Inaugural Post

First ever post to the official company blog!

Hello out there, Internetland. I'm James Walker, co-owner and lead developer of Superiority Studios -- but on this blog, I'll be going by the clever, inside-joke monicker Satellite Observatory instead.

So what do I do as lead developer? Well, at the moment, I'm pretty much the only developer. This means I do all the programming, scripting, scenario writing, graphics work, and audio engineering. Good thing I'm multitalented. And have way too much time on my hands.

My current project is finishing our launch game, Sorceror's Stripes. It's sort of a tactics-puzzle game that we're targeting primarily at the iPhone (currently in the process of getting a license with Apple). Buuut, I'm a Windows user, not a Mac user, so I'm actually developing the game in Windows using C# and XNA. That's where my brother, the other half of our company, will come into the development equations: He's taught himself how to develop in Objective-C and Quartz, and he's going to spearhead the effort to port the game from Windows to Mac.

Anyway, the core game engine has been done for some time now and I've been creating levels (along with lots of new pieces, terrain types, spells, etc.) for story mode. There are currently 80+ levels and, coincidentally, I'm also about 80% of the way done with story mode. After that, all that will remain is to code a random level generator for quick match mode, a task that I'm really looking forward to, because I love making random level generators. Looking at 2-3 weeks of work still 'til the game is finished.

Then we'll simultaneously commence in-house beta testing and porting the game to the iPhone. I'm guessing it will be about another month after the Windows version is done before we have a deployable Mac version.

And that's pretty much what I've got on my plate at the moment. In between playing Mana Khemia 2. Which, btw, is an awesome game and I heartily recommend it to any RPG fan who owns a PS2.

Well, now I've introduced myself. Hopefully my co-owner, brother, and comedic foil (!) Martin will stop by to introduce himself as well before too long.

- Satellite Observatory (James)