Saturday, July 29, 2006
posted 2:28pm
"Across Update"
The crunch is proceeding according to plan. It looks like I'm making my daily numbers, so I should be able to finish the thing by the end of next month. The space station is almost complete, with basically only two sections still needing a few more rooms to finish the whole thing out. The beats to the story have been completed for the first ending, receiving 320 points, and just making Salty Captain. The alternate ending still needs to be put together, with another 17 beats needed to complete the game. It's coming along pretty fast, and with all the story beats mapped out it's making it easier to pull the whole thing together. Hopefully there will be enough room to implement the full hints and walkthroughs, in the end pushing the game right up to 512k. But, like with all games I program, I have to push it right to that edge to usually see my full vision. I'm just glad that this is a relatively easy language to program in, and I can bust out a lot of "k" on a daily basis.

Lately I've been listening to Tormented Radio to get me through the long hours. They might soothe your restless soul too.

'Til next month - D








Saturday, July 22, 2006
posted 11:41pm
"The Crunch"
This is it. A 45 day crunch to get Across The Stars out in time for the 12th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition. I did some math and figured out that starting on the 18th I had exactly 45 days until the 1st of September. That might be enough time to get it out to the play testers and proof readers, getting their input before the game goes before the judges on September 30th. I registered the game for the competition tonight, and all there is left to do is upload the game file, along with the maps and walkthroughs. There's still a lot of work to do, and the days are starting to get long. But I figure if I see it through Infodarkness will have another subfolder and game to promote. Which doesn't come around all that often, so I'm pretty excited about it.

'Til she's done - D








Sunday, July 16, 2006
posted 05:26pm
"Keep on Rock'n"
Well I've been up to all sorts of new stuff to get out of a funk that was feeling in at the end of last month. Picked up a shiny new PSP just for fun. I have a love of video games, what can I say? Then I've gone on to pursue an interest in Maya. 3D Modeling has always been a fascination with me, ever since seeing Lightwave 3D on the Amiga back in 1990. I would drool over the Cray, or Silicon Graphics workstations, and always wanted to do that sort of thing. I've realized it takes nothing more than time to learn something like that, so I've started to invest it. I've also started to invest time in a local cover band around here, playing bass. Gets me in the habit of practicing, which is always good, plus it's great to jam with the guys.

On top of all of that, I've even had the chance to put out a Pirates of the Caribbean sound page. Just a few samples from the first movie that I really enjoy.

'Til next time, when I'm sure I'll find something new to latch on to - D