From the Blog:
http://www.stasisgame.com/blog-request-share-your-ideas/SHARE YOUR IDEAS!I know I promised a blog post on Sound Design, but its taking a little longer to put together than I thought! So, in the meantime, here is another request, again by Jessica.
Would be interesting to know how you feel about your current active marketing vs keeping your project secret until launch.
Everybody is a game designer.I can promise that if you asked anyone who plays games, if they have an ‘ultimate game’, they would be able to give you a semi-decent description of what their perfect game would be.
STASIS is my perfect game. Its the game I wish someone else would have made. Its my ‘massive Zombie MMMORPG’, or ‘Epic Space Real Time Strategy Game’. Its the game that, when asked what my ideal gaming experience would be, I would describe. In all sorts of ridiculous detail. Hell, I’ve obsessed about the colour of the stripe on Johns jumpsuit for an entire weekend (settled on black).
If you think about it, the only people you should feel the need to hide your ideas from, are the people who have the ability to copy it. But those people already have their own ideas. They are overflowing with them! Hell, I know a few guys who have 5 or 6 entire worlds designed, and are stuck on which one to pursue.
While keeping this in mind, if someone else told me about THEIR perfect game, and it was something that I had the ability to produce, I wouldnt go near it. And the reason? Because I have STASIS. I could have recieved a completed design document for an Isometric adventure game, complete with puzzle design, characters, models, script, and I STILL wouldnt touch it with a barge pole-because in my mind, I had this idea brewing. This world that was MINE. The realisation of MY idea. And I think many creative people are the same.
Share your ideas. Share your stories.I started STASIS with NO previous experience in designing an Adventure Game. For anyone that was a member of the StarControl 2 community a good 10 years ago, my brother and I were the team behind a game called OUTWORLD, later changed to Alien ME. It was a StarControl 2 clone, but built using our own story, and some very cool gameplay mechanics. We also did a very cool tank game called Blast Radius, which was a take on Scorched Earth.
When we started those projects, we had each other to bounce ideas off of. But we still eventually created a website, set up a forum, and had discussions about the game with other people.
When I decided to create a (small…HA!) Adventure Game, as it was my first foray into something like this, I wanted to get some feedback from other people. I created some threads on the forums I visit most, posted a few screenshots, and really listened to the advice people gave me. It has not only altered the way I’ve created the game, but also the game itself. I love hearing if people are responding to a certain feature, or a set of ideas.
But there are two reasons, which trump all others:
There is NOTHING more satisfying for an artist than to know that other people out there appreciate your work. Every comment on this blog, email, forum post…every time someone says something about STASIS I get goosebumps. And I wouldn’t have that pride in what I was doing, if I wasn’t willing to share it, in all of its embryonic stages, with the world.Its important to share knowledge. Im completely self taught. I would know NOTHING if it wasn’t for like-minded people out there who shared their knowledge.The fun spinoff from these ideals has been the marketing of the game. It really wasn’t my intent for STASIS to gain any sort of popularity through the blog, or the forums-but the fact that it has has been terrific. You guys are very much the reason I can open up my design book, sit down for hours after a full day of work, and get renewed energy to continue on!
And for that I thank you – and I urge you to share your ideas. Share your stories. Share your knowledge!
-Chris
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