{"author_name":"fullmontis","cat":"LD - Misc","comments":[],"epoch":1389044820,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"34008","p_author":"fullmontis","p_authorkey":"21736","p_urlkey":"69552","p_title":"Spark: De Sacrificio is finished!","p_cat":"LD - Misc","p_event":"LD28","p_time":"1389044820","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"21736","us_name":"fullmontis","us_username":"\/author\/fullmontis\/","event_start":"1386892800","event_key":"20","event_name":"LD28"},"text":"

“… And why should I care?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Good question. Let me tell you a short story to give it to you.<\/p>\n

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\"Screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

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Spark: De Sacrificio<\/a> is a little project that stemmed from\u00a0an old ludum dare entry I created for LD27. I was very excited with it back then, and had it all planned in my mind: a puzzle\/platformer with exploration components<\/em>. It felt like a cool thing to play, so I did a smallish implementation for the compo. I wanted to develop\u00a0a complete game from the small prototype I created back then, but because of a few personal problems and my inability to focus on one thing for more than 48 hours, I dropped it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would have been the end of it if I didn’t get a hold of a copy of GameMaker back in November. I was curious to test this platform, and decided to brush some dust off Spark to recreate it in this bright new engine. I was really excited, and got a lot of work done in a short time. It started to look really amazing for what I was expecting. The game felt just as I wanted and it was interesting to play and explore.<\/p>\n

But for some reason I felt reluctant to wrap the game up and send it on its journey through the Internet.<\/p>\n

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\"Screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

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It took me a couple of weeks to pin down what was this dark feeling I was having towards releasing this small game. In the meanwhile, development got very slow. Staring at the game, replaying the same parts over and over started to feel painful. I caressed the possibility of leaving it in a drawer and forgetting about it more than once. The reason wasn’t that I didn’t like the project, but that I loved it way too much.<\/p>\n

I was scared of what people would say about it. I’m not new about getting feedback on stuff, and I have a thick skin for hrash comments. But the reality is that I had put a lot more of myself in this game than I would have ever expected. It’s no use to have a thick skin if you have your most vulnerable parts of yourself out in the open. Spark isn’t just a game for me but more of a piece of myself I digitalized and put in a form that others can experience and live. As someone who is extremely reserved, this is terrifying: it’s like living an open door on my soul.<\/p>\n

I knew that I had to push though it. On December the 30th, Spark: De Sacrificio was finished. I knew it wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t matter: I knew I had to close this loop and go on. So, here it is. Spark.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

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So, going back to the original question: why should you care about Spark: De Sacrificio?<\/span><\/p>\n

Because it’s sincere<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I put all my passion and knowledge in this game. It’s not a great game, I know it. But I\u00a0know it is unique, in its own weird way. As I said, even if you won’t notice, there is a lot of me in it.<\/p>\n

Oh, and it’s free<\/strong>. But that was a given. See it as a present to other developers who really love this medium as much as I do.<\/p>\n

If you are in for something different, challenging and (hopefully) touching, you may want to download it here<\/a>. If you check it out, feel free to pour some feedback on my blog<\/a> or my twitter<\/a> account.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading these ramblings.<\/p>\n \n

Tags: gamemaker<\/a>, LD27<\/a>, postmortem<\/a>, spark<\/a><\/p>","time":"January 6th, 2014 4:47 pm","title":"Spark: De Sacrificio is finished!"}