[weasel]

This journal will remain in effect for the following two MZX games: Second Silence and Pete Moss, Private Eye in "Stressed Out!". It will serve no other purpose.

I shall now elaborate on these games.

Second Silence

The spiritual sequel to "Silence" (my audio-only proof of concept). It's now a text adventure with a heavy emphasis on audio effects and voice acting.

Second Silence's interface derives from earlier versions of SCUMM - there are three rows of verbs at the bottom of the screen (ranging from Look to Turn On to Pick Up to Room Description, plus a key for context-sensitive actions and the arrow keys to move between areas). Press a key, and a dialog box appears where you type the name of the object to interact with.

So far, the engine has been completed, but I am currently looking for a co-writer. Since I lost what I had of the script (forgot to back the damn thing up), the most I can offer potential candidates is the original story proposition and a few elements that I intended to work in. Candidates, keep in mind that Second Silence takes place in modern times, and has no supernatural elements (at least, not commonplace ones - the game revolves around a single supernatural element. I will elaborate further upon being contacted via private message).

Pete Moss in "Stressed Out!"

I always wanted to make a detective story. Though I never did come up with any decent mysteries for a character to progress through - and even when I did, I could never see them to completion. I could never decide whether to make it a serious story, a serious story with a humorous protagonist, or just an outright comedy game.

But that has changed - thanks to the help of some friends on IRC (not #mzx though, not even esper) I have a complete plot outline, and all I need to do is make the game already. And I've decided to make this a full comedy - though to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued other MZX comedy games, I will avoid referential humor wherever possible. There will be no retarded or immature jokes, and there will most certainly be no cameos.

Progress-wise: I have a complete debug board, a half-done starting board (plus a robot with tutorial information for those new to the game), an inventory interface, a half-done title screen, and what I would imagine is a very complete engine. Once the first board is finished, I will post an interface demonstration in New Game Announcements to collect feedback.

[weasel]

I state once again for emphasis: I am looking for a co-writer to help me work on the plot for Second Silence! I allow a fair amount of creative freedom - since all I have right now is just the core premise of the game.

Please contact me if you wish to help me write this story!

[Mag]

I am down to lend a hand. Give me the the plot of the first one and the direction the second one is going to travel in. I'll shoot you back some ideas.

[Koji]

I would help, but my hands are full :< and I'm don't mean chronostodian.

[weasel]

Well, a bit of speaking with a friend of mine lead to Second Silence's story being elaborated just a little bit more - I now have more to go by. And the supernatural element could probably be safely removed from the story.

Unfortunately, it's still not far enough to be considered complete in the very least. It's still just a concept. I still need help.

As for details - well, I won't elaborate, but I'll say that the final product may end up being a little Kojima-esque. But not on the level of MGS2.

I still can't figure the ending out for that game.

[weasel]

Second Silence

Major breakthrough - the plot has been outlined to the point that the player's objective throughout the game is mostly clear. However, I still need a co-writer to help flesh out the story! I am now able to send a rough, partial outline to potential candidates. Applicants to this position take note: the story's setting has been finalized as a part-Tom Clancy, part-James Patterson near-future thriller. There are no elements of supernatural activity - everything is explained.

[Val]

I'm really looking forward to 2nd Silence, though I'd probably not make a good cowriter :<

Stressed Out sounds good. I've never seen a detective game in mzx before, so it should be fairly unique.

[VinceP]

*Raises hand for co-writer position*

I'd be more then happy to lend a hand with the story. Tell me what I need to know about the story already in a PM if you like, or any of your specifications.

[weasel]

VinceP: A message has been sent to your PM box.

[cgmonkey]

Hey man, if you ever need any assistance with the graphics for Second Silence, just give me a pinch! I think it's one promising project!

Good Luck!

[weasel]

cgmonkey, on Dec 14 2005, 07:22 PM, said:

Hey man, if you ever need any assistance with the graphics for Second Silence, just give me a pinch! I think it's one promising project!

Good Luck!

Suffice it to say, I shall need no help with graphics because Second Silence doesn't have any graphics.

But thank you for the kind words.

[weasel]

Stressed Out!
"No amount of tugging, kicking, smashing, prying, cutting, jiggling, dragging, stabbing, punching, or crying will open this drawer."

I've resumed progress on Stressed Out. While I have made no fundamental changes or additions to the overall plotline, I've pretty much fleshed out my engine to the fullest, and I don't suspect that I'll need to make any more changes to it. Most notably, I corrected a bug where holding the spacebar would speed uncontrollably through long text messages. I also decided to remove the "text fade in" effect because it was too hard to deal with (since I had to copy the same line of text three times to "recolor" it, and changing the text afterwards was a pain).

Most of the objects in Pete's office are now interactive, though the board is nowhere near complete. I'm currently assembling some MOD music and some generic sound effects in OGG format to use in the game, though the task of locating good non-techno, non-action-packed MOD music is much harder than it sounds. I'd appreciate it if anybody could help me locate/compose some jazzy, ambient, or detective-noir type music.

[weasel]

This isn't just a random burst of inspiration. I'm now officially Serious™ about working on Stressed Out.

Today's progress: I added some much-needed color to Pete's office. I originally designed it completely in monochrome, but I determined that it looks a lot better with some blues and browns in it. I also finally created the exit door, but it doesn't do anything yet.

A few more interactive objects were added, and I changed a few things to get rid of needless and obscure referential humor (though I couldn't help myself with the office chair - "You can sit on it, but you can't take it with you.")

[weasel]

In a fit of boredom, I copied the entire project to my "old" computer (P 166, 64 MB RAM, Win95) to see how well it ran. Surprisingly, it runs perfectly, after a few tweaks for performance (like turning down the sample rates for sounds, and running fullscreen instead of windowed).

I also added a phone to Pete's office (which I have some plans for), wrote some more descriptions for things, and lastly, I added footstep sounds.

[weasel]

So like...check this out guys.

Attached image(s)

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[Bramble]

Oh wow, Wweasel, looking nice! I'm not going to give any suggestions.. don't particularly like to. I'll leav that to others. To me it's your's-- I like the carpet, clock, sink, telephone, and open closet. Nice.

[CJA]

I would say add, on one of the empty walls, a portrait of some dude.

Idea: every time you enter have the clock in a different position.

[Koji]

Portrait of an mzx smiley... c'mon you have to do it... it's MZX!

Anyway, I LOVE it. <3

[weasel]

Got a surprise for you...more screenshots! First the title screen (probably needs improvement):

And a recent shot of Pete's office (here, he has just attempted to Use the office chair):