Feature: 'Indie Postmortem: Mind Control's Oasis'

In today's in-depth feature, we debut a special Indie Postmortem, as Mind Control Software's Andrew Leker looks back at the creation of an Independent Games Festival 2004 Game of the Year, Oasis, from how the game concept came about, to getting a publisher and releasing this unique title, listing the things that went right and thing that went wrong during the game's construction. As Leker explains in his introduction to the postmortem: "Oasis was the winner of the IGF’s 2004 Game of the Year and Innovation in Game Design awards in the web/downloadable category, but the history of this project was anything but glamorous. It was created by Mind Control Software of San Rafael, California, a company that has specialized in game design since its formation in 1994. The company’s first project was Alien Logic, an action/RPG based upon SkyRealms of Jorune, a paper-and-pencil role-playing game designed by the company’s founder, Andrew Leker. Mind Control Software has historically split its time between development for hire and its own independent aspirations. Oasis fit squarely into the latter and eventually saw the light of day in April 2005, with PlayFirst as its publisher. Oasis is an Egyptian themed, turn-based strategy game played on a 10x10 grid shrouded in a mysterious fog. The player has 85 turns to move his character, the Scarab King, throughout the playfield in hopes of rebuilding a civilization that will survive the inevitable barbarian onslaught that arrives after the 85th turn." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).