Taking Form

This was a humbling yet exciting work session that we managed to hash out between us and in doing so and without sounding too cliche (Trust me, I’m being sincere and not cheesy at all!), a lesson has been made abundantly clear regarding how we can tackle any trial and tribulations we may find in life. Make a plan, believe in it and nothing will stop you getting where you’re wanting to go.

What we’ve managed to achieve also put quite the spring into my step, action is everything and it's a concept that seems easy to grasp however, its simplicity is deceiving. When you take action and start to propel your own momentum, you see change and progress in real time, usually it’s small but a multitude of small progressions surmount to large impactful changes. I’m looking forward to more work sessions like the one we had managed to knuckle out because I’m genuinely excited for the project but also know how important it is for Justin and as things begin to take form, I expect more exciting updates to come your way in the near future.

I said to Justin,

"I’ve known you for years and I know once you’ve got something in your sights you stick to it, so answer me this. What do you think will be the biggest challenge creating something like this, something that’s so personal to you with the assistance of other people? For example, are you open to change or slight deviations to your idea?"

Justin: "Absolutely open to that idea, however since this is my baby, with the stipulation we stick to the core idea since the storyline is so significant and since it’s a storyline that's reflecting something very real that’s affecting hundreds of thousands of people right now around the world, I think it is a duty to not only them but to God. So I think we need to treat this with genuine care and authenticity. So do I want to deviate away from this idea that will show real things and balance that with 'Is this pleasing to God?' You know, erm. It’s just a difficult subject for many people and it’s not pretty. So do I think that I will be able to or rather be open to change? Yes. Slight deviations. Yes. But we have an important story to tell.

Because we have a dark story to tell, it will be difficult to find a balance between what truly isn’t entertaining—because it’s a hideous subject in reality—so I believe that we will have to simulate it in some manner or another in order for players to realize that there are very real emotions and experiences that people are feeling in actual life. This game will not be for the faint of heart.”

Dan: "So in essence, you’re open to change and deviations as long as the core story, idea and subject isn’t altered. It’s why I called this project an enigma, using a form of entertainment to convey something that isn’t nice or entertaining in actuality. But again I guess that’s the beauty behind what Evigilo Entertainment is trying to tackle, the means of raising awareness about a very real ugly subject through the lines of media where some of the very same people use it to cover up their own inhumanity."

To which he agreed.

In collaboration with Daniel, I know that we’ve succeeded in taking one extremely large step into Evigilo Entertainment’s first TRUE close-to-the-heart project. The fact of the matter is that we must find a way to properly move forward with each task that requires collaboration. So while we work in exploring this area of ‘Collaboration’ in the tasks required, we’ll update you along the way of this journey.

A little history between Dan and I; we found each other in playing video games in February 2011, if I recall correctly. In 2019, just before the plandemic, I asked Dan if he would like to be involved with an idea that I had — This Game — He was completely psyched about the thought. So, I took some time to write an overall summary of the first game’s first level and general idea of what exactly I wanted the game to be about. I took a few slow years to attempt to educate myself as much as possible in the elements involving video game design. Right now, it feels as though everything is starting to coming together as it needs to and here we are.

As for what I've learned so far... it has been a quantity of skill sets; namely 3D Modeling + texturing (and the many techniques regarding that subject), some animation, some film and much more — I’m currently taking a course on voice acting, so forever learning. But overall, what I hope that people take from reading this is firstly, that it's okay to not know what exactly you're doing in the beginning. It all starts with an idea and eventually, it explodes into something that feels manageable. To be honest, when I first started this project, I was not certain if it would be achievable — Even with all the time crunching to get to where I felt ready to begin actual development from the game.

Life seems to throw challenges in your way, whether or not you're going to move past them is up to us. At least, that's my opinion on the matter. Nearly everything that I am personally doing with Evigilo Entertainment appears to have some effect on me, causing me to grow as an individual — both in personal life and work.

While we were discussing this blog post, I suggested that we ask each other questions — A small interview revolved around this current point in time. Here's what Dan had to say in response to my question:

Justin: "What weaknesses do you feel that you have in starting a project like this? You have a tendency to flip any weaknesses and turn them into a strength with confidence.”

Daniel: "The fact that I haven’t created a game before in my life and it isn’t something that I thought that I would be doing. And as such, it means that I don’t have the prerequisite skill sets required to create a video game from scratch. However, it’s true to be said about anything else you encounter in life. Anything that you’re currently good at or have the ability to do with ease was once something foreign to you, however you’ve learnt how to do said task and end up excelling at it or at least being proficient in it. However, this seems to raise the glaring question of what strengths do I have when it comes to tackling a project like this and again, the simple answer to that is that I’ve got an abundance of experience with leading/forming projects of various different types. That paired with the killer combination of my work ethic, fast learning and pragmatism, means that I’ll ensure this arrow hits our target perfectly with precision regardless of how many adjustments we need to make to get it there.”

Justin: "Agree.”

I think the most underappreciated fact when it comes to any form of creation is the art of getting the dream or idea from within and then finding a way to translate it or form it into what you intend it to be. It’s like when an artist tries to draw an object from memory, it’s bringing the form in your mind to life and fleshing it out on paper, and what me and Justin spent yesterday doing was exactly the same in essence.

Creating something like what we’re hoping to achieve is a behemoth of a task, there’s a lot that we’ll need to do and finding the best way to tackle it is currently at our forefront. We know the story in which we wish to tell and truths we wish to put forward but how do we go about putting it out into the world through the media medium we’ve chosen? So like any seemingly insurmountable task, you need an action plan. We’ve both combined our efforts to effectively map out how the first level of Evigilo Entertainment’s core project will go about and what we need to do to achieve it. This task no longer feels like a shot in the dark, instead the path has been paved clear before us and we just need to put in the work required to get it done.

While we’ve been waiting for so long to get to this point in the development of Evigilo Entertainment’s first game — Between having to do homely things, attempt to make up for what feels like lost time (whilst Father-Time appears to rapidly spring forward with each passing birthday) — I feel that we’re on the right track in getting to exactly where we need to be. Currently, we’re working on the backbone of this type of Art; The Storyline.

But with everything going on in the world, ideas are flying about in every direction (and sometimes not even jotting them down), things may become unclear and the vision or dream that makes up the spine of this Video Game can be lost. Video Game Development can be excruciatingly tiring; mental wear and tear is a more-than-possible event to occur when you've got just about a million+ things to do, but that’s fine.

“Everything’s fine.” Justin tells himself, and it is, because our time is split up to make it work. So what he's done is chip away as much as possible while trying to stay sane. The best case scenario is that we crush our time, remain positive in regard to what we're doing and take it one step at a time, as we're continuously learning.

So yesterday, Dan and I spent about six and a half hours fleshing out the bullet points that will cover various things such as the storyline from one point in time to the last event that will occur in the first level chronologically. There’s quite a variety of each individual thing that must be done to properly make a game; create scripts to properly ensure that things simply work as they should, assign checkpoints, create events that will trigger something in-game to happen; animations, audio cues, cut-scenes (and what will happen in them), define insanely amazing visuals and so much more as well.

As it so happens, we did crush our time and defined 95% of what we want to occur in the first level, one bullet at a time.

So, what did we do exactly? We put together a step by step plan of the core parts that need to be encountered during this first level, fleshing out what areas of the story need to be implemented as players take the role of our protagonist. We then broke down those steps to sub parts of it to see which areas will need to be worked on, for example what areas of the map would trigger certain lines and how to script it, what assets would need to be made, what sounds need to be heard and ultimately what they should see. This gives us a realistic scope of what needs to be prioritized and what elements of this level that need to be worked on first. Because of this we now have realistic checkmarks we need to meet but also now the catalyst to get momentum to complete this first chapter and as such, taking form.

Because of the nature of this industry, we're purposefully being vague regarding this current Game Update. For now, we will restrict the information offered for future updates as well.

If you would like to assist us in getting closer to our goal (and to help ease some stress) please consider donating. All funds go back into game development — You may read more about the donation process and what we could use help with on our donation page.

Hello everyone! We hope you’re keeping well, today this will be a joint blog post from both Justin and Dan to give you all an update on what’s currently being worked on by the team. We will both be filling you in on what we’ve come up with and achieved without giving too much away, but let's just say we’re beyond excited for what’s about to take course!

— Justin & Daniel —

Our First Video Game Update

Are We In Trouble?

Justin

Daniel

March | 2018

January 4, 2023

Game Updates & Remedies

Life & Work Lessons

Justin

Daniel

So what have you learned so far on our journey and how may it help others?

Thanks for reading,

"This is where the fun begins."

Justin is the owner and current independent developer at Evigilo Entertainment. His thoughts and opinions are a direct reflection of Evigilo Entertainment's values, morals and ethics.

Daniel is a writer at Evigilo Entertainment. His thoughts and opinions are not a direct reflection of Evigilo Entertainment's viewpoints.

———COLLABORATION———

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