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Tag Archive for mobile

Veiled Alliances Release Day

September 24, 2015 Videogames, Writing Comments Off on Veiled Alliances Release Day

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A little bit of studio-pluggery here.  As you may or may not know, I am the CEO of Bushi-go, a mobile game startup.  For some time now, we’ve been plugging away on building a mobile app based around “Veiled Alliances”, Kevin J. Anderson’s prequel novella to his bestselling “Saga of the Seven Suns” novels.

This first release is a little more app than game right now for a couple of reasons.  Bestselling books don’t always translate into bestselling games.  Now, historically you’re looking at really big games.  Stuff like LOTR online was what everyone envisioned when you tried to make a book into a game.  They focused on the world-building, it focused on BIG BUDGETS and BIG GAMES.  We think we have a solution that will give the readers the kind of re-imaginings they will love.

But just because you like a book doesn’t mean you’re going to change your entertainment preferences and suddenly become a gamer.  If you loved “Wheel of Time”, no matter how much you loved it, you’re probably not going to go out and drop the cash on a new XBoxOne just so you can play in that world (heck, you could probably buy a full set of those books in a hardcover archival format for the same price).

So Bushi-go decided to try something different.  We went small.  Tight focus, stay close to the book, make the product truly accessible to almost every fan. When the game-play comes in later it’s going to be slower, more thinky, not completely twitchy and shooty (but there may be some of that too). We built this app using the leading edge magic of the Unreal Engine, then took that and modified it so that the app can run on almost every mobile device we could test it against, across all platforms.  If you have a mobile phone, you can enjoy our app.

Because we get it, if you’re a reader, that’s your thing.  You might watch a TV show based on your favorite books (Bones, Game of Thrones) but games require a bigger commitment, both time and money-wise.

 

The “Veiled Alliances” App drops tomorrow.  Head to http://bushi-go.com/games/veiled-alliances and we’ll send you a direct email link when it’s live.  Tomorrow should be Android first (GooglePlay and Amazon) followed by Apple (phone and tablets) and WindowsPhone.

This first release is small, pretty and free.  Because we want to see how many of you like this format.  IF the download numbers look good, if we’ve chosen wisely, then we can move on to making the rest.

Close your eyes before you jump….

June 1, 2012 Uncategorized Comments Off on Close your eyes before you jump….

http://nagademo.com

Sometimes we all just need a swift kick in the ass.  There are a thousand reasons to put something off, to relegate it to the bottom of the wish list, and until you find a way to assign importance, artificial or not, it’s just going to stay there.

I have a laundry list of game concepts in my arsenal.  Some of them are just a paragraph based around a game mechanic I came up in the spaces between the stuff I have to do, some of them are complete design documents.  It’s time I shoved a couple of these suckers to the top of the “must do” list, or I am running the risk of becoming one of those game industry professionals that did some really cool stuff once, but then vanished into the background.

So I went and did something foolish.  Well, not foolish like jumping off a bridge, or parasailing over a lava flow.  That was stuff for when I was still building my resume of batshit crazy experiences.  Foolish because I already have a fairly full existence.  As a parent of 3, as a business woman, both professional and volunteer, there’s a bunch of shit I *have* to do.  I have to do it so my kids education doesn’t suck, I have to do it because I have contractors waiting to be paid, I have to do it because if I don’t the engine in my car will finally seize up from years of neglect.  Have to have to have to.  We *all* have “Have tos” in our lives.  I’ve signed up for this because it’s a “want to”.  Some busy women get their nails done.  Get a massage.  Go shopping.  Go hiking.  Go out drinking with the girls.  Read a book.

This here, the game design and execution, this is my “want to”.  I’m doubly lucky in that my vocation and my avocation are tucked in aside one another.  This is the kind of thing I do for fun, when I have a few minutes in between board meetings, contract work and Little League.  This is where my mind goes when it has a few free brain cells to spare.

So instead of getting a $100 mani/pedi, or reading Shades of Grey I’m doing something for me.  I’m building a game,  in 1 month.  Starting today. I’ll be blogging about the process regularly, so keep an eye here.  I’ll try to be sure to include screenshots and design snippets as I go so you can see how this all works.  I have a textbook out there, so where I can, I’ll tie this process into that, so I can use this blog later as a “real” example of game design, soup to nuts.

Ready.

Steady.

Jump.