An Overdue Update Ahead of E3

It's 5:25 AM the Monday before E3 officially kicks off (unofficially it's been going for a few weeks it seems), and I find myself coming to following a midnight nap induced by Polygon's party and all their free drinks. I didn't have all of them, but I had some of them and that was plenty enough.

So what's been going on since I last update oh, um three months ago? Well quite a bit.

GDC 2012
Just a really nice time in GDC getting to see some old friends (and meet new ones) from all over the globe. I learned a bunch of good stuff and had a lot of fun hanging around with Brian Provinciano (Retro City Rampage) for much of the week, and had a blast showing Valley to the crowd at Crashfaster's rather incredible chiptunes and indie games party at the DNA Lounge. Big thanks to Adam Rippon (Dragon Fantasy) for getting me involved. Here's a video tour of the space right before people were let in:

PAX East 2012 and AVWW's Launch
Another incredible, but extremely exhausting, experience. Exhibiting is just an incredibly taxing thing. I knew this, but you really don't understand it completely until you've been through it. Still it was unbelievably worthwhile, as we got to shake hands with a lot of the predominantly east coast press as well as show the game off to tens of thousands (and as a bonus have it focus tested by hundreds).

Not only that, but most of the Arcen Games team was able to get together for the first time and really get to know each other in person (three of us are in North Carolina, one in Georgia, and I'm in California). I actually flew over a week ahead of the convention with my wife and daughter to visit Chris Park and his family for a few days before the team flew up to Boston. While there were a few frantic moments thanks to my lack of preparation for PAX, we were able to spend a solid amount of time just kicking back and taking in what the Park's told us was the best time of the year in their parts. The whole two weeks over on the other side of the country was great.

Once I returned home it was time to actually launch A Valley Without Wind. After some 15 months of active development the game released the week of April 23rd through our store, as well as on Steam and various other distributors. The amount of press, and where it came from, blew us a way. Things went well on the sales front too, which is always a good thing as far as keeping a job you love. :)

E3 2012 with IndieCade
A bit after the launch we received an email informing us that AVWW had been selected to be showcased by IndieCade this year at their E3 booth. That's what I'm gearing up for this week. I'll be there June 5-7 during exhibiting hours to chat and have people demo the game as we prep its 1.1 release to coincide with the show.

Other Stuff
Still writing for MCV and just moved over from DIYGamer to IGM (Indie Game Magazine). I had to start writing about indie games again now that I finally have a tiny bit of free time. It was driving me crazy not to.

Also I just put together a page for my talks and panels should you be interested. More updates soon! (Well sooner than three months from now I'll promise that much.)

Off to PAX Prime!

I'm right in the middle of a 12 day stretch where I'm travelling all over the West Coast (and slightly to the right.) Been pretty insane, as soon as I get comfortable it's off we go again. I doubt I could do this all the time, but it's been a pretty fun summer given how busy things are.

Driving to and from Vegas to see old friends was much needed; but just three days at home before turning around to fly up to Seattle for PAX is harrowing at best. Especially with all that's going on at the moment. Heir today, gone tomorrow ay? (Love that game, despite it's unforgiving nature.)

When I have been home, I've been head down working on making room maps and finishing other tasks we have to complete before A Valley Without Wind beta arrives. We're so very close now. It appears public beta is still on target for the first half of September. We'll see how everything goes, but I can say loudly and proudly that the game is gelling together in ways I can't describe and I can't wait for people to finally get a chance to play.

Would love to chat more--in fact I plan to in September once I stop spinning--but I have to get at least a few good hours of sleep before a very odd series of flights to Seattle tomorrow. May have a PAX post here, and we'll be busy over on DIYGamer, Gaming Dead and my YT Channel too. If you're into what's going on at the northwestern nerd mecca, keep an eye on those spots over the next few days!

A Valley Without Wind Updates and Gameplay Video

We've emerged from the Arcen labs to share a new press update for our upcoming game A Valley Without Wind showing off a lot of good (new) stuff. The biggest item has to be the character model updates, where we've totally ditched our previous method and models as they just couldn't match up with these new ones. Pictured is an example, and you can check out 16 new concept art images over on Chris's blog.

On top of that, Chris has put together a solid 17-minute video of pure gameplay, along with an accompanying post. Have a look (or even better head over to YouTube and watch it in 1080p):