Boom..Boom..POW!

Almost all games anymore are highly equipped with an arsenal of flashy special effects. Thanks to Elmernite of Yoyo Games we have been blessed with a program that will create personalized Explosions. This program is called Explogen.

Game Maker7 has a Rival ?

Hooray! Enterbrain has release its firs ever multiplatform game maker dubbed " Indie Game Maker. " In the past few weeks Enterbrain has changed the name of their m

Image via CrunchBase

aker from "Action Game Maker" to "Indy Game Maker." This is the first of Enterbrain’s game creating applications to rival that of Mark Overmyer’s "Game Maker x" Both Makers have the ability to create multiple genres of games, and both have a relatively low learning curve for beginners.

The Way Freeway

Every independent game designer needs the right tools for the job. If you are reading this you most likely have the hardware. Now all you need is the software. Some of the more popular software choices that have a trial period that requires a small monetary fee to use all of the software’s resources. Who wants to reinstall useful software every 30 days, or constantly click "Buy Later" every time you try to use it. So I have come up with a few nifty solutions to your software woes. Most of these programs can be found on Download.com.

Everyone has to be able to unpack zipped files so check out 7-Zip. 7-Zip web site

Don’t have enough green for Adobe Photoshop how about GIMP. The GIMP web site

Want to make your own tunes for your masterpiece bust out Anvil Studios. The Anvil Studio web site

Just a heads up though once a program reaches a certain level of popularity eventually they begin to require a price.

Marketing Your Game

There are may ways to get your game trafficking into the general population. Many low budget game engine sites are equipped with an upload service for games made with their engine in order to display their engines capabilities. There are many Fan sites that are dedicated to doing the same thing. These sites may also include a very lucrative Forum for technical support and fun contests.

Most of the fan forums and sites may include a registration wich is usually free. The process of registering may prove to be somewhat time consuming. These sites and forums may require that you retain an active account in order to compete in contests, implement posts, and executed multiple downloads.

Image by EB05 via Flickr

Other ways to promote your game would be to create a website, blog, or banner Ad. There are many sites that can cater to the new and aspiring game designer in the way of creating a their own site. There are even more sites dedicated to creating templates in order to bring each designers site a unique look.

The key to an Unfinished Project

I have come to discover that obviously creating a game by ones self is a bit of a taxing task that usually ends up with a scrapped project. Some forums have a project section dedicated to bringing people together in order to complete a project. However, many of these projects fail as well. There are many reasons for this but, the predominant reasons are because after the group knows how the story ends it is no longer interesting or the process of creating original resources seems to take too long.

There are some realities that we need to keep in mind when creating a game as an indi pendent developer or small group. The first is that almost all comercial games are created with a small army of professionals. The second is that no commercial game has ever been created in a weekend. And yes creating original resources for your game first will be the demise of your project if you do not have a rough draft first.

Charas.EX

Face Maker 3.2

These two links could help with RPG resources. As for long distance partnerships though, you should just keep in touch suing MSN,AIM, or Yahoo. Hold each individual accountable for doing their part and know that everyone’s life is clearly different and has limitations.

The-Gamesmith Web Site

Just last night I was tinkering with a couple of free web programs and finally settled on one. Now there is a place within The-Gamesmith to house all for its useful links to other sites. So check it out.

The-Gamesmith Web Site