Mr Malstrom, just wanted to say that your blog really opened my eyes
on matters of content, who we make games for and what a game should be
or shouldn’t be. I studied disruption and blue ocean, found some
material on collective intelligence and might as well study a little
of sociology now.
With that said, I’m also making my own game on my free time from my
job, trying to break free from having to work everyday (also, trying
to get money for marriage). I’m paying a french artist to do the
graphics, so I’m investing my own money on it. I’ve always made games,
but never thought I could sell them. I plan to sell it on Flash, PC
and iOS, with maybe Android and other versions later if it does well,
for like 99¢.
It’s a simple action game with two ninja fighting their way through 15
stages. No story, no gameplay gimmick, no philosophical message, just a
game, as if that wasn’t enough already. I hope to show it to you
someday.
And I bet the experience is making you really respect all the work that has been put into the games you played. Most gamers don’t appreciate all the work that goes into them.
Game development is very hard work. I salute everyone who does it.
There’s a ton of competition out there. I thought it was harder than ever for a new game developer to succeed on his or her own, but then I saw Notch do it. Do it because you love it. And put your heart into it.
I’ll tell you a story I learned from a musician. This is when the musician learned what music was. When he was a boy, he took playing lessons from a better teacher. He played his scales on cue and memorized his music. Even though he was doing it perfectly, his instructor was very unhappy with him. He said, “Music is about fun. If you put fun into the horn, fun comes out of the horn.” It was then that the student began to make music. The audience could hear the fun. In the entertainment business, if the entertainer isn’t having fun then no one is going to have fun.
Of course, there are limits to this. The musician can’t say, “Playing in tune not fun. So I will play out of tune.” Only noise would erupt. The fundamentals must still be applied. In a similar way, a writer doesn’t get to reinvent grammar because “it’s fun”. This is why when you see professional orchestras or bands, you see the musicians swaying or dancing a little as they play. They really get into it.
I believe game development is a very young entertainment medium and no one knew what the limits were. I think having fun pretending you are a Hollywood director is going beyond the line. You are breaking the fundamentals of what makes a game a game.
Have fun with what you do. Every successful person I have met in life has two things in common: they work very hard and they love what they do (making it not seem like work).