Direlda

I'm currently working on providing a better "explanation" of the two choices you thought were interesting, Lu-man. Hopefully I'll be done in a few days. And yes, there are free graphics and sounds/music out there. But depending on what we decide to do, they may or may not be appropriate. For now they should stay on the table as options.

Very good! I love the expressions. ^^

I'm looking forward to Total War: Rome II. But, as I haven't heard of this Amnesia game before, why don't one of you excited people explain it to me! (Sure, I could do the research, but I do enjoy hearing people talk about things they are looking forward to)

Welcome to our corner of the internet! *Direlda bows in greeting* I'm a crazy red fox who also leads an online Bible study. What sort of writing is it that you do a bit of?

Errm... Technically Minecraft is finished, as it has passed version 1.0.0, but the devs have decided to keep adding features and fixing bugs. At some point, though, they will stop. Technically the new Sim City is finished, as it was released, though considering its bugs, always online requirement, and lack of features such as subways, I probably won't buy it (besides, I have Sim City 2000). And the dev for Dwarf Fortress plans to be done in about 20 years, due to all the features he wants to implement. Even if you don't meet your deadline, it is important to have one, as not only do they make an enjoyable whooshing noise as they fly past, they also aid in staying on task and not abandoning the project. That's why I've told myself I should be ready to send query letters to publishers concerning my novel by the end of this year. So if this game is never going to be finished, then I'm not so sure that I want to work on it. That reminds me of the opening to Le Petit Prince, in which the narrator explains that as a child he drew a boa constrictor digesting an elephant, but all the adults interpreted it as a hat. So because of that he gave up on art. I'm actively interested because when I was younger I entertained the notion of making video games--coding my own missions for Star Trek: Starship Creator messing around with Morrowind's editor, and making models with Maya. But at some point I realised that I was better suited to the narrative bits of a video game than the coding bits. Steampunk is good. ^^ Now if I am to get a graphics person and an audio person on board, lay out a time frame, make sure people are on task, coordinate efforts, and take up the reigns of leadership, then I would prefer to be working in the universe of my stories. Here are three possibilities for that: The Wars of the Magi that ultimately resulted in magical wastelands (this would be fantasy with dragons) The conflicts between the three elder races (one of which being anthropomorphic foxes), which precipitated the creation of other races and eventually the dying out of one of the three elder races (this would be fantasy without dragons or humans at first) Or we jump to a different world and explore the Wars of Hunger, which were fought between anthropomorphic beings over whether or not the prey species would continue to be used as food sources for the predator species and only truly ended when the Sionnach (a race/kingdom of anthropomorphic foxes) developed Dream World technology (this would be a fantasy-steampunk hybrid with no humans). So if one of those sounds good, then I'll work on elaborating (these are all points of history that I would love to elaborate on as part of my world building) and leading. If not, then please find someone else to lead, as the bulk of my efforts should go to my stories in one way or another and I'm already helping make the languages for one indie game. As far as graphics people go, I'm not sure if I know anyone who does sprites, but I do know a few people who might be willing to do concept art. As far as sound people go, I could try to bother Kail or one of my musical friends or I could ask Fox Amoore, as he is going to be attending Rainfurrest this year as the musical guest of honor. I also have programming friends whom I could approach. But if I'm going to ask anyone, a better game pitch is needed. I would keep it as simple as possible and not have some parts be top down and others side scrolling. There's going to be enough coding for you to do as it is. As for action vs. turn based, that depends on if you want to fight the enemies on the level maps (like Zelda) or transport everyone to a battlefield (like FF Tactics or Pokemon).

Welcome to our part of the internet! *Direlda bows in greeting* I'm just a crazy kitsune who leads an online Bible study.

Thank you for that, Lu-Man! ^^ I now have a better idea of what I would be getting myself into if I volunteered. But I still have some questions... When is this game set? Medieval? Medieval Fantasy? Victorian Gothic? Victorian Steampunk? Modern? Post-apocalyptic? Future Sci-Fi? Who is going to be in charge of the project? There needs to be someone who will make sure people are on task, who delegates responsibilities, and who people can report to on their progress. How long do you estimate this will take OR when do you hope to be done by? Three years? Five years? Twenty one years? Will this project not happen if either a graphics or a sound person doesn't volunteer?

Welcome to the forums! *Direlda bows in greeting* あのう、すみませんけど、なぜ「卑劣な雌犬」を書きましたか?

Jude and I are both writers. And both of us seem to be willing to help, but hesitant in part because we've been involved in projects of this nature that didn't work and don't want to put our time and energy into something that goes nowhere if we can help it. I'm also hesitant because of the vagueness of the proposed game and the apparent lack of direction. There are two ways to get me on board with this project. The first is to come up with a concrete proposal for a game that details what the desired final game will include, who will be in charge, and a general timeline. The second is to make me the one in charge of what the game will be, but in so doing you will be getting a game that is partially furry as I would be using it as an opportunity to explore the backstory of the world my in-progress novels take place in. I would prefer if you went with option one, as that would mean less work for me. Watching videos of DF does not necessarily give you an idea of all that is going on. And while it has similarities to Minecraft, in that you are using what you gather from the environment to build with and have to deal with hostile creatures, DF is also like Sim City. Except that you will lose DF and yet have fun doing so. As an example of all that is going on, consider just one member of the party of dwarves you set out with, whom we shall call Urist McMiner. Urist McMiner has a starting inventory based off the profession you chose before embarking. Urist McMiner also has skills with varying levels of proficiency based upon how you allocated your starting allotment of points between characters. Urist McMiner has preferences and personality traits. As you play, the game tracks the quality of the clothes Urist McMiner is wearing, the level of cleanliness, how tired, how hungry, how thirsty, how happy, how sane, any wounds and where they are located, and how Urist McMiner feels about the quality of the dining room, to name a few. And that is just one dwarf. Every now and then you'll get migrants (some of whom might be Urist McUselessNoble) or be invaded by goblins or upset the elven traders so much that they declare war on you or dig into a cavern and have some monster from the deep slay everyone or start off in the arctic and have your dwarves freeze to death in the winter if they venture outside or have a vampire make its home in your fortress and cause a tantrum spiral as the dwarves discover the dead bodies of friends and family or try to pump water out of an aquifer so that you can get at the levels below it only to flood your fortress. And all this and more in a game that uses ASCII as its standard tileset (you can mod it to have a graphical tileset). Of course, it is still in development, so you have UI issues and the like. And it has a steep learning curve. In other words, you can make a decent game without worrying about graphics.

To quote Gilbert and Sullivan: "Tho' to us it's evident these attentions are well meant, such expressions don't appear calculated men to cheer..." (The Pirates of Penzance). As art appears to be the sticking place, might I reiterate my suggestion that you start with a text-based game. Dwarf Fortress's art is minimal, yet look at the complexity of the game. You don't need much in the way of graphics to make games. And if the graphics is what is keeping you from making games, then do away with them until you have more experience.

Welcome back.

Welcome back! May you continually grow closer to God. ^^

It's not that I'm not excited. It's that I have novels, comics, conlangs (some on behalf of an indie dev), Bible study (I'm hoping to start back up this week or next--my schedule has been disrupted greatly the last few months), inventorying books, cleaning, visiting with grandma-in-law, and other such things already on my plate. It's also that I have already had excitement for a game project or two that fell through after the person proposing it sort of stopped working on it. If I am going to volunteer my time, then I want to make sure that something will come of it so that I can be fine with not putting that time toward one of my personal projects. The issue for me right now is that 'RPG' and 'furry game' are too vague of concepts. So if you want to get me jumping up and down excited, then someone will have to lay out something more specific.

Hmmm... I just recently read Persepolis (1 and 2) by Marjane Satrapi, The Young Unicorns by Madeline L'Engle, Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies, and maybe something else. My stack of books to read includes works by St. Benedict, St. Athanasias, G.K. Chesterton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Immanuel Kant, James Joyce, Natsume Sōseki, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Arthur Schopenhauer, and C.S. Lewis. Also in there are books on astronomy, drawing, folklore/mythology, ham radio, medieval Europe, Japan, linguistics, Old English, and writing. And I need to find works by and about Søren Kierkegaard. Plus whatever my wife is planning to have me read.

^This. ^And this. If you want to make a game it's going to take work (even if it doesn't feel like work because you enjoy it). If you want to make a great game, then it's going to take even more work. And if you aren't going to make it by yourself, then you'll need organization and good communication to ensure the game stays on track. All of this requires a time commitment. Even more important, though, is to have a specific goal. It sounds like you want to make an RPG, but that is still too vague. So set out your goal as specific as possible. Then set aside that goal for when you have more experience and work on a simpler game in the same vein. For instance, if your goal is to make a 3D steampunk RPG with anthropomorphic characters, branching quests, voice acting, and an epic soundtrack, you'll need to have experience and/or team members with experience to make that happen. And you can get experience by removing complexity where possible. For RPGs that would be by starting as a text-based game or a pen and paper system (if PnP, then the next step would be to convert to text-based), which allows you to focus on the mechanics, characters, world, and story of the game without graphics and sound complicating things. And to start it should have linear quests. Once you have the core down, then you can start adding in complexities a little bit at a time (making a new game as needed). By the time this iterative process is finished, you should have several games that have helped you learn how to make the game you really want to make. Like Jude, I have stories, am a writer, and have lots of ideas. But (also like Jude, I'm guessing), I'm busy and have several other projects I'm already working on. So I'm not going to put my time into this if there aren't a goal and other people committed to sticking with the project to the completion of at least the first iteration of a game.

Looking forward to seeing your art. ^^ I really need to get a good scanner one of these days... Using my camera gets the job done for now, though.

Nova!!! *Direlda hugs* I'm back in the States, so now I may have the time to think on what I might want to commission from you. I'll get back to you in a few days after I've made a quick trip to drop off some books for a friend in another state and have had time to think more on what I would like. P.S. August is almost here, which should be a good month for you, right?

I'm not going to answer the poll, as those choices are more artistic ones that you should be making. Instead, I'll pass on what I've learned as I've started researching making my own fursuit. The amount of fur you'll need for the paws is roughly 1/2 yard for the hand paws and 1 yard for the feet paws. It is better to buy more than you need, though, if you are new to working with faux fur and/or new to sewing. Having extra is also good in case you need to make repairs. So 2 yards would be a good amount to buy. Granted, these yardages are assuming that you are just going with one colour for the paws. If you're going with two colours, then you'll have to draw some diagrams and do some calculations to figure out how much of each you'll need before rounding up to the nearest half-yard (which is generally the smallest amount of faux fur you can buy). You should decide for yourself whether or not you use all-white paws or paws with white and blue on them. If you are new to working with faux fur and/or sewing, however, I would recommend starting by making all-white paws first, as it is complicated enough. If you are really set on having paws with white and blue, then you can make them after you've learned from working on an all-white pair. And if you do chose to mix white and blue, you need to decide what that will look like. You also need to decide how far up the arms and legs your paws will go. Will your hand paws end at the wrist or further up the arm? Will your feet paws end at the ankle like a shoe or will they go up further like a boot? As for pile length--generally shorter pile faux fur is used on the paws, as that mimics the length of fur on animal paws. The two methods I know of to achieve that are to buy a longer pile faux fur and shave it down to the length you want or to start with a shorter pile faux fur. So you need to decide if you will be making more than paws and if you need colours to match. If you're going to make more of a fursuit in the future to go with these paws, then you'll probably want to buy somewhere between 2 inch to 3 inch pile in quantities large enough for all that you want to make (if finances allow) and then shave down what you use on the paws. Otherwise it would be easier to use a shorter pile faux fur. Hope this helps! ~Direlda

Alpha testing might resume a few months from now. Probably dependent on the upcoming (in a few weeks, maybe...?) Kickstarter campaign. The dev team is incredibly small, so progress is slow but steady. The game itself might be ready for play as early as next year, though it could (probably will) be longer. Depends on the kickstarter campaign that hasn't started yet. I'll make sure to post a thread when the kickstarter campaign starts.

Antilia (http://antilia-game.com/index.php) hasn't had any alpha tests recently because it is gearing up for a Kickstarter campaign. So while it isn't a game you can play right now, it has been making a lot of progress. You should at least give the website a glance. And maybe check out these gameplay videos one of the players made (official channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/user/rightbraingames).

Earth Eternal is back, again? Maybe I'll take a look, though I think with all the things that I must do (writing, cleaning, keeping Grandma-in-law hydrated, etc) that the games I have are enough for the time being. And Antilia is getting close to a Kickstarter campaign! \^o^/

Yes, I have taught creative writing. I co-taught an informal class for adults at a homeless shelter. And I taught a formal class for secondary students at an international school in Korea.

You should keep writing. ^^ It's an interesting premise you have and I am interested in seeing where the story goes next. However, there are areas where improvement could be made (I speak as someone who has taught creative writing). I won't go into depth, as you have not requested critique.

Welcome to our part of the internet! ^^ *Direlda bows in greeting* I'm just the crazy kitsune who leads an online Bible study.