Why do we do what we do?

This started out as a lengthy comment over at Edmund’s Do’s and Dont’s Manifesto on IndieGames. [via @godatplay] You should read that before reading this.

Edmund’s points are all very sound, but like any list, it’s easy to pick apart. But really what came out was a discussion about how each of us as developers approaches things from what sometimes is a vastly different angle. Stephen Lavelle [increpare] mentions how he takes issue with most of the points, and with good reason. Stephen makes games for very different reasons than Edmund. It got me thinking again about something I’ve been thinking about a lot since I was talked to Ben about creativity. We were chatting about his ongoing sideproject: Aztez and we got talking about collaborations and he mentioned how he sees most developers as one of two different types of creative people: Artists or Entertainers. That stuck with me and forced me to take it on and ask myself…
Me

Am I an Artist or an Entertainer?

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2009 was a real roller coaster but we’re still strapped in.

tl;dr: I know this is over 2K words so if you just want to get an update on what’s going on right now and what we’re planning, skip to the 2010 heading at the end of the post.

Most individual years of my life have been pretty homogenous. Save an errant semester, my entire life up until a couple years ago has been calculated in years; Freshman Year of High School; Senior Year of College. While there are definitely a lot of up and downs within those years, nothing has been so completely sporadic as my 2009.

But like any year, it boils down to a handful of very important moments. Not all of them were instrumental, but in some way each defined a project or a period of time. I think this year was particularly unique because it was my first real year of being completely on my own. Kongregate was no longer funding Dinowaurs [although that stopped well before 2009 started] and everything was pretty much up to us. What game we were going to make and how that was going to pay the rent every month. We’re still learning, but we’re much better off now than we were and it’s thanks to this roller coaster we rode and the lessons it taught us.

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Tons of 222 from the last few months.

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I had another insane dream last night.

Was in some sort of school (grad?) and we were discussing a book, afterward most people started reading in class but I had some sort of blackberry thing and I couldn’t figure out how to turn the volume off/down and people started getting annoyed. I finally figured it out but kept using it everyone began to sneer because I wasn’t reading. They quietly whispered to the teacher and finally I turned around and said “Look! as a rule, why don’t you just mind your own work and focus on that. This isn’t high school.” Things escalated and I had to leave in a hurry. I told a friend nearby to pack and watch my stuff in case I didn’t come back soon enough. I left and ran through the fields. The kind of running done by Princess Mononoke. Very low to the ground, fast and frantic. Eventually I got onto the sidewalk near a road and met someone on a bridge. I didn’t know who it was but we fought. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m working on a few things, most importantly a new game called Pterogative

Right now I’m in the middle of working on Mikengreg, a tentative new brand/company? for… Mike ‘n’ Greg. We’re also working on a couple of games semi-simultaneously, each one headed up by one of us. Mike’s is called Eon, which he is polishing/wrapping up this week. My game is called Pterogative and it’s serious business [that's what we say now instead of art-games].

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Here’s my problem with Fun.

I love fun, but after we made Gray, something went off in my head. So now I’ll rant about that. :)

Me

“This is actually kind of easy. It’s not perfect or even great, but making a game with a message is a relatively simple pursuit. So why is making a fun game so hard?”

After some thinking and a few late night discussions with people smarter than me I’m pretty sure I know why.

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Hi, I’m Greg Wohlwend and I am a workaholic.

This will probably be a bit long winded but writing this post has help solidify how I’ve been feeling lately about being a independent game developer. Please bear with my emo.

When I transferred from the University of Iowa to Iowa State University to pursue a degree in graphic design something switched on inside of me. The challenges that the rigorous ISU design program posed brought out the best in me. I arrived on campus at the beginning of the spring semester with little choice but to complete the year-long curriculum within half the time recommended [1 semester]. Since you can [and probably should] spend all your free time polishing your projects to make sure you have the best shot at being accepted when you hand in that all important portfolio at the end of the year, spending a full year instead of 1 semester will help your chances.

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We just got back from IndieCade and it’s Mike’s birthday.

Wow.

Mikengreg just returned safely from IndieCade to the gray plains of Iowa and we couldn’t be happier. It’s Mike’s birthday [wish him well on twitter] today and we’re both charged full of IndieCade. Countless memories, so many new-old friends, it was an unbelievable gathering of intimate and heartfelt personalities that we will never forget. We love you all.

Mike was so happy he dusted off his stripping skills for you all.

While I was considering on writing more of a reflective post on how this has transformed my life, I think right now there’s simply too much to talk about and the message would get lost. For now, here are some videos that capture a little bit of the tone of our experience.

Also check out my flickr set for all of the [crappy] pictures I took during the festival.

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How I find good folks to collaborate with.

I just got off the phone with my friend and intuition collective member, Ted Martens, and we were talking a bit about collaborations. Being that game development is rarely the product of just one person, [some exceptions being: cactus, eskill and mossmouth] collaborations of some kind are often useful. But when I talk to people interested in finding a deal like this with someone else, regardless of expertise, they are often lost on where to begin and what to look for.

To be clear, a collaboration is a type of working relationship where all parties agree to some kind of revenue split on a per-project basis. This has nothing to do with hiring employees, contractors or anything else. Anyway, here’s some of what I learned about finding good collaborators.

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Gray is in IndieCade and Fig. 8 will be at the Eurogamer Expo.

So we’ve known about the IndieCade thing for awhile but haven’t gotten around to announcing it officially just yet here. Though, we just found out Fig. 8 will be across the pond in the Eurogamer 2009 expo so I figured we’d get two announcements with one stone! It’s a pro PR move by us, to minimize our number of press releases. ;)

Anyway, for the IndieCade dealio we’ll be in LA for the entire thing, October 1st – 5th. Mike and I are doing a “salon” of some sort on Friday morning. They tell us we don’t need a cosmetology license or anything like that so I think it’s just us talking. Come and see to find out!

Also, the folks over at IndieCade wanted us to record a little video interview. We didn’t really know what to do but when we were recording my Mom called and saved the day by asking us some hard-hitting questions. Diane Sawyer is one of her idols and I think her influences really shine through in this revealing exposé. Watch it after the jump.

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