WOWZERS!

Welp, what can I say... as exciting as moving house is, eventually life returns to normal. Sure, I may not have a couch or any chairs in my new place yet and I'm working off of the floor or standing up on the kitchen counter, but in general things are finally chilling out for me.

...except for where food is concerned. There are so many good Thai and Mexican places near me now that I may never come down from the hype.

AND there's a diner right across the street? Surely, this must be heaven.

THINGS THAT ARE NOT NEGATIVE REVERIE

I don't know if I truly have the TIME to be doing this right now, but I broke out the shogi board and have been playing every other day or so!

Right in my kitchen, where I can practice while I make slice after slice of buttered toast.

Did you KNOW that the first recorded game of shogi that took place outside of Japan was right here in Philadelphia?! I just learned this and it gave me another reason to think Philly is the greatest city on Earth. You should move here.

I've also returned to playing through Tales of Phantasia in Japanese on my PS1. Since I work nights and our apartment is small, I need something quiet to do while my partner is asleep and putting several hours into classic JRPGs has been a good way to both study and have fun simultaneously. Could it be that Evil King Daos' plans are more nuanced than the party previously thought?? 面白いね。。。

Speaking of video games, let's talk about the only video game that REALLY matters.

The gang visits the local library.

NEGATIVE REVERIE

Have you ever heard about this "focus" thing??? It's pretty great.

I've been having a lot of trouble recently really focusing on one task at a time and it's been getting kind of annoying, but I'm happy to announce that this week I was able to tune out of the various BlueSky and YouTubery I get up to to concentrate on some gamedev (and a night of recording a lot of guitar, but that can be for a different post).

The main thing is that I finished all of the backgrounds to the areas in Chapter 11, wahoo!!! A momentous occasion!

Really taking a bite out of that completion rate!

The last few rooms of the chapter are all subway-themed, so I took a lot of inspiration from the BSL in Philadelphia, now that I live next to it. For the train cars, I heavily referenced the Silverliner IVs that still run on SEPTA's Regional Rail (even though they also use Silverliner Vs now)!

Also, much like regional rail, sometimes they explode.

I also had PLENTY of plot ideas, too. The main thrust of the game is already done and the script is like... technically complete, but as I go, I'm making tons of rewrites. Honestly, I wish I had a better way to do rewrites and edits... maybe I should push the script to github so I can SEE what changes I'm making and such... there are so many versions of each scene now, I forget which one is the current one! Also, I coded up my own tool for making a json file out of the dialogue, but it's not the most user friendly thing.... perhaps I should also look for a more dedicated tool that can do what I want....

...OR I could just do that on the next game, lmao. Whatever.

I'm pathetic, is what I'm trying to say... because of my writing process.

Chapter 12's locations are next and while there aren't that many areas... they're mostly outdoors in NATURE and a LOT of very important plot takes place there. I need to slow down, take my time and really make these ones count.

Also, idk how to draw trees, so that's gonna be a unique experience. Perhaps I'll just steal the ones from Link's Awakening. ╮(╯∀╰)╭

I can draw the poop emoji. though.

Also I'm pretty proud of this one.

OTHER JUNK

If you're in the Baltimore area, come to MAGLABS this weekend, 9/12! https://labs.magfest.org/
I've actually never been, myself, but I'm really lookin' forward to it. My band ZAKU is playing music starting at 8PM, so come on out and get SHREDDED. We're gonna do a cover of the intro to Sakura Taisen :).

There's another Baltimore ZAKU show coming up on 9/26, but idk if there is any info out there for it yet. STAY TUNED!

Tomorrow is Burger Monday at a tavern near me, so I'm looking forward to that.... perhaps YOU should also indulge in a burgie. Couldn't hurt.

Ok, that's it for this week, I'm gonna spend the rest of my night doing a lil' drawin' for the game and then playing more Tales of Phantasia! Y'all have an excellent week and I'll see you next.... Sunday? Monday?
...one of them.

(˶ > ₃ < ˶)♡