But seriously:
“Oh wow, I did not know you bought the game.”
“I didn’t: the art director for Alice: Madness Returns bought it for me for Christmas.”
“…”

Kudos to you :)

thanks for the applause. profit isn’t my primary motivation… completing a solo project is. i don’t feel like i’ve shot myself in the foot – completing a project on my own should open more career avenues, not close them off.

gammad,

well, firstly, i haven’t thrown anything away. if you leave the traditional games industry for a year they don’t bar you from coming back in :P. i wouldn’t dismiss mobile gamers so readily. the few hundred people who have played early builds of hackycat have been really supportive. also, my pedigree might not be as impressive as you think; which is part of the reason why i’m tackling this challenge.

these comments have been interesting. i think many people imagine a game developer’s dream is to work on a halo or an assassin’s creed… and for many it is. to be honest, alice: madness returns was that dream for me. i got to work with a fantastic team on a well-funded, multi-platform project where i had a huge amount of creative freedom – in an exotic city. it took three years. i might want to do that again sometime, but for me the next adventure is to take all i’ve learnt and apply it to a personal project.

Oh and “everyone in the world has a mobile” is true. Not everybody wants a freakin’ iPhone.

inz:
Hard to feel like he hasn’t shot himself in the foot on this one. Granted it’s what he wants to do and I applaud him for that, but leaving the Spicy Horse development company as the Art Director to make an independent iOS game that might not even turn a profit… seems silly.

I wouldn’t look at it that way.. its ignoring the circumstances as to why he left in the first place. What I’m more disappointed in is that he has such a great pedigree of game art and yet he throws all that away on people who honestly could care less about what his previous works are.. all they care about is the 99 cent game they can screw around on the train for 5 mins one time… Whereas the Hardcores do care and do appreciate the effort.. if you want a market that will support and help you.. look no further..

This is why I say, don’t knock the PC because its where nearly all the hardcores live and when a hardcore gamer cares.. they usually throw money at it (see Kickstarter).

and with that – back on topic!

matty:
Welcome to Gon Ken. Its like this most days.

Like you are above it all.

In other news, did you know that Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland is actually about how stupid complex mathematics is?

True story…

Sure I won’t personally buy Hackeycat, and I can’t stand the IOS market Fruit Ninja’esque stuff that’s flooding the scene, but I have no doubt that this will appeal to the casual gamer (as I’m guessing it’s supposed to) and the guy will get some extra $ to go off and work on his next project.

Personally I respect the dude for going off to a foreign country, putting his life on hold and getting a chance that alot of us gamers only dream about. Live and let live people. When it’s all said and done, I may not approve of the way certain people live their lives and their life style choices, but who am I to try and try and crush their dreams. Good luck mate.

um. well think about it more like going from designing hotels that only rich people can afford to building an epic treehouse in your backyard. sure, the treehouse has less money involved and won’t be as famous, but it’ll be personal, i’ll have the freedom to design it how i want to, and it’ll be with my own two hands. i wouldn’t say it’s less stressful – i imagine it’s a bit like being a solo musician without a record deal.

gammad,

sure, there’s piracy on iOS. i’d argue that you don’t lose as many sales, since those who go to the trouble of pirating on iOS don’t typically pay for apps anyway. there’s some evidence that piracy may actually increases sales. anyway, i don’t look down on PC at all – i chose iOS for my first solo game primarily because it’s a market i’m familiar with and interested in. i’d love to work on another PC game in the future.

Aussie games development is practically just Indies now, and a lot of those indies invariably turn to the most accessible formats when starting out. That means iOS and mobile before building up the experience to branch out into other areas.

Ken has experience at a big studio, yes, but it takes a brave person to give that up to start from the ground up and see what he/she can achieve on their own terms. Hackycat is a first step, and like mentioned above, Hackycat isn’t a game to dismiss; it’s addictive as hell.

If you want the Aussie development scene to thrive again, Ken and all the guys showcasing games at events like AVCON; these are the guys that you want to be supporting, as they’re the ones that will grow the industry over here.

Thanks.

Your previous work is beautiful and I’m sure that will continue in the future, but for now… It’s a cat with a mustache for 99cents on the app store.

maybe you missed the bit about me also designing, programming, animating and doing the marketing for my own game now. i was drawing mustaches on things when i was an art director too.