Not dead!

     Hello everyone. I just wanted to post a real quick blog update just to show that I am still here and active and very much in the indie game making scene. I know I haven't posted in a long time. Actually, I haven't been active on here, or YouTube or even my Twitter. Admittedly, I don't even really do YouTube or use my channel but, I am typically a very active Twitter user. 

     Anyway, for those of you wondering where I have been, what I have been up to, why I haven't posted a blog update or tweeted anything stupid as I usually do. No, I didn't give up on making games or move onto other things outside of my favorite art form. As a matter of fact, I have been extremely busy with game development related things. More specifically, my new indie game project. I have been crunching on my new game project, working on it full time all day and all night. 

     I realized that I waste so many hours in a day watching YouTube and being on Twitter. I decided to go on a little diet from those for a while so that I can focus all my time and energy on my new game. And I gotta say, it has really been working out for me. I'm able to get so much more done now and make much more progress on my project. It was a hard transition to make at first. To just stop wasting so much time on sites you visit every minuet and just focus on your own work. But once I got into it, I have just been cruising smoothly. I feel less stressed out because of the good progress I can make in a day. whenever I didn't make a satisfying amount of progress on my project or no progress at all, for some reason I would just feel super bummed out and disappointed. I love creating games and I want to make games but at the same time, when I can't focus or stay focused it feels impossible to make games. It would make me not want to make games. I'm glad that I was able to finally just get myself in the zone and change my ways. It feels great to get things done and pursue your dreams.

     I have been pretty quiet about this new project that I have been working on. I never really shared anything like screenshots or talked about it here on the blog or Twitter like pretty much everything else that I worked on. The only thing that I have shown from the new game is that giraffe character from the image above. That's about it though. I realized that there really is no point in constantly posting new screenshots or talking about it all the time. That would just contribute to getting distracted away from the actual project. The thing that actually matters. So I decided that from now on, i'm just going to work on my games and release them. None of that "here's some prototype images" or "here is a trailer showing off early footage" bs. Just make the games. Put them out. When they are done, then they are done and out and that's when things like screenshots and such are important. The only thing that matters is the final product. Not the ideas, not the betas, not the early screens and so on. Plus, this leaves the game to be more of a surprise in the end. 

     All I will say for now is that my new project is unlike anything I have ever made before. It's not a quick short "made in 3 days" type of game, it's not a joke game like Potato Thriller was. This project is actually a serious attempt and effort from me trying to make a good game for once. I have been working on it for many months now. It's a really large project but I am full of motivation. As usual, this project is all 100% me. I'm making it completely alone. All the models, designs, levels, story, mechanics, ui, etc. I make all my own art assets and what not. I never asset flip. So of course I will spend more time than other developers who just have art available for them. Not that theres anything wrong with that, but for me, I prefer that all the art is always my own unique designs. So, I have been working hard and I am going full steam ahead with this one! 

     Anyway, that's pretty much it. I just wanted to show a sign of life real quick. I am still here. I am still making games. I have a new one in the works. I have a ton of other ones also in the works. I am super excited about them, especially about this giraffe project and I can't wait to share more when the time is right. 

What is Hamar Hills?????

     Okay, I have been doing a really bad job posting updates here on the blog lately. I always say I want to post more often but then never get to it. I have a ton of stuff I want to share though and I will actually have a lot more daily blog post in the following days because I can't cover everything in just one post. So, let's just get straight into it.

     Today I want to talk about my next upcoming game project. Actually, most of the following blog post will all be about this. "Hamar Hills" is my newest game in the works. I started talking and sharing some stuff about this project a couple months ago here on the blog, but then would just disappear for a while after that. So I was never consistent with the updates on progress. Also, barely anything was even shown for the game. I showed off development screens in the past, a couple days ago I released a very short confusing teaser trailer (which actually really has nothing to do with the game) so what the heck is "Hamar Hills" even suppose to be!?!

     If you have followed any of my previous work or played any of my previous games (Potato Thriller for example) you should know by now that when I start working on something, over time I end up changing my mind about a lot of stuff and end up going a completely different route with it. Things usually start to get real weird and random real fast in my game projects. I would say something about the game one day, then the next day do something completely different. I have said this many times in the past before actually, but I am terrible at planning games from beginning to end and usually I end up randomly making it up as I go. This isn't fully true for "Hamar Hills" because I do have a really good idea of what I want this game to be. But a lot of change in direction has already  been done since I posted the teaser trailer a few days ago.

     "Hamar Hills" will be a third person horror game about a man who wonders into the abandoned town of (guess the name of town) "Hamar Hills". I have made a lot of progress on this game so far in terms of development and I think it will be a very unique game experience. I have no exact finish date just yet. A lot more work needs to be done on the project. But like I said, more  updates will be following in the days coming so keep checking back here.

For now, here is a ton of new screenshots to look at I took from development. I always like to talk a ton about my new project, not really say anything about it (even after saying that I was going to explain it more, and then show off a ton of screenshots that aren't even from the final product. But you could kind of see some cool behind the scenes work going on here I guess and I like sharing this kind of stuff. Please enjoy!

DEV SCREENS!!!!

Potato Thriller Afterthoughts

      Hey everyone. This is a blog post I wanted to get up a couple days ago but never really got to it. Anyway, its not really an important blog post or anything like that. Its more of a post where I kind of just ramble on and talk about my afterthoughts for Potato Thriller, my most recent game.

     As many of you know, I released "Potato Thriller" three days ago. April 1st, 2016 to be exact. Potato Thriller is an indie horror game that obviously does not take itself too seriously nor is it really even intended to be taken seriously at all. However, it is something that I am actually very proud of.

      I have been posting about this game for while now here on the blog for the past couple months. Keeping updates about development and how things are going and so on. Originally this game was just going to be a simple short one level game that was a silly take on the "Silent Hills P.T." demo. It was just some random quick game I wanted to throw together in a couple days. However, as I continued to develop the game and created more and more content it eventually expanded into this huge game project that took its own direction.

     It became something that was more than just a parody of  the Silent Hills P.T. demo. While some elements have been inspired from the Silent Hills P.T. demo such as the looping hallway and a very similar level design (the looping hallway level), the game itself - "Potato Thriller" is actually nothing like P.T. at all.  It became my own original unique game which features a cast of colorful characters and a strange but somewhat interesting and sort of complicated story-line that I made up as I created the game. Gameplay mechanics changed up throughout the game. Level design became unique and different and started providing a challenge, different enemies were introduced and actually had an established A.I. to kill the player, more characters were created and tied into the story and the game actually ended up turning into a full game that had actual gameplay. It became a game that is not just another indie horror game where you walk around and wait for a jump-scare. Its not just a jump-scare game. Its a game where you could actually get killed in many different ways. A game where you could progress further into the story to learn more about what exactly is going on.

Aside from that, Potato Thriller also turned into a game full of mystery. There is a bunch of hidden content in the game that might not even really have anything to do with the game itself. Some people might find some secrets as they play. Some secrets are harder to find than others and some secrets might never be found in the game at all. Aside from the story-line in the game, I wanted to add these hidden elements into the game. I wanted to create an experience that would make the player feel strange. Like get a "what? is this suppose to be happening?" or "is this actually part of the game?" type of response. The games story-line is one element of the game while at the same time, these secret mysterious elements hidden around may contribute to something greater then what the actual game is. Maybe the game is hiding something else? Maybe there is more to it. Will it ever be discovered? Who knows?

     Anyway, I am not really typing this post up to brag about my new game and show off. Nothing like that at all. I know my own game has its flaws. Its not perfect and not the greatest indie game out there. As a matter of fact, my game doesn't even really have the most positive feedback. A lot of people bashed the game and said that it is garbage, low quality, poorly made, etc and that is completely fine. In games, especially indie games, there is always going to be some form of negativity. Its just natural. I don't really blame those people for thinking this way either. Making this game, I kind of expected responses like this. I knew it wasn't going to really going to become this big thing. I knew that not many people would really be interested in it. Potato Thriller, is definitely not a game for everyone. Again, its not really a game that is meant to be taken seriously or take itself seriously.

When I was making this game, I wasn't aiming to be the best. I wasn't planning on creating an amazing epic game that was going to be "the next big thing in indie games". I wasn't saying to myself, "okay, I have an idea for such a cool indie game, I need to start working on it, post it to kickstarter, get funding for it, THE PEOPLE NEED THIS! etc" (off-topic, but I honestly hate kickstarter and would never ever ask for funding to create a game on any funding site.)  It's not a game that had stuff like documentation, planned game design, pre-made concept art or any early concept work at all. Its nothing at all. It was a game created with no background intentions at all. Its one of those games that was created without a purpose. A game that isn't really trying to be anything.  Its a game that I just really enjoyed putting together. Honestly, nothing was planned for this game and I just made it up randomly as I went. Its a game full of ideas. It was just a game project that I would open and close from time to time. Whenever I randomly thought of an idea, I would just throw that in the game. However, with that said, there is an established story-line in the game that explains everything. A beginning, middle and ending.

With all that said, Potato Thriller is definitely a game project I am very proud of. This is the biggest game I have ever made. I created so much content for the game and just really happy with the overall results even if its not the most appealing indie game ever, I actually did put in a lot of work and effort into creating this strange title. Even though its a really weird game I stuck to it and finished creating it. I really enjoyed making it and had fun. Again, this post isn't to brag about my game, but its more of a reminder for myself to see the milestones and accomplishments that I was able to achieve while making this game. 6 years ago, it was my dream to create video games. I knew nothing at all about making video games and I thought I would probably never learn how to create video games. Over the years I created many video games. Each game I improved more and more over the last. I was constantly learning more and more about game development. And looking back at older projects and seeing content that you created yourself is a really awesome feeling. I don't necessary make the best/good games, but I try. Making games is something that I truly love doing :)

Thanks for reading.
Potato Thriller is currently available on itch.io

Blog Update 12/21/2014: Still here, plans for the rest of the year, Jelly!

      Hey everyone! As usual, I am extremely sorry for the lack of updates here on the blog. I can't believe that my last post was back in October. I feels like I have been away for a long time. I have been very busy over these past couple weeks and haven't had a chance to post an update or even work on any of my own personal projects. However, even though I sometimes seem to disappear from here I always end up returning. Returning back to my own home. My development blog.

Although I can't guarantee it, I want to try and post an update here on the blog at least once a week

some old screenshots I took from various stuff I worked on not too long ago:

      I just want to talk a little bit about whats going on. What I have going on and what I have planned. Although I haven't posted here in a while I have been working a lot in unity and doing a ton of interactive 3d stuff.  Unfortunately the screenshots I posted above are not anything for a new game or project. We will probably never see anything from the above screenshots in any thing I have coming up in the future. I just wanted to share a couple of screenshots of work I have done but never really talked about when I was away.  Just thought I would post those to make this blog update a bit more interesting though.

Also I have made the pro version of my Jack-O-Lantern app available for free now on the Google play store: Google Play: Jack-O-Lantern 3D PRO

     Anyway, I would like to say that I do definitely have a new game in the works. It won't be a big third person adventure game or anything fancy but instead just a nice simple small game. If you follow me on twitter you may have already seen these images, but here they are again in case you missed them:

    Those are just some teaser images and nothing from the final game. But as you may have noticed from the first screenshot, my next game will be called "Jelly Stack".

As we all know 2014 is coming to an end real soon and 2015 is upon us. I however am not ready to say farewell to 2014 just yet and so this new project of mine "Jelly Stack" will be my final game release of the 2014 year. Its my goal to finish and release this one final game before we never get to see 2014 again.

"Jelly Stack" again will only be a quick simple short and hopefully addicting game about stacking falling jelly squares on your plate. I plan on releasing this for Android on the Google play store and maybe even to some third party portals such as kongregate, etc

That's about all the news I have for now. So stay tuned, I will have more updates in the coming days or so and I hope to see you all (if there is anyone reading my blog) again couple more times before 2014 ends.  As always its good to be back and thanks for reading!