What happens to Trainwreck?
I’ve taken a new job in a new country with a radically different set of responsibilities. My current day job is that of a developer support / consutant engineer on a game platform and I’m switching over to a senior position in title development.
The limitations on someone doing title dev work are technically and ethically different than that of someone on a platform team. On a platform, new IP, even independant, tends to aid the platform and offers me pathos for the title development partners I work with.
As a title developer, I feel that any sort of entertainment that is competing for a person’s disposable income is a potential competitor with the videogame. Therefore, I cannot in good concience create any IP that is truly independant.
Trainwreck is my ever present side-project. It’s just a name I attach to my IP creation projects that is more memorable than “Rick.” So today, Trainwreck will cease to exist as an independant development company and instead be a collecting place for my IP experimentation and other creative work. However, any game I work on here are not intended for redistribution through the Trainwreck entity until I move on. I am very interested in seeing these IP projects evolve into retail offerings, but while I’m with my new employer, they will be the sole production house for any creative work that I do.
That includes my novel work. If my new company isn’t interested in publishing my novel or picking up one of my independantly built titles, then it won’t ship as a retail project for the duration.
On the flip side, I still intend to release free content whenever appropriate. These may include simple, free games, short stories, graphics demos, and other free-form projects. Notably, these will not carry the polish or weight of a retail release, but they will give me a creative outlet in those times when my real-life work becomes unsatisfying.
Admittedly, that seems less likely given the new position. I’m within leaping distance of my dream role in the games industry. This is a good thing, and I may yet end up doing exactly what I want to do in my career. Some very good things are ahead.
Matt and I will continue to work on these not-intended-for-retail-release projects. It’s hard to imagine working on projects like Arc without him, and so I won’t.