I'm making a free Giant Bomb themed sports game inspired by retro classics Windjammers, Sanrio World Smash Ball! and many other "ponglikes". This is my pathetic attempt to blog about its development. If you'd like to understand my madness a little better than you might care to check out my other entries below.

1. Games of future past: Giant Bomb Jammers

To be completely honest, the title here is partly a joke. This only really feels like dev log #82, but the cannibalization part is very real. Last week I gave a very brief overview of the history of "Giant Bomb Jammers". Probably too brief in fact. So this week I thought I'd try to go into a bit more depth on a few points. I usually try to avoid writing any long-winded personal life stories because I think most people couldn't care less, but also because they feel a bit self-indulgent and egocentric to me. However, for this particular project I think it might be helpful to share a bit more about myself

A Brief History

I'm not exactly sure why, but ever since I was a child, I've enjoyed creating things for others. I first started with papercraft, creating entire kits and then packing them up in my own hand-drawn packaging and promotional material. I even made fake catalogs for toys that didn't exist?! Then I moved on to creating my own fake radio programs and dramas on cassette tape (yes, I'm that old). I like to think of myself as a pioneer in the concept of podcasting, since I was basically making them before they were even invented! Then I moved on to making my own home movies and even cartoon and stop motion animations.

I never had any video game consoles growing up. So my first exposure to video games was when my older brother bought a Packard Bell. I immediately fell in love with computers and video games after that. Since I already loved making things I began to try to hack and modify any game I could get my hands on. Years later, this would lead me to dabbling in map making for games like Day of Defeat and Team Fortress 2.

A Series of Unfortunate Events.

About ten years ago I moved with a few family members from Illinois to North Carolina for the warmer weather and to be closer to other family. The move didn't go very well to say the least, and this took a toll on me. My life from that point on has become something of a roller coaster ride through Hell. In late 2012 everything came to a screeching halt when I had a complete emotional breakdown from a confrontation at work. The experience was so bad that I was forced to resign from my job. This was a full-time position I had held for over seven years! Even worse, this was my primary source of income,and I was using it to support more than just myself.

At this point I had already been working on project "Gerztron" for a few months, but now without a job and things looking grim, I decided to turn to the only thing I felt emotionally capable of working on at the moment. I hastily put together a Kickstarter campaign for the game as I frantically worked on getting the prototype ready. I was hoping that I could somehow supplement my income loss with funding through Kickstarter, but unfortunately the campaign was not well thought out and I lacked an audience. The whole experience was also extremely stressful. Especially when you feel like a lot is depending on its success. Although my situation was quite different, I did feel like I could relate a little bit to Chris Taylor's very emotional Wildman Kickstarter experience.

The Light at the End.

The whole of 2013 was quite a blur to me. Emotionally drained, extremely stressed and a great amount of anxiety is the only thing I really remember. Even the sad and shocking news of Ryan's passing didn't have as much of an effect on me as I felt it should, but at that point it seemed like I had become quite numb. At the beginning of 2014 things started to look a little less bleak. I finally felt like I had a shaky hold on things again. I was also lucky enough to have found a new job, but several issues still remained. I've discovered in the last year that I have a few concerning health issues that I really need to get checked out. My vision has also deteriorated to the point that I know I need glasses now. Chronic depression and a lack of motivation are also two big issues I'm constantly having to deal with. I'm also not completely in the clear yet when it comes to my financial situation.

Unethical Game Development.

The existence of Giant Bomb Jammers almost feels like an accident. This is because the game was partly created by cannibalizing at least 5 other prototypes. Over the years I have worked on a lot of different prototypes that never made it very far. This is mostly because of my sporadic and creative impulses. I'll come up with an idea quickly, but will almost just as quickly get discouraged when it takes longer to develop than anticipated. This combining of different unfinished projects to create one single complete game feels almost like trickery on myself, and no one is probably more surprised that it exists than me. Considering my current situation, It is also both hilarious and a little sad to know that the first project I've ever really made any significant progress on is a free fan game that I cannot sell. This is, however, not to say that I do not feel adequately repaid for my efforts. Getting to see the Duders play it was the best kind of reward I could ever ask for.

What About the Actual Game?

Progress on the GB Jammers port from GameMaker to Unity is going slow but steady. Getting the basic mechanics and graphics working was surprisingly easy, however, I hit a snag with the menu (GUI) system. In GameMaker I was using a custom built menu system, but Unfortunately Unity doesn't provide any (at the moment) built-in solution to easily replace this. This has left me with a few choices: I can either build my own again or purchase a third-party solution. However, Unity is on the verge of releasing a shiny new GUI System that will essentially render both of these options obsolete. So I've decided to build a very simple system for now, as a kind of placeholder until the new GUI system is released.

I originally wanted to keep this port as faithful to the original as possible, but since I already have to rebuild everything from scratch, I can't help but try and improve certain parts in the process. One area in particular I'm trying to focus on is the player selection and setup process. I have also come up with an improved player control scheme which I'm very excited about. I hope to have it (nearly/almost) completely ported over by this time next week. Sorry for the delay duders. I really hate to keep people waiting, but I do want to make sure you can actually play what I release :)

Thanks for reading and see you next week!