Monday, April 08, 2013

Ups and downs

So, I haven't done a lot this week, unsurprisingly. I lost quite some time trying to organize myself properly after the takedown of the latest version of TOTDC from Mediafire (I still don't know if I was reported or not. Do they specifically inform you of it, if someone claimed you were infringing copyright, or do they just have the same generic warning whether they found out on their onw or not?). I have now backups of my own, and a user from the HC forum kindly offered me to host my files on his server (thanks, Nachtwolf!) so I'll probably host my files for public sharing there, starting from the next public release.

I also had an exam to prepare for, and I was generally busy with some family reunion, friends throwing parties for whatever reason, etc. Great for my social life, but not so much for the game, I suppose.

I still got some minor stuff done, namely, I fixed some typos, worked on some minor gameplay mechanics thingy, did some picture hunting and added the first possible use for the sexy lingerie. Yes, there is actually something to do with it, now, I can feel your awe from here! :D

I don't know if many people will like how I decided to handle things with it, but I'll see how things turn out once I add some more stuff, and I can get another closed beta out.

I don't have anything more to report, for the moment, as it was a really uneventful week, coding wise.

Hopefully, I'll be able to make some more progress this week! ;)

32 comments:

  1. So your latest workload consisted primarily of partying and porn grading;

    Are you infact Bender "Bending" Rodríguez? :)

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    1. I don't smoke, so I'll have to answer no to that, which makes me incredibly sad... :p

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    2. Oh, so you're basically Fry then? :P

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    3. That sounds much more plausible already! XD XD XD

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  2. Got a question.
    Will you have the full version of the game by the end of this year?

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    1. Likely no - but a more advanced beta is likely.

      Also I was told there would be cake.

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    2. What he said.

      To be more precise, I imagine I will get out two more public betas before the end of the year, and the 1.0 version of the game on spring 2014 (1.0 might not necessarily be the definitive version, and I might add more side quests after that, but the main quest will be already completely coded).

      This is a very rough estimate, but bear in mind that:

      A)I am awful at keeping deadlines (Those who follow me from the beginnning will probably remember the time I released a bete months after the expected date. The game was supposed to be complete after 2 years, but we are way past that by now. That's partly because I kept adding more and more stuff to the planned content, and because my time to work on the game is getting smaller. I also met a few blocks along the way, that really got me stuck for a while).

      B) I can't foresee getting more free time in the future, and it's actually more likely that I'll get less and less of it, as we move forward.

      C) I am kind of an idiot, and I have already started working on my plans for the next game. I take notes about my ideas for the characters, setting, plot, mechanics, etc., which eats up a bit of my time every now and then. Not a huge amount, but it does take away from my focus on TOTDC, that's for sure.

      So the right answer would be that I don't know for sure.

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    3. The cake is a lie... Ok, it was here, but I ate it, add gluttonous to the list of my flaws. ;p

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  3. Nice etichette for your post. Would definitely hire you to code for me...to bad I have no money. =P

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    1. Eh, eh, I am too busy with my game to work for anybody, anyway. ;P

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  4. "erotic text-adventure indie developers doens't seem to work all that well on my business card"

    No wonder it doesn't work being labled as a TEXT adventure - it has pictures.

    Also you're not nearly snotty or whiny enough to be called an indie dev,
    Maybe if you wore a beret and charged for pre alpha content... :D

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    1. Sounds like a plan! Preparing to charge for pre alpha content in 3,2,1... Commencing operation "disregard the audience, acquire the currency"!

      XD XD XD

      In all seriousness, though, some indie developers are pretty awesome, and I imagine that persons with delusions of grandeur are also found in more traditional development studios, they just count less in a bigger group, and as a result don't get as much resonance as the guy who happens to be artist/programmer/designer of his one man company (you can only interview him, after all! XD XD XD).

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    2. Honestly I think your saving grace is that your prep work involves "picture management and evaluation" vs the more traditional "make supersized textures to be used for E3 only and then resized -800% so consoles can run it"

      On the other hand you could always take the cool kids route and make TOTDC always online, couse I'm sure pirates kill your profit margins and baby seals and such. :)

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    3. That's a problem with people not knowing what to do with the freedom they have. I think that passing from the free version of RAGS to the licensed one, gave me more freedom, but I didn't just throw everything away to play with it like a toy, I just built upon what I already had.

      A lot of bad decisions in game development these days comes from not having a direction, wasting a lot of time and resources re-doing stuff. I can afford to change my mind as often as I want, but a big team needs to make a very good plan and stick to it.

      TOTDC is already always on, and spies you when you sleep at night... @_@

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  5. Doubt it was reported for copywrite, but it might have been reported for porn. Mediafire has been enforcing their "no porn" rules much more often lately.

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    1. Well, this was my reasoning:

      1)Using the RAGS format, I excluded there might be a way to find out the content with a random scansion (It does store all the assets inside a single file, and I doubt they would put together an automated system for a format that has objectively a very restricted number of users);

      2)My blog should be virtually impossible to find without knowing other websites that blatantly deal with porn content (seriously, who searches "Tales of the Drunken Cowboy" on google, if they don't know about my game beforehand? or "my devious, questionable projects, for that matter), so I imagine I wouldn't get reported for that.

      As a result, I was left with the impression that maybe, someone that owns the right to a picture, a song, or whatever asset I use in my game, happened upon my game by chance because he/she is a player of this kind of games, and decided to report the game.

      It can also be a mistake on Mediafire's part, or maybe they really do scan for prohibited content, even in RAGS files, but somehow I doubt it.

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    2. who searches "Tales of the Drunken Cowboy" on google, if they don't know about my game beforehand?

      Brokeback mountain fans?

      Just saying... :D

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    3. That's got to be disappointing... XD

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    4. Maybe you could change the intro into being narrated by a John Wayne lookalike to soften the blow? ;)

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    5. °_° °_° °_°

      You lost me there. I have yet to see Brokeback mountain, but do the protagonist/s look like John Wayne, or are we going with him because he is an iconic cowboy?

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    6. The second part there,
      Also I was hoping I'd get set up so I can make a crack about the fact his name was Marion... :(

      Oh well, you can't win them all,
      guess its time for a convenient seppuku.

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    7. Do you really have to commit seppuku? It's a bitch to clean the floor afterward, you know... Think of those who'll have take care of the mess afterward! :P

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    8. Ah but you're mistaking samurai and comedian customs.

      It's actually a little known fact that failed comedians perform seppuku not with a blade,
      but instead with a rubber chicken.

      Your second is obviously armed with a rather menacing custard cream pie, and I assure you that the pie is not particularly difficult to dispose of.

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    9. Does the rubber chicken have a pulley in the middle?

      By the way, how did we start this conversation? XD XD XD

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    10. Just how do you propose the chicken perform the killing strike without the all important pulley?!
      Why sir we are talking about a life or death mater here, infact I am flabbergasted at your audacity!

      Not quite sure how it started, I just redirected it from lamenting the copyright injustice of anonimo1 towards the more relevant issue of making fun of cowboys.

      Fortunately I had a backup plan for when it fell on its face. :)

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    11. The pulley is used to spread love, not to kill!

      Anyway, I am quite sure I am too sober right now for this conversation... XD XD XD

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  6. I can't download anything from http://uploading.com

    Can someone please put the game on other filesharing site?

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    1. Try this one:

      http://www.nachtwolf.at/files/rags/Tales%20of%20the%20Drunken%20Cowboy%20-%20Chapter%201%200.6a.rag

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    2. Thank you so much!

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  7. Hey mdqp I believe congratulations are in order,
    apparently under a search for "drunk cowboy" google places your blog just below the sponsored youtube stuff!

    Now ein't that something? :D

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    1. That is pretty awesome indeed! :)

      Now I don't know if I should be happy about it, or if I should start being paranoid if becoming to easy to find on searches will finally bring down the copyright hammer on my head (I always, ALWAYS worry about it! XD XD XD).

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