Brief break

I'm going to be away from all keyboards for a week so there won't be any updates for a short while. The writing has been coming along ok, but it will probably be another month before I start looking for beta testers. If I'm lucky I'll return to this project feeling refreshed and able to write more productively!

Screenshots

Below are three screenshots taken from Souls of Gaia. I'm providing these previews to show how the graphics are going to work in the game. One of the problems I find with RAGs games is that the images used for characters (when talking or examining) either have the script and room layout built around the background in those images (which is creatively restrictive), or the backgrounds are at odds with the room image (requiring a suspension of belief). Either way it's not an ideal situation.

What I've attempted to do with Souls of Gaia is use the overlay feature in RAGs to display items, headshots in conversations and scene overlays for encounters (read sex). All of the background images are 640x480 so there is a consistency in how everything is displayed. There was a risk of a huge file size being generated with the use of png images, but so far I have 162 images in the game and the file is only 17MB. I'm quite happy with the way it's looking, but there is still some issue with the background being at odds with the scene overlays. I think it's minimal though and won't pull the player out of the game, although the players will ultimately be the judge of that.

I should mention that it was the testing of this graphics style that led to the creation of this game. It was supposed to be a short game (couple of rooms and characters) and used to test the audience if this style works or not before I developed Slut Royale further, but my creative juices started to flow and I've just been running along with it since. So yeah, try to remember that when I finally release this game, because this is me thinking 'small'.

Examining an object

 

A cutscene

Talking to NPCs

Whoops!

Realised this morning that I had forgotten to set this blog as adult content. Doh! Fixed that now.

I had one of those horrible, sleepless nights last night. I don't even know what caused it. I hadn't had any caffeine, didn't have anything on my mind and was definitely feeling very tired. If I hadn't felt tired I wouldn't have been bothered and just would have gone to my study to work, but sadly that wasn't the case. Oh well.

I decided to redo the introduction scene today, mostly from a gameplay point of view. The story and images that I have in place I'm happy with, I just didn't like the initial player actions. I've fixed that now, and also added in a more subtle method for the player to choose between an initial perk in intelligence or willpower. Skipping the introduction brings the player straight to that point and Chapter 1 starts immediately afterwards so players can get straight on with the game if they don't care much for story.

Another good day

I'm very happy with the amount of work I've gotten done so far today and I think I should be able to work on the game for a couple more hours yet. The game is starting to feel more alive with nearly all of the item, character and room descriptions completed. I'm now focusing my writing on one of the more complicated spells in the game (in terms of its variable results and alternative texts) and then I get to write on the good stuff: the sex! There is a significant amount of sex text to write (which should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever looked at my gallery on the Hypnopics Collective), with lots of alternative scenes depending on how the player approaches their target.

I'm still debating the music issue. I'm currently leaning more towards not including it since I'm not telling a strictly linear story, so there is a risk the music will actually jar with the mood. Ambiotic sound would probably be better since the music was more for the location than the story but I haven't got anything suitable.

Anyways, back to work!

Good progress today

I managed to get a decent amount of writing accomplished today as well as sharpening up a few of the image features in the game. I discovered one bug that is proving to be a bit of a head scratcher, but fortunately it is only related to a minor programming feature that I can always do without if I can't find a reasonable solution.

The file size currently sits at 15MB with 147 images. I'm toying with the idea of adding music to the game (I found a couple of tracks that I think fits the general mood) but doing so would easily add another 10MB to the file size. I know in modern times that isn't very much, especially when compared to other RAGs games, but I kind of want to show that games don't need to be 100+MB if a little thought is put into 'art' design. I'll have to think about it for a while.

Play, write, play, write

I've started on some initial alpha testing to see how the game is playing at the moment and help me find all of the descriptions, dialogue, etc. that I need to complete. This is definitely the part I find most difficult for two reasons:

1. I am very slow at writing. I struggle to find the right words and the process just drags on forever. Many a project has been killed by my inability to get my writing to flow.

2. I have a really bad tendency, and I mean really bad tendency, to expand on my ideas exponentially. I 'accidently' added 5 more rooms a couple of days ago and when I tried to stop myself from getting so carried away the game felt empty without them.

Hopefully I can find the discipline to see myself through what is going to be a very tough couple of weeks to keep this game on track. I'll keep you all posted on how that goes!

New site... again

I've moved my blog to this new address since I'm no longer focusing on just Slut Royale. I need to add a few more things into the side bar and more details on Souls of Gaia, but otherwise the new blog is up and running. Comments are enabled for anonymous users now so feel free to say hello!

Another screen from the introduction to Souls of Gaia