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Customize It All

Friday, February 24, 2012

New Computer...Oh the Freedom

Two days ago I had the pleasure of opening a box which contained my brand new computer.  The computer is an Asus K53E-XQ2-PK 15.6 Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop.  In other words, my new laptop is made by a company named Asus, is a part of the K series, and it's pink (my favorite color).   

I had my old laptop since Christmas of 2008.  The thing was fine until I started getting into indie game development, vloging, and image editing software such as Photoshop.  That poor laptop was trying it's best to open up Photoshop, itunes, or anything in general.  My new laptop opens a program as soon as I click the program's icon.  The computer is so fast it frightens me.  Despite how much I use computers, I am not an expert on explaining how great a laptop can be.  So here is a link on what laptop I just brought:  http://www.amazon.com/K53E-XQ2-BU-15-6-Inch-Versatile-Entertainment-Laptop/dp/tech-data/B005E81QBK/ref=de_a_smtd

What buying a new computer means is that I can finally do some indie game development without worrying if my computer is going to freeze anytime soon.  The only thing that could hold me back from game development is just myself now and that is a really good feeling.  Well there is one problem I am facing right now.  I had to leave Photoshop on my old computer so I am looking for a free or cheaper alternative to stick with such as Artweaver 0.5, Gimp 2, Corel Sketchpad, and Inkscape. 

The decisions.


 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Deviantart Tme: DarkSirenftw

With dedication to my first indie game project I think people should atleast have the pleasure of seeing a visual novel with decent artwork. Deviantart is a place where people can submit their artwork for a variety of people to see.  I have been on this website for a while with little dedication devoted to my old profile name Lilith40 (curious?).  Here is my new Deviantart account for my art submiting pleasure.  The account is called DarkSirenftw (curiousity can be good for you)

The account could have been called DarkSirenGames but such a tittle felt limited to drawing characters from my indie games.  Every blue moon I draw fanart from various anime and video games. I hope people can join me and help me progress with my artwork.  Reading "nice", "cool", and "kawaii" on my comments for my Deviantart submitions is a great ego booster and all but constructive critism is what really counts. 

Here is a picture that everyone will be seeing soon (maybe in a few weeks).


I am getting a new computer in a few days.  This may be my last blog entry while using this slow computer.  I can not wait to use a computer that can handle Windows Movie Maker or Photoshop without any issues. 

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Trapped: What the Characters Look Like

This is a short blog entry but I hope you readers will enjoy this entry anyway.  Last post I forgot to post what the characters looked like.  Well here they are:


From left to right; Nindel, Amenti, Unette, and Bryan. At the bottom is Ronald. I did not give Ronald a body as both him and Bryan are wearing similar outfits. Nindel and Bryan are both possible romantic interests while Unette and Ronald are the "parent" figures. I should no longer refer to this game as a visual novel as it is a dating sim. Working with the digital tablet really helped cover all the notes I wrote on this sketch. I see why people like wacom tablets so much.

Now I shall move on to fleshing out the story of this game.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Trapped: Introduction to my first Ren'py game

This would not be a blog about Game development if I did not talk about my first game. As we all know now I am using a visual novel which means I have a set of characters and a story to tell.
Story: Amenti, a mermaid, is finally turning 16. At sixteen years of age a mermaid is given the power to grant one single wish for herself or for others. Amenti wishes to leave her small house set in the middle of nowhere and outside of the city but her adoptive mother will not let her leave. Upon sneaking out of the house Amenti is captured by humans who operate an undersea laboratory.
Characters:

Amenti is the heroine of this story. She has been raised by her adoptive and over protective mother ever since she could remember and would feels that it is time she starts seeing the world. Naive to life in the undersea city and humans, the player must help her choose who she wants to trust in order to get out of the lab.

Unette is Amenti's adoptive mother who has raised Amenti for sixteen years. Unette loves traveling to the city, not cleaning up after herself, and sleeping at home. Despite her activities she is protective and overbearing when things come to Amenti. Unette wants to make sure that Amenti is living a life away from the city and whatever possible dangers outside of her small home.

Bryan is a young scientist who has been studying merfolk for years inside of the undersea laboratory. His adoptive father hopes to have Bryan take over the laboratory in a few years. Not fond of seeing Amenti's face behind a take, he tells her he would like to let her go when the time is right however conversations with his father makes Amenti believe she will be kept forever. Is he telling the truth? Generally smart, stuck on himself, and shy.

Nindel is a merman who has been locked inside the undersea laboratory's tank for months. Before his captivity he enjoyed hunting and working in the city. He has gone from a nice and welcoming merman to someone who is hostile and nearly unapprochable.

Ronald is Bryan's adoptive father who dreams of Bryan taking his position when he passes on. Runs, created, and funded project Blue, Ronald wants Nindel and Amenti to mate so he can have an easier time studying merfolk without having to capture them every once and a while. He believes that merfolk are purely animals and nothing more.

Game play? This is a visual novel so there are a series of points when certain choices are made. The choices will affect the story and if Amenti ends up with Bryan, Nindel, or alone. There is no release date for this game as this game is being made by me, myself, and I. At least I finally received my small Intuos4 tablet in the mail. Posting a blog entry a week is encoraging me to work on my game a lot more.