Article to read

I haven't been posting very much lately. I've had too much work to do, and really nothing to post about. My game development was put on temporary hiatus, as was the majority of my random art/resources that I normally give away for free. Sorry about that!

Celianna wrote a really great article about tileset and just how much work goes into creating them. I think it's something that everyone should read and I hope that it puts some things into perspective in terms of what's involved in making tiles.

My zombie survival set, for example, took 493 hours of work total, spread over 6 months . Toward the end of the deadline, I was working 60-70 hours per week to make sure everything was top notch quality and ready for release. It was a lot of work, but I'm really happy with the end result. I hope you guys enjoy the pack, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you create with it.

With that out of the way, I want to mention that the holidays are on their way. Like every year, I'm making home-made gifts for my extended family. It will take quite a bit of time this year, as I'm doing paper art (cards, etc) as well as baking goodies. So, the updates might be sporadic until after Christmas, still. I'll try to periodically update with a stray resource or two, so hopefully it will make up for lack of consistent updates.

Hobbies: Card Making

One of the big things I've been into lately is paper crafting - more specifically, making handmade greeting cards. I get to exercise my creativity, as well as practice various traditional art techniques. For one of the cards I made a few months ago, I got back into watercolors and came up with a fabulous sunflower. For another, I used a patterned paper to make a pinwheel that you can spin around.

Today, I finished a Steampunk-inspired birthday card and I wanted to show it off:

I haven't decided who's going to be getting it quite yet (I have to find a fellow Steampunk enthusiast first), but it came out pretty neat. The best part is hard to see in the picture, but there are areas that are torn off. So, there are these raised little paper edges that are fun to touch.

Anyone else have neat crafting projects/hobbies?

It's June?!?

Goodness, it seems I've gone back to being a month between postings. :(

I could say I've been pretty busy with work, but as much as it's a valid excuse, I still feel like I've neglected the blog a bit. So, I'm going to try and go back to a more frequent (and regular!) schedule.

Since I've had almost no time to work on my projects, I spent a little time going through my notebooks and game dev papers to find something interesting to talk about. And I found a list of game ideas that I really want to create. I still found them interesting and motivating, so when I do get to finish TUAH and Starlight, one of these just may be the next on the list.

Ghost Hunter (needs a better title)
Genre:
Adventure, Puzzle, Single Character
Story:
Your close friend has inherited an ancient mansion, but it's come riddled with dangerous (and deadly!) ghosts. As a talented young ghost hunter, it's your job to get rid of the ghosts and send them to the Great Beyond. But is it really possible that one single mansion is the epicenter of so much ghostly activity? Or is there something more nefarious in the works?
Comments:
I wanted to create a game that has a smaller scope and a more limited setting. The entire game happens in the mansion and its immediate surrounding (garden, cemetery, stables, chapel). It's loosely based on the many awesome point-and-click adventures I've played over the years - and that's my favorite game genre.

Albeon: Marigold's Story
Genre:
Adventure, RPG
Story:
As the middle child of a family of 12, Marigold feels ignored and invisible to her family. After having a fight with her family, she makes a wish that she were the only child. The next morning, it comes true. But being an only child is not as great as Marigold thought, and she decides to go on a inter-dimensional quest to find her brothers and sisters.
Comments:
This is a light-hearted RPG that basically deals with family dynamics and the classic question of whether the grass is really greener on the other side. It appeals to me because it's not about saving the world (though that's also fun to do from time to time), and also because this game takes place in a very elaborate world that I created a long time ago. I've got another dozen ideas for games that happen in Albeon.

Oracle
Genre:
Adventure
Story:
In the 2649, it's illegal to be a fortune-teller or a psychic of any sort. When Cassie has a premonition that a horrible accident will destroy her school, she's torn between warning everyone and hiding her psychic talent. With the help of her childhood friend, Hayden, Cassie is going to have to make some hard choices.
Comments:
There are two things that are amazing about this idea. The first is that it's futuristic. And there's a lot of really interesting concepts I'm hoping to introduce in terms of society, technology and general futuristic life. The second is that there's a really awesome artist that's making the main character portraits for me.


Out of all of these, I think Oracle is the most likely to be the next in line. But I've still got little bits of inspiration poking me to make the other two projects, too.

Do you have any preferences?

Summer contest

We're holding a contest at the official RM forums:
Summer Fun Contest

This is your chance to win a copy of Ace, or any other product that's currently on sale at the official store. The deadline is in 3 weeks, and all you have to do is create a summer-themed mini-game! So, if you've been itching to get your hands on Ace or if you even want to just have an extra copy of Ace to give to a friend, think about joining the contest.

No Title

I was recently interviewed for the official blog, so I figured I should toss a link to that. There's a bit of info on my current projects, how I go about making tiles and how I got into art. It's not a terribly long read, but some of you may find it interesting.

Other than that, I'm taking a much deserved break. The past couple of days have been spent in a mad rush to get the modern tileset ready for sale. I am just blown away with how much support we've received for it already. Thank you soooo much for buying the tiles, everyone! It's inspiring and motivating me to keep making more tiles.

Lastly, there's a matter of a super secret something that will be unveiled in two weeks. I'm very much teasing you all with it right now, but I think you'll like it. It was something I've done to challenge myself and hopefully inspire others to rise to the same challenge. So, stay tuned~!

Ponderings

I bought VXAce (pre-ordered, really, for the discount and the shiny bonuses) and I've been playing with it a bit here and there.

One of the things I'm seriously considering is creating a commercial game with Ace. I've been researching the market and the whole process of going commercial for a while now. I still don't know everything I should (marketing and taxes, primarily!), but I'm hoping that I will get a chance to pick someone's brain about it. Obviously, I need to actually conceptualize and finish the game first. And then there's the matter of figuring out where/how to sell it, how much to charge etc etc.

Would any of you be interested in buying a complete game I created? If so, how much would you be willing to spend?

Birthday

Today is my birthday. I am old. XD

Checking in #2

Our move-in date is this Wednesday (Nov. 30th). The internet should hopefully be set up on December 7th, so I should be back online shortly after that date.

I hope to have a proper update mid-december. I'm not sure if it will be a play-able demo, but it will be more than a couple sentences.

Checking in

It's been quite a while since my last update and life has been keeping me pretty busy.

As I may have mentioned, my computer's video card just stopped working one morning. Thanks to a very kind friend, I was able to replace it with a much better card for free, but I still spent a couple of weeks waiting for it to be delivered by the postal office. I have an on-board video card, but it was so bad that it pretty much only let me open text-only websites and run a couple of programs (no Photoshop and no VX, for instance). Now that the new video card is in, I can actually do visual things. Yay!

I've also mentioned that I'd be moving to a new house. Now that was (and still is!) a hassle. There were issues with financing, then a lot of waiting. We found this house in August, and we're only going to be able to close and move in the next couple of weeks. I've practically been living out of boxes for the past month and I cannot wait to be done with the whole lot.

Lastly, the house we're living in right now has been listed. So far, we've has multiple viewings per day. For those of you not familiar with this process, a viewing is when potential buyers and their agents come to look at the house and see if they're interested in purchasing it. During the viewing, the home occupants aren't allowed to be at home - which means that any time someone wants to view the house, everyone has to leave for an hour. Combine that with multiple viewings per day, and I'm practically only around here to eat, clean and sleep.

I haven't been able to work on any project for a few weeks now, but I've been working out a lot of kinks and plot-related details on paper. You should see the size of my game dev binder!

I will try to pop in every now and then to write how I'm doing. The next few weeks are going to be very busy (holidays + moving), so I apologize in advance if i seem like I've dropped off the face of the earth.

Something Different

At the beginning of the month, Emmy started running a free-for-all contest. I wasn't originally going to join. I've found that focusing on a single project gives you the best chance of completing it, and I've stayed exclusively with TUAH for the past year (and then some). But I've had this idea for a short game pop into my brain several times and the contest runs for an entire month.

So, I've squirreled away a few free moments and started on a short entry game. Because of my impending move, I don't know whether I will be able to finish it before the contest deadline, but I do plan on completing the whole game this year.

The project will be an adventure game with a few puzzles and a fun synthesis/crafting element. The rest of the detail will remain a secret until I can produce a playable demo. If any of you anticipate some free time in the coming weeks and are interested in being a beta-tester, please let me know!

No updates for a few days

I was planning on writing up another update, but I just had a rough morning. Late last night, my aunt lost her fight with cancer.

She was an extraordinary woman, who remained strong through a lifetime of illness (arthritis). Mom remembers how she'd be in the hospital and still making arrangements so her family would be taken care of. She always put others first. She was a teacher and she touched the lives of many people.

What I'll miss the most is her birthday cards. Every year, without fail, she would send a card depicting flowers. Inside would be beautifully-worded messages and well-wishes. Reading them makes me feel loved and cherished.

She will be missed and I need a few days to get my composure (and good spirits) back. Thanks for understanding.