In the image above, my cat Leon seems almost in a meditation pose

So, who will be the customers of the game Queen Of Thieves? Take a look below:

See the full gallery on Posterous

Yes, I was talking about the in-game customers! For those unfamiliar with the game (which is still work-in-progress) it will feature a shop simulation similar to the popular Recettear game. But one thing that annoyed me a bit of that game was the fact that there were only 3-4 different customer appearances So in my game I asked the artist to draw a sort of doll-dressing game, and as you can see, the combinations can be a lot.

The main variations are by body shape (normal, fat, old) and by social status (poor, middle clas, noble, guards, priest, wizard). And of course there are several minor variations based on face shape, hair and beard color/shape and hats.

Beside the example above, there will also be female customers of course!

The writing is being done right now and art-wise there is really not much left to do. The game will be a bit different from my usual ones, even if I haven’t yet decided how I’ll do the mission part. I would like to use a sort of 2d boardgame view, where you move your characters in a sort of turn-based strategy game.

I am not sure yet if I’ll also include RPG battles, even if the temptation is strong, since I have lots of armor/clothing/weapons ready to use, but the playable characters would be max 3 (the three sisters Joanne, Kira and Thalia) so it would be a somewhat simplified RPG.

So in theory it could be an otome life simulation game with strategy and RPG elements I don’t want to rush things with this one since I have anyway other games in production, so I’d like to experiment a bit with a different gameplay system. Time will tell, as always!

The other games

Meanwhile, all the other games I announced are progressing, and we’re waiting for the UI/skills/items art to finish an alpha build of LorenRPG to release it to public to get feedback about the battle system. I think it could be ready next month, so stay tuned.

Promotional sale

Promo sales: this week promo sale is of the game College Romance: Rise Of The Little Brother that is only 4.99 until Sunday (included).

In the picture above, Gilda sleeping inside a bread bag! Looks like she found it very comfortable

“Remember Me” update

Everyone interested in otome / dating sim games will be pleased to know that beside the game I published this week, Love & Order by Christine Love, I’m also making one completely on my own

It’s called Remember Me, and it will feature the same character artist as L&O, and a very extended simulation part. There’s also a custom song made for the game, which has been written / composed by the skilled Matt Myers and features the young talent singer Cristina Vee!

The story of the game starts with a dramatic event. The main character, called Amarantha (my homage to a friend developer who always supported me with precious suggestions and encouragement in past years, Amanda of Amaranth Games) is dating Aaron since about a year, when one evening during a date on the beach…

The two were walking together, hand in hand, watching as the sun descended beneath the horizon. The evening was wearing on and the warm colors of twilight were starting to fade from the sky.

Amy wasn’t sure why Osher, Aaron’s father, wasn’t approving their relationship. Maybe because of her social condition? because she had to take a part-time job  in a ice-parlor during summer, to pay for her studies?

All her thoughts would soon disappear because something worse, much worse would happen. While going back home on Aaron’s motorcycle, they had a car accident. As Amy wakes up in the hospital, she discovers thanks to the help of Eddy, a young doctor, that Aaron has lost short-term memory, completely forgetting about her and their relationship!

The game will let you pursue four young boys, each one with completely different interests, personality, and approach. The hardest task, and also the “best” ending will be to try to get back Aaron’s memories and become her girlfriend again, since you’ll have to find out a way to restore his memories. But depending on your actions, Amy could find out that after all, maybe Aaron wasn’t the right man for her, and fall in love with someone else instead (or she could also end alone – a sad ending).

The other dateable characters are: Eddy the young hospital doctor, Lawrence who works with Amy in the ice cream parlor, and Hugh, who owns a fashion shop in the town center mall. There are also other secondary characters, like the annoying Abigail, Aaron’s ex-girlfriend, who shows up in the most unappropriate moment…!

More info about each of them the next weeks.

The game will also feature a map that will let you move freely from location to location, and a time system, dividing the day in several parts: ‘dawn’,'morning’,'noon’,'afternoon’,'sunset’,'evening’,'night’.

On each place you’ll be able to do several actions that will consume one or more day time units, unlock scenes, or change your four main statistics (see the status bar on the left). So for example you might go to the library and read a book from afternoon to sunset, or even evening, to raise Culture. Note that the stats aren’t definitive yet, since I might change Culture/Creativity which are rather similar with Athletic or something like that.

There will be a morale system, so if you attempt to perform actions while your morale is low you’ll fail. There will be also money, that you’ll need to use to do several actions in the game like going to the pub, buy stuff in the mall, and so on.

And there will be much many other hidden things in the game And don’t worry about the writing, since this was completely outsourced – written by a native English speaker, and I’ll have another review the whole game texts again just to be sure there aren’t any typos!

I have no estimate release date yet, but if all goes well I think end of March might be LIKELY, but not 100% sure.

Yes, finally the game Love & Order, written by C. Love, is available for pre-orders purchase! You can see more screenshots and information about the game and the characters at the official page. Beside producing the game, I’ve also tested it a lot, and I can say it’s really fun and it will keep you busy for quite some time while you try to discover more about the mysterious abandoned case and at same time, pursue all of the four dateable characters

Love & Order has also an official forum now – so if you have any feedback, comment, suggestion, bug report (let’s hope not!) or anything else,  stop by my forums and write something!

A little of postmortem info about this game. I contacted Christine back in summer 2010 shortly after her game Digital: A Love Story was out. After playing it, I immediately recognized the potential that she had as game developer And since I’ve learned long time ago that my world-domination plan cannot be fulfilled alone, I asked her if was interested in writing a game for me. We exchanged a few emails and she asked what kind of game I had in mind, so I told her about several possibilities. One of them was:

“I was thinking instead of school, would be nice to have as setting work (like an office job) and have some mystery (not necessarily a murder or anything, but some mysterious event).”

And that’s how it all started. A fun excerpt from one of her emails was:

I would think maybe four dateable characters (is that a good number? three men and one woman? I really wouldn’t want to write a completely straight heroine), plus a couple of other people who work there.

(obviously had no problems with that!). There was a lot of initial brainstorming and then from about July or so it was all in her hands. She coded /wrote it while the various artists worked on the backgrounds and the character art (the character artist is the same of Remember Me, which should also be ready next month… or so).

Obviously Love & Order is quite different from Digital:A Love Story and I hope people won’t even try to compare the two games, since is like comparing apples and oranges. Our goal with Love & Order was to have a fun otome / dating sim game, with a bit of humour, mystery and lot of romance, and I think the result turned out quite good.

That’s all for now, ah no wait – I couldn’t make a friday blog without a cat picture! Here it is:

my cat Grillo seems to think “Love & Order is an awesome game, everyone should buy it!”

In the picture above, my cat Orpheus in front of my old home window.

This week I’ve been writing all the various romance/friendship subplots for my upcoming RPG game Planet Stronghold. I have finished 4 out of 10 possible subplots. The romanceable character are 6 in total, but the other 4 can still provide informations on their background and reward you with some powerful item/bonuses. Almost every subplot also triggers a quest, that will reward you with their permanent friendship and/or romance (if is the right gender/character combination).

I was dubious if to list the possible combinations, but since people will find out sooner or later and post them in forums anyway, here it is:

Playing as Lisa: Tom, Damien & Michelle (homo)
Playing as Joshua: Rebecca, Rumi & Prince Cliff (homo)

Yesterday wrote the Joshua/Cliff one and was fun, first time ever I write a yaoi romance subplot

My plan is to finish writing all the subplots by next week (I currently do 1 a day also because there is an associated quest to do). So by the 15th I should have version 0.85 out, which would have all the romance subplot (unproofreaded though). By end of January I should have version 0.9 which would be the complete, finished game, with unproofreaded texts and some possible minor bugs. Then the final step would be a version 1.0 somewhere in February once I fix all the remaining bugs and get finished texts and missing voices.

I’m going to write a postmortem about the game once is finished, since took me so long! Is my biggest Ren’Py project to date And now for something new, look the image below:

That charming girl is a part of a new project that will start this year, alongside many others. She is Joanne, 30 years old, very powerful magician and renowned thief! The game will feature three sisters that during the day work in a shop run by their father Sambo, but during the night they become thieves and steal stuff from the noblemen ! (reminds me of someone). Note that her left arm weird pose is because she can hold several different staves

That’s all I can say for now. The game will be a mix of a RPG, strategy, simulation and otome game! Stay tuned for more info, even if the estimate release date is Christmas 2011

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone! I have released Planet Stronghold alpha 0.8, which features lot of new content! If you’re interested in trying the demo or buying the game please visit the game website.

Then, a quick update on what you can expect in the next months:

Role Playing Games

Beside Planet Stronghold, which will be finished at end of January 2011, I plan to start 2-3 more RPGs. I love RPGs and I always wanted to make them, but in the past I was lacking proper funds and/or technical knowledge to make decent ones. Now, using Planet Stronghold RPG framework I can expand it and create new RPGs. Most of them will be in fantasy setting though, since it’s the most common/popular one (unless Planet Stronghold is so successful that convinces me to make add-on/sequels). I have already a good collaborator of mine who is starting creating the main game plot, character sketches, and so on. Another one should start hopefully in next months, and I want to do another myself as well. So the 2011 will be surely full of RPGs!

Adventure Games

I am still in love with my character of Vera Blanc, despite the first two episodes not being really topsellers. As I posted several times if I make a third episode, it will be an adventure (first person) and not a visual novel, since the adventure style integrates better with that kind of game. I have already a plot for the story, but since it requires lot of money, it’s still a risky decision, so if I make it, won’t be before next summer, or even later during Fall/Winter of 2011.

Visual Novels / Dating Sims

Of course I’ll keep making them! Flower Shop 2 release is really close, is just a matter of few months. But since is tied to external factors (artists finishing some pieces) I won’t dare to name a date for it. Instead I can already say that very likely the otome game “Remember Me” will be ready around February/March 2011, since the plot is completely written and need only to code the “simulation part” of it and do testing/balancing. Depending how my other projects go, I could make more VN/Dating Sims, but they’ll be mixed with simulation games.

Strategy / Simulation Games

In 2011 perhaps I will finally release the sequel of Spirited Heart. I have yet to start coding it though, so is probably more accurate to say that in 2011 I’ll begin coding it, which is a bit different. It won’t be ready probably before 2012, also because I have in mind some online-features (probably optional) that could improve the gameplay a lot, so I am not sure yet I’ll use Ren’Py to code this one.
There will be for sure more strategy/simulation games coming in 2011 though. A remake of my game Universal Boxing Manager, this time with the fights completlely in 3d realtime, is under production! Is made in partnership with a good 3d coder who is going to use Unity3d to power the 3d simulation. It’s probably my biggest/most ambitious game to date and the 2011 will be mainly focused on it. I hope will do well since I’d like to port more of my old games into 3d or start new ones.
As I said I might also find the time to do a sort of light-strategy/time management game based on Heileen settings. In particular, Heileen 2 settings (pirates, the caribbean). The game could be played as normal strategy game or with visual novel cut-scenes (they’ll be optional). This will be a sort of experiment since I am not sure if/when I’ll finish it. Let’s say I’ll work on it on my spare time and when it’s done, is done

Online Games

Almost every year I say “next year I’ll make one”. So, this time I won’t say it! But, I would like to try making one, even if I am not sure I’ll find the time…or better, if I’ll find the right person, since I’m probably going to outsource the coding (will be most likely done in Flash or HTML5). Or if the new interesting BRL:monkey project from Mark Sibly (creator of Blitzmax) gets released, I might use that and do everything myself.

So in conclusion, looks like the 2011 will be a year full of new releases! Happy New Year again!!

I’ll try to be vague but I have to spoil something so if you haven’t yet played the game, maybe don’t read below

The premise would be that at the end of the 2nd episode, you would end up in the pirate ship with M. Then you would wander around a mysterious caribbean archipelago to find out the missing companions from the first episode. So it would be a sort of “find all the remaining characters”. But it’s not just that: the game would have a bit of RPG (I might even include a VERY SIMPLIFIED version of Planet Stronghold combat) and some adventure parts (use object X on target Y).

For now is all just pure fantasy since I have nothing written down yet, but if this happens it might be:

• fully voiced – this mainly because the game would have MUCH LESS text, so in this case it might be possible to voice it all. But don’t worry the story would still be intriguing and full of plot twists like the previous ones!
• multiple endings – well, this is almost a classic. However, the multiple ending part would mostly be in the final part after you have regrouped with everyone
• simulation – you would need to travel with a ship, you could play the evil pirate or good trader as you want
• RPG – as I said I might include even some very short combat. After all since I coded all that combat system I need to reuse it in more than one game!
• adventure - in some location you would have to use items and solve some simple puzzles
• strategy - I was thinking it could be cool some sort of meta-game like Risk. Nothing that would affect the game/story TOO much, but a bit yes (you could either try to win it or ignore completely)

so yes a rather unique combination as you can see. I like a lot the idea/setting and the kind of resulting gameplay could be quit interesting. If this goes on the game might be done probably by next summer, depending how other projects evolve in the mean time!

I know is a bit hard to define what is a “pure VN” and what isn’t. As practical example, Heileen is a pure VN: mainly text and choices (there are also quests but they’re not complex as the quest you might find in a RPG game). Summer Session instead is clearly a dating sim: you have stats to raise, several places to visit, character relationships, and so on.

What’s the difference then between a dating sim and a life sim? This is really tough. I might say that Summer Session and Flower Shop were dating sim, while Spirited Heart was a life sim. But really in this case the difference is much more subtle! I dare to say that dating sim focus more on the romance/relationship, while life sim have also other aspect. Spirited Heart has romance option but you can play it completely ignoring that, trying to raise your stats and become the best researcher, dancer, and so on.

I always loved life simulation games: I played The sims until the latest installation. However, while they’re very nice and varied to play, they miss completely dialogues as you might know. Making “dynamic dialogues” that change every time is impossible even for EA. However I would prefer some sort of “scenarios” where you have specific character background, life goals, relationship, etc. Sort of smaller scale, but more detailed.

On other news, I might be opening a new website soon specifically for otome games, since in my main website I always focused more on RPG/Strategy games. Games like Spirited Heart are OK, but for the new ones I’ll use a separate website. Beside I’ve read somewhere that if you put too many choices in front of the user he gets confused (I seem to recall the number was 12, don’t ask me why!).

So makes sense to keep in homepage only the best selling games, but some games deserve space anyway. So, better start a new domain with a new specific market in mind.

The stats are quite clear (timeframe, 2 months):

gameplays: 60-70k estimate (mochi-ads is 55k, plus a few more thousands in Kongregate, Newgrounds and other portals I submitted my game to)
unique visitors to my site:  12,886
tracked sales: 7 !!

As you can see, the visitors to sales ratio (called also CR, conversion rate) is 0,05%! Well below the standard CR of downloadable demos that is around 1% (actually, for my game it’s 2,6% well above average). If we calculated the people per sale ratio from everyone that played the game, we would get 1 sale every 10.000 players

And I even put lots of “nag stuff” in the game, in several parts there was a hint that certain game functions would be available only in the “Deluxe Version” and not in the free flash demo.

That said, I probably made some mistakes in it: putting too many “hints” that the game was only a “flash demo”, pissed some people off and especially on Kongregate I got very low rating only because of that. Also, the flash market is known to like more male-oriented games (zombies, blood, violence!) so my game was badly targeted also for that.

Still, even if my game was played by 7 milion people (that would be a TOP record!) according to those visits/buy ratio I would have got “only” 700 sales, or translated in money, about $15000. But just so you know, Desktop Tower Defense, one of the most popular flash games of all times, made 15million plays. So getting 7 million would be almost an impossible task unless you have something really UNIQUE.

Based on this, the conclusion would be quite easy: is NOT worth it. However, I know some other devs doing online only games or browser MMO got much better results than me. So is correct to say that making a flash version of your DOWNLOADABLE game is a bad move. But for a online/browser game that could be very different.

My other game, Spirited Heart, is going well and is almost finished. I think I could start beta testing next month and release it early March, if I don’t get stuck in my writing! Indeed there are lots of events to create, and each events is specific to a job, and is really hard to come up with good ideas for events, but I’m doing my best, of course

I wonder if people will be ok to define that game a roleplaying game? it doesn’t have combats (I didn’t had enough resources to put those in the game), but I don’t think is an essential part for a roleplay…? basically it plays a lot like Kudos , only with different settings and lots of fantasy skills. Probably is better to call it a life-sim game.

http://www.didone.com/games/TSMTrial.zip [Mac]
http://www.didone.com/games/TSMTrial.exe [Windows]

Beta testing is quite advanced and the final game should be released next week. Let me know what you think in my forums!