Hey! I’ve been busy working on Doomsday Clock this year. This game is a project that is near and dear to my heart. Ever since I started the project back in 2016, I have become more and more passionate about it and game design in general.
It has been a lifelong dream of mine to make a video game using my own original story and characters. I remember drawing game levels in my notebooks at school, wishing that I had a way to actually bring them to life. I would go home and immerse myself in NES games and imagine that Mario or Mega Man or Ryu Hayabusa were replaced with a character of my own creation. It was really a dream back then.
Fast forward many, many years later and here I am, a grown man, finally being able to make what I’ve wanted to make since I was a child. For the majority of my life, I have drawn comics that felt like video games because I didn’t know how to make games. That’s what Ninja James Roberts is — a video game in manga form. I love it because it’s the closest I’d ever come to game design on a drawn page. I love NJR’s story and premise, the characters, and the quirkiness of the entire world. NJR Volume 3 will come in the future, but right now, my ACTUAL VIDEO GAME, Doomsday Clock, will be coming first.
I’m putting everything that I have into it. The first version of the game was my final project for my Master’s degree, which was started in June 2016, and it was a revelation that I could finally make my childhood fantasy into a reality. It was simple and needed a lot of work, but I was very pleased with the outcome and still had so many ideas and goals that I continued to work on it even after attaining my degree.
In March 2017, I put out an expanded, more refined version of DC and passed it along to people in order to get feedback. I got a few players to check it out and got some helpful thoughts and advice. I used that feedback to improve on what I had done up to that point and try to figure out how to proceed from there. After a while, I put the game aside in order to finish Ninja James Roberts Volume 2. NJR 2 has a promo page at the end of it asking people to download the Doomsday Clock game (beta, I guess you could call it). For the people who read that and tried it out, thank you very much! I have used the feedback to keep pushing forward on the project, even taking it to a few conventions around Georgia and letting people play the game. I was so humbled and pleased to see people playing DC and enjoying it. Lots of people stopped by my booth to check it out, and some even picked up a copy of the then-current version of the game. It was such a good feeling to see a dream come to fruition, and, believe it or not, no one has said, “I hate this game,” “It’s wack,” or “Meh, it could be better.” I sincerely wish technology had been as advanced and as accessible as it is now when I was younger, because I would have made this game long ago.
So for the past year-plus, I have been working on DC nonstop, sharing a few things on social media. A few people have said great things. I hope I can deliver a wonderful experience to everyone once I get the game done. It has come a very long way since I first started it — I originally just wanted to make a game that was similar to the 8- and 16-bit games that I grew up with that I would be happy to play, but now, I want it to be a game that many people would enjoy. Lately, I’ve really put in extra effort on the look — not pixel art, but a hand-drawn game that looks like pixel art, or better yet, one that looks like what a hand-drawn game would have looked like in the 16-bit era. Of course, beefing up the gameplay is the main thing that I have worked on, and I think it’s coming along nicely. Seriously, I’m really happy with where Doomsday Clock is right now, and I’m getting super-excited about getting it out so everyone can play it.
When will that be, though? Well, I’m aiming for some time in early 2020, but I won’t be putting it out until I’m certain that it’s ready. I gave myself a deadline for this year, but when that date came around, I decided I wasn’t ready to call it finished. I’m very dedicated to making this the best game that I can make, at least at my current skill level. Once I hit the point where I’m totally happy with the entire package, then that’s when the game will hit the market, but not a second before then.
You can check out the demo of the September 2018 version on my portfolio site. I think it’s a pretty good version of the game, but it’s a bit different from what will be in the final version. You can still get a feel for the game in the demo, though. Let me know what you think!
Yeah! This was a long, somewhat-rambling post, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out on this game and my current projects since I haven’t really said much on this website. I’m going to post more here about the game soon. Again, NJR 3 will be coming, but after Doomsday Clock. I’ve also been sporadically cooking up ANOTHER project that keeps running around in my mind. Once DC is finished, then I will see about making that one happen. Stay tuned!
Just a reminder that all kinds of fun Ninja James Roberts (and Doomsday Clock) things are happening on my social media platforms! Please follow so you don’t miss out on some cool stuff!
I took Ninja James Roberts and Doomsday Clock to Warner Robins Comic Con 2019! Thanks to everyone who checked out my work. Many people came by and heard the gospel of NJR and played the Doomsday Clock demo. It was a good time and more is soon to come!
Just a reminder that all kinds of fun Ninja James Roberts (and Doomsday Clock) things are happening on my social media platforms! Please follow so you don’t miss out on some cool stuff!
Guess what? Ninja James Roberts Volumes 1 and 2 can now be purchased on Barnes & Noble!
Place your orders here:
NJRV1 (Barnes & Noble): https://bit.ly/2rUsnDZ
NJRV2 (Barnes & Noble): https://bit.ly/2L6YIA5
Here’s a fun conversation about NJR with Alonzo Anderson on his podcast, WHAT LONZO THINKS. I get into my feelings about success, why it took so long to put out New Game of Death, and other interesting musings.
Follow What Lonzo Thinks on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2LZTzt7