Fixed that for you.
And, yes I have been slashdoting today

Changes in the tide

3 years of planning. That's the amount of time I've taken to develop the design to VHEL. Some ideas stand the test of time during gameplay testing. Many others, however, don't. That in mind, the art, storyline, music direction, and even the lore, goes through massive changes to hit that ever changing bar that is the final envisioning of the game. Here's a simple example of how the art changed when I first started to use Flash all the way up to now:



Clearly, I improved, with radical results to show for it. The problem here was never so much that I didn't know what I wanted, but rather, my experience and focus skewed to a particular direction to better fit the world and it's characters. Up until version 17, I didn't know what the hell made Khana what she was. Her personality was fine enough, but it didn't embellish a type of archetype to give you the impression that she was more than a girl with a knife. She's a demon, figuratively speaking, in both mind and of appearance. That's the kind of descriptive language that helped aid the art, story, and gameplay direction (though technically the gameplay was already doing this).

Another example is when the VHEL lore was first written. Khana was ORIGINALLY a courier who worked for EDOC who fought "Sic", which were alien-like creatures who flooded earth after a meteor hit. Her age was 14, and the cast she interacted with were just as young (generic RPG fare, in a way). Later, this was changed so that Khana worked for a private courier company for her uncle (still on earth), then the conception of Nor Prime was brought about, then the races, then the Trade, then a number of other decisions which ultimately led to what I have now: Khana Faust, a 19 year old Bhacrio courier who works for her uncle AND former step aunt, Iberian Sable. Khana is inherently evil. She's a racist. She'd rather spit in your face than kiss your ass.

But why all these weird changes, Mr. 12?

Simple. Crap gets old and needs refinement. =P

The original story was unimpressive, predictable, and a little bit under 100 pages. The latest version is above 400 pages with 6 times the amount of characters coming in and out. Is that good? Yes, only because the story actually feels more consistent and has a purpose with minimal cliches (I hate the page count, though). Speaking of the storyline, it's structure within the game also went through major changes over the years. At first, the game had no sense of time. Now, everything is calender driven and follows a given "contract", which, as explained in previous updates, are courier given missions. There are 12 contracts in the game in all. This may seem meek, but keep in mind, you want to be apart of something that's interesting and involving as many unique characters as possible. Previous plans had something, like, 5 times this amount, but nothing stood out as result.

Although refinement is good and dandy, there are rules in place to keep me from doing things I can't support or take up too much time (new story segments, characters, gameplay additions, art, etc..). These rules are there to keep the IP in check and maintain a consistency across the board.


Changes in gameplay

Probably the biggest offender is this refinement war is the gameplay. The very first playable build was less than playable and changed often. VHEL was suppose to be a RPG, at first. Overtime, however, I stressed over the "reasons" as to why. "Why must a game have hundreds of weapons and items to be fun"? "What's the value in constantly leveling up"? "Why are there so many interpretations of this genre?" Then I changed focus to working an Action-Adventure game. Again, I questioned the fun and reasoning. "Why puzzles?" "Why do I have to do what Zelda and Beyond Good and Evil did?"

Question, after question, after question.

In a way, my urge to figure out why I wanted to essentially emulate other games ultimately made me say "fuck the rules". I didn't care about making a game within a genre anymore. I didn't care if it were some kind of weird hybrid. I knew what VHEL was, and it sure wasn't being represented by the masses. That's basically when you know you're mad; when you decide to rebuke what is "standard" and define rules that create your own brand of entertainment. I think I've spent more time on researching psychology, sociology, understanding what entertainment is as a whole, to create my own blueprints for creating experiences than I have on replicating things I've seen in the industry. You honestly can't improve unless you break your own rules and question EVERYTHING until you see something you didn't. It all just requires discipline.

As a result, VHEL went from being a boring old RPG, to this strange RTT with a stealth like focus and a type of dual character control scheme? The game progression has a lot of temperamental systems, but they work in conjunction with overarching mechanics to make everything feel involving and permanent. There's stability without their being a strict rule of conduct. I honestly can't explain all this. I just know the game works and plays well, which is all that matters.


Nice story, bro. Now when can I play this stupid game?! D:<

November 20th for the internal Alpha testing. Stop bitching.

By that point, I can confirm 20% of the game being done. Mind you, 20% for this game is a bit over 5 hours if not more. The time during the Alpha is meant to understand a few key things:

- Is it fun to play?
- How do you like the Package, Symbiosis, and Notoriety systems?
- Do you like having a team of couriers with specialized jobs?
- Is controlling 2 characters too hard?
- Are you able to implore unique strategies and builds?
- Any weird bugs?
- Does the game render correctly on your screen? (Graphics card issues, occasionally)
- Is the story clear to you and do you feel as though you were immersed in the world?
- Do the voice overs suck?
- Do I (Mr.12) suck?

And that's all there is to it until the main game comes out. Again, the final release date is unknown, right now. I don't know when it'll be done, but it will, and it will be awesome. =P

Is it just me or is this starting to sound like James Cameron's Avatar?

Haha, your logo has your trademark gradients in it. :D I can't wait to see teasers, 12. Its gonna be awesome...

...

...and if it isn't awesome, this will be the greatest letdown of all time. All time. No pressure, brosef.

Not necessarily. Remember, LucasArts released E.T. for the Atari and they didn't collapse.

And before you say "Oh well thats a big conglomo business with lots of money" remember that you're digitally distributing your game. You have almost no overhead costs, especially when compared to the amount of money they had to plop down to make all them Atari cartridges.

So just cuz your game might completely SUCK DONKEY DONG doesn't mean its the end of the world. It just means your next game better be even more freaking awesome so that everyone can laugh and make meme's out of your old failure.

...if your game turns out to be horrible, which is not what I'm saying at all. I think its gonna rock.

Yes. Atari screwed that one up as well with their port of Pac-Man. Wiki says they MADE 12 million games even though there was only 10 million consoles sold at the time. xD



Yes yes. I knew you were going to say this. However, while the time spent on E.T. was completely wasted, your time spent on this game is still valuable. You've obviously learned a thing or two from your few years at work, haven't you? Not all of it pertains to VHEL either, eh, eh? ;P



Heck no, man. Any project that I poured my soul (and life energy [and mana]) into that ended up not being critically acclaimed just means that...well, I had a learning experience. You can show off your flop and say "Hey. I made this. For me, its a technical and logistical achievement. How many other employees have done something like THIS prior to coming to your company? I've got some cojones, mang. You know hiring me would be a good idea."

Polka dot (sorta) or solid colors?



I need to know!!! D:

I disagree. The one on the right is better.