Some venting about recent sleep issues - likely a result of persistent life situation issues - and thoughts about my current game dev project, Dreamons, some old GBC Legend of Zelda games, and the Netflix adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. READ MORE
I just learned that the creator of Dragon Ball (among other things), Akira Toriyama, just died, which is odd timing for me since I've been thinking about that... media franchise - or whatever you'd call it - and anime in general for the past few days... READ MORE
While lying in bed depressed, I had some ideas for creative stuff, and also saw this thing called The Amazing Digital Circus that you may also have seen! READ MORE
Back in late 2019, ∞ I wrote a post about UFOs ∞, specifically the Nimitz incident - where a bunch of army pilots, most notably Commander David Fravor, saw, detected on radar, and had interactions with a tic-tac-shaped craft - and a guy called Bob Lazar - who claimed to have worked on a secret program reverse-engineering retrieved saucer-shaped craft. The former seemed too genuine to discount, and got me really seriously wondering whether we were on the verge of a cultural shift, but the latter guy, Bob Lazar... I wrote that he seemed far too outlandish, and had far too much going against him to possibly be believable. Now, though, after looking into his story in depth from several angles, I'm wondering whether he's actually telling the truth... READ MORE
I want to talk a bit about money again: how much I'm earning each month, and how the amount that other indie games raise on Kickstarter does convince me to give that a go. READ MORE
I recently kind of finished this reimagining of a game I have fond memories of from my childhood. I've been looking forward to it for a while, and I felt it was particularly valuable to observe how I felt about it - especially the changes - because it might be similar to how old MARDEK fans might feel about Divine/Atonal Dreams... READ MORE
I finally got around to watching this film, and it's easily one of the best things I've ever seen! I don't want to write a full review or anything; I just wanted to post about it briefly because it felt wrong not to acknowledge it at all. READ MORE
I enjoyed this AAA hack-and-slash Breath of the Wild spinoff more than I expected to! (This might contain some spoilers, if screenshots of some playable characters count as such for you.) READ MORE
I haven't done much this week, annoyingly! So here's some rambling about sexual objectification again (yay), a revised roadmap for tasks I've done and still need to do, and some thoughts about scripting snags re character psychology that I'm currently in the process of working through. READ MORE
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of changing Divine Dreams' protagonist from the old Mardek to a new character, a golden-hearted 'devil' called Dayvha... READ MORE
This week, I added the beginnings of long-planned mechanical feature: something called 'concords', which represent the connections between pairs of characters, and which grant various benefits when developed. Also, I redesigned Deugan's weapon. READ MORE
We're nine weeks in now, gasp! This week, I've been working on battle mechanics stuff like buffs and status effects and skills, which I shall talk about here!! READ MORE
This week, I've made the cave tileset more organic, added following allies and some changes to the combat mechanics, and I've been designing miasmon (which is what the monsters are called in this)! Also, a bit about my favourite Pokemon designs from all eight generations. READ MORE
I'm at the point in development now where the initial burst of enthusiasm has likely run its course, so productivity should be more gradual from now on. Most of the major features exist in some basic form, and my main goal now is assembling them into a working demo. READ MORE
I feel that BoJack Horseman's a deeply powerful work of media because its themes resonate with some in my own life, though I've been unusually well this past week. Also I'm wondering about reviving my Patreon account, but there are uncertainties. READ MORE
Here's a brief review of what I achieved in January, a bit more about field mechanics, a model for Deugan, the conversation system, and some stuff about character progression (and menus). READ MORE
I've done quite a bit on the MARDEK Reimagining this past week! This time, I'll be talking about the title I've decided on, and a basic battle system I've planned and got working! READ MORE
Here's some revised concept stuff for my planned next game, Belief, in which a protagonist vaguely based on Mardek's mother is inseminated by an alien based on Rohoph. Fun for the whole family! READ MORE
It's been just over a week since testing on Memody: Sindrel Song started, and there's been a whole lot of high-quality feedback to sift through! I've fixed some bugs and added some relatively minor technical things, but I'm concerned about some of the more subjective aspects, as the opinions from different people seem to vary quite drastically. Most notably, the difficulty is still a concern; I feel it'll be difficult to find the right balance there. READ MORE
I've FINALLY almost finished Sindrel Song! For real this time!! I'll probably start testing early next week, if I can get some final tweaks done over the weekend. Here's a video showing the game as it is now, plus some rambling about thoughts and concerns I've had while finishing it off. READ MORE
Comedians, Hollywood films, and young people making memes on the internet all address mental turmoil in their own ways; dancing with one's demons isn't the territory solely of disturbed pariahs. I've been trying to do a similar thing with Sindrel Song, but I'm stuck in the mud of uncertainty because I know that not everyone would eagerly embrace such a thing in the way I might. READ MORE
Here are some things that I didn't make, and which I talk too much about because I don't seem to be capable of doing anything better with my time at the moment. Enjoy!! READ MORE
Here's quite a bit of stuff I've been doing on Sindrel Song, including a couple of videos showing improved gameplay and the sheet music structure of playable songs I've been composing for it. READ MORE
Here's a post in which I describe my current project - Sindrel Song - including screenshots, a gameplay video, some music I composed for it, and some rambling about the story, how the main character is tied to MARDEK, in a roundabout way, and how this game will be set in the world of Alora Fane. READ MORE
Here's a video of Zaffre and Cerise talking, showing the kind of format I've been intending to use to tell the Taming Dreams story. I'm so unsure about whether it's worth doing, though... Am I naive? Is this childish? Would it only lead to my destruction even if it did one day work out? READ MORE
This is a continuation of the story of my creative journey, which started with ∞ this post ∞. In this one, I talk about the first games that I made! READ MORE
After doing a whole lot of reflecting about the creative journey that I've been on over the years (which I briefly summarise here), I'm planning to return to Taming Dreams, but as a regularly-updating story told through 3D conversations rather than as a game. READ MORE
Are women oppressed by a patriarchal society, as feminism would have us believe? Or is it women who are privileged and men who are oppressed, as those who've taken the 'red pill' claim? Here's some ramblings about all that which have brought me a kind of peace, as well as a game concept that gender relations have inspired, based around the idea that the two sexes are playing different but overlapping games with dissimilar challenges, rather than one being absolutely more or less fortunate than the other in everything. READ MORE
Based on comments on the previous post and my internal reactions to them, I've decided that I'm going to spend my time working on a sort of interactive story rather than a game! READ MORE
Over the past week or so, I've been working on the prototype for a game - my first in 3D - which will eventually be about suicide (sort of)!! Here's a version of it you can already play!!!! READ MORE
Games which aim to drain your wallet dry by relying on essentially the roll of a die aren't really the epitome of altruistic innovations, are they? I say, because I have to know about altruistic psychology for an upcoming assessment, but I spend too much of my time procrastinating with pointless mobile games... READ MORE
I find myself making creative things quite often as a distraction from unappealing university work and my broken mind. What I've been making recently is all over the place, but here are a few recent examples for the curious. READ MORE
I've been working some more on the project I mentioned in my previous post. I've written the first two scenes, and composed music for them too! I'd be interested to hear what you make of it. READ MORE
I saw a performance (sort of) of Hamlet today with my housemates. It moved me a surprising amount, especially that most famous of soliloquies which seemed to put into wonderful words the thoughts I've been having recently. READ MORE
I feel the drive to do something creative, and I've been playing around with ideas recently... But the fear of criticism really gets in the way of producing anything, especially since I want to use art as a way of coping with and communicating my psychological struggles, which has hardly been met with eager excitement in the past. READ MORE
I played Ori and the Blind Forest and have been playing Hollow Knight recently. The former made difficulty fun, the latter's 'difficulty' made me stop playing it. READ MORE
Rediscovering things we liked when younger can be a pleasant thing, and it's nice to check back on them and see they're still alive with new content. I've been told by many people that my MARDEK games were a pleasant part of their childhoods, so it's a shame I never finished them. READ MORE
I enjoy creating things, particularly games, though it's been a while since I last did. I'm not sure what to work on now, though I've been using some games I've recently played for inspiration. READ MORE
Have you heard of Pokemon GO? I doubt it; it's quite obscure. By sheer chance, though, I've managed to stumble upon it, and - in a continuing effort to distract myself from the darker things in my life at the moment - I've been poking ∞ Mongo ∞ a bit recently, and would like to ramble a bit about it. READ MORE
Since the world works in mysterious ways, immediately following my ∞ glimpse into oblivion ∞, I randomly saw ∞ this miniseries thing ∞ that dealt with suicide and depression in a way that brought me to tears. Sources call it a dark comedy, or even a sitcom, but I think that's misleading; it's quite intensely emotional and really quite odd. It gave me ideas about how I could use my own creative work to address the issues that are most resonant to me. READ MORE
While searching for a random film to watch last night, one I'd never seen or even heard of before, I stumbled upon Anomalisa, which seemed like the sort of thing I'd not usually watch but which intrigued me as it was animated. Turns out it contained a surprising amount of explicit puppet sex! But it also resonated with me quite deeply as it explored themes of alienation and isolation. It's the sort of film that'll likely stay with me for longer than most Hollywood blockbusters do, and the sort of art that I wish I could make myself; a true inspiration. READ MORE
I just watched the anime film From Up on Poppy Hill, by Studio Ghibli, and I'd like to write a bit about what it made me think about love, longing, family, tradition and such! READ MORE
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