To The World Tree Blog

Here is the placed for unfiltered information about To The World Tree, primarily design and development news from the source.

Even Newer Blog

gdunbar@prankster.com - August 12, 2008

OK, I'm trying another new system:

http://members.gamedev.net/gdunbar/journal/

New Blog Software

gdunbar@prankster.com - July 14, 2008

I've updated my blogging system. Please visit:

http://www.prankster.com/smf/index.php?board=2.0

For the new blog.

I've kept the old blog posts below in case there is still some interest.

TTWT Postmortem 2

gdunbar@prankster.com - February 29, 2008

Today: TTWT Postmortem #2, focusing on the SENG RPG system, and the changes and updates that I want to make to it going forward.

I've been really happy with the SENG RPG system; the "Rule of 5" has proven a really nice tool for getting balance in the system. From the manual:

The Rule of 5
SENG is based around an exponential rule such that an actor A 5 levels higher than actor B is an even match for two of actor B at the same time. This basic rule allows us to balance the effectiveness of attributes, skills, items, spells, and actor levels in a simple manner.

That said, there are two areas I'd like to focus on in the SENG RPG system:

Clarity. I'd like to make the system simpler to understand for the player. From cosmetic things like displaying the values involved in a success check (instead of the exponent which we currently display), to make in depth things like simplifying the formulas in calculating combat values.
Variety. Two big parts of an RPG like TTWT are character development and tactical combat. The more variety that can be achieved in these areas, the more interesting a player will find the game. So, more avenues and choices for how to develop a character are an important goal. And similarly, more types of battles, strategies to employ, and varieties of opponents, can only make the game more interesting.

With those areas in mind, here's something of a brain dump on things I'd like to do:

Simplify the combat formulas, for instance, make damage dealt a simple property of the weapon (adjusted by strength), instead of the combination of 4 values it currently is.
Make the health value, mana value, experience values, and everything else, display a "value", instead of a "level". For instance, instead of "The Party completed a Level 8.2 Quest", display "The Party has gained 1200 experience points". This doesn't actually change the SENG system at all, but should be more clear to the player.
Start the player actors at level 10, eliminating the need for negative level opponents.
Add shields, two-handed weapons, and two-weapon characters.
Make unarmed combat a reasonable option (with the right skills).
For higher level actors, add some skills like "dodge", "berserk", or whatever, allowing more variety of combat. Exact mechanism TBD.
Make the magic system a little more coherent. For instance, instead of having one skill allow healing, buffing, summoning, etc, make each skill focus on just one area.
Add a singing skill for bard-type characters.
Revamp the way wands work.
Implement item types that didn't get implemented for TTWT, like rings, amulets, and helmets.

A long list, to be sure, but I consider it more of incremental improvements based on my experiences with TTWT.

That's all for now; next, level design lessons and guidelines learned from TTWT.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=29

TTWT Postmortem 1

gdunbar@prankster.com - February 25, 2008

I likely will still release another version of TTWT, but for the most part it's served its purpose. I've got my RPG software up and running, I've made a game with it, and I understand the problem of making a RPG much better than I did before. Incidentally I've had quite a bit of fun fooling around with all the various pieces, tools, and designs going into making TTWT.

So, now that I've reached this point, over the next couple of days, I'm going to write some (hopefully coherent) thoughts on TTWT development. Today I'm going to focus my thoughts on TTWT as a game. In the next installment I'll consider what needs to be done to the SENG software itself, that is, the system and software that run TTWT. Next, I'll put together some thoughts on how to design levels in the SENG engine that both look good and play well. And last, I'll write on what needs to be done to create a full-featured, shareware-level game using the SENG engine.

As an aside, these notes are really meant for me; no guarantees how interesting they'll be to anyone else.

So, "To The World Tree", the game. As advertised, it's a short game, with not enough variety or content to be interesting for longer than the target game length, and not nearly enough to satisfy the hardcore RPG players that SENG is targeted towards. The gameplay itself is pretty fun, at least once you've completed the initial few levels and can add some additional members to the party. The graphics and interface range from "acceptable" (the interface is decent, anyways, and the player models are OK) to "amateurish" (the levels). The game runs quite smoothly and is relatively free of serious bugs.

Let me dive in with some more details on a number of good and bad points.

Good #1: SENG RPG system

The system that TTWT is built upon is called the "SENG RPG system". This defines what the numbers, levels, and statistics mean. I'm pleased both with the system itself and the code that runs it. The SENG system uses some math to balance various numbers and statistics, and I'm really happy with how it has worked. As an example, if you play the TTWT with just one character, or if you fill your party to the full complement of four, both work pretty well and are well-balanced against the enemies that you face. Similarly, if you play a spellcaster, or a fighter, both have similar power levels at the same character level. As a single developer, I don't have a ton of resources to acquire this sort of balance through playtesting; instead it needs to come from the underlying mathematics of the system. In the case of SENG and TTWT, I think this has worked really well.

Similarly, I have some pretty good code running underneath TTWT to implement this system, and I feel like this code is pretty solid. Part of this is because I coded the system first (I even had a text interface running for it, though this has since fallen into disrepair) before putting all of the graphics and UI on top of it. Thus I've only had to do some basic bugfixing in recent months, rather than doing hard-core code design of the RPG engine at the same time as creating the game.

Bad #1: Levels

The TTWT levels aren't great. Appearance is the number one culprit here. The tile and wall graphics are, at best, bland. There aren't enough objects and other features to make things interesting. The monsters are indistinct looking. The exits are unclear.

But it isn't just appearance; there are other problems too. The levels don't provide a good deal of variety in combat scenarios. Some of the levels don't have good "flow", meaning it's unclear to the player where to go next. The levels are a bit cramped; they were designed before the fast-move and "return to entry" options were coded.

Anyways, I'll spend another whole blog entry on lessons learned for level design.

Good #2: Animation System

The animation system used in SENG and TTWT proved pretty effective. Designing the character animations was not too difficult, and produced reasonable results; walking characters look like their walking, etc. Also, adding animated elements, like spinning gears or windmills was pretty easy. Figuring out good ways to utilize the system was a bit more difficult, but hopefully I have some more ideas now.

Bad #2: Starts Slowly

In theory, I know that a key element to game design is to start the game quickly, to engage the player right from the beginning. However, I don't seem to be so good at applying this theory to reality, as TTWT starts pretty poorly.

I tried to ramp things up for the player by keeping the party with just one character through the starting dungeon, thinking along the lines of a tutorial mode. However, single-character parties are pretty boring, and this proved to be a poor strategy.
Next, I started with an introductory level to try to introduce the plot. But, it really serves little purpose other than to slow the momentum down.
Following the introductory level there is a mini-dungeon with a non-combat quest, followed by an easy fight. Unfortunately this is pretty boring too.
I think a better idea is to somehow start the game, right off, with a big fight, or some other threatening, suspenseful scenario.

In any case, clearly some improvement is needed here.

Good #3: Game-Writing System

I'm pretty happy with the game-writing system. The interlocking system of scripts, talking, journal entries, and quests is pretty good. The syntax might still be a little prone to errors (particularly the script language), but overall it works pretty well.

Bad #3: More Variety Needed

A good SENG game (and further, a good single-player RPG) gets a lot of its fun from variety. TTWT, being something of a prototype, is really lacking in this area. There are a lot of instances where this applies:

Enemies and types of combat.
Quests.
Guilds to join.
Items to use.
Playstyles... for instance, there isn't much distinction between different fighters. It should be possible to have a fast, dodging sort of fighter, or a slow, heavy armor, defensive fighter. Two handed weapons, or two-weapon styles. Etc.

A definite goal that TTWT doesn't address is to try to have open-ended gameplay... or at least, enough variety that the player gets the illusion of open-ended gameplay.

Bad #4: Polish

Lastly, definitely some more polish is needed. Everyone complains about the "Exit" button. Scrollbars need some work. Audio has been described as "jarring", whereas a lot of the game is silent.

Anyways, that's all for now. Next blog, the future of the SENG RPG system and software.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=28

Website Update

gdunbar@prankster.com - February 22, 2008

I'm updating the software that I'm using for this website from FrontPage 2003 to Microsoft Expression Web. This shouldn't really change things too much (if at all), but if something goes haywire, that's probably why.

On another note, mention of TTWT in the "Indie RPG News Roundup":

http://www.rampantgames.com/blog/2008/02/indie-rpg-news-roundup-february-18.html

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=27

Version 5

gdunbar@prankster.com - February 14, 2008

Well, I finished off enough stuff to release another version of To The World Tree. The gameplay is virtually identical to Version 4, but the user-interface is all new (and much nicer). From the readme, here's the new stuff:

- Using an action to use an item (drink a potion, say) works better.
- Quick actions are saved to the save file instead of getting reset.
- New UI system (no more MFC!).
- General dialog box improvements.
- In actor dialogs, switch between actors with buttons on the right.
- Display more items in store and inventory dialogs.
- Improve Action dialog.
- Journal dialog filters text based on quest, and quest complete.
- In actor dialogs, drag-n-drop for actions.
- Use potions from the inventory dialog. ("Delayed Use").
- Re-did attribute buying system to start the game.
- Allow switching between actors while in a store.
- Remove "alternate" inventory slot.
- Improved UI for sneaking.
- Make a save game folder.
- Switch to NSIS for install system. Much easier, smaller. Never needs to
download the massive .NET runtime.
- Implemented "fastmove" while not in combat.

You can get the release on the Download Page. As always, I'd really appreciate feedback. This time I've gone so far as to provide a form (feedback.txt); fill in and mail to ttwt@prankster.com when you've finished playing (regardless of how far you've gotten).

I'm approaching the limit on how much more work I want to put into TTWT; the engine is pretty polished by now. I could certainly improve the game content some more but that would just be effort that doesn't translate into productive work for the "real" game I want to make. Most of the improvements I would make now involve tweaking the RPG system or experimenting with new types of levels and scenarios; those can't really be done without big changes to TTWT.

In any case, I'm due to start a contract in March, probably running through June, doing "real world" programming. So, this is probably a natural point to stop development on TTWT and start planning the next game. Assuming I don't like the job I get so much that I want to keep doing it. ("Real world" programming pays pretty nicely too). In the next few weeks I'll work on preliminary brainstorming on the "next game", and probably write up some post-mortem thoughts on TTWT.

As for TTWT, if I believe enough people have played it successfully, at some point I'll release a Version 6 (Final). Presumably that version won't be much different than Version 5, but will be the non-Beta release of TTWT.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=25

Download Statistics (Dec, Jan)

gdunbar@prankster.com - February 13, 2008

New download statistics:

December:

1 264 0.92% 667695 52.42% /ttwt/ttwt_2007_11_30.zip 

January:

1 40 0.16% 239819 37.05% /ttwt/ttwt_2007_11_30.zip

So, as you might expect, since I haven't released a new version or made any announcements, downloads have dropped off dramatically. I put the total downloads as 1477.

I've got the new version with the new UI just about ready to go, but I'm mulling over how best to get feedback on the game. Just putting it out there has generated a fairly limited amount of feedback, and I'd like to get some more.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=24

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

gdunbar@prankster.com - February 2, 2008

Whew. This UI project is taking a long time. At this point, I've completely removed the MFC dependency, moving all of the UI into Direct3D. For quite awhile the game wasn't playable (due to missing dialogs or whatever), but by now it is playable again; I haven't actually run through the whole game but I think you could now. It's a little dispiriting to work for so long on just making things work that used to work before, but at last I'm past that point.

The new UI is way more usable than the old one; various mouse-click and drag-and-drop features have been added. I particularly like the "drag-and-drop to set quick-actions" feature. I wouldn't call the new UI beautiful just yet, but now that it's working I can experiment with different colors, layouts, fonts, and backgrounds to make things prettier. Here's a screenshot of Freywelfa's spellbook:

For example, to set her "Action" spell, just drag the spell down to the action bar at the bottom.

Next up I'm working tying up the loose ends; things like adding keyboard support back in.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=23

New UI Preview

gdunbar@prankster.com - January 5, 2008

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's a preview of the new UI:

I've moved the UI into Direct3D, away from MFC. I think the new look is a lot cleaner and less clunky; feel free to drop me an email with any thoughts.

Unfortunately all of the dialogs remain in MFC. I'm working on pulling those into the main UI, with the additional goal of removing the dependency on MFC. This will take a bit, but I think the results will be worthwhile. I'll likely release a new version when I get that task done.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=22

Download Statistics

gdunbar@prankster.com - December 22, 2007

Here are some download statistics for TTWT:

October:

1 259 1.08% 797729 57.84% /ttwt/ttwt.zip 
2 66 0.28% 189119 13.71% /ttwt/ttwt_2007_10_19.zip 
3 14 0.06% 72710 5.27% /ttwt/ttwt_2007_10_27.zip 

November:

1 834 4.16% 388601 58.20% /ttwt/ttwt_2007_10_27.zip

That puts the download count through November 2007 as 1173. Not bad! I've got some more in December but I'll wait until the month is over to avoid confusing myself when I go to make a tally in the future.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=20

IGF News

gdunbar@prankster.com - December 17, 2007

As expected, I was not selected as a finalist for the IGF contest. Here's the news:

Firstly, thank you for entering the 2008 Independent Games Festival! The standards were extremely high this year, and we only had five finalist slots per scoring category. Please accept our commiserations if you didn't make the finalists. Whether you did or not, though, our esteemed panel of judges (http://www.igf.com/judges.html) left literally hundreds of game ratings and tried to comment on as many games as possible.

I'm not really surprised; TTWT is still unpolished in a lot of areas, and a lot of the games in the contest were really good. I had a fun time putting the game together for the contest, and may try again next year.

Here is some anonymous feedback from the judges:

To The World Tree scored best in: Game Design

And scored worst in: Audio

To The World Tree is a nice first attempt at the game. A lot of love clearly went into making it,
however, it felt like the game lacked a lot of polish.

The visuals and audio experience were a bit underwhelming and not too cohesive. Additionally, the HUD was often hard to determine. Having to assign "Attack" to my actions in order to attack an enemy is a little frustrating - as is having to press an "EXIT" button when I reach a door I wish to leave.

The sheer amount of dialogue is both impressive and a little overwhelming.

-it would be better if the text differentiated between 'journal updated', 'new goal', 'got item' or whatever, intead of being formatted the same way -- I had trouble noticing when new things happened because it was one large paragraph, no line breaks, no differentiation between events etc
-I wish it was easier to click on people to talk to them or go to them -- cursor moves around while I'm walking, and it's annoying
-so I just sit here while it autofights?
-sounds are jarring
-why do I have to click exit to exit the cellar? why can't the person just walk out? that's annoying
-grimps are hard to tell apart - the tiny graphics are interesting, but you need to have more distinguishing features.
-overall, dull. I can see how collecting things and completing quests and whatnot can get addicting, but ...ho hum. Interface is clunky - hard to find and check journal for tasks.

Beyond that, right now I'm redoing the user interface. I'm pulling everything into the main screen, with transparent floating widgets, and removing all of the MFC code. This is a pretty big change, but I'm happy with what I've done so far. The result should come out a lot slicker than the clunky old MFC stuff.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=19

Version 4

gdunbar@prankster.com - December 1, 2007

Well, I've made some many fixes as part of my coding cycle that I felt it was worth releasing a new version. Mostly small bugfixes, though the new 2D map is a big improvement over the old 3D map. From readme.txt:

- Move to 2D map system.
- Quick-return button.
- Improved lighting model. Fireplaces flicker, etc.
- Dynamic updating of areas, such as removing the magic ward graphic when
appropriate in-game.
- Removed the "easiness" hack and adjusted the levels of monsters and quests
accordingly.
- File packing - package all the module files into one big file.
- Fixed an issue where some doors would open incorrectly.
- Added bows to the blue grimp graphics.
- Fixed an issue where some graphics would get incorrectly clipped.
- Fixed an issue where doors wouldn't open when ALT was depressed.
- The Quick-load notification properly pauses the game.
- Wielding an item while another item is wielded now works properly.
- The display time now advances faster, one day takes about 2 hours.
- Reset areas when the party has been away for a certain amount of time.
- Load, save, death, and rest now display messages.
- Spell display shows which attribute gives a bonus.
- Check for missing DirectX and display an informative error message.
- Item info dialog, make OK the default choice instead of Use.
- Allow doors to be closed.
- New animation system. Animations should look a bit smoother. Also attack
animations now have better follow through.
- Allow items to be added to actor graphics without copying the files.
- Traps and locks require at least level 1 skill to use.
- Party now can't rest while being attacked.
- Display a Loading message while loading level graphics.
- Implemented travel time.
- Added Load Game to Game menu.
- Added keyboard shortcuts dialog to Game menu.

I'm really interested in getting feedback! Post on the Forums or email right to me (ttwt@prankster.com); any comments welcome!

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=16

New Screenshots

gdunbar@prankster.com - November 28, 2007

I updated the screenshots here: screens.htm

The screenshots that were there were still from version 1; the discerning eye will notice a number of improvements from the old ones. The undiscerning eye probably won't really care.

I've made about a bazillion fixes since version 3; I suppose I should release a version 4 soon. I wasn't really planning to, but what the heck.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=15

New 2D Map

gdunbar@prankster.com - November 16, 2007

Here's a pic of the new 2D map:

I think this is way better than the old 3D style. Now, a 3D map _could_ be better, with lots of dynamic motion, animation, and so forth. But the effort to make a decent 2D map is a lot less than to make a decent 3D map. And the old 3D map wasn't even decent.

An added benefit is that I learned a bit about rendering 2D images with Direct3D, which should help a lot with moving the interface into Direct3D.

Other stuff that I put into place includes a new animation system, making it easier to author animations as well as eliminating a gimbal-lock issue that the old system had. The only noticeable effect thus far is that characters now have a recovery animation after an attack, instead of just "snapping back" into place. And a number of minor tweaks and bugfixes.

I'm starting to think about what "real" game I want to make with the SENG engine. The leading candidates are:

An extension of To The World Tree, travelling to all of the planes in the Norse Cosmology.
A historical/fantasy game set in a loose approximation of the times of Louis XIV.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=14

Coding Cycle

gdunbar@prankster.com - November 5, 2007

Well, I've more or less accomplished what I wanted with "To The World Tree". So now I'm going back and doing a coding cycle, redoing stuff in the SENG engine that I didn't need to do for TTWT but should make the next game much better.

The first two things I've done are to code up a packed-module format, and make the world map display in 2D format instead of 3D. Regarding the packed-module, instead of the SENG installer installing several hundred files for the module to use, now it can install just one. This is nice in itself, but it also really makes it easier for me to package up an install of a SENG game, and makes it much less likely that I'll break the game with a bad install package.

As for the world map, I was never really happy with the 3D map. The TTWT world map was pretty basic looking, and making a good 3D map of a countryside seemed like it would be a lot of work. I think 2D maps will be much more aesthetically pleasing, although I haven't yet made a good one for TTWT (the code is done but the graphics are still rudimentary).

Moving forward, I plan to flesh out the RPG system a bit more, with things like shields and two handed weapons. Also I will move the whole main UI into Direct3D, instead of the current 4-pane MFC system. Lots of other stuff too. Stay tuned.

Also, I put the manual online here for anyone who wants to read it without installing TTWT.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=13

Version 3

gdunbar@prankster.com - October 27, 2007

A new version is ready. This one has some nice fixes that I really wanted to get in for the IGF competition. From readme.txt:

- Reworked the Cellar levels to be more streamlined, and maybe a little easier.
- Updated pathfinding.
- Performance improvements.
- Fixed a bug where opening one door would sometimes inappropriately open
other doors.
- Fixed a bug where the party would fail to summon creatures due to enemy
spellcasters summoning the same creature.
- Fixed a bug where the game would crash when a summoned Air Elemental was
killed.
- Fixed the power level of some summoned creatures.

The improved pathfinding and reworked Cellar are the important fixes.

With this release I'm going to relax a little about the IGF now; those are the last big, easy improvements that I can make for now. Hopefully the judges will play with this latest version. Next up I'm planning to step back and make bigger programming changes to the engine that I've wanted to make but weren't really important for the immediate goal.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7

Version 2

gdunbar@prankster.com - October 19, 2007

Well, I decided to crank out V2 before finishing everything I had planned, because there were so many fixes in, I didn't want to wait any longer before getting it out. From readme.txt, here's the list:

- Graphics and lighting tweaks.
- Quickload clears the message view.
- Title bar shows the name of the level.
- Much more information added for messages in the message view:
  - Combat.
  - Diplomacy.
  - Quests.
  - Traps and locks.
- Display some background text when a new game is started.
- Level drawing perf much improved.
- Doors stay open on rest or level departure.
- Error handling for corrupted modules or save files.
- Added audio effects.
- Fixed word-wrap issue in inventory and store dialogs.
- Show item info in store dialog.
- Double-click on actor now properly pauses the game.
- Spellbook shows costs in mana percentage now.
- Many fixes regarding spell effective levels.
- Fixed transparent firepit rendering issue.
- Tweaked AI to pick new targets instead of always pursuing the first one.
- Move between characters in the character dialogs.
- Minimap used to suck, now sucks less.
- Minimap perf much improved.
- Fixed the whole "easiness" hack (the less said the better).
- Overloaded monsters now move properly.
- A few module bug-fixes.

The game feels a lot more "usable" to me now.

The biggies that I punted (temporarily) are:

Making the first level ("The Cellar") shorter or more interesting.
Pathfinding improvements.

I'll proceed to work on those next. TTWT is still at Beta quality but it's coming along nicely.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6

Independent Games Festival 2

gdunbar@prankster.com - October 16, 2007

Just got an email from the IGF people:

Subject: Welcome IGF 2008 Competition Entrant!
Geoff Dunbar,

If you're getting this message you've successfully entered the main competition for the 2008 Independent Games Festival (www.igf.com)! My name is Matthew Wegner, and I'm one of the content directors this year. I just wanted to send out a quick email to welcome you to the IGF and clarify a few things:

...

So, I'm in! Which thus far only proves that I can fill out a web form and pay the entry fee.

A quick browse reveals a number of very slick looking games among the entries, so I don't have huge expectations of being a Finalist. But I don't think TTWT looks horribly out of place in the contest or anything.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5

Working on Version 2

gdunbar@prankster.com - October 15, 2007

So, I'm trying to get a version 2 of TTWT out in the next week or two, mainly to make a set of pretty easy fixes for the most annoying issues in V1. An example is the transparency issue with "objects" in TTWT, like the fireplace in the Inn at the End of the World:

Notice how you can see right through the walls behind the fire. Not good. So, stuff like that is what I want to fix.

An incomplete list:

Add rudimentary audio support.
Make the first level more interesting, shorter, or both.
Performance could use some help (specifically drawing the levels).
The minimap is nearly worthless.
Pathfinding could use some improvements.
And a host of other small annoyances.

I want to get it done soon, so the IGF judges can see the improvements.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4

Whew!

gdunbar@prankster.com - October 4, 2007

Well, in the last week, I managed to:

Finish version 1 of To The World Tree.
Submit it to the Independent Games Festival (http://www.igf.com).
Make and publish this website.
Let a few select people know about the game.

Now, I can relax. And run the Victoria Half-Marathon in 3 days.

Comments here: http://www.prankster.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3

Old: Independent Games Festival

gdunbar@prankster.com - June 23, 2007 (I pulled this post over from my old, unwanted blogspot blog.)

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted; lots of progress to report.

I've been working on a demo game using the SENG engine, tentatively titled "To the World Tree" (henceforth referred to as TTWT in the honorable goal of preventing carpal tunnel syndrome). The goals of this demo are:

Test out my engine and game creation process.
Produce a playable, if short, game demo to release freely and get buzz and feedback on my project.

As an aside, goal (1) has been quite successful so far. For example, my level creation process was initially to edit the level file by hand in a text editor, and then view the results in a level viewer. After some tug-of-war with this process, I realized that adding rudimentary level editing functionality to the level editor would be a significant time-saver. Mind you, it's not a polished, professional tool by any means, but I can achieve results much faster with the new process.

In the meantime, a new goal has emerged. I saw that the Independent Games Festival (http://www.igf.com/) is having their 10th annual game contest, entries due October 1st. I'd like to get this demo done in time for this competition. I don't honestly know how TTWT will fare; I haven't really scoped out the previous years entries, but getting some sort of recognition would be nice. I suppose the real point is that this gives me a fixed time goal to work towards.

And finally, here is a screenshot of the first level of TTWT:

Geoff

Old: Who is Merry Prankster Games?

gdunbar@prankster.com - May 20, 2007 (I pulled this post over from my old, unwanted blogspot blog.)

Merry Prankster Games is my personal independent games company. I started it in something like 1994, allowing me to get the desirable domain prankster.com back in the days when you could actually get domains easily. As an aside, every couple of months I get an inquiry from someone who wants to buy it; one guy offered $2000 in his mail. I've never pursued any of these opportunities, so I don't know how legitimate that offer was, nor do I have any idea of the fair market value. I suppose I've just become attached to the domain.

In any case, the initial purpose of prankster.com was to run the game of Atlantis, a play-by-email game which people paid $1 per week to play. At its height there were a couple of hundred people playing. However, Atlantis was always just a hobby, designed, programmed, and administrated by myself while I was working for "the man", Oracle and later Microsoft. I didn't see a big future in text-based play-by-email games, so eventually I abandoned this effort. Atlantis is now an open-source project, which despite an occasional flurry of activity hasn't made significant progress since I opened the code up.

More recently I've been writing an independent role-playing game with the intention of self-publishing under the umbrella of Merry Prankster Games. The game's name is TBD, while the nearly-completed engine is called the SENG engine; but more to come about this game in future posts. Again, this remains a hobby project, with no resources or employees beyond myself, worked on in my spare time.

That's about all I have on MPG, so here's another screenshot; this time from the SENG animation viewer, of an untextured actor attacking thin air:

Old: Welcome/Testing

gdunbar@prankster.com - May 13, 2007 (I pulled this post over from my old, unwanted blogspot blog.)

Well, I've been meaning to start this blog for some time, but I've just been too lazy, and haven't had anything to show. So, welcome!

At some future date, I'll get more into what Merry Prankster Games is, what we're developing, and what this blog is for. But for now, here's a scrumptious screenshot:

I call it "Enticing shot of man walking through test room, featuring developer art." I hope you like it!

Merry Prankster Games

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Last Modified: December 15, 2011