Development Process
Today and yesterday I started planning out the development process for Heaven’s Gate. I’ve also started working on a Twitter account and a discord server for anyone interested in it. Maybe it’ll be huge, who knows?
If you’re interested in following the Twitter or joining the Discord server, please click the buttons below! I’ve worked very hard on the Discord server and I’ll be posting any and all updates in both locations.
Now that I have somewhere to write and document everything, it’s time to come up with a development plan. I referenced several documents and PowerPoints available to me that I saved from school, specifically a class called Project Management. Essentially, the plan. I need to start off with a strong foundation to make this project a success. Briefly going through and skimming the whole course, I wrote down from start to finish the things that I would need to complete. I find it easier to write things down by hand and reference them than some Word document.
Before the GDD (Game Design Document) I need to research free software to use for concept art and creating pixel art. With these different parts of game development written down and in the order I want to do them in, I now need to work on them one at a time from top to bottom. Today I’ll work on the company and branding because I know I already have an idea in mind for what I want to go with.
Company
My game will be published under this company name, so for me it’s important that I put some time and effort into it to make it a company that represents me. I’ll need a name, slogan, logo, mission, values and a vision. Creating a company isn’t necessary for a game, but if I create more games in the future other than this one, I can use the same company and people who followed and were interested in Heaven’s Gate, can see that I’m making another game. I can keep the followers. I want people to look at Heaven’s Gate and my company and go “this is a solo developer focused on learning and sticking to it” and I want people to understand and acknowledge it as such. I’m hoping that with this as well, it’ll create some loyalty from people that are genuinely interested in it.
The name for my company will be easy for me. My online ID is Coldcake, so I already know I’m going to be naming it Coldcake Studios or something along those lines.
For the logo, I want it to be focused on a cat or a cake, or a mix of both. I need to come up with a few designs for a logo that I think represents my company and it’s values. I want the logo to be memorable and have a professional and clean design.
Insert logo photos here
I have no idea what I want for the slogan. Whenever I imagine a slogan, I think of really old 90’s commercials on a box TV with a cursive script. Not exactly what I want. It’s a game development company, so something along the lines of playing games. Maybe changing the whole scene on it’s head (ambitious but I would like a really cool slogan). Here’s the slogans I came up with in order so you can see my thought process:
- Play the game.
- Changing the playing field.
- Changing the playing game.
- Changing the playing scene.
- Changing the scene.
- Making games and killing enemies.
- Changing the scene, playing the game and killing it.
- Changing the scene and killing it.
In the end I decided to go with “Changing the scene and killing it.” because it’s a clean and elegant slogan, and shows that we’ll be creating new games with new ideas and concepts. Not only is it a strong slogan, but it also creates a huge expectation for the company, which is what I want. I want to be able to challenge myself and create work not only consistently, but with quality. I might change this in the future, but for now it’s good.
Choosing values for my company I can choose easily. Because this company will essentially be just me, I can choose what is important to me as I create this game and what I need to keep in mind when things get a little tough. I’ve chosen to pick three core values: perseverance, education and positivity.
The mission statement can build off of the company values. “Coldcake Studios was built based off of a passion for building games and creating self-learning opportunities. We want to create emotional, compelling and exciting stories, worlds and gameplay for everyone to enjoy. “
The vision statement is where a company wishes to be in the future, so I’m not sure this really applies to me. The mission statement already defines my company and the values that it holds, so for a company that will just be a company for one or two games only made by me alone, I think having the mission statement only is good enough and a vision statement isn’t required.
Time spent:
Development Process: 1 hour
Company Identity: 3 hours
WordPress Website: 2 hours
Blog: 2 hours
Discord Server: 2 hours
Total: 10 hours
Heaven's Gate 