How has the Month been for Stillness –
much like June, good, but on the back burner to Halfway Home, which we are nearing completion on. Its in its Late Beta stage, nearing gold every day.
Alex Dejardin, has continued to be an excellent help on the project. Mostly UI and system improvements, which i am eternally grateful for.
What I said I would do (and did it get done) –
- Finish implementing the new dream sequence (Finsihed? no. worked on, yes)
- implement all the SFX (no)
- Playtest (no)
- Polish Level 1 (no)
- Stretch:
- Finish level 2 (haha no)
- Start level 3 (see above)
- Mock up more conversations scenes (a bit yes)
- Paper prototype the emotional control mini-games. (all the nope)
What got done-
I added the animating Text that Alex built for me, added a new task for the tutorial to better lead the player. Also, i fixed up the UI’s control order, so, unless a directed “conversation” is active, you cannot open other UI elements while dialog display is opened. IE, no checking your phone while examining the bookshelf! Similarly, disabling certain functions in conversations that would break things. IE, the Call app on the phone. No calling random people while talking to someone else. thats just rude! :T
The dream sequence implementation continued in low priority. another snag popped up that I had to quickly get fixed up, namely an issue with choices. I wanted, if choices relooped, to be able to remove the previously selected choice, which was not a thing it handled. so, Now it does.
Similarly, Alex also has continued to assist me by overhauling large parts of the UI to something prettier and more functional. He tweaked up choices so they are more dynamic.dynamically filled. also so i can have more than 4 options. in general I shouldn’t NEED more than 4, but just in case, its there.
Alex then has spent the month overhauling the Phone’s UI, and the Thought’s UI, as well as the thoughts overall. Now, not only does the phone’s UI look more like a modern phone, it also has notifications more held, and a basic framework for Texting in now! woo.
Thoughts have been reworked to both move around more smoothly, be collected more smoothly, and be used more smoothly! the use aspect is the big one. now there is a quick select dropdown, so the player doesn’t have to open up the menu to use their thoughts, to quickly use them in tight spots of a conversation. This month ended with Alex half finished on a tooltip to quickly see the new info for the notifications and thoughts.
Time Spent –
- am super bad a logging this section, and am debating cutting it.- :T
What to do next-
(Still didn’t get all those sounds in, so I should probably get on that…)
So the bugs are out of the way, getting the new intro in and fully operational is still my primary goal. After that, running it thru tests, and playtesting that, are my second priority.
Alex is still likely to be free, working on those new ui elements. the tooltips, as well as finishing the phone’s functionality. oh, and a crutial part of the Thoughts UI elements. The Twinkle.
Lastly, Once the dream sequence is good and done, the apartment itself will need an update, both in the continued intro, and as the first real level.
so, in list form:
- Finish implementing the new dream sequence
- Playtest
- implement all the SFX
- Polish Level 1
- Stretch:
- Finish level 2
- Start level 3
- Mock up more conversations scenes
- Paper prototype the emotional control mini-games.
Closing Notes-
Not much changes in these, but I am so close to releasing my first commercial game (for free), and that has all my time. Halfway Home, should Go Gold before August is out!
Jesse Lozano 