0_Hero Archives - Build the Universe

A change in direction

Glaxor2014/08/12

So, here we are seven months separated from my last update. I have not made any progress on 0_Hero. I don’t think I even have the project files for it anymore. The idea lives on, mostly in my head and random pages in my notebooks. I’ve realized that I don’t yet have the skills to make the game I want to make.

And so I have set myself a goal. One year from today I will have an income of $6,000 monthly from sales or advertising revenue from procedural media I have created. To begin I will focus on monetizing iOS apps and this blog. I will experiment with direct sales of apps, free apps with advertising, and freemium apps with in app purchases. To monetize this blog I will experiment with web ads and affiliate programs. I will resist making this blog a click hole and will strive to create valuable content for people who share my aspirations of making a living off their digital creations.

In the past I have resisted making this endeavor about money. I really just want to make video games, meaningful video games. But working more than full time and raising a family is demanding. It can be difficult to find the time to devote to my hobby.

This goal gives me a concrete number to target. A score to beat. And if I can beat that score, while maintaining my full time job and remaining attentive to my family, I’ll know that I will have no problem supporting my family with this as my only income and my hobby will become my full time job. Also, I can break this goal down into increments.

By August, 2015 (1 year) – $6,000 monthly income
By February, 2015 (6 months) – $3,000 monthly income
By November, 2014 (3 months)- $1,500 monthly income
By September 30th, 2014 (45 days) – One app on the app store and ads or affiliate links on this website

To reach my first objective I plan to build a simple iOS game that is a variation of breakout. I will document my experiences on this blog at least once per week. By the time I launch the game I should have some interesting content up here which will help to produce some revenue from ads.

Once I have that first app up I will evaluate my progress and decide on the next objective to complete around early December. At this point it will likely be another simple game app.

I plan to share as much detail as possible as I progress toward achieving my goals right here on this blog. I sincerely hope that I will find my way and in sharing the journey, help others find their way.

A little progress

Glaxor2014/01/23

I spent some time tonight messing around in Xcode and Photoshop. I now have a sprite moving around on the screen based on the last location touched.

The images are just placeholders, not meant to be in the final product. Still, I like that green background on the black foreground.

A working title

Glaxor2014/01/21

0_Hero is the working title I have chosen for the iOS game I am developing.

I am working alone and have set a launch date of August 2014. I’ve been using the project management website Asana to plan the project and keep track of my progress. This way I will have a record of the process and if I end up bringing anyone else in on the project they will be able to get up to speed quickly.

I broke tasks into sections, the first of which was Planning. I gave myself until the 28th of January to create a design document describing the design objectives of the game and listing assets I will need to complete the project. Understanding that this will be a working document and everything within subject to change, I was pretty much finished drafting it within 3 days. Below is a preliminary sketch of how I see the player character evolving through the course of the story.

Once I got to a point where I felt the design goals were well documented I began searching online for sound effects to use in the game. I found a website called freesound.org and started collecting sounds listed with a license type of Creative Commons 0. These files are in the public domain and free to use for any purpose without attribution. I collected quite a few sounds, but I’m sure I’ll have to find or record more.