Disqus - Latest Comments for timaste

Re: The World Is Changing… How Will You Fit In?

timaste — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:47:26 -0000

Cool video!

Re: Hey Whiners, the iPhone Market Owes you Nothing

JeremyAlessi — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:49:50 -0000

I think there's something to be said for balance. The App Store is really very freeform. I don't see how it could be more freeform unless it was on the open Internet.

The benefits of the App Store far out way the old Developer/Publisher model. Apple doesn't care whatsoever what your game is about so long as it isn't pornography and it isn't something which infringes upon their business model. There have been many highly successful games which would not have met the quality standards presented by Garage Games back in the day and yet they are many times more successful financially than for instance Aerial Antics which I had worked on for a year before it got the go-ahead to be published.

On the other end of the spectrum it takes a lot of time and energy to generate traffic on the Internet. People may complain about the App Store but as Jeff said the Internet consists of millions of competing products, not just 25,000. By comparison the App Store is a beautiful thing. Apple provides millions of eyeballs for only $99 a year and a 30% cut of your sales. You cannot possibly generate the sort of traffic you receive on the App Store for that kind of money. An App in the App Store might be akin to a needle in a haystack but a website on the Internet is like a water molecule in the ocean.

I have not felt restricted by the App Store creatively and at the same time I've never felt like it was impossible to get noticed. People may not have liked certain Apps but it's apparent that they at least witnessed them.

I guess I think these guys from Nnooo are crazy for wanting a more restricted App Store but at the same time I can't condone an indie heading for completely open waters with a web based business either. The App Store strikes a perfect balance in my eyes. There are a few restrictions but there's plenty of freedom to be creative.

Re: Hey Whiners, the iPhone Market Owes you Nothing

timaste — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:27:20 -0000

I agree with this. I am always surprised to hear indie developers calling for a more closed market.

Re: Putting Your Game On OS-X and Linux is Not Enough

timaste — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:20:39 -0000

Great article Jeff, I couldn't agree more with everything said here.

In addition to this strategy, from the art side of Grunts every asset has been designed to "scale up". All our physical assets, animations used to render could be reused for a full-on 3D product, another 2D game, promotional materials, etc. With a VERY small team on the several projects going on at once here, every workday and hour is important.

If there is a follow-on product of any type to use the Grunts IP, the time investment will be significantly reduced due to smart decisions made now that ensure we will have a solid reusable asset base to scale up or sideways.

Re: Tweaking your game with Google Spreadsheets

timaste — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:57:36 -0000

This is awesome!

Re: Vimeowned

timaste — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:07:46 -0000

Wow that sucks, sorry dude.

Re: What Is My Game’s Sales Potential?

timaste — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:07:57 -0000

Great advice!

Re: Hard To Believe: Three Years Of Blogging

timaste — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:29:04 -0000

Congratulations, always tons of great tidbits of info coming through here. Hope there is another three in the future!

Re: Review: Spore Sculptor 3D Printing Service

timaste — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:27:13 -0000

Definitely, that makes two of us!

Re: Review: Spore Sculptor 3D Printing Service

Joseph_Flaherty — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:47:47 -0000

Tim,

For sure, it is a very cool product. As soon as I got the first one I had 10 more ideas to try and test out the system. I am excitedly watching the development of this technology. When the price comes down and quality goes up it will be a major shakeup in the industry.

Re: Review: Spore Sculptor 3D Printing Service

timaste — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:22:19 -0000

Looks pretty sweet still though!

Re: Odds and Ends

timaste — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:57:39 -0000

The future of iphone (and "mobile games" in general) is very exciting.

Re: 2009 Biggie Awards, Surprisingly Good Products

timaste — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:58:45 -0000

I think how L4D procedurally generates the zombies "live" based on how the players are doing is very impressive, and definitely ties into why Jeff chose Spore (although I find L4D's procedural content more functional).

Re: PlayStation Home: Serial Killer Edition

bengarney — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:06:18 -0000

I spent about 15 minutes on Google Image Search trying to find an actual serial killer/ax murderer that looked as scary or scarier than this guy, and I couldn't.

Re: PlayStation Home: Serial Killer Edition

timaste — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:38:54 -0000

That is pretty scary looking, he looks blank and angry.

Re: Make It Big In Games New Design

timaste — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:17:14 -0000

I'm looking at it in Chrome right now, not sure what's up.

Re: Why I Don’t Own Stock In Game Publishers

timaste — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:57:54 -0000

It must be hard to turn those giant battleships!

I think the future proliferation of distribution options online are definitely creating a market for more flexible and variable games (small, large, and in between). It's always good to have more options as a developer, especially in today's market where a single title failing to sell enough units can lead to studio closure or absorption, something we see every other week it seems.

Re: http://makeitbigingames.com/2008/11/the-art-of-backing-off/

timaste — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:23:07 -0000

Thanks, the guys are fantastic. I'll send over the PSD tomorrow.

Re: http://makeitbigingames.com/2008/11/the-art-of-backing-off/

timaste — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:22:29 -0000

Final image, plus viewpoints and images from other stages of our "iterative design process" up on my blog at http://www.subreal.net/

Re: http://makeitbigingames.com/2008/11/the-art-of-backing-off/

timaste — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:56:12 -0000

Having been working on stuff since we started with the first concept, one thing I really like about the iterative process is how incredibly stress free it has been! Whenever things start to feel overwhelming in scope (the "holy shit that's going to be a lot of work" feeling), we've paired the idea down to something much more feasible to what we had to work with.

Amongst all the pairing back, it's stayed a very cool game, and I'm still incredibly stoked to get going on it next week. This process has worked very well for all the projects we've had in the works so far, and I definitely recommend it as the way to run a dev. team, especially the indies.

And don't worry Todd, I'm still working on the above image. Larger, more refined version coming soon. :)

Re: http://makeitbigingames.com/2008/11/push-button-labs-initial-site-goes-live/

timaste — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:42:33 -0000

Same! I've been having a blast lately. So far we have been living up to the mission statement. Lots of cool stuff and lots of fun!

Re: http://makeitbigingames.com/2008/10/if-robert-zemeckis-cant-cross-the-uncanny-valley-what-makes-us-think-we-can/

timaste — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:31:26 -0000

I haven't seen that wikipedia article, great read!

Re: Web Service Explosion: Put Out The Fire With FriendFeed

timaste — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:10:05 -0000

FriendFeed is just great, I don't know what to say about it other than it's awesome.

Re: http://makeitbigingames.com/2008/10/dont-fear-the-economy-start-your-company-now/

bengarney — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:08:58 -0000

That'd be a good name for a game company. "Soup Line Entertainment."

Re: http://makeitbigingames.com/2008/10/dont-fear-the-economy-start-your-company-now/

timaste — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:29:48 -0000

Soup lines need entertainment too!