State Of The Game #4
Jan 12, 2017
It's time for another action packed State of the Game post! Gather around the radio, turn up the volume, get grandma in the rocking chair, and let's begin.
A lot has changed since Gary and I sat across from each other at lunch and joking said "Let's do a Kickstarter", followed by an awkward moment of silence where we both realized it wasn't a joke.
Would anyone want to play a point-and-click adventure? Would they appreciate the classic nine-verb SCUMM interface? Could we build a game that was how you remember those old game, not how they actually were? Could we grab a new generation of gamers and shed them of their misgivings about what a point-and-click adventure is?
Well, we were a mere months away from finding out. It's been a long journey, one that you have shared with us, encouraged us, and held us honest throughout. I can honestly say, Thimbleweed Park is a better game for having you all here. And I'm not just blowing smoke up your *beep*. I'm not that kind of person.
Since our last State of the Game post, we've gone into content lock, meaning all the art is done, all the sound and music is done, and all the puzzles wired up.
We still continue to test and an occasional bug is found where we have to tweak one of the above, but we're not making any more changes or adding any new content.
We've set a date of January 27 as an engine lock for Mac, Windows, Linux and Xbox. At that point the engine is done and we're adding no new engine code. We will continue to test and if showstopper bugs are found, they will be fixed, but we're done with the engine.
That is also the version we will submit to Microsoft for Xbox cert, which can take a month.
We're in the process of getting our coming soon Steam page set up, so hopefully that will go live in the near future.
Thimbleweed Park runs on iOS and Android, but we're not actively working on them, there is just too much to do to get the game done on the core platforms. They will probably come out a few months later.
We haven't announced anything with PS4, but our intentions are to release there was well. As I've mentioned in the past, Microsoft has a three month exclusive, so it will be at least three months after the core platforms. Our Microsoft deal also specifies that we can't release on any other platform before the Xbox, so Mac, Windows, Linux and Xbox will all release at the same time. It's not really holding anything back, it's actually giving us breathing room on for getting the Steam builds tight.
The big news over the past few months is the voice acting. I could write a whole book about the the voice acting (henceforth known as Clusterfuck #1). It has nothing to do with the voice actors, they were all marvelous. As much as I'd love to shift blame to someone else (I'm taking volunteers), it rests solely on my shoulders.
I contemplated writing about this earlier, but decided to wait and see how it all panned out. Writing about clusterfucks while they are happening invites too much second-guessing (on everyone's part).
We did our first casting back in March, when we did the trailer for Ray. It's important to remember that Thimbleweed Park has 47 speaking roles, and that is a lot to cast for. My goal was to cast here in Seattle and use local actors.
We did the casting for Ray and then I planned on doing a full casting in June and the first recording session in time to have voice in for the demo we showed at Seattle PAX. June came and I was overwhelmed with work, and June became July, we did a first pass at casting, but just weren't finding the talent, then I became overwhelmed with everything else and pretended none of this was happening. Oh yeah, and a shit-bag was elected president and that didn't help (note to self: get the Russian translations done ASAP).
So now June has become late October and we still don't have the game cast. Panic is at DEFCON 1.
We eventually decided to cast in Vancouver Canada (also known as TV America) and within a few weeks had the game cast and were ready to roll. The actor who plays Delores is in Seattle, so we recorded her at Bad Animals in Seattle (fun fact: after casting her, she became the Thimbleweed Park sound designer and so is basically the real life Delores).
There is a character in the game who is German and no one we auditioned could do a German accent that didn't sound like something out of Hogan's Heroes. I contacted Tom Kerstin at Daedalic to see if he could help, and he got in touch with an actor and studio in Germany. Many thanks for that.
In Vancouver we recorded at Studio X Labs, which coincidentally is the same place we recorded DeathSpank. I went up to Vancouver for a week and we record everyday for 8 hours. Union actors work in 4 hour stints, so we couldn't record (for example) Reyes for 8 hours each day, we had to split it with other actors and the other roles.
Only the five keys roles needed more than 4 hours, we got everyone else in one 4 hour session.
To record, we'd run though the script and the actor would read each line twice and I'd mark the take I liked, or marked it for pickup. We'd go through around 30 lines, then go back and grab anything anything I'd mark. Ransome's voice was hard on the actor who played him, so after the first session we had him do each line once, rather than twice. He was amazing, so I rarely needed a retake.
That's the thing about working with pro-actors. They are really good at reading a script and can do 95% of their lines in one take.
All the actors on Thimbleweed Park was a pleasure to work with.
After my week in Vancouver, I came home and we spent the next 3 weeks recording with me calling in on Skype. All in all, it took 5 weeks to record over 16,000 lines.
Which gets me to the other clusterfuck on my part. Lauren, David, Jenn and myself wrote way way too much. I was mentally keeping track of the lines in my head, and I completely misestimated by a factor of 2. When I first pulled the text and saw how many lines where were, I was shocked and mortified.
Initially, there were more than 16,000 lines (with a third of them needing to be recorded 5 times), so we went through the whole game and blocked characters from going into specific areas they didn't need to go, mostly to save recording. I don't think players will really notice it. We always gave charaters a good reason for not going somewhere and made sure it wouldn't make a puzzle frustrating.
An example is keeping Ransome out of the Cemetery. There is no puzzle reason for him to go there and we gave him a plausible excuse for not wanting to go in there, so it seems natural.
So, lessons learned (that I already knew but didn't follow):
1 - Cast early and set a deadline and stick to it.
2 - Pull a script early and often so you have a real line count.
After recording was done, it's taken another two weeks to go through and cut, clip and process all the dialogue. It's in the game now and it's been transformational. It is so amazing to hear everyone speak.
W00T!
Boris has started the German translation a month ago and a few weeks later we hired the translators for French, Italian and Spanish. They are all on our Slack, so it's fun to chat about odd issues that come up. Each of them has a copy of the game they can debug jump to any room and hot load their translation as they write them. The translations are all scheduled to be done by the 27th.
We are now fully into the final stages setting up all the marketing and PR. Do not underestimate the importance of these two things, they are just as important as building a great game. But those will have to wait for another post.
So, the bottom line is our evil plan is finally coming together to make a point-and-click adventure game that feels fresh and modern without running from anything that made those games so great.
Thanks for being a part of it.
- Ron
Really appreciate you guys putting so much hard work into this project and cant wait for the Steam release in the near future. Happy 2017 :)
Also what was with the voice actor strike? Did you have to recast? I think you mentioned something on Twitter
I would have thought MI2 has much more dialog compared to MI1.
https://youtu.be/V14PfDDwxlE (feel free to google "Orson Welles frozen pees" if you would prefer to avoid my link)
Now that an engine is available (you can build on), you're familiar with a production process (things vary) ... How much of the dev time could be saved if you make another adventure? If the budget isn't too much of a limiting factor, would you rather go for a longer/more detailed game or produce the adventure in a shorter time?
But probably the blog still lives when the game gets finished, so maybe it's easier to give the blog etc. as booklet (pdf or something) within the game download.
@Ron: Any possibility to get a dev-(b)log with that game?
Hope to keep the dialog(ue) going with everyone. It's been a lot of fun.
"shit bag" seems to be exactly clear to me :-)
Example: "That chair totally ROCKS!"
/s
http://www.cinemapioxi.it/zak/RockingChair.jpg
So excited to play this.
It comes to my mind Bernard getting past green tentacle.
How will you handle avoiding players looping around trying to get in those places, how to know when they dont need to, to when it's actually a puzzle
16000 lines, so much to explore. Wohooo, i feel like a kid again. Grrrmpfh :/ Resisted my whole life to become a fanboy. Team TP & me = <3
We have to wait for translations to be completed, microsoft certification to be done and talk about TWP all around the world!
Hey, is there a trip in Europe scheduled or not?
I can't stand it no more! :-)
47 is an impressive number of speaking roles!
I'm glad to read that you have contact with Daedalic and that they are not only a bare competitor for you. I'm looking forward to the german accent.
On a side note, what is that on the chair in the first photo? At first glance it looks like someone's snake shed its skin!
But after reading your update, I fear that I will pay attention when I can't go to a specific area and blame the expensive voice over, which I personally don't need.
Great job and thank you for the ride along with the Thimbleteam while you guys were working on it!
It has been a great experience seeing how a game is pulled together, from concept to final touches.
BTW, at the end of February in Cannes (France, you know, French Riviera) there is the International Games Show ("Festival International des Jeux" as the locals call it)... just saying...
Ciao.
I want to play a good game !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One thing: the verb parlare (to talk) it's exactly like in English. It's intransitive, so you have to use a preposition to direct the action at someone.
eng. We need to talk.
ita. Dobbiamo parlare.
eng. I'll talk TO her later.
ita. Parlerò CON lei dopo.
The italian preposition "con" luckily works exactly like english preposition "to", when you need to you use the verb "Talk" to direct action at someone. So you can build every sentence just by putting together "Parla con" (Talk to) and every possible object without any change.
Said this, there are two ways:
1)the verb on italian interface remain "Parla", and the engine automatically adds "con" preposition before every object when building a sentence;
2)the verb becomes "Parla con" (Talk to), and there's literally no need to to anything else.
The second option is more correct on the plane of grammar, and also more natural.
P. S. Probably this change has been already done, but Ron please don't stop posting WIP images just for that reason :-P
I bet its already done the way you described in 1)
Devs had the chance to move separation lines between columns of verbs as to fit every language.
eng. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Fate_of_Atlantis#/media/File:Indy_foa_screenshot.png
ita. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Fate_of_Atlantis#/media/File:Indyfate.png
"Over, or under - that is the question!
Whether this nobler in the mind to suffer
the high annoyance of outrageous hanging
or to take arms against the toilet papers
and by inverting, fix them?"
Thanks a lot for giving us this great Game :-)
I'm not gonna blow smoke up any body cavities either, but thank YOU for creating this game and its wonderful blog that allowed us to be a part of the creation process somehow. It is one of the few bright lights we can hold on to in the harsh reality of the world we live in today - with childhood heroes dying every other day and *beep*-for-brains monkeys getting elected to 'rule' an ever crazier world. History teaches us that in times of war, discomfort, whatever... the arts provide solace and creativity sparks. Here's hoping!
http://andrewscaife.tumblr.com/post/144707057440/the-4th-and-last-of-the-prints-for-the-gallery
As you know, mouse emulation on console is always a bad experience...
Another question:
Will Xbox Play Anywhere be supported on this title? (I would like to play both on PC and Xbox, with synchronized savegames, without having to purchase it twice...)
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/xbox-play-anywhere
http://www.zombieranchcomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/9226_5a7c_640.png
You have to find the missing resource file in order to continue the game.
(I think it's funny how we now know Donald Trump as Donald *J.* Trump- much like Homer Simpson occasionally would go by Homer J. Simpson- to seem more distinguished, astute, presidential, or whatever).
Anyway, I know you've kind of went down this road before...
And you are making a dream come true along the way. Actually, I now realize - though still playing through all the LA classics every year or so - I didn´t really have the chance to enjoy and explore them on my own, back in the time.
We would rather sit with a group of friends, puzzling through Monkey Island, Fate of Atlantis, Zak McKracken, ... which was great fun. But often I wouldn´t be the first to figure out a puzzle, I am rather slow at it. :D And the computer was a friend´s, so I ´d miss parts of the games when I was not there to play.
So, now finally, a real classic point and click adventure I can go explore and enjoy all by myself, THANK YOU. I missed the kickstarter, also Broken Age and Dreamfall Chapters made me rather sceptical. So I am buying this on GOG and Steam as soon as its possible (and who knows maybe a box will be also released). Can´t wait!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFuL3Qxc8Tg
In any case. Thank you. All the love in the world to you! <3
Ron, I hope you still got what I had meant. :)
I dislike that you keep Ransome out of the cemetery for example! :-(
(Do you know where this picture comes from?)
Here is an older screenshot for a comparison: https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/814262751899963392
Yes, I never doubted that! :-D
Also note that there is some strange tilting of the notebook going on.
It seems like rotation is applied, in BOTH images actually!
http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/04thimbleweed.png
Now I've also noticed another thing: All the flies are at the exact same position in the GIF (/ˈɡɪf/). Strange. This makes Dave's move even creepier...
I assume that the notebook is wobbling for a special reason in that particular scene.
The speck of dust has moved as well. In my opinion, they should put it onto a bright floor tile, so that it would be even less noticeable. Or, maybe they should put it into a completely different room, now that I have noticed it. Distributing specks of dust into several hotel rooms would be cruel. :-D
The mobile phone has a green button now.
Indeed, it looks like a green call button (+ red hang up button). But did phones from that time actually already have it like that? :-)
As far as I remember, a green and a red button were already common on phones back then. At least no one will confuse that phone with a walkie-talkie. :-)
At least an option where we can specify its opacity would be nice!
I hope Ron is reading this :-)
Not only its enjoyable to read your posts, it's also great to be (a tiny) part of the game as you (the hole team!) always stay close to the community here. I really love to see/read the way this game develops.
If I want an opinion on the election, I'll watch the Cackling Hens on "The View"
Is it too late to rescind my pledge?
Respectfully.
From what I've seen here and on twitter you've been far from respectful, polite or all that intelligent with your comments on the topic.
That being said, I think you all should learn to get over it: some people have strong political opinions, that's it. If Ron says "Trump is an idiot", why should Trump fans care and get upset?
That's something I never understood from Berlusconi fans and now from the Five Star Movement's fans. They all tried to respond by insulting the opposing parties, hoping to make me mad. Why should I? I don't follow that kind of cult of personality that makes me rage up if someone dislikes my idols. I won't even argue if you tell me Geddy Lee is an idiot, and I love Geddy Lee. I'd probably get upset only if you insult my family.
The fans for each italian party seem to fight over each vs other.
But we know what is the truth, the day after the elections...
https://youtu.be/XkInkNMpI1Q?t=2m7s
But the US surprises me every time. After having a second term of office for Bush, I had the fear that Trumps wins the election. And he did. I hope he will not leave too much trouble in the US and the rest of the world.
Trump isn't an American-only phenomenon. Everywhere there are more and more pseudo-politicians that appeal to people's emotions rather than intellect, and that tell them what they wanna hear by pushing the blame for all their problems to someone else, rather than to their own mistakes.
Everywhere there are individuals promising to make their country great again by kicking minorities, isolating themselves from their neighbors, and selling them a future that is basically just like the "old good days". People don't want to accept that the future is uncertain and scary, and they want someone to tell them they are right.
Brace yourselves, everywhere.
And the establishment of filter bubbles aka non-mainstream media just add to that. People have the option only to hear what they want to hear, but still get it in a technical quality limited to serious sources a decade ago. Something has to break before they realize that. Last time Europe had to burn to make them understand, but the people who witnessed that are dead by now, so it probably will have to burn again.
Putin or Putout, that's the question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-wFKNy0MZQ
Germany is in a miserable situation (and might be part of the puzzle why he got elected): uncontrolled immigration with all the problems arising from this, increasing crime rate, terrorism, propaganda media, inhuman religion replacing rational elucidation, a regained observation state, extremists showing up on the left and right, Brexit ... No one caring about the real problems we were facing before anymore. It's messed up by the system, globalism/capitalism, politicians being incapable, serving their lobbies and other countries interests (like the USA's) whilst harming Germany.
If you don't want to get into trouble, don't talk about politics. It's unfortunate when you're trying to force it into a discussion but when you get into it, try to do it in a reasonable way, regardless of which position you're coming from. In the end it's an important part for most peoples' lives (at least it should be as long as things aren't the way they could be) and it can feel unnatural beeing silent all the time. I just wish there would be more common sense.
Everyday there are thousands of people entering from Southern Italy.
There are people escaping from Syria, but also criminals or people who thinks that in Italy there is the Heaven.
The facilities are collapsing, the EU seems to think: "Oh, that's your problem" and some of the EU members raise walls against immigration.
That's not good.
... but at least here, in this blog, let's keep those problems away...
For example the sexual assault on New Year's Eve. I still remember when Ron wrote about his visit at Gamescom. He added a picture of the cathedral ( https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/gamescom_debrief ). The subsequent New Year's Eve put this place into a completely different context, which was sickening and which we hadn't experienced before, followed by a public outcry. It's interesting how quickly the focus of reporting can move. If there was another chancellor, such occurences may have had even a much bigger influence on german politics.
Sadly it's true. Our government shows a lack of clever and lasting policy in most departments since years.
Our renewable energy policy is a joke, atomic waste disposal back to the state for a laughable amount of money, infrastructure issues with streets and trains, no lasting family policy (poverty trap for families having children, ignoring the demographic factor [baby boomers facing the pension scheme]), no reasonable home/foreign/economic policy [led to Brexit, dept trap for Greece, CETA, our arms export selling weapons as well as prosthesis into countries which also make usage of them, ignoring Lampedusa].
Our policy for the Middle East is dishonest and naive. The way we're dealing with Turkey is embarassing. The immigration started by breaking EU law, it is largely uncontrolled, political asylum and subsidiary shelter turned rather quickly into integration (due to the local job market and fixing issues they didn't address for years). Rejected or dangerous people don't get deported. A surplus on uneducated young african males, integration problems due to different culture/ideological backgrounds, infiltration of Salafis, children which need special treatment in schools are some of the problems we created on our own.
Financial shortcomings for municipalities, higher costs for the general public, a downgrade in quality of life for the inhabitants, strained residential markets. Frustrations for true refugees and immigrants due to long processing times. Rape and murder in Freiburg, sexual harassment in Cologne, gunfire in Munich, assassination in Berlin, attacks with axes in trains, organized beggars, the increase of crime ... Inform yourself on your own. If you're living in Germany, in a capital city, you should know about these changes.
I won't comment on this further because this isn't the purpose of this thread.
> Sadly it's true.
No, it's not.
I agree that it's not perfect, but there isn't any country in the world that is "perfect". You see (in your posts) only the negative things and not the positives. And in addition you list some individual cases. I.e. the immigration is *not* uncontrolled: the german police knew the terrorist of berlin. And (sadly) we had terrorism since the world war 2. Think about the RAF in the 1970th. Think about munic 1972. Think of 9/11.
Another example: if you think our engery politic is miserable have a look at belgium. There is a very old rotten atomic plant and they do not plan to shut it down! Even the conservative(!) party in germany wants to switch from atom energy to renewable.
I don't say that everything is fine. But it is not worse or miserable! We live in peace in europe, i feel save, we have a working health insurance system where poor people get a doctor for free (hello, america!), etc.
It is true.
Apart from a lack of substance your argument is that other countries are doing worse? This shouldn't be our benchmark because we should try to enhance our situtation instead of appeasing ourselves that relative to worse countries we're still doing somehow fine.
That's not an attitude towards life I want to teach my children. At some point (and in a number of aspects it already happened [education, poverty, low-pay sector, broadband ...]) you will wake up with a headache looking at the world from the end of the line.
What's your definition of controlled immigration? Having no control about people coming into our country (or the modern trafficking in human beings) with fake/no ids/passports where you don't know what they are doing? Do you know how many identities the terrorist(s) in Berlin had? The multiple times he received social benefits. That they let him go. That's not control, that's an illusion of having control. Do you think he's the only one? So, we now will spend more money on spying on our own to sustain some level of security. The cold war felt a lot safer because it was predictable. A weak EU, an almost collapsing financial market, more complicate interests groups in the world. All these things don't push a safe world.
The Germany we're living in today is more brutal than it was two years ago. The things i wrote about all happened since the immigration and a lot of them also happen on a smaller scale but you only witness them if you're living in the right places. Maybe you want to read some police reports. The number of burglary, theft ... it increased. You don't read about these things in the mainstream media this much because they're owned by a few billionaires who support the government, benefiting from this climate. The normal people, they don't benefit, they pay the bills and now they also pay with blood for such a irresponsible policy.
A policy which has no benefit for Germany, no goal and no direction. We're not shaping our future or are even involved in the solution (thinking of Syria), we're trying to react limiting the damage happening to us in a dumb way because we're not talking honest about the situation and are unable to differentiate. We're facing global problems which need a totally different treatment instead of acting as we could solve these things on our own. We're not acting like a sovereign country.
Take a look at the predicted climate change and what this will do to Africa. How large their population is, how they are structured, what kind of problems they are facing. Try to think of what you would do if you were one of them. Try to extrapolate what will happen to the oil countries once the production won't be profitable anymore for a longer period ... We need global solutions for these changes, not a single country trying to save the world. 'Am deutschen Wesen mag die Welt genesen.' didn't work out the last two times, I suggest to learn from history.
Do not forget he will represent all USA citizens, and he is going to f*beep* up the external relation with many other countries. Honestly, I'm really sad for the people who really thought this is the best option for the USA...
Being said that, pretending not to play this awesome and really-seriously developed game just because of politics is a very stupid reasoning... Be water my friend!
I think, from my island he will have exactly zero effect on my life.. But I'm old enough to have seen American liberal push towards globalism and what that has wrought all around the world. I lived through that here at home and traveling/working abroad as a bigger blight to the world than a border fence half a world away attempting to stop some drug running ( I believe in their legalisation/treatment as a health issue which would negate a wall anyway)
However to his credit, Trump is actually anti globalism, he wont sign the TPP, an important issue to most of the Asia/Pacific area where our government are rail roading us with little consultation, Our conservative government here (that I don't agree with but don't waste time name calling) is keen as mustard on the TPP because it was written by the corporate interests they represent.
I think Americans don't realise that their "business as usual" politics that Hillary represented was detrimental to many people all around the world, and has been for a long long time now, its not her personally, the DNC biasing of your primary etc, its the system, i know
Having an isolationist US president for once in 50+ years, would be a relief to many of us. Aheadache for you, but you really do need someone who pays a bit more attention at what you're doing at home rather than worrying about regime change all over the world one after another when it suits them as you have since the 60's then cry like babies when Russia apparently attempts to "hack" your election
The hypocrisy is over the top when Americans start on politics talking to a global audience that knows a little history. I guess thats why the little point of Ron insulting Trump then requesting "respect" just grinded my gears to a degree that I had to reply depite not even being a conservative or a Trump supporter.
As i said, I am a left leaning pinko, but the virtue signalling from American progressives is just unbarable atm. We know your candidate lost, we agree American conservatism can a loony place. But you will survive, the last conservative US president started a decade+ long war that cost you trillions and oversaw the an almost depression side financial system collapse and you all just shrug your shoulders. I honestly doubt Trump could do any worse, wall or no wall.
As bold as Putin may seem, he is also a chess player. Combine the same boldness with the narcissism of Trump and his complete inability to see the connections, and it becomes clear that there is more at stake than one single nation.
Also at some point one has to see that "globalism" has been happening for ages. By not taking control of the negotiations the progressive forces have left all instruments to the industry. I have nothing against globalizing production standards and the rights of workers. But somehow the illusion that hiding in some corner each nation on its own would make things better has gained traction and we are heading back towards the situation before the First World War.
And globalism is about a whole lot more than workers rights and production standards, its basically western colonialism by another name. We dont need a one world government to achieve peace and stability. America need to stop sticking it's our nose into other peoples business accept not all people aspire to live like you, but you make this assumption and run around the world spreading your version democracy and capitalism and think everyone's overjoyed about it. Trust me, they aren't. There are plenty of democratic and free capitalistic nations doing just fine without you and would appreciate if you'd just take a break from 'helping' us. We don't all live in fear of the dark, nor do we want your military bases in our countries.
"except for all the weapons you snuck in, or the anthrax you supplied, then later used it as an excuse to invade the country AGAIN" Who is "you" in that case? As far as I know I've never been to Iraq.
"We dont need a one world government to achieve peace and stability." Nobody talks about a world government, except perhaps right-winged fear mongers. But there is no way of establishing world-wide rules without creating some kind of organisation which can go through the process of negotiating them. And as economy is the best foundation for mutual understanding, as both side have the interest to achieve a positive outcome, it makes sense to connect those rules to trade agreements.
Just take a look at Brexit. No matter whether you think the general idea is ood or bad, one thing already clear is: the UK has to lower taxes to stay interesting for investments. This means they get less money for the same service. Other parts of Europe now will lower their taxes in order to keep enterprises from moving. And surprise: they get also less money. So it is a race to the bottom, and the only one who will have any advantage of that are the investors of the enterprises which now have much stronger leverage. The same is true for the banks: a united europe would have leverage to reduce wild speculations at the stock market, but on a national level, it would be suicide to try that.
That is what you get when you think that mini-nations have a future. They get eaten by industrial behemoths. There is even less democratic control, as all politicans can do is reacting to reality at that point.
The direction is locked, it is impossible to lower the speed, the choice is simple whether you want to steer or just wait and see where the car will take you. Deciding about the advantages and disadvantages of moving slighty left or right might seem tedious, but in the end, that is the only way to have influence. The idea that a weakling like Trump, who can be played like a violin due to his deficits in character, could exercise any control in that situation, is ludicrous.
> willing to change your mind when you need to.
Starting off the discussion with "shit bag" is impolite and itself leads the way to more impolite discussion. It's also leading the way in black-and-white thinking along the lines of Hillary The Heroine vs Donald The Hitler, which is simply not representative of reality... a reality where Hillary happens to be a war hawk that helped the Iraq mess with her vote for Bush's move, a mess which ultimately cost over 100,000 civilian lives and the emergence of Isis.
Looking forward to fall in love with Thimbleweed Park!
It is oriented OVER :-D
To be honest i have read it like you intended. But when it comes to discussions about politics a lot of people lose their ability to sense sarcasm. Thats a lesson i had to learn :/ So you have to choose your words as precise as possible. Or go full sarcastic :)
Then you tailor the ad image to appeal to their pro-adventure game, anti-Neil Diamond sensibilities.
I'm promoting you to Chief Marketing Integration Facebook Strategist Manager™ of the Ad Image Consultation Department™, effective immediately. We're all very proud of your work and look forward to seeing you align with the company's existing synergies with a view towards developing new paradigms in the future.
Once it's on sale, will you be doing a follow up post to https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/roadmap1
That gives a breakdown of how the engine progressed in the end and a breakdown of where the budget went?
http://www.macrumors.com/2017/01/12/maximum-tvos-app-size-now-4gb/
maybe an Apple TV Version later since the 200MB Download limit is no more?
Or I could mention every bug in games which eventually became game-specific features and caused unrealistic speedruns. :)
Players are evil. :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard
If you want a new "mechanical" keyboard have a look at keyboards for gamers. I.e. from Razer. In the most cases they use switches from Cherry:
http://www.cherry.de/cid/Mechanical_keyboards.htm?
I don't like those flat keyboards, they are beautiful but not practical.
To program, a "mechanical" keyboard is a MUST!
I've been using the Cherry Stream since about 10 years. Thanks to its flat keys, I can type on it much faster. I love it for this reason. But, maybe it's simply a matter of habit.
Though, flat keys are not as nostalgic as "mechanical" keys.
However, when I play a point & click game, I solely use my mouse.
Well, I still have another beige keyboard from the 90s though. And, fortunately I still have a PC with PS/2 connectors.
Nintendo Switch specification released.
- No regional block
- 6.2" touchscreen (capacitive)
- resolution 1280×720 (16:9) (720p)
- 32GB internal memory (expandible with microSDXC)
- the sides are detachable and:
- the right one has a built-in camera able to calculate the distance of the other hand
- the left one has a capture button, to get screenshots
- the announced price is $300 in U.S. (€ 329 in Europe)
- upcoming games: Arms, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey
...
- To Be Announced third party games: FIFA18, PES18, N2K18, TWP18
Expandable storage?
Nice!
Ron said in the post: 'so Mac, Windows, Linux and Xbox will all release at the same time' - so Steam and Xbox at the same time, right?
Or do you mean you'd rather Steam came out *before* Xbox?
But the basic premise was wrong to begin with.
Mentioning climate change, a phenomenon we've known about for 150+ years? Suddenly it's political.
Some bum seeking food or shelter? A hamfisted attempt to inject emotionality into the refugee debate.
Some game character can't pay for medical aid? It's an ignorant critique of PEOTUS' plans for the ACA.
Is someone bullying the main characters or making up conspiracy theories? That's a clear cut ridicule of Trump's legit election strategies.
Some fictional state is invading another? Come on, we need to be FRIENDS with the Russian emperor now.
EVERYTHING is political, but only when it looks like you criticise Trump with it. I mean, taking a quick look at all those games in which guns are the only way to resolve conflict... aren't these infinitely political? Ever thought of that? Why don't we discuss authorial intent and political teachings in Battlefield 1? It's not like shooter scenarios/stories aren't evolving.
The truth is, this new and massive trauma of the American people and this dissolution of the American values needs an expression in art, and I do hope that Ron isn't holding back one inch. I hope that after November, certain lines were changed to allude and condemn the US descent into what I personally consider a new and deeply scary fascist plutocracy.
Interestingly games designers are starting to accept that when it comes to story elements, but still have no clue that the mechanics of their game already make a statement, often much stronger than anything they put in the cut scenes.
Regards,
Sebastian
We need quite the contrary.
I am an Italian fan of the game and I am very glad to see the last screen that you have published it in Italian. But I wanted to tell you "Raccogli" is not a good translation of the verb "Pick up", it would be much better "Prendi" ...
Thanks for your attention and good work!
They translated it like so because in the past it has always beeen translated like this, even the corecct translation would have bee "spingi", like somebody stated earlier.
However, I have to say that "raccogli" is actually the most proper translation for "pick up".
Alla fine sono sinonimi, dai...
"Raccogli" is a proper translation for "pick up".
"Prendi" is a proper translation for "take"
They are almost synonims, but thy are not fully interchangeable.
It's the same with "spingi", which is a proper translation for "push" and "premi" which is a proper translation for "press".
Even if the two words are, in some contexts, nearly synonims.
And this make me think that, now the screen is totally painted, you could play without the nine verb grid (except for the inventory)!
One thing Thimbleweed Team should explore for the second installement is THE-MOTHER-OF-ALL-THE-OPTIONS: enable/disable verb interface! I think it would be a WISER choice, capable of attracting the WIDEST audience possible! (The disabled verb mode could be handled in several good ways, keeping the same gameplay of a "nine actions interaction").
It was a precise intent in "If I made another Monkey Island" precursor manifesto, afterall, to lose the verb interface, even if Ron was not so sure (and what we learned? make it an option! eheheh)
...
... would be more appropriated to use the word "SPINGI", don't you agree?
Player: Walk to expensive looking brown box
Character: "Not interested."
Player: Walk to expensive looking brown box which clearly looks like a treasure chest
Character: "I can't."
Player: Walk to treasure chest which seems to have an intriguing note beside it
Character: "Na ah."
Player: Walk to treasure chest which seems to have a very intriguing note beside it and also gently hums a strange but familiar tune
Character: "Quit it."
:(
Couldn't resist :) Can't wait to play the game!
all that is very interesting,
btw I'll like to know when you plan to start the Kickstarter for Thimbleweed Park 2...
Reading your blog is so hilarious...
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Adding german voice-acting would necessitate a huge amount of work and money, of course, and it would be difficult for the developers to check the quality of voice-acting in foreign languages. So, in my opinion, the dev team ought to focus on more important things.
I gave this information about the voice acting especially for fans like us! I also think that only a good acting can be attractive, and fans will be helped by the existing English version, which has been done under the strict supervision of the creators of the game. In my opinion the most important thing is quality of acting, way more than quality of recording instruments. Probably it is like you said, it will takes months if not years to listen the first good voice acting in other languages. But this could help in the longevity of the title also in the selling market.
Have you thought about release a physical limited edition msdos like retro city rampage 486 for DOS?
Kind regards,
TuberViejuner
Is something similar planned for the release on GOG? I'm really looking forward to TP and would like to buy it on GOG.
The Clown-Trailer is really awesome and I can't wait to play the final game!
Despite of the fact that, if I read your according posts in the past correctly, Thimbleweed Park is cruising towards a Steam-only release as far the digital side of things is concerned, I would be very grateful indeed if there still were enough time to beg / persuade you also to release Thimbleweed Park via GOG as well! I just am not all that fond of Steam and if I were able to choose my code it would definitely be a GOG code rather than a Steam code.
Anyway, all the best.
Cheers
Patrick
P.S.: Am already chewing my fingernails - at least that what is left of them...