Alora Fane

This is a day late, but here's the final Weekly Update for the year!

I've either been depressed or ill or something recently - cripplingly tired anyway - so I'm updating today instead of yesterday!

I've done a couple of things this past week. One was starting on the AFC+Belief thing I mentioned recently (I've been referring to it as 'Buildief' in my notes), though I only spent like three hours on it, setting up the Unity project and laying down the foundation for a mesh generating map editor thing (obviously it's a work in progress):

I also got curious about Clarence's Big Chance, which apparently I'd done most of the conversion work on last year or even the year before? So I have an exe version which supports controller input, which was surprising to me. I've also got a blog post looking back on it that I don't think I've ever posted, since I was waiting until I'd put the game up somewhere.

I wondered though whether to do a straight port, or whether to actually do a remake. Something with the exact same maps, music, and mechanics, but with the pixel graphics changed to something higher resolution; I did this quick drawing as an experiment:

I've been reluctant to remake MARDEK for ages because of the sheer scope of the thing, but the original CBC only took four months to make, and it's finished and standalone so a remake wouldn't 'require' me to spend years making sequels. Plus there's a lot of art and in-game text I'd like to clean up, either because it's just sloppy or it clashes with the current Zeitgeist. I suppose you might say that about the game as a whole actually though, plus I've been reluctant to even talk about it for years just because it's so mean-spirited and different to the more compassionate stuff I try to focus on these days, but I do still like a lot of the absurdist elements.

Many indie devs make way-better-looking (usually - but not always - pixelated) platformers, so all this'd really have to stand on would be the nostalgic familiarity (I think the original was played millions of times?) or the absurdity. I don't know if it'd sell, or be worth the effort. Maybe a remake would be more worth buying than a straight port though?

I was at least planning to make a demo in Unity to see if I could easily convert stuff over - and to test the new look - but I didn't get around to it!

Honestly it's been a fairly miserable lovely Chrimbo period for me, so that's been consuming my mind. My family wanted me to join them, but my weird mental issues got in the way, so I just decided to be alone. I tried messaging some old friends since talking to them would be very different to an awkward meal with my step-dad's aged family, but most didn't reply. At least there's one person I somewhat-regularly text, though, so that's something.

Because of all that getting in the way of focusing on games dev stuff, though, I think I'm going to just try to relax for the remaining embers of 2020. I'll try to work on some personal stuff and play games or something. Get my mind off stuff.

I've been looking forward to writing an end-of-year review though, so I'll be posting one of those on the 31st. Then, the day after, I'll write another post looking forward with some aims and hopes for what I want to achieve in 2021.

I'll get back to Atonal Dreams as soon as I can in the new year.

Hopefully this has been a nice time for you though, O reader!

12 COMMENTS

LevProtter42~4Y

Nice.
Enjoy your break!

Been a while since I checked the blog (saw the twitter mentioning updates), so I left a bunch of comments.

Teen me didn't enjoy CBC as much as your other games, but others did, so I'm not sure which project is most advisable. It should also depend on how likely you are to enjoy it 70% of the way into it.

Looking forward to your end of 2020 review.

Tobias 1115~4Y

I'm glad mentioning things on Twitter isn't a complete waste of time, then! I often wonder whether it is and forget to post there.

My thinking is that CBC's on a much smaller scope than my other stuff, but might be able to benefit from a similar kind of nostalgia as MARDEK, and that a port wouldn't take that long since it's not a long game... but I'll need to think about it more before diving in. I'm using this period to mull over the idea before doing any meaningful work on it to see if I still want to after a few weeks.

Misfate083~4Y

The new art looks awesome, but I'd say just release the pixelated one first and if it does well perhaps add enhanced graphics as a DLC? I wouldn't mind paying for both :)

Tobias 1115~4Y

I appreciate that you'd buy both! But my thinking is that many people would just skip out on a port but might be interested in a remake; I probably would myself. But I should look into it a bit and see if there are any trends about this kind of thing.

Maniafig222~4Y

I'm surprised you got controller support working, that's the first time you've done that, I think! And you did mention the blog way back when, but never posted it. Are you still going to post it? I said it back then and I'll say it again, I'm curious what you had to say about CBC!

I'd be wary of changing much of the game if I were you, I don't remember any parts of the game looking noticeably off in terms of pixel art, and changing the game for the sake of sensitivity issues is just as likely to make people upset as not changing it.

I doubt it'd matter much for a small game like this, but there is a very annoying tendency nowadays where game devs changing parts of their story or setting or characters or whatnot since they don't feel it properly reflects the zeitgeist or whatever is SELF-CENSORSHIP, which is a very big and very serious issue.

Again, I doubt that would happen, but I think that for every person who'd appreciate the changes there'd be another person who doesn't appreciate it. Personally I do like most of the dialogue in CBC, but I also do think some of it has aged poorly, some of the dialogues in the final date have a pretty annoying and assumptive tone.

It's barely even felt like Christmas for me, really. It's just another day. At least the food was good.

I'd be wary of changing much of the game if I were you, I don't remember any parts of the game looking noticeably off in terms of pixel art, and changing the game for the sake of sensitivity issues is just as likely to make people upset as not changing it.

I doubt it'd matter much for a small game like this, but there is a very annoying tendency nowadays where game devs changing parts of their story or setting or characters or whatnot since they don't feel it properly reflects the zeitgeist or whatever is SELF-CENSORSHIP, which is a very big and very serious issue.

Again, I doubt that would happen, but I think that for every person who'd appreciate the changes there'd be another person who doesn't appreciate it. Personally I do like most of the dialogue in CBC, but I also do think some of it has aged poorly, some of the dialogues in the final date have a pretty annoying and assumptive tone.

It's barely even felt like Christmas for me, really. It's just another day. At least the food was good.

Tobias 1115~4Y

I'm surprised by the controller support too, since I have no memory of adding it, or how I did it! I think it being AS3 made some things much less awkward than MARDEK, and that'd make a port to Unity much easier too.

I was going to post the blog about it sometime around now, but I'll wait until after the new year's ones just so it's not competing with them!

Despite wanting to say meaningful things with my recent work, I'm not actually interested in changing CBC in a major way, surprisingly. I don't have any issues with the fundamental premise, though there are a lot of lines of dialogue that make me cringe now just because of clumsy wording or missed opportunities for something cleverer. It'd certainly be interesting though to see how it might be received if released as a 'new' (remade) game here in the future.

I was thinking maybe a remake might be more likely to be bought by new people, or even old people; many might think they can play the Flash version elsewhere - because they can and have - but might be more interested in a renewed version? And maybe streamers would be more likely to play something apparently newish than an old Flash port? I'm not sure though; I should probably look into it.

I was going to post the blog about it sometime around now, but I'll wait until after the new year's ones just so it's not competing with them!

Despite wanting to say meaningful things with my recent work, I'm not actually interested in changing CBC in a major way, surprisingly. I don't have any issues with the fundamental premise, though there are a lot of lines of dialogue that make me cringe now just because of clumsy wording or missed opportunities for something cleverer. It'd certainly be interesting though to see how it might be received if released as a 'new' (remade) game here in the future.

I was thinking maybe a remake might be more likely to be bought by new people, or even old people; many might think they can play the Flash version elsewhere - because they can and have - but might be more interested in a renewed version? And maybe streamers would be more likely to play something apparently newish than an old Flash port? I'm not sure though; I should probably look into it.

Comment deleted

Tobias 1115~4Y

I was thinking that more people might buy a remake than a port, basically! I'd keep the general idea, rather than turning it into modern-day social commentary or anything, but there are a lot of lines of dialogue that are ineptly-written that I'd like to clean up.

That sounds like the kind of thing I'd end up doing if I were lucky enough to be able to afford to live alone! At least it sounds like a more pleasant experience than it could have been because of your perspective!

purplerabbits148~4Y

Happy Chrimbo o/
For me I'm alright with either, though I personally have a soft spot or pixel art.

If you take life as metaphorically and symbolically ridden as a literary analysis paper, The pixel art is the "rough" stage in your game development. (Pixels are sharp edges and all that) While, the "smoother" art represent how much you have polished your game development skills.

This is a convoluted way of saying I'm alright with both xD

CBC's mean humor was one of the strong points. It's humor and absurdity allowed the offensiveness to be taken in a humorous way.

On a tangent, The mobile version of the site has gone on the fritz. The home page has all the blogs be Tall vertical rectangles. The Header with the Alorafance logo has a mishmash of various words in different places. Ill reply so that I can capture the screenshots, after loading them to discord.

purplerabbits148~4Y

The Header

[LINK]

The Home Page

[LINK]

I'm sorry if this brings you stress. QnQ
You did want to take a break as the year ended.

Tobias 1115~4Y

Bleh, that's a mess! I'm not going to eagerly jump on fixing it since I don't know how many people visit this site on mobile (or on any platform really), but I'll need to look into it at some point I suppose, so thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Kemal1~4Y

Just make another chapter of Clarence , no one would buy a remake.