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[and]

So, this week I've been working more on the map while I wait for balance feedback (and what people don't understand) from the demo.

Here's a few of the cool bugs I created!

BUG 1



Look at that tiny ranch! Scaling isn't working so well here.


BUG 2



There's either an issue with the location placement or that's a VERY efficient logging camp!


BUG 3 & 4



Looks like someone decided to open a horse paddock in the middle of the desert. I think I need to change how you get horses, as it's a bit too much to remember what all the different locations do – I'll perhaps just add the paddocks onto some ranches and maybe some towns.

Also on this picture, you may notice the trees are all the same. They should be placed dynamically, so that is also broken right now.

BUG 2 (again)



A logging camp in the desert! Good town planning there...

These are just the visual bugs, so you can see I've got quite a lot of work here!

I should be fixing those bugs, but instead I decided to add clouds.

FEATURE


Clouds are cool.

[and]

Important fact.

[and]

Just a quick post to show you what else I've been working on this week:

DESERTION

Now, you can piss off your follows by:

a) not feeding them
b) making them sleep rough
c) avoiding their requests/ disagreeing with how they want you to deal with events

That's all there is at the minute. You can do the opposite to the above to increase their loyalty too. I'll probably be adding in more subtle things if it doesn't make it too difficult to work out where you went wrong.

I'm also thinking about adding in cliques, so there's a chance that how you treat people they're close to affects their loyalty and there's also a chance of them ganging up against you if you piss the whole clique off (or they're super best buddies and you've really screwed one of them over).

I think it'd add some cool dynamics and, other than balancing it, it's not a vast amount of work.

[and]

Started working on redrawing the ranches so they look a bit nicer when you pop by for a cup of sugar

[and]

Been working on replacing the basic pop-ups with something a bit more interesting than staring at a block of text when you visit a location.

I just need to think of a way to still have the event description and your choices show up. I don't really want to have a big box in the middle with words in it.

Anyone have any ideas? Place it at one side maybe?

[Ticebilla]

I don't have any ideas for the buttons, but I really dig this!

[Cakeprediction]

Well, you have two empty spaces on down right and down left. Since there's a house in the right I'd suggest down left, but you might just want to test it on lots of spaces on the screen to see which one fits.

Some great work you've done here btw

[and]

Just a quick note to say I'm putting this project on the shelf for a while. I've marked it as R.I.P. because, if I do revisit it at any point, I'll most likely be starting from scratch.

I've been working on it for over 2 years now, and almost full time (alongside freelance work) since December of last year. In that time, it's never improved that much as an experience - either as a game or as a project. It just seemed to get more complicated and further from what I wanted it to be.

Ah well.

I'll probably do a proper postmortem at some point, as I've learned a lot from whatever it is that this thing has been.

I'm really sorry if you were into it, but it was never going to actually be that good  I guess from my point of view, it kind of sucks to have spent 2 and a bit years on it, but I can't pretend that time was wasted. I should have done this a while ago, but I felt like I'd put too much into it to give up. That's just silly thinking, don't fall into that trap.

For now, I'll be working on seeing if I can turn Mable into more of a full game (and come up with a less copyright infringing name):

Check out the devlog

And also I'll try and convince Thomas Noppers we should expand on Video Nasty

Thanks for the support with Among The Willows everyone, this is an awesome community and I'm super glad that I started this devlog - even if I never did update it as often as I said!

[MereMonkey]

Hopefully you will feel happier with that project Andrew, at the end of the day that is all that matters!

I look forward to seeing more of Mable! 

[oldblood]

No such thing as time wasted developing a game. Money? Yes. Time? No. You develop your talents and abilities with each game. Sad to see this hit the shelf but think you've got an interesting idea going with Mable.

[Mya]

Takes guts to come out & say it's not going the way it should, especially when you've invested a lot in it - kudos man, & best of luck with your new stuff!