[Dean Wadsworth, chief technical officer of Krabbit Games, takes a look back at his journey through the wilds of independent development, the choices he made, the contacts he met, and precisely what he learned by the end of the process of developing his studio's game.] 

I've always wanted to write about our experience and journey of doing a large, ambitious project, even called "impossible", that we are doing. But I never really knew what to say until now. I guess now that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I've found the words. This is intended to help new developers with big dreams to hopefully accomplish them. This covers how my wife and I started, which got us to where we are today. We are a team of two with big dreams. So let's begin.

I guess the first thing you should ask yourself is, what do you want to get out of this game idea? Is it to create the next game engine, to show your stuff to get a job in the industry or to make the next big hit? As an independent developer you have many ideas, but limited resources. Were you inspired by a game you just played? Maybe all you want to do is a mod. Really ask yourself this question before you begin, because this will help you, later on, to keep your passion and persevere where so many have not. Let's face it, if games were easy to make everyone would do it. Making a game is a challenge no matter the scope of the game.

As you begin your journey, you will gets lots of advice (mostly from people who don't do anything other then chat and give advice). Seems in today's world opinion is more important than fact. This idea that everyone is entitled to an opinion is the heart of this. Unfortunately, when this idea was first phrased the word "educated" was implied and understood.

So my advice is, do your own research. Before you begin, research the type of project you want to do. If it's a game engine and you're new to game programming, start with looking at the available game engines out there. id Software has been kind enough to release their Quake engines for just this very purpose. If your goal is to make the next Tomb Raider, then start with playing the current Tomb Raiders. But don't just sit back and enjoy it -- pick it apart. Look closely at the controls, lighting, game mechanics, etc. Make notes, take screen shots and know your subject inside and out. Play it over and over again, until each screen, each sound, each move is burned into your mind and you now have extensive notes and understanding of your goal.

So now that you know your subject and you're ready to begin, what's next? Well, if your goal is to make a game, then your first step is to choose an engine. Don't think you can make one.

The problem with designing an engine from a small scene, is a small scene is not a game. The performance issues, features, quality issues that will come up from making a full game will not show up in a simple scene. A scene demo can show you the potential power of the engine and can help to narrow down your choice of engines. Once you've narrowed down your choices the next step is to look at the games created in this engine. Are any of them similar to your project? Are any of them as big as your project?

This is another round of research. Experience each game you think fits with what you are wanting to do. If this means downloading a demo and trying it, do it. If this means buying a game then do it. This is worth the few dollars it will cost to do this and the time it will take to research each one because the amount of time you will invest in your engine of choice is far greater. If you make the wrong choice, you may not find out until you are are six months to a year into your project. This is where a lot of people give up. So yes, this stage is another round of research and yes it takes time to do, but it will save you so much time down the road if you just take the initial time up front.