Score your day - more current version

 

It got a bit bigger.

Score your day - current version

Remember Score Your Day? Probably not.

Anyway, this is my current method for daily scoring. Just in case anyone wants to play along.

The Adventure Zone fan art - "You're Going To Be Amazing"

It's not often that I make fan art, but I felt like I had to pay homage to The Adventure Zone (Balance Arc) and this is how I chose to do it. It's probably the most emotionally affecting story that I've engaged with in recent memory and I enjoyed it very much.

I'm still here

I've been struggling, settling into my new life in Cornwall. It's frustrating because the PhD is basically a dream opportunity for me but I feel like I'm blowing it. But that's depression, I guess.

I knew it was going to be hard, living alone in a new place, making sure I socialise, trying to find new friends, adjusting to a new occupation, trying to ensure I stay on top of normal-person-things like fitness, hygiene and other responsibilities. But it feels like, however much I try to prepare, things are always so much harder to deal with than I imagined. And I end up feeling more and more like a failure. And then I realise that it's the depression making it worse (though there's always that part of me that believes that it's actually just me being lazy or not good enough).

So anyway, I am here. And I'm working as hard as I seem to be able to, even though I'm pretty sure that it's not currently hard enough. I'm now well enough to write about it, so I'm hoping that things are turning around. I feel like I'm going to have some interesting things to write about and share through my research - I'm looking forward to those days.

Thinky ChéBo

I am now a PhD student at the wonderful Falmouth University. More specifically, at their fantastic Games Academy. So this is where I'll mostly be for the next three or four years, at least.

The subject of my studentship is "Developing New Approaches to Branching Narratives in Computer Games", with my pitch revolving around bringing the way video game stories are handled closer to those of pen-and-paper roleplaying games, via a sort of virtual gamemaster. I could write more about it but I've been doing a lot of that recently and I'm sure my initial ideas are going to change drastically once my research begins properly.

My head's still spinning from the big change in lifestyle and moving and so on. It took a lot of hard work to get here but I'm pretty hopeful for the future. And, for the first time, I'm making my living via video games, which was basically my dream. I've also begun a little teaching-style work so it will be very interesting to see where that takes me. All-in-all, a positive change but tinged with sadness while I must mostly live away from my partner for at least a few years.

Talky ChéBo

Hello! I just recently started working in a call centre. Nothing to do with games. Got to pay this bills, you know?

Since graduating, things have been pretty hectic. I've been applying for games industry jobs and a few doctorate programmes. There've been a few interviews, a bit of getting through to the later rounds, a small amount of positive feedback, a chunk of "we're sorry, but you didn't get through this time" and a lot of not receiving any response. It got to the point where I had to take a decent-paying, non-games job just to stay afloat. I'm not giving up on the games industry, this just means that I can only focus on it during my time off work.

In terms of personal productivity, I've had a lot of stuff on the go. Largely, I've been working on the early phases of some new projects so there're a lot of scribbles in my notepads and bits of paper floating around the house. Some of it has made it into the early coding phases, so hopefully I'll have some new prototypes and things coming through in the nearish future.

I'm also putting together a plan for developing and improving my portfolio and presence as a solo developer/gamesperson. While I don't have as much time for it as I used to, I'm hoping to make the most of what I do have and set progress goals to improve my output.

Take a stance - tactical discussion system information

The tactical discussion system in Project Talky RPG (sigh) allows the player to choose a stance for the main character, representing how they say what they say (what they say is represented in the conversation map, which I'll cover later). The above pictures show Neutral, Aggressive, Witty, Closed and Stressed stances.

Neutral stance confers no special bonuses or penalties and has no extra impact on Control (representing who is in control of the conversation).
Aggressive stance causes Stress to both parties and takes Control away from an opponent in a Witty stance.
Witty stance recovers Stress for both parties and takes Control from a Closed opponent.
Closed stance reduces Stress gain for its user and takes Control from an Aggressive opponent.
Stressed stance is not really a choice - a character is forced into this stance when their Stress is too high. It severely limits their options for contributing to a discussion, but wears off quickly.

Each stance will also favour certain tactical approaches and some skills will only be available in a particular stance. For example, Aggressive will give bonuses to forcing the conversation down a certain path where Witty will help with tricking an opponent into talking about something that they wouldn't normally.

My current project, Talky RPG (ugh)

Here is the main character from the game that I'm working on for my dissertation. Currently, it's codenamed "Talky RPG" but I'll definitely give it a better name before the end.

It is a fantasy RPG, complete with many fantasy tropes (and parodies of them), but the player must solve problems without resorting to violence. The game features a tactical discussion system in which the player can attempt to influence other characters in a social (rather than physically violent) way.

In time, I'll post more updates.

Brewing up an anime-inspired RPG system for Cardiff Anime & Gaming Con

These are a couple of character concepts for something I'm currently calling Ultra JankenSquad Forever. It's an anime-inspired role playing game system based around rock-paper-scissors (rather than dice and whatnot, for checks). They represent two character archetypes - Reckless Inventor and Grizzled Old-Timer. I'm making this system to run at Cardiff Anime & Gaming Con, where I will also be giving a talk on Making your own RPGs! Why not click that link and join me there?

Lots of one-game-a-weeks - a run-down

Here's a brief look at some of the little game designs I've been furiously working on over the last couple of months. I'll provide some (Windows only) links for if you want to try any of them, but be warned - they are small, incomplete prototypes and they may not have end conditions or built-in ways to quit (or even real instructions on how to play). You may have to resort to Alt-F4 or the Task Manager to close the programs.

Descriptions and links in the full article, below the jump.

Steampunk versus Office Worker

Here are a couple of images from today's session at University. This is a brief character concept for a theoretical game in which the player takes the role of a character from our reality that has become trapped in a dark, steampunk world.

Character Building early logo attempt

Hello! While it may seem that I've been lazy for the last few months, I've actually been pretty busy. I've just been lazy about actually informing anybody of that fact.

Above is a (very early draft of a) logo for my latest project - Character Building! It is a pen-and-paper RPG system with a focus on accessibility and inclusivity. It's the kind of thing that I can't post a lot about because I'm still working hard on sorting the rules out.

What I will say is that I hope it will have a very different feel than many of the more popular RPGs out there. And I hope than everyone will enjoy it!

Tambra

Just a quick little upload of something I drew.

The latest player character

Here are a couple of images of the player character from the game I'm currently working on. Things are coming along nicely - I've made some real progress in the last couple of days. Real progress. Unfortunately, there's not a lot to show for it because a new screenshot would look pretty much identical to the last one.

Strategy? Not any more...

Hello there.

This is a picture of something that I've been working on. It started as a test for a potential strategy game, but it sort of took on a life of its own. I preferred it when the little fighting people got on with their own thing. Why should you be in control?

I've got the bare bones of this game in place, but I've got some good ideas on how to let it grow. The player controls the big, dark thing. The people in red and blue fight each other. There's going to be more to it than that, I swear.

Grrraaarrrggghhh

Just a quick one. Been struggling to find the time to create recently. Such is real life, I guess.

Meet Super Shoot Guy

That's him, there. He's really good at shooting stuff.

How about some mystery? This image may or may not be related to a project I'm currently working on.

Uh... Happy New Year?

Long time no see. I hope this isn't too awkward for you.

It's been a fairly turbulent few months since the end of last year, and my creative output has suffered somewhat. I've been job-hunting and then job-finding and then double-job-working for a while. Now that I'm down to one regular-sized job (pictured above), I'm hoping to get back on with the creation of things.

This weekend I got back into working on TF:DE. As before, it is fairly near completion, so I very much hope to have it finished soon - if only because I want to start something new. It's driving me mad.

A female protagonist

Here is a small image from another game that I am currently working on. I want to try my hand at something with a bit more action and some more impressive animations. It's a big task, and I'm right at the beginning, so this one will probably be ticking over for quite some time.

This is the main character. At the moment, I'm calling her Punch Lady, but that hopefully won't last very long.

17X9 - the first battle

In the first recorded conflict of 17X9, the Flavus Technocracy launched a Liberation Strike against a Kingdom of Mov Broadcast Station. It was a fierce battle, but the Flavans came out on top, thanks to the support of a unit of Wasps. Once the Movish had been defeated and their bodies destroyed, the Flavans levelled the Broadcast Station and moved on.