4/15/2004 11:03:33 AM|||Travis|||

Taxes and cell phones

Tax day today. Hurry! Scramble! You probably still have some number of hours left, good luck. Mine were completed last night around 3AM, that is for personal and our company. It was fun, but I doubt I want to be an accountant when I grow up. That said, I would like to take some classes at UCSB about depreciation and amortization, just so I know what is what. Good thing I have another year for that jazz.

Jake was absolutely amazed that he wouldn't have to pay any taxes because he had no income. He thought that was the best thing ever, until I pointed out that he HAD NO INCOME. He didn't seem to think this was much of a problem, and assumed that he was part of an elitist group that had somehow pulled one over on the government. I told Jake he had to make some money before he could protect it.

So an interesting thing happened at GDC- I was introduced to the world of mobile game development. Jake is already skeptical, but it would be strange if he was actually enthusiastic about something other than Eschaton. But I, on the other hand, really think there is something to mobile games. Right now, cell phones are about as powerful as some of the devices I used to love to play games on -- NES, arcade and Sega. Now I can remake some of the games that I used to love as a kid for cell phones and make some cash in the meantime. There are a number of key indicators that I liked when examining the market such as - lots of VC money flying around the industry, short, non-complex development cycles, simple artwork requirements, and no established industry leaders as of yet. Getting into mobile games now is similar to computer games ten years ago, where a couple peeps can put one together in the garage over a couple months. After listenting to the CEOS of successful game studios, I knew we had to do something different if we want to make some money in the short to medium turn. Still having our computer game as a long term goal is fine with me, its just getting less priority of my time because I am getting burnt out with the whole thing after years of work and no traction.

Yay for little games. Our first idea is going to be an innovative (aka ripped off) snood or puzzle babble type title. I want to add some cool physics to the game as the main innovation. That means that different ball types fly out and behave differently. Some would be curvy perhaps, others really bouncy and some sticky. It would all add to the richness of the levels when you play. Then most of the fun factor stems from good level design using the level editor I will make. It will be simple, quick and dirty, but will get the job done. It also might handle for different screen sizes on phones, which is a whole other can of worms.

So yea.

|||108205221314773973|||