Remaking The Infinite Ocean is an interesting challenge; a lot of it has been very easy, but some parts of the process have had me badly stumped. The numeric puzzles are the biggest obstacle – while I had a basic idea of how to make them more accessible, translating that to something even remotely elegant while also preserving some gameplay has been quite difficult. Finding passwords is central to my understanding of the story, so I can’t remove that aspect, but experience shows that the old implementation was just too frustrating for most people.
The new version takes a slightly different approach, treating passwords almost like inventory items, and allowing you to combine passwords via drag & drop. Finding them is also easier: the game plays a sound to let you know when you’ve found one, and when reading journals etc. there’s a scanner option which highlights them in the text.
This way, the puzzles are more visual and more accessible, while still fitting with the setting and plot.
Bad news:
- I went to the dentist today, and she’s certain that both of my lower wisdom teeth will have to come out.
- One of these is hurting a lot.
- I don’t have an appointment to get them taken out yet. The doctor I originally wanted to go to doesn’t have time in the next two weeks because the colleague that she works with is sick.
- I’m calling another doctor tomorrow to see about scheduling an appointment.
Good news:
- We were at a good friend of ours today and played a board game called Tomb. It was fun, but deeply flawed in several ways.
- This reminded me of how I used to design board games when I was a kid.
- Which in turn led me to have an idea for a board game that would be absolutely fricking awesome. And I have decided to add it to the list of things I will be working on in the future.
- I am considering whether it’s possible to create this as a do-it-yourself board game, where you can download everything from the internet and print it out yourself. Might be fun.
Anyway, I have taken my drugs and hopefully the pain will soon subside so that I can sleep.
OK, I’m giving up. Not on the game, just on finishing today. I don’t feel well enough physically. I shouldn’t have been so confident, but how could I know that all of these things would happen:
- complete destruction of glasses
- extreme stomach pains, probably due to the stress
- realization that a few important files had not been backed up
- batshit bizarre bug
My apologies to those who were looking forward to playing today. Given my obsession with doing things on time when it comes to the theatre, it drives me insane that so many of my personal projects go like this. I think a large part of the problem is that I’m not getting paid for this, and so a lot of other things end up taking away time from the work.
That, and my tendency to attract days like this. I mean, what the fuck. At some point I was just sitting there mumbling “I can’t believe this” to myself.
So, the current state of affairs: almost everything is done. What’s missing is one really important audio file. The thing is, I have to recreate that file, not find it (because the original is gone), so I have decided to do it tomorrow morning. I could do it today, but I’d end up having another nervous breakdown. I already had two today, and I don’t need another one.
I’m not going to make any brave announcements now. I will just say that I think the game will be ready for downloading tomorrow noon. I think. I have no idea what horrible things might happen. But it’s possible that you can play it tomorrow.
And now, good night.
P.S. Our governments are sitting on their arses while thousands of people in Haiti are dying – thanks to social conditions that have essentially been imposed on that poor nation. If you want to help out, you could donate some money by following this link to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. We have very little money, so I only donated 15€ myself – but every little bit counts, and if our institutions won’t function, we have to help each other somehow.
Just realized I lost a couple of important files when we wiped the computer. No, it’s not the end of the world, just more work, more delays, more bullshit I don’t need right now…
If I don’t have a nervous breakdown before this game is released, it’ll be a miracle of Biblical proportions.
There is no podcast, because I spent all my time working on the research system in Phenomenon 32, and forgot to record one. So no podcast for you, but nearly 30 things to research. Quite a few of them are even useful. Isn’t that awesome?
If you’re bored, why don’t you read up on the hagfish, one of the most amazingly weird creatures ever?
And now for something completely different: a fresh and minty podcast! Yes, from now on this website shall feature its own delicious podcast, full of utter nonsense that no-one in their right minds wants to hear! Uh, I mean, its own incredibly interesting podcast about topics so profoundly interesting, they will make your brain melt.
Or maybe it’s just a chance to listen to a writer and game designer you like rambling on about anything he’s currently interested in. Hey, it might be fun.
In today’s episode: Phenomenon 32, The Great Machine: A Nightmare, various thoughts about art and the artist, a complaint about RPGs, and a short note on the importance of feedback. The name of the podcast is probably just temporary, until I come up with something I like.
Music: “Serenity” from the album Sedative, by BLUnderwood.
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Jonas Rambles On by Jonas Kyratzes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
