Hauntibles

Iteration means to go over something again and again, seeing what works, what doesn't, and refining the end product each time. It's time consuming and exhausting, but is a proven method for making your game better. The more I iterate, however, the more numb I get to everything, so I find it's extremely useful to get feedback from others. I might not always agree with their solutions, but more often than not, I find they've honed in on problem areas I hadn't noticed. A key component of iteration is called "playtesting". This involves actually playing your game or letting others do so, and evaluating it for certain core factors such as "fun, challenge, engagement, etc." I've probably iterated HAUNTIBLES hundreds of times by now. I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. But the game is getting better each time. Trick now is knowing when it's good enough, for I feel if one's not careful...you could iterate forever. Ma...

Developing a complex project like a video game is similar to running a marathon. (I know I already compared it to building a house. Metaphors are fun!) It's all about pacing yourself. Irregardless of your rhythm and positive outlook, however, there always comes a point when you reach what I call, The Dreaded Mile 20 . At Mile 20 you lack the fresh vigor of the start. The halfway point celebration has come and gone. You're pretty tired, burnt-out, and wonder if you'll ever complete the freaking thing. The finish line isn't visible yet, so it's too soon to exhaust that last sprint to the end...but you feel your energy grinding to a halt. Mile 20 is awful. And it's killed more than one project.  Then you add a certain sound effect, or a little animation, and part of the game comes alive. That little glimpse of what the end result could be is often all it takes. So you carry on...one keystroke at a time...one click of the mouse. Closer, inch by inch. U...

The Bronx Sisters, a popular singing trio of the decade. The storyline for HAUNTIBLES goes back a long way, but the bulk of it takes place in the 1920's. The reason for this is a mixture of practicality and aesthetics. First, the practical side of things. I wanted there to be photographs in HAUNTIBLES , and not just any photos, but the candid ones that we're used to seeing today. These didn't appear until the arrival of Kodak's Brownie Camera in 1900. So the storyline had to happen after that.   Until the advent of Kodak's tiny box camera, photography was strictly in the hands of professionals. Next, I wanted to use real scraps from the era: cut-out ads, bus tickets, gum wrappers, ephemera. In order to avoid hunting down the copyright for every single image, I decided to stick with images in the public domain. Anything published prior to 1924 falls into this category, so that became a good cutoff date for me. I love hats and everyone in the...