Sunday, December 18, 2016

Here's the plan... (Next Steam Greenlight campaign)


     I have been making excellent progress on my next game project and I gotta say, I have never been so excited about anything I have ever made as much as I am for this new game. Anyway, I don't want to start rambling on about how much of a good job I did on my new project. That doesn't mean anything at all. Instead of going on and on about how great I think my game is - I need to actually focus more on completing it and getting it out there. Gotta tone down that ego. Sheesh!


     Anyway, in all seriousness, yes I have been making excellent progress on the game however, it is no where near complete. It's not even close to where I want it to be yet. That is not necessarily a bad thing. I am taking my time with this one and polishing it up in every area as much as I can. Polish and quality is something I have been talking a lot about lately here on the blog and it is something that I am really stressing and pushing into the next game. I want the game to be as good as I possibly can make it.


      As much as I am proud of my first Steam release Potato Thriller. This game will be nothing like Potato Thriller in anyway. Not even close. And I don't want it to be like Potato Thriller actually. As I said in an older blog post, I have grown and matured a lot since the release of Potato Thriller and really have learned and become more skilled as a game developer. I want this next project to show that. I am capable of more Potato Thriller type games. 


I know I often say this, but I will try to say this in the least braggiest way as possible - This is going to be the most polished thing I have ever worked on. Damn! that still came across as egotistical... Honestly though, I am just really excited about the work I have put into this project and I keep trying to show that in the blog updates but it comes across as some looser indie developer who is really full of himself. But it really is not my intention to come across like that. 

Next game has dev's name in the title... Say's he doesn't want to 
come off as egotistical...

     The reason I want to share this next game so bad is because when I originally released Potato Thriller, sure it had some fans but, it also had a lot of other people who criticized it harshly. 
And I have said this before, but I always accept all forms of criticism. I have nothing against negative criticism at all. I actually even agree with most of the criticism I got over Potato Thriller and this is really one of the main reasons as to why I am trying to improve and show that with my next game. I feel like I kind of got this image as some kind of "hack dev" or some cheap indie dev who doesn't care about the quality of their games and just puts stuff out to make a quick buck. That is not me at all. I care so much about the quality that goes into my games. Hopefully I can do that with my next game. And I am really excited to get it out there and share it with the world. I love video games so much and respect them as the wonderful art form that they are. I'm very passionate about games. It's cheesy I know.

WOOOOW character has different uniforms built in!

     This game will definitely be a 2017 release. But hopefully early 2017. I had originally planned on launching the Greenlight campaign on Steam for this game by the middle of the month if I reached a certain point in the games development. Unfortunately that won't be happening. So here's the plan (for now) - I am not that far off from hitting that "certain point" in the games development. What I want to do is get more done. My goal is to try launching the Steam Greenlight campaign by the end of this month and then hopefully finish and release the game early 2017. No promises just yet. Might not happen. But that is what I am aiming for and working hard to stay on my schedule. In the meantime there will probably be less blog post and updates but I will come back on here and share more whenever I get a chance to do so! If I launch my Greenlight campaign before the end of this month then I will definitely post an update here on the blog.




Until then, this might be the final post of 2016. If it is, I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday break. Spend time with your families, play some video games! See you in 2017!

Things are gonna get weird...

Thursday, December 15, 2016

"Snowconesolid Productions"


Snowconesolid Productions logo

     Let's talk about "Business". This is a term that I personally cannot stand for many reasons but mostly because I am just bad at it. However, if you are serious about something or want to pursue your dream beyond it just being a hobby then you will probably be faced with this term numerous times. More specifically, lets focus on one of the most important parts of your business and that is "Branding". Whether you are a new YouTuber or Twitch streamer trying to make it big or a small indie solo game developer such as myself, the branding means everything. I think that building up your own brand is very important because it creates an identifiable image or name for your company, for your product and most importantly, for yourself.

Snowconesolid Mascot thing...

     As you can see by my own logo and mascot, obviously i'm not an expert on branding. But having or building your own brand is cool because it allows you to have this alternate name or alternate persona that is associated with your work. I started learning how to create games back in late 2010 and ever since then I have always identified myself as "Snowconesolid". This is the name I decided to go with as a developer. I know it is a very strange name, and I have talked about this before on the blog - it is really just a silly name that has no meaning. It was something I came up with years ago and then just started using it as your typical "online screen name" or online persona. The purple-cat mascot thing (above) also has no real meaning. It was just something that started as a terrible random drawing I did on paper years ago that continued to evolve. For some reason I decided to make this my logo and something that would identify my work. I started placing the words "Snowconesolid Productions" in all my games as if I was an actual game studio and ever since this has just been something I continued to roll with.


     Anyway, as I continue to hit big milestones in my journey in game development the more serious I am starting to become as a indie game developer. I know I don't make the greatest games but I am constantly working hard and doing my best to keep improving. I have been doing this for years now, but the more I do it, that need to continue creating just keeps getting bigger. I am normally the type of person who tries something and then eventually gets bored and moves onto something else. But with game development that is not the case. I am very passionate and love creating games so much. I am starting to realize more and more that this is something I want to continue doing. So I will continue to make more games and expand my brand as much as I can. 

     I recently created a new separate twitter account: @SnowconesolidPR
This account will be the account for "Snowconesolid Productions". I'll be honest though, I will probably only use this account to spam "promote" my new stuff  such as new games, Steam greenlight campaigns, etc. Hopefully I won't come across as too spammy promoty (that's not a word) with this account.

     Anyway, my main account is still: @snowconesolid
This is my original account. It will still be the account that I will use more and be more active on and get to actually just be myself on. So if you are interested check those out. (Or don't. Totally not trying to advertise my twitters right now...)

     Anyway, to end things off I just want to quickly take the time to say thank you to all of you out there for constantly giving me the motivation to continue doing what I enjoy doing. This blog has been up for years now. It was dead when I first started, but as I continue to post and look at the stats for it, i'm seeing that it is starting to get daily visitors and the numbers are growing. More traffic is coming in. More people are starting to reach out to me on twitter and take the time to say "hi", or "your game is cool". And more people are checking out my games and letting me know what they thought of them. And that is just so cool to see. Seeing people take the time to play something I created or take an interest in my work makes me genuinely happy. It keeps me motivated. So thanks everyone. You are all awesome and I am so grateful for all of you. I look forward to sharing the journey ahead!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

ONLY $1 WOW!!!!!!


Need some 3d characters or environment props to quickly populate your Unity game but don't have the art skills or don't want to waste anytime making your own!?!? Look no further! As of today all of my asset packages that are available on the Unity Asset Store are $1 and less!

Beach props, rubber ducks, blocky looking characters, cartoon models, etc! Its all there! everything you need to make a game!!!! (Well not really, but you could use all of these for the art aspect of your game at least)

Check out my Unity Asset Packages here on the Asset Store: https://goo.gl/tctGqd

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Feel of Atmosphere and progress update...

Gamedev and chill.....

Posting a quick update (mostly more screenshots) to share some new progress for my upcoming game "Samer Hills"

Early Lighting Test

The Atmosphere...
This game will be different from any of the other games I have created up to this point and creating the right atmosphere is very important. This new game will have many different themes to it such as dark, horror, etc. However, one very important theme, which also will serve as the main focus of the game is the idea of loneliness and isolation. 

Hello friend....

There won't actually be any real people/characters in the game to interact with other than the main character (PonyTail). I won't explain much of the story and the truth is that the plot to this game will be very open. One of my main goals with this game to leave a lot of room of individual interpretation. I want each player to have a different experience and attempt to understand the game in their own way. To better express the idea of loneliness and isolation, throughout the game you will find these wooden mannequins in different poses. The wooden mannequins are symbolic in many ways such as contributing to the theme of loneliness as well as symbolizing "fake" people. They don't move or do anything when the player tries interacting with them. This represents the idea of being ignored constantly.


What's up?

I am also aiming to creating a post-apocalyptic vibe in the game. So you will be placed in different scenarios that show this. Throughout most of the game you will notice really heavy grey fog everywhere, weird creatures and so on.

Look at that bug!

Foggy Forest

I don't want this post to be too long so I am going to end it here. I am making great progress on the game. It is all coming along nicely and I can't wait to share more of it down the road. Here is some more screenshots to end with.