Blogs - Noah_Lewin

Thoughts on Apastron Episode 3 Release

Hey everyone! This is a little ramble of some notes I have while working on Apastron Episode 3 Time of Crisis. Gearing up for its release I’ve been reflecting back on how I got here. I honestly did not think I would be getting to this point where I have multiple ongoing titles.

I wanted to do a long form write out of this because I’m so excited about the release of Apastron’s expansion, Time of Crisis. It truly is the culmination of a decade worth of work and planning towards this massive crossover event. For a very long time I was unsure how this was going to look. I had a lot of creative anxiety about every choice I made. So for the longest time I just wasn’t making anything, and that burned me out. I made Otter Space Rescue in 2019 just to prove to myself I really could finish something. That was such an amazing project, because I also got to work with Pierce Cram who did the music. It reinvigorated this idea in my head that there was something else out there for me to do. I didn’t know how but OSR played some role in it. I had been playing a lot of first person shooters and I wanted to push myself. I wanted to see if I could actually make one of my own and finish it.

It took way longer to finish than I wanted it to. I was really stubborn about it. Releasing Apastron in 2020 was scary. I had a long term plan to continue to update the game. So when the launch on Aug 18th came around, I felt the game wasn’t done. Even with Episode 1 completed it was a weird naked feeling. I immediately crunched like crazy to get Episode 2 out in October. I wasn’t satisfied after that. While I was working on Entodrive, I just had this feeling that something was dragging me back to Apastron. That’s when I decided to go all in on selling this multiverse idea in Apastron. I thought the way to really make these story beats have more weight is to show you stories across the multiverse. I decided then to make Entodrive be the prequel to Apastron Episode 1. As I was planning out the script for Entodrive I felt it just added so much back to what player’s experienced in Apastron Episode 1. Going into the development of Vacancy Unlimited as well, there was this pressure in my mind like what if these characters meet. Every character I introduced I wanted to have an impact. I didn’t want anything to be thrown away.

I knew the Episode titles were going to be ordered as follows; Nation of Apathy, Universe of Sin, and Time of Crisis. I knew the main villain was going to be Absurdia, the sort of antithesis to the Apastron Character. Equal in power, so Edgar would have to muster some sort of team to be able to defeat Absurdia. This was the final cue where I knew I had to get everyone in for this fight. Max Jai, while eccentric and seeming to not know a lot, is one of the smartest people in his universe. Anything tech related the team would need he could seemingly build it. “The Herald of Light” Geoff Bunma who has a number of magical abilities, enchanted objects, and access to the light monuments. The light monuments hold secrets to the stability of all universes. Spryward who is a character introduced very recently in Vacancy Unlimited was just so interesting. He’s possibly the strongest character when it comes to physical strength in the Apastron universe. The team feels unstoppable right now and we'll have to see how it lasts. It might just take a couple more. I’m unbelievably excited for the surprises I have in store. Time of Crisis is one of the craziest things I’ve ever worked on, let alone solo developed. I can't wait for you to see these characters interact. It's going to set up so much future stuff that I also can't wait to share.

I have a few upcoming stuff I’m working on that I can share about though. Apastron Episode 3 Time of Crisis is going to have big implications for the continuity of the Apastron universe. First thing is that I’m going to be working on Time of Crisis Tie-in events for Entodrive and Vacancy Unlimited. These Tie-ins are going to act as means to help you understand the timeline of events and why certain things are going to happen. About 3 months of time is lost for Spryward and Geoff being stuck on Coelho #6. A lot has changed in their universe. They have to deal with finding a new home and whether to trust newly found allies. In Entodrive, Max Jai has something to share with you. His presentation goes awry when he is swept up by an instantiating portal. Explore new parts of Cache Isle as you search for your friend. Take on a new mystical Entodrive in this customizable part of your journey. Last announcement is that Spryward is getting his own video game! Some work in progress can already be seen on his Indiedb page. The Phenomenal Spryward will take place after the events of Vacancy Unlimited. The man who cures his city from a zombie virus struggles to retain the society he once knew. Dawning the superhero persona Spryward, Deshaun Martin takes on a corporate political infrastructure that suppresses society's revitalization.

Spryward game - Indie DB

Entodrive & Vacancy Unlimited Early Access returns to regularly scheduled updates beginning with Time of Crisis tie-ins starting in November.

I've been off to college since 2016, attending Digipen Institute of Technology under their BAGD (Bachelor of Arts and Game Design) program. During that time I've made a ridiculous amount of games. Ranging from board games, 2D, and 3D Digital games. I'm a senior now with 15 classes left to take. Unfortunately Digipen owns my soul, and I cannot actually distribute any of the games I've made there. However, I can show video and images from them, which I will start to do on my IndieDB page and my Youtube Channel. You can check out the trailer for Excalibots which I am currently bringing into my group project class next semester. Goatherd is a project I worked on with some really awesome people from Digipen that you can download on the Digipen Game Gallery : here

I'm off for Summer Break and instead of doing an internship, I'm taking time for myself to work on my own projects. I started working on Otter Space Rescue, which is a cute 2D Top-down shooter. I'll be logging my development of the project here on IndieDb so stay tuned for more updates. It has a prototype you can download right now and try out for yourself. Let me know what you think.

Otter Space Rescue Prototype 0.01 footage - Indie DB

I'm very excited to be back on IndieDb and back making these smaller projects. I hope you like some of the content I'll be rolling out within the next few months or so!

~ N

Denzel Curry - Ultimate

Shout out to my friend Ben for sharing this song with me. (His Instagram - @averageson) This song is a huge jam song. First listening to it in the car with my friends just blaring it while driving gives it a good first impression. Songs attached with good memories stick with me for a long time. Like wise my friends would definitely call this song a banger. Bangers are great songs while riding because it pushes you to go all out and just huck a trick.

Bad Liquor Pond - Hallways

I found this song through Bandcamp's discovery section. I've been recently getting into psychedelic music and when I heard this song it just stuck with me personally faster than any song ever has. I am highly considering using it as the song in the background of my goodbye Indiana video part. It has some great style and meaningful lyrics.

Sleeping House - Radiator Hospital and Great Thunder

Radiator Hospital was one of the first bands I found on Bandcamp. I've been following them for a couple years now.

De La Rose - Oddfellows

This song overwhelmed me. My music appreciation teacher phrased songs like this to be an emotional bath in the same way Adelle's Hello was for many. This is my Hello in some way. This song is also in my list of possible songs to use for my goodbye Indiana part. I find myself riding really fast and just having a huge grin on my face when this song comes on.

Ride the Wild Haze - Beach Slang

Great riding song. Represents me and my style well. Enough said with all of that.

Stars, Stars, Stars - The Dahus

This song has an awesome memory for me. It came on when I was at my winter formal while I was dancing with my girlfriend. It was an awesome moment dancing to this song. No one at the dance knew this song not many were dancing so it was just us. This is one of our favorite songs while together. It was a super moment that I won't forget. Just feeling the confusion of the room when it came on and then sharing an awesome song and moment with someone you care about makes a memory you'll cherish for your life.

Going into my senior year of highschool is scary for me. While I have learned a lot about game development and done a lot of work, I still feel like I haven't done all that I should in regards to video games.

I am often told: "As a highschooler you have already exceeded the common college student at this stage in your life."

I still feel I am not where I want to be. Which hurts my feelings but I have learned to accept it as a good thing. I think it's a good thing because it means I still have plenty of miles to travel with video games. I feared my passions for games might die out or I won't find it interesting anymore. I felt that way because of something else going on in my life and it wasn't video game's fault, it was my own. Growing up is a difficult thing to deal with because it involves change. Humans enjoy complacency. When things stay the same consistently we are happy because it validates our need to feel "Normal". Growing is change. Change is one of the few constants in our world. Our reluctance to actually flow with that change is what causes us problems. For me personally senior year feels as a shock for the change of time. I am most definitely in a different place in my life than 4 months ago, 1 year ago, and 2 years ago. My personal goal hasn't been reached and personally that is because it is such a high goal that I don't even understand yet. So for me as a person I feel like a failure because I have had 5 years ahead of everyone to get closer to my dreams and it still feels very far away. Which is again a good thing now that I think about it. I have been caught up in the urgency of modern society that I feel pressured to push my dreams and get to them as fast as possible as if it is a race. These first weeks of summer have made me realize that it is more important to enjoy the process to get to my dream. I have my entire life to get to where I want to be. It doesn't make sense that I would want to be there right now. It comes down to a conversation about peer pressure and what society is telling me to feel at this time in my life. College applications are coming and the awful question for some "What do you want to do with your life?" The thing for me is I have been doing what I want to do with my life for the past 5 years. I shouldn't worry. It is just weird because I am not most highschool students which is ok but the system is built for "normal" students. My goal right now is to apply to Digi Pen and finish my current project "Beyond the grave" and I couldn't be happier in this position. If there is anything to take out of this blog post its that, sit back relax and enjoy yourself.

Smooth Sailing Everyone!

~ N

Check out my new game Beyond the Grave!

World Switching Mechanic - Indie DB

So it has been a long time since I first began game development. Of course at the beginning I sucked because I didn't know jack about game development. I just knew really bad that this was the thing I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. But the more I did the more I had trouble understanding the progression of being able to call my self good. The more it went a long the more it felt like a pipe dream. I got published for the first time which was a magical experience it was the first time I had felt liked I made it. Then the next time I got published things didn't go so well. I asked for money which I wasn't very comfortable with in the first place. [ I am a huge fan of Henry Smith's model of game development (which is the patronage model) ] Anyway I was already unsure about releasing for a cost. It didn't feel like the right thing to do but I am glad that I did it. I learned a lot about the comfortability of the indie space. It isn't as complicated as I imagined it would be. For me being a 16 year old it is weird thinking about taxes and just money in general so to have to negotiate with people on pricing and releasing was an odd ordeal for me. Although I didn't enjoy my experience publishing for money I did see it as a valuable and important experience, that I would've regret later in life. It is better for me to take a risk now because my life doesn't depend on earning a profit yet. My advice is do it now and make what you can and fail and get the opportunity to learn from the mistakes you will make. I have gained a lot from my mistakes. I wasn't happy with the work I did on my most recent game. I have done a way better job but the pressure was high and it is good to learn how to manage chaos till it becomes what you have to deal with all the time. The major piece I learned is that your work won't always be your best and you have to be ok with that. Every time I finish a project I learn so much so it is best to do as many as you can. Doing lots of projects is a great way to get noticed when there is a lot games with your name on it. I mean from only having two that got published it is insane how people have played it on youtube. Reading articles about my games is crazy. I learn a lot from what they have to say and it is flippin cool. I love game development and the more I do it the more I enjoy it. If you don't make games I recommend it! There is no better time to learn than now. The more I fall down the better I get.

Thank you for your readership,
~ N

So this was a feature I did for a local Magazine and I just wanted to post it here so people can have more content and a better understanding of who I am. Thanks again everyone for supporting me and giving me great and positive feedback. I love this community Keep GROWING! ~ N

{ //start the article
Hello my name is Noah Williams. I make video games. Simple as that, your interpretations of what that means is a lot different then what that means to me. Just for a little background on me... I love video games. They are a large part of my life since I was very little. Even when I was born we always had video games in my house. When I was in middle school I was bullied a lot for just being myself. I didn't conform to the average stereotype of what a boy should be. I was not to into sports I did not depend on my strength to balance my personality. I come from a Jewish background, and teachers used that as justification to give me bad grades and to treat me as lesser of a human. This made me depressed for a long while. Then I went to the Project School and there people questioned my response to the hatred I was getting at my old school. Also at the Project School I learned about the word passion and the school made me question what that means to me. Overall that forced me to look at the question most kids at my age were generally to scared to look at. That question is, what is my purpose or goal in life. Getting an answer to that question is not easy for a 12 year old to do. Nor anyone for that matter. I took app design class and I discovered my love for coding. Within discovering my passion I self taught myself for 2 years on how to make video games. I learned with my passion I can do and accomplish anything I want in my life. Something I really wanted for a long period of time was for people to understand who I am. Funny thing was that I did not even know who I was then. So the next task was finding myself and my voice. Most perceptions of video games are negative. First thing that comes to mind is that stuff about shooting people, or those annoying Mobile and Facebook games. My perception of video games is the same I have for books, movies, art, music, and television. I believe that mediums have every right to talk about and commentate on what ever they want and shall not be censored to a degree. I believe that experiences can express and educate. Going back to my voice, eventually I found who I really was and I was ready to make this video game. Physically the game took one whole month to complete. Mentally I have been preparing to make this game for my entire life. The game is for those who do not enjoy most games. Welcome, Home is a story about my life. It takes that instance of how it felt for people to treat me the way they did, and the feeling of loosing your best friend. I summarized all that pain and spewed it out into my voice projected into a video game experience. The game is a platformer with no instructions no direction it is all on you and your mind and wits to understand what happened in this dark and distant world. The game takes the idea of joy out of discovery and rewards you for your efforts not with points but with story and further explanation of this world you have landed in. The game has lots of symbolism that represents themes of finding your voice, how to deal with death and tradgedie, and how to respond to bullying. The game may not answer all the questions that you are looking for but it gives you my experiences and places you into my head. I did not make the game to earn profit and actually the game is free by the way. I did not make it for anyone. I did not make it for exposure. I made this piece of art for my self. It was Cathartic and rejuvenating for me as a human. Going back to speaking, I premiered the game in front of my entire high school to broaden their perceptions about video games and the people around them. By going up and physically speaking I have changed my life forever. The game got officially published by Desura and my total visits on the game is up to 11,000. People all around the world have played the game, from the U.S. to Germany all the way to South Korea. To know that my voice has spread to so many ears and eyes just makes me so happy. The thing is, you the person reading can achieve something of this magnitude as well. I am one person out of the sea of millions doing something similar to what I have done with this game. The water is completely open and I encourage you to join society moving forward. Good luck and have fun! }

Hello everyone it has been a while since I released Welcome Home. Welcome Home was a project I worked on that was very dear to my heart. I am so happy that I got the privilege to share to everyone. And I am also glad I got the privilege to have the game featured in Freedom Friday. It is an honor to be put up with the other games in the feature, I really enjoy those other games and got the chance to watch them grow just like me. This whole experience of releasing an experience of expression and having people take it seriously has changed my life.

So here is a link to Freedom Friday, check out the other games to because they are also really cool!
Indiedb.com

Update:
So, some might now I have been suffering of some developers block on what type of game to do next. I have decided on a project but it is something fairly simple and manageable. Just for the sake of relaxing. Welcome Home took almost all of my being to create and I am still rejuvenating from that. So that is why I decided to start working on a spike and barley video game. I have watched there channel for a long time. They have provided a lot of entertainment to me and helped me through some tough times. The game is a mark of appreciation and I am glad I got in contact with them to start making it.
You can check out their channel here: Youtube.com

I will get back to making pure art games real soon but in due time.

That is it for this update! Keep reading and keep playing,
~Noah

Hey everyone sorry for the lack of updates. I want to give a form of update. I am busy working on like 14 different projects approximately. First off I applied for a WiiU unity license. I love Nintendo I played there games since I was little. My first video game was pokemon Crystal and I still have it today. So to make a game for Nintendo would be a dream come true. So my most recent game Welcome Home came out for android and the responses from the game in general are very awesome and mature. I am proud to have made and I am proud of the wonderful gaming communtity for respecting my work. The whole expierence went amazing and that is a thank you to each and every single on of you for making this happen. I am taking an innovation J-Term and I would like to go more in depth about it over time. For now I am doing a project of redesigning the modern day classroom. It is as vague as it sounds. So my class gathered a lot of info together and I made a 3d construct of our ideal class in the unity engine. It is my first academic application of my skills in game development. We will be presenting our classroom to the board of educations director of Indiana. So that is pretty exciting! A very interesting project that I am glad to go into. For my other games I can't say anything about them because I don't feel anything is finalized but I am working on all of it really hard. I am just one person. I do have the asset store for help but that can only do so much. I put my life into these games so I hope you can understand that it may take time. But I am still here making games till the end of time. So I will see you in the next update! ~ Noah W

Hey everyone just an update from me today. The other day I released a game I have been working on for a while now. It is a personal game about my time becoming an existentialist and what that did to my life and how it effected me as a person. The game goes through that time from then to now and what I do with video games and stuff like that. It would really mean a lot for me if you got the chance to play it. It is 100% free and you can download it now for Mac and PC. I hope you enjoy it and have a lot of fun!
~ Noah

Indiedb.com

I am still here. I am sorry for never being able to keep up with the promises I make. I will try and communicate with everyone better that is one of my main goals. I am still here making video games, but it seems like the time flies. To savor these moments I plan on doing some weekly things. I don't know what these things are they may just be random things that I come across in my week, or development stuff, or what games I have been playing or even videos. I don't know, but I will do something weekly. I would like to say I am on indiedb every day. I see all your posts all of your progress, and I feel I have failed with making some communication on where my life is going, and what I am doing. I hope to clarify here by starting my weekly commitment.

Noah's Journal #1

I am working on a new project with a great friend of mine. I am making the game, and she is writing it. It is probably one of the most compelling projects I have ever partaken in. I love it, and the direction it is going, but it is definitely the first game I feel I have applied my old infamous rants about human condition, and game design. This game will push what you think about your home, and what you are ok with there. For me this is a very personal thing, because sometimes I don't feel at home at home, and this game will share my emotions, and thoughts about my school, and what being in that environment has done to me as a person, and what it has developed in my mind. It is a game about appreciation for my school, and the great things they have done for me as a community. I go to a private school, and it has core values, and the kids there hold these values to heart, and it creates such a wonderful environment, and feeling for me. It has truly changed my life. I hope the kids never forget the things they learn there, and I hope that they keep them for the rest of their lives. This game I hope will be a reminder to them. I also have been thinking about the people on this site, and the great things they have done for me, and I find this site to be my home as well. I just want everyone to know how much I love all the support, and communication from everyone here. It is amazing to see all these ideas, projects, and young minds floating around. It is maturing the game industry, and making people around us better. I want to further engage myself into this site, and the people who are here. Part of that is me making more stuff. I am working on some full scale games now, and I am excited to get them to you guys, but I don't want to rush, because I want the effort to show, and I want all of you to have amazing experiences when you get your hands on my games for the first times. These things are like nothing I have ever done, and I love them, but most of all I love this community, so from the bottom of my heart thank you.
This concludes my journal update, so expect a new one when I get some more things going on that I can write about. Go check out my games, music, 24 hour projects, or my other blogs. Everything is free, and open for you guys.

Thank you all so much,
Noah W.