Many of you know that I’ve been hella busy on a Super Secret Project. It’s why I haven’t been posting anything lately, and why I have a backlog of events that never got posted. Well, I started a game company: Trickshot Games. After reading many of Danny Choo’s inspiring articles on life, and setting goals, I decided it was time to do something with my own life.
In April, I found myself presented with the opportunity to make a change. That change resulted in me incorporating a company, running through stacks of legal paperwork, and most importantly, making my first game in which I could call my own.
Setting up the company was a lot of work, an incredible learning experience, and a lot of fun. We brainstormed and went through over 100 names for the company, and narrowed it down to three before finally going with Trickshot Games.
The paperwork was overwhelming at first, and I was paranoid about filling in things wrong, but after a while, it became pretty straight-forward. As Danny Choo says, it’s as easy as farting. Well, sort of. Sole Proprietorship is. For me, I needed to incorporate, so it was a tad bit more paperwork, but still not bad. With the Canadian Government, turn-around time for a particular process was either instant, or within a few days. That’s pretty efficient!
In coming up with the logo and the website, I learned a lot about graphic design, which as an illustration artist, I found it quite different from my usual work.
One of the many pages of sketches I did for the logo design. This page was probably the weakest of them all.
After several pages of logos, these were the final ones that we chose from. The one we ended up with was actually a fluke design of messing around with one of the other logos.
I picked up some graphic design books from the library and learned how real graphic designers work and think. After doing so, I now look at radiantdreamer.net and I see all the flaws, as well as all the things that I somehow managed to do right. I don’t think I’ll have the time to go back and redesign it though. At least not now.
Setting up and owning a company is quite exciting. You get a feeling that you’re actually doing something, both for your future, and in the world. You feel like you’re taking a step somewhere, but don’t know where, but you feel like it’s a step in the right direction.
Besides being proud of that, I’m very proud that I’ve finally developed a game that I can say “I made this.” Having been a game developer for 6 years, I was always making a game for someone else. It’s the first time that I’ve truly made a game for myself. I actually didn’t come to this realization until my wife mentioned it to me.
So what exactly is this game that I’ve made? I can’t reveal much right now other than the fact that it’s an iPhone/iPod Touch game, and it’ll retail for 99 cents. The game has been submitted, so it should appear in the app store soon, provided nothing goes wrong (fingers crossed). Please support me when the game is released!
Please do check out the site https://www.trickshotgames.com and follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/trickshotgames for the latest news!
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Wow, I’m impressed at your initiative and wish you all the best!
I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it here again, CONGRATS DAN!
I can’t possibly imagine myself doing the same (well I don’t have quite enough experience or financial stability), but I think it’s great that you’re putting yourself out there as a dev. Having something something that you can share with the world as well as call your own is a very special thing. I wish you the best!
With the current popularity of the iPhone/iPod Touch, you’re definitely jumping in the right market. Especially at the right price point of 99 cents, it’s very easy for people to just conveniently press a button to buy an app. I certainly can’t wait to check out what you’ve done.
yay! My first customer! 😀 Thanks Kin. You’ve always been a great support for me and my work, be it in the industry, or just anime related hobby stuff.
Reminds me, I still have to write up a recommendation for you on linkedin! Don’t worry, I’ll get to it soon! 😀
Game design! I went to school for game design myself and graduated only a few months ago. But right now I’m still in that “after-college drifter period” where I’m not remotely sure what to do with myself. My only plan right now is to head to Seattle or somewhere nearby. (If you have any advice for me, it would be much much MUCH appreciated!)
The only things I’ve worked on so far are visual novels. I’ve yet to complete one, though…but I plan on having at least one done before the year ends.
Congrats on starting your very own company! There’s no telling what the future holds, but here’s hoping Trickshot Games is a success.
add me to your msn if you have one, and we can chat about “advice and stuff” if you like.
Seattle is a pretty good choice if you want to get into the games industry – Microsoft is located there, as well as several game companies. And if you want to drift further North, you’ll get to Vancouver, another game developer hub!
Thanks for the support!
Coolbeans. My MSN/Windows Live is “g.k.sil_kamina@live.com”. Unfortunately I’m a night owl so I’m often only online from midnight – 3am (EST).
Congratulations!
I wish I had an iPone or an iPod, , but I’ll convince all my friends to buy it when they can. When its released on the app. store you have to tell us the rest of the details about the game! By the way, the logo looks great! I wish you all the best!
Thanks very much Lostty! Even though you don’t own an iPhone, just hearing that you’ll tell all your friends means a lot to me! ^_^
Man those are some pretty sick designs ^_^…have you tried expanding from just the iphone/ipod to like consoles/PC?? I’d like to join your company, I’ve got lots of designs you can use…not that I do much at work anyways ^_^
Definitely thought about porting stuff to other platforms. But for now it’s just iPhone. Stay tuned and see what’s up! 😀
Ohoho! Very nice! Congratz on establishing your company 😀 So that’s why you were busy, eh? Unfortunately I won’t be able to try out your game unless a friend of mine buys the game or someone gives me an iPod or iPhone XD
And I’m a supposed graphic designer… well I’m more into the technical side than design actually, but I can go with that title at times. That sketch of logos and such is SO graphic designer ^^
I wish you success with your new company and maybe move on to something bigger than iPhone/iPod market 😀
as a graphic designer yourself, I’m glad you’re my friend. I’ll definitely hit you up for advice if I need any! 🙂
Thanks for the support!
Haha!! Belated Congrats, and may the Buisness lords accompany yu^^
Now I hav moar reason to buy an Iphone
Thanks everyone for the blessings and your support! I know that I’m going to need it in order to make my company successful!