Basic Gist:
The following wall of text details a web comic idea I had, which is basicaly how I would have done Game Dogs if I had been in charge of writing the story. I may submit this as an entry into the Webcomic contest after I make some art for it. I do not intend to use talking dogs in this comic, all characters will be human. I like the idea of comic about game developers but hate Game Dogs implementation of it. Right now I am just throwing it out there to get people?s initial reaction.
Back Story:
Golden Egg Studios has just finished off a marginally successful movie tie in game and has enough financial backing to begin work on its own Intellectual Property.
The Golden Egg Team originally consisted of two programmers, an artist, and a level designer. The team is joined by a sleazy producer, and the son of the main financial backer who is granted the title ?Lead Designer.? Together they want create the next best selling game, if they can just agree on what that game is going to be.
The Characters:
Marco: (Senior Programmer) Marco has been making games since the 1980's. While he not up to date on the latest technologies he has the experience, connections, and programming tricks to make things happen for the team. He spends a lot of time recounting how they solved problems back in the day. He has seen every programming bug known to man and tries to steer the team away from disaster with reference to horribly failed titles he once worked on.
Blake: (Junior Programmer) Blake is a programmer fresh out of college and a little high strung. He is full of ideas, but they come so fast the barely has time to write them down much less implement them. He wants to be Lead Designer one day and is jealous of Sean taking the position due to his family connections. Never the less he is willing to tow the line until the world recognizes him for the genius that he thinks he is. Blake's drive and passion compliments Marco's wisdom, and the two form an odd but productive pair.
Alex: (Character Artist) Alex has little formal education but makes up for it with talent that can only be described as instinctual. He fulfills the roll as character artist within the company. He also does all things aesthetic from logos to props and power ups. His favorite medium to work in is clay and he insists on modeling everything in clay prior to making it digital. This does not sit well with the more organized coworkers and the cleaning crew.
Fiona: (Level Designer) Fiona is a former architect who would rather make a torturous dungeon than a habitable building. Her sadistic tendencies got her fired from the architectural firm she spent a good 10 years working for. Fortunately she has found her real calling level design. She presents herself professionally but those who know her understand it is just a front for the hard core D&D geek she really is.
Mr. Barons (The Financial Backer): Mr. Barons made is fortune in the stock market. Technically he retired at 35 with more money to last him 5 life times. He purchased Golden Egg Studios not as an investment, but rather a way to get his slacker son to show some initiative. He doesn?t know much about video games, but knows a lot about reading people. He spends most of his time on the golf course, but stops in from time to time to remind every one who is paying their rent.
Charles (The Producer): Charles is a long time cronies of Mr. Barons. He lives by the motto "Never show them any weakness." Mr. Barons put him in the roll of financial watch dog over his new investment. Charles knows less about game development than Mr Barons, but he makes up for that with gallons of techno babble. Charles is all about the bottom line, and is often at odds with the development team over artistic integrity, or any integrity for that matter.
Sean Barons (Lead Designer): Sean is Mr. Barons under achieving son. A life time of living not living up to his father?s expectations has left Sean slightly bitter at the old man. He took to video games at an early age because it was the one place he could out perform his dad. He has been put in charge of several of his Dad?s investments in the past. But this is the first time he has been put in charge of something he is interested in. While prone to slacking he sees this as his chance to show up his Dad.
The following wall of text details a web comic idea I had, which is basicaly how I would have done Game Dogs if I had been in charge of writing the story. I may submit this as an entry into the Webcomic contest after I make some art for it. I do not intend to use talking dogs in this comic, all characters will be human. I like the idea of comic about game developers but hate Game Dogs implementation of it. Right now I am just throwing it out there to get people?s initial reaction.
Back Story:
Golden Egg Studios has just finished off a marginally successful movie tie in game and has enough financial backing to begin work on its own Intellectual Property.
The Golden Egg Team originally consisted of two programmers, an artist, and a level designer. The team is joined by a sleazy producer, and the son of the main financial backer who is granted the title ?Lead Designer.? Together they want create the next best selling game, if they can just agree on what that game is going to be.
The Characters:
Marco: (Senior Programmer) Marco has been making games since the 1980's. While he not up to date on the latest technologies he has the experience, connections, and programming tricks to make things happen for the team. He spends a lot of time recounting how they solved problems back in the day. He has seen every programming bug known to man and tries to steer the team away from disaster with reference to horribly failed titles he once worked on.
Blake: (Junior Programmer) Blake is a programmer fresh out of college and a little high strung. He is full of ideas, but they come so fast the barely has time to write them down much less implement them. He wants to be Lead Designer one day and is jealous of Sean taking the position due to his family connections. Never the less he is willing to tow the line until the world recognizes him for the genius that he thinks he is. Blake's drive and passion compliments Marco's wisdom, and the two form an odd but productive pair.
Alex: (Character Artist) Alex has little formal education but makes up for it with talent that can only be described as instinctual. He fulfills the roll as character artist within the company. He also does all things aesthetic from logos to props and power ups. His favorite medium to work in is clay and he insists on modeling everything in clay prior to making it digital. This does not sit well with the more organized coworkers and the cleaning crew.
Fiona: (Level Designer) Fiona is a former architect who would rather make a torturous dungeon than a habitable building. Her sadistic tendencies got her fired from the architectural firm she spent a good 10 years working for. Fortunately she has found her real calling level design. She presents herself professionally but those who know her understand it is just a front for the hard core D&D geek she really is.
Mr. Barons (The Financial Backer): Mr. Barons made is fortune in the stock market. Technically he retired at 35 with more money to last him 5 life times. He purchased Golden Egg Studios not as an investment, but rather a way to get his slacker son to show some initiative. He doesn?t know much about video games, but knows a lot about reading people. He spends most of his time on the golf course, but stops in from time to time to remind every one who is paying their rent.
Charles (The Producer): Charles is a long time cronies of Mr. Barons. He lives by the motto "Never show them any weakness." Mr. Barons put him in the roll of financial watch dog over his new investment. Charles knows less about game development than Mr Barons, but he makes up for that with gallons of techno babble. Charles is all about the bottom line, and is often at odds with the development team over artistic integrity, or any integrity for that matter.
Sean Barons (Lead Designer): Sean is Mr. Barons under achieving son. A life time of living not living up to his father?s expectations has left Sean slightly bitter at the old man. He took to video games at an early age because it was the one place he could out perform his dad. He has been put in charge of several of his Dad?s investments in the past. But this is the first time he has been put in charge of something he is interested in. While prone to slacking he sees this as his chance to show up his Dad.
