We are sort of on YouTube, but you can expect to see this little Rising Phoenix Games Logo Reveal clip at the front of more of our stuff in the future.
The Rising Phoenix Games Logo Reveal was created by my brother, Donovan Sloan, who does excellent illustration, animation, and graphic work.
Let’s talk about making games.
Specifically, writing for games, designing games, and game programming.
These are the three areas I’m excited about, thinking about, and working the hardest to improve on.
Let’s open up the conversation, talk about the journey, about learning new skills, grabbing opportunities, and making better stuff.
How?
Blogging makes the most sense to me. The medium has to allow for the conversation to happen.
Facebook also makes sense, because it’s where most of us lurk. Facebook can feed into the blog.
BUT! I don’t want to be another voice on the Internet claiming to know stuff.
I’ve met so many great people who are doing good work in the games industry, and it’s them, you, who would make this worthwhile.
I want to tap into the brains of better people and learn from them, grow, and be challenged. I’m calling you all out, because you’re doing good work and have something to share.
As December draws ever closer I find myself thinking about New Years resolutions and how well I’ve done throughout the year.
One resolution I had was to create more and consume less, and I’ve done pretty well on most accounts. Although I haven’t published much this year, I have several products ready to launch and a number that are close to done. Watch this space.
That brings me to my second resolution: finish more projects. I’m very good at starting new things, but this year I tried to focus on wrapping up more projects. This led to a few months where I focused on Flash games I’d been working on. Although they all came along nicely, none of them are nearly as finished as I would like. On the plus side, Rising Phoenix Games now has a big team of dedicated testers.
The Claustrophobia Beta was a major win for me this year. We did a bunch of testing and editing and the book’s layout and illustrations are in the works, with a very capable artist at the helm. I can’t wait to show you.
Unfortunately, there were a few low points this year, but nothing Team Phoenix can’t learn from. I might quit writing adventures for cons to focus on paying writing jobs from now on.
I’ve published 3 pages for the Avernos Wiki, which I’ll be linking up soon. There’s still a ton of content that needs editing, so there’s plenty of my free campaign setting for you to look forward to.
So, what will 2015 have in store? Watch this space.
This year I’ve narrowed my scope down to four projects and I thought I’d fill you in on my plans.
I’ll be writing for ICON again this year. If you don’t know, ICON is one of the big role-playing conventions in South Africa. With 10 RPG modules and 2 LARPs scheduled, it promises to be a 3 day role-playing extravaganza. Watch this blog for more!
Continuing with adventure modules, this month I’m doing the Gamers Lifestyle Boot Camp. The goal: publish my first full adventure module on DTRPG. Since I started Rising Phoenix Games three years ago, the goal has always been to publish my modules, making them available to more people. I’ve deliberately held off from publishing for now, but everything will change come August this year or next when my contract ends. So, although you might have to wait, I’ll be toiling away in anticipation. And, to kill two giant eagles with one magic missile, my Boot Camp project is also my ICON module. Yes, sneaky hobbitses indeed.
For a new challenge, I’m helping a friend craft the story for an indie X-Box game. No spoilers yet, but this will be a great chance for me to hone my story telling skills.
Claustrophobia! is getting sleeker. The gnomes are working frantically on page layout and a cover design and I’ve spent some time tightening up the main themes of the game. After a little more simmering I’ll be getting back to you for your opinion. Be sure to join the Facebook group to keep in touch with developments.
Finally, I started working on a Flash game last year. Why a Flash game? Well, it’s something I learnt in university and hadn’t touched for awhile. I must say, picking it up again was easier than riding a bicycle and a great way to end off 2013. Will Rising Phoenix Games go the route of digital gaming? That remains to be seen. I watched an interesting video recently by Jonathan Blow that has me thinking about what makes a good game and I feel I could deliver something really interesting. So, with two digital projects set for 2014, let’s see where this takes us.
Phew. That’s a load. The quote for yesterday’s Boot Camp was “We overestimate what we can do in a year. But we underestimate what we can do in an hour.” That’s from Yax at www.dungeonmastering.com. It certainly might be the case here, but I have worked hard to lay a good foundation and now it’s just a matter of getting stuck in.
