Sunday, March 22, 2009

More Element Wheel Development

Just a little update.  Me an Tarl are nearing the finalization of the element wheel and it is quite possible that it will become the Paper Plane Emblom.  A couple of days ago, I was trying to make the shape with some paper at a lull in work all Origami style.  Unfortunately it ended up looking like something somebody who really sucked at Origami would come up with.  So until I can get it to come out, there will just have to be a digital art version of it.  Hopefully at some point this week we'll have a visual representation up of it.  It will then probably be further edited to include color and texture representing the actual element paper and sub-elements and then one time further when we finally figure out the actual Origamical shape made out of true paper folds.  
Ah, the future looks pulpy!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Money Where my Paper Mouth Is

I ran out to Michael's the other day in a fit of inspiration and bought a little Origami kit.  I can honestly say that I've always been fascinated with Origami and the Zennish quality about it.  But folks, it's quite a bit harder than you think it might be unless you really think it is quite hard in which case you would be right about it being hard.  I made a cup, though.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Contest Details

Monday has arrived, and with it the writeup on Gamasutra for the winners of the Games of 2020 contest. Link here: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3957/games_of_2020__the_winners.php

My entry is on page 3, entry #2. Link here: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3957/games_of_2020__the_winners.php?page=3

From the front page of the contest, it appears that these entries might be moving on to the Independent Games Festival. More news on that when I learn the details.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Folds and Creases Galore

I am just astounded by the amazing origami created by talented folders throughout the world. On http://sites.google.com/site/paperplanesmoc/Home/origamilinks you can see some of the incredible designs.

I have looked over the Crease Patterns created by unfolding the model and looking at the creased created. It will take some brainstorming to determine how this folding algorithm could work, but we have a direction to look in now.

Putting Dreams on Paper

The brainstorming process seems to be the same for every creative field. Lots of research, intensive thought, and plenty of noodling. This may involve puttering around in a workshop, doodling, or staring out the window. When I think, I process in terms of story and concept. Musicians like Tori may start to hear melodies in their head. There are times that I see images or discover characters. Mostly, though, it is concepts that gel into stories.

That was the case with Paper Planes MOC. The original concept was for a screenplay. I had the first thoughts more than five years ago. I wrote down a rough storyline and came up with some characters, but nothing more came out of it. Then I started school – game design became my focus of learning. More ideas for gameplay and interactivity aligned themselves with this idea. Then, Tuesday, March 3, 2009, all of the years of noodling and staring off into space came to fruition.

I get weekly career emails from www.gamasutra.com . I checked my emails at school, nothing spectacular, or so I thought. I glanced through the careers, not really looking for anything, but hoping that I might find something that interested me. I found a job title that looked interesting, so I clicked the link. It took me to the gamasutra website. I saw a link off to the side for the Games of 2020 contest. I clicked that and read through it. It sounded interesting, but I had a lot of work to do with my school project.

Interested parties can look over our design project here: http://crystalcomet.wiki.zoho.com ; we are developing an RPG with RPG Maker. It is titled Need for Greed: Wrath of the Crystal Comet.

The following morning at work, I mentioned the contest to Tori. He said, "Let's do it." So we spent half the morning, lunch, and a part of the afternoon going over ideas for worlds, game environments, game mechanics, and the technology required to play this game to its fullest potential. Some of our brainstorming can be viewed on the official website: www.paperplanesMOC.com . Just click the brainstorming link.

There are a lot of things that can be said for daydreamers. Most of them, in our achievement-oriented society, tend to be rather insulting and deprecating. However, I will say this for those who fearlessly daydream: fortune favors the prepared, the clear-minded and the courageous.

If your mind is dulled through fatigue, any number of addictions or substances, or you are stressed, ideas probably won't come. If you have put in the footwork – writing ideas down, expanding them, doing what you want to do when you make time to do it – then the ideas will come. There are plenty of ideas floating around for everyone. The reason everyone doesn't seem to get them is because few are courageous enough to actually do something with an idea. The ancient Greeks believed that ideas came from nine Muses – more on that later.

So keep dreaming and put those dreams down on paper. Dreams unwritten are passing fragrances in the wind. If not acted upon, they are gone. Dream on.

Friday, March 6, 2009

A Competition Won

Hi folks,
So this (obviously) is the very first developer's blog entry for Paper Planes MOC.  All we've got right now is an amazing concept (we think) and blazing desires to commit our lives to creative pursuits.  How awesome it would be if this little dream became true?

So the great news is that paperplanesmoc.com is now registered to us and hopefully there will be some sort of content put up there today at some point.

Today is the historical day where Tarl's amazing idea for an origami-based game and my undying need to tweak and riff came together and birthed a winning concept.  Seriously.  We placed somewhere in the top 20 ideas on the Games Of 2020 gamasutra & Mountain Dew contest.  

The prize?  An All-Access GDC 2009 Pass.  How cool, huh?  So now the plans start spinning and the wheels start doing what wheels do.  I hope this is our start.  So now we look to the future.  And now we dream.