We're going to recruit another programmer later...not now. Those old farts at the indiegamer forums were the primary influence in this decision. We're going to create a very simple, very limited version of our game first. The main reason we're doing this is to gain experience. It will make us much more prepared to work with the new programmer. It should also help us attract a better programmer, but I really don't see how we could find somebody who's better than our most qualified applicant (yes, we really do have experienced programmers that want to join us, contrary to what many people thought). The most qualified is a guy named Brian Linton...

He has a BS in Computer Science, he was the project director on Starflight III for several years, he was the senior programmer on the award winning Sector 13, he worked in the cellphone industry with GameLoft, and he's now working with Ethereal Darkness Interactive on The Lost City of Malathedra. Once they finish that, he's going to start working on his own game, with his motivation being to complete a real game from start to finish. The best part is he's planning to make a top-down shooter similar to ours, which is why he's interested in joining us. So basically, we got lucky. This also proves to all the haters that this job ad was a good idea. If we would've waited to post it, we might not have found him. And it's not just his experience that's appealing; after talking with him it seems like he would be a perfect fit for our team in terms of communication, personalities, ideas, etc.

So I have my doubts that we'll be able to find somebody more qualified than him, even if we do have a small game under our belts. Regardless though, the creation of this small game will make production of the real game much more efficient, so it is necessary. But before we start working on it, Jonny is going to finish that XNA class. He'll have about 6 games to show off once he's done (of course they're just small tutorial games, but still). He will then be the sole programmer for the simple prototype game. With all that under his belt he should be pretty competent, and will be very helpful to the new programmer when he joins.

And another thing, to all those fools who think this game isn't going to get finished: I laugh at you. HAHAHA!!! It's just more fuel to my fire. I know what I'm getting myself into. I know that making games is hard! I'm expecting the worst. I know there's gonna be lots of unexpected problems. I know that. But every single one of those problems will have a solution. You know this. At the face of something difficult, we're not just gonna say, "man this problem is just too hard to solve, let's just give up." That's not going to happen. It doesn't matter how hard the problem is, we will solve it. You have the "J Force Guarantee".

Yea so anyway, off-topic: I trashed our forums because they were no bueno. I'm switching to punbb because they're easier to integrate with the site. If they're so easy that even I can integrate them, then I will be quite pleased.

That is all.

PS: sign up for the mailing list....or die.

Choose wisely.