A crazy week

I'm writing this blog still half-broken because of a flu I got early this week. Fun because I had one around the same time last year too, even if was much lighter!

Heileen 3: Sea Maidens slightly delayed

Now first of all, as you can imagine, I wasn't able to work on Heileen 3 yuri version. I feel better but not good enough to code, which requires concentration to avoid making lots of mistakes. However, the writers have basically finished reviewing the texts, so I think the beta could start the coming week.

Spirited Heart 2 - Religious Wars

That is the provisory title. What?? :D I'm joking of course! A rather crazy thing happened though, that is the current character artist for that game refused to draw the girls for the yuri version. For "religious reasons" because he's a Christian.

I don't want to get into a debate, however my uncle was a Catholic priest and always said about homosexual people that "the important thing is that they love each other". My uncle was a better man than many others.

In defense of that artist (which I won't name), when we originally started the project, it was to be just a standard GxB game. Indeed work on it started in 2009, shortly after the first game, and since then lots of things changed (positively I think) in the content you can find in my games.

So while I don't agree on what he says, I respected his decision. What happened next?

Here comes el salvador!

Haha I'm not sure if the title above is correct but I can always blame my illness ;) So after this drawback was unsure what to do. I had already invested a consistent amount of time and money (few thousands) on that art, but I didn't want to disappoint my fans, which is the thing I consider more when doing my job.

M.Beatriz Garcia, who worked with me already in the Flower Shops series, was supposed to draw the chibis for the game already, starting this month. So I thought to ask her if she could work on the rest of the art needed for the game, and the answer was positive! :) She has no problems to draw any kind of romance, so the game will have all combos, hetero and homosexual. Of course we're talking about a very soft game, not sexy like Loren (I thought it was obvious, but...).

Below is a preliminary sketch of the 3 main female characters:

Note that they're in undergarments only because the game will allow a lot of customization in clothes, accessories, hats, and so on, like a "paperdoll". I really like how the personality of each race is already transparent from that sketch!

My name is Roger Steele

This crazy week ended when yesterday I got the first draft of the storyboard for a "mysterious RPG game" that I will officially announce in the next weeks. Those reading my forums or following me on twitter already know what it is the setting though ;) For now I'll leave you wondering who is that Roger Steele? (but don't worry the game will be playable as male or female main character).

What's next?

I was quite busy this week working both on Heileen 3 and Bionic Heart 2 (you see a new video of it above), so this post will be mostly an attempt in having a sort of "planned release schedule".

December 2012

As you probably know already, I really hope to release Heileen 3 sometimes during December (hopefully in time for Christmas!). The beta testing will begin soon for sure, but the final game release is still unknown (depends how many bugs people find in the beta!). Anyway, all that's left beside 10 more "random events" is for the simulation parts: 21 chibis, some small artwork, a few texts, some more balancing. I believe it's just a week or two of work.

In December I should also have one of my first games on the new Monkeycoder engine, so available also on iOS/web.

January/March 2013

Between those months, I'm surely going to release the yuri version of Heileen 3 (which I really wanted to release at same time as the main game this time, but alas because of problems with the original writer I couldn't). Also, Bionic Heart 2. The background art for that game is all done, the plot is finished, but there are still some sprite images that needs to be colored.

April/June 2013

Here things gets more difficult to judge. My goal would be to start Planet Stronghold 2 beta in early April, but you know, with RPGs is hard to know since they're so hard to make ;) I might just have one of my other games in a good advancement state and release it. Possible candidates are Roommates and Nicole.

Late 2013

Anything is possible! I really hope to have finished Planet Stronghold 2 by that date, and one of the other games. Maybe even Spirited Heart 2 or Amber's Magic Shop. But is very likely that at least one of those two games will slip into 2014!

As you can see I've got quite a busy schedule ahead. Now excuse me but I need to get back to work ;)

It's time for a Spirited Heart 2

If you follow me since long time you might remember that I was talking about Spirited Heart 2 in past years. In my original idea, I wanted it to be some kind of online game, a free to play maybe or with some multiplayer gameplay elements.

And because of that, I was postponing it year by year, despite having all the background and art needed. I kept saying "well this year I don't have enough knowledge or the right tech, but next year...".

Result? After waiting for so long, I am still not ready to make a game like that. But most importantly, I don't think I would even have fun doing it! So, after I got an overwhelming response for my "writers wanted" twitter message, I thought to ask one of the writers to take care of Spirited Heart sequel.

I think I was doing a mistake to postpone this game for so long. I was a bit brainwashed by the success stories of other people doing online/free to play games, but the reality is that I wouldn't know where to start and very likely I wouldn't enjoy doing it either :)

Anyway I decided to go for it. Of course won't be ready this year, because even if I was get all the texts in the next months, I will still need to think about the gameplay, and is very likely that will try at least to get the game done with the new engine so it can be played on iOS. But at least something is moving.

Here's a sneak peek/promo image featuring Ramas and Thofte, with the updated art:

(Ramas background is the graveyard by night in case you're wondering. It's one of the jobs of the game).

I also got the chance to hire again both the sprite and the background artist who did the image above to commission more art/content since I want the game to be a worthy successor to the original game.

About the other games, as I said found a new writer for Amber Magic Shop, got more art and totally hilarious scenes for Roommates, the latest images for Heileen3 yuri version (see image below)

And I think is all... ah no, actually there's the Loren expansion! Well not many good news about that since Aleema had hard time with the heat wave that hit the US even if she's trying to finish by end of month, and also I am still missing one colored sprite for the final scene of the expansion! :(

But with the help of another great writer I finally got the sequel's plot fully outlined so I started commissioning the new images for the game. Here's a lineart preview of one of the new playable characters, Breza, and an old acquaintance, Rei.

That's all for now, see you next Friday!