What is One Week/Game

[Note: This entry is a crosspost from the One Week/Game. You can check out One Week/Game and the original entry here]

So it’s probably about time I started this website proper. Hi and welcome to One Week/Game (just pronounced One Week Game). This is a year-long project for me and my brand Ludoko Studios which I’ve been releasing games under since 2007.

So what is the goal of One Week/Game? The goal of OW/G is pretty simple. Make a new game every week for an entire year.

Wait a second. Back up there you’re saying. Make a game a week for an entire year? You’re probably thinking right now that you’re talking to a lunatic, a man clearly out of his mind driven to extremes by a tortured soul (or some nonsense like that). Okay, but before you close this tab and never visit again let me try to explain my rationale for such an ambitious and frankly crazy project.

First off I’m far from being original and daring here. There’s a proud history of artists and creators in various fields attempting similar projects of this scope and nature. Jonathan Coulton famous did his Thing a Week from 2005 to 2006 writing 52 songs in a span of a year. And within the games community there was the original Experimental Gameplay Project at Carnegie Mellon’s ETC program (from which such notable indie developers like Kyle Gabler and Kyle Gray first got their start) which developed a new game every week for an entire semester.

So it’s certain possible with the right motivation and proper amounts of effort. So then why am I personally doing this? How does this benefit Ludoko Studios and me?

Right now as an independent game developer I’m at a crossroads of sorts. You can only run so long on meager earnings and freelance jobs doing other things before you need to start thinking about whether or not full-time game development will work out in the long run. So this year I will inevitably need to make that big decision if making games should be my “real” job or if I would be better off doing something else somewhere else.

So in a sense OW/G is my way of doubling down on my gamble. Because my biggest problem as a game maker right now is that I simply do not make enough games. Especially for the size and scope of the games that I’m involved in my productivity should and needs to be significantly greater for any sort of success. The discipline to be productive when setting your own schedule, your own deadlines, your own milestones to me is one of the hardest part of being an independent game developer. So unsurprisingly its when there’s been outside self-imposed deadlines like Ludum Dare where I’ve shined my best. Last year with Ludum Dare I completed two games in less than 48 hours, Into the Pit and Echolon. OW/G is my way of attempting to reach that level of productivity.

So for better or for worse I’m giving this a shot. The first cycle for OW/G was from January 12th to 18th and has technically already passed. So the 1st cycle has stretched a few extra days as I add on a little more polish and basic backend stuff to push the game to a point of playability I’m satisfied with. This game from last week – Towerfall – will be released tonight for everyone to enjoy.

My plans are to keep this simple. Outside of the basic goal of completing a game roughly every week I’m not going to set any ground rules. Some games (like Towerfall) may take a little longer than a week. Other games may only take a few days. Some games will be completed during special events like Ludum Dare or the Global Game Jam. Some weeks I might try to make a game for an upcoming holiday or to fit some theme and other weeks I’ll just do whatever the heck I want. And I’ll be documenting the process the entire way with timelapse videos, post-mortems on development, rants on making games, in-progress updates, and all sorts of random other stuff.

So hopefully we can all have some fun. And make some games.