Mayfly Studio

Interesting mini-interview at that link with one of the guys at Introversion Software (Darwinia, Uplink, Defcon) about why they bailed on Subversion, their latest project. The executive summary: they made an amazing engine and kept on refining it and refining it in the hope that at some point they would find a game in there, and they never did. This hits rather close to home, as I’ve been making a habit in my new XCode era of personal development of writing mini-engines (a 2D cellular automaton, a sprite landscape, a spaceflight sim…) and eventually giving up for lack of any compelling idea for a game that could use said engine. Oh, like most developers I have folders and folders full of game ideas and elaborate stories stashed away on my HD… but I’m also experienced enough to know that without an exception, every single one is far too ambitious for one person to make. It’s depressing, is what it is.

So of course now I’m starting another one of these mini-engines, in the full confidence that this time I’ll totally find a game in that engine somewhere. Yeah. No question. This time for sure!