I want to present a game I'm working on. The game is called Gloom and will be released exclusively for the App Store later this year. The game is being made possible with funding from Malta Digital Games Funds. The Story of Gloom Gloom is a game about restoring order to island of Malta that has been overtaken by the mighty Gloom. With all hope lost, the megalithic temples of 'Hagar Qim' have unleashed its secret. A magical and mysterious creature, kept dormant for thousands of years has been summoned. You as the player take control over a mysterious creature that has been dormant for over 5000 years and forgotten his past. The player is the only one left of its kind. Your journey not only involves restoring order in Malta, but also self-discovery on who are. Both story and environments in Gloom are inspired from Malta, an island in the heart of the Mediterranean with rich history and architecture. Malta has such rich history and landmarks that numerous movies have been filmed in Malta, such as Troy, World War Z, The Devil's Double, Munich, The Count of Monte Cristo, Gladiator and Captain Phillips to mention a few. Technology and Tools Gloom is being created developer in Unity (C#) game-engine, currently running on Unity 4.6. Without Unity this game would not be possible as Unity have successfully bridged the broken cracks by allowing non-engine programmers like myself to take full advantage of an engine to create a meaningful game. This is especially true with the Unity Asset Store. For Gloom three assets in particular are being used, which are InControl, Jelly Sprites and Uni2D. The road to GDC San Francisco With GDC round the corner I thought it would be nice to give an update of Gloom and how things are prepping up for the Game Developers Conference starting on 2nd March. Not only am I exited for the conference but also due to the fact I’m taking part in Train Jam, a unique 48-hour game jam held on a train going from Chicago to San Francisco right in time for GDC. With this said the most important things with attending GDC are meeting others developers, sharing stories and showing Gloom to as many people as possible. For this reason it is vital to have a polished Gloom build. Throughout GDC I will be running around the conference with an iPhone and iPad handing them to whoever is willing to give Gloom a try. In exchange I will give hugs! Anyone at the conference feel free to tweet me at @dirkmalta and we’ll meet up. I’m as eager to show my game as much as I am to playing other people games too. A gameplay trailer will be out right before GDC for anyone not attending. Thanks all for your time! Dirk
