Yesterday was quite an exciting day! April and I got the blood test for her pregnancy confirmation back and it was positive! I'm gonna be a daddy! Woo hoo!
Although it came a few months earlier than we expected, we're both very excited about the news. A lesson to all you youngins... keep your rocket in your pocket! Because it happens really fast. April was really concerned about her new job at Northeastern School District since know she's pregnant. She was afraid they would fire her at the end of the year and she put a lot of effort into getting this job. But she talked to the Superintendant, who said she'll be fine and they'll give her the leave she deserves and all should go well. It's going to be a stressful next couple of months, but I really think we are capable of handling this. I will be doing all that I can to support her and give her the love and attention she needs (which I'm sure will be a lot).
What this translates to for me is keeping my job at Westfalia. I guess I just have to be happy with my job and suck it up for a year now because we need the money and the benefits. I'm not sure if I'll ever be involved in professional game development at this point in my life, but right now I don't care too much. I don't really want to make someone else's game anyway. So instead, I have another idea.
I can really see game development moving in the direction of C# in the next couple of years. It has the power of faster development, managed code, garbage collection (haha...), and access to the entire .NET library. I've been toying with a bit of game design too, which I never really thought I had a knack for, and it seems like when I seriously document some of the things I am thinking about, I can come up with some seriously wicked designs! I'm working on a game design for an MMO I am calling "Wireframe". The premise is to be a fun for all people where players can change the world they interact with. I think the principle idea came from Will Wright and his design principles in Spore. He gave the player the power to control evolution with procedural content generation. While Wireframe does not have any procedural content, the players can all interact with the world. In previous MMOs that I've played, the world was static, full of creatures, and static gear. What I am aiming with in the design of Wireframe is to give players the ability to manipulate, create, destroy, and manage the world around them collaboratively. Previously you could do this in SimCity by yourself, but never before could players unite to build, configure, and change terrain the way that Wireframe exposes. In addition to the building system, a unique combat and experience system will be put in place for players that wish to indulge in a more combat-oriented world and don't care much for building. The basic unit of currency will also be the basic unit of trade skills; the pixel. Simple geometry is a key factor in the design of Wireframe because the focus is on game play, not graphics. Armor can be custom crafted with thousands of possibilities depending on play style and scenarios.
I relate the design to a combination of many games. The building aspect has roots in SimCity and other world builders, even level editors, giving players the ability to change the world they interract with. I envision the growth and destruction of terrain to be similar to the N64 game Wetrix (I think I was the only kid on the planet who liked that game...), where terrain can be built up and when it rains, water will collect in pits forming lakes or rivers which can be used as a source for various other things. This leads into Harvest Moon like behavior because as a builder, players will be able to create homes, manage "crops" (probably trees and things) and utilize a hefty toolset to maintain the visual aspects of cities (which are player built, minus a few key locations). Combat will be a unique blend of classical RPG and MMO RPG based strategies that utilize players of all types, including builders. The hybrid experience system is unique, but based on the classical idea of talents or skill trees with a hint of "practice" to master. No first person shooter concepts have been used yet considering that this IS an RPG after all. =)
Oh! And it will be cel-shaded! Cartoony models, solid colors, and bright highlights are key to the graphical style used. Take that EQ2!
Man... do I digress. This is all in my design doc (or at least in an e-mail thread I have with myself for now), so I will leave the rest to your imagination. Maybe I can start a web community to document this once I have a solid game design. As a project on the side, I can take as long as I would like to finish it, whether it goes to production or not, I don't care. This is my project, my design, my focus, and my way of enjoying development. And right now in my life, I think that is where game development belongs for me.
Although it came a few months earlier than we expected, we're both very excited about the news. A lesson to all you youngins... keep your rocket in your pocket! Because it happens really fast. April was really concerned about her new job at Northeastern School District since know she's pregnant. She was afraid they would fire her at the end of the year and she put a lot of effort into getting this job. But she talked to the Superintendant, who said she'll be fine and they'll give her the leave she deserves and all should go well. It's going to be a stressful next couple of months, but I really think we are capable of handling this. I will be doing all that I can to support her and give her the love and attention she needs (which I'm sure will be a lot).
What this translates to for me is keeping my job at Westfalia. I guess I just have to be happy with my job and suck it up for a year now because we need the money and the benefits. I'm not sure if I'll ever be involved in professional game development at this point in my life, but right now I don't care too much. I don't really want to make someone else's game anyway. So instead, I have another idea.
I can really see game development moving in the direction of C# in the next couple of years. It has the power of faster development, managed code, garbage collection (haha...), and access to the entire .NET library. I've been toying with a bit of game design too, which I never really thought I had a knack for, and it seems like when I seriously document some of the things I am thinking about, I can come up with some seriously wicked designs! I'm working on a game design for an MMO I am calling "Wireframe". The premise is to be a fun for all people where players can change the world they interact with. I think the principle idea came from Will Wright and his design principles in Spore. He gave the player the power to control evolution with procedural content generation. While Wireframe does not have any procedural content, the players can all interact with the world. In previous MMOs that I've played, the world was static, full of creatures, and static gear. What I am aiming with in the design of Wireframe is to give players the ability to manipulate, create, destroy, and manage the world around them collaboratively. Previously you could do this in SimCity by yourself, but never before could players unite to build, configure, and change terrain the way that Wireframe exposes. In addition to the building system, a unique combat and experience system will be put in place for players that wish to indulge in a more combat-oriented world and don't care much for building. The basic unit of currency will also be the basic unit of trade skills; the pixel. Simple geometry is a key factor in the design of Wireframe because the focus is on game play, not graphics. Armor can be custom crafted with thousands of possibilities depending on play style and scenarios.
I relate the design to a combination of many games. The building aspect has roots in SimCity and other world builders, even level editors, giving players the ability to change the world they interract with. I envision the growth and destruction of terrain to be similar to the N64 game Wetrix (I think I was the only kid on the planet who liked that game...), where terrain can be built up and when it rains, water will collect in pits forming lakes or rivers which can be used as a source for various other things. This leads into Harvest Moon like behavior because as a builder, players will be able to create homes, manage "crops" (probably trees and things) and utilize a hefty toolset to maintain the visual aspects of cities (which are player built, minus a few key locations). Combat will be a unique blend of classical RPG and MMO RPG based strategies that utilize players of all types, including builders. The hybrid experience system is unique, but based on the classical idea of talents or skill trees with a hint of "practice" to master. No first person shooter concepts have been used yet considering that this IS an RPG after all. =)
Oh! And it will be cel-shaded! Cartoony models, solid colors, and bright highlights are key to the graphical style used. Take that EQ2!
Man... do I digress. This is all in my design doc (or at least in an e-mail thread I have with myself for now), so I will leave the rest to your imagination. Maybe I can start a web community to document this once I have a solid game design. As a project on the side, I can take as long as I would like to finish it, whether it goes to production or not, I don't care. This is my project, my design, my focus, and my way of enjoying development. And right now in my life, I think that is where game development belongs for me.
