Yeah, I don’t get it either.

Anyways, immediate torch & pitchfork type grassroots activities ensued and now Indie Games are Games once again. Thanks, XBOX Live team for such a fast response.

This situation reminds me of a problem I have been considering recently: whether or not I should list my upcoming game as an “Educational Game.” I suppose in the strictest sense, it is one, but on the other hand the combination of the words “educational” and “game” has somewhat of a negative connotation with the general audience of 360 gamers and probably beyond just that group as well.

One of the main goals of my project is to make a game that has educational value and entertainment value. Tricking players into learning stuff, if you will. If it is successful, design wise, then I don’t think people should judge it simply because I label it as educational, and the easiest way to avoid that would be to label it as something else, like an action game. Or a simulation.

Then again, maybe it does make more sense to simple call it what it is, allowing the people who are actually interested in learning the topic at hand to find my game more easily, and then letting their word of mouth carry the message that the game is fun in its own right as well.

Hmm. What would you do?

Also, I have so many blogs to keep.

I’m not really sure what sites are thinking people should do when they offer blogging services to everyone. Take IGN for example, they now have a blogging service based off of WordPress too. 1up.com has always given its users blog space, as well as Gametrailers.com, Gameinformer.com, Gamepro.com, Giantbomb.com, the list goes on and on.

I guess one could just write one blog and copy/paste it everywhere. It gets the post a lot of hits, even if they’re scattered across a myriad of websites, but in the interests of keeping the internet somewhat manageable, shouldn’t the elimination of that kind of spam be something everyone strives for?

To keep this from turning into an excuse post, positives!

The game progresses on and should be mostly playable by the end of the week. I’m thinking of ways to make the game feel like it has more meat to it than just a simple educational game. Like how Plants vs. Zombies has the Zen Garden and the Tree of Wisdom elements that keep you playing long after you’ve finished the Adventure Mode.

I was playing Yakuza 2 a few weeks ago, and it really surprised me how the hostess bar management mini game could be so compelling even though, for the most part, it was all about charts and graphs showing off sales data.

There’s something to that. I don’t know what it is yet, but I want to find it.

Mostly, it took a lot of posing and imagination based on that posing.

In other good news, I think I’ve come up with a way to save some animation time. I’ll let you know if it works. If not, well, that’ll make a good story too.