The one day sale

Posted by Gavin Bowman on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 9:01 AM

DoubleTake, the recent PC/Mac game I released through Antair Games, is available today (10/22) on gamedujour, at a crazy low price.

Always wanted to try out the one day sale sites, so it's nice to have products that they might work for. It's a shame this is such short notice, as I know from second hand experience that these things seem to work better when you give a bit of advance warning. It should be an interesting experiment all the same.

For those of you still following this feed and not following my new blog: how are you doing? It's been a while, I hope you're all well...

Quick update, and a new release

Posted by Gavin Bowman on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 2:53 PM

For those of you still subscribed here and not following me on my new Antair Games blog, I thought you might like to know that we have released DoubleTake, a new game for Windows & Mac.

Long time readers will know that a lot of time passed between me announcing here that I'd be making PC games with Antair and this first actual release, so I'm sure you can imagine how happy I am. It was a long road, we had a few false starts and zig zags, but it's all worth it to see a finished product go out. Also, when you factor in that we already have our second desktop game more than half done, the amount of time passed doesn't seem like quite so much.

I'm also enjoying having a new blog to stretch my legs in. I'd like think it's coming together quite well so far, I've tried out a few little series already (a regular post about games I've been playing, a mini series about me switching to the Mac etc), and I've also been doing a Progress Report every week. I'm hoping to keep following that pattern of regular content and mini-series, mixed with one-off stuff when it comes to me. Based on my experience here I think regular recurring commitments are a great way to get (and keep) some momentum going.

That's all, I hope you're all well... and if you feel like it, go and try DoubleTake (unless you have a Mac, in which case you're excused for now no excuses, an intel Mac version is available now). :).

500 and Out

Posted by Gavin Bowman on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 3:25 PM

By a weird quirk of fate, my 500th post here is also (pretty much) my last.

I covered all of the news and announcements here in a couple of posts last week, but when I saw the post counter sitting at 499, I couldn't resist adding a final summary. I may still post here occassionally over the next few months, as I know not everyone will follow me over to my new blog, but it is effectively done.

Back to that summary.

Firstly, I'll be leaving V4 Solutions/Oriador to focus full time on my work with Antair.

Secondly, there will be no more Micro ISV Digests here, but Bob Walsh has kindly offered to take over and keep it alive over on 47hats. You can read Bob's first digest here. Thanks Bob, I'm going to enjoy being a reader.

Finally, if you want to keep up with what I'm doing, my new blog is the Antair Games Blog. I'm also on Twitter. (there's also a bunch of contact options over in the sidebar if you want to reach me)

Many thanks to you all for reading and commenting over the last few years, I've enjoyed being part of the community, and I'm glad some of you are keeping in touch or subscribing to the new blog.

Announcement #2: Sorry [updated]

Posted by Gavin Bowman on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 6:45 PM

It's with a heavy heart that I do this, but following on from yesterday's announcement, I have to call time on the Micro ISV Digest.

In honour of the digest, I'll do the main reasons in bullet form:-

The obvious one: I'm leaving V4 Solutions and won't be continuing indefinitely with this blog.
My new blog is game focused, and most of the Micro ISV Digest content wouldn't be appropriate.

There are some secondary reasons that are a little more selfish. For one, to paraphrase Bob, I just don't need to wear all those hats anymore. My role at Antair is primarily development, game development at that, and I feel like it's time for me to update my daily reading accordingly. The digest always worked for me because the things I included were all the things I enjoyed reading, or felt like I needed to know that week. I don't think that's going to be the case anymore.

Also, I'm a little tired. Aside from a couple of weeks off earlier this year, I've been doing the digest every monday for almost 3 years. I have the kind of OCD personality that makes the urge to get to the 3 year anniversary very strong, but I think I'd end up phoning it in.

I'm a creature of habit, so life without the digest is going to be weird for me. It'll be strange not needing to follow everything the community produces, just reading articles instead of looking for things for Monday, getting that little weekend time slot back... The digest was always my little delimiter at the end of a week, a way of saying "that week is done, now clear the decks and get started on the new one". I hope life doesn't start to feel like one big long week, that would be horrible.

I hope there's someone out there interested in starting something similar, it always felt like a good service for the community, and it always felt great to throw a little google juice to the new products that launched each week. That's the part I'll miss the most, I might even post a few of those for old times sake from time to time.

I don't want to finish this blog post, because then I'll have to post it, but I can't just ramble on all day.

So, I'm really sorry, but Monday's Micro ISV Digest was the last one.

UPDATE

It's not all doom and gloom, folks. This afternoon, Bob Walsh contacted me and kindly offered to keep the Micro ISV Digest alive over on 47hats. It seems like a great fit for Bob's site, and I know he cares about and follows the community closely enough to keep the quality high. It should also be great news for the featured Micro ISVs, as Bob should be able to get their blog posts and announcements in front of a larger audience than I was able to provide here.

I'm looking forward to reading the digest to keep up with the community... it'll feel spooky, but nice.

Tag: micro isv digest

Announcement: Me, Moving on

Posted by Gavin Bowman on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 10:00 AM

I will be parting company with V4 Solutions/Oriador as soon as I've completed a full hand-over of everything to my co-founder, Neil Main.

It's hard to know exactly what else to say, just as in many ways it's hard to let go. Neil and I formed the business in 2000, and we launched the first version of Oriador in 2004, so there's a lot of history. But, time passes, things change, people change. We've been through a lot of different phases, but I think we've finally reached one where it's right for both of us to go our separate ways. The business is in a good place for it, and Neil is in a good place to take on the responsibilities. As for me, it's time to move on, I feel like I've done all I can here. The relationship is totally sound, I wish Neil and Oriador every success, and I know he's rooting for me too.

From now on I will be focusing my energy on Antair on a full-time basis. Since I started collaborating with Andrey Butov in late 2006, I've been re-invigorated. I have a lot of passion for the work we're doing, and the mechanics of the relationship have always allowed me to focus on the things I'm good at. I'm looking forward to increasing my efforts and to continued growth.

You can continue to follow my progress over on my new Antair Games Blog, and as antairgames on Twitter.