Apologies to anyone who’s been trying to access this page and encountered a server error during the last week. Apparently the machine that this site is hosted on went boom. It should be healthy again now.

So… let’s see, what did I do today? I wrote a new dialog tree in the game. One that I had intended to have done yesterday, but since everything takes me twice as long as I estimate, didn’t get implemented until today! Other than that, stupid real work keeps interrupting my fun work. Interesting fact: I have almost twice the number of classes to teach each week than I had during the time that I started planning this game. And is my pay better? No. Hooray!

As a special treat for the faithful readers of this blog, I’ve prepared a short video demonstration of Resonance’s inventory and short-term-memory systems! Enjoy!

Previously on RDD:

• Resonance Developer’s Diary #6: Death, rewind, death, rewind

Ah, hello. I didn’t hear you come in.

Have a seat. It’s been a while. What’ve you been up to?

That’s nice.

Talk about Resonance? Sure! I’d love to!

It’s been a couple months since the last diary, so I figured I’d chime in with a brief update and then describe the process that goes into making one complete room, so that you can get an idea of why making an adventure game takes so gosh darn long!

Read on!
Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, has it really been that long since my last post? Sorry ’bout that. I was on a roll there for a while, too. But it’s all been for good, because Resonance has really been kicking lately. The whole team has gotten quite a bit done over the past month and a half.

I also did quite a bit of work on Erin’s Nanobots over the last few months, which is going to be a real treat for adventure gamers. So, if you’re wondering what the deal is with that, we got to… oh… I’d say 95% and then Erin got all buried in the end of her education. I suppose if she thinks that graduating college is more important than finishing a freeware adventure game that is going to increase her internet-fame, then so be it. Personally, I think she needs to get her priorities straight, but whatevs. As soon as she’s back in working condition, we’re going to finish up the ending animations and tack on a tutorial and send it out for public consumption.

Finally, I was just going to, at long last, remove the link to Independent Adventuring from the long untended list of links in the sidebar when I noticed that after a year of nothing, he’s just posted up three new reviews in the last week! That’s right. Jozef is back! So if you like reading really insightful reviews of indie adventures, Yesterday’s Salad has got some new (or old, depending on how you look at it) competition!

And, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of those reviews was a very positive review of Linus! Check it out!

Adventure Gamers has just posted an interview they did with me a few weeks ago. Not a lot of new info in there about Resonance, but if you’re interested for some reason in who I am and what kind of games I play, if might be worth a read.

Click on to the interview. And leave a comment on their page saying you want more indie developer interviews!

I’m using this blog to hold a few of these ideas that keep bouncing around my head and bumping into Resonance. Please read the disclaimer.

Able Morgan is missing twenty very important years of his life, the years during which he transformed from an idealistic young law school grad into an immoral, dishonest defense attorney, the years during which he was accused of murder, the years during which he was arrested and thrown in jail. Now, with the help of a psychiatrist, Able must dive into his own memories to uncover the events of the last twenty years. It may be the only thing that saves him from a life of imprisonment.

Full pitch below! Read the rest of this entry »

Working on Resonance is a time consuming and monumental task for me. I’m very driven to complete this game and share it with the world. But no matter how determined I am or how much fun I’m having, my mind always starts to wander to other game ideas.

If only I could make games as fast as I come up with ideas… Unfortunately, when a game takes several months to a year or more, I’m left with a queue of unexplored game concepts floating around in my mind. As I’ve discussed before, my shower time is my best brainstorming time. I plan puzzles and write dialog for Resonance while in the shower. But when I get a new game idea in my head, I start spending shower time brainstorming about the new concept. That’s wasted Resonance time!

To combat this and make sure to keep my watery thinking spells reserved for Resonance, I’m going to pour out a few of the ideas I’ve come up with onto the blog, freeing me from them until Resonance is in the proverbial can and I can decide what to do next.

Obviously, a blog is not a very good place to keep things secret, and I am running the risk that someone might see an idea they like and claim it for their own, but that’s just a risk I’m going to have to take. If a game maker or story teller likes something they see here and draws some inspiration for a work of their own, great! Maybe a little credit, where credit’s due?

Just please don’t outright pilfer any ideas without discussing it with me first. At least the time stamp on the blog post will provide a little evidence in my favor.

And of course, the best option, if you’re a game maker, is to work with me! Hire me! Recruit me! Let’s make the game together!

…as long as you’re talking about me.

Since you will (hopefully!) be paying me for this game, you are, in effect, my bosses, and I intend to listen to all your concerns to please as many of you as possible.

Most people have probably missed the exchange that’s been going on between myself and a mysterious masked man named Matt over in the comment section of Dev Diary 6. He brought up some very valid points about the rewinding system I’ve implemented in Resonance, and through this conversation with him, I’ve come to realize a better way to handle things to please more players.

I thought it would be an interesting read, so I’ve reproduced the conversation below:

Read the rest of this entry »

For the folks who have been patiently waiting, and for the others who have been pestering me, I’ve finally released a handful of screenshots. AdventureGamers got their hands on them early, so I thought I’d better give you the heads up.

Click on them for a 2x view.

Ed arrives in the lab after some mysterious and powerful event has occurred.

A young girl flees in fear from an unseen pursuer. Maybe something in that chest can help you!

Uh oh, it’s locked. The combination must be around somewhere…

Ed rides the subway, where he will have an important encounter.

Anna and Detective Bennet explore a seedy part of town.

As you can see, your adventure is going to take you through many varied locations throughout Aventine City. There are a lot more exciting places that I’d love to show you, but I can’t spoil too much just yet! Enjoy!

Despite being released in 2006, Linus was among the top ten games nominated for the free download category of popular casual gaming site JayIsGames‘ reader-chosen awards for the year. Of course, in the final vote it placed 9th with a paltry 2.8% of the vote… but at least it wasn’t 2%! In your face, Blocksum!

Burn!

Seriously, though. If I had known that Linus was up for the vote, I would have paid you people to go vote. Or at least done so myself. Oh well. Top ten, baby!