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[rj]

nothing is permanent

is impermanence permanent

impermanence is not a thing, it is a concept

[Pineapple]

nothing is permanent

is impermanence permanent

impermanence is not a thing, it is a concept

"nothing" is a concept too but you still claim that it's permanent

[rj]

nothing isn't a concept. it's a category. "nothing is permanent" is simply a shorthand for stating that "all things are impermanent." you're being willfully obtuse.

how's frog days going

[Pineapple]

nothing isn't a concept.

I'm not sure about that, surely there are some things that aren't concepts? what about things that nobody has conceived of yet?

[rj]

those aren't things.

[swordofkings128]

I've been working on getting the absolute beginning and the absolute ending playable and at release quality. So far the absolute ending location is done along with some animations that happen there. I'm not showing any of that! But after that I began working on the apartment, part of the absolute beginning. I could have just called it "done" as it was but that's a little bit lazy! So I'll be modeling all kinds of objects to clutter the place. And plenty of pictures/posters on the wall.




Here's that poster in the lower left. I simply call it "Mondays." Photo is a public domain picture mapped to a cylinder:

[Quicksand-T]

Terrifying.

[swordofkings128]

Thank you hehe! ;P

I'm still working at adding more stuff to the apartment environment. It's been fun but also a bit tedious in some assets... The nice thing is sometimes I can just plop something in I've already modeled from my library of models I've made which helps make getting this place claustrophobically full of crap easier. But I've also had to model quite a few things for this place.

For the record, this place has light switches, air vents, power outlets, power cables for all objects that need them... I want this place to seem very real and lived in because this is a real, physical location, unlike the file worlds which are virtual.


*Why don't you make yourself a cup of Joe? While you're at it... make me one! I could use it...*



Also a very specific tip, if you're like me and have lots of old, unused and not very good assets from projects that probably won't be finished, then consider using them as decorations for your current game that needs wall art!


Many years ago I was working on a more traditional adventure game. It was a very dark game that at the time I feared would be misunderstood and I'd be known as the guy who made that weird suicidal dinosaur game! So I gave up, kind of regret it these days, but maybe someday I will try again... in pre rendered 3d! I just feel like I would have more credibility doing something a lot more mature after having make something very clean vs the other way around. Anyway here's a screenshot using an incomplete version of the middle painting on the wall in the above render:

[sheep herd]

can I get a printout of Oyster smiling?

[swordofkings128]

I've been working on another scene, the city. Originally it was a rather simple scene, but also not very interesting looking... I wanted to make the city seem more realistic so I modeled a bunch of stuff for it. Street lights, stop signs, crosswalk signs, curved sidewalks, a variety of buildings... lots of fun making really unique looking buildings!

Here's a little taste...


*Open the image in a new tab! It's a high resolution render...*

This is such a small playable area too, there will be about 16 screens, with 4 renders for each direction, yet when making any kind of outdoor area there's the challenge of giving the illusion of an entire place...

*The person in charge of urban planning here should be fired! What a mess!*

However the nice thing is that it's obviously its all prerendered so I have a nice amount of control over where stuff is in a shot or where to put unique stuff so that the player will see that instead of something boring...

[swordofkings128]

I'm still here but I'm also still working on stuff I don't want to show. However, here's some bits:




These things are seen from quite a distance away. The triceratops ends up being like 120x120 pixels total on screen, the ceramic burger stuff is like 34x24 or something tiny so these might look a little uninteresting but it's part of a bigger picture. Well, the place where that stuff is is done, rendered, processed and working within the game.

Currently, I'm working on getting this place done:


The camera angles are key framed, it's close for final rendering, then it will be in game, meaning that the entire final, final stretch of the game will be playable. Of course, that doesn't mean that the game is done(there is still plenty of stuff to model!) but it's an important milestone.

[swordofkings128]

Fantastic news- what I like the call the "final stretch" is fully playable! That's a big mile stone. Now I'm working towards the a mile boulder... Making the game beatable from start to finish.

Part of it is finishing this place off:


This is an important place, where the player "sacrifices" "items" at 5 alters, each one representing one of the 5 senses. Maybe I haven't mentioned this, but that's the main gameplay objective in Frog Days. Get 5 things, one for each sense. If you do the bare minimum, the game could be beaten very quickly. But if you want to get the special ending, you'll need to search around for special sense items. For example, an apple will do to fulfill the taste requirement but only adds a little to the over all "sense score." But if you use pizza, for example, it will add a lot more.

To make sure the player knows that something is special, the item will have a different color to it's name box:


This is the Taste Alter:


And here's something a bit more mysterious in this place... one of the secret items to find in Frog Days will be tapes, maybe 3 or 4 total. But they contain FMVs with important details on them. The first tape is a given, found in that hole on the bendy desk, but the others are spread across the game.


Also one of the tunes for this location. This is kind of a wandering theme, but it only activates after you watch the first tape.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byxpy03yBoVSYkFBUk9tRkZ2Qkk/view?usp=sharing

[EdFarage]

I like this game, it has a creepy 90's vibe to it. Just as i remember it 

can I get a printout of Oyster smiling?

Maybe a picture of nude tayne while we're at it?

[jctwood]

I love Frog Days and has no idea about the collect the senses to sacrifice at the altars objective. Sounds really interesting and makes me wonder what the ultimate touch sense object will be?

[swordofkings128]

Thanks! :D I really don't talk about the actual gameplay much because it's very simple and nothing too out of the ordinary, just solving puzzles, interacting with stuff and getting items. I'll elaborate a bit! Here's a quick ms paint diagram of the timeline:


The red shows what happens if you have a high enough "sense score".


While I'm at it, awhile ago made a special DOS-like interface for this that I don't think I showed here:

*A .cup file is a Condensed User Package*

There is a computer(that I haven't made yet) for the brainy-pipe world that you use to confirm your selection(you can go back and change items if you want) and that's the kind of interface it has. Now it might seem like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, trust me it will make a little more sense within the context of the full game.

As far as ultimate items go, there are several for each sense, but for touch(feel) one of them is a soothing, warm rock. But other things like fun objects(a game controller or a football) would be special ones as well. It's both physical touch and emotional feeling. Same with the others, like vision. Items that correct vision count and so do things like artwork or pleasant to look at things.

[swordofkings128]

A little demonstration of the eye.cup world. It's about 95% done and the brain altars are 100% functional. A few more things and this place will be done and fully functional! :D

[jctwood]

Just beautiful.

[swordofkings128]

Thank you jctwood!

Something I'm working on now:


This is the last place I need to make for the section that happens after using the 5 things on the sense altars. Probably the gloomiest place in the game!

[jctwood]

Wow contrasts so well.

[swordofkings128]

Thanks :D

I've spent last week basically testing, fixing and finish up some important things then playing the game from start to end, many many times... so many times. I'm pretty sick of playing Frog Days! But the good news is the game is playable from the beginning to the end(minus everything in between of course!)

It still needs polish, final renders for 2 places, a couple fmv cutscenes and other bells and whisltes and I'll probably end up changing and adding some more stuff but as it is now, with a set of debugging inventory, the game is beatable. Now there is still quite a bit to be done(like, you know, the rest of the game...) Like:
-Finish the file world environments
-Render those, process them and put them into the game
-Finish programming puzzles/designing better puzzles
-Make final graphics for 3 or 4 GUIs
-Make a few adjustments to how the save/load system works
-Write the rest of the diskmag articles
-Make and render the fmv cutscenes
-Add some more content to various FlamingOS things
-Make the rest of the inventory items
-Finish other little details(there are many of them...)
-And the other stuff too.

But this is a pretty big milestone(Maybe even worthy of bumping the progress graphic to *gasp* 70%)! I'll share this too, since I'm pretty happy with how this interface turned out...