So with 2013 coming ever-closer to its end, I've looked back on what I've done this year. I hadn't been so proactive with game design and development since before I got this job (seven years ago as of last week!). In addition to Battle High 2 (see the previous entry from back in March), I worked with Lab Zero Games to get a character in the background of their game Skullgirls (which should happen within this next month or so, hopefully), and also released a few games, most of which were modified versions of stuff I did back in 2005/2006:
In addition, I'm nearing completion of Shady's Poopong: 20th Anniversary Edition, which should be released before the end of the year. However, I'm actually starting to get pretty sick of making games about gorilla poop. So, for the upcoming year, I want to try something different.
One thing I'm working on, is re-releasing my 2006 maze game, Chomperman, on Android. However, one of the major projects is a fighting game for the Atari 2600, called Street Rash. I've started basic development a little early, though, because working
on the 2600 is tougher than probably all of my other programming
endeavors combined.
So why make a game for a system that's been obsolete for probably longer than anyone that's reading this has been alive? There's a few reasons, actually. The first, being that the concept was originally made for the console back in the early 1990's. My brother-from-another-father-and-mother Carson made a bulk of the design choices for the game back when we were kids, including the name (which I assume was a play on words of the title of popular motorcycle combat-racer "Road Rash") and a majority of the characters and their attacks. A couple of months ago, I had found the original design documents that we were going to mail to Atari. Some of our ideas were dumb as hell (remember this was at like age 6-8 or so), but I was pretty sure I could make it fly in some regard.
A very early look at Street Rash.
I initially figured I'd make it just 2600-style for PC or something, but I've always had a fondness for homebrew games and have wanted to develop one forever. Making something on such a low-end console is also a good way to cut down on extraneous production, such as voice acting and sprites that don't look like butt (although I've hired the lovely Kelsey Jencks as the concept artist). It's kind of a lazy way out, I suppose, but I've got tons that I want to do next year and I want to keep it simple, even if the actual programming is going to be painful, thus saving my real focus for the bigger projects. Yes, Chomperman and Street Rash are far from the only things I have in store for 2014... they're just the only ones I'm ready to talk about at this point.
That's all for now. Nothing really else planned for next year other than surviving (although I'd like to attempt to be cast in another voice acting project. Matt DeLucas is working on an update for Battle High 2 for next year but I don't believe I'll be recording anything new for that). Maybe this seems under-ambitious to most of you, but believe me, despite all of the low points 2013 had, working on game design and development has made it the first year in a long time that I've actually felt good, even during the frustrating parts of it.
This is a project that has taken up a bulk of my time over the past year and a half: Battle High 2. It's an indie fighting game that just released last Wednesday on Xbox Live, with a PC version releasing probably within the next few days. The original Battle High (alternatively subtitled San Bruno or Elemental Revolt) was something I'd heard about months prior to my purchasing of it, and had always intended to check out, but I kept forgetting about it. When someone started submitting an entry to it on the fighting game database website "Fight-A-Base", I remembered how much I wanted to try it. At $1 there really wasn't really a lot to lose. I found the game to be pretty well done, especially for something that cost a dollar, and one of only two indie fighting games I thought were worth playing on the platform at the time (the other being Chu's Dynasty).
Using a bit of Google magic, I tracked down the message board for the development studio (it was also in the credits, but I couldn't get the URL written down fast enough before it scrolled away). I read that they were working on a second one, and I asked if I could help in any way. Mostly, I wanted to get a good, solid break into voice acting, seeing as how everything I'd done before was either canceled or something low-key like a Youtube video. The developers were pretty receptive, especially since I told them I could possibly pull some strings and get some other actors into the fold. I ended up providing vocals for three characters - Bryan Harrisworth, Ryken Volynski, and Christopher "Heavyweight" Morgann. I also submitted some announcer quips but they were never used in the final product.
As time went on, the lead developer (the super-awesome to work with Matthew DeLucas) let me know that he wasn't really feeling up to wrangling up these actors and working with them. So I took the reigns (although he did still help out a bit) and sought out more actors, wrote up some scripts, had them submit me their work and gave feedback when necessary. Essentially from that moment, I was casting director as well. We managed to snag quite a few awesome folks, from the well-known to others like me that were getting their big break. The full cast of course can be found at various places such as IMDB and Giant Bomb, but to point out just a few, we've got Kyle Hebert (Street Fighter, DragonBall Z, Naruto, Bleach, Wreck-It Ralph), two Skullgirls alumni (Kira Buckland and Danielle McRae), Tim Sutton of the Slender Man webseries "Marble Hornets", and a couple of dudes I'd worked with in a TMNT fan video.
I also became something of a marketing director, using every tool at my disposal to get people interested in this. Hiring some actors with pre-established fanbases certainly didn't hurt (although their work was the deciding factor in their being tapped for the project), but I also ended up making entries and articles on websites, started up battlehigh2.com, made a Cafepress store, and loads of other stuff.
Overall, it was a very rewarding experience. There was a lot of pressure and stress that came along with it, sure, but I enjoyed it immensely for the most part. The game is getting mostly positive reactions and I'm glad I could be a part of something like this. Although the project had me mentally, emotionally, and financially tapped toward the end there, I'd like to be a part of something like this again (although it might have to be a bit before I'm replenished, heh). I'm looking into some other collaborations in the meantime, working on a few of my own things, and I don't doubt that there will eventually be another chapter in the Battle High saga, which I'd love to be a part of.
Of note, I realized late last year that 2013 is the 20th anniversary of the mascot character created by my brother from another father and mother, Carson, and myself, "Shady". I've got a few things brewing in the pipeline for that. I also converted a couple of the older Game Maker games that I'd done back in the mid 2000's to browser. They're not exactly good, especially compared to today, but it's nice to have them archived like that.
For the first time in years, I feel like I've done something worthwhile, something people can enjoy. If I can take advantage of the lines I've got out right now regarding further potential products, I do believe that the good could just outweigh the bad in 2013.
One thing I'm working on, is re-releasing my 2006 maze game, Chomperman, on Android. However, one of the major projects is a fighting game for the Atari 2600, called Street Rash. I've started basic development a little early, though, because working
on the 2600 is tougher than probably all of my other programming
endeavors combined.
