Our Personal Space [Romance] [Drama] [Sci-fi] [Life Sim]DONE

[qirien]

The alpha is completed, and we are currently working on the beta. Our completion date depends a lot on our artist, but I'm projecting that we will probably be done early 2015. The beta may be finished earlier than that, so I will be sure and post here when it is finished to get feedback from all of you!

[unknown5]

hey, looks interesting. just curious about some things.

- is there a significant "wilderness survival" aspect to the game or is the game mostly relationship-centric?
- does the story go into survivalist techniques and stuff like that?
- if you get away from the home planet and out into the colony worlds, if you get past all of the widgets and whatsits, does life on colony worlds have more in common with 18-19th century frontier life than with 2xth century living?

maybe this is "frontier-punk" sci-fi?

dunno, just throwing stuff out there. =)

best of luck!

[qirien]

Great questions!

The ending you get depends in part on how well you help the colony. Usually that's more to do with how well you do your job, but also on how well you improved your skills, did you help people out, etc. A lot of it depends on your relationships, not just with your husband, but other people in the colony. There's not really a survival aspect;

you can't die in this game.

As for tech, it's an interesting mix of near-future technology and 19th century DIY! For electricity, they mostly use solar, but everything can also run on biofuel (e.g., burning wood). They brought with them a lot of supplies, but they end up running out of soap in one branch of the game, and your character gets to learn how to make it from scratch. There's hunting alien animals and turning them into jerky, and there's preserving food by drying and canning. In one branch, you use bioscanners to determine if the local plants are edible. The colony also recycles all their plastic to 3D print new tools and replacement parts.

I tried to really think about what tech you would need on a colony world, and what sorts of things you would just do the old fashioned way. I wanted to have a realistic sci-fi setting, so there are no transporters or replicators (though it would be awesome if we invented those). The only tech that we really don't have at all yet that is in this game is near-light-speed travel, and that is theoretically possible, at least.

Even with all this, however, I did try to keep the game accessible to people that don't really care about the science behind the fiction. But for those that are interested, they will appreciate the realism and research behind the scenes.

[Ferdokki]

Dang, you went all out with your realistic sci-fi ideas! That's super cool!

[sasquatchii]

As for tech, it's an interesting mix of near-future technology and 19th century DIY! For electricity, they mostly use solar, but everything can also run on biofuel (e.g., burning wood). They brought with them a lot of supplies, but they end up running out of soap in one branch of the game, and your character gets to learn how to make it from scratch. There's hunting alien animals and turning them into jerky, and there's preserving food by drying and canning. In one branch, you use bioscanners to determine if the local plants are edible. The colony also recycles all their plastic to 3D print new tools and replacement parts.

I tried to really think about what tech you would need on a colony world, and what sorts of things you would just do the old fashioned way. I wanted to have a realistic sci-fi setting, so there are no transporters or replicators (though it would be awesome if we invented those). The only tech that we really don't have at all yet that is in this game is near-light-speed travel, and that is theoretically possible, at least..

Daaang. I was already excited before, but that is very cool! I'm excited to learn more about Talaam & it's inhabitants! (And the colonists, too!) World building can really help bring a story to life, and it seems like you've been thoughtful & considerate when putting yours together. Can't wait for this to come out!

[qirien]

Our whole team was able to meet together in person this last weekend for a hack-a-thon! In addition to finishing up the interface where you choose what to do for the month, we finished two sprites and squashed some bugs!

What's left is to finish the rest of the sprites, add a tutorial, make the Credits sequence, and a few other small changes, so our plan is to finish by the end of the year and release a beta then.

Do you have any comments/feedback about the monthly computer interface? Specifically, are there any parts that are confusing/ugly/not very readable?

Monthly Computer screen

His horse, Lettie (who is the closest thing you have to a rival?!)

One of your neighbors, Natalia.

[Ferdokki]

Wow, the amount of progress you guys have made is super cool! =D

I really like the monthly computer interface, I think it looks interesting. I have a couple of questions though.

Question 1: What is the music player for? Do we as the player get to choose what background music we want?

Question 2: How do the "Focus" button sections work? Do you just choose 1 button out of those 11, and that's the activity you do for the day? (Or is that the activity you do for the month?)
Question 2b:Will each skill allow us to choose different options, or are they all fixed activities? (Example that I'm making up: "Domestic" skill means you're doing housework only, "Creative" skill means you're only creating artwork or something only)


Hope my questions aren't too confusing. =S
Other than that though, I like the interface. =) It looks nice and neat.
The only criticism I have is that the "Time" section looks kinda cramped, and there's a lot of text squashed into that box. Maybe space it out a bit?

[qirien]

Answer 1: Yes, you can choose your background music for this interface from three songs. I guess it's supposed to simulate that this is the MC's tablet computer, and sometimes she plays music on it?

Answer 2: You can choose one option for each of the three Focus areas: Work, Skills, and Free Time. That determines what activity you do (as well as how much stress you get or get rid of, and how good you are at certain things).
2b: You choose the type of skill, which determines which scene you will see, and within that scene there may be choices, like Do you want to ask for help making soap from scratch or What will you do with the rope you made or things like that. Also, these are fairly broad categories, so while "Physical" scenes focus on physical fitness, they include things like chopping firewood, hiking, community sports, etc. And, these skills culminate in you doing something really cool based on all the events of that skill. So it's not just "I exercised a lot this month" or "I cleaned the house this month". Does that make sense?

Thanks for the suggestion about the "Time" section; I think you are exactly right and I will give that section a bit more room.

[sasquatchii]

Whoa, this is turning out so great! The only thing I'd change would be the green color text for the Health Statuses. It's too bright & on a light background like that it's irritating to look at. You can still keep it green if you'd like, but maybe a green that's darker and a little less saturated?

[Ferdokki]

@qirien: In regards to your answers to my Question 2, yes, it makes perfect sense. I'm so amazed of you guys' development skills! You have a lot of cool things planned! I think the different events system is really great. I asked my question because I was thinking about simulation games like "The Sims" where you have only a set amount of things to do for each skill, and it eventually gets monotonous. But the events you guys have set up will definitely add a lot of unique variety and options to keep things fresh! =D

[qirien]

@sasquatchii I think you are right about that green color! That's the danger of having the coder do the GUI; I tend to do what's easy to code, not what looks great...

@ferdokki Thank you! I get annoyed by that in games, too, so I tried to put a lot of variety in.

[qirien]

Updated percentages! The sprites just keep coming in, and they are awesome! We've got more than half of them done.

I am also looking for some Britpickers and fact-checkers who are knowledgeable about farming; see this topic.

The next NPC I want to highlight is Brennan, your smirking co-worker. One of the few people on the colony that's not married or a child, he loves to flirt and cause trouble. But what brings a fun-loving single guy to join a colony like this? Is it possible to be friends without him mistaking your intentions?

Brennan Callahan

[Ferdokki]

*gasp* Drama!!!

[qirien]

Whew, it was a productive holiday for our artist! All the sprites for all 17 characters are complete, and she even had a chance to draw 2 CGs for the endings!

In fact, she did even more expressions than I had anticipated, so now I need to get to work making use of them all.

BUT! I think if I work hard I can have a beta ready by January 15! I'm hoping to have the final game ready in time for Valentine's Day. <3 <3 <3

Here's one of the new ones; the MC while pregnant:

[Ferdokki]

Idk if it sounds awkward for me to say this since I haven't been around too many pregnant people in my lifetime yet, but I think the MC looks cute in that picture. ^__^ Her eyes and her tummy are both kinda big, and she just seems so happy. =)