JUNE 18 2007: THIS PROJECT NEEDS A MUSICIAN -See latest post for details.
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Well, it's that time of year again: the time of year where I start to feel guilty about not releasing anything for twelve whole months! Unfortunately I won't have a finished game to release this year, but as I am increasingly optimistic about finally completing this project in the first couple months of '07 I think it's time to initiate a little marketing hype by starting a GiP thread.
Announcing:
CHARLIE FOXTROT, a game in progress.
Actually Charlie Foxtrot is an intrepid space adventurer -->
But I haven't come up with anything better to call the project, so it's named after him for now.
STORY: Charlie is a clone working for the Empire of Conformity. Unfortunately his free-thinking ideals get him into trouble, so he flees to join up with the Intergalactic Rebellion Against Conformity. The problem is they've gone underground, so Charlie must scour the galaxy to find them. Once he does make contact with the rebellion he becomes a rebel agent on a mission to destroy the forces of conformity for ever!
CONCEPT: This game is conceived as a zany space adventure with a stong emphasis on parodying sci-fi as a genre. Every effort has been made thus far to incorporate as many elements of sci-fi pop culture as possible without actually infringing on any intellectual property rights -at times I concede it's probably a pretty thin line I'm walking.
SCREEN SHOTS: First here's a picture of Charlie about to steal the Millenium Bug from a Conformist space station.
This is Charlie wasting time in the scuzzy Burger Bar on the planet Aridis.
Here's an example of some of the animation in this scene -->
And now he's talking to Oxar the Grunge on the post-apocolyptic puppet world of Marf.
STYLE: The artistic style of this game is intentionally
retro-blocky while attempting to keep a high level of detail for visual appeal and game immersion. Every blocky character and many objects are animated to give the game an energetic feeling like that found in very old cartoons. Needless to say this has delayed progress more than I would have liked, but I think the final product will be worth it.
PROGRESS: Ah yes.... I'm never very good at this part (I misjudged the completion date of my last game by over a year....). So take this all with a grain of salt:
BACKGROUNDS: 57/57 }
ANIMATIONS: 100% }
PLOT: 100% }-Last Updated April 29 2007
SCRIPTING: 98% }
MUSIC: 2% }
I hope to update thread on a weekly basis to show continuing progress. If you see me slacking off please heckle me either in the thread or through PMing in order to keep me on task. Questions, comments and encouragement are also welcome.
DEVELOPMENT UPDATES:
Minus sounds and music......
ACT 1: polished to release standards (March 6 2007)
ACT 2: polished to release standards (November 2006)
ACT 3: polished to release standards (March 22 2007)
ACT 4: polished to release standards (April 16 2007)
ACT 5: polished to release standards (April 29 2007)
December 2006 -Yeah, this was pretty much a write-off....
January 2-12: I have done two rooms and all the associated animations and interactions! Also, I have two more backgrounds in various stages of completion, and I've done another walk-cycle!
January 13-15: Another background and a simple animation.
January 16-19: Stupid tech issues with laptop -no discernable progress.
January 20-21: A complex animation completes the interactions for a new room!
Late January 21: Another background and room objects drawn & animated.
January 23 : futuristic vehicle designed and latest room fully scripted.
January 30 : two more rooms added with animations -we're getting there!
February 9 2007: Another two rooms, four characters designed (& two of them animated).
February 11 - Feb 27: Kinda got distracted by a side project
February 28 2007: Back on task with a walk-cycle!
March 2 2007: Two idle animations and two rooms worth of interactions polished off.
March 4 2007: A walk cycle, a conversation, and another room of witty interactions.
March 6 2007: Hooray for snow-days! I have debugged and polished every single interaction in Act 1 (of five).
March 10 2007: Sheesh polishing takes a long time... Anyway, interactions for half of Act 3 done, and a puzzle had to be reworked for plot reasons.
March 18 2007: Well it was a really busy week at work, but I've had time to work on the game most of the weekend and have polished 99% of Act 3 -two more acts to go!
March 19 2007: I created a background, but expanded the game design by two additional rooms
March 21 2007 : created three characters and three awesome animations!
March 23 2007 : New room +scripting, and new object graphics for a puzzle.
March 27 2007 : New room, 2 animations and a bunch of scripting for two puzzles.
March 29 2007 : Killer new animation
March 31 2007: New background, two animations, some interactions.
April 10 2007: Significant animation and coding progress -> I expect a Beta Version is possible within the week!
April 12 2007: Two new animations and more coding ->Act IV is quickly nearing completion!
April 16 2007: Act IV complete!!!! Only two more rooms to go (+ a bit of coding).
April 17 2007: Second last background done - one more to go!!!
April 18 2007: All animations for second last room done.
April 23 2007: Last background & a new animation completed.
April 24 2007: I drew fifty sprites today for the climax animation of the game!
April 25 2007: Half of the final scene is scripted (more drawing required....).
April 29 2007: I've finished Act V ! Let the Beta Testing Begin!
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