Hi, I've been away for while. Miss me?

I was tired. I'm still tired. Lately, I've been chronically tired. Very tired. And to make it worse, I'm losing hair. Yes, my student (yes, I became an English tutor) pointed it out, and though it's not unexpected (it runs in the family), it's happening too soon. It's obvious that it's due to stress, and what really sucks is that it's getting worse by the day. And again, while I try to write as cleanly as possible, I keep running into making shoddy writings nowadays. It's frustrating.

I need a break, but there's always something that needs to be done. Something to work on. Something to do. Something to complete. Even during leisure time, instead of relaxing, I keep finding myself exhausting my nerves on suspense comics, high-concentration strategic online games, and such. Thinking back, what a waste of relaxing time. I really should be sleeping - or just lying in bed doing nothing... but I also can't stand the boredom. Now what? I need to seriously put aside some counter-productive "time-wasters" and concentrate on relaxing. When I find myself disappearing from such a great place as Eo for a whole month, I know there's trouble.

Then again, maybe that's the problem? Maybe I need to do the complete opposite and do stuff. Outside. All I know is that my health is deteriorating, and something needs to change.

Anyway, enough of that. My team and I are still working on "Diora" (the casual game), but progress had just been suspended due to conflicts with studies. Also started working on the studio website. It will be populated with loads of photos of us working, so I'll continue to keep those under wraps (). Invited a fellow student to join the team as a "pure designer". Decision pending.

"Diora" is a warm-up project for this team. Plans for a larger, more ambitious project had just begun. Thus far, it'll be a turn-based strategic RPG, hopefully with innovations that break the mold. Decision for sub-genre made primarily due to resource/scope considerations. Nothing more than that yet.

A new engine will be used for the aforementioned new project. Cross-platform accessibility, ease-of-use (which improves productivity & time-efficiency) and low cost are emphasized. After some exploration, free engines appear to be unsatisfactory. Looking at low-cost commercial engines. Reading up on Torque Game Builder (if you know anything about it, please do tell). My new tutoring part-time job now provides me with the money to invest in additional tools.

Also getting a pressure-pen tablet for our line artist. A colleague (from another amateur indie team) reccomends Wacom. Any opinions?

Teammates considering setting up an indie studio and going pro after graduation. Relatively low local expertise means less competition. Need tips. Feasible?

P.S. I didn't originally post this as Eo News. Nope. Nuh-uh. Didn't happen.

As for digital tablets, you're only realistic and practical option is Wacom.  All others pale in comparison... nobody is producing the quality of technology and innovation that Wacom is.

In terms of models, again, you really only have one appropriate option: Intuos3.  The Graphire tablets are essentially Intuos1 tablets, but you will be locked into the Graphire line of technology: no fleet of pens to support different modes of art, much less sensitivity.  As for size, it may be limited by budget, but should be determined by preference of technique.  For me, I find that the 6x8 or 6x11 is appropriate for me because I can make the hand-eye leap from tablet size to screen size.  I can go smaller, but then it's like trying to draw on a post it note.  Going bigger for me, and I just find that I can't keep fine motor control over so large a space.  The 6x8/11 size is pretty much the ideal size.

Buy new because refurbish prices are only about 10 dollars cheaper.

The only other option is the Cintiq, which represents a 1000% increase in price.  Worth it when/if the company begins generating revenue.

I'd love to give you advice on starting up a studio... but I'm learning as I go at the moment.  One thing I can tell you, it may be best to do it garage style... work out of a home, keep a part time job if you don't have capital to support yourselves for a few months, go as low rent as possible.  Statistically, the thing that kills start up studios is the gap between first and second project, where typically no revenue is coming in but employees and rent still need paying.  Many a promising studios have sunk simply because they collapsed trying to get funding for their next idea.  Obviously you can avoid this by self-publishing and absorbing direct profit.

Good luck!

Thanks for the tip, Sinaz. I've been considering whether it is suitable to work "garage style" or not. This is not the first time I've heard a suggestion that "garage" is a much safer route. That's probably the last nudge I need between the two options. :)

P.S. Guys, stop PMing about the Eo News wrong post! I was tired, ok!? T_T

Yeah, currently, I'm the only employee of my studio.  I have a silent partner who provides start up capital and will share in a percentage of profit.  I have the fortunate/unfortunate situation of tapping into inheritance money (my Mum passed away a little over a year ago).  My company's capital is based solely on start up costs and a monthly stipend, which equals my monthly bills + 50%.  Roughly half of my previous salary.  It is distributed at the whim of my partner (my Dad) and initially on a contractual basis for the first four or five months (we still have to iron out some details.)  Because it's family, there's room to muddy up the agreement.  And by choosing to live as a starving artist (with a bit of support from my girlfriend) I can make our initial capital last quite a while.

Ok, that's the set up... my point is that living low-rent, and if your cohorts can be trusted to work efficiently from their mom's basement (i.e., not blowing all their time on WoW), allows you to get your first couple games out the door with practically no overhead - and especially no common place of business.  And being able to produce a beta-product that is ready to go gold to be either self-published, or shopped to budget or major publishers/portals will get you large profits (if the game does well) without worrying about keeping a business afloat.  That means little to no financial risk for you and your cohorts.  At the moment, my initial start-up costs have been under $8,000.  I have no employees and no rent other than my home, no clients or extreme liabilities.  Both my partner and I are only responsible for the money we spend - there is no debt.  Basically, we can keep this up until our spending begins to catch up with the returns on our CDs (but hopefully we'll be bringing in suitable profit in half a year).  We have the ability to abort without going bankrupt.

Also consider that you can seek contract work if you need revenue and want to stick to work that pertains to the industry.  Check industry job listings on gamedev and gamasutra.  Contract work can pay pretty well, and still, working as your own boss, you get to set the conditions of the contract.  Work part time on contract work, and part time on your business' goals.

Just some thoughts... these are things that I had to consider when drafting my business plan.  These concepts have also been given an informal nod of approval from my accountant.  I'll be meeting with him next week to get my company registered and discuss other fail-safe plans to keep me liquid in the event my little experiment collapses.  I'll be sure to pass any knowledge and advice on to EO.

Get some of this maybe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMygstcuSWI

I love my Wacom. <3