The Inner Eye
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Project: ForeverDream Studios
Another big one! ForeverDream Studios is a company (not legally/officially yet, but hopefully someday), formed by a bunch of guys I met online, that is dedicated to creating original, atmospheric computer games. Our current (read: first and thus far only) project is an original Adventure Game called The Curves of Danger. Based on the classic Film Noir style, Curves is a traditional "whodunnit" detective adventure game. To add to the noir ambience, the entire game is in black and white, and is scored by a professional composer by the name of Eirik Myhr. (I'll have to get you a link to his site, the man is a genius.)
Adventure games aren't as popular as they used to be, but they still have quite a following. For indisputable evidence of this fact, visit AdventureGamers.Com.
Since most of us are so-called amateur developers, we all have schooling and careers to attend to, which has resulted in a very drawn-out production process; but the ball is rolling now faster than ever before. I can say with confidence that the demo for Curves will be released by the end of Q2, 2004. The final game will be distributed in two parts, Act One and Act Two, the final act of the game being released sometime in 2005.
After Curves, design work will begin on the next game project, codenamed Morpheus.
Project: Terrasi
This is a big one.. no, a huge one. This is like, Life's Work material. The plan is to create an entire world, kind of like what J.R.R. Tolkien created with Middle Earth, or like the fantasy galaxy in George Lucas' Star Wars. What makes this interesting is how different it is from anything else: I don't believe in borrowing material from other people for an original creation. My fictional world is neither Fantasy nor Sci-Fi... instead, it reflects elements of both genres to form a completely unique atmosphere with a contemporary perspective.
Of course, without a brilliant story, Middle Earth would be nothing more than a big place Tolkien had in his head; it wouldn't mean much to anyone else. Lucas' fictional galaxy would be similarly of little interest to anyone today if it hadn't been the setting of an epic adventure. By the same token, my Creation is founded on a truly epic plot.
I'll get into it more at a later time, I'm sure. It's one of my favorite projects. For now I'll leave you wondering. But for reference sake, you should know that this fictional world of mine does have a name. I call it TERRASI.
Project: iCMS
In my last post I mentioned that I'm planning to do some work on the main page. It actually goes quite a bit deeper. I want to use the same PHP backend to organize every directory on the site. It will also allow me to easily add and edit new files. Another cool feature I intend to implement is that each directory can have articles and other resources associated with it that are stored in the database instead of in files. Trust me, it'll be pretty cool. :)
It'll probably be worth some money, too, if I ever get it done. There really isn't a good, powerful but simple Content Management System out there for beginners. I hope to change that. I started working on an official, advanced version of this system with the guys who made YaBB SE and Simple Machines Forum, but that didn't really pan out. It may come back at some point after the final public release of SMF, but we'll see.
In the meantime, I'll just do what I can, when I can, on my own index page.
Alright, it looks like its working. Fantastic.
I'm new to the blog scene. Those I've read seem to talk about anything and everything. I'll probably do that too, but the main reason I'm doing this is so I have a handy place to jot down my ideas.
See, I've got tons of 'em. More than I know what to do with. Most of them sit on my hard drive collecting digital dust. Every so often I'll get them out, dust them off, and either I'll play with 'em for awhile, or I'll put 'em back.
My website is a prime example. There's a TON of stuff I want to do with it, but right now, its utter chaos. Every project has its own directory or two. I keep meaning to further develop the main page (www.inverse-reality.com) into an organized launch point for my projects. The structure is there, but the PHP code to drive it is still "in the works."
Over the next couple posts I'll take some time to introduce you to a few of my biggest projects...
