Still Alive

To everyone asking yes I am still alive, but my close family member has passed away.  We knew it was coming but it's still tough to deal with and it changes things.  I haven't even touched the game since it happened and I don't see myself working on it in the foreseeable future.  Maybe in a few months when everything is some distance behind me I'll start working on it again but I honestly can't make any promises.  I really wanted to finish the game that I envisioned but priorities shift when you lose someone close to you.  I'm really sorry to all my fans as I know how it feels to be looking forward to something patiently and finding out you may not get it, but if I try to force it right now it won't be any good and I'll hate it.  I guess only time can tell. 

Just a quick update

Work has been progressing slowly but steadily.  It seems like every time I give out an ETA on the next release, real life throws something in my face that drastically slows me down.  So all I'm going to say is it is progressing and so far I am very happy with how it's turning out.  I'm also getting some pictures back from artists and so far I'm impressed.  I sure wish I could draw as good as those guys.

Though I will admit that I've been distracted by a certain book series.  I picked up the series, read the first chapter, and the entirety of my free time was consumed by it until I finished.  It was for research purposes.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it! 

Edit:  I just spent the last 2 hours banging my head against my keyboard trying to get something to work because I made a stupid newb mistake and put the code in the wrong spot.  Sigh.   

Back to work!

I just got back from having a nice needed vacation.  5 days of soaking up way too much sun at the beach and cruising around in a beautiful new boat.  Of course if the owner of said boat heard me call it a boat, he would be yelling at me that it was a ship.  Men and their toys, it's a freaking boat! :D

Anyway!  Progress is going well on my reboot.  I got the first sketch back on Kaylee from an artist and it looks really good.  When I get the final version I'll upload it to the blog for ya'll to take a look.  The work is going a bit slower than I expected because I keep running into problems but the good news is I keep solving them, making the general engine better.  I had the same issue with learning rags so I'm sure things will pick up once the background work is complete.  The character generation and intro bunker took me more time to do than the entire version 0.2 update so I imagine it will be the same thing here. 

Surprisingly enough the thing that took a lot more time than I expected was the text fonts.  It really didn't want to cooperate with all the quotes I use when characters are speaking because actionscript 3 uses quotes as part of code.  I sure as hell wasn't about to give those up so it took me a few hours to figure that one out and another couple hours to figure out an easy way to implement it.  I definitely took for granted how easy rags was to make games! 

Anyhow.  Vacation's over.  Back to work!

Donate button and update

As you cam see, I've set up a donate button using paypal on the right of the blog.  You should be able to donate without having a paypal account.  Though for those who do want to donate, I would suggest you hold off until version 0.2 is completed.  It will most likely have a bit of a different feel to it and I would feel bad if you guys donated and didn't like how it turns out.

On that subject, most of the background coding for the game is completed.  All I need to do is implement the saving/load feature, music, and combat engine.  I would say 80% of the learning curve is over and the only thing I really need to figure out is the music.  If I can keep this level of work up, it shouldn't take me more than a month to complete version 0.2.

I've also heard back from 2 artists and got a confirmation from one of them.  I'm basically having them draw an example picture of Kaylee so we can all take a look at the art style.  I will be posting the pictures when I get them so you guys can tell me if you like them or not.  Still, please keep a look out for good artists and refer me to them if you find any.  It takes a good amount of time to draw a good picture and I would rather have multiple artists working on it so it doesn't take forever. 

Update!

I've decided to reboot The Verse at least up to version 0.2. Once I have that completed, I can do a side by side comparison but it's probably going to be pointless. I already like the feel of the game more this way. I have far more control over it and am only limited by not being able to figure out how to do it in actionscript.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b4f2oyc4ljf69wu/The%20Verse.swf

That's what I've got done so far and will most likely be the general format of the game. The player portrait is just a place holder for now. I've already heard back from an artist on commissioning pictures and we're discussing how to proceed, though with the amount I'll be needing I'll probably hire more than one.

I still have some things I need to figure out but the majority of the learning experience is behind me. I'm excited to see how things turn out.

Idea...

So I was sitting here writing up this side by side chart about what I should scrap and what I should keep.  It was painfully lopsided on the keep side.  It really came down to I really didn't want to get rid of anything but the thought of making the project full sized while essentially being handicapped was tedious at best.  So I shifted my train of thought to any possible ways to minimize that handicap when the painfully obvious donned on me.  Typical blonde moment.

Why don't I just remake the game the correct way from the start?

What's bothering me in the current version is picture hunting.  Namely models for my characters.  Take Kaylee for example.  I have to work my story around available photos of the model I chose, even if she has hundreds of photos to choose from.  Also the rags system itself has limitations that I need to work around.  Don't get me wrong, the rags system is amazing for it's simple way to create games, but it does have some issues that make it harder for me to do some things.

I'm thinking about starting over (while keeping the story so far) but instead of using the rags designer, create it in flash.  It would be similar to Champions of Corruption.  Text windows, stats, input buttons, and even a few picture frames.  All runnable from your browser and it greatly opens up the possibilities of the game.  There is nothing I can do in rags that I can't do in flash, but there are many things that I can do in flash that I can't do in rags.

Another change would be the models.  Instead of picture hunting for my primary characters, I would commission artists to draw exactly what I need for me.  That way I don't have to compromise the story and situations to fit the specific pictures I'm able to find.  It would drastically free my hands to do my original plans.  The only real downside to it is I know there are people out there who won't enjoy the main character to be an anime style woman instead of an actual female model. 

If I reboot The Verse, I won't have to cut anything out.  In fact I'll be adding more to what I originally planned as my hands will be free.  Since I already have all the dialogue and story for 0.2, I think it would only take me a month or two to catch back up to where I am.  I've put up a poll to see what you guys think but before anyone tells me I should make the decision myself, I will.  I just like to know what you guys think.

Continue Project			Reboot Project
Use Actual People			Commission Anime Pictures
Use Rags System			Use Browser Friendly Flash
Cut Some Ideas			Add Ideas
Limited Sex Photos			More Sex Pictures
No Reboot Development Time			Reboot Development Time
Same Story			Same Story

To all my nagging, er, dedicated fans ;)

I've had a lot on my mind for the past few months.  Needless to say that a lot of stress has been building up so I found myself spending most of my limited free time doing activities that helped me burn it away.  I honestly gave serious consideration on canceling this project.  I made some poor choices with a few things that are making it harder to make the game the way I wanted it to be and it would be much simpler for me to move onto the next project I have in mind.  In my current situation, a simple solution is very appealing to me right now.

But I read the comments on this blog and was moved by several of them.  I've decided to finish this project and use what I learned to make my next one what this should have been.  I've even managed to schedule (omg!) set times throughout the week that I will be dedicating to working on The Verse. 

Long story short, progress is being made consistently again.  Hopefully I'm over the hump of inactivity.  It's not going to be quite as grand or epic as originally planned but it will be completed!  :)

Edit:  I've put up a poll about how much time I should put into The Verse.  I'm redesigning my personal gameplan and would like to know your opinions. 

No, the game is not dead!

The Verse is not dead nor postponed, simply slowed for a while.  A very close family member has terminal cancer and as a result, my free time virtually became nonexistent.  I haven't been able to work on it much but I slowly am starting to work on it again.  I simply need to figure out how to balance my new responsibilities while giving me enough free time to do meaningful work on the game.  That being said, I have been able to work on it this week and see myself working even more in the immediate future. 

Plans for version 0.3!

So my week of taking a break turned into a week of non-stop running around for other people.  So much for my week off >.<

I was able to (mostly) keep up with all the suggestions, bug reports, and input from fans though.  I've written up a rough to do list for version 0.3, which will be listed in this post.  It's larger than my 0.2 list so it's going to take longer to complete.  I'm not going to burn myself out by keeping up the pace I was in the first half of the 0.2 development, I'll never finish it doing that.  Several people should notice their suggestions being implemented in this version, so keep sending them in!  It really helps getting others perspectives especially on the little things. I'll be putting various polls up from time to time to see everyone's opinions on certain things.  Also if anyone is particularly good at photoshop and/or picture hunting, I could use help in those areas.  My personal skill in editing photos is limited to paint and picture hunting gets tiring very quickly. 

0.3 to do list:

• Another "Official" job
• Prostitution
• 1 event to each existing job
• 2 random street encounters
• 2 random alley encounters
• Kinetic Barriers
• Combat Visors
• 2 guns
• 2 purchasable clothes
• 4 sidequests
• 2 main quests
• Next step in Mr. Kind's story
• Quest tracker
• Combat tweaks
• Super Stimpacks
• Another persistent character
• Next step in Dawn's story
• Next step in Maria's story
• "Looking for trouble" in the alley
• At least 1 event to the hotel bathing while door open

Version 0.2!

So, that one hour of work ended up turning into closer to five hours of work.  I blame my editor, he can be quite mean >.<

Here is the link: The Verse 0.2b

Remember to send in any suggestions, thoughts, and bug reports to my email: kayleehsummers@gmail.com

I'm going to be sitting back and relaxing for a while, catching up on some things that I've let slide.  I probably won't be working on the game for a good 3-4 months.  With this break I hope to...

Aw who the hell am I kidding?  I'm taking a few days then writing up a game plan for release 0.3.  I'll include it in the week 4 update like I did before :)

Known bugs in version 0.2b:

• The guys in the alley are real jerks and will take all your money even if you submit.  Better be extra careful!   
• John doesn't recognize the Taurus gun if you try to take a shift with it.

Week 3 Update

Okay.  Bad news is I don't have version 0.2 ready yet.  The good news is it will be out tomorrow for sure.  I had a couple unexpected events happen to me today that ate up several hours of my free time.  I only have about an hour of work left before I can release 0.2 but I'm exhausted so I'm putting that off until tomorrow.  It won't be where I wanted it to be because I decided to push the story quest until the next release.  I want it to be a high quality, longer quest so it will take me a few days just on that. 

Anyhow, I'll post again tomorrow with the download link. 

Week 2 Update

Unfortunately I don't have 0.2 ready for release quite yet.  I lost a good 3 days of work time because of real life getting in the way, plus my code is starting to get a little more complex and thus taking longer.  I'm going to say for sure it will be ready for week 3 update but it will most likely be ready before that.  I just want to use the extra time to give it plenty of polish.  If I feel it's ready before Wednesday I'll release it but it won't take any longer than Wednesday. 

That all being said I'm really liking how it's turning out.  I've received many suggestions for tweaks or additions and I've liked most of them.  Keep them coming!

Week 1 Update!

So the first week of near full-time working on the game is complete.  I have to say I'm very happy with the progress being made.  I've completed most of the behind the scenes mechanics that will be used throughout the game.  At this point it should be fairly smooth sailing with version 0.2.  I expect to have my beta testers combing through it within a week and release it soon after. 

I also picked up an editor that's going above and beyond his role.  He's been helping me polish the game and nagging me when I get lazy with descriptions.  It's really allowing me to focus on the big stuff like mechanics, story, and progression.  All in all development is going far better and far faster than I had thought it would. 

I'm hoping my week 2 update will include 0.2 release. 

My new blog!

This is the first time I've ever used a blog so you'll have to forgive me if it isn't too fancy.  I figured I would put my status updates here and I think it will even help me stay on track.  If anyone has any suggestions on either content or anything please don't hesitate to send them to me.  I like hearing others' opinions.

You can email me at kayleehsummers@gmail.com.

Current to do list for next release:

• Introduce 2 more jobs. (Complete)
• Add events to current "Guard Duty" job. (Complete)
• Introduce gun shop. (Complete)
• 2 random street encounters. (Complete)
• 3 random alley encounters. (Complete)
• 2 sidequests. (Complete)
• Stimpacks. (Complete)
• Hotel bathing room. (Complete)
• Continue Mr. Kind's story chain. (Complete.  Took way longer than expected >.<)
• 2 more persistent characters. (Complete.  I had waaaay too much fun with them!)
• Add "Looking for trouble" to alley (Pushed to release 0.3)
• Masturbation (Perverts!) (Complete)
• Next step in main story (Pushed to release 0.3)

I'll update this as progress is made.