6/29/14 -Sunday: BACKUP SCARE...
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So I'm watching this new AMC show, called Halt & Catch Fire. When I initially saw the trailer for the show, I got this vibe where I thought they were making some sort of show based off of the beginning of Apple. The lead character was very arrogant, sort of how Steve Jobs is portrayed back then. And then his side kick looked like a young Steve Wozniack. Well, maybe...
...Anyway...
***BEGIN SPOILERS*** Long story short, this group of people were able to reverse engineer the BIOS of an IBM computer, which would become the basis for their own computer they want to create. Around episode 4, the main BIOS programmer has a terrible scare, as the computer gets fried, and all of her backup disk are, well, non-existant.
***END SPOILERS***
So after I watching this, I'm like, "Shit, I need to stop fucking around, and go out and get that external HD I've been talking about for the past few months/years. Sure, I do backups on my laptop, but there have been times where it hasn't booted up, and I've had to hold my breath hoping it would come up. Once it did, I would feel a sigh of relief, then totally forget that I still needed a backup plan.
I finally make the decision to run down to BestBuy to pick up a 2 TB WD HD. I tried to project out into the future as far as possible, and 2 TB seems to be just fine. And boy, did it feel good to finally start the copying process.
In between all of this, I was creating videos for the actors. At first, I was going to make a compilation specific to each actor, but I have backtracked a little, and will just create a video of each sign, then send a link for each scene the actor is in. Then, if they want to chop it up and make their own, they can. Better to give them everything, then to presume to know how they want it (if at all).
Tomorrow, I'll continue the video work. I did hear from 2 of the actors, which was good. For the one, she just needed the last 6-7 lines she has in her scene, the other, well, he's got at least 2 scenes, as well as some re-writing of one of the scenes. Yeah, I'm pretty sure once he sits down to record, he'll be like, "Oh yeah, this is terrible, I think I'll change this, this, and this (continues for the entire scene) :)"
Till tomorrow...
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Today's music from my New Age (Best of best) Spotify Playlist is from David Arkenstone, called, The Colors of Fall. Enjoy!
6/28/14 -Saturday: MISCELLANEOUS WORK...
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Sorry for the lack of posts, but honestly, there is not much to report. As I stated (I believe) in the last update, I have not done any actual work on the game itself, and that is still true 2 weeks later. Haven't even cracked open the toolset. I'm simply waiting for the VO assets from various folks.
That's not to say that I haven't been doing anything at all... Quite the contrary... I've been making updates to the Readme, especially the FAQ section. The first thing I wanted to do was pull my
Why Is This Game Taking Place 20 Years Later? post from the old/defunct/maybe going away soon project page from the old Bioware Social Network. There's some really important bits in there I also added in some other things as well. On a high level, it looks like this:
- WHAT HAPPENED TO "ROSE OF ETERNITY - THE LAST PETAL"?
- WHY IS THIS NEXT GAME TAKING PLACE 20 YEARS LATER?
- WHY DID IT TAKE 4+ YEARS TO DEVELOP THIS GAME, WHEN YOUR LAST 2 GAMES TOOK 15 MONTHS EACH?
I mean, if someone has just discovered this project for the first time, then the above won't mean anything to them. If you've only been following this game, then the last 3rd bullet point will matter. And if you've played all my games, then all three are a must read.
I'm also beginning to fulfill my responsibility to many of the actors who have helped me over the years. I promised them clips of all the scenes they're in, and was just hesitant to record them until I was positive that the game was done. I'm obviously at that point now, so that's what's next on my plate.
Till tomorrow...
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Today's music from my New Age (Best of best) Spotify Playlist is from David Arkenstone, called, On The Wings Of Innocence.
6/16/14 -Monday: PREPARATIONS FOR NEXT PROJECT...
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Going by the title of today's update, one would think I'm getting a little ahead of myself. And to some extent, I guess that's true? Even though this game is not technically out yet, the story/gameplay/etc. is all done. As I've stated before, I'm not even doing any active development on it. Just waiting on all the pieces to put the thing together.
Plus, there's the fact that I'm mentally drained, and I'm really looking forward to getting my life back. Funny stat is that in the 10 years I've been a software engineer in NYC, there has been maybe 2 years max that I haven't been:
- Working on some Rose of Eternity related project
- Working on some project with Ossian Studios
That's it... 2 years... There was a little period of time right after I released Cry The Beloved in October of 2006, where I actually had a hard time adjusting to coming home and doing... nothing... That got overshadowed in a few months by work with Ossian on Mysteries of Westgate. That work lasted until September or so of 2007, where I again had another period of time to myself... Which lasted a few months until work began on an unreleased expansion pack for The Witcher. The end of 2008 was pretty quiet, as well as most of 2009. Then I got invited to the Dragon Age Toolset Beta in late 2009 , and well, here I am. Even in between working on this game for the past 4 1/2 years, I've also work on The Shadow Sun. So you get the theme, eh? It's been work, work, work, and not a lot of play time.
At the same time, depending on the success of this game, I already know where I want to go with the next game. I've known for a while, actually, but in these past 6 months, I've really been mentally planning out everything. I've had some great brainstorming sessions that have allowed me to flesh out some bits of the story that have been very high level vague thoughts for the past few years.
Story bits aside, there are also a lot of combat related things I want to do. One of the funnest parts of game design for me is the combat stuff, and there are so many ideas that just couldn't fit in this game. Extensions to the Bonds of Battle system, new Unison Abilities, and even newer systems have been on my mind.
I've also been designing new enemy types, that all come along with their own special abiltiies. One thing I hate in RPG's is combat repitition, so I'm already coming up with ways to make dramatically different enemies and encounters.
But like I said, it's still in the early stages, nothing too big. I mean, it's not like I'm actually building anything. What I do need to do is get it down into a WIKI page at some point. But for now, I'll continue to mentally plan things out, while trying to get some semblance of a life back.
Till tomorrow...
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Today's music from my New Age (Best of best) Spotify Playlist is from Kevin Kern, called, Pastel Reflections. Enjoy!
6/15/14 -Sunday: MARKETING MATERIAL POLISHING...
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About 6 months ago, I started putting together prototypes for all the marketing material I knew I wanted to have prior to launch. The majority of the work included recording video from the game. At the time, I knew that things could change (levels, props, etc.), and that I may have to go back and re-record them. I was cool with that. I really just wanted to get something going with the marketing stuff, because I knew I would eventually need stuff from others (i.e. VO), and wanted to be able to show something to them so they knew what they were working with. The plan worked out quite well, I'm happy to say.
Of course, now I have to go back and do what I said I would: re-record a ton of video. Turns out, it's not because of changes to levels or anything like that, it's mostly because some scenes have subtitles in them, which I need to get rid of temporarily while I do the video capture. It's a little bit of a pain in the ass, just because it's just a bunch of monkey work that is going to take a while.
In the end though, I shouldn't be too mad. I'm not actively working on the game any more, so I need to stay busy with something while I wait for the last of the VO to roll in... Speaking of which...
I'll be spending my time over the next few days here:
I just need to cast one more role, and I can finally put this little chapter of my life behind me and move on. Going to be lots of anime style voices, which is what I'm not looking for. But I did find a great actor in here a few weeks ago, it just takes time to sift through everything.
So yeah, that's going to be my life for the next few days.
Till tomorrow...
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Today's music from my New Age (Best of best) Spotify Playlist is from Celtic Spirit, called, Ailein Duinn. Enjoy!
6/12/14 -Thursday: END DAYS ARE UPON US...
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STATE OF THE UNION
Well, after a very successful week or so off in the Carolinas (Charlotte, Charleson), it's time to get back to work. Except, there really is not much, if any work for me. Yes, folks, the end days are upon us. But first, a recap of the past month...
I've been working like hell to finish getting actors to voice the last few characters in the game, and it's been full of starts and stops. You've got people who respond to m initial emails with very encouraging words, then you never hear from them again. Maybe it's me? Maybe it's my approach? I mean, I'm not doing anything different than I have these past 3 years or so. I send an email saying I like their portfolio, I gave them a little introduction to Rose of Eternity, I explain which role I think they would be good for, and I get a response of, "Wow, this project seems very interesting! I'd love to be a part of it!". Then I send over some demo lines for them to do, and... crickets... All I hear is crickets...
Years ago, I'd send lines to folks, and not only did they knock them out in proper fashion, but they were hungry for more. I have literally added new characters and expanded existing ones, based off of feedback I've received from actors. So, I guess the moral of the story is that I'm spoiled :)
Anyway, I was blessed enough to find someone via the Voice Acting Alliance (or Club, can't remember, they both have very similiar names) and she has worked out real great. Very professsional, and I guess the biggest win of all is she responds to emails! Hell, at this point, if I could just get email responses telling me to go fuck myself, at least I would know where I stand :)
Also, Alexander knocked out his narrator lines, and as usual, did a damned good job. There are 2 more scenes that need to be done, but I get those from him when he gets back from vacation. I also have some more lines coming from someone else I've worked with over the years.
And then there is the absolute, last role on the game, and it just happens to be one of the most important: The Keeper of the Rose. I was hoping that maybe the actor who I found earlier in the month could do these lines, but I don't want to pressure her with too much stuff. So, I'll be beginning my final search on the forums for a new actor. It's a tedious job, as I have to listen to demo reel after demo reel, until I find some candidates. You would think that with so many demo reels out there, it would be easy to find someone. Unfortunately, most are doing anime style voices, stuff that has no place in this game. So maybe one in 25 have more mature sounding voices. But, it has to be done, so not much to say about that.
With regards to the game itself, well, there is not much to really say. Jason Melancon brought his sister on board to do some BETA testing, and, well, she must be a true Melancon. Her feedback was well organized, very precise, and focused on the littany of grammar mistakes I made in some codex entries that even I forgot were in the game! Very, very impressed with it all.
Looking at the big picture, I'm very happy with the testing overall. I've had 8 total testers (including myself), many of whom who have played through multiple times on different versions (ALPHA, BETA, etc.). The number of tickets I've had to fix with this last build is so small that I've been able to keep up with the pace of them being reported. Meaning, if it gets reported Monday morning, it's been fixed by Monday afternoon. At the moment, there are maybe 5-6 tickets left, and I'm pretty sure I'm not even going to touch them. From my perspective, I'm done with that.
So, it just comes down to the VO (what a surprise!), and one other bit of promotional material that is not being done by me. Once I finally have everything, I can release this baby.
Here's hoping...
Till tomorrow...
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Today's music from my New Age (Best of best) Spotify Playlist is from Sarah Brightman, called, Fleurs Du Mal . Enjoy!
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