New Project?

I've been thinking about a new project.  Still fleshing out the details but I think I'm making steady progress on it.  Over the past couple weeks, I've come across some hurdles in design and so far, I managed to overcome them after some time and thought.

Interestingly, one of the problems involved some "heavy" computation.  It was a simple thing for a computer but I was having difficulties doing it in RAGS.  I looked into using the javascript part in RAGS and it seemed to open a new can of worms on how RAGS does javascript.  Some javascript commands don't work?  Anyone know of a good source on this?

I thought about using Twine as the gameplay style kinda suits it but I think it will create too many technical hurdles for me.

Right now, the biggest time sink for the project will be to find suitable pictures.  I'm considering making it text only to give myself and easier time, but I'll wait and see.

Wish me luck.

Update 2/3: 1st place!

Christmas Carolyn won 1st place.  Yay!  It was a close contest.  Tie breaker vote was 1 vote ahead.  Thanks to everybody who voted!

Don't expect an update on it right away.  Going to be focusing on SJ for now.  If I get a bit tired with it, I'll see about finishing up CC as a break.

Speaking of SJ, I have pics for the condom and magazine.  I know how the story will go with the condom.  Magazine, I have a rough idea but will need to connect the dots a bit.  Depending on how that goes, I might need to go pic hunting some more.

CC update (1/9)

Christmas Carolyn Update
 Alpha 1

Time slipped away for me.  I had enough time but I mismanaged it.  Spent too much time on stretch goals and didn't factor in my schedule.  Had less free time in the latter part of the week so I had to do a mad scrabble to finish everything up.

Warning: Lots of untested code.  I don't know for certain if you can reach an ending or not.

I plan on continue with bug fixing later on.  Maybe even add in more features.

CC Update 1/3

Christmas Carolyn Update:

Finished up more with the boss.  Main event is in place now.  Need to figure out if I want an extra step for the true ending or not.

Right now the true ending feels too obvious and too easy.

For the time being, I'll leave it as the too easy way.  Once I think of something better, it shouldn't be too hard to change it.

Contest Entry: Christmas Carolyn

Time's up for the contest.  I didn't get as far as I'd like.  I really overestimated how much free time I would have.

That said, it's short and incomplete and available for play.
Christmas Carolyn (Incomplete 2)
TFGS Thread

I guess the main problem was when I did have some free time, friends and family were around.  So working on the game during that time proved very difficult.  After it was clear, I can't finish on time, I just tried to clear it up as best I could and find somewhere to stop.

Anyways, enjoy it.  I need to caught up on sleep and get back working on SJ.

Update 12/18

Update on the progress so far on the contest game.

Had a block for a while.  I didn't like the gameplay and the options presented to the player.  It felt interesting to me but didn't feel very interesting to the player.

I changed up a few things and I like where the game's at and the direction it's taking.  I have a very clear view of how to proceed with the game.

Some bad news

Got some bad news.  I found out there's a tfgamessite contest going on.  Normally, I'm well aware of any contests on the site, but somehow it slipped past me.

In case it wasn't obvious, I love contests.  Deadlines give me something to go for, otherwise, I become too much of a perfectionist.  I have yet to release a non-contest game.  Even SJ started as a contest game.

What this means is I'll be focusing whatever little free time during the holiday season on getting a contest game done (hopefully) and not much so on SJ.

Beth: Release 2

Now that the contest is over, I can publish the latest version of Beth.


Release 2.2
(Missed a case with Tim.  Book was still being dropped to the ground.  Should be fixed)

Changes:

• Fixed bugged items in the shop
• Missing ending: Wait option when you're locked up.
• Missing Lisa.  Lisa was talking but wasn't in the room.  Made an ending impossible to get.
• Fixed Mental Picture.  It wasn't activating correctly in a specific order
• Books, Notes, and Laptop SHOULD automatically be placed into backpack when you complete the major task.  Except from Tonya.
• True Ending now requires 12 Integrity, just because I said so.

Release Build

Release 1: http://www.mediafire.com/download/dgaowf4c6hvbd5b/Beth_(Release_1).rag

Hopefully fixed up a lot of problems people are reporting.  Particularly being unable to get good clears on some people.

Beta Release

Beta release:

Beta 1: http://www.mediafire.com/download/342s3pfbv4hpgna/Beth_(Beta_1).rag
Beta 2: http://www.mediafire.com/download/cmgo5wxq851gagh/Beth_(Beta_2).rag
Beta 3: http://www.mediafire.com/download/9vii12iml5bdbl7/Beth_(Beta_3).rag

Beta 3 fixes the locked in closet and stuck in Storage.

Alpha Release!

Okay.  I rushed through everything and got together an alpha release.  Endings are completely untested and the entire game is missing a lot of descriptions and examines, pictures of people. etc.  Fortunately none of that should stop gameplay.

So I'm releasing it as alpha.  I'm hoping to get a list of actual bugs to work on while I fix up on the previously mentioned problems.

The two questions:
1. How long did it take for you to figure out the disability?
2. Did you understand what was happening at the ending (if you can get to it)?

Alpha Release 1: http://www.mediafire.com/download/mdophoj69ron1ao/Beth_(Alpha_Release_1).rag
Alpha Release 2: http://www.mediafire.com/download/waj4mgz43s89faj/Beth_(Alpha_Release_2).rag
Alpha 3: http://www.mediafire.com/download/zpn8ai1sfhwvh40/Beth_(Alpha_Release_3).rag

Please post any and all bugs in comments.

Thanks!

3/20 Status Update

Finishing a lot of things.  Putting a lot of time for this.  Even had someone ask me what I'm working on so late at night, awkward.

I'm at the state I wanted to be at last week.  Rapidly running out of time.  Ending section is taking longer than I thought.

I think my lack of sleep is making the game turn weird.  I seriously worry people won't understand what's going on.  If I had more time, I can mess around with the "weirdness" at the ending.

Going to release an alpha build later today hopefully.  Two main questions I want.
1. How long did it take for you to figure out the disability?
2. Did you understand what was happening at the ending?

Extra Credit Question: I'm terrible at naming my games.  What do you think it should be called?  I'm leaning to just "Beth".  Nice and simple, but lacks any intrigue.  It doesn't sound very compelling.

Quick Update!

Still trying to everything done.  Wasn't as effective as I wanted to be over the weekend.

Quick update:

• I think Tim's section is done.  I need to run through it and make sure I'm not missing anything.
• Made a horrifying discovery while coding Tonya's section.  I got to a certain point and I couldn't remember what needed to be done.  Then I realized I never finished designing Tonya's section!  Time to design on the fly.
• Making good progress on Josh and Sharon's sections.
• Got pics for most locations.  Need to do some cropping and compression on them though (low priority).
• Endings are mostly planned.

Quick update!

Quick update: Melanie section is complete.  Not necessarily bug free, but all content with Melanie is done.

3/13 Update

3/13 Update:

• Finalized casting for Melanie and Beth.
• Got pictures for Melanie/Beth scene.
• Got pictures for Tim/Beth scene
• Got pictures for portraits
• Started work on Melanie scene
• Tim section getting closer to finish
• Sharon and Josh sections are basically all planned out.  Need to code them and write the dialog.

I'm hoping to spend a large amount of time to get a completed alpha over the weekend.

My release plans are to release the alpha first and people can submit the bugs they find.  In the meanwhile, I'll work on stretch features.  After that, I'll release the beta and focus on bugs only.

3/7 Update

Holy crap, I don't have much time left.  And so much left to do!  This is gonna be a long update...

Features and sections tend to balloon up.  I'm trying to keep things manageable but I don't have much time and still a long ways to go.  I need to actually finish things up now!

I spent some time looking for pictures.  Finding this part to be difficult since I want the right actors doing the right things in the right setting.  I think I definitely have to cut corners here.

Note to self: get some pictures first, then design the scenes in.  Fitting picture into the game seems a lot easier than finding pictures that fit the game.

2nd note to self: Never use the On Game Start action for player ever again.  Takes too long to run through the starting sections of the game to check on new stuff.

A little character teaser for you:
Josh is the president of a nearby frat.  In the past, you filed a formal complaint about them being too loud late at night and they were placed on probation.  Now you need to get something from Josh, but at what cost?

2/25 Update

Contest game:

I named the sections instead of 1-6.  It was a bit misleading, implying one comes after the other.  It's more like 6 different areas I need to work on.  Also as I work on more of them, it'll be difficult to keep track which is which.
So I named them based on the main character interaction: Melanie, Tim, Josh, Sharon, and Tonya.
For those who can count, yes, that's only 5 ;-)

Melanie is as complete as I can do for now.  95%, still incomplete.  I'm missing out on the "special" scenes which need to match pictures.  Pictures will come later... hopefully.

Working on Tim next.

Adding a progress state (after the jump) for prosperity.  I kinda want to see how I'm moving along.

2/22 Update

2/22 Update:

Contest game moving along.  Linear gameplay part is done.  Now working on the actual game part.
1st main section is 50% done.
Started doing some casting, images for characters.
Designed out some more of the quests and stuff that happens.

2/14 Update

Happy Valentine's Day!

Started work on the disability contest game.
Finished the intro.
Did some work with the mapping.
Basic designs for characters.  Five primary characters to interact with.
Added a progress section for my contest game.  Hoping this keeps me on track to finish on time.

2/8 Update

Did some design work and some character design for my Contest game.
Will be using Rags.

Teaser description: You are Beth.  A college student diligently studying for your upcoming exams.  Your friend refuses to let you be and wants only five minutes of your time.  How bad could that be?