Warning: some ramblings.
My project updates
Summer (and Fall) update & work hiatus
For most parts, this summer was full of busywork, but I, Karine, have nothing to show for it. And we’ve been procrastinating writing this up, which means I already pretty much forgot all I did save for a few major things:
- Server migration: this website, along with most of my client’s websites, were transferred over to Digital Ocean (affiliate link) to replace my GoDaddy VPS server management. I’m just gonna say this right now, I love cloud hosting and I will never go back to not-cloud. Still not trusting businesses boasting their cloud technology use, but seriously, this is fun to work with.
- I’ve been working on some YouTube video scripts, and YouTube accounts in general… My goal is to motivate me to document the stuff I do. It sounds like adding some more work but talking to a camera is therapeutic to me and fun, so it may help! I’m trying.
- October and November are the Xmas art gift month, so I’ve been working on pieces I also can’t show yet…
- I helped a friend edit her book… I found out I’m not too shabby at seeing and improving copy despite being unable to write well myself ahaha
- And I went to Cancún so there’s a lot of time this summer that I just spent preparing and hyping for that ahahah.
Basically, a lot has happened, and everything is a blurry mess now.
Except Mexico. Mexico is clear as day:
But I really want to get back on track and write some sort of update to push me into writing every week again.
Beb’s projects during the summer
Script editor
Beb has finished the script editor tool in Unity he did so it’d be easier to write our script-heavy game. It acts as a sort of hierarchical tree of “directions” the player can to through in our game’s dialogue, and then when we’re done designing it, it prints out a big JSON file for the game to parse.
Beb wants to make the script editor be able to run “in game” simulations, but that’s on the back burner for now.
Card game
In the meantime, Beb wanted to replicate Hearthstone’s card and aim system for another game he has on his mind.
As seen above, he managed to create the card arced hand of cards, animation and all. He also created a lot of RPG-style monster stats systems to go along with it.
- A weakness and strength chart;
- Buffs and debuffs;
- Abilities and weapons effects;
- Loot and drops.
And so on. He made those to be able to re-use them into other games, too. I don’t know the details and we’re both too lazy to go through it all, but to give you an idea, he spent a good while reading Smogon’s replica of Pokémon’s fighting system to understand the order stuff was happening in fights. It’s a whole thing.
If you ask me, this game is suffering a little bit of identity crisis, but I can’t wait to sit down and nail some lore for it, because I really want to draw card artworks… One of the art style I like doing the most is the cartoony look and it would lend itself quite nicely on a card game.
Blender
A big chunk of Beb’s past few months was learning how to do stuff in blender.
To practice modelling, he’s done a child’s room and its contents:
This was also for another project, however this one is a little touchy because it’s a real 3D game, as in, the gameplay navigates 3D spaces. It’s not just like the card game where it 3D only in effect, but is actually just a click and point 2D interface.
For that reason, this project is also put on the back burner.
Coming up next
<rambling>
This hiatus makes it sound like we’re unfocused, and, to be fair, we are.
More specifically, I am.
I have a million excuses but, really, they all boil down to me being distracted by something else that ends up taking all my time. Like, I love my friend, but editing that book took time, and I’m at best a potable editor. I didn’t hate working on it, but like… it took a lot of time, and I feel that since I was doing it so she could save money, it’ll show in the quality, lol. Oh well. At least I practiced, I guess, since our main game project needs a lot of editing, too…
So yeah, distraction. Focus. It’s hard. I actually learned that I may have a attention deficit disorder in the past months. Now, it’s not an excuse, but it did make the penny drop on some things in my life.
Content-wise, I do want to keep blogging about the progress, and I do want to try and keep doing them on a weekly basis, because sitting down and checking on the past week helps me keep track of my life in general.
But I really feel bad about making promises on updates on stuff and they just never happen. I started writing this article two months before I went to Cancún, in September! And I felt so bad trying to finish it because I tried too hard to fill it with everything that had been done, but a lot was just me being frustrated at my web server and, like, nobody cares. It’s not game design. I haven’t touched game design in months. And that weighted on me.
When I got back from Mexico, it took about 2 weeks for my normal life rhythm to take back hold. And then I got a new diagnosis and meds to take, plus it’s xmas-time which shifted my regular part-time work schedule… and oh god there’s so many “end of the decade” memes and they’re hitting hard, like, what am I doing with my life???
Oh well. I’m a mess.
But I’ll try! That’s my only promise, tho.
</rambling>
Thanks for reading my messy mind dump, I guess. Happy holidays! 😊