Still Sick-ish

  I'm not gonna give up on these projects, no matter how slumpy I get.

  The biggest news this week is that I've decided to streamline this blog a bit.  I'll still be making a development process post every week on Saturday, but once I get a beta for one of my games going I will make a new sub-blog for each game.  That way people can get "just the facts" quickly.  Moreover, that means I can keep this blog how I want it... my day to day struggles with game development (since, well, y'know... I AM disabled)

  I also came up with a new game crossover, but there's no way I can make it due to legal junk.  I was thinking of a crossover between Minecraft and Columns.  Basically,  You drop a vertical line of 3 crafting materials like in Columns.  These match up into shapes to craft new items using the same recipe plans from Minecraft.  As more complex things are crafted you begin to run out of space.  Items like picks need to be built to destroy unneeded walls.  Also, monsters attack at night.  Zombies create a block in the grid that is unusable, Spiders create a 2x1 block that scales upward, Creepers blow up when you construct near them (for better or worse).

  Of course, I'm sure there's no legal bizzy for copying the basic gameplay of Columns (there's dozens of clones of it out there) and I'm pretty sure using similar materials and patterns as Minecraft would be a non-issue.... but the charm would be from using official graphics and creatures which most certainly would be protected.   However, since I have no interest in actually making this game I don't need to worry about it.  If I was interested, I could always, y'know, ask the guy for permission.



Current Projects

  Level design for my platformers.  Decided I was over-thinking it and my perfectionism was getting in the way so I'm going simpler.  I'm still at a bottleneck though, graphics.  Sound can be added completely on a whim, but graphics require special attention to make sure they match up properly.  Yes, I'm using placeholders... but it's time to swap them out.  I desperately need a tutorial for this, or someone I can just pay to do it.

Other Projects

  Almost nothing, but I am working on getting dialogue box "pausing" to work (there's a strange bug where when I freeze all events I can't get the box to keep messaging).  I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Gaming

  Mostly been vegging out on the couch playing Breath of Fire 2.  I'm just not feelin' it.  Also tried playing Borderlands some more.  Cleaned out the latest Terraria patch in about two hours.

Other

  I'm still just simply not feeling good.  I'm told it might be depression, but I say people should shut up if they're just gonna label without fixing me.

  Been playing a lot of bass guitar recently.  Thinking of buying a new one (still.)  Yes, I do things very slowly; That's just how I am.  I have crippling task-aversion which is compounded by my schizoid/social phobias (not being able to get help from others).  Even my family seem like strangers to me recently.

  Also, my rapid unexplained weight loss seems to have stopped at a total of just under 40LB lost.

  I need a life coach, or a girlfriend, or a boss, or something.  I NEED to be commanded and I tell people (family/doctors/other) this.  But people are so pro-independence that they won't give me what I need most.

By Your Command, Lok


Amendment:
  So I was watching Extra Credits on The Escapist...  the one about pre-production.  Well, it pretty much nailed me.  I'm stuck in pre-production and need to get to actual work.  Just not sure how.