Typing from Android-land

Sorry for the lackof updates. I've been very depressed. I just found out that I'm B12 deficient. One of the effects is being depressed, so hopefully things should look a bit better once my B12 levels increase .

In the meantime, I have kept up with my one game a month.  I just haven't linked my April game "Potato Art" here yet.  If you want, you can find it over at the Ludum Dare site.

Community Visual Novel

Have you ever felt like creating a visual novel with a bunch of online friends, but didn't know how to manage it?

Have you ever wanted to read a strange visual novel that makes no logical sense and is full of non-sequiturs?

Well, wait no longer!

I have created a basic online Community Visual Novel engine: http://susanthecat.com/cvn/ It uses free resources that are organized here: http://susanthecat.com/gallery/index.php

It still needs some work, but the basics are there.  (Except documentation)

Thera'Py: a MiniGame under the Deadline

Thera'Py: with Eliza Py

Eliza Py will help you with your problems. She will ask you questions, you type in your response, then she answers you back.

I threatened to do it and I did it. I took the Eliza code an put it in Ren'Py. (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA) If you must blame someone, blame the guys over at the PyBrain Thread on Lemmasoft http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=18848
  
DISCLAIMER:  This is a TOY.  It is not meant to be realistic (or therapeutic) in any way. 

Download:

The all in one version can be found here: 25.4 MB (Windows, Mac, Linux)
http://www.thecatsweb.com/games/Therapy-1.0-all.zip

 Screenshots:

New Experimental Game

An article by Aaron Reed (Author of Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7) wrote a cool game called Almost Goodbye. http://aaronareed.net/almost-goodbye/ Go pllay it.  Right now.  I'll wait.

<<Insert music here>>

Did you play the game?  It uses an interesting mechanic for creating content based on variables.

Anyway, it inspired me to start creating a game that uses a similar story framework (More things to do than there is time for.)  The project is currently named "Ghost Day".  You are an eight to ten year old that thinks they saw a  ghost in their room.  You go through the day investigating it.  Was the ghost real? Or just your imagination?

My son has created four variations of a piece of music for it.  I made a bunch of 3D rooms and FotoSketched them.

Can I get it out before January 31 to qualify for OneGameAMonth????

Susan

More Playing with Images

Look at me playing with Vue and Animated Gifs.

Characters from Manga Clip Art

Playing with Vue Pioneer!

Having announced that I am going to work on Kitten Crusade, I immediately start playing around with a new game.
And what goes better with a new game than new software!
I just found the free version of Vue 11:Pioneer http://www.cornucopia3d.com/products/vue/vue_11_pioneer/ and after a slow start I am making some pretty spiffy things:

And then the first thing I do with my lovely renders is to put them through a filter to make them look more painterly.

I like the 3D renders, but the painted ones blend better with the other art assets I have.

The sprites are courtesy of ComiPo!

Susan

I am announcing this out loud

I am going to take part in the "One Game a Month" Challenge.  Details here: http://onegameamonth.com/

For my purposes, I am going to define "releasing a game" as
- a rough version of a game created from scratch
- a polished version of a previously released game
- a complete path in a partially completed game

My calendar of games:

January
Kitten Crusade
New GUI designed by Graph
Tighten up the story
Add some more plots

February
Villain of Villeins 
Turn Based Web game involving poor peasant farmers and tax collectors

March
NaNoRenO
A new game from scratch
Something Fairytale-ish

April
Ludum Dare
48 hour Challenge

May
Christian HO game
A hidden object game with Christian theme based on 24 hour comic I drew

June
Camp Renard
Finish coding for Dale's path
Add James' path

July:
???

August
Ludum Dare
48 Hour Challenge

September:
???

October:
???

November:
???

December:
Ludum Dare
48 Hour Challenge

Stuff I could work on:

You Don't Need to be Alone: Rewrite story completely, fix GUI, rename it to something sensible
The House that Bled Paint: Edit the story, fix the logic, split story in two
All Are Invited: Lots of editing, fix JavaScript bugs, finish the story
CRS Escape IF version:  Making a parser text version for no other reason except I can
Tiny World: Multi User version, framing story, new card types
Dot-to-Dot: I have a game mechanic, just need a game to go with it
Make a Game with Me: Make a game and blog all the steps I took to make it; encouraging other people to join in.  I might do this during NaNoRenO

Or any of my other games I've worked on.

My hope is that by concentrating on one game a month, I might actually make progress rather than be distracted/depressed by all my other unfinished games.

Susan