Finally! I received the papers today, I’m officially independent! My one-man business is registered, and I have a Belgian VAT number now: BTW-BE-0886.671.654.

So, this means I can start making expenses! But of course, the idea is to also have some income. I’m hard at work to achieve that!

Unfortunately, having a company also means extra paperwork, which is not something I particularly enjoy. But in my case, it shouldn’t be much of a hassle. And there are still accountants

I found out today that Cognitoy is developing a simulation game about global warming, named Melting Point. According to the website, the game will let players experiment with policy decisions in areas that affect climate change. The goal of the game is to prevent climatological disaster.

I’m happy someone is making a documentary game like this! I hope it will help to educate people about what can happen to our climate. When you read some of the comments made on my previous post on global warming, and in this forum thread, you can see that educating people is still very necessary!

The most interesting aspect of this game is that the scientific and economic models used are based on the best research available. I really hope the author will succeed with this game. Just imagine that by playing it, you discover a great solution to one of the world’s biggest problems!

It might seem a bit strange to see this post on this blog. But I just saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth, and I was touched by it. It seems very hard to deny that we humans are responsible for the current runaway effect. That means we are responsible for fixing it!

So, I was wondering, what am I doing/going to do about it? I came up with the following list. It’s still short, but it’s a start!

• Since a few months, we have made it a habbit to completely turn off appliances that normally are in standby.
• I immediately remove chargers for mobiles etc after usage.
• We’ve been complaining to the owner of our apartment to replace our burner (water heater). So since a few months we have a new one, including a programmable thermostat, that is 40% more efficient! This should also have a positive impact on our monthly gas bill
• We put as much dishes as possible in the dishwasher, before turning it on.
• We try to keep the fridge filled, which makes it more efficient.
• I try to eat less meat. Livestock produces greenhouse gasses, and consumes lots of the earth’s resources that can be better spent otherwise. So I not only started to eat smaller portions of meat, but also started experimenting with vegetarian products. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to, or even want to go fully vegetarian. But eating less meat ain’t hard at all, and it’s also healthier!
• We buy and eat more fresh foods, as opposed to frozen foods.
• Since I started working from home 2 months ago, I use my car a lot less.
• I’ve added the pledge widget for An Inconvenient Truth to my blog, and writing about it, to encourage people to see the movie, and take some action.

Most of these are small things, and easy to do. Other things we’re gonna try are replacing some of the light bulbs with the fluorescent bulbs. Turning the heat down is also a good measure, but will be very hard for us, since we hate having cold

There are a lot of good tips at the climate crisis website, and on several other sites.

So, tell me, what are YOU doing, or going to do about it?

I was sitting outside on my terrace this afternoon, enjoying the sun, and coding on my old Powerbook It sure has advantages to work from home, I haven’t regretted it for a single moment!

Sitting there, I had to think about the song Wonderful Days by Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo, which was one of my favorite happy hardcore tracks about 10 years ago

Something else which happened about 10 years ago, was the very first release of Bubblomania! By doing so, I discovered the fun of creating and releasing games. And even back then, I knew I wanted to do this for a living one day! I’m planning to write some more about Bubblomania’s history later this month.

Since I started work on Bubblomania Online last week, I have made some good progress! It’s going a bit slower then expected, because I’ve written a lot of useful utility classes along the way. But I will save that time again for my next projects, so I don’t mind. It’s not like I have a deadline anyway

Expect to hear more about this soon!

Yesterday was the first day in my new career as an independent game producer. It was a very productive day actually! I organized my existing code, from the prototype of the Smiley Puzzle, and started a new mini project. Furthermore, I did some organizational tasks.

The new mini project I started is called Bubblomania Online. As the name suggests, it will be an online version of a part of Bubblomania X, my MacOS X arcade game. The reason I start with this project, is to get up to speed with the LWJGL API, and create some reusable components in the process.

Since I will reuse part of the artwork, I can concentrate on the development, and get a feel for how fast I can work in this new environment. The online version will be limited to only 1 game mode, compared to the 8 modes in the downloadable version.

From a marketing point of view, having a webgame online will increase traffic, maybe even enough to monetize it with ads.

Today was my last day on the job. It was a bit hard to leave, after more than 5 years of working there. And it has been a great job, with great colleagues, so no regrets about having worked there!

But I chose to start another life, as an independent game producer, something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time (since I was 16 or something ). So there are exciting times ahead, and I have no regrets about quitting either!

I won’t spend all my time on game development though. There are some side projects, like this blog, my girlfriend’s website (Speeltijd), and my music, on which I will spend more time.

I still haven’t fully realized I’m totally free and independent now. That will probably change on monday…

The last few days I’ve been cleaning up my home office. It was also used as storage room for stuff we can’t place anywhere else. But since I will be working here full time starting next month, I think it’s important to have a clean and comfortable workspace. I’ll be spending quite a lot of time in here after all!

After throwing out the stuff that doesn’t belong here, I’ll be adding some items to relaxify the place, like some plants. On the other hand, it’s shouldn’t be too relaxing, since some serious development work has to be done in here! I think I’m going to print some small posters of my previous games and graphics I made, to keep my goal in sight, literally

When everything is in place, I will definitely post some pictures here!

I finally did it! Earlier this week, I quit my well paid full time job as a software engineer. I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while, and decided it’s the only way to go. The goal is to become an independent games producer, and an online entrepreneur in general!

It’s not official yet, and I’ll probably have to stay at my current job until the first week of october. After that, I’m on my own. Complete freedom to go my own way, build my own business, design and create my own games, make my own mistakes and maybe fall flat on my own face But I believe it’s worth it!

I expect it will be a great journey, whether I succeed or fail miserably. I want to learn a lot, and have lots of fun! Fortunately, I have saved some money, so I can survive the first year, even if I don’t make a cent. I want to be in this for the long run. So my goal is to create intellectual property, and set up some websites and systems which I can leverage for years to come.

My biggest inspiration is Steve Pavlina, who’s article “10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job” pushed me over the edge and gave me the courage to actually do it! And of course all the successful and less successful indie game developers, who can be found on the IndieGamer forums, are also a great inspiration.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be developing and refining my initial business plans and my ideas in general. And of course keep you in the loop on this blog!

So this is the very beginning… My girlfriend is freaking out, but she’s supportive. Some call me crazy, others are encouraging. But I strongly feel this is the way to go for me. And it seems the universe agrees, since I just sold my second Text Link Ad to Cell Phone Covers!

So wish me luck!