-- by Lizo Medina-Gray

This month’s theme in testgame.exe: Making the Adventure:

Prettiness—that is to say, lots of little tiny things that are cool but will probably be barely noticeable to anyone who’s not me.

This means that pretty much everything I’ve done this month has to do with small side-animations, graphics and little quirky game-running things. Which is not to say that testgame isn’t any better this month! At least one of the changes should make the whole game more enjoyable (and make you less likely to throw your computer against the wall on occasion).

It’s starting to get to the point where I find myself filling in little bits of the game which I glossed over before (i.e., mini-animation). This sounds like a good thing, but if you’re starting to think, "Oh! That means she must be almost done with things like plot and stuff!" then just stop. Erase those thoughts before you even think them, for you are wrong. On the one hand, we’re almost to the end of the storyline in this section of the game, but then there’s the whole rest of it to go! Ohhh, the world. Well, you’ll just have to keep checking back here to see how far I actually get (and how long it takes me)!

So! No more rambling! It’s testgame time!

Oh and by the way, I still need voice actors! If you’re a male (or can speak in a male voice) and you have any interest at all in providing the voice for a cranky old guy in a kilt, or an darkly evil guy with a sword, send me an email right now! Fame and fortune awaits you!

And yes, before you ask, Paul does sleep fully clothed and wearing shoes.

Things to do/new features of note:

• New voice acting! Be sure to check out the cutscene with Lily in the woods—I actually really like how this turned out. :)

• New exciting feature involved with dying: Resurrection! This was the only way Paul (the real Paul) would let me keep death in testgame at all, and it turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. Now, after Paul (the character) dies, if you choose the "Try Again" option, the game will reload right at the spot just before you did the thing that killed you! So cool! (== my own little nod to KQ7)

• Paul’s computer! It’s somewhat like a real computer now, and I’m reeeally happy with the way it turned out, plus it involves animation.

• And speaking of animation! I’m exceedingly proud of a new bit immediately after the intro cutscene! It takes about five seconds to watch, but took me three days to put together.

• Fixed some small issues with the dialogue with Artie; it should be a lot smoother now and make more sense.

• Tiny bit of background work in second screen.

Upcoming tasks for Lizo:

• There’s been a request to add directional hotkeys to testgame (W for walk up, A for left, S, and D, etc.) but I have yet to figure out a smooth way to execute this in code, so I’ll just sit on it for another month or so and see if anything comes to mind.

• Music, eventually. (Is this going to turn into one of the tasks that’s pops up on my to-do list every month? Probably.)

• The usual: more voice acting (GIVE ME VOICE ACTORS), more graphics, more little animations to make me happy.

All the graphics and design are by Lizo. The dialogue was written by Lizo, with significant input by Paul. Paul is voiced (appropriately) by Paul Franzen. Lily is voiced by Lizo. Omar is voiced by Jenny. Adventure Game Studio (the program used to create this game) can be downloaded at http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/

-- Lizo Medina-Gray {02-04-2006}