Short answer, I lost faith in the project. It started when I was few months in and I wasn’t feeling great about it. From the beginning, I knew it would be a big job, and I thought that I’d ultimately need to get more people involved, and for a while, I told myself that when other people come on board, they’ll throw new ideas in, and it will all be OK…

But then I realised… that’s just an excuse. I mean, loads of games come out which have only one main developer on them, and some of them are pretty big. Mitu Khandaker‘s Redshirt’, Nicholl Hunt’s ‘Fist of Awesome’, and Lucas Pope’s ‘Papers Please’ are the first three examples which spring to mind. I’m sure there are hundreds more.

So even that excuse wasn’t cutting it for me any more… and after two more months of solid development in which the fun just hadn’t appeared, I simply lost faith in the project. Making the game just felt like work, and so did playing it. So I decided to drop it, and I’ve started a new, safer project instead and I’m much happier.

It did get me thinking once again, however, about when developers should talk about projects they’re working on. Because I talked about this one a LOT, got loads of positive feedback, and even a bit of coverage… which makes putting it in the reject bin all the more difficult. Because on top of the feelings of inadequacy and failure, you also feel as though you’ve let people down.

My esteemed friend Mr. Brian Baglow of ScottishGames.net would say “Talk about your games as much as possible, LIKE F*$^*G ALL THE TIME!!!”. And whilst I probably wouldn’t be feeling quite as bad if I hadn’t spoken about this project so much publicly, ultimately he’s 100% right…

When you show your work, you’re showing it because you think it’s cool, and you hope that others might too. You’re not entering in to some kind of contract where there’s going to be ethical or financial repercussions. (Unless you’ve taken money off people on Kickstarter. In which case you’re a very naughty person and you should give them a refund, but that’s another post for another person another time.) Abandoning projects, even very publicly, does nothing to damage a developers reputation. Notch abandoning 0x10c if you would like an example.

All the feelings you’re feeling, they’re caused by your own perception of the situation, which is heavily weighted toward the spotlight being on you. The truth is, nobody else really cares. And since you’re thinking so much about yourself, you should really think about why you chose to be an independent developer as opposed to having a job. It’s so you can make the games you want to make, instead of having horrible projects with unreasonable timescales dumped on you. And if you’re going to stick with projects which are doing your nut in, then why bother?

Nobody is watching you quite s closely as you think. In fact, I could end this post with a bunch of nonsense and I bet nobody would even notice. Blurp, plurpy bleargh, willa willa bang ftumpsh. Joss Ackland ‘s spunky backpack…

I don’’t think anything sums up this point better than this panel from Sub Normality…

Until next time,

S

Fairly early on in the project, I realised that I needed to design a fantasy ‘World’ in order for the story of the Waycross Inn to convincingly unfold. The game is about a tavern which unites or divides the cultures of the land it inhabits. Therefore, it’s important that these cultures are in fairly close proximity to one another.

In order for these cultures to exist, however, there has to have been a history, which would of course mean that they would have been mixing for many years before the game is set.

Finally, the land has to be small enough that you could convincingly believe that a large portion of the population need to meet in a single place. Which is your tavern.

So this is how the land of Fermentale looks. Four towns at each corner of the island, and their only safe method of passage to each other involves the crossroad which connects them. In case you’re wondering, the game is called ‘The Waycross Inn, and although that is the default name of your inn, you can actually call it whatever you want. Which is why it’s called ‘The Pig’s head’ in this picture!

Fermentale History

The history of Fermentale is based on the colonisation of the USA, but on a much smaller island. The cultures already have their own history, and have existed for many years on the main continent, but a small number of them have decided to settle here for their own reasons. The island is much smaller, and no wars of independence / civil wars have happened yet, however, the tension is brewing and it may happen in the near future. The game is set in the year 1512.

Cultures of Fermentale

It is very important to me that there are no ‘Goodies’ and ‘Baddies’ in Fermentale. Each culture has their conflicts and flaws, however, I don’t want the player to side with any of them because they’re obviously the good guys.

Tulle

“Order is the path to peace. Wealth is the path to progress” – Message inscribed on the Tulle coat of arms

The Tulle empire are the biggest culture in the world, and were the original discoverers of Fermentale. They were the first to settle there in 1134, building their first colony in the south west corner of the land, which has now become the bustling town of Rosekeep, at the center of which sits the original stone keep. The Tulle culture has spread to all of the other towns in the land, often with a little resistance.

Droma

“I was born free” – Common phrase uttered by Droma when they are sentenced for a ‘crime’.

When Fermentale was first discovered, many people of minority religions emigrated there so they could practice their faith without persecution. One of these faiths is ‘Droma’. They’re a culture with an affinity to the land and who practice rituals which some consider to be quite frightening, and often offensive. They don’t believe in being ‘ruled’ by anyone, instead favoring the notion that Fermentale should be everyone’s land.

Croll

“Hedonism sickens the spirit. It makes us less able to love.” – The beginning of a well known Croll Prayer

The Croll are a pious branch of the ‘True’ faith, and they settled on Fermentale originally to spread their message to the natives. Their culture promotes a life of chastity and peace. They are uncomfortable in this new found land of liberty. They are quite easy to spot in a tavern, they’ll be the ones tring to discourage people from drinking, and looking after those who have overindulged. They regularly make large charitable donations to the poor or sick.

Buckan

“Let’s gar yam, thoo’s reet kaylied”  – (Translation “Let us depart to our abode. You’ve perhaps had too much to drink”)

Of course, when the colonists arrived on Fermentale there were already people there. The native culture of the island, the Buckan. When the strangers arrived, they were fascinated by some of the technology they brought with them. In turn, the Bukkan were experts at fermenting alcoholic beverages, and the colonists exported these methods back to the mainland, where they are now used worldwide. Originally scattered across the land, they Buckan have since created a stronghold in the north west corner of the island called ‘Wildborne’. Despite having widely taken on the Tulle culture, they still hold on to their proud traditions.

As with all the dev diaries, this is essentially me ‘Thinking out loud’. the game is still early in development, so the information may change. This is an open development, so anyone who wants to contribute ideas or suggestions, either comment below, or reach me at @StewHogarth on Twitter.

Cheers, Bye!

The concept is like a side-on version of Dwarf Fortress, which is also heavily inspired by the Amiga game ‘Diggers. It’s about managing an underground colony of heroes as they search for treasure and other legendary things in the uncharted depths of a fantasy realm, with a focus on survival and exploration.

This video demonstrates how the Dwarf class is used to carve out rooms and build ladders.

S

I’m Too ZXy is a webcam filter that renders you in real time in glorious ZX Spectrum Technicolor. It requires the Unity Web Player plugin, and of course, requires a webcam too!

The ZX Spectrum style, with its 256X192 resolution and 16 colours, two of which are identical, transcended the limitations of hardware and achieved a recognised visual identity of its own. With 16 colours, only 2 of which can be used in every 8X8 block of pixels, the creativity required to achieve results bore the foundation of impressionist computer graphics for the years following.

You can have a play around with I’m Too ZXy here, or by following the link on our on our ‘Experiments’ page.