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[Destral]

Very interesting! I very much look forward to trying it out 

[Musenik]

Whew!  Today we finished the initial story scripts for the copper age. There are now over 5700 lines of scripts. (distinct from game code). Next up: testing, some game balancing, a little polish, and we'll release a build to the developers by early next week. Then we'll update the progress image to 50%!!!

[Musenik]

50% !!

Finished the first pass of stories for the copper age. Cleaned up the 'special surprise' and got it working. Played and debugged, three days full. Built a release for the other developers.

Next: write the Bronze age stories and work on a debut video for introducing the game experience. Maybe figure out where the ghost peers are coming from - darn bugs!

see ya in a few months,

[Musenik]

Made such nice progress in the last two weeks, had to pipe-up about it. Been writing stories for the bronze age, surprisingly quickly.

12 romance stories
3 uplift stories
18 discovery stories
8 rite of passage stories

Having settled the special formats and constraints already, they were much easier to create. Still, lots more ahead:

30-60 'guide' stories
12-20 heroic stories (which are long stories broken into 3-5 interactive parts each the length of a guide story)
4 challenges of the age (same size as heroics)

I'm finding I run out of creative steam by Thursday afternoon. So I work on code Fri. and on 'other things' (like the debut video and maintaining older games...) over the weekends.

If I can manage 4 guide stories a day, Mon. thru Thus, I'll be more than happy.


wish us luck!

[Destral]

Good to hear you're making good progress! /cheer

[Musenik]

Not quite done with the first pass of stories for the bronze age. Writing the heroic legends took a bit longer than expected, and I doubt writing them in the future will take less time.

My next big milestone is to create a playable alpha that I can send out to journalists. This requires the game to provide the 'full' experience as I imagine it. Which means, the game must include crossing from one age to the next via the narrative.

I'm thinking of cutting the special powers gained for making discoveries, and enhancing the effect of having a monopoly over making tokens for a new technology.

Conversely, I'm thinking of adding a new feature. (will I ever learn?) This feature would procedurally generate narrative of conflict and cooperation within a family, and affect gameplay appropriately.

much to think about...

Still more to do. Next up, write 30 initial 'guide' stories for the bronze age. I'll pass, for now, on writing the challenge stories for crossing from the bronze age into the iron age.

Then back to coding, full-time, until 'arcada mia' is ready for journalists and the IGF.

[Musenik]

Okay, now you TIGers can see what I've been working on. Because it's a new kind of game, pictures really don't convey the fun of the game. (there's nothing to compare it to) But they are still cool pictures.

Feedback on our updated webpage would be appreciated.

http://p4.hostingprod.com/@mousechief.com/arcadamia/Site/by_Mousechief.html

[Musenik]

Here's the imagery that inspired the look for 'arcada mia':

[Musenik]

Here's the splash screen:

[Musenik]

Here's what the game looks like when you first start:

[Musenik]

Here's what the game looks like once your family has climbed the social tracks:

[george]

Sorry for the necro, but (a) I am really, really looking forward to this game, and (b), I'm really curious, will this be desktop only like your other games, or is there some kind of tablet/mobile voodoo in the works?

[Musenik]

It'll ship first on Mac and PC as downloadable. If the the game is successful, I think it would be great to try selling it on pads/slates. The interface translates easily to touch controls.