4 replies to this topic

[Hodgman]

So, three years ago I made this post about how I'd just rejoined the games industry. Since then, I've worked on about 7 titles (mostly unreleased), been through a studio closure, been re-hired, met heaps of great people, drank lots of beer, and received substantial pay rises...
...but about 3 months ago, I quit my job as an Engine Programmer.
I've always had the urge to "go indie", but now I've actually got the experience & know-how, the savings account, the contacts, and the opportunities to make it happen. So I'm forming a start-up studio in my spare-bedroom in Melbourne, Australia with some great former colleagues. Also, my former employer has been nice enough to keep me on part-time as an engine consultant/contractor, so I'm not stressed about survival for the moment.

As for the actual game, I can't really talk much about it yet - we do have hundreds of pages of GDD/TDO/business plans/etc, but we're keeping a lid on the project until we get some marketing materials ready to get the concept across properly.

What I do want to write about is the engine we'll be using, as it's a band new custom-made SDK, designed for simplicity and flexibility.
For anyone interested in C++ game engine development, I'd appreciate any feedback on my first post on my new blog:
http://eighthengine....ory-management/

Also, we plan on releasing a free community/"modder" version of the engine-SDK around the same time that our game is done, but I'll also be completely open-sourcing some parts of the code-base, such as our "core" C++ library linked to below:
http://code.google.c.../source/browse/ N.B. Highly WIP, so use at your own risk. Any comments on the code also welcome!

Edited by Hodgman, 12 June 2012 - 10:35 PM.

[Servant of the Lord]

Congratulations! Earlier this year, I decided 'go indie' as well, though I've never worked in the videogame industry, and am doing my project solo (and is probably a much smaller scale than what you are doing). Personally, I don't feel I've actually 'gone indie' until I ship my first release - I'm still in the transitional phase between 'hobbyist game developer' and 'indie game developer' - I call this phase the 'wannabee-but-not-quite-there indie developer' phase.

Nice blog post - I didn't fully understand it, never having done multithreading work, but I do have one bit of practical feedback: The "two columns" of your blog makes it harder to follow, especially with a page split, requiring your eyes to jump three times, as opposed to none.



A single column is always an easier read for me.

[Ashaman73]

Congratulations and good luck

[szecs]

Congratulations!
I'm starting to get obsessed by the idea of going indie too (um... not really "going", because I was never in the industry) and make small puzzles like crazy. Okay, I don't plan to make a living of it.

I agree with Servant of the Lord about the page layout. I always disliked reading this layout. At first, I didn't even realized that is a page split. It looks more like a book that is really made for printing not for online reading.

[Madhed]

Congrats! I hope you still got time for gd.net though