Sigh

I have like 1.5 GB of downloads of updates.  Guess I forgot to do that sort of thing recently.


....


Guess I won't be working on the game tonight.  Argh face!

Still working on copy

Need to email the programmer, and also look at some new art.  Might post some sketches when I have them.

Had a meeting with the copywriter last night

lasted 2 hours.  I explained all the stuff he needs to know, he should do a much better time this time around.  The first draft I literally doubled the script size from 25 to 50 pages.  He'll probably hand me another 25, but hopefully it's closer to my vision this time.

Artist is sick and is having trouble completing the icon.  Kinda rough because I need the art to move ahead...there's a whack load left to do.  I might take the icon off her hands and do it myself.  I don't have a problem with vector graphics (I designed the battle icons, feel free to ridicule me.)

Work is crazy, I'm getting sick, I just had an allergic reaction to strawberries in my dinner and now I'm going to gym to burn off this day.  This day needs to go away.

Paper Monsters review

Music is annoying me too much to keep playing Paper Monsters.

Like the graphics (saw demos in forums, lost my mind with how beautiful it looked)

mechanics are really solid, jump-wise, which is your only attack.

Unfortunately, every time you jump, you make a very annoying Mario-like sound.  But when you get hit, you make a different, weird baby "ow" sound.  Also hurts the game, sometimes my guy just wouldn't move or jump...controls weren't responsive enough, although I liked the general idea.

Cool ideas in this game.

I played two levels...the music loop can't be longer than 30 seconds.  I was annoyed halfway through the first level.  I stopped playing halfway through the second.

Can't find a backgroud the background artist sent me

ARGH I NEED IT HULK SMASH.

I'm trying to be fair

But I'm being required by Apple to send them a letter telling them my address and that I'm allowed to represent the company and that Interra Game's business address is what I say it is.

That was on those forms I sent you.  You know, that 10 page document of Articles of Incorporation?

=/

Displeased.  

Now, to github!

The whole point of this was so that I could get on github and start using xcode, etc etc etc.

Anyways, logging into github using terminal was....interesting to say the least.   I learned a couple things:

I'm now very grateful for WYSIWYG products.  Github is not my friend..

I am loving the ease of now officially owning a mac product.  Hating folder organization and that I needed to download a product to see hidden files.  (Spent 45 mins looking for one file.)

Figured out how to make public keys and such to folders. 

Learned how to log into github.  (Uh, I think.  I set everything up, but I'll have to re-enter everything again, I think....sigh.....)

That I'm so. SO. SO. Glad I'm paying someone else to do it.  Just logging into github took me 2 hours.  How long do you think it would take me to make a game?  Geez!

I have just spent the last three hours playing iphone games

And I have learned three things:

1)  Good controls make sucky games alright.

2)  Most people who release games for the iphone don't know how to spell.  The rest don't know how to spell plot, much less create a plot.  Casual game stories suck.  How do people get away with this?

3) There just aren't a lot of good games on the iphone, period.  The only one I can think of that I would actually call a game that did anything interesting, and I haven't even PLAYED it but I KNOW it'll be what I expect, is Infinity Blade.  Honestly, why don't indie devs realize how bad the games are on here?  I'm not saying I'm going to make the best game that ever existed, but where's the fun and where's the creativity and WHERE'S the SPELL-CHECK.  (Mage Gauntlet has just been loaded and I have high hopes for the  writing.)


As always, go to www.interragames.com and sign-up to be a beta-tester for a great fantasy-themed visual-novel style iphone game. (Say that three times fast.)

Writer's block thanks to a crap sleep last night

I'm getting sick of faxing stuff

Man, seriously, I sent you a certificate of incorporation, why do you need the OTHER twelve documents attached to that? 


Sigh.  HONESTLY.

Redoing wireframes

New mock-ups needed for the developer as I explain some changes to the battle system.

Argh

And now the programmer hasn't returned my e-mail or contacted me in the last week when he promised me a document a week back...


I'm hoping he's not dead.

Well now I'm really annoyed

So I've narrowed down my choice of developers, and the one I'm most interested in e-mails me to tell me he's been busy working on his own games, which is why he hasn't responded to my request for a phone interview.

Er, really?  I'm going to pay you and you can't even answer one simple email with a yes/no answer?  I understand busy like anyone, but I'm all about lining up the next sale.  I'm kinda wondering what this guy's deal is.

So I'm moving on, a couple more interviews, and I think I'll have someone by next week. 

A friend referred a really great coding guy, but he says he doesn't have the time nor the iOS skill to do the job, although he said he'd pass along the opportunity.  So, I almost had the perfect programmer (I met him once, he's as nice as programmers get.) and lost it all in the same week.

Deadline for programmer is Nov. 15.  I don't think I'll be using e-mail-me-sometimes-guy because I already have one of those on staff.  They're fun, and they get the work done eventually, but I have a guy e-mailing me that really wants to do and follows up with me, and compare that to someone I have to send three e-mails to get a response, which twice has been 'um, sure, sounds good, let's talk later.'  Who does that?  Does anyone understand people like this? 

Really

Man, why do people even bother applying for contract positions if they were never really interested in the first place...seriously.

Of course I can do it all myself...I just don't WANT to.  It's a waste of time, and by doing that I'm going to miss the Christmas season for sales, and I have to spend time learning something that a variety of people already know how to do well, which is a huge loss, in my mind.  And it means I can't focus on other elements like story, art design, UX, marketing, beta testing, etc.

Well, whatever.  At this rate, I'll do it all myself.  And get all the $$. (All three of them.)  That'll show them.   

Honestly

How long does it take to make a quote for a project?  It's been more than three days.  I run my own service/product based business based on extremely vague ideas and I still put out a quote in half a day, max.  I shouldn't have to prod someone by e-mail to ask them for the quote as a reminder, should I?