Tag: fantasy

  • Archmage Rises Gameplay Reveal and AMA Mon Aug 3 6pm EST (2015)

    A year ago I publicly announced Archmage Rises as a new kind of RPG.  I’m happy to report Archmage Rises is now playable. Sort of.  🙂 I was invited to be in demo showcase in Portland, OR last week.  In the two and a half weeks leading up to the conference I scrambled/crunched to take…

  • First Look at Combat

    Just a slice of the work in progress on combat.  I’ll talk more in depth about it later.        

  • Return from GDC

    It’s been a while since I’ve done an update and I just returned from GDC, so this is a good time. First, in my silence I’m programming a lot, sometimes 12hrs a day, and the game is really coming together.  As an artist I spend so much time trying to make the work of my…

  • Composing the Archmage Rises Title Track

    While I download and install Unity 4.6.21 beta, I think this is a good time to share all the work that is going into the music side of Archmage Rises. Music sets mood, tone, and feel.  Perhaps I should rephrase that: Music reinforces mood, tone, and feel.  Music bypasses the (rational) mind and speaks to the imagination. A quick…

  • Inside the Indie Art Process of Archmage Rises

    I’m relatively new to art appreciation.  A big turning point for me was a few years back when I read John Milton’s Paradise Lost.  Since then, my appreciation for art and the artists behind the work has continued to grow.  I even have some Peter Max limited edition prints hanging on my walls. I’m a huge…

  • Looting Game Design Gold from Sid Meier’s Pirates!

    “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” – Pablo Picasso Sid Meier’s Pirates! is arguably the most important game ever made . . . and it also ruined my week.  You see, I’m working on Archmage Rises—and part of my elevator pitch is, “It’s like Pirates! but with mages and permadeath.” “Live the Life” is exactly what this Pirate simulator…

  • Dev Blog #10 Alienware partners with Archmage Rises

    I have some very exciting news to share!  Not being able to talk about it has been killing me for the last four weeks—but now the contract is signed, and I can (finally) scream from the top of my lungs. Are you ready? In my first dev blog, I shared my personal journey and why I was moving from…

  • Archmage Rises: Dev Blog #8 Role-Playing games and Divorce

    I’m travelling this week to meet up with another indie developer about our games.  I asked my Facebook followers what question I could answer for this blog while I was travelling.  Someone asked about my first role-playing experience—as I wrote my answer went way beyond just “nostalgia.” This is more raw and honest than I’m…

  • Archmage Rises Dev Blog #7: User Interface Magic

    This past week, I focused my development efforts on the user interface (UI) of Archmage Rises.  Proper software development methodology mandates that we should take on the highest priority, highest risk items first.  We should do this to save enough time and energy to deal with the truly dangerous issues: the unknowns.  Archmage Rises is a UI-heavy game, and…

  • Archmage Rises: The Team

    If you’ve been following these dev blogs, you’ll know that I have been living at my cottage for the last three and a half months.  No, I wasn’t kicked out due to some indiscretion or ill-advised car purchase. I was living in the cottage so I could manage the little store I mentioned a couple…