Textfyre June Update
ChicagoDave
The last few weeks have been interesting times for Textfyre.
I met with Mike gentry here in Chicago for a few writing discussions
and had dinner at Ruth Chris's steakhouse. Mike is nearing completion
of the first full draft design of our first game.
Programming will start sometime later this month or in July.
The comic book for the first game is nearly complete. The illustrator
just got married so she's been unavailable for a few weeks. I plan to
meet with her this week to finalize the comic book and other work.
The VM is still in the works, as is the website design, and
interpreter design.
There is another piece of news that's currently secret and will be
announced in some detail later this month. For legal reasons, I am not
able to disclose the details, but I think it's a huge announcement for
Textfyre.
Stay tuned!
David C.
David Whyld
I'm sure I read somewhere before that the first game was expected in
July, yet now you're saying programming won't begin until either later
this month or in July. Does this mean that the release date for the
first game has put back or that programming is going to be done very,
very quickly?
ChicagoDave
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I initially was targeting July/August, but that was always pretty
aggressive. I'm really focused on the interpreter UI and how that's
going to look. It's going to take longer than I expected, mostly
because there isn't anyone out there with the skills I need and I'm
going to work with someone to "train them up" to have those skills.
My intention all along was that this _might_ take a year or two to
launch. That philosophy still stands. However long it takes to create
the foundation, including the processes, the strategies, do test
marketing, develop material, find partners...that's just the way I
have to do things.
We're making progress every day. The design document for game one is
118 pages. The design for a second series has begun. The synopsis for
game two of the first series is defined. I have an illustrator, an
interactive designer, two writers, a game designer, a C++ programmer,
and other people involved in the business. Everyone that's gotten
involved is working hard to make this successful and believes in it.
I do think the programming will go very quickly, but there's still
work to be done. The UI is critical. I won't release anything until
that's rock solid. So even if the game is ready in July or August, the
release has dependencies outside of content development.
Now the great thing is that once the UI is completed, all future games
will be developed at full speed. We have our process for design more
or less completed. New designs and prose will probably take up 2 to 3
months, programming 2 to 4 weeks, testing for a few weeks, then
release. I expect each world will produce 3 to 4 games per year. If I
have 3 or more series in the works at the same time, we'll be able to
produce a new game every month.
I expect this schedule to take place by the middle of next year or
sooner.
If that doesn't satisfy your curiosity, I offer my standard universal
excuse: I have five kids.
David C.
internisus
in such a project/business. Best of luck!