Is it really over six months since my last blog post and even longer since my last game upload???
You might have wondered if I was still interested in CRPGs and game development or whether I had hit some serious problem in my personal life. I’m pleased to report that there have been no major disasters but plenty of other things have taken up my time and my personal interests including my game development has suffered as a result.
I’m taking part in a year long training programme which has seen me travelling away from home a lot more than usual and whilst it’s been enjoyable and interesting, it means that when I’m back home there is a lot more to catch up on with my family and around the house . I’ve also completed some other training and exams (work related) that I’d wanted to do for some time. I’m doing some major redecoration and clearing out of our house which has been really time consuming. To top everything off numerous things in the house have broken, developed faults and either need fixing by me or more often replaced or fixed at great expense by others. Additional hassle I didn’t need. Net result that the last six months of 2015 have been a total blur.
On the more positive side I did complete a review of Alternate Reality:The City for inclusion in the excellent The CRPG Book Project. This is shaping up to be an excellent book once it’s complete. The current version has over 200 pages with around 100 game reviews. Felipe Pepe has done an amazing job putting this together so please check it out if you haven’t already. You can find the current version at: https://crpgbook.wordpress.com/
I have also really enjoyed playing Rocksmith 2014 which I bought just before Christmas. If you’re unfamiliar with this “game” you plug in a real electric guitar or bass and play along with real songs and play the actual guitar parts.You can slow down sections to practice and vary the difficulty or accuracy. As you improve and depending on your level and playing style (rhythm or lead) the computer gradually adds in more notes until you’re playing the authentic guitar parts with all the notes and nuances. It hasn’t made me a guitar master but it really is a lot of fun and feels very productive compared to something like Guitar Hero as my guitar playing really is improving as result.
On the game development front I’m thinking through a few ideas at the moment – some about how to progress Alternate Reality X and one of my own CRPG projects which isn’t AR related. Unity 3D looks like the most likely choice of platform for anything I do though, mainly due to its rapid deployment to other platforms including web options. Anything I produce I suspect will have a distinctly “classic” look. It probably won’t look anything like a normal Unity 3D game 🙂
Thanks to those of you who have asked how things are and for your continued support and interest in my projects. All the best.