Hey everyone!

So just a quick heads up, I'm slowly migrating my posting and updates (including the Developer Diary) over to my website: www.silver-stitch.com
Head over there for more complete and frequent updates!

So working on the demo for the engine has been going well, though bugs have popped up now that I'm working outside the developer environment, particularly with physics. However, progress is still being made and bugs are being crushed beneath my boot of coding!

Don't forget, if you want to be a tester for the demo, shoot me a message and I'll add you to the list! :D

All the best,

S.S.
^,,^

Hey everyone!

I did it! I finished the game engine!
I mean, sure, there are a couple of bugs lying around and a couple of small features exclusive to future projects missing, but for what it needs to be, it's done!

IT'S DONE!

It's taken almost 2 years!
Anyways, over the next month I will be doing a couple of things, focusing mostly on business and pre-production:
- Building a demo environment for testers and other demonstration purposes.
- Setting up my website to migrate there.
- Finishing up the pre-production of the first project.

On this note, I need people to test my engine.
I'm going to make a demo environment, fill it with plenty of mechanics to play around with. I need people to load it up, and try to break it.
I'm sure there are plenty of things I've forgotten, or things I may have completely over-looked, so I need a fresh set of eyes to mess around in my world.
If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll let you know when the demo is ready and how to access it.

Aside from that, hope you're all doing fantastically! :D

S.S.
^,,^

[Here is a little screenshot compilation to show off!]

Well I just up and missed posting in April didn't I? Sorry, but I've been pushing myself to get this engine done, I just didn't want to post up another entry about "it will be done in a month!", even though that's exactly what I'm doing now...

I've done so much over the past 2 months so I'll try to sum it up (forgive me if I repeat something); dialogue, flying AI, all other AI, pretty much everything about the player that wasn't done already, heaps of triggers, sound effects and music (including location based sounds), thought bubbles, slight performance boosts, endless bugs, probably more stuff. Of course this is on top of other work as well, which is fun.

I'm so close, I can practically taste it (whatever a game engine tastes like, I'll know soon)! Also my website works, I just need to make it look pretty. When the engine is done I'll be migrating there for weekly updates, but will still be doing monthly updates here and on deviantArt.

I'm so tired...

Happy Star Wars day! May the 4th be with you all ~~
And Happy Pico Day to everyone this Saturday! :D

Hey y'all!

So I actually had a super productive month! *self-five*

Check out the description of this image [click me] for a bunch of info about progress I've made! Don't get me wrong though, I still have more to go, but I'm moving this engine to v0.0.2 since all of the reasons for this to be considered a game now exist; there is a player who can interact with the mechanics and progress. Heaps of bug-fixes, quests, inventories, and most importantly triggers are now in the game! I now have to further the trigger functions (including adding trigger functions to attacks), add audio, add dialogue, update AI (specifically flying AI...), some engine updates (such as saving progress), and that might be it! I should update the Inspection Window to play cinematics. Still plenty to keep me busy, but I'm really happy with how much work I got done despite other work and going away for a bit!

Anyways, back to work!

S.S. ^,,^

Hey everyone!

Sorry about the ridiculous delay, I wasn't at home much over the past month. That, and combined with the stress over Christmas and a part-time job, I've really fallen back on my schedule (just as I was catching up). I've managed to finally complete player combat after re-writing animation functions and writing the start of an inventory system (which I'll continue this very day!).

Life has definitely gotten in the way a lot over the past 2 months, not necessarily for the worse mind you. Going away on a trip is always fun, working to make real-people money is a necessity, and my graphics card breaking is definitely not a fun set-back, but it happens. In my yearly plan I accounted for set-backs but I'm pushing the limit now, so I'm really going to push myself to catch back up the work I've missed over the past 2 months. I need to get this engine done otherwise I can't tell the stories I want to. Hopefully in a month's time I'll be posting about how I'm finished (or basically finished knowing me).

I still have a lot of work to do. But I'll get it done.

Some good news though!
Firstly, unlike me my musician is well on-time and has already sent me some demos for the first game. I wish I could show you all because they are AMAZING!
Secondly, as an apology for being late, here is a compilation shot of my latest update featuring player combat, independent arm movement, and death animations. [Link]

S.S. ^,,^
 

Hey everyone!

Whew, what a crazy month...
The first part of the month, I really knuckled down to get work done, and I managed to catch-up a bit to my original time-frame! After a short break, I come home to find my graphics card is broken... So for over half this month I've been running a very old card that struggles with a lot of media. I also got some casual work to help cover some costs of my incoming Christmas shenanigans and various other major plans I have for the start of next year. However, despite many distractions, I'm actually really happy with my progress over the past month. I've improved collision checking drastically, I've advanced the AI functions, I've almost entirely finished combat (only need to rig-up the player's functions) both melee and range, menu functions are in, death and re-spawning is in, health and regeneration is done. And on top of coding I've also had a proper big meeting with my musician for the first game, and my website is coming along nicely.

With this drawing to the end of 2015, I want to quickly dot-point a few things about what 2016 will bring:
- The game engine (M.E.) will be done before the end of January.
- My first game will be done within 2-3 months after the engine, with a sequel another arriving 2-3 months after that one, both using M.E.
- Either a board-game or a card-game will be released after the two digital games.
- A third and separate digital game (still using M.E.) will be released later in the year.
- My website will be finished in January, along with a weekly/fortnightly update blog.

Before I leave you for the year, have a screenshot of where my engine is at by pressing [this link], and I hope you all have a wonderful December! :D

Hey everyone!

Gotta keep this brief because I'm about to dash off for a bit!

What have I done now that I have all this free time?
The board game I've been working on is at what could be considered a Beta stage; the game base of the game is finished, it works, and I have a printed copy that I'm going to have friends and groups test to provide feedback. It still has a way to go, especially since board game production is something new to me.
The game engine I'm working on has been going really well! I've been getting back into the swing of everything, and have spent most of my work hours working on NPC functions. Hopefully over the next couple of months I can have the engine completed and begin work on the next game properly!

There's also been a bit of business stuff as well, the social media stuff is progressing but taking time. It's going to be a while before I really get comfortable with this new work process, but I'm loving it and I'm making great progress!
I'll be away for part of this month visiting family, but hopefully I'll be able to get some sketching and writing done while I'm gone!

Till next time, be happy ~~

Hey everyone,

Firstly, my injuries to my arms have been healing with great speed, my physio just told me I've been making amazing progress! While there will be life-time issues, they are nothing I cannot over-come with persistence and care. *happy!*

Secondly, this month has been kind of productive. Not in the progress of the game engine however, but in the build up to it. Aside from the usual writing and a small animation job I did, I've been preparing to dedicate a lot more time to my game work, particularly this month. Why? Well...

Finally, I quit my job! Having a full time job was alright, and having a steady income was definitely nice, but I'm set on following my passion. For a while now I've been saving my money earned from my work to afford to support my own projects. I believe I have hit that target now, and personally the timing couldn't be better. Starting next week, my occupation will be game developer, working for myself. I'll still need to find some part time work, but if everything goes to plan then this will be my life.

In maybe 2 weeks I will have a website up and I will post up links to the site and various social media, so stay tuned!

I can't fully describe to you how happy I am that I will be able to return to my passion of game design, let's hope everything works out.

Fingers crossed, be happy ~~

Hey everyone,

Unfortunately this past month hasn't been great productivity wise, in-fact it is probably my least productive month in a long time. This is in-part due to discovering I have tendinosis in both my arms/wrists. While it isn't anything serious, I'm currently stuck wearing detachable wrist casts (makes typing lots of fun...) and have plenty of stretches and exercises to do to strengthen my tendons. This sucks for the short-term, but since I will be using computers for the majority of my life this is something I need to treat asap.

Also the news I wanted to mention in this post will have to wait till next month due to a technicality... But it will be good! I promise! Nothing much has been happening! But things will be happening soon!

Till then, take care and be happy ~~

Hey everyone,

Alas I don't have much at all to brag about production-wise this month. It's been a pretty tense month with work getting more strenuous and various other personal reasons.
I managed to patch-up a small handful of bugs and errors, did a little optimisation with the player collisions, and fixed up the climbing-wall so it detects for space at the top and allows the player to climb over if it is clear. Of course there was also the usual sketching and some writing, but nothing worth posting about here.
Sometimes you just don't get much work done, or at least something stops you from getting that work done. But I have a plan that will (hopefully) let me fix that. I should be able to fill you in on that a bit more next month.

Till then, be happy ~~