I went from rainy Revachol to rainy Vizima, half-hoping for some of Kim’s and Geralt’s work ethic to rub off on my often-scattered head. I’m going to need that kind of resolve this year… for Buresca to become something more than an idea.
At long last… medallion's humming.
Few better ways to end the year than by waking up in the Whirling-in-Rags. I'm only a bit ashamed that it took me this long to be back.
I thought An English Haunting was surely about to end when the scene in this image happened, and the whole story segment that followed became one of my favorite things in a video game recently. And it is a beautifully written game throughout, set in a period of British history I was obsessed with as a teenager. I love the use of dialogue, and I’m glad to have found a similar pace and humor in the writing of Billy Masters Was Right and Urban Witch Story, two of José María Meléndez’s earlier adventures. As for the latter, I have to admit that it spooked me as much as An English Haunting did…
Really looking forward to The Dark Rites of Arkham now, and anything from Postmodern Adventures.
There it was, still: my first (and only) bit of writing in a video game!
I couldn’t back the Kickstarter back then, so I remember being over the moon when another chance to contribute came up. I wrote my two pages for the short stories section in the library and… well, let’s just say 2016 me desperately needed Val’s proofreading.
As I keep building what I hope will become my first game, the fact that Ron Gilbert is dev-blogging again on Grumpy Gamer feels like a great source of encouragement. Even the comments section is back, which makes me super nostalgic for Thimbleweed Park’s blog and podcast from 2015–2018.
A second playthrough is due, on this Halloween night. I’ll report back once I find a certain book-a-reno in the mansion’s library…
My never-ending search for a certain pixelated font led me to finally play If On a Winter’s Night, Four Travelers. That vanishing story is going to live in my head for a long while, I'm sure.
It’s been almost eighteen months since I got RPG Maker MZ and Aseprite as a birthday gift to myself. That's crazy.
Since then, I’ve been on-and-off experimenting with an idea for a small narrative game, learning a lot about spriting, scripting, and suffering. For gameplay and UI, I think I got very close to everything I wanted with the engine’s event system and some JavaScript plugins. On the other hand, the asset-making part of the work has got me going in circles of indecision for days and days. It started with just a character generator and some tilesets I bought, but my attempts at expanding and adapting them to my story… well, at least they got me spriting again. Not my strongest suit.
After months of not touching the project at all… a few days ago I got an idea. I should write more about it in the future, but for now it means officially shelving that RPG Maker prototype, and taking everything it taught me to a place I’m much more familiar with…
I’m feeling hopeful.
This year I'm refusing to let go: Luka stays.
I can't believe Hades II is here in my hands now. The first few hours already gone in a familiar whirlwind of greatness.
Death to Chronos.