How has the Month been for Stillness –
August was about as productive as I expected. Not super out there with stuff, but not a bad month either. perfectly serviceable, middle of the road kinda month.
What I said I would do (and did it get done) –
- Playtest(did)
- Finish Implementing Level 2( like 75% done)
What got done-
Playtesting went well this month. made a few builds, showed them off to people, friends and stranger’s alike. Sadly far more Bug catching, than actual test data, but still, good data was gotten.
on the more exciting news, work on Level 2, The Mandala! Again, not finished. 
I really should stop saying stuff like “Fully”, or “finish” next to stuff like “implement” since, implementing something is very involved. its more than level building and art making. Speaking of which, the level’s been built, and like 95% of the art is made. What’s left for the Mandala is:
- getting the puzzles up and running properly
- writing the flavor text around 90% of the area
- the 2-3 CGs that’ll be needed for the area
so, basically, the goal is visible, is still a decent distance away. then, the playtesting of level 2 along with level 1, and hey, I might be able to get to level 3 before the year ends!
But, I’m getting ahead of myself, what else did I do?
Well, I made these!
these are symbols I made for each type of feeling categorized in Stillness‘s Mood System (plus 2 others). basically, one of the other things I’ve been pushing forward to do, is expose more of how the mood system works to the player data.
I’ve had the Mood system, how the main character feels, and how the thoughts, dreams, and actions the player takes affects them (and how the main characters mood affects what he can/cannot do) both in the game, and in my brain of ideas for a while now, however, even now, I am aware that the system has little player facing use. And while I don’t want the player to have know in depth how to micromanage these values, I do what the player to have the information there, and that requires showing it in some fashion.
The Mood Ring Page is a good start, basically acting as a stats page, but for how, say, a single thought will affect the mood of the main character, there wasn’t a system for that yet, and these little icons, are my first step towards filling that information gap. Now, when a thought is made, a few of these little symbols float around with it.
Additionally, back on the mood App, I’ve added a nice layer of polish onto it. now, the mood has a simple emoticons to go in the tiny ring bubble, and unique descriptors to the player’s current primary mood. Also, the bars animate.
Lastly, I’ve been doing more writing, for the game’s note’s system, and the dreams, and generally upping the writing, and beta reading, obviously. I have gone from 1.5 notes last month, to ~7 notes now, all of various lengths (some less than a paragraph, some like, 2 pages long).
Time Spent –
the work I did, and what I clocked it as follows:
- improved editor functionality – 2 hours
- wrote some dreams – 0.5 hours
- art work – 2 hours
- bug testing – 3.5 hours
- art work and tests – 8 hours
- Art work – 4 hours
- level building – 2 hours
- Art Work – 3 hours
- Level Building – 2 hours
- Art Work – 2 hours
- Mood Display Systems – 3 hours
What to do next-
so, September begins the start of School again for me, so Time will again, drop. I do not think the Mandala will be finished by September’s End, but I am hoping for the implementation and art for the first of the 3 remaining puzzles to be in. Maybe a second if I’m lucky.
Outside of that, general tiny details of implementation, flavour text, running thru it to make sure it works as intended, maybe a few art assets I had missed, stuff like that. Oh! and playtesting. should always keep playtesting.
so, in list form:
- at least 1 puzzle from level 2 in completely
- filling in flavor text for the area
- Playtest
Closing Notes-
Nah, I got nothin’
:3
Jesse Lozano 