Enough with the French!

Now that everyone has had a chance to play Claire: The exchange student, I decided to have one last post-launch write-up about the game.

First I want to thank Leonizer and Chestnut Shuffles for their work on the game.  For those of you who aren't aware this was Chestnut's first game with us and I think he did a fine job with the graphics on this one.  I'm curious to see what his next game is going to look like as well.

Insérez la languette A dans la fente B (Or Clendra)

The script for Claire:TES is done and off in Leonizer's hands!

There was an almost ridiculous amount of scripted sex dialogue in this game due to the new format that's being tested out with the game.  Normally each sex scene has about four lines of dialogue.  In Claire:TES each scene had at least fifteen lines!  Though, I suspect that will be shortened for the final game.

So, that took the better part of the evening writing for.  But now, the script is finished and I'll be waiting for the game to be compiled so that testing can begin.  There are actually two modes being tested in this game.  The first is the aforementioned sex scenes which now use a "slow, medium, fast" type of interface.  And the other is a timer based response system for the questions and menus for the story side of the game.

What that means is, not only do you have to find the hot-spots to proceed properly to the next page, but you also have to do it within a certain time limit or else you'll fail and and different page will be loaded instead.  That said, there is really only one bad ending to Claire:TES.  The other four endings will be unlocked based on your reflexes and ability to choose the right answers.  Don't worry, it shouldn't be too difficult.  The shortest timer is currently a rather long 2 seconds after all!

P.S. If you happen to see Claire calling Kendra, "Claire" or vice versa...  Totally not my fault!  (Okay, maybe it is.)

C'est Parti

Well, aside for some sex dialogues the script for Claire: TES is just about done.  I have nothing better to do tomorrow, so I'm going to try and power through the night and get this wrapped up and on its way to Leonizer.

After that, will be the usual testing/corrections/etc. and then hopefully we'll be good to go and have this published.  I'll post more details once I've sent the completed draft to Leonizer.  Until then... back to work!

Kendra Unsatisfied

Once again, I start the month off being busy as hell.  Fortunately, it was the good kind of busy this time around.  (Setting up a home theatre system!)  I was able to get back to Claire:TES yesterday and today, and with a bit of luck the script will be finished tomorrow or the day after.

Part of the polishing on the script has been going back and checking all the variables that are called and making sure that everything works as intended, at least on paper.  So even when scripting, I'm scripting...  Programming is actually a great thing to know even if you don't use it!  By writing and testing the logic in the dialogue script it helps both me and the programmer keep things organized and makes it easier to track down errors when they pop up.  Claire:TES is a rather straight forward game, but there are still variables that need to be tracked, and if we know where they are and what they're doing at all times, it helps make the game run smoother.

I'll admit, one of my pet-peeves occurs when I have to reload a whole game after I beat it and then want to restart it to find alternative endings and scenes.  (Dialogue menus are notorious for causing this problem.)  So now I do my best to track all the variables that might be used in my scripts to try and avoid those issues.  I didn't always used to do that, but even I can learn from my own mistakes...

Resource Limitations

First off, sorry to those who were waiting so long for a new post.  Time is money, and I had no time these past few days to make money.

It seems, you can't always get what you want, even if you feel you need it.  There are a few extra assets that, while not necessary to have, I feel would help improve Claire:TES.  Regrettably there isn't enough resources to go around, and I don't have, much less know how to use, Daz3D.  The script itself is still progressing fairly smoothly and thankfully it's not a convoluted mess, so once testing begins it should be a short period of time until it gets released afterwards.

I'm at the point where everyone is pretty much fucking each others' brains out.  After that, I'll need to go back and write up the little quips people say during the gameplay portions.  Ideally I'd like to have this in Leonizer's hands by the weekend, (There I go again...) but I also have some real-life commitments that I have to attend to this week as well, unfortunately I just don't know when exactly those will be, nor how long they'll take.

Claire: The Exchange Student is coming soon, and I hope you'll have at least as much fun with the game as I've had writing it.

5, 4, 4, 3, 2... Stop Claire!

I'm about halfway through on the script for Claire: The Exchange Student.  The more I work on this the more I want to go back and rewatch Les Anges Exterminateurs. Albeit there are fewer lesbians in this game, the ideas of exploring sexuality and the taboo are still present.  Or maybe I'm overanalyzing this game...  And the movie too, for that matter!

The LoP Team Blog is now officially open for business.  I don't think that means I'm going to stop posting here.  I think what I'm going to do is keep my more detailed event posts here on my personal blog, and use the team blog for more generalized posts.  One of the reasons is because I don't want to flood the team blog with every minute detail about my day-to-day goings on.  Here, I have no qualms about doing that.

I'll still try to read each blog daily and keep up on the comments as best I can.  Truthfully, I value all the feedback I can get my hands on.

As Leonizer mentioned on the team blog, this game is using the talents of a new artist for the models, and I think he's done a pretty damn good job with Claire, Kendra and David.  I'm hoping to have the script done before the month is over, but I'm quickly running out of days to do that.  Either way, this game should be in the hands of the public sometime in the first half of August.

Mon petit chou-fleur...

Living with Britney: Secret Exhibitions is just about finished up.  Testing went real well today, and everything is looking good, and more importantly, it's running as it should.  Leonizer wants to get it out as soon as possible, so it's looking like it will be published real soon.

I happily got to play with Claire today as well.  The script writing has been going real smooth, albeit it's longer than it initially appeared to me.  Not that I'm complaining, especially when I'm having fun writing this one.  I'm curious to see how much I can get done tomorrow now that my attention is, hopefully, completely off LwB.

Claire:TES is a fairly linear game, albeit with the usual branching paths, and it's looking to have about five different endings when all is said and done.  However, while Claire is the title character, the players will be taking on the role of someone else...

Foreign Languages

First off, the Living with Britney expansion is in testing!  Not all the features are in yet, but it is in a playable state.  It should be out sometime early next month, as long as nothing goes horribly wrong...

Now then, Claire.

Writing properly in my native tongue is hard enough, writing for someone who doesn't natively speak it is even more so.  The problem is, I can't write with ahn outwagious aczent zat mahkes ze vords unriedable.  That's no fun for the reader, and it's no fun for me either.  More so with this current game, since the previously mentioned Quick Time Events (QTE's) require the player to absorb the relevant information and then make a prompt judgement call.  Choosing poorly is damaging, not choosing at all can be damning...

Cherchez la femme!

New Project!

Claire has come all the way from France to participate in a foreign exchange program at the local college.  Unfortunately for her host, she may also be bringing some mischief with her.  Also, this game will reintroduce Quick Time Events, (QTE's) so you'll have to be paying attention if you want to get the all the endings.

As a side note, after reading the outline Leonizer sent me, I immediately thought of the movie Les Anges Exterminateurs.  Once more, our hero will have an opportunity to start down a path self-discovery.

I've had today, and I'll have a bit more time tomorrow to work on this script, but my weekend is already going to be occupied until late Sunday as I'm having some family come into town.  So don't expect another blog update until Monday at the latest.  Sorry!