Dear Fans,
Hey. Why do I find it so difficult to write to you all? I mean, you are Molecular Jig Games fans, after all? I’m pretty sure it’s because I wish I could deliver more game to you more faster.
I’m still working on NanoCrasher. We’ve shown it at Baltimore VR meet up several times, and many other places. I think people enjoy the handsfree tilt your head left and right to steer the Nanobot. I think people enjoy being tossed onto a weird terrain and even like the simplicity of dodging unknown things while an unknown force propells their mysterious Nanobot forward at breakneck speed….. So, basically, I think we are ready for some user interface…some quick, maybe even overly simple HUD items. I want a cute little label that just that says “Protein” to appear whenever a player looks at a protein for a split second. With a science game it is a delicate balance between informing the player and scaring them away. The labels will feel informative to the average player. I am also going to design and contract with an artist for a comical line drawing video that depicts the Nanobot driving along the surface of the cells, dodging proteins…
Music is also going to lull our players into a state of happiness, I hope. Simple Sunshine is a happy funk song, complete with sounds of a happy biological society …. This is the music we hear while bouncing over the cell surface. It should make us feel comfortable: funk is familiar, the proteins will move with the beats… I think familiar and fun music will help make the “science” of the situation easier to love. Easier to disregard the fact that you might learn something and let you enjoy the moment, like a game.. I also have plans for whimsical art… Some nonstandard yet reasonably accurate depiction of the proteins will help let players imagine themselves in a fantasy world where the rules are different but not scary….
So, over the next 6 months of Saturdays I and my team will be working on this. I’m settling into my position as a professor of interactive media, leaning towards science communication, at Harrisburg University. Uprooting one’s life and re-starting on one’s own in a small place is a good way to slow down game dev. The indie game dev plan is not a plan for the impatient. I am so incredibly impatient!!! Thank you all for being patient.
I will blog regularly while we tackle our Nanocrasher project every weekend. Please keep in touch and offer me your thoughts about games, indie game dev, biology and science communication! Next week I’ll share our music, perhaps!
