Through the Rabbit Hole on June 17

Hey you! Thanks for jumping through the rabbit hole. What you will find down here is an exclusive look at what is up and running in Binary Odyssey. So for today we have a couple things to discuss so let's get to it.

To start off I want to thank all those subscribing to and reading our blog. Even better, thanks for those sending in the awesome feedback and comments. I'm also excited to see all the questions for the Interrogation Room coming in, so don't be shy and keep sending them in. Also, our home page is being updated with new info and fixed for better flow so keep an eye on it, and I know how you guys been loving the music on the site so don't worry, the one you like will stay and more will be added. Forums! Yes, I know how crappy it is, but I've been scouting other forums and seeing what works and what doesn't work so while you guys tease about how mine is nothing like the ones at Bungie or PlayStation Forums I will tell you this: you are right.....for now! Lastly, the question on where and when the game will be done I will go into more detail next week. As for now just know that the game, Runner, is still in progress and doing well. Let's keep our fingers crossed for an '09 release!

Now moving on to the epic news I want to share. Since I was a kid the idea of being a game developer and owning my company was a simple dream which I started with and over time it became more realistic and much more centered. It also reflected the type of person I was, and still am. So when people hear Binary Odyssey I don't only want them to think about amazing, fun and unique games, I also want them to think about community. Community to me is very important and the people at Bungie showed me the advantages of having a community can have on a development team as small as ours. To have a place where people can come and meet new people with the same interests is why me and the team work very hard in making the community a growing, living entity just like Binary Odyssey itself is. As of today I am glad to see it grow as much as I and Binary Odyssey has. Meeting new people is part of the norm and the expected. Now, if you can remember back to the nice post written a couple days ago we took note that with a growing community we needed extra venues to go with it. How would this be done? Well, the idea of a clan/social gaming forum was being thrown around a couple of times and it stuck. Therefore, as of today, I am glad to announce the opening of Gates of Binary!


Gates of Binary is where all you nice people who love and support Binary Odyssey can meet up, talk, get to know each other and game together. So lets say you have no one to play with on a Wednesday night or you wanna find someone nerdy to talk to, then that is when you come down to Gates of Binary. All you need to do is join up and make yourself known. We are also making clans of the same name for you to join. As of now we have Killzone 2 going and soon MGS 4 Online, but if those games don't fancy you then tell us what game you want Gates of Binary to be on and we will start a clan on it. So what are you waiting for?! We're done here! Go to Gates of Binary, sign up and show us how much you care. ^_^

Links
Home Site: http://www.wix.com/binary_odyssey/binary-odyssey
Forums: http://binaryodyssey.ogameteam.org/
Gates of Binary: http://gatesofbinary.mygameclan.com/

dotBit: Stop Lying To Yourself!

In my fairly long quest in becoming a respectable game developer I have met many people who had a very ignorant idea and view on video games and the video game industry. These views have ranged from the belief that video games are the main cause for the increase of anti-social behavior and up to the thought that it's easy to make the next best AAA game which will sell billions all by yourself in your mother's basement. Now, today I will not speak about video games and its effects on society and its culture but about those people who aspire to be the next Shigeru Miyamoto or Hideo Kojima.

To start off, why don't you open your eyes and grow up? It's great to dream about your future and have goals set out and placed for you to reach, but it isn't good to dream wildly and have unrealistic expectations. Plus, it is good to take note that any dream or goal you have in life, no matter what size, requires a lot of work and dedication. Don't believe me? Ask Martin Luther King. All that dude talked about was how he had a dream and he fought hard for making that dream a reality!

Once all of that is said and done then you have to find the idea which your game will be based on and I cannot stress just how many times I have heard people just shouting out the supposedly next best game idea. Sure, ideas will just come to you the same way oxygen comes to you, but that is not the one and only idea that you will need. When it comes to having an idea to base a game on it will most likely never end up consisting of just one idea because the quality of ideas tends to be proportional to quantity of ideas. You need lots of ideas to get some decent ones and in the end, it's the execution of an idea that is most important. So let us take Runner for a second. How did the idea come to me? I was traveling on the highway for two hours just looking at the road and thinking and then I thought about a game which consisted of ant-sized people who had internals like a car and raced every year in the beginning of summer. These guys ran the entire world on this one day just as a way to begin summer. Now as you can see I went insane with my imagination and I even gave these runners a name called Atomic Runner. Hence the game title, Atomic Run. So you can see that with that alone, which I thought up almost a year ago and started writing a game document for, if you compare it to what we now know as Runner you will not find an ounce of Atomic Run. This is why you gather all of your ideas and put it in a book of any sort so that when the time comes you can start putting all your game ideas together and end up with a potential AAA game.

So you now have your epic video game idea. Who will make them? Well my friend, I am very sad to inform you that game development is not all creativity. Game design can be fun, it can be creative, but it's also work. To think is to work. So when you are writing out your clear description of your main character and the world he/she roams in, this eventually becomes work. Figuring out how to implement your creative imagination into computer language then testing it to see how you can improve the game is work. I, myself, for a while, didn't consider it "work" until I started Binary Odyssey and the development of Runner. It was, and still is, fun and exciting but there is a joke about being up day after day for 15+ hours coding and testing one level just to get it perfect and presentable and it turns out that joke was a pretty accurate description of game development. This is why the great late inventor Thomas Edison once said that success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.

Great! You manage to have a game idea and develop on it for the past couple of years and you're almost done so you're looking for a publisher. You've caught the attention of a couple publishers and they end up telling you that some design has to be changed for them to jump on the band wagon. Bummer right? Nope! This is the way it works in the industry. Even the most successful designers, such as Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series, sometimes must satisfy publishers who are funding their efforts. Typically, you'll be told to work on a particular design problem, and won't be able to do your own thing.

Harsh isn't it? I have been in the industry for a short while and I am still learning the ins and outs but I can tell you that it just gets harder and harder but for me and my team this is fine because it came with the package deal of being a game developer and we never regret jumping on this opportunity to be a part of something great. So a tip from myself to all of you passionate game developers/designers free of charge and here it is: as long as you are truly passionate, dedicated, and assertive about what you are doing, nothing can stop you except yourself.

The Interrogation Room: Session #000

Welcome to the interrogation room! You, the readers, are all interrogators asking the questions that either pertain to a certain someone in the team or a general question to all of us. So when Monday comes around I will post up the 10 best questions and with their answers. Here is a sample below of 10 questions asked to me recently.

1. What site(s) do you get your game news from?

• Ah, Kotaku and Giant Bomb are the spots I go to for all things video game. Kotaku mostly for its articles because I like how they structure their site and articles. Very straightforward. Plus I find it amazing how a new article is up and posted almost every minute. Then there is Giant Bomb. I love this site and the people there like Jeff and Ryan and the entertaining game videos and podcasts.

2. First game development book you ever bought?

• Oh wow! Well it was back in 7th grade and I had money which I saved up from doing chores and whatnot. So I was browsing through one of the Scholastic pamphlets we were given in class before we were dismissed for the day and I found this EB Games book which showed how games work and how to create one. That's when my passion just intensified and rose up on par with my other passions during my childhood which were to become president, a doctor, or a teacher. We all now know which came out victorious.
  

3. If you can be doing one thing right now other than working what would it be?

• I would like to be hanging out with the guys and nerding out like we used to before life occurred and we were forced to grow up.

4. What are you gaming?

• Wow, the things I wish I was gaming.*sigh* Binary Odyssey and my life suck up a lot of time so it leaves little to no time for me to enjoy my hobbies. So, what with video games being my top hobby, I try to squeeze some time in there especially on the weekends and what I always see myself playing during those moments is Killzone 2 online. Boy is that game fun!
  

5. What is one thing you cannot live without?

• I CANNOT live without my family and friends. Those people are always making sure that I am safe and sane. I love them very very much!
  

6. What game company inspires you a lot?

• Bungie and ThatGameCompany. Bungie because of their amazing game community and ThatGameCompany because of their amazing games.

7. What game developer(s) do you relate to?

• Ah yes! You probably never heard of them but you've probably heard of their games. First is Jenova Chen and he is the brains behind the games Flow and Flower. Then there's Jonathan Mak. He's the genius behind Everday Shooter.
  

8. Are you dating anyone?

• No, I am not.

9. What is your favorite number?

• Haha! My favorite number is Pi!
  

10. What is one thing you want to do before you die?

• Oh, this is easy! I want to skydive!

When $#!+ Happens!

Woah! Where is Monday's and Tuesday's post?! Well life ate it and pooped it out because it decided that there were better and more important things than the Interrogation Room and dotBit. Therefor Antoine has told us to post this up to tell you guys that Monday's. Tuesday's and Wednesday's posts are all coming up by later this morning so sit tight and flex those eye muscles because you guys will have a lot to read. He also told us to tell you guys the format of the post from now on with a brief explanation of each.

Mondays
Interrogation Room: This is when you the reader sit us down, point the head lights to our face and ask us all the questions you want. So when Monday morning comes, we will answer the top 10 questions we get. Also, we got questions about how you can hand in your questions so I will take the one and only time to list the ways you can hand in your questions so pay attention!

• Email to binary.odyssey@gmail.com with the subject "Interrogation Room" with your question, name, age, gamertag, psn, and/or location.
  
• Comment or send a private message to our inbox on either MySpace, MyYearBook or Facebook with your your question, name, age, gamertag, psn, and/or location.
• Send us a message on PlayStation or the Xbox.

Tuesdays
dotBit: This is where you read about everything that is video games. You will read about the history of videos games, the idea, philosophy and methods exercised and executed in the game industry or in game design/development.

Wednesdays
Through the Rabbit Hole: This is where you get your weekly Binary Odyssey news.

Thursdays
The Mother Lode: This is where you get your weekly game industry news.

Fridays
Antoine's Soap Box: Oh yes! If you know Antoine as we do you know that he loves nothing more than video games let alone talking about it! So this is when Antoine comes in the end of the day and rants, praise, destroy and what have you anything he desires relating to video games. We sure are looking forward to Fridays!

Wow! What a list and what a ride this will be! So stay tune, same binary-time, same binary-channel! *Boy was that a lame use for 1960s Batman*