Monday 20 May 2024

Dark places.

Another time full of challenges behind us. The biggest one would be my head 😓Over the years I had a lot of discussions about how over-ambitious I am. One of my friends describes it: 

"Creating the game in Unity or Unreal is hard. Then I tell people that I released a game on my engine, and they look at me as if I'm insane. Then there is this guy [me]."

The thing is that we do not really create a game with its specialized engine. Our goal is to create a game technology that will allow us to make Tribute and further productions, whatever they would be. This type of approach is hard.  It challenges our skills, pushes them to the limit, and opens doors that never would open otherwise. At the same time, there is the price that we need to pay for this approach. Long development cycle, multiple iterations on systems that do not fit design. We could of course try to clone what other engines do but this is not our way. We like to explore, feel creative freedom, and just do what we want to do. 

All of this sounds great, except anyone who works on long-lasting projects knows that with time comes fatigue. When I started working on the project 14 years ago everything was simple I wanted to make L.B.A. remake. Now things getting complicated, I'm a lot older, and have a job, responsibilities, and family. Even things with L.B.A. got more complicated, we have an official remake and a whole team working on it. Where there are only two of us working on Tribute and we are still stuck on technology. All of these things lead to doubts if the path I chose was right? Was restarting the project some ago really smart? Would it not be easier to give up ...?

When this happens it is hard. Doubts grow in our minds and bring us to dark places which stop us from seeing positive things. The thing is, that there is a lot to see. We still may not be close to finishing the L.B.A. Tribute but whole tools grow with every week, they become more stable and just look awesome.

Editor use for creation L.B.A.:Tribute

Twinsen House (Editor view)

Script editor with a visual selection of translated text.

The same thing with the official remake, I'm sure that what they do is something really cool. But what we can do is take a whole story for a spin and retell it in our own unique way. How this will go we will see but I think this will be something awesome.

What do all of you think about this whole thing?




2 comments:

  1. I really admire your persistence and thorough approach. Your doubts are very understandable, with every step there is still a massive amount of work to be done.
    However, I really hope you find the time and strength go through with the project. The screenshots look amazing and your own approach gives such a different spin to the project. You're doing an amazing job!
    Im sure there are a lot of people with me who are very much looking forward to future developments and experiencing the unique look and feel of your beautiful version of this brilliant game.
    But most importantly: be kind to yourself. Hang in there!

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    1. Thanks a lot, we are getting there, slowly. I just resumed my work on animation system which is an last element that blocking us from returning to further work on gameplay. From there we should start showing more in game stuff.

      Still as much as I want to see myself as reasonable person, there are this moments of doubts.

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