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.