-=TLOT Progress=-

Well, I've finally actually gotten to sit down and start getting into my code. I spent a few hours today working on the joystick code. I re-wrote the segment that lets you calibrate the stick. I still need to add support for assigning buttons to actions. I also went through and removed a bunch of garbage. I deleted files I didn't need any more and I cut out tons of code that wasn't in use. Most of it was stuff I'd already commented out along the way but didn't want to delete in case I needed to go back to it at a later date. Hopefully I won't need to go back! But, if I do its no big deal, I made backups right before I started getting into everything.

As for the screenshot this month, its from a map I originally started working on for the next demo. While the landscape is pretty empty, there is something new in the shot. Notice in the corners of the scrolling area there is a little bit of black. I was thinking about trimming the 4 corners to make it look as though the screen was more rounded. At first I thought the idea was stupid, I would be reducing the view-able area and increasing overhead as I've got to blit 4 transparent bitmaps to get the effect. Now that I've made this mock-up, I'm getting kinda curious as to what it would look like in the game. I might play with that some.

I guess you folks might be a little curious as to the state of a possible demo. Well, I just don't know. I want to put a new one out to show off what I've got, but I don't really feel inspired to do it. So, until I figure out what I want to do, I'll just keep working my way to a final product.

-=Other Stuff=-

I'm still enjoying my new job. They are keeping me pretty busy for a webmaster. Since I started I've set up an NT box for future use as a server, made network cable, done some system configurations for the network, setup some of the phones (PBX), build a new Jazz 2 page, revamped a lot of stuff on the old site and kept the news and oracle sections up to date. I've played a lot of games. I've also been involved a little with some planning for a rather huge future project. Its kind of exciting and I wish I could explain it all in my updates, but its the sort of thing I've got to keep under wraps. Sorry to tease.

This next tuesday is my 22nd bithday. Its just another reminder of how damn long I've been working on this simple little game. Really, considering the time I've put in on it, I haven't gotten very far. Ah well, maybe I'll finish some day. BTW- thanks to all you folks who e-mailed me to give me a little inspiration. I know I haven't replied to all my e-mail yet, some of its starting to collect dust. I will get to it, I swear.

later

-=Did you Miss ME?=-

Yes, I missed a weekly update. The past two weeks basically belonged to Gathering. But, I've gotten moved into my new apartment and I FINALLY got my damn phone line in. Thursday I was able to get to my e-mail account and I had over 90 messages in my inbox. Some people actually missed my update enough to write me about it! Woah... (not all 90 messages)

Over the past week I've been playing a lot of games at work on a pII400 with 128 megs of RAM and a 20" monitor. Somehow my game seems like... umm.. less to me now. To be frank, I'm getting a little discouraged. I picked up my room mate's Win95 programming book and started to read a little. As soon as TLOT's finished I'll probably head that way. The future is insane.

-=TLOT Progress=-

I've done little more than play TLOT the past few weeks. My super secret background artist has made another background as seen in this weeks (2 weeks?) image. I've also purchased a new joypad. After using it for TLOT I realize the need for configurable joypad buttons. That will likely be one of the next features.

-=Other Stuff=-

Not much to talk about this week... I apologize for the extra week of silence but I had no way to access the site. I'm sure you'll get over it. If you e-mailed me, I will mail you back.... eventually..

arg..

-=TLOT Progress=-

I didn't get much done this (last) week. I decided near the beginning of the week to do another demo. I got started on it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to carry it through. We'll just have to see how my inspiration runs.

I won't normally have visable enemies in my game due to the nature of this style of RPG, but there's one place in the game where a mosnter will need to be seen. When you first run into Staulker, he will be engaged in combat with a monster. Thus, I needed a sprite for a monster. I did the front and back frames for the monster a while back but this week I finished up his frames for other directions. He's somehow kinda cool... maybe its just me though. I swapped Seth's sprite out with the monster and ran around the game world, I felt so evil... Anyway, here he is animated (kinda hard to see the little guy):

-=Links=-

I've got a vested interested in this title as I will be working for the company thats going to publish/distribute it, but you know I wouldn't post something here if I didn't think it was cool. Go check out Jazz Jackrabbit 2. This game is obviously coded by some old demo scene guys. The effects are killer. I'm not sure how the music is done, but it sounds very much like dynamically mixed mod music. If you've got a gamepad, the game is pretty fun. Most importantly, its cool to see Spaz (Jazz's pal) get stoned.

Yet another page wears my wonderful Talibah Now banner. Check out Tom's Homepage! Thanks goes out to Thomas Wopfner.

-=Other Stuff=-

I know, it seems like I'm getting in the habbit of making my weekend update on Monday. This Friday and Saturday I'll hopefully be moving into my new apartment and starting my new job with Gathering. If all goes well, I should be able to dedicate much more time to Talibah after that point. A little while back I mentioned that I was starting to feel a "coder's block". I'm still stuck, but today I felt it breaking. This cycle has happened many times before, its difficult to keep a coding focus when you're the only guy on the project and you've got a dozen other things to do. I'm very seriously considering dropping the demo idea to get battle scenes in place. We'll just have to see what the next few weeks bring.

-=TLOT Progress=-

This week was slower than usual. I got some coding done including a new technique for random encounters. Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on that subject, I was rather surprised that so many people responded.

What I've done now is somewhat, if not extremely, similar to the method used by Final Fantasy 1. When the player starts out, a counter is set to 250. Each step the player takes, the counter is decremented by a number between 3 and 6. When the counter falls below 0, a battle occurs. When the battle is over, the counter is set to a random number between 100 and 250. Then the cycle starts over.

While this was just a peliminary test, it works out surprisingly well. The battles are still random, yet they are spaced out in a more uniform manor. I'll likely have to play with this as time goes by to get a good balance, but thats what game design is all about!

Additionally, my super secret background maker is still making backgrounds. I'll try to have another one up to show next week. The one shown in this week's mock up battle shot is an older screenshot done by Wesley Miaw.

-=Links=-

Aphrodite has had a few more guesses for her midi, some right and some wrong. Still no winner though. Unfortunately I failed to link to her correctly before. I hope I got that fixed now.

Miura Warrior Demo 5.4 is now ready, go here to get it.

My "Talibah Now" button found its first home outside my website (to the best of my knoledge). Check out The Geno-Tek Projekt's links page. Thanks Silent Wolf.

-=Other Stuff=-

I keep changing the format of the weekly updates. Hope no one gets annoyed.. Anyway, I'm not in the best of moods. (Which lead to lots of unanswered e-mail, don't worry, I'll get to it.) Kinda stressed out I guess. I'm gonna be moving 6/13! Headed to the city for my new big job. Until then I'll be pretty busy, thus the lack of work done on TLOT this week and the delayed weekly update (no, I wasn't at E3 like everyone else). My girlfriend just graduated and she's in Cancoon while I write this. I miss her sooo much. Its strange going to bed at night and not having talked with her on the telephone all day. I wonder if she misses me with all that sun and fun and that tall tan guy named José. Oh well, until next week.... bye

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