[I said I'd never stop working on this!] - Weekly Update 13 to 16.7

I'm afraid my absence was out of my hands this time as the inconvenience gods have once again stricken at the aligning of the failure - due to my most recent assurances, I've managed to gather some wards to fend them off, at least for the time being!

I don't know how to apologize, but I'll lay out some things I've been thinking about for the long term for Alteratio.

So, the story thus far...


Right after Weekly Update #12 (16th of March) I was beginning to fill in the RP details of the Character Creation. I had managed to get a good portion of it (10 Classess, 8 Races) when my computer started going bonkers. So, to prevent a disaster like last time, I went to immediately save what I had to my dropbox - in the process of saving, the entire computer crashes.

No big deal, I thought, until I saw smoke coming from my computer tower... apparently my power caught aflame and in the process it fried my mother-board and processor. Fun times! $300+ of repairs that need to be done.

I access the dropbox on my phone (yayz) and found that the file was corrupted... I'm upset, but still no big deal since I had also saved it to my USB (just an earlier version, before I fixed the reset button).

Ooh, and to top it off? WHILE I'M TYPING this to the blog to keep you guys updated, I run out of Data on my phone AND the internet cut out for a long time (yes, god these were a shitty 2 weeks).

Want to hear more of my OMG this is too sucky to believe weeks? Click Read More!



To top it off, my phone service, when it does it bills me to get another month of service (the 20th) fails to do so because they are 'changing owners' and 'merging' with another company, screwing over everyone in their service for an ENTIRE MONTH (15th of April) so they could do the proper documentation and transferring blah blah blah.

I've been planning a trip to Finland to visit My Love, and I hopped on the plane the 10th. I arrived here on the 11th, and guess what? My Love's INTERNET IS OUT! lolololz

So, today, I finally managed to do 3 things:

1) Procure a laptop - I can work on the game (I have been since the 10th) and post it up!

2) Procure a phone - It only has internet, but I can go to a public place to get internet and post if things go south here (same thing with the laptop!)

3) Procured the internetz at home! It's how I'm able to post all of this and begin the madness once again ;3



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Now, to make a few things clear AGAIN:

This game will NEVER EVER be on Hiatus - I am still working on this diligently. I've even took some of this extra time to clean up some of my horrible coding so it will be easier to both sieve through and make future coding much easier.

I'm not once again beginning my trek into typing all of the RP information ,everything is properly backed-up, and nothing should stand in my way now! Muhahahahaha!

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Now, I do want to make a few things known after thinking long and hard about the direction I want to take Alteratio in.

All of the amazing and fabulous things I want to do will, sadly, cost money. If you haven't understood from my earlier posts or even from the above, money is somewhat tight.

So yes- I'm afraid we'll have to hop onto the 'Patreon' train - Fear not though! It'll be tightly tucked away out of sight. It will NOT be on the front page of every source I put up; what I mean is that I won't be shoving it in your face like a great deal of other games/people do.

I'm not a greedy, stingy bastard looking to make money off of this (but believe what you will). I would like the money to go towards making the game great and fantastic and its own unique thing! I want it to stand out and be playable from a lot of devices. Most importantly, I want it to be a fun and enjoyable RPG that stands on its own.

First things first: PATREON WILL NOT BE A THING FOR A WHILE! The EXACT time this will occur is when I have completed the entire tutorial area (4 phases - Character Creation, Transformations, Combat, Example Area). You'll not be supporting the idea, but the actual GAME itself when I post up the Patreon, so I hope this alleviates some worries that people have about this move on my part.

But what, ye ol' newb game maker, would you use the money for?

• Adobe Flash Player - This is me end-game choice for the engine I want to run, but I'll support Quest until I have completely update the Adobe Flash to the Quest's state at that time. And Adobe is sorta expensive.
  
  I'll get more community feedback since this is simply just me 'announcing' my intentions, but this is what it is so far. Same thing applies to the things below.
• Custom Music - I've had several songs that have been played in my head during my long, restless nights that fit this game, but I'd need the programs to do so. And before you ask, yes, the music will be optional (Simple Toggle On/off or just an extra thing to download. Who knows)
• Artwork - Despite this being, once again, a public topic, I'd personally love artwork. I've always envisioned the 'background' behind the text-box changing into the appropriate setting (a forest or a cavern), multiple options for colors and designs for text, backgrounds, and buttons, character artwork (either CoC Character Viewer style or perhaps a first-person view of yourself that varies if you are looking down at yourself or in a mirror), and finally an awesome mini-map.
•  To buy friends- I mean, to ensure that I have my phone service and internet at all times (so I can always be reliable! ^.^)

Honestly, I can't say that this is all, nor can I say that there will be more. Seriously, I have no idea what would even be the minor rewards after giving X amount. I'm not in this for the money, I just want a fabulous game that is free for everyone (None of this 'buy to get in early' crap. Hate that shit!).


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These are just some of the ideas that I've had, and I have plenty more, but it's on the eve of Monday, so I'll try to post my progress (and perhaps release?) on the character creation among other things.

On a second-to-last note, the schedule for this weekend (the time of this posting here in Finland is Friday, 10-ish PM, a total of +10 hours from where I was initially) is this:

Saturday, there is a 'cleaning party' with a barbecue at the end, and My Love is wanting both of us to participate. I probably won't get much done Saturday.

Sunday, there is a family dinner (and that's all I heard.) I hope to get SOMETHING accomplished Sunday, otherwise, it'll all have to be on Monday/Tuesday.

As for today, Friday, as soon as this is posted up, I'm hopping right back to work on Alteratio!



And if I manage to work on this as much as I am 'planning' on doing so, I think I might have everything finished and ready for testing by the end of April! IF that's the case, then after everything is working and 'looks pretty', then we're looking to Patreon in the latter part of May.

Glad to be back in business!

Long Live Alteratio!

Questions, comments, concerns? Post below or in the Questions/Comments section!