Aaron

@aefreedman makes games in Brooklyn

[aefreedman]

More from the archives. This prototype, circa 2013(?) eventually became a game called Lumen (unreleased).

[aefreedman]

Unnamed adventure-puzzle prototype

[aefreedman]

Old old old screenshot of what eventually became Sunburn!.

[aefreedman]

A piece of one of our most notorious assignments from the Game Center MFA way back, involving making an infographic for FTL. I wonder where the full infographic is tucked away.

[aefreedman]

Wow! Screenshots of the first videogame I made, Story of Square.

[aefreedman]

Another archival discovery. Screenshot of a wave-pool-like audio visualizer prototype I made a few years back.

[aefreedman]

It's the notorious Field-1 gif!

[aefreedman]

Zero.Mark: The Lost Screenshots, Part 2

More archeological discoveries.

[aefreedman]

Don't worry, the Sunburn! iOS 11 update is coming.

[aefreedman]

Zero.Mark: The Lost Screenshots, Part 1

Found these while digging around. These should be from 2014.

[aefreedman]

New update dropping soon.

[aefreedman]

More screenshots of early prototypes of Lost Memories Dot Net, this time from inside the Unity3D editor. These screenshots are from February, 2017.

*None of the images in the screenshots are ours and are the property of their repsective owners.

[aefreedman]

Some screenshots from super super early prototypes of Lost Memories Dot Net. Taken during the first few weeks, and about six months before release.

*None of the images in the screenshots are ours and are the property of their repsective owners.

[aefreedman]

Very clear playtest feedback.

More info on Kimmy

[aefreedman]

Screenshot from the custom dialogue editor I built for Kimmy.

[aefreedman]

Thanks, @MIFestival!

[aefreedman]

The Many-at-Once Method

I'm currently working on multiple projects of varying scale, with a mix of work-for-hire, commission, personal work, and work with collaborators. All of the work is games, and in most cases I'm the sole developer in addition to whatever other responsiblities appear (and there's never a shortage).

The most difficult thing about working this way isn't finding the time to work on everything, but having the mental space to constantly switch contexts and pick up where I left off.

In this situation I find that I tend to attempt sharing design solutions between projects where it's possible -- for example while working on a card game, adding card mechanics to another game feels like a great solution. Basically, I've already spent the energy trying to understand the nuances of that design problem, so maybe I can just transmute this other design problem into the one I've already explored.

I think this can create interesting solutions to problems, as if you're applying oblique thinking, but there's always the risk that you're simply trying to take a shortcut and you end up in a place that isn't any better than where you started.

I wonder how much innovative design is a result of people trying to take these mental shortcuts. Is the only difference between inspired design and lazy design the result, and not the process?