Dreamagination

Here it is… the intro sequence to Dirty Split. Enjoy!

Mal was deutsches:

Jemand hat mir nahegelegt, daß es keine deutsche Version dieser Webseite gibt. Das ist möglicherweise unfair für das deutschsprachige Publikum, und darüber hinaus unfair für das Spiel selbst, besonders da die deutsche Version mit so viel Aufwand und professionellen Sprechern produziert wurde.

Macht Sinn. Wie man sehen kann, habe ich mal für die wichtigsten Stellen der Seite eine alternative deutsche Übersetzung bereitgestellt. Auf die Weise sollten sich auch all diejenigen nicht mehr verlaufen, die mit dem Englischen an sich auf Kriegsfuß stehen. ;o)

Ich poste allerdings weiterhin auf Englisch, bis ich einen zwingenden Grund sehe, das zu ändern. Ich bin nämlich immer noch gespannt, woher denn nun der Großteil des Publikums stammen wird und welche Nationalitäten die Download-Statistiken beherrschen werden :o)

And in English:

Somebody noted that there’s no German version of this website. That might be unfair for the German audience and unfair for the game itself, especially since the German version has been produced with such a high production value in terms of professional voice actors.

Makes sense. As you can see, I’ve provided an alternative German translation for the most important portions of the site. This way, even all those who are at war with English in general shouldn’t get lost anymore. ;o)

I’ll keep posting in English, though, unless I ever see an important reason to change that. Actually, I’m very curious to find out where the major part of the audience is coming from and which nationality will be featured most in the download statistics :o)

It’s finally springtime after a not-so-white winter that has been going on for too long. And apparently the general flora is not the only thing that’s blossoming: It’s also the blossoming season for several long-running independent productions, all high quality adventure games that are ripe for the plucking.

I’ve mentioned the Zak McKracken 2 project a while ago, and the last weekend saw the kick-off party for its release. Seven years of development have not diminished the fans’ interest in the game, and the party seems to have been a smashing success. The whole thing is available as a 2 gigabyte download, so everyone who didn’t have the time to attend the party (like me, regrettably) can enjoy the game now, too. Once again, kudos to everyone involved. Outstanding work :o)

A few weeks ago, Martin Lassahn released his game Timanfaya, very unexpectedly and without much fuss. The release marks the end of a long time of work for Martin, and it stands as a great example of an independent game. In addition to creating all the graphical content for the game (backgrounds from photos, hand-drawn animations, 3D scenes) Martin also developed his very own proprietary engine in Delphi, along with all the tools and editors required for the development framework. It’s a mammoth effort for a single person, but one that seems to have paid out for him, as the game was released to rave reviews and a wealth of positive feedback from the gaming community. Great job there, too.

And at last, another notable project has received a definitive release date: Broken Sword 2.5. After an equally long development period as Zak McKracken 2, Broken Sword 2.5 will be available for download in August 2008. So there’s something to get you through the summer :o)

While I’m waiting for the last few voice actors to send their lines in before the game is released, I find myself thinking about what my work on this game has taught me over the months. The two most important lessons are:

• It’s a LOT of work
• It CAN be done

If you have a specific vision in mind and see it come to life after a lot of hard work, that really gives you a rush. It’s small achievements and immediate results that keep you going, but the overall result is what makes you want to do more. And I find myself thinking about the next project already.

I’ve put up a “team” page to show you all the people who helped create this game for you. Give it a look, there are many precious gems of talent among all those nice souls. You might even find the professional help you need for your own projects :o)

Here’s one of the shortest cutscenes in the game. Just an intermission really to connect the chapters:

… or in other words: Betatesting is well underway and I hope the testers’ attempts to break the game will fail. So far nobody managed to produce any crashes, but all feedback on the game is invaluable.

The core game is finished now and 100% playable. I’m busy with implementing action sounds and fine-tuning the ambience right now, but the next thing to work on will be the cutscenes. I’ll have to whip out my animation and editing skills and go to town on those little movie sequences. Walt Disney would be proud. However, if you feel a faint wind blowing sometime soon it might be caused by Disney’s fierce rotation in his grave. ;o)

Anyway, the response from the beta test is very encouraging and it instills all the more confidence that you’ll enjoy the game. :o)

Dirty Split has received its first preview over at adventure-archiv.com. The article is available in German for now, but an English version will follow soon.

In the article Sylvia Giessler, creator/maintainer/chief editor of the adventure archive, takes quite an in-depth look at a preview version of the game. It reveals a couple of new screenshots and is well worth the read. Thanks Sylvia :o)

It’s always nice to see fellow game creators receive the recognition they deserve. As the independent Zak McKracken between time and space project is about to be released, the team leader visited a german TV show last friday and talked a bit about the game and its development. A recording of the show is available over on the Zak2 website.

Read the rest of this entry »

Woohoo! Only one more screen to draw and a couple of animations to do, and the core game will be finished. Which means Dirty Split will be 100% playable by next week and beta testing can begin.

There’s still a lot of work left to do as cutscenes need to be animated and cut, sounds and music need to be implemented and a little bugfixing might have to be done (although I’m confident that it will actually be very little).  I’m very much looking forward to voice recording which can begin soon (once the script for all the in-game dialog has been proof-read). Ooooh, exciting :o)

A number of people now have asked me why I don’t sell the game and I was told they’d be perfectly willing to pay money for it. After all, a lot of time and work goes into this project and it would be nice to be rewarded. And as I’m working on this in the spare time that’s left after my demanding day job, I often find myself working until 3 or 4 in the morning (much to the disapproval of my girlfriend, understandably).

So why don’t I charge money for the game?

Read the rest of this entry »