Whim Independent Studios - Development Log #23

Hey all, back with the 23rd development log! It's been a few months since last I wrote about the games we've been working on. I took a small break in writing development logs for December while we focused on working on Selatria and working on finishing touches to ANTics.

Selatria:

A lot has changed since last I talked about Selatria. Among one of the biggest changes we've had is the addition of a new team member regular. 

Meet Ryan Homme! He's a creative writer who joined the team in December to help us finalize lines for the characters, improve weak points in the plot, and assist with helping us write the last section of the game and bring an epic wrap up to the Selatria storyline.

Jennifer Gilliland, who is also developing face expressions for the characters, is coming up with the finalized monster designs, in which we're aiming for a consistent artistic style. Take a look at some of the new art in the works!

The new faces of Hat

A new boss from Chapter 1: "Toutai"

So here's a rough timeline of the immediate future of Selatria!

Late-January/Early-February:

• Finalize current scripts and send re-takes to voice actors.
• Plan/write scenario for the final chapter. 
• Audition missing roles for Chapter 1 voices.

Mid-February:

• Revoice and implement updated game opening.
• Redesign monsters to match new artistic style.
• Distribute finished Indiegogo Rewards (Scripts, OST themes, Mage's Journal) to backers.
• Bring testers to the studio to test Chapter 1 demo.
• Prepare Kickstarter pitch.
• Film Selatria promotional scenes for Kickstarter.

Late-February:

• Crop out and finalize game data for demo.

March:

• Launch re-designed Chapter 1 Demo.
• Launch Kickstarter.

Take a look at some new upcoming screenshots from the upcoming Kickstarter build! We took time to go back to Chapter 1 areas that we thought needed improvement and added more scenes or rebuilt them entirely.

We're hoping to get the new demo of Selatria out at the same time as our Kickstarter pitch. I encourage you to play through it before backing to get a good idea of how far we've developed the game with the limited budget we were given from the Indiegogo campaign. There is a lot we'd like to do if we can get a successful Kickstarter, like revamp the terrain assets and put more effort into revamping more of the visuals to create the best indie RPG that we can!

We're working on making it possible to transfer saved data from the demo version into the final edition of the game when it is completed. I hope you look forward to our Kickstarter campaign!

ANTics:

Progress is coming along on ANTics as well! We're currently in the polish stage, and we'll be working on releasing the mobile version for Android first and then the PC version to come soon after. Due to assets taking longer to load on the phone, the opening cinematic had to be cut from the mobile version of the game, but it will remain intact on the PC version! 

Some new screenshots of the game in progress:

New models of the scouts! By Paul Diggs

Lead programmer Gerren implemented most of the UI assets Jennifer has done for the game!

Upcoming Project:

After development of ANTics comes to a close and the game is up for sale, the team and I will be in the works of developing a new game that's really been simmering in our minds for a little while. 

We have lots of ideas floating around, but we're doing some research on what engine would be best to prototype the game and get a functional version running to showcase the idea and get more potential team members on board. Hopefully with the conclusion of ANTics development, we can finally set aside time to work on this new game idea in parallel with Selatria.

I came up with this particular idea and I talked about it a few game development logs back, but I really want to hammer out the details and get the ball rolling on this project before I talk more about it again, so you'll see more info about this upcoming project likely at the end of the Kickstarter campaign for Selatria.


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That's about it for now. Until next post! I'll try and be more frequent with these posts and go back to my once-a-month schedule. Keeps me on track :)

Viva Eorzea Retirement Rants Part 2

I'm not sure my heart's into leading Viva any more. It's really getting to that time, I felt that way when I retired from leading my FFXI LS seven years ago, I'm not having any more fun with the game, and I'd like to just go back to having fun and getting progress on stuff.

When the Free Company sorts its problems out and becomes healthy again, maybe I'll look into stepping down from Bahamut to a lesser role. I just think the FC has ran its course with me at the helm and it's time for a new leader to take charge.

Viva real life meetup went well!

What an awesome weekend!

Viva West Coast meetup at Universal Studios Saturday went really really well, far above anything I had expected - We're already planning to have the next Viva meetup in August in Vegas likely. So much fun and awesome-

Naztear came from Virginia to meet us and I spent Sunday showing him around Los Angeles. Lots of fun.

Did you know there was a giant awesome anime/manga shop tucked into the corner of Little Tokyo? I didn't either.

Anyway, we took a Viva group picture!

Top Row (L to R): Me, Naztear Korengin (FFXI/FFXIV), Lelonde Godard, Elyrion Erdos
Bottom Row (L to R): Kitana Masters/Darkpheonix (FFXI/FFXIV), Icepenguin Frost, Thien Thien, Ash Kou



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Viva Meetup tomorrow!

Viva Eorzea and I are going to have our first real life meet tomorrow at Universal Studios Hollywood!

One person in particular is flying all the way from Virginia to meet up with us. It'll be awesome to show him around LA/Hollywood as well.

Fun times for all!

Armed to the Teeth: All nine relic weapons obtained!

All nine relic weapons obtained today!


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TITANNNNNNN!!!

Titan Extreme mode is frustrating! Doable, certainly. But frustrating!






When I complete this and then Ifrit Extreme mode after, I will be choosing the primal weapon for Black Mage! I'm pretty happy with my ilevel 90 Paladin at the moment.


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New look!

Modified the blog banner a bit for 2014! I'll plan on adding more as we develop more games in the future. :)

Resentment and Cynicism

Today marks eight years since I've started blogging, and the reason why I made a blog in the first place was out of me being angry about the life situation I was in at the time and how I was treated.

I find now that it is time for me to be less resentful and cynical and put that energy into more positive thoughts and feelings!

I feel like I'm wasting too much energy worrying and wallowing in what was and what used to be rather than looking forward to where I can be. Though I will always understand and accept what has happened, I've learned from my mistakes and missteps and know how to deal with these problems that will arise, but there's no reason to have negative feelings about them any more.

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions, so I don't consider it one. I am human, I am bound to let feelings get the better of me, but instead of bottling up negative feelings, I won't let them get in my way of judgement in the first place any more.

Also: Just because I rant about things, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's out of an angry tirade. I just want to talk about things that are really on my mind and really drive said reasons for posting. I just think the reason behind my posts have changed from me ranting about the past to me ranting about my goals and what I'm going to get there. And in that, I already think that this is a start of a great change.

And that'll be the end of that. :)

It's been three years!

Today marks three years since we started developing Selatria! Hands down the most intensive project I've undertaken-

But working on this project allowed me to meet so many talented artists, composers, programmers, writers, voice actors, and sound designers who take pride and passion in what they do, and I don't think I would have ever had the chance to meet and work with these awesome people had we never done this crazy endeavor.

Soon you guys will get to see and play through the game and enjoy all that we've done the past three years!

Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year!

Here's to another interesting year of development logs and FFXIV adventures! among many other awesome things.