Wow, this blog is bumpin’ now! I figured I’d answer all the comments on my last post with a new post rather than a bunch of comments.

First, here’s a picture since this post is long. :3 You probably will never get to see this in its entirety anywhere else since it’s the very back layer of the game:

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@ Matt: Or anyone who wants to send me an email: Luke(at)particlasm.com. I should put an email link on the side somewhere…

You can post your ideas here too, though.

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@Victor: Thank for the ideas!

I’ll start out by saying I don’t believe in artist block. I’ve always felt that every drawing or painting (or anything, really) is a struggle and you just need patience and discipline to get through. Obviously patience will run out at some point and you move on to a new piece of work, but the more you can hold that off, the better your work will be. Everything we make will go through an “awkward teenage phase” (as one of my art teachers liked to call it) and it’s best to just grit your teeth and plow onward ‘till it’s at least somewhat acceptable. Artist block is just an unwillingness to practice the hard stuff or work in spite of frustration. Even a perfectionist can make himself happy if he keeps on trying. The key is allowing yourself to enjoy the process and wait for the outcome to be great.

Now, I’m not saying I’m any good at getting over those humps. I just find it a lot easier to call it what it is and realize I’m just being lazy, haha.

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@Somebody: I always felt that way about RPGs after I played Chrono Trigger. I’m definitely flattered you feel that way about WaS! :3

I know what you mean about the gameplay, too. I always try to put gameplay first, and in spite of my more recent failed attempts, I think I finally understand what I need to do. Platformers are my favorite type of game, so I feel very comfortable making one. WaS2 should play just as well as the first one, if not better.

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@Lachlan: There aren’t any rustling leaves (at least not yet, I’ll see what my particle system can do, hehe), but the trees have 4-5 layers of parallax on them, so when you move they look really voluminous. The screenshot is just a very small sample of what I hope to get in there. I’ll definitely have lots of pine trees, maybe some waterfalls too.

Also, The music is fantastic, if I may say so myself. ;)

The look I’m going for on this game is that eerie pre-storm coloring you get mid-summer when the thunderheads are rolling in. I wanted the first game to feel really grand, but I had to sacrifice that because my tile system was pretty limited. The rainy day worked well because I couldn’t do shadows. This game has dynamic shadows and 12 layers of parallax and tons of layering possibilities on every tile, so I can build it as a whole working composition rather than an assembly of parts.

As far as story goes, I’m on the same page you are. I’m going to build the story indirectly with things like the signposts in the first game and little journal entries. The game starts with William complaining that gnomes stole one of his journals, so a sidequest will be to find the missing pages. I though this would be like the mushrooms in the first game except they would have more of a purpose than score (which I don’t think anyone really cared about). I’ll keep them sparse and short, though, so they’re a nice resting point rather than a choppy distraction.

Also, no talking foxes. Sly is smart, but he’s not a human. :3 No boss battle, either. No one liked that, lol.