2004

On my hard drive as ‘mygame.app’, for Mac OS Classic.  The beginnings of a point’n’click adventure around the concept of dream-logic.  Learning to code after 10 years out.

2005-6

Began to develop the editor I use for Lone Survivor (at least, the point’n’click side of it.)  At this time I was re-doing the art in 3D, and the game had a name: Amnesia.  Which as you can guess was never released (although another one was!)

2008

Made Soundless Mountain II for a one-month competition, using my ‘platform engine’, a separate framework.  Getting much more interested in survival horror as a new direction for Amnesia.  Or maybe a hybrid approach…

Began building Amnesia engine 2.0 – a hybrid of platformer and point’n’click engines, all powered by the scripting language.  Initially in XNA, then I reverted to my original plan of using BlitzMax. Began to develop complex lighting treatments, a simpler implementation of which still exists in LS.

It initially looked like this…

Then this…

Then this…

2009

And finally this…

The bedroom has been part of the plan since the start.  I spent a lot of time getting it right, then ended up with something much plainer in the end.

But it was getting too ambitious.  Each treatment more elaborate than the first.  I abandoned Amnesia at that point, and to contain my disappointment, I decided to work on something that was small, silly, manageable*.

Thus was born LONE SURVIVOR.

It was to be one level, one weapon, one enemy, simple survival mechanics.  Everything Amnesia wasn’t.

First three mockups I recently found, probably done on the first day of development.

I’ll share the development images in the next post hopefully.

*SPOILER It didn’t turn out small, silly or manageable.  It turned into Amnesia, but at least I’ve finally made it now.

I can’t write much because I seriously need to beat 4-1 in Demon’s Souls right now. I plan to write at length why I think this game is a revelation, and maybe more regular musings on music, games and movies if people actually read it.

I’m in the middle of busy things at work and in my music… And I don’t have much time to work on Amnesia at the moment – but I’m still using every lunchbreak to do a little painting of the backdrops. So, now I’ve got the street done, I decided to look back at the room again to bring it closer in style.

Without further ado:

I’ll be back with a piece about Demon’s Souls soon.

“You’ll find shards of hardstone past here…”

Thought it was time to collate where I’m up to with all my unfinished games, in order of oldness. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture I’m afraid.

Super Super Ice Balls – the Bubble Bobble clone I’ve written three times. The last time I got really far but put on hold because I wasn’t happy with the art style. I plan to re-do it in a pixel art style most likely.

Trip The multiplayer shooter I’ve been working on since ’91. There have been around ten evolved versions of it over the years. I hope to bring it to a console one day. Just waiting for the right opportunity, and a suitable answer to the one-player mode. Would also like to give it a graphical overhaul soon.

Amnesia A psychological survival adventure. The most personal project I’ve ever undertaken, and hopefully one day in the next year or two it will be a reality. Check my earlier entries for more info, I’m working away at it right now.

iLoveWar My iPhone SRPG. This has been put on hold not because I didn’t like the game, but because I feel it is the right time to make Amnesia. I will definitely finish this one day!

Soul Brother – There’s a feeling of solidity lacking from the game, perhaps in the mechanics, which Stephen Lavelle pointed out to me. My heart sank a little because I knew he was right, I felt it too. There’s nothing ostensibly wrong with the game (I know Dock is not a fan of the non-linear format and perhaps he’s also right), but I’m not really sure how to fix it. It might just come to me!

So things are progressing a little after a hiatus where I  focussed back on my music career for a while.  I’m liking switching between the two to keep them both fresh.  Only problem is, with a baby on the way and a full-time job it’s very tiring!

Here’s a little image, partly to apologise for pulling the teaser video (I edited that post to say why):

The Player's Bedroom (Click to enlarge)

Anyway, this is my first screen of how I see the player’s room, and the kind of art I’m gonna be using – hopefully not much will change from this look – which is good because it’s taken six years to settle on!  I must have done fifteen versions of this room alone.  The sprite’s likely to change a bit though, as this is just my old one, and my good friend Dock will be doing the new one.

I’m playing with doing hi-res text as the game has a lot of dialogue…  I’m not usually a fan, but I feel it could possibly work here, especially for how much easier it makes dialogue to read? (This screen has been scaled down, it would normally be 1024 across – in fact you can have a look by clicking on the image.)

In other news, Super Street Fighter IV exists!

Well I never made it to submission for Ludum Dare 15 (I finished that basic game at 1am, but realised I was too tired to package it up.) But I’m really glad I entered as it’s possibly opened up a major door for me…

It’s very close to what I had in mind for my first chapter of Amnesia Stories, the ‘prequels’ to Amnesia, a game I may never get round to making. In fact, the boy looks like a young Yuuki, the main character, and so this may well become the first chapter of said prequels. I think I’ve got something a little special, atmosphere-wise, and it’s a great template for the guaging exactly how long it would take to put a scenario together for AS.

So if you’re interested in 2D survival horror, keep an eye on this blog in the coming months, as there may be goodness contained herein!