Still Alive

Hanging in there! No progress today, but i found the right tool i believe, it's called Articy Draft, my wallet might be going to hate me for this, but i got super lucky because i'm well acquainted with a really cool Russian guy who happens to be rather rich too. How is this good?

1. Games and software are generally 50% cheaper for Russians (at least on steam)
2. Since he's rich, this 30-50$ for the non-commercial version of the program is nothing to him, so he might just give it to me for free!

Catch: He was going to buy it for me today, but god damn it he pressed the wrong button and bought it for himself, so we're waiting for steam support to refund him or move it to my account.

Until we get a reply from steam support i'm not gonna have an official copy of the program, but fear not! they have a 2 week trial! I will be translating the work i had already done on the wikia over to this program, and then i'm going to get Mrs. Lore and Mrs. Balancing all hot and bothered. (Meaning i'm going to start working hardcore on the Lore until i can form a proper timeline, and i'm going to start conceptualizing gameplay balance, things like skills, spells and leveling speed. It's extremely important to me that all of these things will be enjoyable and will also hold hands nicely so that the player is really free to choose his play-style, i want specializing in one thing (at least one at a time) to be highly encouraged, but jack-of-all trades to be a viable play-style too.)


A lot of fun work ahead, and i think with this tool it will be a lot more enjoyable than i had ever even hoped for! If i like it as much as i think i will, there's a good chance i'll re-write what i've written so far for Yrja's Torment in it, and finish the story in there (completely) rather than using the high concept i've been relying on up to this point. It's been enough for now, and of course saves time not to have to design everything, but history has proven that planning pays off, so i bettered!

The coolest part about this, is that i can complete like 90% or more of the concept work for all of my planned projects before i even finish off the first one! Which means i'll be able to dodge a lot of potential plot holes, logic breaks or other brick walls that could plague less prepared developers (like i was on my way to becoming D: i'm not perfect. )

Although Ren'Py seems to be ideal at least for my first few projects, i will consider using RPG maker for "Unchained" It's something i'll have to decide later. Ren'Py relies on Python and RPG Maker relies on Ruby, both have similar syntaxes so jumping from one to the other would in theory be pretty easy. The question it'll really come down to is "Which one offers me the most efficient way to make the game" and "Which one does it with more performance" (For the end-user. ideally i'd like the games to run on toasters disguised as PCs, things like mobile phones would hopefully be enough to run the games.) I just so happen to have a licensed copy of RPG Maker VX Ace, but to tell the truth i think RPG Maker as a game engine might be a bit overkill for my project (meaning it'd increase system requirements) and i'd also inevitably end up using a lot of pixelated graphics which most likely would result in a more "light-hearted" feel for my relatively "dark fantasy" world. Somewhere along the way i might try making a project in RPG Maker instead of Ren'Py to see how i like it. Looking at my planned titles in their current order, i'd suspect the game that would get to be my RPG Maker test subject would be the Garax or Sikruf game.

Tomorrow i plan to:

• Move the content off the wikia to articy: draft, as well as fixing up the wiki (it's become a bit of a mess)
• Watch Indie Game: The Movie
• Start reading The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls (I would've read it ages ago if i actually still read books...)

Planned in no particular order or for no specific date:

• Define "work" and "play" hours more clearly (schedule myself)
• Play Flatout 2, Long Live The Queen, Amnesia 2, Hate Plus, Wiz 8, Legend of Grimrock, More..
• Continue Yrja's Torment (As soon as i get there, i look forward to that time...)

You might argue that i should play through these other games before, rather than after or during the design work, i'm inclined to agree with that opinion too. But the fact is that if i played every game i thought might contribute or inspire ideas to my own designs before i would design it, i'd never design it... So instead i will play it during my design work and after (before i make the final game) this means i'll have some space to actually change some of the designs before the final planned game will be made. So i can improve my design while developing other ittles, is that cool or what?

The current (high) roadmap is

• Finish design of Amodos and most/all game systems
• Finish design for Yrja's Torment
• Start design for "Unchained"
• Finish design for "Fel'du"
• Continue and finish Yrja's Torment
• Start on "Fel'du"
• Continue design for "Unchained"
• Start & Finish design for "Undead"
• ....

Yeah, that's months... for sure!