Mr Rex Ending, Budgie bird and SAGE – 6th August 2021
Hello again. Woke up at 5AM today which is great, still feel like I haven’t had much time to do anything but I guess I’ve been more relaxed. I should be able to get through today, Tomorrow I have to be away for a bit so I better make the most of today.
Yesterday was a big day working on Mr Rex. It would be a better idea perhaps to write these journals on the days they mostly talk about rather than constantly talking about “yesterday” but I can’t be bothered right now. What I’m doing is good enough. I did have some cynicism this morning and yesterday, moreso than the previous days. None the less I must keep up chin up and keep going and not put myself down, I need to be put up.
Anyways Mr Rex, I completed Captain Victoria’s cut scene art completely. She doesn’t move very much, she’s kind of more robot alien than she was in previous iterations where she was more like an emotional little girl. She’s a lot more dark in this version. I also created the cut scene, it’s like a prequel to the axis cannon cut scene. It’s a bit of foreshadowing to introduce the captain to the player before she becomes a more important character later down in the story. I’m quite happy with the addition of these cut scene that happen separate of the player’s main game, often in the middle of the level. It really adds depth to the scope of the story or something like that. I was always afraid that these scene would drag the game out too long story-wise but frankly that’s the point. The game is basically an Anime adapted into a shmup momentum combat platformer. I’ll concern myself with a manga, comic or animated series later. The electricity is still on, let’s make a game. The best quality with the least amount of time.
I watched FMA Brotherhood and Fumoffu again. Plum was very playful this evening, bless his little soul. I even got some pictures of him on my shoulder. He doesn’t even mind me picking him up as much anymore, he’s really quite tame. It’s been what 2-3 months of us together and when I got him he was 1-2 months old or something? Can’t remember exactly, I should really take more video and pictures of him as a baby before he malts all his old feathers and his eyes go from black to grey at 8 months of maturity. I look forward to what he’ll look like then but for now I should make the most of him in his youth. He was walking all over the mouse and keyboard as I was trying to finish the cut scene. I played him some of the ambient sounds I got from Spore Galactic Adventures, I made some amateur rips of the ambience and sounds for nostalgia’s sake. His favourite ironically is the Sci-fi battle ambience sound, a bird hears another bird inside a laser. He liked the jungle and forest ambience too though. It’s good to actually be productive on my game his playing music etc through my speakers and not putting my headphones in all day. I now actually look forward to listening to music when cooking, going for a walk and when I’m out and about.
This morning I’ve done something very important that’s occured to me and that is what the ending of Mr Rex is. I need to really pick the central message and rap things up in a way that’s poetic, beautiful and leaves a strong impression on the player. I’ve written 5 bullet points, I’m pretty satisfied.
I’ve been lacking the motivation to write S2 of Mr Rex, I don’t really know what arc I’m going for with Mr Rex. I still want there to be some kind of character development and plot twists, crazy stuff. Time travel really opens things up. Right now though I think planning things out carefully with bullet points is the way to fill my confidence when in my improv and restless script writing there is none. If I can make bullet points that are cool and interesting and CATCH UP on the actual game. Get to the end of S1 (Episode 14) then I can think more about the story from here. I think what I’ve got so far in S2 is good but it needs more thought to make it multi-dimensional. The first S1 is very character driven, at least by comparison and I don’t want to completely lose that.
SAGE is coming up and I’m scared that I might not have something ready. The submission deadline is this weekend and not only do I not have the game in close to an acceptable state but I’m busy this weekend. Family has a birthday, I gotta travel! I need to call and arrange something. The actual event starts in a couple of weeks, I’d have some time to upgrade everything but it’s tight. I was really hoping to be further down the development pipeline than this, going to GMS2 and being depressed long term has really done a number on me. I hope my productivity improves from here.
Can I also say that I’ve been listening to Two Steps from Hell a lot recently. Sun is my favourite album but ArchAngel is really great too, listening to it right now. I think Two Steps From Hell really helped me to get the Good vs Evil, Demons vs Angels thing going for Mr Rex back when I was a teen. We’ll see if I manage to reach their music quality as time continues. I think sometimes I tickle close only limited by my free VSTs, which to be fair aren’t that bad.
2 weeks to make Mr Rex playable and good enough to be shown. Can I do it? I’d better submit today too so I don’t miss it while I’m away this weekend. There’s a game jam this weekend that I can’t attend because of all the pressure on me at the moment. It’s really forcing me to get creative though, I’m despairing a lot less now. Let’s keep it that way.
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