Completely forgot to mention this last week, between work being busy and gearing up for four days of doing as little as humanly possible, but hey, lookit: my most recent game is now a real thing you can put your hands on and exchange currency for.

I worked as both producer and lead designer on this one, a combination of duties that, while incredibly rewarding (particularly for the OCD part of me), took up more bandwidth than I consistently had to offer. That said, I’m happy to have had the opportunity, as the lessons learned over the project’s remarkably short schedule have proven to be incredibly valuable. Design is where my heart’s at, but having that skillset tempered with the experience of shepherding the game from start to finish and working firsthand with the publisher is the sort of thing I think anybody wanting to be a game designer should go through. Work-wise, I’m currently moving out of production, working as lead designer on two new projects, and having the importance of clean, realistic design that fits within the time and resources provided drilled in to my by a ticking clock hanging overhead has already paid off. In the long run, not having a day off in June seems like less of a big deal.

Imagine Movie Star is part of Ubisoft’s crazy-successful line of Nintendo DS games aimed at young girls. It’s a rhythm game where players live the life of a movie star they create, going to auditions, attending movie premieres, and generally living the high life while earning new fans for keeping the beat through each challenge. The game also comes with a wide range of customization options, giving the player more freedom to create characters and clothing that’s all their own than any other DS game I can remember seeing. I’m particularly proud of this aspect of the game, as it’s provided us with a wide range of new features to work in to our games at Powerhead.

I understand Ubisoft expects Imagine Movie Star to be something of a Big Deal, and I’ve already seen commercials and a full-page add in Cosmo Girl proclaiming its arrival to the masses. If you’re interested in fulfilling your secret fantasy of becoming a super famous actress with gobs of fans and your own clothing line (or, y’know, need a Christmas present for someone who might be), you can find it at pretty much any place that sells videogame entertainments, including Amazon.

And now, back to work.

Filed under: Things What I Made