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ISSUE #4 THE VALE, QUILL 27 OCT 2017 ONE BRASS
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This week we got a load more lovely new Art in or in development. The Apothecary and Goods Store are fully concepted and their pixel art is now in progress. I spent my time this week fixing up level exits and extending run-ins, especially after seeing how being at 720p affects the view. I started filling out the village green and a couple of other levels, as well as fixing a lot of layering issues.
One last thing I did is remove all the Recipes and Proverbs from the prototype levels so we can start putting in the gameplay stuff. I wrote a new design doc covering the story and how we introduce things to the player, so we'll soon need to start implementing those.
So what's so funny about your update, I hear you mutter? Well, yes, normally I would have some amusing angle for you, but lack of quality sleep and Super Mario Odyssey have drained me...so absolutely no fun for you at all. Not a bit.
The Spring Spring Onion Spring sprung spring onions this week. Villagers are recommended to visit the mint mouthwash pond afterwards.
Spud the Potato was found safe and well in a well. He was fished out, then chipped.
Dick Turnip, the unfortunately named highwayman, has struck again in Softwood. An adventurer called Hob Boskins was relieved of his carrots. If you have any information regarding the carrots, please keep it to yourself, as nobody likes a grass.
Back on (Sound)Track
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Nice communities make working on my music so much better! And Kynseed's community seems to be a prime example of that. This week some excellent conversation was had in the Kynseed Discord channel. You guys and gals really rock! In the meantime, Matt has been hard at work on a task board for us to help organize all our tasks and progress, and boy is it a beauty! It's easy to use, and easy to track. Plus, being able to see clearly what needs doing, and what has been accomplished so far, makes a huge difference. It's so easy to lose focus if it's unclear just how much work is yet ahead, and it's easy to get intimidated by it. Good planning is half the battle, and thanks to Matt's hard work, we can now plan better than ever!
That being said, life is still this thing that takes our plans and laughs at them sometimes. For me, this week has been made a little chaotic by that, as several of my own plans for the week went out the window, slowing my progress a bit. So I have to work extra hard next week to get things back on track.
Now, there's this fancy section of the forum called the Dev Pub, where Access Backers get a peak into some of the inner workings of the game's development. For such members, we have another treat coming your way: we're releasing another track from the Kynseed soundtrack onto the Dev Pub! As of yet, the song isn't even in its final state, so it's rough around the edges. But you can't really call it 'insight into the development of the game' if all we do is release polished content, right? So you'll get to hear the track before all the polish and final mixing is done on it. And worry not, we'll be releasing some previously Dev-Pub-only content to the wider forums very soon. Any and all feedback is welcome, of course, as there's still time to make changes to the track! Keep an eye on the Dev Pub for that new track soon...
See you out there you excellent people, you!
Excerpts from
The Bullford English to English Dictionary
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It has come to the attention of The PixelCount Post that some of our less civilized readers aren't familiar with the full lexicon of the British tongue. With that in mind, we will begin running this new series, as needed, featuring excerpts from a very old copy of The Bullford English to English Dictionary, written by none other than Frederick Fur. This week's dictionary excerpt features terms used in this and prior issues of The PixelCount Post. Please enjoy this brief lesson in refined culture.
grass (ɡręs), n. a criminal or an insider who informs on one's associates.
English to English translation: snitch
Frederick's Footnotes: The origin of this word comes to us from one of the most ancient of British traditions: the propensity to rhyme. In days of yore, a policeman would be called a 'copper'. Slang eventually led to this word becoming 'grasshopper'. On a similar note, someone who turned their pals over to the police were said to 'shop' them to the authorities. This naturally led to calling such individuals a 'grass shopper' which, in time, simply became 'grass'.
bunting (bʌn.tɪŋ) n. Flags and other colourful festive decorations.
English to English translation: pennant banner
Frederick's Footnotes: This word is also occasionally used to refer to a collection of flags on a naval ship. The naval officer responsible for using signal flags is known as a bunts.
o.n.o. n. an acronym meaning 'or nearest offer'.
English to English translation: o.b.o. (or best offer)
Frederick's Footnotes: How telling that the British are interested in what is near while others are interested in what is best.
Following on from last Friday's playthrough, I've been working through the list of code work discussed. So far I'm about a third through that list in what was a bit of a slow, distraction-heavy week. I did address one of the lingering pieces of work this week to make objects capable of having multiple bits of collision which should handle some sprites and tiles that didn't quite work before. I've also started work on the NPC query and status screens which I think rounds off the new UI screens required. Looking forward to doing another playthrough on the weekend and pushing on with polishing up the game!
I've been making frequent trips between Chateau Matt and PixelCount Castle this week due to rolling out the new project management system and putting the final touches on the Piggy Backer, the latter of which we'll be sharing more news about in due time. Additionally, I'm busy prepping a gargantuan amount of new content for release over the next week or so, both in the Dev Pub and on the public forums.
The exciting thing is that we're at the point in the project when all the various parts are slowly starting to converge on each other and fit together like puzzle pieces; jagged, work-in-progress, rough looking, semi-functional puzzle pieces. But we're getting there! With all this sudden progress being made, that means that there's now a fairly sizable backlog of content that we've been wanting to show the community and get thoughts on. So over the next week or so you can expect to see some new concept art, character art, an in-game location or two, a new soundtrack piece, and perhaps even some new animations.
The project's momentum is starting to hit a good stride and all the team members and various moving parts are starting to get into a solid nice rhythm. I can't wait to show you what we've been up to.
APPLE PIES We would like to remind travellers from Poppyhill that our Apple Pies are much better than theirs, so prrrrp.
DRUIDA DAY A sacrificial offering must be given to our beloved Druida, Goddess of the Orchards, on Druida Day. Due to a good harvest, this only has to be a small pig, or one shaved cat.
SLIPPY TIN CIDER Toby Jugg of the Flailing Arms Tavern would like to invite you to a sampling of his new apple drink, Slippy Tin Cider. Any donations to help those recovering from last week's similar joke would be appreciated.