Ah well, if I can’t leap I guess I’ll just have to Spring. So I’m proposing a release date of March 20th, the first day of Spring. Have you noticed a recurring theme here ; D ?

Usually I finish may games in Fall or Winter so it’s nice to have one in Spring. The only problem with the release I see (aside from my poor sense of timing), would  be the other games that release that day (Ninja Gaiden III, and Resident Evil Operation: Raccoon City). Slipping through the cracks is a cause for concern. I guess I’ll see how it goes. I suppose It’s probably better than a release a week before Mass Effect 3.

The model is still incomplete but I think I have a good idea of what the final head will look like.The mouth may also turn out different depending on how well rigging the mouth fares.

Nothing is seamed together yet because I’m likely going to reuse those parts before moving on to other characters.

The process probably seems slow but much like music, once I’ve finished one, the rest just fall into place.

I’ll think I’ll post the complete model next update. I should be finished quite soon.

I’ll level with you, right now I have about 3 and half minutes of gameplay, no models are complete, a few core systems are missing, no songs have been completed, I haven’t completed the story script, many levels are still blank pages, and there’s still a few things I feel should be redone or improved on. You must think I’m crazy to even be attempting a Leap day release.This is sort of the usual situation for me and the game typically seems like it springs up overnight (minus having to deal with music), but there is a promotional aspect that I always forget to take into account. In reality I’d want to be done at least a week before 29. Still I won’t rule it out just yet!

February 1st I’m going to show something. I don’t know what yet but definitely something. Nothing big though, It’s most likely going to be model related. If all goes well, February should be the month where the game quickly unravels and is topped off with a release. In reality that likely isn’t going to happen but reassured the project is going to be finished soon.

Unless of course I don’t like something… no mistakes!

For the past week now I’ve been giving a shot at music again. Combined, I’ve probably spent at least 3 weeks just trying new techniques to get something that works. Finally, I think I have a song that I can work off! It isn’t complete yet, I’ll probably do a bit more stage work  first. Kinda worries me I could be lost when I get back to it but my brain needs a rest.

On occasion I thought about finding someone else to do music but it’s a bit difficult to find someone that does that frenetic sound I’m looking for. In addition to that, I’m assuming it’ll be very difficult to find someone that works for cheap and produces good music, something I can be very picky about.

The reason I’ve gotten into music lately is I’m waiting on a few books to arrive. I could’ve also went with modelling but I was much more worried about whether I’d even be able to do the music. Me + Books is usually murderous combination because I end up wanting to try new things or reconstruct old things but I’m taking a very lackadaisical approach this time. I have a few systems I still need to implement and I want to make sure they’re done right.

On a final note, if you haven’t heard, the ESA has pulled its support so I guess E3 is back on! To be honest I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to go anyway, it sort of a project outcome type thing.  : j

Oh yeah, that leap day release is still possible. I’m not ruling it out!

Here’s where the plot thickens. The ESA (Entertainment Software Association),which in general represents the game industry, is said to be a big supporter of the bill. I guess what company says no to more power right? That isn’t making the ESA a lot of friends.

The ESA’s big event is E3, and as a spite to the ESA’s support for SOPA/PIPA it’s been proposed that the media not cover E3 this year and that people and companies not attend.

So where do I stand in this? I have everything to gain from this from a company perspective right, albeit a really small company. Yet and still I I oppose this bill. I’ll always be on the progressive side, forward thinking. You honestly don’t even have to read into the bill, you can look at the list of companies that support the bill and the companies that don’t to get a sense of which side you should be on. This bill to me feels like as step backwards. The very companies that made the internet so useful (YouTube, Google, Wikipedia and even those social companies I like to complain about), they’re the ones in the crossfire of all this. In the meantime, the companies that do absolutely NOTHING are in support of it. Typical.

Attending E3 was one of the things I was hoping to do this year, but probably won’t happen at this rate. It’s a shame because events like that only help companies but attending this year would equal to a slap in the face to all the people opposing the bill. Even if you’re thinking from a business standpoint it isn’t a good move.

It’s a important to remember that piracy is an issue but polluting the ocean to take down a few ships is probably more harm than good. (figuratively speaking of course)

Most games don’t have this problem as they’re either one or the other, however some realistic games may shift towards fantasy elements when ideas are slim (ahem, not to say that’s what I’m doing…. Fantasy is just a lot quicker to produce). The advantage of fantasy is that you’re not working inside of a box, you can use any idea at your disposal. Once you go back into that box there’s just going to be some things you won’t be able to do.

So how does this apply to me? In a series about talking animals with table manners aren’t I already in the fantasy realm? Well the only thing I focus my fantasy on is the world itself. It’s nearly impossible to make a stage based on a realistic landscape with a path so conveniently laid out for you. In addition to that, you’d be left with a limited variety of environments when focusing on reality. The physics themselves however, I try to follow very closely, with Felix’s jumping and wall jumping possibly being a bit of a stretch. You wont’ see any magic or ghosts or psychics or a zombies or Felix getting shot 50 times  only to hide behind a corner for 5 seconds to make a full recovery. You may also have noticed I’ve never used a floating platform in the more realistic themed games. Where fantasy is concerned I tend to only use science fiction (e.g.The thylacine)

So enter World of Whimsy, a game full of floating platforms and bouncing mushrooms and bizarre landscapes. It’s very easy to get caught up working outside the box and think to yourself going back in the box would make for a very boring experience. Games are all about fun right? I myself am a story based designer, meaning the game itself is an extension of the story which can limit the things I can do. Then there’s the Miyamotos out there whom make the story an extension of the game, which can limit the versatility of the story. I must note though, games aren’t always fun because of good game mechanics, they can also be fun because they’re immersive experiences and the world you’re playing in is actually interesting and you can understand it.  I don’t believe a game has to be nonsensical in order a game to be more fun. As long is the game is enjoyable in some form, I really don’t think it matters. I’m a firm believer that there are no rules in terms of creativity. I think of games as art so sorry for the hippie artist rant. : )

On the subject, it does frighten me that future titles could dramatically differ from World of Whimsy due to level design limitations. I’m not worried that I won’t have any ideas, I worry how the genre will be affected making the game too different from the last. Ironically people tend to complain that the sequels are too much of the same. The term realistic-platformer is a bit of an oxymoron, so I can see people thinking that the platforming elements aren’t as strong in future titles. There’s nothing like watering down a part people liked. I really hate steps backward.

As usual, I”m probably getting ahead of myself. Even so, if this game does well I’m not going to shift towards a fantasy theme. That certainly won’t mean future titles won’t be as good but I do feel people may not find there’s not enough platforming, which seems to be a dying breed as it is. Well I can’t please everyone, but the wonderful things about archived ideas is that that can spin off into other projects.

(One of my career goals is to approach Nintendo about a game involving a certain dinosaur. That however is getting way ahead of myself)

The second part of this story would be character models.I was going to do a bit of modeling work a long time ago but decided that it really wasn’t as important in the grand scheme of things. In turn, I’ve just been doodling trying to stabilize Felix’s design, which likes to change a lot because I always tend to try different drawing methods.

Then there’s the music… Good grief. The first song seems to be the hardest one because it sets the theme of the other songs. I still haven’t done that first song. Maybe it’ll come to me after the playing through the first stage in full form.

The artistic side of things tend to be the most open ended so I’m saving those tasks for later. Getting lost in the arts is an easy way to prolong a project. I honestly think I would be done right now if I didn’t focus so much on graphics and technology but I guess it was all warranted with the jump to 3d.

Either way, lesson learned!

To kick of the 2012 year I thought I’d do 1 or 2 things as I begin to ease into promotion mode. On the Art Page I’ve uploaded a more recent picture of Heather and right now I’m going to announce a few more details about the game.

The end product is set to be around 3 hours. That doesn’t mean I currently have a 3 hour product but my goal is to make the game last about that amount of time. The goal price will be 400 ms points which is about ($5 USD). Considering there are games  about the same length of time and cost 3 times as much, I think  it’s a pretty fair price (as long as the game is good that is…).

I’m going to be a lot more active in the next few months, even if I’m just posting to babble about nothing. The game’s release is a month or so away so consider this an interlude to the promotional phase.

The goal here is to be good enough to get an article on a major gaming website. I think I’ll send something to ScrewAttack.com near the end of the production phase. I like their style.

Heather (Lisa’s niece) is assisting Lisa (whom is tutoring Wiley), by going over a book she’s written, with Wiley. If you’ve played Samba of the Wolves you’ll find Wiley to be somewhat illiterate. The book is dubbed “Felix and the World of Whimsy”.

Felix and the World of Whimsy is about Felix wandering around a mythical land of happy flowers and other anthropomorphic plants and objects. Unfortunately, the land is being terrorized by The Count (Roy) and it’s up to Felix to save the World of Whimsy.

Naturally Wiley doesn’t take well to the cutesy plot and develops the sole intention of derailing it with variations to the story, effectively raining on Heather’s parade.

The game itself is a kindred spirit with “Anti Effect”, following along Felix in a narrated  form. The characters use their actual personalities and work as actors following a script in a world of its own. The difference is, the real world will play a part in the story as well.

It’s a fun little tale that I think finally introduces that bit of ideology into the series I’ve wanted to and provides contrast to how seriously the characters work in even the most unrealistic settings.

On a plus note the skeleton of the game, story and structure wise is finally set and I’m simply on the path of filling it in. I usually never do this, often opting to design a set of features and seeing how I can use them. Given a little breathing room, this way seems to work rather well. On a minus note, I ehh still have no music… I’ll get there though!

One thing I must reemphasize, is my focus towards adventure/puzzles. Samba of the Wolves captures the spirit of things in a few ways (firefly, logs) although don’t make much sense and the start of Tandem Tales just completely misses the point and is nothing more than a trade quest. While this game has a lot more platforming than the previous games, my top priority has been to put the Adventure back into the Adventures of Felix.

My next source of reveals will likely either be final models or the debut trailer. However, I’m not doing a debut trailer until I have some music to go with it. I have no clue how long that could take but early January sounds about right.