Interstellar Tortoise

3.11.09

Frag. I am not sure whether or not to keep this whole dynamic music thing. It’s a fair amount of extra work, it doesn’t always sound as good as something planned out, it only saves a little bit of space, and the melody sections still get repetitive after a little while… And it broke my sound effects slider.

Also I would need to keep the music inside the file as opposed to an external directory. And this bloats the size of the working file considerably and makes it unpleasant to do just about any development. Oy.

I just don’t know. I guess I will put aside the sound for a while and just focus on visual art and gameplay issues.

BTW – I just started playing Super Metroid again – and I am just floored by what a fantastic opening sequence that game has. Possibly the best in video game history.

12.2.08

Well, maybe Christopher Lloyd doesn’t need roads, but I figured that I need them in the game pretty ‘friggin badly. I made the navigational arrows invisible until you roll over them, which works pretty well overall. It makes the space far cleaner and more aesthetic – unfortunately it also makes it harder to tell WHERE to go.

So my solution has been a path that goes through the game - a visual cue as to which directions are available to move in. It is absolutely AMAZING what a big difference that makes in terms of understanding the navigation.

(7/29/08)

Well, this thing is seeming more and more like a game. I love the open ended-ness of the game, but I keep thinking of things that should be done to make sure that the player knows what to do. The last thing that I want is a game that people feel confused or lost in. I have been playing through Zelda: the Phantom Hourglass and have been paying attention to their cutscenes/pacing – it is very clear.

There have been a couple places where I have gotten stumped, but there is usually some sort of hint or pointer that will point in the right direction. Any time there is a new challenge or circumstance, there is a short cutscene describing what is to be done. Like bombing at unmarked surfaces.

So as a result I am feeling more conscious of where Anomolous Reverie has unclear goals or expectations. I think that even one or two lines of text describing the expectation would make a big difference in a new player’s ease of use.

I’ve also been addressing the game maps – because there are a lot of places where they are incorrect or misleading. The last thing you want a map to be is misleading. A fair amount of compositions have needed to change, but it is becoming much easier to navigate through the game.

I’ve also noticed that the cutscenes in Phantom Hourglass are primarily just text explanations. That is extremely relieving to me because that is all I’ve got the budget for.