What are you working on?

[Lumin]

I know I know, another one of these threads.

But since it seems kind of slow around here at the moment I figured it wouldn't hurt, and you're not committing to anything by posting - just consider this a general chat thread anytime you feel like discussing your projects.

Here I'll start. I'm working on a little something for Po's v5 Intro Comp. I've been looking for something to ease me back into game writing and this seemed to pop up with perfect timing. I'd rather not give away any major details, but it's kind of a weird game partially based on a dream I had one time that I've always wanted to write a short story about. Turns out it works fine as a game too - I've only put an hour and a half or so into it so far but it's coming along nicely, and hey, even if I hit a snag, it's only four rooms, I should be able to manage.

A side project I'm tooling around with is developing a detailed alchemy system that I should be able to pretty much base a whole game around once it's polished enough. Maybe I'm weird but I think chopping the legs off a frog, throwing them in a pot of boiling water with some hemlock and powdered amanita and then grinding up a black pearl to toss into the mix and pouring it into someone's drink on the sly is a lot of fun, and not just in real life!

My main project is a fantasy novel in a setting I made up for an RP back (waaaay back) in the day. Since it's not actually IF (though I did make some progress with writing it as a CYOA before deciding it wanted to be a proper story) I won't go into it here unless someone really wants me to for some reason.

[Po. Prune]

There is aonther thread WiP 2012 somewhere in this fourm but I'm afraid that not many people found it worth adding on to it.
Anyway. For me, I'm currently working on three projects.
1: Son of Camelot which is in the final beta. That is if I can find someone who'd be willing to give it that final run. This is the final chapter of the Camelot trilogy I started earlier, but it can be played separately.
Your father has passed away, and while going through his papers you find the parchment handed to him by King Arthur of Camelot. You are surprised to find out that the parchment actually dates back to the 6 century and you travel to England to try and trace the parchemnt.
Of course this isn't just it. You'll get involved in helping save Camelot from Arthur's sister Morgane, and fall in love with the tour guide (who turns out to be not just your ordinary tour guide) Oh, and of course Merlin is here too.
So far I've got most of the game worked out and tested, but I need to test the final piece and are looking for someone who'd be interested in giving me a hand here.

2: D-Day. I haven't given up on this. I'm still working on it and I am progressing, although slowly.
Here you are one of th emany G.I's landing on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. After having made it off the beach (if you can) you will find that your mission hasn't ended there. A German artillery battery has zeroed in on an important intersection and threatens to stop the invasion if it's not eliminated.
This is probably my biggest game so far, implementing both sounds and pictures. People who have seen the trailer I released know what I'm talking about.

3: We'll meet again: Another war time story. The celebration of the Battle of Britain is taking place in the famous pilot's "water hole" The Majestic hotel. As a relative of one of hte pilots you are invited.
This one is still in the making. I'm trying to find a plot here and I have a rough sketch of the game in my mind.

[David Whyld]

I ought to have a game out soon. It was originally intended for this year's IFComp if the rule change from last year was removed, but as it looks like it won't be, I'll probably just release it anyway. Or hold it back until the end of year ADRIFT Comp, assuming we're having one – does anyone know?

The game's called Full Circle (originally it was going to be called Grove of the Ancients but I preferred the first title) and it's about the player exploring a strange island he finds himself on.

I started writing it a few years back, but what with one thing or another it never got finished. Recently I came back to it, fixed a few rough edges (by "few" I mean "more than I could count if I had a year"), rewrote a good chunk of it, changed the ending and whatnot.

One good thing I noticed from coming back to a game I'd not worked on for a few years is that I was approaching it without remembering every little thing about it. Puzzles I'd written myself I was actually having to figure out like I was a player (okay, I could have just opened the Generator and cheated but it was more fun to solve them the proper way). In other words, the game was written by me and tested by me. So there you have it: if you're having trouble finding people to test your game, simply throw it to one side for a few years then test it yourself!

[Po. Prune]

I ought to have a game out soon. It was originally intended for this year's IFComp if the rule change from last year was removed, but as it looks like it won't be, I'll probably just release it anyway. Or hold it back until the end of year ADRIFT Comp, assuming we're having one – does anyone know?

Risking of driving this thread off the track I just want to say that I think we should have an end of the year Adrift Comp and I'd be happy to (try) organize it.
Now back to the thread.

[Campbell]

So there you have it: if you're having trouble finding people to test your game, simply throw it to one side for a few years then test it yourself!

[Lumin]

I don't see any reason we shouldn't have an End of the Year comp, provided we, uh, get a couple more games before the end of the year.

Po, I still can't commit to any in depth testing, but if you're still looking for someone the weekend after this one I can give it a 'speed run' and just give you some general thoughts and notes on any errors I might notice in a normal playthrough, if that helps at all.

So there you have it: if you're having trouble finding people to test your game, simply throw it to one side for a few years then test it yourself!

This goes for regular writing too, though 'a few years' might be a tiny bit excessive.

Anyway, looking forward to playing Full Circle, as long as the strange island doesn't contain polar bears or a hatch of any sort.

[Jin Sane]

I'm currently working on a sorta basic adventure entitled "Castle Chronicle" as a way of getting back into ADRIFT.

Well... I say "basic"... but I can't seem to stop myself from creating intricate ideas. Today I ironed out the specifics for a general battle system with different weapon objects, varied enemy characters, health, max health, enemy strength, weapon power and spawns. Needless to say after getting these various properties and variables to interact with eachother in the correct ways at the correct times, I'm no longer creating a basic "getting back into the swing of things" title. Loving it though.

[Po. Prune]

Jim, would you want me to put your game on the WiP thread?

[Jin Sane]

Sure, that'd be swag.