I just stumbled over a blog post by Josh Roberts, multi-talented writer/producer/designer of the very excellent independent adventure game Rise of the Hidden Sun (the post is from November 2007… yeah, I’m a bit behind on my reading material). It’s a very ambitious freeware project that suffers a bit from an on-again, off-again progress. After a long hiatus, development on the game resumed in 2007 and the artists in Josh’s team churned out some really impressive artwork, but now according to his blog post production seems to have ground to a halt again.
It seems like his project has been befallen by the problem that destroys so many independent projects: Team members that go missing never to be heard from again. It’s very hard to manage a team of talented people and keep them interested in your project long enough to do the necessary work, which might take years. It’s even harder when the project is freeware and doesn’t pay anything except the warm and fuzzy feeling of pride and having achieved something. Usually people are all enthusiastic and thrilled about a project at first, which might last for a couple of weeks, even months. But game development is hard work for every department involved, and after a while the realization sets in for everybody that it takes quite a big bite of time out of your personal life and you need to commit to it. Some people lose interest, some just lack the time or commitment, and only very few independent developers (compared to the number of projects announced every day) manage to keep their eyes on the ball, keep their team inspired and finish their games.
Josh is obviously very determined to see the game of his dreams realized. He’s also a talented writer with a kick-ass concept for a game. Yet even he has problems in finding and maintaining the help that is necessary to create this mammoth project, at least with the kind of quality he aspires to. I’ve been there myself a few years ago when I designed a game about an art thief, an ambitious multi-level story that would comprise 10 chapters, many different locations, fast-paced action sequences and more hand-drawn art than you could shake a stick at. We were a team of 3 and had a couple of brainstorming sessions to flesh out the design, but eventually there was more mutual distraction than progress and the whole thing never went anywhere. I guess everyone has to go through this frustrating experience once.
This is when I decided to start a smaller project completely on my own. Without any help and creative input, but also without being distracted or having my development progress thwarted by waiting for someone else’s work. The result is what you see here and what is almost finished. That is not to say that I don’t want to work with a team, quite the opposite: I’d be happy to see Dirty Split generate enough momentum to attract like-minded talents for future projects. I’d love to work in a collaborative effort to create a better, more ambitious game. It’s very hard to find the right people, but it’s always easier if you already have something to show for yourself :o)
Anyway, I hope Josh will find a way to keep his project going. Rise of the Hidden Sun is a game I’m very much looking forward to.