

I like to think I have a good sense for what's cool and fun in high concept media.

The one area of weakness I have for this job is that I'm not fluent in any programming language. I am a quick study when I care, but so far, I know a bit of Javascript and a smattering of Common Lisp.

I do have an ace in the hole, though. I'll be using the Unity Game Engine. I'll get the Indy version to start (which is under $300), but upgrade to the Pro version (over $1500 or so) later. When I get to that stage, I'll be able to create binaries of the game for Windows, Mac OS X, the iPhone, XBox 360, Wii, or even the web, all in 3d. It's even possible to create an MMO out of the box. If I get to the point where I hire real coders, there's a source code license that allows you extend its capabilities as far as you need to. To save money, I'm waiting to download the free one month trial until I have most of my assets ready.

The Unity game engine is powerful and others who have used it swear by it. One guy claims that he doesn't know how to code at all, and is able to make a decent living as an indy designer.

Coincidentally, it allows you to code in Javascript.

The first game will be a demo, and will likely be free to gauge interest in the concepts it uses and build interest. I'll talk more about this game in the next post.

As for my "Company", it's not actually a company at all. Not in any formal sense. But for now I'm calling my one man operation Counterpoint Games. I figure that title sums up my feelings on the industry. What follows is a brief digression bordering on a rant, but a bit more polite. Feel free to skip it and get to the good stuff in the next post.

The reason I'm calling my operation Counterpoint Games is twofold.

Firstly, I feel that there needs to be a "Counterpoint" to the machine behind the game industry. Big, lumbering and slow. Conventional wisdom says that a 3d game design company has to be big, with a corporate structure and heads of this or that department with peons under them. I contend that in this day of free open source software, powerful cheap computing, and information available online, that any reasonably smart and creative person can do it themselves- and come close to or surpass the quality of the big boys. I probably sound arrogant or naive, and I may be the latter, but I'm not arrogant. I'm just confident. I have nothing to prove to anyone except for myself, and not even much of that. I know I can do it- I just really want to see the worlds in my head come to life.

I'm not doing this to thumb my nose at anyone, but because it's the only way I can see the ideas I have take shape without getting hired at a "major" company and putting in the years on projects I may or may not care about until I get a shot at the things I'm passionate about. You see, I never went to college, and established game companies tend not to like that. My game design resume is a bit thin, and pretty much empty when it comes to video games. But don't count me out.

The second reason for the name "Counterpoint Games" is that I intend to design games my way. I'm very into simulation of worlds. I like to design strongly flavored settings and make them feel as plausible as I can. I prefer to eliminate or minimize the purely gamelike elements of video games- things like "1-up" tokens, floating ammo refills or health boost tokens, etc. That stuff doesn't help immersion. I like to play games like the Mario series, but I never forget that I'm playing a game. For my own creations, I prefer a sandbox approach.

That doesn't mean I don't like cool elements like "buffs" (I hate that word), or special game play, but I like to it fit the context of the the setting. You can have action and very cool game play elements while still maintaining a player's suspension of disbelief. Buffs will be commodities in a setting-either technology or magic, or whatever's appropriate. Immersion comes first, but my job is to design worlds where what makes sense allows for fun game play.