I'm Making A Video Game: Hourglass

"Spiral Island"

I’ve dreamed of making video games since I was young. I’ve loved playing them for years now, and I always thought I would excel at making them. I’ve tried to get into the lucrative world of games before, several times actually. But I was overwhelmed at how much went into making even simple games.

The idea never died; making in games in theory was never hard for me. but the practicality of such the task had died inside me. It wasn’t until January of this year that new life was breathed into the notion that I could be a game designer: Project 20 and UNDERTALE.
 

I’ve talked about UNDERTALE before on this blog, and with good reason: the game is one of the greatest I’ve played. It broke the rules, went places that games don’t normally go. I played it in very late December 2015, and was, as a matter of fact, the last game I played in 2015.
 

UNDERTALE inspired me in several ways. One of which was the fact that the game was primarily made by just two people: Toby Fox and Temmie Chang. Temmie just did art, I believe (I’m not devaluing her work at all: she did good work, lots of it), while Toby programed it and did the story. That blew my mind. Like truly blew it wide open. This amazing game that I’ve played through more times than I can remember was made primarily by two people. If that doesn’t inspire, I don’t know what does.
 

The second thing I mentioned, Project 20, is something I’ve never talked about. Well, in short, Project 20 is this idea that around 20% of your work week is dedicated to doing something you’ve always wanted to do. Something personally productive, like learning how to play piano, or how to use sign language. Post-It notes were actually created this way. Well my Engineering teacher assigned us a Project 20, and, to roughly quote him: “Go do something fun. Make sure you like it, cause it’s a grade.”
 

UNDERTALE lit the torch and my teacher gave me a real reason to use it: passing his class because Project 20 is a huge grade. Plus, I don’t have the greatest grade in his class, and when I finish this will drastically improve it [insert happy face here].
 

Anyway, enough small talk: let’s talk about Hourglass.
 

The premise of Hourglass is simple: you take on the role of David, a guy who wakes up on a strange island with no memories at all (ha I didn’t use the old ‘he only remembers the name of his lover deal’ talk about breathing new life into a cliche). The only thing he has in his hand is a letter and a sword. Written on the letter are the words “David (that means you((yes you)))” Our lovely hero opens the letter to find that David himself wiped his own memory for reasons unknown after he and his team fail to stop an, again unknown, force of great evil. The letter also talks about the island he’s awoken on, Spiral Island (yep: that picture up there is Spiral Island), and how it sits at a weak point in the fabric of existence and can access several different dimensions. Well, one of these dimensions is a prison, and it just so happens that your partner-in-crime Clara is in there, and you should probably break her out if you want to continue on your journey.

The story then goes on from there. So far I’ve only finished the first little prison bit, but I’m working on the rest. For those of you wondering, I don’t have to finish the game to be able to turn it in. All I gotta do is make progress with it, and I have. I’m rather proud of it, even if it’s short.
 

I might put what I’ve got so far on Gamejolt, but I don’t like to put things out a fraction of the way finished. I am a professional procrastinator and people getting mad at me for sporadic updates, even though motivating, sucks. Plus it’s just an “RPG Maker’ game, which is apparently not something to be proud of. That’s the most stupid thing about this. To The Moon, a truly great game, was made in an older version of RPG Maker than I’m using, and yet people talk down towards RPG Maker games like their not to be held at the same standards as any other game. Hell, UNDERTALE was made using GameMaker Studio, and it was one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2015.
 

I’m getting off track. You guys have read my rants before; you know how I get.
 

Anyway, let’s keep talking about the game.
 

Hourglass takes several inspirations from UNDERTALE. I personally believe in the whole “You don’t have to kill the guys that seem bad” mentality that UNDERTALE uses as its primary message. I think UNDERTALE takes it a step too far, however. I understand that it’s satire, I really do, but don’t you think that, sometimes, the bad guy needs to die. I’m not saying all the time or even every time, but sometimes, some people are just better off dead. In Hourglass this is especially true. Sometimes you will need to kill people to be on the right path.
 

Speaking of the right path, I am not a fan of the hint. I like UNDERTALE’s approach to playing a game: you need to screw up bad a couple times before you get it right. I won’t drop any more hints than that.

The battle system is probably the only thing I didn’t steal (I didn’t really steal anything don’t get mad toby) from UNDERTALE. No, that’s Final Fantasy standard RPG battling. I also use the random encounter (don’t hit me toby) even though I hate that system of battling (yet Pokemon is one of my favorite games).

That entire last paragraph was a stew of hypocrisy and I apologize for that.
 

That’s really all I can say about my brain child without spoiling her. Sorry guys, you’ll have to play her yourself. Don’t fret, potential player: it might be years before you can play it but until then, have some photos.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading, dear reader.

 

Man I hope Bethesda doesn’t sue me because I use the word scr[CENSORED FOR ‘COPYRIGHT’] in the game like once in a throw-away line. Whoops sorry guys.

-Robert

 

Weird "Social Media" (I guess that's what they're called) Sites.

I have decided that I am going to analyze a couple social media websites/apps/things that I have heard about:

First in the bill is Yik Yak. It is a supposedly completely anonymous forum where people talk about stuff. I guess. I don't really know much about it. I got an email from Change.org (what a surprise there am I right) about a petition about the site. I have no idea what about though.

Anyway, I figure I'll try it out. I suspect it will be total cancer though, considering how 4Chan is with its anonymity (/b/ I'm looking at you). So let's see where this goes. 

Edit: So it's a location based thing. You get notifications about people in the area around you. Well you can screw off Yik Yak I'm just going to look at posts from Washington D.C. since that place is 'trending' lately.

Edit 2: Okay so I found the Peek Anywhere option, which let's you tap somewhere and see Yaks from that area. That's kind of neat I guess.
While I was there, I decided to test out the radius for these messages, you know, how far away you would have to be from whatever point you put on the map for your message to be picked up. And it's a little too close for comfort. It's not like exact, and (probably) no one is going to find you on it, but I personally will not be posting on it or anything like that.

In conclusion, it is sort of fun to see Yaks from differnet locations, but there doesn't seem to be a lot there in terms of content. And it is 10x better than 4Chan. Probably because it's not 4Chan.

My rating: 6/10 Mark Zuckerburgs.

I'll let this picture basicly sum up my experience on Yik Yak:

Next is Whisper. It's a confession app. Oh boy.

Edit: Not worth your time. 2/10 Steve Jobs. 

Well that's all I have the will to do. The internet is so weird sometimes. 

Undertale: The Game That Made Me Like Comic Sans

"it's a beautiful day. birds are chirping, flowers are blooming..." -Sans

A while back, I started a post about a little game called To The Moon. It is a beautiful piece of art, and I totally recommend you go buy it right now and play it if you haven't already. I never got around to finishing that post (but I will soon!) but this is why I bring it up: I thought To The Moon was had the best soundtrack in indie game history. I legitimately thought To The Moon was the pinnacle of indie game score. "It wouldn't get any better than this, I told myself." 

Well, To The Moon has met it's match.

It is still one of my favorite indie games of all time, don't get me wrong, and that soundtrack is still the amazing beautiful masterpiece it was back in May 2015 when I played To The Moon, but it is now number 2. 

Undertale. What can I say about it that no one else has said? Well, it is the second game I have bought the soundtrack for on Steam (the first being, you guessed it: To The Moon). Soundtrack is a big thing for me in games. Especially games that are story-heavy and have NO spoken dialogue. It helps carry the emotion of a situation or event when there is no spoken dialogue to do it. To The Moon focuses a lot less on gameplay than Undertale does, but still, Undertale totally benefits from having an incredible score. 

I should stop comparing Undertale and To The Moon, because while they are indie RPGs made for the PC, sold on Steam, and have impeccable soundtracks (both of which I own), that is where their similarities begin and end. 

In the world of Undertale, there are two races living on Earth, monsters and humans. One day, we humans do what humans do (I'm looking right at us, America); we kicked the monsters out after having a huge war with them. The monsters were forced under the fictitious Mt. Ebott and into the Underground, and sealed off from the surface with the powerful Barrier, a wall that only those with a powerful soul can pass through. You play as a human child who falls into the Underground one day, and forced to fight (or more importantly as you'll see below, don't fight) through the Underground in order to one day feel the sunlight on your face once again.

The story and lore can be a bit thin at times, admittedly, but what you don't have in backstory, you have in characters. While making your way through the Underground you will meet some the most memorable characters in any game I have ever played. From a nihilistic skeleton who's entire existence is a pun to a homicidal robot who hosts various television shows including a cooking show and the news, these characters are the greatest I have ever had the chance to play a game through with. There were moments when I busted out laughing because of something they said, then within a couple minutes that same character could make me close to tears (the sad ones) and it all flowed extremely well. They were very relatable characters too. I could see something of myself in every single one of the major characters in the story. I would provide examples but if you've never played the game, you'll have no context.

The game has little jokes peppered throughout too, some made by the characters and sometimes they show up out of nowhere when you examine something. A quote from the game basically sums up what kind of humor you'll find in this game:

Or say, for instance, Sans the nihilistic skeleton, one of the major players (and by that I mean character but I am so sick of that word) of the game. He makes terrible jokes and skeletal puns (as he is of the spooky, scary variety of monster) all the time. And every word of his dialogue is written in COMIC SANS! (u git it m8?) I have a new found respect for that typeface. Won't ever be using it, but I still like it now, just because of Sans. Also his brother is named Papyrus and all his dialogue is written in, you guessed it, Papyrus typeface.

All of these little things are some of the small reasons why I love Undertale. There is one reason in particular that sold me on Undertale, something that you'll either love or hate depending on how you like your games:

Undertale broke the rules. 

And no, I'm not talking about the graphics, by the way (which is another thing I adore about this game).  Undertale takes the one, fundamental, core values of every RPG you have ever played and snaps it in two. Undertale asks a question, like all great works of art do. The question it asks is quite simple, really: 

"What if, instead of killing our opponents, we spared them?"

You have a 3 choices to end a battle when you get into one: fight and kill the opposition, flee from the battle, or spare your enemy. Every fight has importance in this game. I am not kidding in the least when I say killing a single enemy, no matter how insignificant to the overall plot, can screw you out of 1 of the 3 endings to this game. And it's not just random little goobs you fight in this game either. There is only 1 major character in the game that you don't ever have the option to kill. This game has three potential endings, and to get to whatever ending you want, you have to follow a certain path. Some main characters can only be fought on some routes, but there is only 1 major character that you can never, ever fight. That's huge. Every little single fight in the game has ripples that effect the fate of the entire world. 

Most RPGs say: "Well here's a field. This field has a bunch of enemies in it. Kill them lol bai."

Undertale asks: "Well, you're in the Underground now, the Hell where your kind exiled the monsters for no reason other than selfish hate. Are you really, after taking away their homes and freedom, going to take their lives too? I mean, human souls are more powerful than monster souls. It would be pretty easy to steamroll this place. It is what you humans do right?" 

You can answer yes to that very question. You can kill every single enemy you come across. In fact, one of the three routes, not-so-but-maybe-kinda accurately named the Genocide Route, requires you to do just that: kill indiscriminately. Everything. Everyone. Whip them off the map.

You can also shout "NO!" from the top of your lungs to answer that question. You can go through the entire game without even using the FIGHT button on your UI. Instead using the ACT button to deescalate fights in often-times hilarious ways, like making a certain buff seahorse-merman-thing named Aaron 'flex his way off screen' (not joking that's how you 'beat' the guy seen on the left). One of the routes of the game, the true pacifist route, requires you to do this. Not a single hair on the head of a single monster can be harmed to get that ending. Not a single, solitary one.

That to me is the true beauty of Undertale. If you play as a megalomaniac, the game treats you like it, dark and brooding. If you are a die hard pacifist, the game is light-hearted and funny. The very personality of the game on a fundamental level adapts to how you play it. 

Oh and there are puzzles. Lots, and lots, and lots of puzzles. 

My rating score for games goes something like this:

1. Don't play this game!
2. Borrow from a friend, maybe.
3. Rent it.
4. Pick it up on sale.
5. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING BUY THE GAME ALREADY!!!!!

Undertale gets a solid 5 for sure. You will more than likely love this game. It has a lot of replayablity and will not get stale if you play through it 4 or 5 times trying to find all the little hidden things. I mean, minor spoiler warning here, saving and loading your game becomes a game mechanic in the last parts of the game. No joke. That loathsome forth wall does not exist here (I hate the forth wall).  But it is 10 bucks on Steam, will work on your grandmother's PC, and worth every penny even at full price. Also pick up the soundtrack on Steam. I swear it is so good that you'll feel bad pirating it off YouTube especially when I tell you the entire soundtrack was composed by the same guy who programmed and drew 99.9% of the art for the ENTIRE GAME (luv u tony < 3 )

And until next time,

Cini 

Undertale on Steam

Also, To The Moon on Steam

Because you can't die without play them. Seriously there is no point in living without experiencing it. 

8-Bit Music: Portal - Still Alive

whoopy doopsy doodle do i made a video and posted on the right blog about go me at 2am

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer

This is exciting. After being hyped for months, Disney teases us yet again with what is sure to be a great movie. I absolutely cannot wait for December to roll around!

8-Bit Music: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2: I Don't Want to Say Goodbye

LOOKY LOOKY I GOT A COOKIE

What If?: The End of Doctor Who

What if? It's a question we ask ourselves a lot. 'What if I win the lottery tomorrow? What if I meet the love of my life? What if the world ends tomorrow?' I'm sure you get the point. We speculate about the world and what might happen in it. It can be helpful at times to ask what if. Asking yourself and those around you what would happen if you did something. 'What if I go and help the homeless tomorrow?' That is a good what if question. However, what if can be dangerous. 'What if the person I like texts me out of the blue tomorrow professing their undying love to me?', or the ever so lovely: 'I did a bad thing and I got away with it. What if I do it again?'.

That is when what if becomes dangerous. In the first example, you get rapped up in that idea. That something will happen to you for no reason when there is no evidence supporting that it will happen. The best example I can come up with is the mirror from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. You look in the mirror, see the one thing you desire the most, and go mad with longing. The second example can be equally as bad. You did a bad thing; stole from someone, cheated, lied, etc. and didn't get caught. If you didn't get caught the first time, why would you get caught the second time? 'What if I did it again? Well, nothing. I got away with it the first time!', and the cycle goes ever downward.

I've gotten a bit off track here. What if is a very powerful question, one which can go in any number of different ways. For today's post, let's ask a very specific what if? question: What if Doctor Who were to end?

The answer is... well we don't even have to speculate. Doctor Who took a 16-year hiatus starting in 1989. At the time, the show had been loosing popularity, so it simply wasn't doing as well as it used to. The program later came back in 2005 and has stayed on until this very day.

NuWho, as the program from 2005-now is affectionately refereed to as, has been going on strong since is started. There is no sign of it stopping anytime soon. In theory, it never has to end; the Doctor could just keep regenerating and regenerating forever. However, as a great man once said, all great things must come to an end. As a fan of the show, I hope this doesn't happen for a long time. I want to be able to watch the show for many years to come. But when the show does end, I would want it to end well, with a satisfying ending that ties up any and all loose ends the show has. What if I had to write that very final season of one of (if not the) greatest science fiction show ever to be created? Well, I guess it would go a little something like this:

Pre-Ultimate Season: The Doctor has regenerated 25 times. Nearing the end of his second regeneration cycle, he knows his next regeneration will be his very last. In the last episode of this season, the 23rd Doctor (Author's Note: it would be the 23rd because of the War Doctor regeneration and David Tennant regenerating into himself) is somehow injured and regenerates into the 24th Doctor. This new Doctor sends whatever companion he has home so that he can spend the last of his life by himself. In the last moments of that episode, the Doctor scans his body for any anomalies. The screen blinks red and displays these words: VORTEX SICKNESS. The Doctor, now in tears, says: "I have less time than I thought." and the last episode ends.

The Final Season: In the last episode of last season, the newly regenerated Doctor finds out he has Vortex Sickness, a rare condition among Time Lords that is the result of either traveling too much throughout time and other universes or spending too much time in or near a TARDIS or anything else that has a direct connection to the Time Vortex. The Doctor, spending most of his extremely long life in his TARDIS, has traveled through time a lot, more than any other living thing in existence. Vortex Sickness is basically your soul being sucked into the Time Vortex. The Doctor will slowly loose his memories and other skills until, ultimately, his atoms separate and he fades into the Time Vortex. Calculations predict that he has about 10 years to live. Knowing that traveling in time, or even being in his TARDIS will shorten his lifespan, the Doctor goes back to Gallifry in the first episode, where the Time Lords tell him that there really isn't any hope, as the only way to cure Vortex Sickness would be to separate the Doctor from the Time Vortex, which is impossible as the very fabric of the universe is made up of the Time Vortex.
        The Doctor decides that he is not going to spend his life stuck at Gallifry being bored until he denigrates. So, over the course of 22 episodes, the Doctor takes his greatest enemies and traps them in the literally inescapable dimension Insanitarium. Every single Dalek, Cybermen, Silence, all of the Doctor's strongest foes are trapped there, bringing peace to the universe.
        This shortens the the Doctor's lifespan, as he has had to travel in the TARDIS to trap the monsters in Insanitarium. The 24th episode of the season and the last one in the series takes the Doctor back to Gallifry before the Time War broke out, where he meets a young Time Lord named Metus. The Doctor, recognizing this Time Lord but not sure where he met him, takes him on a ride in the TARDIS. Something in the Doctor tells him to speak to Metus about how there is more to the universe than just Gallifry; that Metus can have amazing adventures like the Doctor did.
        The TARDIS lands on Earth in 2014. Metus falls in love with Earth and it's people. He had never been here before, and absolutely adores it. The Doctor tells Metus of some of the adventures he's had on Earth, even though he can remember only a few and the details of those stories are fading quickly. The Doctor realizes that he doesn't have much time left and needs to get Metus back to Gallifry.
        The TARDIS lands on Gallifry, and the Doctor begins to expel regeneration energy, as the process of dying from Vortex Sickness is almost like regenerating in reverse. Metus, who thinks the Doctor is regenerating, goes up to the Doctor to ask him why he's regenerating. He gets right into the Doctor's face too, which triggers the Doctor's memory about Metus. "I know you. I know how I know you." The Doctor says as he's dying. "How do you know me, Doctor? We've never met before." Metus replies. "You'll know who I am soon enough. Now, promise me something." the Doctor says, painfully. The Doctor asks Metus to never give in. To never be cruel or cowardly. The Doctor begs this of Metus, who says yes, that he will never give in, or be cruel or cowardly. Metus leaves the TARDIS, walking straight out the door, and watches as it just fades away. Not in and out as the TARDIS normally disappears, but it just silently fades out. And with that, the Doctor is gone.
        Metus is mesmerized by Earth and absolutely has to go back. He ends up stealing a TARDIS right from under the Time Lord's noses and taking it to Earth with his small granddaughter, landing in 1950's London. As he lands, Metus figures that he is going to need an Earth name to fit in, so he tries to translate his own into any language from Earth.
        Metus looks at the monitor, amazed at the result his TARDIS gives him, which happens to be in English. Metus sees this and realizes that it must mean something: that he was going to do some amazing things.
        Metus is a Gallifrian word, and when translated into English, it means doctor.

What if? What if the BBC sees this and adapts it for the very, very last season of Doctor Who? What if the show ends in 150 years and I don't get to see how it ends? What if it ends very differently than the manner depicted here? What if they just cancel the show after Series 9, just like they did in 1989, and no one gets a satisfying ending? I honestly don't know.

This ending might not be great for you, personally. But for me, with a much, much more fleshed out final product, I would be extremely happy with this ending. It comes full circle and ties up any loose ends the show has. Isn't that all we can ask for in an ending, whether it be the end of a TV show or the end of something much greater and more significant?

Endings are inevitable. We can't stop them from happening, because that itself would be an ending, an ending to endings of sorts. Great things, bad things, thoughts, opinions, and other dull things, all of it has to stop somewhere. Otherwise no question would ever end, and neither would any answer. Death and life would both be eternal. No, every sentence has a period, every show has a finale, every life has it's death, and every story has it's ending. We must do what we can before we come upon our own finales.

But we can dream. We can hope and believe. We can weave our own stories. Every sentence has it's capital letter, every show has it's premiere, every death begins in life, and every story has it's beginning. Even this blog post has a beginning.

We asked a simple question. We asked the question that allows us to dream and hope and believe. We asked the question that we use to weave stories and tell tales. The question of imagination, those simple two words with a question mark at the end that can birth something beautiful and amazing and wonderful or dark and scary and evil. The question of storytellers, playwrights and people everywhere was the one we asked.

We asked: What if?

Update: I Lied Before But Now I'm Back (no really)

The first Fazbear Project teaser

The second Fazbear Project teaser

So I have been gone for awhile. I haven't updated this in a bit, but I am back, and better than ever. The Fazbear Project is coming along, I'll be it slowly. It is definitely the biggest story I have ever put to paper, and by far the most complicated. It is coming along.

As you can see by my earlier posts this month, I am also updating my YouTube channel! I plan on putting more stuff on there as well as this blog.

I'm going to be redoing the blog a little bit now. Don't know exactly what I'll do next.
But the color scheme as it is is alittle too
Halloween for my taste as a year round thing.
Alright, I'll be back!

The Commercial That Changed My Life

Commercials are everywhere. Whether on T.V or on YouTube, we all see at least a couple every single day. Most people don't like commercials, and it's understandable why; we want to watch a show or movie and semi-frequent breaks throughout filled with ads can get a bit annoying. Sometimes the commercials vacuum cleaners or car dealerships, but sometimes the commercials we see are for video games.

The year is 2010. I was 8 years old at the time, and had just gotten a DSi for Christmas. I was just sitting by the T.V one day, watching a show on Cartoon Network (I can't remember for the life of me what show it was) when the commercials came out. I, being young and bored, went into the other room to play with something else until the show came back on. When I walked back into the room, the commercial that changed my life began to play.

It was a commercial for Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. I had never even heard of the Pokemon series before then. It seemed fascinating to me. There were these tiny monsters following a kid my age around a city. I had never seen anything like it! What really caught my interest back then was the fact that the game came out on my birthday. That sold it for me; I had to get this game!

I went up to my mother and told me that I wanted the game. When she asked me which one, I said I wanted HeartGold. 'Gold is better than silver.' my young, naive mind reasoned. A couple of days latter, she told me she had pre-ordered SoulSilver, I was a bit disappointing, but I really didn't care.

So the day finally rolled around. My 9th birthday, March 14th 2010. My mother held out her hand and showed me the game. I popped it in my DSi before we even left the Walgreen's parking lot where we were at. I loved the game just as much as I thought I would. It took about a month or so, but I finished the first half of the game, playing it as often as I could.

That Pokemon game was the start of my long time love of the series. It has truly shaped my life and interests in a way I never imaged it would. One example is the avatar I use on most of my accounts on the Internet. It is a picture of my Minecraft skin, which is the player from Pokemon SoulSilver. My favorite color is silver. It's odd how many things it influenced in my life.

I said earlier that I originally wanted Pokemon HeartGold instead of SoulSilver, however it only took a couple of hours of playing SoulSilver that made me realize how wrong I was. It has become one of my favorite games of all time, but I would have never seen it had it not been for that commercial coming on at that exact time.

A minute long commercial, seemingly so small and insignificant, changed my life forever. I probably would have gotten into the Pokemon series at some point anyway, but it would have been much later in my life had it not not been for that small advertisement.

That is the message in this post: it's the small things. The little things change your life. The big things change your life too, of course, but we all see that coming. No, the small things that we don't expect to change anything can, and sometimes will, change everything. Don't disregard something due to its seeming insignificance. It might be a walk in the park, or a drive down a street you had never been down before. Or, in some odd cases, it might be a commercial for a Pokemon game.

8-Bit Music: Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald - Title Screen

It's been awhile!

I have a series on YouTube called 8-Bit Music. I haven't updated it since the first of the year, but I'm back. I plan on updating the blog more, and my channel. But for now, just check this out!