Journey to Westshire

Once upon a time I went to college for game programming and I was forced to write a text based game in python(that's a programming language :P). For those who can run such a project can find my old .py here. Would you believe that the project was actually supposed to be rock, paper, scissors? lol I was kind of an overachiever back in the day. Anywho, my point, is that the community that I am apart of is having a "Release Something Weekend" and since Blue Grimoire is quite a ways from becoming a playable demo I was thinking that I'd reboot my old python project via rpg maker vx ace and try out a few gameplay elements in it that I plan on using in Blue Grimoire just to test things out. I'm giving myself a week break from Blue Grimoire to get this thing out there and I think my mind could do without witches for a bit after all the research and conditional branches I've been working with lately lol Look forward to the release of "Journey to Westshire", the story of three adventurers Zeke, Erik, and Raven who are taking a mysterious package through a dangerous forest full of thieves, beastmen, and magical creatures all for the almighty gold piece.

I have decided on a name!

That's right. The mysterious game project previously dubbed Modern Witch Project now has a fitting name...*drum roll* "Blue Grimoire". I know there will be several of you out there that will probably ask where they came from so I'll go ahead and tell you. The main character, Joanna, was given a blue grimoire by a man who used to walk the path of a mage killer. He "passed" the grimoire to her via touch, so there is no physical copy, it's all in her head. She will need the knowledge of the blue grimoire if she ever hopes of being able to take down Anastasia, the powerful witch who murdered her family. The Blue Grimoire itself is a major gameplay feature that will handle upgrades, gathered information, etc. I felt it was the most fitting title out of the large amount of possibilities that came to me during my title brainstorming sessions. It's catchy, could easily have a ":" added for sequels should the possibility come up, and it's a major gameplay feature. So I'm going with it.

I also wanted to bring up that now that I have a title I'll be able to commission an artist to make a title screen for me. I have a pretty good idea of how I'd like it to look but we'll see what happens. On another note, I picked up a pretty good book the other day which has helped me take a more professional turn for the development of this project. Which translates to me now working on a concept document. Not to be confused with a game design document. The concept document is used mainly for pitching the game for funding which is something that I will be trying to do. Pretty much have most of it worked out, but nothing is set in stone just yet....that's kind of how development works, haha. Example, I thought I had everything worked out the way I wanted it and thought that the ending would be badass since you'd have multiple choices and could choose how you wanted to end things. Then I heard the latest podcast by FinalBossBlues which made the argument that such endings were horrible because it would make all the decisions the player had made up to that point meaningless, a la Mass Effect 3. So I have a bit of rethinking to do on how I'm going to handle the gameplay ending and storyline ending. That's all for today though. Hopefully I'll finish up the concept document and get started on the proof of concept which is just a mechanics demo, not a full blown demo. All these terms!!

Artwork for the unnamed project!

Not being able to give the project a name is really starting to bug me. I need to like, light scented candles and zen meditate to game OSTs then maybe something'll shake loose lol

Anywho, remember a few posts ago I spoke of how I commissioned an artist to draw up some concept art for the Modern Witch project? Well, Michael Tran came through and here is my main character and both stages of her fire elemental, Grom.

Comments, Critiques, whatever. Will post more on gameplay and what not as development continues!

All or nothing gamble

What I'm about to write might freak some people out and they will tell me it's MADNESS but honestly I don't have much of a choice...I'm putting in my two weeks at my job today.
"Why? How will you survive?!"
Well, sadly my father can no longer take care of himself and needs round the clock care. I can't afford it and the places that I could afford I wouldn't want to put any human being through. My only option is to take care of him myself along with my siblings. Coincidentally, this means I'll have more time to work on my project...when I'm not pimping myself out as a jack-of-all-trades with electronic repair and helpdesk or selling stuff on ebay/amazon/movie exchange. It's a hell of a gamble, my project could fail and I have nothing for all the effort and money I've put into it, but I feel it's worth it if it means I can spend time with my father. Seeing him happy to be home after the months in hospitals is worth it all in spades. Wish me luck, I guess!

"Modern Witch" Project: Artwork & Title?

The ad actually brought in a few pretty good artists. These people do incredible things like high level renders and what not. I jawdropped on quite a few of the examples they showed me....and at their price tags lol I knew art would cost a bit, I just hope I'll be able to cough up enough to keep them interested and also that I have my "ducks in a row" not wasting money on art I won't use/don't need. I'm currently in talks with a few and I've commissioned some concept art to see what/who I'm dealing with. I'm hopeful that I'll get some amazing results from these guys. I'll post the one I end up going with if either.

In other news, I've been playing around with a few title names for the project and at the moment the only one that keeps pounding in my head is Witch Hunt. Don don DON! I don't know. It fits, but if I were to do sequels(don't wanna get ahead of myself but wouldn't want to burn bridges early with a badly chosen name either lol) it might be weird. If I continue to explore this universe I don't want to have to always have some kind of hunt going on. It'd get old. A friend made a pretty good point though and said that I could go the way of Demon Souls n' Dark Souls. Keeps the Souls part but changes the other part. Then there's the whole ":" thing. I could be like Witch Hunt: Joanna & the Blue Grimoire. Witch Hunt: The Secret of the Lion's Crest. Witch Hunt: I Wonder If This Is Another Hunt. <.< meh, i'll decide eventually. Problem is, kinda hard to commission an artist to make a high level rendered title screen when you don't know the name of the game haha oh well, it can wait.

"Modern Witch" Project

Titles are very important and I don't plan on rushing ahead with a half-ass title just to have one. It'll come to me naturally as I work on the game. In the meantime though, I'm going with the "Modern Witch" project.

In other news, I've started work on the demo, which is just as overwhelming as I pictured it would be. Not to worry, just gotta do things one at a time. I also put out an ad on the RPGMAKERWEB forum for concept art. We'll see if I have any bites on that. I thought I had the audio I wanted for the game but the more I listen to the package I picked up, the more I'm seeing that I don't have EVERYTHING I need audio-wise, sigh. I'll explore that more later. Would be a waste of the cash I put up for this audio package if I hired out for an entire OST though. We'll see what happens, I guess. As I said earlier, one thing at a time. Gameplay > Art, Audio, & Story. Though the writer in me really wants to argue with the story bit there, haha.

The Plan

As the title states, I have a plan. The plan is simple but will take a significant amount of prep work. Anywho, here's the plan. Kickstarter. Yes, I will be using kickstarter to actually "kick start" my dream of being a game designer. It may be a shot in the dark but at least there is a hint of a light at the end of the tunnel. The idea is to pitch a game idea, throw out a number that will provide me enough funds to quit my full-time job and work on the game exclusively for a year. I'll pick up a part-time job or continue consulting as an "IT/repair guru" of course, but I'll have all the extra time to do what I love. Make games. If you checked out my last post, I talked about Goshiki: The Five Paths.

"Goshiki: The Five Paths" Titlescreen by Katrina Le

This will NOT be the game I am trying to fund via kickstarter. Why not? While I believe that Goshiki is an interesting story and I will eventually release the title, it is not as gripping as the game idea I am holding back in the wings that I WILL be pitching to kickstarter. I don't have any concept art as of yet so I don't want to go into too many details just yet. But I will let you in on this....I already have it scripted out and am in the programming phase. Oh, and the game is about a modern day witch ;) I'll release more info as development progresses. On the note of concept art, I will be doing something very dangerous....I will attempt to draw for it myself O_O at the very least I'll be able to take my extremely rough sketches to one of significant skill to translate into awesomeness for your viewing pleasure. The conditions that I am giving myself for kickstarter is to have a demo done, a game design document which'll have the full plan/schedule for development done, and the full script for the game done. Once I have that and some nice concept art, I'll attack kickstarters with passion and fervor! I will make my dream come true.