It's over, for now

[ghostwheel]

That's it. I'm out of time and money for my own game projects. I have to try and make some money some other way. This is just taking way too long. I don't have much of a choice anymore. I may be able to get back to it in the near future. We'll see.

Thank you all for being such a great community. It was nice talking to you all and meeting many of you last year. I hope I will get to see you all again some day. I'll probably check in here from time to time.

If any of you need any 3d, 2d, video or design work done, I'm now available. You can contact me through twitter, email or messages here.

shanesemler(at)gmail.com

[QXD-me]

That's a shame 

You should still visit these forums though since it's nice to have someone around who likes to disagree.

[Jeroen D. Stout]

I am sorry to hear this - hopefully when you find another form of income you will have the time to still work on small things?

Would be a shame to see you depart from the forums all-together!

[György Dudas]

Unfortunately, I cannot work on games fulltime on my own. So daytime, I have regular programming job, night time I can squeeze some hours for doing smaller game projects.

Good luck to you! It is not over until it is over ....

[ghostwheel]

My wife suggested I continue work on I Dream of Ghosts. So I guess I'm not done with games entirely after all.

[Michaël Samyn]

Sorry to hear you haven't been able to find a way to support yourself with game making. But don't give up. Build towards something. Give yourself time to let things grow. It can take years. But it is possible!

[Michaël Samyn]

So tell us more about I Dream of Ghosts!

[ghostwheel]

So tell us more about I Dream of Ghosts!

It was something I intended to do very quickly but it got bogged down in my perfectionism. It was another idea based on my dreams. It's actually a bit too dark for me at this point. I have another project I like more that I started before I Dream of Ghosts. I might go back to that instead.

Anyway, here's some images from I Dream of Ghosts:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3763968371830&set=a.1807622744412.2097913.1055237085&type=3
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3545091620048&set=a.1807622744412.2097913.1055237085&type=3
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3792062674170&set=a.1807622744412.2097913.1055237085&type=3
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3763973731964&set=a.1807622744412.2097913.1055237085&type=3

[Michaël Samyn]

Looks nice!

I'm a bit worried that you seem to float between ideas all the time. Maybe it's just a false impression. But you shouldn't doubt ideas to much. Just pick one, make a plan and stick to it. Be tenacious and make the best thing you can. It doesn't need to be perfect. Especially if perfection means that it will not be made at all!

Of course a plan can turn out to be unrealistic. You need to evaluate it once in a while and correct it. Usually that means reducing the scope of the project. But that's better than having to cancel it at the end.

[ghostwheel]

Looks nice!

I'm a bit worried that you seem to float between ideas all the time. Maybe it's just a false impression. But you shouldn't doubt ideas to much. Just pick one, make a plan and stick to it. Be tenacious and make the best thing you can. It doesn't need to be perfect. Especially if perfection means that it will not be made at all!

Of course a plan can turn out to be unrealistic. You need to evaluate it once in a while and correct it. Usually that means reducing the scope of the project. But that's better than having to cancel it at the end.

I do, unfortunately. However, AWE is a project I stuck to for the last year. Unfortunately there were long periods that the coder wasn't working on it and there wasn't much for me to do while waiting to hear back. I only ever got two alpha builds from him. The last one was 5 months ago. I hate laying all the blame on him, after all this was my first serious project with the intent to sell and distribute, but he simply wasn't putting much time into it.

Consequently, I had a lot of time on my hands to think about other projects.

[Chris W]

Ick, I have dreams about ghosts all the time, ranging from mildly disturbing to full-on nightmares.  I'd be personally interested to see what comes out of that project.

[Michaël Samyn]

You should probably choose a project you can make entirely on your own. That has always been our principle so far: we choose ideas that we have the skills to produce on our own and then when there is sufficient budget, we hire people who can do certain parts better than we can. Of course we are two people, not one. But you have a wife too!

You're a pretty prolific creator. So if you combine all your talents, you should be able to make something wonderful. Maybe even something as simple as interactive book. After all, it is the content that matters, and beauty. Not technical complexity.

[György Dudas]

I am on a videogame hiatus, too. Started painting again. It is really refreshing to work with paint instead of working
with logic. Even when creating an artistic game, it is still working 90% with logic and 10% being artistic in the moment to moment process.

[Amanda Williams]

György, are you able to mix work with painting for pleasure? Maybe alternate days, join a group that gathers, take a studio class, set aside a block of hours?

I know that if I stop doing either work or my own art, it takes a strange amount of effort to begin again. And then of course I feel a little guilty for neglecting whichever I'm not doing. Working on paper also makes me feel more refreshed when I return to digital, but that's unrelated to your reason for being on hiatus! Mixing the two is good for me personally. :)

Happy painting!

[György Dudas]

yes, now I feel guilty, too. Thank you