Hello, How is everyone?
Life Stuff
I had some time off from work this month and got a few things done but the workload of everything is starting to pile up a bit. Aside from that it’s just really cold in the UK (especially after coming back from 32c Vietnam) so I’m really freezing here!
This month a new XCOM 2 DLC dropped which was free for War of the Chosen Owners. It was alright I managed to beat all the mini-stories they added, it didn’t really add much overall though and I just hope to see them work on XCOM 3 next. Dark Souls Remastered also dropped for the Switch and I’ve been loving it, I’ve just reached Anor Londo and have been praising the sun everywhere I go.
Overlord season 3 (English Dub) came to an end this month. It was alright though I’m pretty disappointed by the ending and heavy use of CGI, it felt rushed and there wasn’t enough Albedo in it. I’ve also started watching the English Dubs of “Goblin Slayer” (aka WTF did I just watch?) and “Ulysees: Jeanne d’Arc and the Alchemist Knight” (aka Waifu Wars) on Funimation every Thursday. Goblin Slayer is about adventurers doing quests in a pretty messed up fantasy setting (rape and child murder) and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes. The first episode definitely has way too much shock value (I actually thought it was a Hentai at parts) but it doesn’t seem to be afraid to tackle and depict more graphic themes. Jeanne d’Arc is about the French and English 100 year war in premise but really is a Harem anime with loads of Waifus and is really light hearted and a good watch after Goblin Slayer for sure. So far it seems really cutesy but the main character looks like he’s about to get cucked hard after the first episode so we’ll see how it goes.
Speaking of the Switch there is a Smash Brothers Direct on November 1st. Here’s a little Bingo Card I made with some character predictions! (I’m really excited for it!)
The Thing 2 RPG (v2.6 Update)
Art: Arteaga is working on the new character sprites and character face models for the game. This will likely take a while due to the larger amount of animation frames we are using for the models not to mention the size increase.
Dev: I still haven’t finished the Away Team mechanic, I have to keep pushing it back due to having to go through the game and get new size templates for all the characters and objects. Bigger Characters means bigger environments but I’m trying to make it as less work as possible but obviously some of the larger stuff like Planes and the UFO need not only resizing but having the environments they are situated in partially remade. With the inclusion of CHIBI Mode and some changes to other sprites in the game there is a ton of objects that need swapping out, manually. It’s a nightmare for me! So expect me to be somewhat moody these next few months, I’ve already gone a little crazy.
Planned: There’s so much to do but we are just focusing on the NEW Character Sprites and Faces for now. This will take some time but it should look a lot flashier.
Preview: Below is some of the art in the game for Natalie. You can see we have the New Character Sprite and the Chibi Version. The new sprites will use 9 frames of animation instead of 3 but the Chibi versions will always be available to switch back to on a NewGame. In addition we are updating the character face portraits. Before to save time and money I just used the characters sprite as a display for menus and text boxes. This time around we are going to make dedicated portraits for the characters but we still haven’t decided on a style. Below are 2 samples one is of Natalie from an art scene and the other is a mock up of an 80’s retro style version by Arteaga. Are there any games you’ve played with good portraits? I’d love to know of any good examples we can take inspiration from, I like the portraits in Final Fantasy IX myself.
Release: Unfortunately a 2018 release is not possible. If I’m realistic I’d say a Q2 2019 (Spring) release is more likely.
PW
Nothing new to report. We are pulling resources towards The Thing 2 RPG currently. Press F to pay respects.
PW Team: Richard2410, Sadonrii, Arteaga
Traffic
Wow I can’t believe the site has now served 1,943 ads to users. Thanks to everyone’s support I’ve now earned $0.01! I know it seems like such a small amount but I’m really excited by it :) It’ll probably never even cover the costs of maintaining the Website but it’s a great start, Thank you!
Donations
I am now open to taking Donations and have added a page on my site with more information about what the money (if any) will be used for. If your able to help us out I’d really appreciate it.
For more information on Donations go here.
To Donate click here. (Any amount is welcome)
That’s about all I have to say for now. I hope that I can fill these blog posts with enough decent information each month to keep them readable. Thanks for reading this and playing my game(s) over the years :)
-Richard
Mac Wants The What? 
Goblin Slayer??? What are your thoughts on the anime?
I’ve watched the first episode in both Japanese and English. So far it has a lot of shock value but doesn’t seem to have much depth but it’s only been one episode. It was in my recommended after finishing Overlord and I’ve seen a of people talking about it. It’s peaked my interest though and I’m down for something a bit darker if it’s going somewhere. I’ve been meaning to watch How not to summon a Demon Lord and Berserk as well.
I do appreciate that it’s trying something a little different and I really like the whole guild/fantasy setting of it. I’m feeling like the first episode not only had to set the tone for the series but had to draw audiences attention with it’s graphic nature though I am worried it’s sort of used it too early and more time/development with the characters at the start might of had a better pay off. Overlord does this really well in Season 1 (and in Season 3) by introducing you to side characters before killing them off giving a lot more impact to the scenes. In Goblin Slayers case after watching the first episode again (in English) the shock value was pretty much gone second time around now that my expectations for the series were set, so I’m already a little concerned that it will either have to top itself each episode or have to fall back more on it’s story telling which seems pretty weak so far.
We’ll just have to see what Thursday brings as I’m sticking with the English Dub on Funimation. Have you seen it? If so, what did you think?
Potraits?
I will do more than simply suggest you a game with good potraits, i’ll suggest you a game that i consider one of the best RPG of these last years.
I suggest you to try it, because it could inspirate you. It has a very entertaining and unusual battle mechanic, for an old school RPG.
Echoes of Atheria is the name of the game, i suggest you to try it. I greatly enjoyed it and for only 15 dollars it is more than worth it. I mean, 15 dollars for more or less 30 hours of gameplay!
http://www.dancingdragongames.com/
Oh cool it’s on steam I’ll pick it up around Christmas and give it a go it does look really good. I do like grid/row systems and it’s something we’ve been messing around with in PW although it doesn’t look as flashy.
The Portraits suit this style of game and make sense in battle placement but I don’t know if it’s right for the thing. They are using larger bust portraits in windows but it’d require me going through every text box in game to setup so I’m going to stick to the more box size ones for now.
The trailer was really good too and the sprites remind me of the older engine RPG Maker XP.
It’s worth it. Even the plot is very good.
If you buy it, be prepared because the developers knows how to create drama and how to make you emotionally attached to characters before…in short, “Rachel moments” to draw a parallel with your game.
Also, one of the best last boss battle of a RPG on hard difficulty. Meaning tons of Life Points and a hard fight that can’t be won without proper upgrades, training and strategy.
Especially strategy. I had a charcter that dealed insane damage, but that did not save me from game overs until i combined that insane strength with proper teamwork and strategy.
Talking about the last scenario in chronological order, Thing 2, i wanted to ask you an information and advice.
As you know, no matter how much time it will take, i’m waiting for the complete revision of the game in order to play the whole thing from Prequel to latest scenario.
The first and only time i did this, in Thing 2 i got the ending in which the whole place got nuked.
This time, since i won’t replay the game more times in order to get all the endings, i would like to discover other endings.
So, is there a good or bad ending (save for the nuke one) that you could reccomend me? How do i unlock them?
Also, any new bonus endings are planned?
And lastly : a suggestion. What about adding at the end a small description of what happened to your teammates?
Something a la Baldur’s Gate 2, in which at the end of the game the game tells the player the fate of the team members.
Add immersion to the game, even if it means that you have to write a “story” for each potential party member. Meaning, even more work to do…
So, i completely understand if you do not desire to do this.
I appreciate the patience, as a creator I’m quite grateful for it.
A lot of the people that have messaged me seem to have gotten the Nuke ending which triggers as soon as you spare/save Makalov. I think I underestimated how charitable most players would be to someone who was out to get them.
In Story Mode there are 5 distinct endings and 2 bonus endings. The endings each unlock something but its only usually one thing to make replay slightly easier and nothing too vital. I’d say the nuked ending (ending 2) is bad for the player but it can be rationalized as a sacrifice to destroy the thing. There is a spoiler-free guide on site about how to get the endings:
HERE
I consider Ending #1 to be cannon.
As for original mode in the original Thing RPG I made there was a secret ending that was cut in the thing 2. It was a reference to the original planned ending for the 2002 Thing Game in which Blake destroys Whitley and is badly wounded, but his wounds begin to slowly heal after the fight and when the screen fades out you can hear like a thing roar revealing Blake had succumbed to infection. I cut it for the thing 2 due to marathon mode and having story mode make sense but I still like the concept of it.
No new endings are currently planned, I did write a draft for a story set 20 years later but I wont be following up on any extra modes or a sequel right now as I want to work on something original next (PW).
I really like the idea of extra tidbits for the characters at the end but unfortunately I think there are too many characters to keep track of and probably wont do it. On the flipside every character now appears at the Field Base in Story Mode (although most don’t have special quests just short interactions) but I’m hoping the new away team mechanic will help the player manage a second squad.
In Hindsight I’d rather have less but more important/fleshed out characters but we are where we are xD
Well, for hypotetical future extra modes, i vote for Rachel’s Thing mode, also called ” How she regained a human mind , even if cursed to have a Thing’s body “. XD
Thank you, so i’ll aim for Ending #1. Even if the “Takeover ” one sounds interesting for a bad end.