Animation is the game killer

It’s fitting that I never got around to discussing animation before now, because the one thing I've learned in the past two years is that animation can be a game killer. If I'd set out to make a less ambitious game with low-res art or more amateurish production values—as, to be honest, I probably should have—it would have been relatively easy to find some pixel pushers to help with the animation, or even do it myself. I'm decent enough with Photoshop.

But no, I wanted the best. I wanted a Disney-quality production. So I held out. I searched freelance art forums. I contacted art schools. I looked all over for a traditionally trained animator or animators who'd be willing to work for what I could afford to pay. I was always pretty good at finding background artists and painters to match the style I'd established for this game, but finding an animator was a different story.

I thought I’d finally solved the problem for good last June when I began working with a professionally trained animator out of Savannah, Georgia. Not only was he willing to work for short money, but his work was good. Damn good. He was fast, willing to listen to my suggestions, and responsive to my emails. Together we made more progress on the animation front in two months than I had in the previous year and a half. It was a revelation. The characters in Rise of the Hidden Sun were coming to life before my very eyes. After years of searching, I’d found my animator!

Or not.

Because this animator, like the ones before him, eventually stopped producing. Progress updates became less and less frequent. The quality of the work dropped significantly when he did get around to sending me something. Eventually we parted ways, and I was left to wonder (not for the first time) if I'd just bitten off more than I could chew. Could I ever get Rise of the Hidden Sun made as a freeware game?

If I really wanted it to be professional quality, it seemed, the only way to make sure that happened was to adopt a more professional approach—and that meant a for-profit model that would make it an actual business. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, I could embrace the do-it-all-myself approach and be the game’s chief artist and animator, which would ensure that it would get done—but would it even feel like the same game by the time I finished it?

So there I was, standing at a crossroads in the game’s development, and I had no idea which road to take.

Back to the drawing board… literally

I'm a few months removed from the shock of losing my last animator, and I'm still committed to making Rise of the Hidden Sun a freeware game. Truth is, I already have a career that I enjoy and don't want a second one working on a for-profit adventure game. I don't need the hassle of deadlines, either.

So for now, I continue to chip away at my to-do list whenever I can. A background screen here. A sound effect there. Here a new line of dialogue, there a tweak to a puzzle. The first of the game's four acts is almost completely done, except for a few outstanding character animations. And, I've contracted a new and promising animator to take a shot at touching up the unfinished work left by my previous animator. Hope springs eternal.

Will I ever finish the game? Yes. Will it be soon? No, not so much. And that's why I'm planning to "disappear" until I have something new to report. The next time you hear from me—maybe a month from now, maybe next year, maybe five years from now—it'll be because the first act of the game is done and ready to download.

Kids, don't try this at home

Me, I don't really have any regrets. I'm creating this game my way, and while it is taking forever and costing me a small fortune, I know the end product will be personally satisfying. The fact that it'll still be freeware will make it doubly so.

That said, if there's one thing you should learn from my experiences, it's this: don't follow my example. When people say start small—do it. Finish a few little games before setting your sights on something bigger. Prove yourself before you try recruiting a team to build something more ambitious. That's the right way to do it. That's the only way to do it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go disregard my own advice.