Hey!

Welcome to my challenge! What is it all about? That’s simple. Yesterday I decided to quit my day job as a freelance worker and today I am defying myself to create a RPG within a 50 days limit period!

This decision was taken on impulse. I didn’t give it a second thought, I simply decided to do it, as simple as that. Sometimes focusing on the consequences just end to destroy our guts and it produces no experience at all.

My challenge in question is codenamed ‘Project Eden’. The story is based on the Bible with its own twists. The idea popped in my mind yesterday and extraordinarily it became official this morning.

Will I succeed this ordeal? Time only will reveal it!

I admit that such audacity can be very risky… but in some way I feel very confident – as if it was a call from heaven, as if I was meant to do it! I believe I possess all the necessary aptitudes and skills to accomplish my ambition.

Let’s state that I have both personal and professional experience in the industry. In fact I’ve been working on my personal game projects for many years (under Blossomsoft). My most notable game project is Western Lords (aka Sagrada Guardian) on Nintendo DS. I’ve also been hired by some game companies as an artist and a game designer. Unfortunately working for other businesses wasn’t making me happy as I felt very distant of my own universe, so I’ve decided it was time to fly on my own wings and produce and complete one successful game.

My challenge consists of many small rules and objectives:

-Complete the game within a range of 50 days. As I’m writing those lines, the date is currently May 1st 2008, thus the game must be released on June 21st 2008.
-Focus on quality but not become crazy about it. I want to finish a game, not eternalize the making.
-Earn enough money to make a living with my passion – I will be unemployed, I must not fail and get money ASAP!
-Develop this game with the smallest budget at hands: here I mean $0!
-Work on my own with almost no assistance. The reason is that I will not be able to split incomes with a team with this small project.
-Get a solid fan base.
-Get the interest of journalists.

Realistically to meet my objective it’s important to choose the right tools. Consequently I am going to use RPG Maker VX. It’s considered like an amateur engine (mostly due to its clienteles) but it’s an excellent middle ground to produce a game within a reasonable timeframe. Anyway it’s the end result that really matter to the eyes of faithful gamers and my eyes.

In addition I will allow myself to use the free assets provided inside the software package, it’s going to save a lot of time and energy. Besides Project Eden will be the first commercial game using this version of the software (RMVX), so Project Eden will have this feeling of exclusivity unlike current commercial games using RMXP (Aveyond, Laxius Force). Thus it’s very important that Project Eden become the first commercial game using VX’s assets, otherwise it could greatly jeopardize the overall success.

Yet even if I’m using assets created by Enterbrain I promise myself that Project Eden will have a unique atmosphere and will distinguish itself.

Being determined isn’t always enough. An inspirational model can greatly help to believe that a goal is achievable. Mine is Amanda Fitch from Amaranth Games – my prior employer (I created some pieces of gfx for Aveyond 2). She proved that it was possible to build a solid market around RPG Maker games. It’s enough for me to have faith in my upcoming success!

Let’s the challenge begin!