I'm Working on Play With Us Ep. 2

Hi. I just wanted people to know I'm working on Play With Us Episode 2, doing script revisions and editing. Work on the PAL expansion is being put on hold for right now, since I'm basically working on PWU close to full time to get it out quicker. I'm really excited for the script and things are really shaping up.

You can check out Palmer's patreon page here.

A Bit About the PAL Expansion

A new blog post? Crazy!

It's time to talk about the new Pervert Action Legacy expansion that I'm developing alongside BBBen. As some of you know, I did some work on PAL as a text contributor, but in a pretty haphazard, irregular way. This expansion is a little different in that I have specific responsibilities, so it's more like working as part of an actual team. This is the first time I've worked in this way, and going forward, it's probably how I'm going to work on AIF in the future.

So, what's very different and special about this expansion is the scary degree of creative control I'm being given to futz around to my vision. When PAL was just a bunch of ideas in a google doc I had lobbied for a game closer to Nocturnal Illusion in terms of atmosphere. Ultimately, that's not really what PAL became, but I always thought it would be cool to borrow a little more heavily from that source material. So, there's going to be a lot more getting into yourself trouble by poking your head into the wrong places. Maybe into a weird, new subplot?

So the subplot introduces a new set of antagonists bound to make life difficult. If you've already played PAL a bunch of times, they'll provide some welcome complications and change things up a little. If you haven't, don't worry! You'll have plenty of opportunity to tuuuurn baaaack before you make things hard on yourself.

There's a bit more planned other than that. Hiroshi is getting an expanded role, as is Ai. There's going to be Iku/Kimiko threesome scene. And you can molest the maids in new and varied ways. There's other stuff, but some of it's a secret, and some of it we're not 100% sure of yet.

Anyways, it's good to be back.

On the Horizon

Just to keep everyone on tabs what's happening. I've been (very busy/managing my time poorly) but I've managed to scratch together the start of a promising project. It's still a bit early to talk details, since it's already changed shape dramatically (from a stat-management game to a more traditional AIF adventure) but right now I think I've got it down to a manageable size and concept. I think it will be much lighter in tone than my other projects, so if you like that, that's something to look forward to.

Alongside that, I'm also working on a conversation extension, my own take on the Threaded Conversation concept already released by Chris Conley. Once that's done I can expand the AIF Toolkit, probably with a new extension focused on everything around actually "doing it": seduction, relationships, willingness, NPC-directed sex, etc. I probably won't be releasing any extensions until Inform 7 fixes the extension system.

Finally, I've been working very hard on my next book, Duel to the Death. I don't want to bring it up too often, I want this blog to be game-focused, but it's a very important part of my future so I don't want to completely ignore it either. If you are interested in the new book, I'll try to keep my updates about it mostly on the new site I've made (http://anotherwannabe93.wix.com/author) and on my (sigh) twitter https://twitter.com/Anotherwannabe9. It's coming out this spring, though I don't feel comfortable naming a month yet.

Anyways, that's it for now. Have a fun new year!

~AW

Temporary Fix for ALC

A temporary fix has been made to solve compatibility issues with Advanced Layered Clothing with the new 6M62 release. You can download it here.

 The issue was the result of a bug introduced in the new Inform 7 which breaks (in place of...) headings. Unfortunately the AIF Toolkit relies on these headings to ensure everything works smoothly, so Simpler AIF and Advanced Layered Clothing had to be clumsily stitched together.

This also means that other parts of the AIF Toolkit are probably broken as well, if you are using any of the other optional extensions. However, the following should work:

1) Copy that extension's source code into your source code.

2) Delete any instances of "(for use with Advanced Layered Clothing by Another Wannabe)", but only that part.

3) If there are any instances of "(for use without Advanced Layered Clothing by Another Wannabe)", comment out the heading and everything below it, including sub-headings.

I'm hoping that there will be a new release fairly soon that will fix these issues. If not, I'll try and release a less haphazard fix.

Thanks!

ALC Not Compatible with New I7 Build

Hi, I just wanted to let people know that Advanced Layered Clothing is not compatible with the new build of Inform 7 released this winter. I'm working on a fix but I really don't know what the problem is yet. If you are working on a project that uses ALC I suggest not updating Inform 7 until I fix the issue.

Character Profile: Audrey Holland

 "--I'm so sorry!"

Full Name: Audrey Holland

Specialization: Data Analysis

Age: 25

Birthplace: San Diego, California, U.S.A.

Education: B.A. in Statistical Mathematics

Easily flustered, constantly apologetic and always polite, Audrey Holland insists on getting along with everyone as well as possible. She's dog crazy to a fault, though, and if you let her she'll talk your ears off. You suspect she's not nearly as one-dimensional as she seems.

Character Profile: Zoe Mousawi

"I live for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but don't think that means I'm bad at what I do. For me, it's always work first, then party."

Full Name: Zoe Mousawi

Specialization: Accounting

Age: 23

Birthplace: Beirut, Lebanon

Education: B.A. in Accounting

Zoe is the sort of girl that works and parties hard, she knuckles down during the day and rushes to the clubs every Friday. Though she claims to not to take life to seriously, she's got a compassionate streak a mile wide and finds herself weighing in on situations where her opinion isn't needed.

Character Profile: Cecilia Ellis

"As long as you work hard, we'll get along just fine.We don't have to be friends."

Full Name: Cecilia Ellis
Specialization: Public Relations
Age: 28
Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
Education: Masters in Marketing

Hard nosed and driven, you got the job Cecilia was fighting for, and she's pissed about it. Not one to let emotions get in the way of doing a job, she doesn't seem interested in a relationship at all, especially not with you. Perhaps if you can prove yourself as serious and hard-working as her, she'll see you in a different light.

Character Profile: Gabriela Ortez

"You don't know everything about me -- and I don't want you to, either."

Full Name: Gabriela Ortez de Santa Maria
Specialization: Graphic Arts
Age: 22
Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design

Intensely introverted, Gabriela always arrives before anyone else and leaves after everyone's gone. Refusing to attend meetings, Gabriela overwhelmingly prefers to communicate over email. Talented as she is, her secretiveness often gets in the way of her job, and she finds herself often the subject of gossip and and speculation. Is she just shy? Or does she have something to hide?

EDIT 12/11/2015: Changed from Gabriel to Gabriela. Thanks anonymous!

Vive La France

Learning to Draw, pt. 1

Drawing has proven to be such a refreshing change of pace that I'm beginning to really enjoy it, even if I'm really only playing around at this point.

This is the character who I want draw.

This is Gabriel. She has a backstory and a character concept, but I won't go into it right now. After a few hours twisting my hand over the Intuos, I came up with this.

As poor the quality is, it's pretty good for me at my current skill level. She was birthed from a particular drawing technique (I forget the actual name) where you constantly draw over your original drawing as you refine and sculpt the features. As you do this, you flip the canvas -- that basically resets your mind, so you can see proportions better.

So Gabriel actually started out like this:

Then this:

Here I resized Gabriel's shoulders to be not as broad.

Gosh, Gabriel's getting pretty! Look at that face!

Here Gabriel's hips look less like they can stab people.

She's getting there now, but her hips are still too wide, and it's this point I notice her head really isn't sitting well on her shoulders.

Here is the final sketch. A this point, her proportions are right. Of course, there are things wrong with it, the arms don't really sit right, her neck is a little triangular, and she's not "clean", but those things come with practice.

Here is a group portrait with Gabe and all her prior incarnations.

Drawing Again - Art and AIF

I've decided I'd really like some graphics for my next game, but I don't want to shell out the money for complex graphics programs and all the assets that come with it. So yesterday I bought myself an early Christmas present: an Intuos draw tablet, and I've been playing around with it ever since.

Believe it or not, I used to be a reasonably good sketch artist. I'm not so much anymore, I'm just not in the position to draw for fun like I used to. So it's not just getting used to the tablet, it's reaching my former level of proficiency.

A self-portrait. Sort of. Of my own internet avatar, not of myself. I'm much handsomer in real life.

As you can see, it's going to be a bit before I can draw something legit nice. The best I can hope for are portraits in the meanwhile. It's at least fun drawing again, and I can say with certainty the Intuos tablet works really great.

Going over contest feedback

Hi, just wanted to go over and respond to the feedback that I received for the contest held at the beginning of the month, and I'll then I'll talk about what I might do differently.

I think the choice of theme might have been a little restrictive. Cyberpunk is typically quite dark and it is very difficult to turn into something romantic or fun and sexy.

Also, a science fiction theme would have scared a lot writers away. Creating an imaginary world requires a lot of imagination and effort.

If you're going to run the competition again and still want a theme, I would suggest broader and abstract themes, such as "bubble," "winner," or "thirst," which just have to appear somewhere and may or may not be central to the story.

The only reason I didn't make a game for the competition is that I'm currently working a much larger game that would break many of the rules.

I think the author here has a point. "Cyberpunk" was little restrictive, and I know at least one author who didn't submit an entry on that basis alone.

I'd love to keep a theme going, but keeping them a lot vaguer and ephemeral might be key, if they are going to stay at all. The intention of the themes was to give people ideas, not restrict them, and I don't think they worked in that regard.

I like the idea of having more contests, so I am definitely in favor of this, but I think it's obvious that a vote between two games (albeit neither of them were anywhere near as awful as some entries to the minicomp) is only half a competition.

Sadly, I don't think I can really offer any constructive criticism on how to increase the number of entries.

I agree. I'm going to have find ways to promote the competition better if I'm going to run it again. Getting my ass sorted out with the AIF archive and investigating more websites is probably a good place to start.

 Fun contest.  This was just the right length to do something quick but still fun.  I hope to enter another Sneeze comp with what I've learned from this one.  Hope other people liked my game.  My suggestion for the next topic: Magical girl vs. Demon beast.

A sadly poor turnout, but hopefully it will continue and possibly gain some traction in the future. On the bright side, it is relatively easy to put together and got at least a couple games out there and who knows - maybe it sparked some interest!

I myself started with an idea - I had even tossed that general setting into the pot myself (though it could have been one of several). Sadly I didn't think I would get it done and went another direction. Then realized how little I knew about Twine and doing the many things that come naturally to me with Inform.

Even though I released nothing in the end, I did have fun. And though I see that a lot of polish could be applied to the games released, it is great to see the work they did put it in and hopefully they will feel the desire to put out more in the future.

A huge success or not, thanks very much for putting the SNEEZE together for us. It means a lot!

 That's very much appreciated, thanks. I still need to figure out ways to increase turnout.

 I swear it only took me a few seconds to realize that you meant the contest itself and hadn't accidentally left out a third entry in the archive.

CYOA is not necessarily my genre of choice, but any attempt to get a little blood flowing in the community is appreciated.

 Again, thanks!

I personally like the theme but maybe there would be more participants without one?

If feedback is anything to go on, yes, there would be more participants, which makes me rather sad. Making the theme vaguer, or getting rid of it, is really the choice I need to make.

Conclusions

SNEEZE COMP was a good experiment, and I think I will do it again next year, but with the benefit of wisdom and experience.

To me, the big issues were:

1. A lack of entries and votes.
2. A lack of public discussion about the games. 

While there was plenty feedback for the authors (especially considering the low votecount) none of it made it to the comments section, which I found unfortunate, because it made things seem a lot less active than it actually was.

As for 1), it's not just the theme, though that's a part of it. I think I really needed to do a better job of publicizing SNEEZE COMP. Put it on more boards and such. I think I can squeeze out more interest if I focus on that.

Duel to the Death Cover

Hi everyone, I've been meaning to put back up feedback for the contest but I've been horribly busy. I've been working odd hours nearly every day last week. Things might finally chill, we'll have to see, then I'll put up that feedback.

Anyways, I wanted to show everyone the cover for my new book, Duel to the Death, coming out next year. It's about half way done and I just cut out 20,000 words, which represents about a month of work. Ouch. That hurt. But I think the end result is going to be awesome.

If you want you can check out the publisher here.

SNEEZECOMP 2015 Winner

By a close vote of 16-13, Condomocium by Octarine Flash is the winner of SNEEZECOMP. Congratulations!

I'm going to set up a Hall of Fame, of sorts, sometime this week or next. The authors will be getting the feedback you gave them, too, when I have the chance to compile it all.

So thanks for everyone that voted, and thanks for the people who submitted entries. And soon I'll be posting and replying to some of the feedback about the contest itself, so stay tuned for that.

SNEEZE COMP 2015

There were two entries to this year's SNEEZE Comp. Thanks for everyone who participated! These are:

• Condomocium by Octarine Flash
• The Heir by Efon

You can download the entries here.

Have fun playing! Once you are done, fill out the voting form here. Voting closes on October 8th, 2015, 12:00 PM. Since there are only two entries, it's a simple binary vote and instant runoff votes are unnecessary. Any feedback you send will be given to the author.

EDIT 10/1/2015: Author posted a last-minute update to Condomocium.

FINAL DAY FOR ENTRIES

Just to let everyone know this is the final day to submit an entry to SNEEZECOMP. Please email me at [my screen name]93@gmail.com with your entry. I realize neglected to give a cut-off time, so I'll accept entries until 12:00 PM October 1st, Eastern Standard Time.

If you emailed me and didn't get a response within 12 hours, you might have typed in my email wrong. Don't put any spaces between Another and Wannabe.

Recommended AIF Patreons

If you look to the right you'll notice a new thing on the sidebar: "recommended AIF patreons". Because you can't search for adult content on Patreon anymore, and you can't advertise it on the Sexy Games Forum, I wanted to make a permanent place where you can find good AIF patreon pages. These are patreon accounts that I think are definitely worth checking out.

I'll be adding patreons as I can, and of course you can let me know about your own, but know first of all I'll only add patreons that relate to the AIF community, and only those by authors that have released games that are of high-quality (my discretion).

No Sleep Till SNEEZE Comp

Just a reminder that the end of SNEEZE Comp is one month away. The DEADLINE is September 30th. I'm eagerly waiting to see what everyone comes up with!

And so, either one of these statements is true:

1) There has been a flood of incredible, creative, sexy submissions for SNEEZE Comp.

2) There have been none so far.

Assuming statement #1 is true, then surely you don't want to be left out!

Assuming statement #2 is true, anyone who submits anything is sure to win! Glory to you!

Either way, have fun!

Submit entries to [my screen name here]93@gmail.com

Hybrid Choices v3 Released

I'm releasing an update to Hybrid Choices. This version allows you to set the order for choices.

You can download the update here.

If you are working on a SNEEZE Comp entry this might be a good extension to use!