In today's main Gamasutra feature, VP of product development Tim Turner recounts
Oasis creator Mind Control Software's hectic final week experiences, preparing a total of 5 games to be entered into this year's Independent Games Festival.
As Turner recounts in his introduction to this entertaining 'making-of' diary:
"Mind Control Software had entered into a phase of “sorta-kinda” investing in its own intellectual property. I was very passionate about the idea of doing this but the positive energy was largely mitigated by the knowledge that our freedom to invest in this IP came from an ebb in the flow of paying work.
This contrast put us in a position to move forward on new games but forced us to keep a certain emotional distance as we all knew that when the next contract signed these internal projects would be put on hold for a while. It had been almost a year since the last time we had freedom to work on unfunded projects so “on hold for a while” could very well mean “shelve this game forever.”
Sure enough, after a couple weeks of baby steps on five titles we found ourselves fighting off paying clients with Ping Pong paddles and wireless keyboards. Our staff became impacted as we booked up and faced the choice of turning away paying gigs or shelving our new babies. The Independent Games Festival deadline was only a few weeks away and loomed like the spirit of Harlan Ellison saying, in a strong booming voice, “Don't be a whore!”"
You can now
read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).
