Reviewing the story documents the copywriter sent me

Still having issues with file sharing, but making it work. 

I need to start working on these things before midnight.  I have to get up early, geez.

Bakcground artist called me

He finally sent me some new art, which is good, since I've been waiting for a while.  Now just need him to complete three more backgrounds.

Lost time

Had a long talk with the copywriter on using folder sharing services.  The technical issues have been mostly cleared up and I think we'll be fine.  Blogger is acting up, so I'm going to keep this post short.  Suffices to say, the copywriter is rewriting a bunch of stuff...should get updates Tuesday and the artist is working on a bunch of stuff I'm having her tweak.  Hopefully we won't have too many more delays.

Found out my copywriter didn't know how to use file sharing

 Because I found out through some tech spelunking that he de-shared himself from the shared folders.
 
Which is why I wasn't receiving the updates from him.


Makes me feel better about myself in some ways, less in other ways.

I have three GIANT. PIECES. OF COPY TO READ.

Starting to feel like this.



*gasps and dies*

I have some new sketches

Of one of the playable characters.  I've asked for a few changes, and I'll be putting them up soon.

I have a bunch of copy to edit tomorrow evening.  Didn't get to it tonight.

Waiting for the code from the programmer.

Now researching 2D art effects

Could be interesting, but I felt good that a lot of people who are small studios don't always know a lot about 2d art animation stuff.

Story boarding almost finished for the day.  Taking a lot longer than I expected because I forgot about a couple of gameplay elements that I'm hoping to release in the 2nd release sometime.

As always, if you would like to be a beta-tester, sign up at www.interrgames.com

Considering buying a course in App Development

I know there are tons of free resources, but I'm looking at trying out a course or two that I might be able to make a tax deduction as employee training.

Also, I don't want to do a Google search every time I'm looking through something.  I'd rather just get it over with in a large chunk.

I'll check out some free resources and then consider my next steps, I guess.

Yesss

Developer will be sending me code this week, I finally get to review some of it.  He says he was having trouble with some bugs.

Copywriter has sent me a draft piece, and I have a bunch of editing, writing, and storyboarding to do.

It's going to be a full day where I wish I owned a more expensive, ergonomic chair.

I have like 2 pages of dialogue left to complete

And I'm completely creatively tapped.

I've had a really strong two weeks of working really hard on this material, but I'm really struggling, I think I've burned myself out a bit with this. 

I'm blocked.  I'm at the endings sequences, and I'm having performance anxiety.  The way the current endings are structured don't make any sense.  I can't make too many changes without adding changes to the programming....sigh...this is going to be a little rough.

I don't have time to recharge creatively, either.  The clock is ticking, and this is going to get more expensive the more time I waffle on this.

I seriously need a solution that is going to work.  Stat.

Just did the budget for this game

I'm kind of sick when I think about how much money I have left in my budget...I don't have a lot of money left before I'm tapped out and can't afford any more.

This is getting rough.

Music finished!

Tracks sound great, really happy about it.  Might hire the composer to do additional music once I've released a beta of the game to add additional tracks.

Today's to-do list:

• finish storyboarding (more to do for new copywriting stuff)
• finish editing dialogue (sections of the first 50 pages need work)
• Start learning a bit of code so that I can contribute (minimally) to the programming (because I'm going to need to input all the code functions into the text, I have a feeling)

I want to e-mail everyone to start speeding things up, but I should let them take their time...the text isn't ready, so it doesn't matter about the other stuff at this point.

Had a meeting with the copywriter last night

lasted 2 hours.  I explained all the stuff he needs to know, he should do a much better time this time around.  The first draft I literally doubled the script size from 25 to 50 pages.  He'll probably hand me another 25, but hopefully it's closer to my vision this time.

Artist is sick and is having trouble completing the icon.  Kinda rough because I need the art to move ahead...there's a whack load left to do.  I might take the icon off her hands and do it myself.  I don't have a problem with vector graphics (I designed the battle icons, feel free to ridicule me.)

Work is crazy, I'm getting sick, I just had an allergic reaction to strawberries in my dinner and now I'm going to gym to burn off this day.  This day needs to go away.

Paper Monsters review

Music is annoying me too much to keep playing Paper Monsters.

Like the graphics (saw demos in forums, lost my mind with how beautiful it looked)

mechanics are really solid, jump-wise, which is your only attack.

Unfortunately, every time you jump, you make a very annoying Mario-like sound.  But when you get hit, you make a different, weird baby "ow" sound.  Also hurts the game, sometimes my guy just wouldn't move or jump...controls weren't responsive enough, although I liked the general idea.

Cool ideas in this game.

I played two levels...the music loop can't be longer than 30 seconds.  I was annoyed halfway through the first level.  I stopped playing halfway through the second.

Finalizing the music

The composer has put together some amazing stuff...I'm getting really excited about it.

So far we have:

Two area themes
One battle theme
A 'boss' theme
Battle sfx

Now just need to e-mail the background artist.  E-mailed the copywriter last night.  Had to explain that I'm doing a lot of editing which is normal for a first draft, but hoping the second draft isn't as much editing.  (I can't afford to be held up another two weeks on copy again.)  But he's doing good for just coming on board, and pretty sure this is one of his first freelancing gigs.

I'm going to be working on the game script while I jam to the music, and I need to e-mail the programmer.

I had such a good sleep last night.  It's amazing what a little bit of R&R can do for your outlook on life.

This script needs to finish itself

Because I'm half dead from work and half dead from script and frankly just half dead.


...


I'm going to eat a pizza.