As my mind raced last night, I thought I’d scribble down some words, to share on Blackwood Crossing launch day! A studio head’s perspective …
Our heroes, Scarlett and Finn
It’s the night before launch and I’m thinking of nothing else but Blackwood Crossing. It’s consumed our lives for two years now, and it’s finally going to be out there in the public’s hands.
And it’s been dawning on me how much of a massive deal it is!
I know it sounds stupid to say, but development is so busy day to day, and the build up on the marketing front has been all-consuming. It’s easy to be too busy to take it in.
Now it’s the moment of truth.
Will people hear about it? Will it make it through an ever-crowded marketplace? And more importantly, Will people like it?!
I do hope so!
The game’s enabled us to build an awesome team. It’s great to reflect on the fact we’ve grown from 8 people to 13 since the project began. I’m surrounded by a brilliantly talented bunch, and am very thankful for the support of Standfast Interactive and Vision Games in helping make our dreams for Blackwood Crossing a reality.
However painful some of the development has been – and it’s had its moments 😉 I’m so proud of what we’ve created.
The PaperSeven Team
Blackwood Crossing is PaperSeven’s first foray into PC and console development, and our first fully-blown interactive narrative. We have learned SO much along the way. And it’s so exciting to think about how we’ll build on it for the future.
Indeed most of the team are already working on a new project. Development works like that. There’s a period 2-3 months before release where the artists and designers come off the title, and the coders have a few weeks working almost exclusively on their own. (Never as long as they’d like I’d hasten to add!) And then there’s about a month of submissions etc before it hits the stores.
Quickly a studio moves on to the next phase.
We’ve carried out post mortems of Blackwood Crossing. The process teams use to identify what they did well, and where they want or need to improve.
We’ve dared to look at what’s next!
But it’s important to take a step back, and enjoy today, and the weeks ahead. Celebrate our achievements!
We’re not a known entity. But we hope Blackwood Crossing is our stepping stone to becoming one.
I read a Polygon interview with one of the heroes of our genre, Sean Vanaman, yesterday, and I loved how he views Firewatch a year on:
“I see flaws in it, but I also look at it and I’m really happy. Like, ‘Yeah man. Look at the fucking thing we made.’”
Blackwood Crossing may not be perfect. But it’s pretty damn special.
The mysteries run deep