Few things motivate me more than a person telling me “no.”
Back in November at BarCampPhilly, I sat in on a local game developer unconference. Folks talked about the local scene, developing titles on a shoestring budget, community building… lots of good stuff. As an extreme Xbox 360 fanboy who reads more video game news than actual world news, I’ve always been passionate about the game industry. I’ve had my fair share of daydreams about marketing games, maybe one day writing a storyline for a small RPG, etc. When I asked a question about editorial work for gaming, a local developer responded with a resolute no. It’ll never happen. Sorry kid. Forget my other questions, I was shut down immediately.
That upset the hell out of me. I stewed over it for longer than I’d like to admit.
Over the past month, I’ve spent a lot of time chatting with my good friends Parker Whitney and Jake O’Brien, developers working on their fledgling game dev studio Flyclops Games. When they were developing their first title, Brainarang, I let Parker blog about the process on Geekadelphia. When they finally settled on a studio name, Flyclops… it just seemed like we were destined to work together. Flyclops (pictured left) is a baddie in the Chrono Trigger universe, and Chrono Trigger is THE title that made me fall in love with gaming as a kid. I play through that game at least once a year, reliving the charming story and memorable characters. And I might just buy a Nintendo Wii again, just so I can play it on my big screen when it gets released for the Virtual Console.
So the papers are soon to be signed, inked, stamped, etc. I’ll be helping Flyclops market their next title, freelance style. I’ve been learning a lot at Quirk about the joys of marketing via online media, and look forward to applying all my skills to this iOS title dropping in the Fall. I’ve already begun a website marketing plan and started pulling together a media list.
Yeah, yeah… I know I don’t need more projects. There’s my beloved day job, teaching part time at Peirce, and my blog Geekadelphia keeping me busy. And of course, I’ve got my pursuits in writing. But Parker and Jake are only really developing one game this year, so hell, I’ll FIND the damn time. And maybe I’ll find additional clients later on down the road, if this all works out.
Because hey, gotta chase those daydreams, right?
