Blondie is a group. Likewise, Total Rendition is a team effort and not just my work, even though I am the driving force behind it. Now, at least one amateur gaming journalist claimed – in a “review” – that Total Rendition is solely my own work. In so doing, he is also downplaying the work of others.
In all honesty, I dispute whether his arguments are actually even made in good faith. For instance, the credits show who has worked on Total Rendition so far, even back then (that is, September 2022). As for many of the other claims he made, these have aged like milk, perhaps incorrectly anticipating that we would let ourselves be coaxed into abandoning work by his disingenuous invectives.
His intentions behind these claims may very well be to decrease SchiZotypy’s attractiveness to investors; to misrepresent my (nay, our) actual competence; in short, to diminish the odds of completing Total Rendition. He may not simply dislike the current build, but fear the final result would bring the joke on him. You bet it will!
Professionals focus on logistics
It is true that I am currently SchiZotypy’s only director. Also, the members of the Total Rendition Dev Team are not permanently employed at SchiZotypy Games. Indeed, this set up has been inspired by movie- and theatre production where crew would be contractually bound to be work on a particular title as opposed to for the company. Without it, completing Total Rendition would not be feasible. As the saying goes, professionals focus on logistics.
Total Rendition is going to be a full-length title with tens of hours of gameplay. Obviously, I am not going to be able to do that alone. Nor have I ever held that notion to begin with. Neither will we be able to accomplish it with the current lineup alone. This is why SchiZotypy Games is seeking investment, to compensate the current and future contractors it is working with, which, in turn, will allow for the polishing and expansion of the game.
Total Rendition may be my brainchild, but I would have been nowhere without the rest of the Dev team. Neither the concept art you may know, nor the in-game music were made by me. Over time, I hope to bring on board many other dedicated specialists into the Dev team as well.
The Total Rendition Dev Team is a group
While I was hands-on involved in the level design, I hope to be able to delegate that to a specialist as well. Indeed, I only took that up once I realised investors would only invest in a company which at least produced a vertical slice. In any case, I hope to have put one particularly harmful myth to rest. I am not working on Total Rendition alone, nor will I complete it alone. As mentioned before, this is a team effort. I may lead it, though I wouldn’t be getting anywhere alone.