Sludge progress update:
The z-buffer now (almost) works! All my tests work great except the Interview. I suspect it may be due to the high number of layers used there, but I don’t know. (If I had known, the bug would have been fixed already.)
Edit: Now I know, and now it’s fixed!
I’ve also fixed the bug that was keeping some music silent, so all sound should now work properly.
I’ve now spent some time with Sludge, which means that text now comes in different colours (though it may be a bit too bright – will test some more), speech stays on the screen (I don’t know when I happened to introduce that bug, but now I’ve fixed it), mixOverlay works properly (it was ridiculously easy), and I fixed a small problem that was remaining with pasted sprites.
This means that the following small test programs work as they should (unless I’ve missed something): Continue reading
…or maybe a “lack-of-progress” update. Since my last comment on my last post, I haven’t done anything with either Frasse or Sludge. Time, you know, and so on. I wrote in my last update that expected to get some things done in the week before Easter. True, I have had time to program, and I have gotten things done, but those things have been in another area: I have a brother who is a farmer, and I have helped him with his site where he sells sheep fells. (The site is in Swedish only.)
But you can rest assured that I will return to both Sludge and Frasse. Neither is abandoned. Maybe I’ll get some things done tomorrow…
Happy Easter!
I’ve been working on the engine that powers (among other great games) Frasse and the Peas of Kejick (and will power its sequel). Tim Furnish, who made the engine, opened up its source code almost a year ago (how time flies!) and I immediately downloaded it and started looking at it with the intent of porting it to Mac OS X. As you might imagine, that’s not a completely straightforward process. It took me a while simply to get it to compile and run in Windows (using another compiler than the one Tim used).
The game I talked about earlier, where Deirdra Kiai was collecting graphics in different styles to put together, has been released. It’s called Des Rêves Élastiques Avec Mille Insectes Nommés George, and I recommend that you take a look at it. I was only slightly disappointed that there are no insects named George (I love the title!), but I enjoyed it. This is another dialogue thingy from Deirdra, and contains some things well said. I’ve only played it through once, but I intend to return to it.
My contribution is a badly animated tuba player (me) on a beach, and some tuba playing. (I’ll update the Other Games page eventually.)
Another released game that I’ve done a little work on is 8 Squares in the Garden. I’ve made the soundtrack for this game, based on Lewis Carrol’s Through the Looking Glass. The game doesn’t have a web page for me to link to, so I’ll point you to a forum thread at Adventure Developers instead. (The thread is labeled “open beta…”, but you’ll find the download for the finished game there too.) I’m generally happy about how the music turned out – I wrote it as a wind quartet – but there are some things I’d do differently if I get asked to write music for the sequel. (I hope the planned sequel will get made. “Ad7venture” is currently working on another project.)
This won’t become a habit. At least I don’t intend to fill this site with random useless bloggery just because it’s now in a blog format. Having it not update every week doesn’t bother me, so I won’t be writing random stuff here just because I bought a new kind of pizza today. (Which I did, but I won’t tell you about that.)
Having said that, I have been tagged in one of those blog things, and decided to play along this time. These kinds of things can be fun sometimes. If you find it boring, please stop reading now and move on to something else. Continue reading
I’ve been too busy lately to get much done on either my new game or my porting of SLUDGE to the Mac (neither project is abandoned), but I have been making some quick art for others.
First is the Cover Art Drive for interactive fiction run by Emily Short. I made a cover for one of my favourite games of all categories: Augmented Fourth. It got accepted by the author and is now the official cover art for the game. How cool is that!
Another game I’m currently making some graphics for is Deirdra Kiai’s new project. She’s collecting graphics in different styles that she are going to put together into a game. It may sound crazy, but I think she can pull it off so I’m halfway through making a contribution.
Both projects have deadlines of last April (more or less).
Now it’s decided. My next game will be a sequel to Frasse and the Peas of Kejick. I’ve had the idea for a while, but I have other things I’d like to do too. Last Sunday I wrote the idea down and started to think a bit more about how to put it together, so now Frasse 2 is officially in pre-production even though the design isn’t much more than an idea at the moment. I call it a sequel, but it’s not simply more of the same. I don’t even know if Frasse or Gurra will appear at all in this game. They will not be playable characters anyway. I’ll call it Frasse 2 for now, but I do have a secret title for the game that reveals a bit more about the game.
I suppose it was only a matter of time. Today I converted the news part of my site into a blog. If that means there will be more content here – or if anyone will read it – remains to be seen, but it makes sense to organise it this way.
Currently, the old site lives side by side with the new, so the look of things is a bit messy, but that will change eventually.
I’m moving trumgottist.com to a new host. Apologies for any technical problems that may occur during the move.