Hope to see you soon (again)

I started this blog at the beginning of 2013 while finishing my ph.D. stay in Rennes (France). I did it as a self-motivation boost and because I thought it could be useful for myself to keep track of my progress and discoveries. And for some time, the effort it took to maintain the blog was really worth it. However, I must be honest to you and to myself: this blog is kind of abandoned, and I don't think this is going to change in the near future.

This is why I think that the most correct action is to say goodbye. I don't intend to close or delete its contents as it contains information that can be useful either for me or for others. But I won't be writing more posts on this blog, not at least in the short term. In fact, this has already been the case for some time. During the last months, the number of posts has been decreasing and it kind of hurts me having a supposedly active blog without recent posts. I need this closure to move forward.

During the time I've been writing this blog, lots of nice things have happened to me: I finished my ph.D., I published a couple of games on Android and iPhone, I co-founded a video games studio, I got married and I published my first PC game on Steam: Breaking Fast.

Now, I have nice projects ahead and I'll continue writing about game development, but I'll keep the posts in the scope of the concrete games I'll be developing by the time. In particular, you'll be able to read me on Tale Studios blog.

Thanks a lot to those of you who have been reading the posts until the very end. I hope that some of the posts gave you insight into game development and helped you in some degree.

Good luck with your projects and hope to see you soon!

Breaking Fast at Granada Gaming 2017

Hi! Wow, I've just noticed this is my first post in 2017, being the longest gap between posts since the blog creation. Definitely a bad record to break, although I should try to excuse myself: we're finishing up Breaking Fast and it's being so time-consuming... Anyway, I'll try to catch up over time.

This weekend Granada Gaming has been held in Granada (Spain), a video games event that has been co-located with Ficzone 2017, a huge event about comics, board games, cosplay and anime. The event has exceeded all the expectations and the number of visitors has been huge (although I don't know official figures yet).

Of course, we've attended this event to show, one more time, Breaking Fast. As usual, people have enjoyed the game quite a lot, and groups of people of all ages have played it and replayed it lots of times, pushing the limits of their friendship at times...

The whole Breaking Fast team was together in a event for the first time! 

On Saturday evening, there was a networking event for the indie devs (Devs&Beers) where we could talk to each other in a more relaxed environment with nice food and drinks. We had the chance to meet other devs with whom we'd already shared stand in other events, and it's a very warm feeling when you see that they continue working on their illusions in such a volatile and fragile industry in Spain. Also, we could get to know new people and projects, which is also very welcome. During this networking dinner, interesting debates arose about the state of the industry and how indie devs can overcome the barriers in the search of success.

Also, if you've never heard anything about Granada, you should probably know that it's very well known for its "tapas" (although if you're from abroad, you might think they're typical in Spain in general), mid-size plates that are served for every drink you order. And the quality of the food is up to the expectations of the Mediterranean diet, so yes, it's a good place to eat.

One of the celebrities invited to Granada Gaming was Akira Yamaoka, who is a composer famously known for his work on Silent Hill. As part of the networking program, we developers had a group meeting with him in which we could ask him whatever we wanted to know. One of my questions was about how to commercialize a game like Breaking Fast in Japan once it's localized in this language. He told me that he thought this game could sell well in Japan and advised me to partner with a breakfast food company to gain visibility.

As a final anecdote, there was a girl who attended the event wearing the official t-shirt of Breaking Fast! She had participated in one of the contests we organized in previous events and she had won. And there she was, exhibiting with pride this t-shirt while playing Breaking Fast. This was a really awesome moment for us!