Explaining the Name

I've seen a couple of comments now about the name that I release games under, which is The Shape of Games to Come. Some people seem to think that I'm trying to assert that I'm the future of the games industry or something equally pompous, but it's much simpler than that.

The short explanation is that it's an homage to one of my favourite albums, The Shape of Punk to Come by Swedish hardcore band Refused. If you've never heard them, head on over to their Myspace page, and listen to "Summerholidays vs Punkroutine".

The long explanation goes something like this: I originally wanted to release games under the name Curmudgeon Games, but a quick Google search turned up far too many similar names, meaning there would be no good way for people to determine what was and wasn't actually released by me. I came up with probably about a dozen other names that I thought sounded interesting, but they were all already taken.

At that point I stopped and thought to myself "What is an unusual but easily remembered combination of words that probably isn't in use?" You've probably had similar thoughts yourself if you've ever tried to sign up for an e-mail address with a well established service, since pretty much anything remotely common is already taken. Because I'm a huge music geek, I just started thinking about the names of albums that I really like, and trying to figure out if I could make any of them sound like a game development studio. The Shape of Punk to Come was the first one I hit on that I could find a way to "game-ify", so that's what I went with.

Comment moderation is now on

I was hoping that people would remain civil in the comments, but that's probably too much to ask on the Internet. Ah well . . .

Time Flows - Your Response

This is part 2 of the previous post. I'd like the comments in that post to be about the game's themes. In the comments for this post, I'd like to hear anything else you have to say about the game. Was it interesting? Did it bore you? Is it dragging down the XBLCG channel? Do you want to see more 360 games trying to do things that are unusual and experimental?

Once again, a big thank you to anyone who took the time to play Time Flows, But Does Not Return, and an even bigger thank you to anyone who thought it was worth paying for.

Time Flows - Thematic Discussion

Time Flows, But Does Not Return is just about through peer review, so I thought I'd get a post up before it goes live in case I'm not around when it happens. I'd like to split this up into two parts, so I'll make two posts.

First, if you've taken the time to play my game, thanks! And if you thought it was good enough to warrant purchasing, thanks even more! If at all possible, I'd like comments in response to this post to be about the themes and ideas of the game. What have your experiences with these themes been? How does the game interact with those themes (if it does)? What did the game make you feel?

I'm really hoping that after people have played this game, they want to talk about it. That, more than sales figures, is what I would consider a success. So if you've played the game, and it's made you think about its themes in some way, please, share your thoughts here!

Exciting things are afoot!

Time Flows, But Does Not Return has now been submitted for formal peer review in Xbox Live Community Games. As long as no bugs/crashes are discovered and the game passes review, I'm guessing it should be available for purchase by the middle of next week. I'll update with a newer post for discussion of the game a little bit before it goes live.

Moving Along Nicely

The art game I mentioned in my last post is moving along nicely. I've got three out of the ten or so planned levels complete. I'm hoping to have the rest of the levels in the game and working by the end of next weekend. After that, I'll need to record and implement sound effects, add a menu, and write my creator's notes. Two weeks from today seems like a completely doable timeline to have the Xbox version complete. After that I think it shouldn't take more than another day to port it to Windows.

Changing Gears

I've decided to temporarily put Punk Rock Saved My Life on hold to work on a new idea I've come up with. I was starting to get a little frustrated with how long everything was taking, and the idea of the first game I've ever made taking nearly a year to finish and release seemed like not the best way to go about things. So "punk game" has been put on hold for a little bit while I work on something else. It's a little art game, which I'm hoping I can finish in two to three weeks. That way I'll have something concrete under my belt, and I'll feel a bit better about the massive time sink that Punk Rock . . . has become.