Remember last week’s screenshot? That’s the game I’m making. Surprise! Over the past five days my game has developed from great right through to… equally great. In fact, I’d say it’s exactly as great, since I’ve done absolutely no work on it whatsoever. Here’s what I did instead:

I redecorated!

The Farbs Cave underwent extensive refurbishment, and my lowly geek hovel transmogrified into a classy business establishment. I’m particularly fond of the motivational posters, though their captions seem to be missing. Let me know what they’re supposed to say and I’ll fix them up.

I took a photo!

Click to embiggen

I found out I’m going to be on TV!

Good Game, 8:30 Monday night ABC2. Gosh darnit I’m just so excited! Hopefully they kept the bit where I drove my car around.

I playtested!

No, I wasn’t playing games. I asked other people to play my game, then held back tears (of joy) as they told me what (great) they (brilliant) thought (magnificent) of (rather clever) it (a bit difficult). Kyle Pulver sent me a snapshot of the ship he built, and although it may look better than mine, I can assure you that it is not. I have now synthesized all the feedback into a schedule of feature tweaks, improvements, and super improvements.

I cropped Kyle’s screenshot!

Mine is better

I wrote this post!

See above, below, and here.

I pretended to know things!

I spent Tuesday morning with a game design class, helping them prepare their project pitches. Tony Oakden and I listened as they pitched game ideas, then heaped praise on the one where they gave us biscuits. An important lesson was learned that day.

<3 Farbs

SECRET GAME PROJECT

Last week 2K Australia put on a wonderful sendoff. They hired arcade machines, filled a slushie machine with vodka, and allowed me to hide instead of giving a speech. Nothing could be finer. Now I spend my days at home, merrily coding the kinds of projects that used to be my hobby. It’s exactly how I imagined retirement, minus the smell. I can’t believe I’m being paid for this!

Oh wait. Payment. Damn. I guess I’ll have to finish something.

I say, friend, how much would you pay for a game so fine as this (see screenshot)?

<3 Farbs

I’m not sure what B does.

While you’re all here I’d like to make an impromptu announcement.

Fishie Fishie is coming to WiiWare! It’s due in a few months, and it’s being handled by the talented and courteous Christophe Kohler of DK-Games.

Expect fish! Expect modes! Expect multiplayer!

Expect more details closer to release.

<3 Farbs

Mario has something to tell you

Want to know if I quit my job? Play this game, which I sent around my office earlier today.

Click to start the game, then use arrow keys to play.

Six weeks hence indie gaming love will gush from this site. I stayed up all night working on my resignation though, so I’ll have to take a nap beforehand.

‘night.

<3 Farbs

Fishie Fishie adapts effortlessly

Here’s an interesting problem; I make games, which for all their embryonic promise we shall henceforth refer to as eggs. Meanwhile, some gaming enthusiasts have abnormal computers. Let’s call them chickens. There’s no point providing chicken eggs where there are no chickens to consume them*, but chickens won’t visit my site without the promise of yolky nourishment. What am I to do?

The solution, it seems is to let W.P. Van Paassen break the cycle. Again. It seems this heroic penguiphile is also a citri-fan, and has bestowed upon us a Mac compatible version of Fishie Fishie. If you know any gamerly Mac users, please point their single-buttoned mice over the Games link where they can put their single-button-aptitudes to use!

<3 Farbs


* The best metaphors are broken.

(image source)

Homeless game developers

That’s one word shy of an incredible heading. How cool would I be if I’d actually quit my job?
I wish my boss was a jerk. Then I could have etched “I QUIT” into his monitor. I could have spat my resignation in his face, literally, in morse code. My job is quite cool though, and my boss is a lovely person. Unfortunately, while I love making small games, my employer makes big games. Whatever could I do?

Today I applied for extended leave without pay. It’s a fumble in a fantastic yet frightening direction. I estimate an 80% increase in my personal game development productivity, which should raise my blog posts per year to… some. Up from none. I’ll start by posting tales of my Epic Journey of Minimalist Game Development, then flip back to announcing games once this employment business is dealt with.

I’m not going to tell you what games to expect, but I will tell you this: You’re going to need more pants.

<3 Farbs

(image source)

Fishie Fishie Embedded Edition

The world is full of amazing people. Harnessing the powers of tenacity and science, these people accomplish astonishing things. W.P. Van Paassen is one such person. Working unaided in the vast wasteland of the arctic tundra, W.P. braves the beasts of loneliness and polar bears to follow his passion: The study of penguins and their applicability as a gaming platform. Yestermorn I recieved a package from W.P, which I opened with great haste and ineptitude. I’ve never been good with ribbon. String aside, I tore open the package and poured the contents upon my humble floor. I blinked. I blinked again. Could my eyes be lying? No, it was true. He’d done it! The mad crazy fool had done it! He’d sent me a CD filled with gibberish that didn’t run on my Windows based computer.

Perhaps you can help me, dear reader. If you’re a penguinphile with an interest in videogames, I ask that you investigate the files marked “Linux” on my games page. Perhaps, together, we can solve this mystery.

<3 Farbs

ROM CHECK FAIL

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed a small change to the games page recently. For those who haven’t spotted it, I’ll give you a little hint: Count the number of games. Did you notice anything different? That’s right! Now there are three games, where previously there were only two. Well done! You should reward yourself by downloading ROM CHECK FAIL.

<3 Farbs

Winnar!

OMG it happened again. I released a game! Fishie Fishie is finally finished. Download it. Play it. Live it. Love it. After all, it loves you.

Oh, and that other game I made won some little shareware award for not having any viruses. I’m sure it’s very proud.

<3 Farbs

This Man Programs in C++

Every day, indie game developers around the world are crushed by overambitious 3D projects and punishing development environments. Their dream projects turn to nightmares, with over 99% of indie game projects dying in the early stages of production. This is a grim picture, but there is hope. If you are an indie game developer, or if you know an indie game developer, download Pycap today. This free game development framework offers developers the opportunity to focus entirely on gameplay, and limits ambitions by supporting only two dimensions, giving indie games the chance they need to survive the development process. Please, for the sake of your projects, use Pycap.

<3 Farbs