Last Day of January

 Today was a bit disappointing. It just felt like I was flailing around and trying really hard but not getting much done. I tweaked a great many of my maps, trying to make them look a bit better. Then attempted to make a couple of tiles. The tiles pretty much crashed and burned. I just couldn't get them to look good enough to please myself. I still have a lot to learn, it seems.
  Then I got one more square of gardening(aka: eventing) done. Gardening is becoming a huge pain in the backside. It just takes so long to get each square done. It's quite tedious as well which makes me want to put it off. I'm making myself do at least one square a day though to make sure I get it done!

(click to make larger)

Here are some of the icons I made. I have two versions of each. A 24x24 and a 50x50. I made two icons today. I'm slowly making my way through a long list of food items that need icons. Then I have to do ingredients, clothes, tools, foraging, system, and probably a few other things that I've just forgotten for the moment. I put the icons as 32x32 on a charsheet as well. That just makes it easier if I ever want an item to show up in a cutscene or make it so the player can find it on the ground or in someone's house, etc.

The last thing I worked on today was more NPC personalities figure-outing. Does that even make sense? Eh, whatever. My brain is kinda fried right now. 

Tomorrow I continue the search for a good HUD, more gardening squares, and yes, more icons!

Cya! 

Music I Listened to While Working Today: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ptfyhBjXj8

January 30th

This is what I worked so hard on yesterday. Quick note, all the pictures are placeholders right now until I get around to making better. I'll edit later today, once I'm done working! Taking a bit of break right now. Just wanted to share the picture for now.

Edit: The day has ended and I didn't get much done, sadly. I drew 9 icons, put in two shirts, a skirt, and a pair of pants into the game. Then I worked on gardening, got two more squares put in. I spent a lot of my time today looking at colleges so that sucked quite a bit of my time away.

Cya!

January 29th

Bah. Didn't get to post yesterday.

 Today and yesterday I worked on polishing up here and there, testing, bug fixing, and working on the new introduction.

 My beta testers found a lot of bugs today so I've been fixing those. Also, I'm still working on the introduction scene. Sheesh, I'm having a lot of trouble with that. It didn't help that the mouse script I had was making switches not work for some reason. So after a few hours of fiddling and hair pulling I finally figured that out. Then I realized I had forgotten to put the background as invisible for one image so it was covering up the other ones. Such a pain! But I will conquer it because I really like this way of doing the character creation. Perhaps tomorrow though. I need a break for now!


Cya!

Edit: I figured it out! After taking a long break to shoot my bow and eat I was able to come back with a cool head and get over the hump within half an hour. The introduction is now well on it's way to getting done. Just have to tweak it here and there and replace two images. Super excited right now! Tomorrow I'll finish it up and work on the character customization.

January 25th

Hello World!
Today I got quite a bit done. I made a new face, got the grocery store operating, entered in another NPC movement, worked a bit on character customization, item data-basing,  and animals.

 Overall I'm quite happy with what I got done today. Taradiddle feels like it's finally coming together. It's quite exciting. There is still a lot of work to do though! Come Monday I'll be at it again. Working full-time on this isn't as hard as I thought it would be. Personally I thought I'd have gotten tired of working on Taradiddle by now. It's a lot of fun though despite the sometimes tedious parts. If I get tired of one aspect I can work on something else that is totally different but will still get me toward the goal of completion! Anyway. I'm stopping for tonight. Monday I will test the movement I put in today, do some more artwork, and work on writing out the introduction scene. I'm still not happy with it despite multiple re-writings. I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. I want the intro to be perfect. I  mean it's the first thing the player will see, it's the same as a first page of a book. I'm also still trying to think up new activities for the player to do. I don't want people getting bored because there is too little to do, a downfall of many life-simulation games.

I leave you with two screenshots of the grocery store I finished today!

(NOTE: The windowskin will be changed! Also, I plan on fixing the large indent in the text)

Cya!

January 24th

Sorry for no update last night. I ended up working late on Taradiddle so I wasn't able to post.

Yesterday I worked on the database and tested the NPC that I had just finished movements for. I also brainstormed for alternate activities for people to do if they don't want to farm. Today I will continue to brainstorm. I will also work on icons and other art-related bits.

Cya!

January 23rd

Today I made another portrait. This time of a child. I'm not in love with it but it's a good deal better than the old one that I had made.

 I also worked on this girl's movements. I got the majority done but not quite all. I also set up all the gardening switches though I haven't actually connected them to anything yet.

The other main thing I worked on was experimenting with creating my own tiles. I really want a custom tileset as I think that really helps set a game apart. Thing is: I'm bad at it. I'm getting better though so we'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow I hope to finish the girl's movements and get a shop operational.  

Cya!

January 22

Another bust is done (yay!). I may begin another one later tonight but I won't be able to finish it. 

On to the other things I did today:

1. I made five icons of various vegetables

2. Weeded out scripts I'm no longer using

3. Re-sized some of my graphics as I'm using a script that allows a different resolution

4. Tweaked the gardening system, found and defeated two more bugs

5. Worked on my GDD

6. Did some writing

7. Worked on the personalities of some NPCs

So today I've gotten quite a bit done though nothing ground breaking so I don't feel like I've accomplished a ton. Oh well. Maybe I'll work a little late tonight and knock out a few other things. I might be able to get another NPC in by tomorrow if I hurry. 

Cya!

January Twenty-First

Hello everyone and welcome back!
It's good to be back to working on Taradiddle again after the weekend break. Today I tweaked the gardening a bit more. I also caught a bug. I'm going to test it again later today and more tomorrow just to make sure there aren't any more bugs before I finish putting it all the way in.

 Today I also worked on some art in the new style. This time a girl. I like it so far though I'm having a hard time getting the clothes to look how I imagine them in my head. I'll probably finish it up tomorrow. Tonight I have a Bible study that I'm going to and I won't get back until late so I can't finish it today.

The last thing I worked on was some writing. I'm trying to get the introduction scene to my liking. Right now it's quite boring and badly done so I'm making it over. I'm writing all the cutscenes and such out so that there won't be as much re-doing in the actual engine. So far I have very little written. That will soon change though!

Anywhoo.
Cya!

New Artwork, Gardening System

 The above is a re-style of Alix Smith. I'm debating whether I should change styles... yet again. I just can't ever seem to be happy with the faces. It bugs me every time I see them so I think I might slowly change over. Just use placeholders for longer than I had planned. It's a hard choice. I like the new one a lot better than t he old. It makes him look older, not so childish and it looks better, overall, I think. Maybe I'll do a couple more and see how that goes.

The other thing I worked on today was my gardening system. This was also a re-do. I had a system already in place... it just wasn't jamming for me. I used way too many switches and variables. Now that I've gotten better at eventing I saw how crude and clunky the thing was. So I re-did the entire thing. Added in more features, more graphics to make it easier to tell when something was watered or not, etc. I also cut down the switches to one per square. Same with the variables. This was down a TON from before. It's overall much better. I'm quite happy with it, even if it means I have a lot more tedious copy-pasting ahead of me. I think it's worth it for a more rounded system that will also be easier to keep track of now that it doesn't use so many switches and variables. Simplicity is best :D.

Overall I'm quite happy with the progress I made today. Weekend starts tomorrow so see you peoples Monday!

Cya!

January 17th

Today I finished a NPC named Nicole's movements, both day off and working. Fixed a couple minor bugs. Now I'm going to work more on my GDD. It still needs some work on various tidbits.


Cya!

Ended Up...

I ended up getting caught up in the written things and am still working on that. I'm updating my GDD and figuring out character personalities. So I'm not going to get around to the NPC movement or artwork today. I'm happy with what I've gotten done today, though! See you guys tomorrow.

New Concept Art- Alix Smith

     Here is Alix Smith, a man that you can marry. It's a quick concept I did today. I don't like his one arm or how short I made his legs and will re-do that part but on the whole I think it's decent. Nothing amazing but it gets the job done.

I'll update again, later, with everything else I finish today. I'm hoping to get another NPC done. I'm also going to be working on more written things, finalizing music, and perhaps some more artwork. I'll see how much time all those things take up.

Anyway!

Cya!

Finished Written NPC Movements!

I finally finished all the NPC movements on paper. Today I also worked on putting a villager's movements in. I finished her working days and am almost done with her day off! It's quite exciting. Once I have all the NPCs in the town won't feel like a ghost town anymore. That's always exciting as it will make Taradiddle feel like it's getting a lot closer to being finished.

Anyway.
Cya!

Feeling A Bit Ill

This week I've been feeling a bit ill. Expect more daily updates in the coming week. I'm feeling better today so I should be fine by then!

Cya!

January 7th

I'm back from the weekend once more. Today I'm working yet again on character movements. I'm also working on a new system. Right now the system is still in the written stage as I don't have it all figured out yet. If I get it to where I think it'll work I will tell you guys about it. Until then it's a secret :D.

Well- that's it for now.

Cya!

More Seasonal and More Movements

*pokes title*. Yep, that's what I'm up to today.  Doubt I'll get much completed though as my eye is swollen for some reason and it's beyond irritating. I didn't get much sleep last night because it was hurting. Now it just feels really dry and itches like mad. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow it'll be better and I'll be able to work longer on the computer.

Cya!

Happy New Year!!

To celebrate the new year here are new screenshots of Taradiddle. Some things are still place-holders so keep that in mind!

Today I will be working on the seasonal changes and more movements for the NPCs. Anywhoo. I'm back to working on Taradiddle! 

Cya!