I work pretty hard in my 9-5 job. (Yeah right. I wish it was 9-5, more like 7AM to 6PM *bleah) But don't we all these days... Last summer, out of the blue I get a call from a marketting director at Big World Games. "Hey Mark, how's it going? This is so-and-so from BigWorld Technologies in Australia. I was wondernig if you have some time to talk about Aakrana..." Well needless to say that was like a bolt of lightning from out of no where. We chatted for a good 30 minutes about Aakrana, indie development, Big World's new moves into the indie market etc.. I walked away with the opportunity to look at the BigWorld engine (Which was cool but just not modular enough for an indie in my opinion) and sort of chalked up the encounter as very cool but now let's get back to my real work..

Fast forward 6 months and I get an email from IF Studios about HeroEngines new indie offerings.. "Hey Mark, how's it going? Cooper here, lets talk..." I have to admit the opportunity to work within the HeroCloud technology is pretty intresting. Anyways after a bit of back and forth and a clear understanding that I am in no way ready to step into a full development re-launch or engine migration, Cooper hooks me up and I am now developing in the HeroEngine. I've spent the last week or so kicking myself to make sure this all wasn't some wierd twilight zone thing but nope it's real

The site I havent touched in 2 years.. The code I dabled with a bit last year but really it's got layers of dust on it at this point.. Am I really ready now, some 9 years after I set off on this great adventure to make the next great indie MMO, to embark on a full relaunch of development?? Really?! Uh ... no I was honest with myself and honest with Cooper from IF Studios. I know what kind of work is involved. I know the odds of success based on the lack of dedicated indie developers. I know the lack of dedicated developers is compound by the utter plethora of star struck dreamers who can't figure out even where to start in game development never mind what kind of chaos ensues when you add the acronym MMO infront of it. Aside from all of those challenges though I also happen to know what a person is capable of if they set their mind to it.. One small step at a time.

Aakrana was a fantasy based MMO. I had some great features built into the game (Dynamically controlled AI to create a non static MMO world.) but in the end it was simply YAFMMO. (Yet Another Fantasy MMO) Fantasy MMOs still have a following, but the market is saturated. Social Gaming is the next BIG thing. Hell even that is already blosommed pretty hard. Truth is though, simple social apps (Facebook, twitter,etc) integrated into a simple but fun and kitchie interface are all the rage. 100 million people all paying you $1 a month is a hell of a lot of dollar bills.. Although I love fnatasy MMOs and the stories and worlds that drive them, social gaming is what pays and if you want to be in game development you better the heck know what is going to bring in the paychecks.

Getting the last swift kick in the pants from IF Studios may have been just what I needed to get off my lazy backside and see what the heck kind of crazi awesomeness I can create in The next 3 months. Think I can't do it? Dare me

Mark