Hi,
I fully understand, you can't spend all day on the computer programming
games. Also I know that sounds are damned expencive. I can wait. While I
wait I can make a bit of money somehow to purchase that game. *laughs*
You can take every break you need to finnish off this thing.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 6:43 PM
Subject: [Audyssey] My Game Development Schedule
Hi everyone,
As this issue comes up off list quite often I thought I'd share this with
the list, and perhaps I can save myself some trouble repeating myself time
after time regarding Mysteries of the Ancients and Raceway. Please, no
flame wars etc over this, but I do think my repplyto the original person's
e-mail needs to be seen and read by all concerned parties. Perhaps this
may get the point across that I'm not a Borg drone or a slave working for
the masses here.
Hi,
Keep in mind when I took over those titles from Alchemy I thought it would
merely be a matter of completing the work that James North had started,
and I wouldn't have to start over from scratch with either game. As it
happened both games were heavily written in Visual Basic 6 which was
already beginning to be phased out of mainstream use, and the fact the
Raceway track editor and Montezuma's Revenge level editors were not
accessible at all. So I decided to start over from scratch with a newer
programming language and newer development tools. As a result a project i
thought would take only a few months at most has in fact become years.
Definitely far more time than I was willing to commit to this project in
the first place.
Second, when I agreed to take over these titles I made no promises when
they would get done or released, or how much time per day I would devote
to working on them. Fact of the matter is I have a life too, have a son to
raise, a wife and family, and things like that that have nothing to do
with these games at all. If I take a little time out of each day to read
and respond to my e-mail that is my right to do so. If I spend Saturday
morning with my son watching Saturday morning cartoons again that is my
right to do so. If I want to take a couple days off of game programming to
do something else I should have the right to do so without your or anyone
else's input in the matter.
Thing is I write these games purely for my own entertainment value. USA
Games is more or less a hobby and not a business where I get paid a
weekly, monthly, or yearly pay check for writing these games. Therefore
I'm not compelled to work 8, 10, 12, or 16 hours a day just to sell a game
for a couple thousand for all of my time and hard work. I'm not getting
paid enough by you or anyone else to treat it as a full time job, and you
have to understand that.
Third, you mentioned the fact that people have paid good money for
Raceway. I'll remind you of the fact you paid James North for Raceway, and
he kept all of the money for those orders, including my own, when I took
over the project. I have not received one cent for Raceway, and therefore
trying to hold me accountable for that money is just plane wrong. I didn't
hold a gun to your head to order the game, i didn't take your money for
Raceway, and all I agreed to do was complete the game as soon as i could.
I didn't agree to work around the clock 24/7 on that or any other game
just to keep a few people happy.
However, I do take your point that by responding heavily on list I appear
to be lazy, neglecting the games I'm suppose to be working on, whatever.
It is certainly true time spent reading and writing e-mail could be used
for game programming, but you appear to be over looking the time, money,
and energy I've spent on working on these games already. So if you want
some facts here are some facts to consider.
First, I generally try my best to spend at least four hours each day
working on the games I create. Some times it is more and sometimes it is
less. Some days I don't have any time at all to spend on games like going
to church with my family on Sunday, playing with my son on Saturday, or I
just take a day or two off to play games, watch TV, play my guitar, read a
book, or something else I personally would like to do better. Everyone
needs some time away from the computer, and just to give it a break.
Second, I spent considerable time between March 2006 and December 2007
creating one of the games you mentioned, Montezuma's Revenge, and in mid
January, just before final release, I got sacked with an order to cease
development of the game or face a copyright infringement suit. I felt i
had no choice to comply with that order, and to make it right I started
over with a new game, Mysteries of the Ancients, which would be given to
those on preorder status instead of Montezuma's Revenge. That entire
affair cost me a full year and a half of development time and energy. So
I've had one heck of a major setback that I think gives me an excuse for
being rather slow on releasing either game you want.
Finally, do you have any idea how much money I've put into these projects?
How much I've paid for sound effects, music, not to mention the time spent
on working on them?
Well, here is a clue. Game music is quite expensive. For a commercial
license for a music track it can cost a developer anywhere from $20 for a
single track all the way up to $100 or so. Sound effect cds are similarly
expensive. It can cost a couple hundred for a cheap collection of sounds
to a few thousand for a very large royalty free collection. It is time you
realize the fact commercial game development is not cheap, is not free,
and it costs a game developer dearly if he/she wants to start a commercial
game company for the blind.
Frankly I'm a bit sick and tired of people wining about the $30 or $60
they spent on these two games. I've spent a heck of a lot more than that
on the music for Mysteries of the Ancients, and do you hear me wining
about it? James North game me quite a lot of sounds for Montezuma's
Revenge, but I went out and purchased better, high quality sounds, etc
which costs a lot more than that $30 or $60 you and others are wining
about. Do you hear me complaining about that?
Bottom line, I understand your desire for me to just get the games done
and sell them. However, it is not that simple, nor is it especially fair
to me to totally give up my life to work on these games just to make a few
winers and complainers happy. If I seam a bit jaded I'm sick of the
complaints, so-called friendly input, and down right constant nagging from
the community regarding these games. I'm so sick of it I'm just about
ready to tell the next complainer here is the source code, here is the
game sounds I bought, now you deal with it. Write it yourself and leave me
alone. Can you see why I might feel that way?
If you are willing to spend 8, 10, 12, or 16 hours a day working on these
games you can have at it. If you are willing to put up with the almost
constant stream of when will the game be done, can I buy the game yet, why
isn't the game done yet, I think you talk too much on list and should work
on your games, type of e-mails you can have them. If you want to spend
time working and fixing bugs that pop up you can have it. The point I'm
getting at is ever since taking over these games they have become a hassle
in more ways than one. I wouldn't wish this fate on anyone.Therefore your
e-mail, no matter how well meant, just adds to the hassle of having to
respond to it and explain my personal position. I hope you understand, and
don't take this e-mail personally. I just want some room to breath, to
live my life, and not be tied to these games like a ball and chain.
HTH
Undisclosed wrote:
hi tom, as i see it at the mo, you seem to be answering too many threads
on the audysey mag list rather working on your games that you promised?
while this is not a direct critisism i have paid my dues both with
raceway and monti and expect results soon. you seem to be adressing the
mag probs and not working on the games themselves, i am a little
disatisfied with your commitment that you seem you lack to your work, but
people have paid good money before you took the esp titles over and i for
one want to see results.
in no way is this a go at you, i believe that people should see or expect
some results from you, rather than replying to nearly every single post
on audysey.
i know your putting out demos and the like to test, but i think you
should settle down and try and get a product that you can start making
money out of.
again, i'm not having ago at your good self, but you can see where i am
coming from?
sorry if this email has offended you but i thought it had to be brought
to your attention.
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