Adrift Released!

So... yeah.  Grab it at multiple places if you haven't already.

Though I want to pimp this site for now (since it tracks downloads, haha!)
Artist website, dang I love her shading techniques especially.

(Oh yeah, Merry Christmas or something)

Though I've had my share of failed projects in the past, for my New Year's resolution I am aiming for a 100% completion rate in all the projects I participate in, and I think I am getting there.  I want to be able to output visual novels as quickly and easily as I pick my own nose.

Among all the projects in various states of completion I'm involved with (Taleweaver is involved with 3 of them), the one currently closest to release (but which still has quite a bit of work to do) is Idoling Alice, a game whose development kinda sputtered last year.  Never fear, since I will bring my own brand of 'magic' to this project based on my experience with simulation games in the past.  Just graphics won't make the game nowadays, so I won't be content until the gameplay is engaging and addicting.

Five Tenets

Above is a chart that effectively summarizes my personal standards in judging works of the various subgenres of this fandom.  For others it may vary (I expect ideally for most it will be a straight 5 for all aspects of production), but as long as I believe I'm meeting this minimum baseline for my works and the works I collaborate in, I will generally be satisfied with the outcome.  The point is that there's a guide for me to know when enough is enough, to ship something, and move on to the next project taking with me the lessons learned.

In case this wasn't self-explanatory already, some explanation of the legend is as follows:

VN - Visual Novel.  A basic story with choices and branches.
KN - Kinetic Novel.  I'm including here works that have kinetic-novel like tendencies, such as non-renai and stories with minimal path branches.
Datesim - Basically anything that includes schedules and event-based scenes with various love interests where the point is just spending time, not advancing a plot.
Hgame - needs no explanation.  As you can see, the only criteria is if you can get off on it or not.
JRPG - By programming I meant to include 'Battle System' and customization.  Some games such as Resonance of Fate hooked me just on the mechanics alone.
GUI - The overall design of the interface, which aids in immersing the player.  This is an aspect that cannot be overlooked, although sometimes there's a charm with a basic ONSCRIPTER layout that leads one to believe you're reading a small little gem.

The chart looks like some sort of graphic equalizer, so an analogy is in order:  when I'm listening to rap, I prefer to pull the 100Hz slider bar all the way to the maximum, push all the other bars all the way to minimum, and turn on the "V-GROOVE XXXXXBS SUPAH BASS" and let the subwoofer take front and center.  But if I'm listening to --- uh, I dunno, Yanni -- I want a more wave-pattern like graphic equalizer arrangement to highlight all the different subtones of the music.

So similarly, depending on the genre, there are certain aspects of production I pay more particular attention to than others.  To me, these strong parts essentially form the 'backbone' of the project, strong enough to carry the weight of the whole thing, while other aspects serve as support.  I won't want to maximize the quality on each aspect since I will burn out, taking into account that I only work usually by myself or in small teams (oftentimes I only work with one other person at a time).  The only time I really went all-out was in the main project this blog is named after, and I ended up managing people and answering emails than actually producing content.(Oh btw the 3D and BGs are complete).  In addition, for the works that I co-produce, I almost always use all-original assets, even if I may achieve better results by grabbing off-the-shelf assets.  It's the only way for me to improve since I want to exercise my skills in all aspects of production.

I'm probably one of the few fully independent EVN creators remaining, since I look left and right and I see groups where the alliances and battle lines have already been drawn.  So I'm free to work with anybody as long as they don't piss me off (or vice versa); the problem is somehow I feel left out once in a while.  And I'm especially envious of people who appear with godly skill as if from nowhere.  As I suspect they're usually classically trained in the arts or have some degree in English literature or something, so we don't have to see their works back when they still sucked (since it's kept within the curriculum).  Well for somebody who started totally from scratch just for this medium, I don't think I'm doing that bad... I'm past the halfway point of my obligatory 10,000 hours so I can see the finish line, though it's still a bit hazy.  My ultimate goal is to have a game on vndb that isn't ranked "so-so" or "bad".

The next blog post should be a release announcement for an H-game.  This should get interesting.

The Thirteenth Year

The quick two-week game I was making with Taleweaver is finally done.  Just like in the game itself, I'll try to refrain from dev-notey talk and let the work speak for itself.

As the artist and musician, with this project I was able to practice capturing the atmosphere and mood of a piece of work using a rough, brutal style.  My main philosophy is that Art Direction is more important than Art Quality.  With a lot of games nowadays -- yes even visual novels -- the extreme emphasis on production values only leads in one direction:   AAA production quality and its resulting headaches.  Expensive graphics don't always provide for immersion.  You can create immersion through music instead, like this work.  Or by making the brain of the reader fill in the blanks, through the use of symbolic imagery.

Only by emphasizing Art Direction over Art Quality can low-budget outfits... such as today's Japanese game developers... be able to still compete and offer something different.

Shinbo Akiyuki and Masaaki Yuasa provide good examples where being cheap can be stylish.  On the other hand Kyoto Animation and P.A. Works?  Yawn.

Debt-free.

I'm debt-free again as of today.  Hallelujah.  It feels good to zero out your credit balance.
  (Okay, I'm sort of running out of things to say on this blog)

Assets are about 70% more or less.  Taleweaver is sending me awesome, awesome scripts.  I thought this was going to be quite a short RPG, but the rate we're going this is going to be almost a full-fledged PS1/PSP era JRPG like Trails in the Sky or (my inspiration) Legend of Dragoon.  I just need to further customize the battle system to be more fluid.  And what's amazing is that I don't feel the need to ask for more art now since the assets I currently have will scale to match the game.  Having just played Shadow of the Colossus with its genius setting with scope, I realized my current stage levels were too boring so now going to spice it up by rearranging the buildings and stuffing more plants into the scenes.

I won't have event CGs because I'll just use the in-game battle assets to illustrate events.  (To whomever invented the Isometric Perspective and popularized it in games, Thank You.)  I'll have separate wallpapers though!

I'd like to talk about the various schools of game design based on platforms.  We have:

*Arcade design (born from arcades), where a game is supposed to be quick to pick up and play, but tough to master, so the player will want to try just one more time (and insert another quarter).  Platforms such as XBLIG, mobiles, and fancy motion control peripherals thrive on this type of design.  The idea is to create a novel mechanic.  With arcades dead, these games thrive today as 99c applications.

*PC design (born from personal computer programming hobbyists).  Since the PC is a productive workhorse, it shows in the early games on the platform:  you usually play the role of some overlord, managing stats and simulating complex situations.  The typical PC game was the turn-based strategy sim.  I'm influenced by this type of game, but only in terms of execution, since Ren'Py is a turn-based static image engine that's suited to managing text and statistics.  I'd love to make a typical console game (3rd person dual analog exploration) but it's just too costly at this time.

*Home console design (born from Japanese consoles), where a game is designed around long story-based experiences, with the assumption that the player is enjoying from the comfort of one's home couch.  This is the school I follow.  Motion controls are not too appropriate here since the player will be playing for hours, so cruise control (i.e. buttons) is needed.  I gave up playing Folklore on PS3 because it was just too tiring having to shake the controller to beat/absorb every enemy, while I have spent up to 115 hours on other games.

*(New trends) Social / online design (born from Facebook and browsers), where a game is designed to prod the player (who is usually idling away at an office or school) to check back and see what's up every few hours.  The aim of this design is to stay relevant either through spamming or whatever it takes.  These games can be free because what they're selling are not the games themselves to their audience, but instead they're selling their playerbase to advertisers.

There's also a sort of half-way design in MMOs, they start off as subscription games (selling the experience) but recently become free-to-play (selling virtual goods instead).  The problem I have with MMOs is that you can't really 'beat' the game since it goes on forever depending on what level cap or expansions the publisher happens to decide.  At least with arcade and home consoles you have your skill and perseverance to boast of at the end of the day.

That's about it for this month, I guess.

Too many Kickstarter projects

Something I've been noticing recently, is the increasing number of successfully-kickstarted indie projects.  Lol, why am I complaining?  It's all good, right?

Well, it sets a dangerous precedent, where people can expect to pay you based on a promise rather than a final product.  Why should I support people who haven't yet created a prototype, instead of the already completed game of some person who quit their day job, took out a massive loan, finished a game but it's not selling so they're thousands of dollars in debt?

The positive aspect of crowdfunding is that you can already see which projects and concepts are popular, so if you're a developer, you can decide to abandon a project if it doesn't have enough fans, thereby saving yourself time and headache.  By keeping on top of the kickstarter scene you've also done your market research.

But the negative aspect is that this is eerily similar to two things:

The first is network television.  I gave up on network television ten years ago because I realized they were only broadcasting shows which had enough ratings.  The unpopular gems which I wanted to watch were no longer offered, that's why I moved to cable, and later pulled the plug entirely and subsisted on DVD rentals and now streaming.

The second is the shady business practice of many businessmen in asia... where they take up risky projects without putting up their own money.  Unlike the west there's less of a venture capital spirit, so what they end up risking is the money of wealthy families who don't have the expertise in the current business landscape whether it's outsourcing or something else.  In other words, if the investment is a success, the businessman wins.  If it's a failure, the people who lose money are those who were gullible to listen to his business proposal.  Have enough of those failures occurring, and what ends up happening is people who have the capital to get things moving are even tighter with their purse strings then ever before.

If many of these Kickstarted projects are completed to above average satisfaction, that is not a problem.  But what if most of these projects are completed, but the end result is a disappointment?  This will increase the number of jaded former supporters who would then be even less likely to support the indie scene.

Okay, now here is the part of the blogpost where I go "Oh hey, I'm not like these groups, I'm awesome and responsible!"  Well for starters...
* I pay my artists in full based on agreed rates.  I don't promise them royalties which may never materialize.  It means that I respect the amount of time they contributed towards various assets.  The only people who are going on royalties basis will be the writer and battle engine programmer, since the game is designed around the structure they create -- without them, this game won't exist because it won't have a backbone.  If for the small chance this game achieves success, I will want them to share in its success.  In the meantime, they are contributing from their own free time which they generously give towards various projects.
* I have not, and will not accept donations.  Everything is coming from my own pocket from my day job and family savings.  I will want to say "All the risk is mine".

I don't go posting pretty concept art, because the way I have always done projects, is to start with the core structure, the blood and guts, not the hype.

Then again, perhaps it's me who is doing things wrong.  After all, with a hyped project, you attract the best artists who want to be associated with a popular project!  So it's even more likely that you get to finish the project because of all the willing people ready to either join your team or throw you money!  That's another way of looking at things.  Why choose to slave away when no one gives a shit about your sacrifice when you can have a win-win scenario?

Probably that's a lesson I can take for my next project.  After all, all it takes is one popular piece of concept art by Huke and bam, you get an anime and video game franchise.

But, no.  No, no, no.  I will not succumb to that.  I'm not out to make the next K-on!, I'm out to make the next Haibane Renmei.  We're talking about entirely different genres here.  For the latter, almost ten years later and the work still affects me.  No second, third, fourth, fifth seasons needed.  Over and done.  The only thing that mattered was that enough people cared to fund the project to completion, so it existed.  For Elspeth's Garden, the only thing that matters is whether I still care, then it will get made.  Once finished, whether I recover my capital or not, it will be out on the internet, and I hope people will be thankful that a work like that exists and was made.

Evolution of Influences

The main seed for this project is hard to pin down.  There were a lot of factors that led the way and eventually found themselves integrated in some form -- the concept of natural-magic wielders called geomancers (a theme I tried to explore in my very first kinetic novel from 2006 but which I never proceeded beyond Chapter/Episode I).  An anime-style RPG with yuri elements which I'd been wanting to collaborate with Christine Love about two years ago.  And about a year and a half ago discussing elements of dieselpunk with IceD (from whom I got introduced to his sister's character design skills and subsequently recruited the first artist for this project).  I still give credit for the small influences that come and go and help shape the project to what it is today, even if the people currently on board may be different.  No creator lives in a vacuum.  I had a vague inkling of what I wanted to do but it wasn't until I decided "Ah fuck my finances, I'm gonna get some expert skills on board." that I became confident about the world of Elspeth's Garden as it became the more or less final form today.  Yeah, at face value it's a world of girls! monkeys! airships!  but it goes deeper than that.  In fact, the very first time I opened a production notebook for this game... around May 2010... the first notes I jotted down were conflicts experienced by real-life people (my relatives, basically).  I passed the mantle of writing responsibility to Taleweaver because I wanted to see what influences he could bring to the table and I wanted to be pleasantly surprised (even if it's supposed to be my game, lol).  It's strange, but I like this light approach - see what people come up with, and run with it.  I've read that the second season of Gunslinger Girls sucked compared to the first because the original author had more sway in its production.  If this had been a solo project, it would have been boring, since my list of references is pretty short compared to people who had done their research through training in their various fields.

Wanting to Make a Classic

I've been thinking about what makes a work a classic.  Lord of the Rings - before there had been no mention of orcs, elves, and treants.  Similarly, Frankenstein.  Dracula.  Anything that comes afterwards are just second-generation ideas.  It's really hard to come up with the original, first-generation idea.  Some people have been pushing for the definitive steampunk work, but I don't see it happening.  Steampunk is essentially Victorian era + 1930s machinery.  And there have been plenty of writing from both time periods.  Not to mention Jules Verne.  The conflicts present in steampunk works are, as expected, mainly about ever-evolving technology and the disruption it causes to traditional societal structures, whether its mechanization of labor, pollution, etc. all cooked into the main theme of adventure.

Maybe the definitive work today should actually be based on present realities?  Thinking about the Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird -- they all explored the main societal conflicts of the time periods they portray... the excess of the 20s, the Great Depression, pre-Civil Rights.  I have a big hunch if there's going to be a breakthrough work today (regardless of particular media format), it will have to be about Globalization.  Or Rising China.  Or both.  Something done Tom Clancy style or maybe inject a bit of sci-fi near-future and make it Michael Crichton.  The problem is that whoever is going to make that modern day definitive work will have to do shittons of research, otherwise the political analysts and experts will be calling for a lynching.  Regardless, a Masamune Shirow style near-future China cyberpunk thriller is a theme I want to explore eventually (but first things are first and let's get this steampunk project over and done with).  I know it's ambitious, but there's no way not to go big, since otherwise your project will fade into obscurity.  Making the equivalent of taking your Lego models and making a stop-motion story is not going to cut it anymore.  If no one has played your visual novel, does it even exist?  That's my biggest fear since there is so much media nowadays competing for everyone's attention.  Add to that ever increasing family obligations, and it's hard to justify spending a lot of effort on something unless it were the creator's swan song.  Maybe that's why most of the old guard are either retiring or going pro.  Will Elspeth's Garden be my swan song?  Maybe.  But I'll still be pitching in with other people's projects.  Besides Taleweaver, I've been talking to Komitsuku about an idea which we won't have time to work on until next year.  But this is really a pivotal moment since the results of tis project will determine whether I'll still be making stuff next year, or quietly disappearing (I'll most likely be playing Fire Emblem on 3DS) since consuming content as opposed to producing them is a lot more cheaper, more convenient, and in many cases a wiser use of one's time.

Okay, this has been the most brain-farted blogpost I've ever written.  I just hope when I reread this later it isn't a mess of BS.  Take what you will.

After all is said and done, I still love actual development.

So my "batchmates" have announced where they are going next.  Creators come in generations, and while most disappear as quickly as they appear, some more or less "grow together".  So whenever you see a fellow traveller who has been alongside you on the same road travelling for thousands of miles decide to take the exit lane or merge onto another highway, it kinda makes you lonely.

While I have yet to see where my Unity3D experiment takes me, what I'm sure of is that I wouldn't mind becoming a go-to full-outsource developer for Ren'Py-powered games.  I wouldn't like to be in a business of selling things and what that entails -- having worked in tech support / customer service a few years ago, I hate the idea of having to support products or listening to "customer is always right" and advertising and organizing promotions.  But I'd love to be a developer of commercial and free games so long as I have the time for it.  It would be nice to subsist on a constant royalty revenue stream and be left alone to work on something and watch it grow and develop as an engaging project.  So publishers are still kinda needed because of potential developers like myself.

Five years ago I didn't even know how to draw, to write, or how to make music.  But now I can safely say I'm "competent" enough in all those areas.  That's because, come to think about it, absent the socializing, I still enjoy making stuff.  In fact, even though I was brought on board midway during it's development, my involvement with ADRIFT has brought me the most rewarding hours of my life these past couple of weeks.  So I stay until 6:00am coding but I don't care-- I feel good.  Perhaps it's because I find more satisfaction with building and piecing things together myself than manipulating commissioned assets?  The difference between "It's not my project per se, but I can say I made this part." versus "It's my project, but I didn't make this?"  Then again, ADRIFT is at a stage where I already see the beauty of the whole work (script-complete FTW!!!) so I just need to wait a bit further and EG's day of satisfaction will come.  I can also safely assume that the Release Engineering stage is the point that gets the creators the most adrenaline and sadly most projects never reach that point.  (Full disclosure:  ADRIFT still lacks some assets so it'll still be a few weeks but yeah I'm already customizing the GUI buttons and such.  And I wouldn't have gotten any ideas on how to take the work further if it weren't for the marvelous artists already on board.).  I hope Taleweaver forgives me for sending traffic his way before he even has any content on his site, but as they say, market early to build awareness.  I'm going to give another shout-out on release day, but in the meantime I have the following tidbits (since this is on Planet EVN, so might as well):

BxG
Freeware
Science-Fiction
100,000 words

It ain't Ever17.  But it's gonna be good.

Booyeah.

One Year Anniversary

So by tomorrow one year would have passed by since I first started blogging about this project.  Both builds (the Ren'Py game and the Unity game) haven't budged more or less for a couple of months... with the exception of adding a battle character here and there, but that was because I was busy with other things.

When you're working with other people it's amazing to find out that up to 50% of the time you spend on the hobby is just communicating via email.  Sometimes this makes me wish to be back working solo no matter how crappy avant garde the end result is.  Now take note this is for a project with only one person responsible for it.  I can only imagine how teams with forums and irc end up spending most of their time.

As one of the first people taking up this hobby more than 5 years ago, I also don't plan to quit anytime soon.  I still have some stories to tell, though probably no more than 4 projects until I can't shake away the family obligations.  It's surprising that the issue, compared to when I first started, is not that whether you have the "skill" or not, but simply just whether you have the time.  Now whenever I see something nice and shiny, the only things that go in my head would be:

"Hmmm, is that an 8-hour graphic or a 19-hour graphic?"
"I don't think they maximized usage of that asset."

I don't know why it's harder for me to be impressed.  Maybe it's because people entering game development today have access to the best digital artists around who probably learned Photoshop even before they learned how to walk.  And even with minimal artistic skill, just a few editing skills and it's relatively straightforward to produce a not-so-amateur look.  You see, back in my day, we were using Microsoft Paint.  So all the neat digital art that first appeared on the internet was wondrous to behold.  It only took a few years later and learning some of the gradients techniques that the mystery cover was blown, so now by examining art I can tell who is keeping up and who is a few years behind (Mind you, I also have a soft spot for "old school").

People may be wondering why I'm hiring almost or pro-level people, when the final audience may be too small to be worth the investment.  I could probably do the equivalent work I'm paying people for.  I just don't want it to take me 5 years.  Well here's a little secret, even if no game results, the investment would still be worth it for me.  Because what I commissioned aren't just "oh a sprite here.  Oh, a background there."  I essentially commissioned from artists I admire and whose techniques and designs I can utilize to their fullest extent.  It's amazing that I have an arsenal of concept sheets which I can literally make any number of games from.  As shown by the youtube vids how the end result from the Unity build versus the Ren'Py build differs from each other while starting from the same core concept and characters.  If I had an inkling to make an iOS FPS I could very well do so since the game world has already been built.

Well, ok, but how about the damn games?  Based on my track record of requiring assets first before putting them together with something that resembles a story (which I did even during my solo career), I'm right on track.  In fact, looking back, it's been the ideas which I initially wrote 10,000+ words for which fizzled out and died as projects.  Good art tells the stories themselves just by having you look at them, so that is one major weapon against writer's block.  So a picture isn't just worth a thousand words... it's having your game want to build itself for you.  It's similar to how by listening to a worthy piece of soundtrack, you can already imagine the entire movie.  In a way, I'm actually glad that I haven't written a single line of actual in-game dialogue since I am getting more and more sources of inspiration each day, some better than others.  Once my sources of inspiration reach an overflowing state, then that would be the time I can sit down and crank out the story in a couple of days.  If I had written any actual in-game text, no doubt I would have revised it countless times by now and still won't be satisfied with it.

Putting together a game is like being a maestro leading an orchestra.  The art assets, music tracks, python blocks, are currently the equivalent of samples of individual instruments.  It is important that they look and perform close to the final quality, so the maestro can have a better idea how to arrange them on the stage, and determine which assets have the limelight, if only for a short duration.

Ok, schedule.  To put more pressure on myself I decided to finally crawl this blog out of hiding (I was blogging merely to cement my existence on the internet).  And instead of philosophical entries regarding the general game industry, I'll try to actually write more regarding working behind-the-scenes.  I'm currently doing GUI work for ADRIFT, and after that then it will be full blast on Elspeth's Garden -- although it will still be a "long-burn" project.  I'll be free to take on some shorter projects... likely adult-oriented or some such, with a project partner.  I also look forward to working on TW's Loyal Kinsman sequel some time in the future.  Man, when is Aurora Fall coming out?  I think I may have evolved some technique since then but it's still a treasured project which I learned a lot from.

Grandia Creator Dies.

Takeshi Miyaji dies suddenly at 45 years of age.

I've played Grandia 1, 2, Xtreme, and 3 and they were my favorite JRPGs of all time.  I also played Lunar, but that was just okay.  And for some reason the Square RPGs didn't speak to me personally in the way the GameArts / Grandia games did, especially Grandia II with the bittersweet theme.  It was also the first time I was faced head-on with the the prospect of just how gray and un-black and white eastern philosophy can be.

So this recent news got to me the way the passing of Satoshi Kon did.  And for someone who quite possibly may not leave a genetic mark on the world, it becomes even more imperative to at least leave an intellectual, or even spiritual mark through creative media.

But to cut to the chase, I am envious.  I am envious of everyone with skills, whether it's writing, programming, or art.  I am envious also of people who have time -- that means full-time indies or those taking up this hobby to get course credits, thereby killing two birds with one stone.
I just want to make this work because my projects are begging to be made.  Though I originally started out wanting "fame and fortune", my primary motivation is just this outlet that enables me to share my thoughts to the world.  Taleweaver sent me outlines for recommended ways to take the story.  While I will adapt the template, I do have key concepts which I would want to write personally.  I cannot wait until the day I have all assets complete so that I can take one weekend off, load up on coffee / or be in a fit of passion or whatever, and just crank out those thoughts, brutally, and honestly.

Elspeth's Garden Cutscene AutoBattle

After many months of slow progress, I'm back chugging along at the main game.
The running build is currently over 200mb since it contains most of the art assets.
The problem is that I've been blogging for almost a year and yet there is barely any actual 'game' to speak of. The build is just a collection of various playable maps at various stages of development.
It is hoped I'll be able to string those levels together with a coherent structure.

Making this game is a very different experience from making a conventional linear experience such as a visual novel. I can safely say now that majority of my time has been spent scripting. I suppose that's what you call a 'real game' with lots of animations and interactivity. Assembling the level shown in the video above took me the whole day.

This has been a very asset-heavy project and I don't think I can tackle another game of this scope again.
I have come to the conclusion that what makes video games expensive are the animations. Without animations (or using just engine-driven movements), most games will feel like puzzle games where you slide blocks around or shoot at abstract representations.

My main worry is that so far the game play is not yet actually 'fun'. It works, it's choppy, but until I have everything needed to build all the stages, it perpetually seems like a series of experiments.

I hope that once the build is asset-complete I can tweak until something uniquely emergent comes along.
Like from watching the video, I suppose the context of the situation is already explained -- that's all Jake's Battle Engine running on auto-play.  I'm hoping I can illustrate most of the story situations with minimal forced directives -- rather just setting up a general theme and letting the engine play out the situation.

Isometric = Browser Game?

It seems with the quality of browser games these days, I might have trouble selling a downloadable with isometric graphics.  Yes, the graphics are pretty.  And yes, this will be the first time any game using a visual novel engine will have graphics in this style.

But as technology advances, we have situations such as 2D platformers, which used to be arcade-only or on consoles for $70-80 back in the day, now relegated to freeware or Flash.  The expectation is high even for a game that dares charge $5.

Only a few years ago, many independent games made do with pre-rendered Poser models and they were selling up to $15 or even $35.  Nowadays, you have people like myself, spending thousands just to upgrade the quality and polish just to even be considered in the competition.

The story behind the bruhaha regarding Celestial Mechanica was that it was originally budgeted to be a sponsored Flash game, and failing to get sponsorship, decided to be a downloadable.  Were it an ad-supported (virtually "free") game, it would have cemented it's more deserving position as a good game -- not as great as Cave Story -- but still good.

In my case, I originally wanted to make downloadables, but the more I study the market (note I am really distancing myself with the close-knit visual novel scene and really trying to see if I can make it in the wider indie world), the more I am convinced that maybe I should just go for browser games with a downloadable option... either a mobile version or just a desktop version with a mobile price tag.  Old Home Labyrinth was originally conceived to be a browser Unity game on Kongregate, after all.  And the main game is being constructed with simple large UI buttons, keeping an Android release constantly in mind.

Maybe I might just release the games for free; spare myself the headache.  Who knows.  I just wanted to make my dream games, and in light of that, the projects will be successful.

One thing's for sure, I'm not going to embark on a personal project of this scope again.  By the time this is over, I would have made the equivalent of 'writing a novel' or whatever people did to attain fulfilment before the internet came along.

Old Home Labyrinth Work In Progress

Finally, another video after many months!

Whola!  Unfortunately, that's all you're gonna see since I'm freezing this build so I can concentrate on the main game.  There's still about $500 worth of 3D assets I still plan to purchase but that will have to wait until I pay off my bills.  Really, this game is supposed to be short and simple... but what would usually cost $0-$500 for a simple 2D game would cost 10X as much for the 3D equivalent!  I wanted to know how expensive 3D development would be and sure enough I found out the hard way.  If I wanted to save money, then maybe I should make a puzzle game with spheres and cubes but that's not my thing.  Custom characters and setpieces for me!  I don't regret it though... being through the development even as just a producer it's like a mini version of the AAA process.  There is simply more labor to manage while at the same time each artist is a bit more distant from the process when compared to an artist for a 2D game.

The things still needed are:
* addition of another setpiece theme
* wallpaper for the corridors
* movement AI for the monkey
* Mikala's running animation to be fixed
* subsequent cutscenes scripted
* music on/off toggle GUI and fullscreen disable (mainly for Kongregate)

In any case, I'm back working on the main game -- there's hundreds of animation frames which I still have to stitch through.  I wanted to make a video of the main game, but most progress was with the side project.  Look forward to that one in the meantime!

Good News!

The balls are now in my court.

The multi-hour tactical adventure Elspeth's Garden:  Diplomacy and War that's using Jake's Battle Engine and which I'm co-writing with Taleweaver is 50% "battle-ready" -- meaning that I should get cracking creating actual battles (instead of the movement tests thus far).  We actually plan to put the dialog last based on the constraints of the battle scenarios.

The small procedural 3D exploration game Elspeth's Garden:  Old Home Labyrinth which I'm producing with the assistance of MyBad Studios is also going well.  From the most recent build I will need to decide how to position this game in relation to the other one.

Which leads us to the issue of music.  I'm compiling a most awesome soundtrack courtesy of the talents of Alessio, Cornelis Jordaan, and *cough* myself (...yeah, just one or two tracks.  I was surprised when listening back-to-back, my tracks don't stand out as noticeably inferior compared to the works of the maestros).  While I'm making do with *ugh* Garage Band (hey, the synth instruments sound better than general MIDI!), Alessio got a new orchestral board, and Cornelis held a recording session with a live violinist!  Though I have nothing against chiptunes, I always appreciated concerto music over game loops, so I was willing to shell out the extra to get the soundtrack I wanted.

Originally, the tracks by Cornelis were meant to be solely for Old Home Labyrinth, but they're so good in really setting the mood for the entire game that it would be a waste if they're not featured more prominently in the main game.

Since I'm currently link-spamming like mad, I'd like to give a shout-out to the person responsible for the hand-drawn isometric backdrops Sara Gross.  I'd want to similarly credit all the artists responsible for the character designs but there's many of them ( we have about 20 characters total).  I'm kinda safeguarding the characters for now (since they're the core of every story), but eventually when I feel more confident about the release candidates I'll be willing to post them on this blog with the designs and give due credit.  I also have to thank the 3D artists without which I won't have any animations to begin with.

Technically speaking, you should be expecting some screenshots and videos within the next two weeks, unless I get lazy.

I have to take a stance.

Brad Borne had this to say regarding the Gamasutra article "China: The Game Changer"

That's a pretty sick market to be in. When the entire culture won't decide that anything is worth paying for, the only way to make make money on them is to wring it out of them, or turn them into the product, for advertisers.

I wish I had to courage to say it like it is.  It is not that I vehemently dislike Chinese games, it's that I despise their business model, which specifically requires that you build skinner box gambling mechanics to get players and their friends utterly addicted to your game, then you can upsell gambling tokens (microtransactions) as well as sell the information of your playerbase to advertisers.

This is the commercialism which I despise.  Not the fact that you have to pay for games which pirates dislike.  See pirates?  If everyone were to follow the Chinese online PVP MMO model, you will get the exact same types of games, all trying to elbow each other in trying to grab an audience and getting them addicted.  Western social games are headed in that direction, as long as they follow the philosophy of designing gameplay around monetization.  If every game maker is only concerned about return on investment, then they will all adopt the skinner box, carrot and stick, nickel and dime mechanics that are popular all over Asia.  That is the future if every game company decided to build their business model on guaranteed profit.  And that is a very sick, sick future.

As a gamer, I don't want to be treated as a commodity.  That is why I only play Western and Japanese PC and console games.  Let's celebrate games that respect the player, that understand that they are meant to give a meaningful experience to adults that don't have all the time in the world; games that can coexist with other games as works of art, instead of trying to outdo them in popularity.  The creators of some of these games can't get by using off-the-shelf free assets.  There is a place for freeware.  But there is also a place for commercialware with unique content.

Comic? Animation? Game? All three? How about three-in-one?!

After the collapse of Tokyopop North America, I came across a livejournal discussion among the OEL manga writers and what they planned on doing next.  One of the points that stuck with me was that the size of the potential audience is actually smaller than the size of the pool of potential creators.  Meaning, everybody wants to make their own Japan-influenced media, but they themselves wouldn't bother looking at another person's work unless it was really good or a friend made it or it fits their interest to a T or if there's a lack of translated media (which is definitely not the case today).

But thankfully, because of the internet we're reaching a point where every artist is just inspired by a range of influences and doesn't have to be aping the style from a particular country.  For example, I was surprised that the creator of Gemini Rue attributed a lot of influence from Cowboy Bebop.  So it's good to be influenced, just make sure you're influenced by other things besides the narrow niche.  Also try to find that special something from your own culture.

Only America can make big-budget blockbusters with lots of explosions, car chases, and special effects.  Only Japan can make that distinctive flavor of hand-drawn animation (I've been watching original Korean animation and despite the similar designs the feel is just different, more like a regular cartoon).  But it takes Bollywood to come up with a Matrix-like action movie where the characters spontaneously break out into song and dance.

It has also been confirmed by a recent podcast that anime and games in Japan are only meant for teens and otaku (as if we didn't know that already).  Once you become a salaryman you're expected to quit all your hobbies (a concept foreign in the west where the average gamer is in the thirties).  All the Japanese games are migrating to the portable market since they can continue to churn out cost-effective PS1/PS2 quality games instead of losing money with high definition.  The average Japanese household is cramped with 3 generations of family members and only one television set, so the only way you can play games is by yourself in your room or the subway or with your friends in the park -- Japanese games are essentially made for the Japanese teen lifestyle.  That is why we rarely get Japanese games with a full adult main character.

The few Japanese games that break out into PC (Recettear) and HD console (the Gust and Compile Heart games) practically monopolize the market, and they are low budget doujin or otaku products (for the type who would shell out 4X more to buy an HDTV in Japan despite a room that's 1/4 the typical family room in the west).  The only reason why Atelier Meruru looks so breathtaking is because the previous two incarnations sold like gangbusters and it practically fulfills every otaku's dream to run around as a little girl in a beautiful countryside.  I'm singling Atelier Meruru out because it looks like the highest-budget really-Japanese game (i.e. not made to be a staple of western consumption) on a high definition system.

Whereas before only visual novels were the black sheep that didn't quite fit into any medium, recently I've been encountering more media that has been transcending comics, animation, and games.  We have Dead Space Ignition, a motion-comic in a choose-your-own adventure setup mixed with puzzles and minigames.  Gamers hated it, and only bought it for the DLC it provides for the main game.  The Flash-like animation feels like a half-hearted attempt to make really dynamic cutscenes on a severe budget.  Despite that, I'm glad that things like that are being made -- if only to accustom consumers on interactive media experiences that are more about the story than the gameplay.  Done right, it can be the ambassador for wider VN market penetration.  Like in the case of Imaginary Range, a recent free "Comic X Game" experience for iOS that did it just right (even though one of the minigames was inspired by Flight Control).  The lesson I learned is that motion-comics is fine.  But avoid cheap Flash-like animations and just focus on good designs. (Ironic since I work at a Flash animation studio, but the animation work we do -- Television Animation -- strictly adheres to the Disney school of classical animation).  Motion-comics turns off players if it's done half-heartedly.

I like this fusion of media.  Before superhero movies became so popular in Hollywood, the notion of combining all media types -- video, comics, and games, was a rare occurrence.  It seemed only Japan did the "ACG (Anime-Comic-Game)" approach.  Now when a superhero movie is released, there are paperbacks being published, and tie-in games being sold at the same time.  Before you could perhaps expect paperbacks to be reissued around the time a movie based on the novel is released.  But now that games are included, you can say that it has finally matured and is accepted as a mainstream media type.

What do I learn from all this?  The main reason I'm making a game is because I got introduced to the creative process through visual novels, which are like the low hanging fruit for those who can't program that well.  I originally wanted to make animation, which is increasingly becoming less cost-effective in these days of Youtube and piracy.  Even independent films on kickstarter still cost tens of thousands of dollars to make.  As a visual person who likes story-telling, I really am glad to be in this day and age when for only a few thousand dollars you can make a deep immersive digital experience, thanks to the cost-effectiveness of middleware and modern 3D solutions.

Right now, Elspeth's Garden will be a "VN x Strategy" game to emphasize the massive narrative as well as turn-based combat.  The spin-off game Old Home Labyrinth will be an "Art x Dungeon" game to emphasize the open-ended (e.g. "not-game") approach as well as the core mechanic:  level exploration.

Old Home Labyrinth

So about two days ago I finally decided on a title for my 3D side project.  It was originally going to be titled "Elspeth's Garden: Old Home" to show that it's another stand-alone installation in my universe.  Then later it was shortened to "Elspeth's Old Home", then after realizing the whole structure of the game was just one big exploration set, I finally settled with a title with 'Labyrinth' in it.

Lots of green.

Lol, that's not from my game!  That's from Tri-Ace's upcoming "Beyond the Labyrinth", an upcoming 3DS dungeon crawler.  As you can see very clearly, I love Japanese games!  I've been inspecting the 3DS at stores -- not gonna buy it yet, but as soon as this game ships (in English, I hope), I'll buy one -- my first Nintendo purchase ever.  (I've played SNES, Gameboy, N64, etc only at the neighbors')

In case you're still interested in my game, here are screenshots:

Needs more bloom.

The implementation is still a mess, though.  In any case, this game, since it's being made in Unity, will be available for Windows / Mac desktop at the very least.  I'll decide later on whether it's worth it to shell out for iOS and Android.

Why I Decided to Hire a Writer

I'm sorry that I haven't posted any videos lately, but rest assured art is coming along more quickly now.  I am reluctant to post pictures because even though this is my first commercial game, I'm still working within a limited art budget and I'm scared to create a "once you've seen one, you've seen them all" impression.  The game is still expensive art-wise because I'm using 3D models -- I took that path so that I can have lots of prerendered animations in all isometric camera perspectives.  Then later I can reuse the 3D models for other purposes.  I know many people prefer pixel-art and let me assure you that I believe genuine pixelart takes a lot of painstaking talent.  On the other hand I'm just going with a general painted-approach, which like 3D models is cheaper in the long run.  But do not discount my artists since they are crafting a look I genuinely adore and which reminds me of early PlayStation era games which combined a hybrid approach to handpainting and 3D models.  If the current indie scene is dictated by those who grew up on SNES games, I'm among the few venturing into the next generation  (those who grew up on PS1/N64 games).  And with High Definition things look better, the downside being performance is more sluggish -- a reason why Vanillaware, pioneers of 2D, has yet to release a genuine HD game.

Let me repeat:  This is just a budget game.  Please do not expect too much of it.  Amid freeware this will be an awesome game, but compared to other commercial games it will not stand a chance.  This project is a means for me to realize the majority of my ideas and influences into one cohesive whole.

Now on to the topic at hand:  If I'm not the game's writer, what am I then?  If I'm not one of the artists?  I'm still the creator, the producer and director.  The game's writer will be none other than the great Taleweaver -- he recently ventured writing for a commercial game, Zenith Chronicles, so I thought why not bring him on board here as well since I liked his flexibility in writing different subject matters and in different styles.  Compared to him I am just an OK writer... and nowadays, just being OK doesn't cut it.  If there's one thing an indie game can do to stand out from the competition that has superior manpower and budget is through writing.

Don't get me wrong, I still have an idea for a project later on which will require myself to be the writer, simply because I'm the only expert in the subject matter.  But for Elspeth's Garden, which come to think of it is the most mainstream game I've been working on, I'd rather rely on whatever talent I can find.

Girls and Skirts

I was recently disappointed to learn that the team ICO High Definition collection, originally scheduled for April, has been postponed until later in the year, no doubt to promote the Last Guardian.

I'm not interested in the Last Guardian, frankly.  Only in Ico, which I've never played before.

Simply because the latter has a girl center stage, even if she's just an AI.

http://m.ign.com/articles/1154560

Would you believe that my main motivation for creating the 3D side project (Tentatively titled "Elspeth's Old Home") was because I was disappointed that the Last Guardian *could* have starred a female protagonist in a skirt?  But apparently Fumito Ueda was too conservative.  Boo.

I already have a strong female protagonist in the main game, so I entertained the idea of giving her more life in the form of a 3D model.

Okay, I admit I like the option to use the right analog stick to swing to a low angle.  80% of my enjoyment of Hyperdimension Neptunia was actually admiring the 3D animations of the all-female cast.

I don't like looking at male protagonists in the 3rd person.  I know how they move.  But 3rd person female protagonists... aha!  Just cycling through all their animations is a treat or even a game in itself.  It's just so nice when you're playing a JRPG and you see the active cloth or hair physics at work... something you don't get to see with clean-cut male characters.

See, I grew up in mostly all-male environments.  I admit having female playable characters or even AI in a game is the closest I have to female companionship in my current sorry state as a loser in life.  That's why I was addicted to Artificial Girl 3 for many months.

I consider game characters the same way I consider characters in movies or literature -- I get into their role and see them as real people.

So I'd like to see more realistic female personas in games.  Especially if they happen to be wearing skirts.

A time and a place

2D vs 3D.  The age-old argument.

Of course, being an anime fan, I have a preference for 2D, at least for character designs and animated films.  But sometimes you just have to pick the mode that is best (or cheapest) at the particular task.


Even within 2D there are what I term "levels of elitism".  Genuine pixel-art graphics is spectacular but is really expensive since it takes a lot of skill.  Most people would opt for painted, and so would I.  With today's powerful hardware, there is really no need to design against hardware limitations.  The only limitations today are budget or skill.

For isometric animations, rather than animating by hand (or with Flash) in 8 directions ad infinitum, it's simply more practical to build a single 3D model, animate once, then use a camera rotation script to establish all angles for the prerendered frames.  I'm also finding it more practical to make man-made or boxy prop objects in 3D, while still keeping the organic look of the scene through handpainted trees.

Now that's just 2D vs 3D in terms of prerendering.  In the end the game is still 2D.  Now about fully 3D games?

My opinion -- use only when the gameplay really needs it, meaning that the gameplay requires 3D.  If you just have 2D gameplay I don't really see much of a point aside from prettier graphics from bloom effects.  I won't argue with other developers, but that's my preference.  Believe me when I say I'm only making a 3D game because the gameplay idea can only be explored through a fully 3D environment.  Otherwise in most cases... such as story or turn-based menu games --  2D is the best.

Status Update

The main SRPG is on a mini-hiatus as this month of March is really busy.  I'm still waiting for assets to trickle in until I can safely close the door and declare "Okay, I've got enough assets.  Now let's try to make a story given what we have."

I don't want to blame the artists since it's the nature of things that unless you employ somebody full-time, you can't expect to delegate all your characters to one person.  So what ended up happening is that I have multiple people working in parallel, and after I get my priority characters, I probably will just wait until the original agreement was filled, and won't commission any more characters.  My expenditure is already reaching the $5K mark which is the halfway point, but I don't even have a half-finished game.

But I have a pleasant surprise in that I'm full steam on making a small 3D spin-off game set in the same universe!  Yes I originally did not plan to devote some budget to this, but the potential of this game could be farther reaching than the original game (which I only expected to be somewhat significant in the visual novel and JRPG communities).  With this 3D game, I could potentially reach into the entire indie games market!

Justification for Compensated Labor

I used to be proud of doing everything by myself, even if the end result is lacking.  Actually, I still recommend people to try doing everything themselves, especially for their first creative endeavor -- that way they will see how much hard work it really takes to make something of quality.  Being humbled, they then will be less crass and flippant as consumers, but more importantly, they will learn to uphold value in hard work.

I have never paid anything more than $200 for commercial software.  I only remember paying that amount for Animation Master (back in the day when there was no Blender) and more recently Final Cut Express (which ironically I still haven't used since I just didn't feel like editing something substantial from all the home video clips I've made). And yet I will pay upward of thousands to get custom work done.

Why don't I buy all the professional software and learn them myself?  Well...

MSRP
$3,495.00  Autodesk Maya
$1,500.00  Unity Pro
$699.00 Photoshop CS5
-------------------
$5694.00 Total

(Thankfully, Ren'Py is free)

After paying for all that, I still won't be able to make my dream game, since it will still take me a few years of working on the software just be marginally competent and confident enough to even dare attempt a work of quality.  I might suck at 2D art, 3D modelling, programming, or even all of them!  So why not just design my dream game already, and pay professionals (who have years of experience using these tools) to do a more efficient job?  The worst that can happen is the game might still have a bad story, or bad concept.  But it would be consumeable quality otherwise.  That's exactly why division of labor and specialization works in capitalism -- it's just so much more efficient rather than reinventing the wheel.

Of course, all this would be a moot point if somehow in high school I realized I was a gifted programmer or can draw insanely well and if I were gifted with these tools (or just outright pirated them).  But no, I will only be happy if I do things the proper way.

Also, if I were absolutely sure about setting up a professional development house I will need to buy all these products for a very efficient workflow rather than scrounging around like in the dark ages of freeware.  My plan is actually a very risky strategy:  hedge all my bets on my single franchise, hope it takes off like wildfire, then contract an already established professional studio to take over development work when it's sure I have a ready pool of eager fans willing to turn into customers.

A.k.a. the Cave Story strategy (of freeware -> consoleware).

Well What Do We Have Here?

Last Exile.

It was the anime that further cemented my love for anime-style steampunk (or more specifically, dieselpunk).  Along with Nausicaa and Skies of Arcadia, they created such a powerful impression that no non-Japanese creator was able to match (in my opinion)

The news states that this spring, Gonzo will revive the series with a second season, mainly because it is banking on it -- a successful original anime not based off a light novel, manga, or visual novel to revive its ailing business.  I think it's a smart move, since it conjures up an era that represented the peak of anime popularity in the west (also a time when most anime shows weren't just censored porn designed to sell blu-rays).

I generally disagree with the pro-censorship stance the Tokyo governor has towards anime, but if there were an anime that would be truly appealing without causing "Oh, Japan!" levels of embarrassment, this would be it... so if the Tokyo government supports it (with funding), then good for them.

I've looked for more works similar to Last Exile and nothing came close.  There was the movie Sky Crawlers but it was boring and didn't convey the epicness that was expected when you think of industrial-style social upheavals.

Elspeth's Garden is heavily inspired by Last Exile.  In fact, since there's no official 'Last Exile' videogame, if one were to be made, I won't be surprised if it turned out to be a Japanese-style strategy RPG as well.

The only concern I have is that steampunk won't become the "fad of the year" just like zombies were in 2010.  But even if it does, I hope to release in time to ride the wave.

Revisiting the question of 'Commercial Quality'

No, this isn't that topic you are all thinking about (which has been hammered to death).  Polish?  Just hire professionals.

The question is instead a revisit of the subject of 'Why'.

Today's gamers are spoiled.  They have so much content at their disposal.  They have so much choice that to avoid confusion, they have to draw an arbitrary line separating what interests them... to find their "wheat" among the "chaff".  Those games that don't pass that arbitrary line can be treated with derision and flippant comments, even though the people behind those projects most likely worked just as hard as everyone else.

There is so much freeware out there, and if Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of everything is crap, then with freeware it is more like 99%.  Many people don't even bother with freeware, since they seek the high production values of commercial titles.

Other advantages of commercial titles are:
- you can actually do some official marketing/advertising for them.
- they're bigger fish in a smaller pond.  One of my best online friends has counted about 500-600 freeware projects in the English visual novel scene and only about a dozen to 15 or so commercial projects.  If you're in a smaller pond that's supposed to have a higher standard, then you naturally attract more attention.
- they get pirated!  Even though freeware is freely available, most people don't attribute value to them unless someone else recommends them.  But since one has to usually pay to get a commercial title, that naturally attaches a psychological value to the work in question.  So all of a sudden something is worth it... worth the effort of uploading to torrent sites and sharing.  People want something of value, but they want it cheap or free.  Something that was free to begin with doesn't usually have value, well, at least compared to something that used to cost a lot more.

My inner conflict occurs because I want the status and attention afforded to commercial titles, but I don't want the headache and responsibility that comes with them.  I want people to put in some effort to obtain and enjoy my game -- it doesn't have to be paying money up front, as long as it's some demonstration that obtaining the game is worth the effort.

To that end, we have thought up some brilliant tactics.  I'm not performing a full disclosure just yet, but it also ties in with the fact my "Brutally Efficient Production Technique" in obtaining and reusing resources for my game turns out to be more brutally efficient than I first thought!  Not just Elspeth's Garden, but this other project which I'm involved with (hopefully to arrive around the same time late this year or early next year) also employs my production style that even though I didn't specifically set out to make event CGs and even if I made only a few sprites, every single screenshot of the game is unique and it is theoretically possible to play through the entire game without displaying the same exact graphic!

Why this brilliant plan to generate more unique combinations from the same pictures than is theoretically possible? Because I'm lazy, and I lack talent (and lack funds for outside help)?  Not necessarily... I want my artists to take it easy as well, and I want to use their work in the best way possible (which means no more spending 15 hours on a picture that will be displayed for only 5 seconds).

If there is a better game already made, then do not bother.

I was involved in making an item shop simulation game almost four years ago.  It was basically the shop portion -- the original grand idea (which was cut down) was to have town and dungeon exploration as well.  But then recently Recettear came out, not to mention the Atelier series of games were translated, the most recent one being Atelier Rorona.  They both epitomized the ultimate 'item shop RPG' experience.  I actually prefer Atelier Rorona not just for its art style but because the spirit of the game was more in tune with our original game concept... namely fulfilling orders by crafting/synthesizing items, rather than buying/selling to maximize profit and meet debt which was Recettear's main theme.

So now that I believe that the ultimate item shop game was already made, I no longer feel compelled to pursue any item shop game in the foreseeable future, since the market was already satiated.

I've been playing some games recently as a form of 'market research', and to double-check my own design ideas against what has been implemented already.  And sure enough, if your idea is good, then it has been done already.  For example, Grotesque Tactics was the best example of an isometric RPG game that transitioned well from free exploration mode to tile-constrained movement during the turn-based combat phase.

So I already encountered a game that already has the mechanics I envisioned perfected.  But I'm still going to go ahead with my game, because it has a story that just begs me to tell it.  I'm still going to mix and tweak some mechanics though just so that the experience flows a bit differently.

At this point, I'm not going to meet the original deadline I set for myself, but I am still motivated to finish this game.  It's essentially my testimony to the world.