November

Finally laying down the foundations of the next thing - another game in a different genre, using the Forsaken Edge setting.

I wrote one last thing about Forsaken Denizen here.

October and IFComp 2024

Forsaken Denizen placed 3rd out of 67 in IFComp 2024! That's an outstanding result for a very strong field of competitors...

I've thrown it up on Itch.io here and updated my Neocities page with all the relevant links.

I may have some more to say about this game - and the next one(!) - at some point, but as ever, I'll be pootling along at my own pace.

September

Welp, the IFComp 2024 games have been released and my latest work is one of them.

https://ifcomp.org/ballot#entry-2946

(Note that this link probably won't work after the competition is over.)

I have an itch.io page ready to go for it, but I'm going to hold off until after the judging period.

See you at the Event Horizon, denizen...

August

I've been busy updating my game in response to tester transcripts, which has made me feel a bit more confident about this project... at least until I ran face first into the limitations of the platform again...

It seems I may have reached the limit of what I can add to this thing, which hopefully is a good point to start wrapping it up.

July

Fellow denizens!

Well, it's beta testing time. While I wait for transcripts to come in, I've been working on a few supplemental materials.

I've also been chucking my thoughts on the survival horror games I've been playing on my Tumblr under this tag. I'll probably stick it somewhere else as well once I'm done.

And IFComp intents to enter are opening now, so I'd better get on that as well...

June

Greetings from Forsaken Edge!

I've worked through my "to do" list and all that's left is the hint system... which I am currently working on, honest, even though it's always my least favourite thing to do.

After that I need to do some testing by myself and then with any willing victims volunteers. And then I guess it's done. Do I want to enter it into IFComp? The timings might be lining up, I guess, but I also often feel conflicted between wanting to show my weird little things to people and wanting to hide in a cave and never be observed.

In other news, I'm considering making something for Neo-Twiny Jam 2024. And Scavengers Reign is on Netflix now, and if you don't watch it this weird little frog creature will find you and do psychic crimes at you (do NOT feed the weird little frog creature).

The Simuloid Affair: Infinite Possibilities

Last night I got sidetracked into making a joke game for the REALLY BAD IF Jam.

If you play it, please forgive me.

May

 How It's Going

When I'm making a text adventure I like to make these big "to do" grids in a spreadsheet. Everything that needs doing, in every location, and then just a sprawling list of general things to do. The green squares are done; the yellow squares don't apply to that location.

By this measure, what I'm working on is just shy of 90% complete. Of course, that final ten percent may actually be a bit more consequential than it seems - it includes things like adding a hint system, for example. And I have also just decided that I want to add an expanded end-game.

But I did recently run into some issues where it turned out I was bumping into limitations of the Z-machine (the classic text adventure engine this thing uses), so we'll have to see just how much more I can expand it...

What It's Being

 My idea for these games set in the same universe as Killing Machine Loves Slime Prince is that each one will borrow some mechanics from a genre of video game not usually associated with text adventures or interactive fiction. I kind of got a start on this in KMLSP, which evokes the spirit of a Metroidvania, even if it shies away from fully embracing the mechanics (see Trouble in Sector 471 for an example of someone going all the way with this concept).

This next instalment is following its genre a little more closely, it being one that's very close to my heart. It's a bit difficult to tell at this point exactly how diluted it is, and how much of an acquired taste...

I do also have a good idea what I'll be doing for the third game, but at this point it's counterproductive for me to start planning it out in any detail.

Where It's From

I've played almost every mainline Resident Evil game they've ever made. I've never played the original version of the first game, and I still have to get around to the recent remake of the fourth one, but that's still a whole swathe of the most influential franchise in a particular (sub?)genre of games.

What I've been doing lately is playing through some of the other survival horror games. Your Silent Hills; your Dino Crises; your Parasites Eve. Compared to the homogenised (streamlined?) triple-A games of today, there's some real character to the way these games are put together. I mean the mechanics, the structure, the controls... Attempts were made. Things succeed magnificently and fail gloriously. (I'm not pretending there aren't still games made in this mould: your Signalises; your Heartworms.)

I don't know why I'm mentioning this. No reason, I guess.

2024: I Have Plans

So at some point I decided that I wanted to release a few small parser games set in the same universe as Killing Machine Loves Slime Prince. Which I think will qualify as the first time I've ever done a sort-of sequel?!

It took me a while to get started, but I'm now quite a way into making a new game... And actually, I'm not sure exactly how small it really is any more. (A blurry, cropped version of the map is presented above...)

It's also my aim to post here about once a month, just with an update on how things are going.

See you at the Event Horizon, denizen!