EP11: Video Games? Me? - TRANSCRIPT

 Hi! You're listening to Hyba is Writing, and I am your host, Hyba. Today's episode is going to be somewhat writing-related, but mostly video-game-related. A little while ago, I took a break from social media, and I vaguely told everyone it was because I was focused on a side-project. That side-project was actually a video game. Someone very dear to me was having a birthday, and I decided since they love video games, I should just go ahead and make them one. I don't know why I didn't think to just… buy one for them? It's strange to me now that I didn't even think about that option, but these days I generally default to "make" rather than "buy" - which can be both frustrating and fun, but mostly frustrating.

Anyway, I made a small video game! It wasn't anything big, it was just a choice-based game where the player follows this character through her daily life and makes choices that affect how issues are solved later on. I think the total gameplay, if you actually take your time and read everything and all of that, will be maybe half an hour. I even made me own art for it! But you do have to keep in mind that this was a game I made in about 1 week, or almost around 5 or 6 days, and so the art itself was a bit sloppy, and the game was very simple, all things considered. But also - I went into this whole thing with very little previous experience! I took a course in introductory Python programming maybe 6 years ago in university, and that's as far as my experience goes. It was a steep learning curve. So, I'm feeling very, very happy and proud of myself and the game I made for this person!

I felt so good knowing that the person enjoyed it that it made me want to make another game! One that was more complex and had better graphics and less of a generic graphic user interface. So, that is what I am working on right now! That's where I've been while I've been MIA on my usual writing communities and social media platforms.

Now, this game is going to be a murder mystery, and as it stands, it has over 20 characters and way more settings. I've been working on the art for it ever since I started getting the idea to make this game. It's not going to be my art, though, because I've decided that this time around, I just want to focus on the programming and coding aspects of the experience so I can learn how to do a lot of different things with my game.

All of the art is from online, and I have only been working with art and photography that have been licensed as free for commercial use. So when I say I'm working on the art, really all that means is that I'm editing these pieces and making them all look like they're in the same sort of artistic style. None of this stuff is going to be mine, except for some parts of the GUI, which I have designed myself -- but those were really easy because they're basically just slanted boxes! All of the pieces are also licensed with a no-attribution-required clause, but to be perfectly honest, video games are a very visual medium, and the visuals are going to be what really interest people and capture their attention. I don't think it's fair to not credit the people who made the art or photographed the pictures that I'll be using in the game, so they're all going in the credits anyway.

I'm really excited for this video game! Right now I'm working on the stuff that I need to already be existing before I can work on the storyline and gameplay itself, but I think that within a couple of weeks I should be ready to start working on the actual gameplay, and that's going to be really fun! It's going to be a sort of visual novel, but with hopefully some mini-games and additional functionalities as well. For example, a big part of the game will be snooping through people's electronics, so players will be able to open up a character's computer or phone or laptop while they're not there and snoop around the files to see if they can get any clues.

I can't wait to have screenshots to share with you! I'll be sharing them through Tumblr and maybe Twitter. I have to admit, I'm not very active on Twitter and am much more active on Tumblr, but I'm trying to balance it out! If you have any questions about this new murder mystery game, or any comments, suggestions, or requests, please let me know by contacting me via my Tumblr or Twitter. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. It'll probably be slow going, since I am also trying to tackle writing my books at the same time, along with other responsibilities, but I'm definitely looking forward to the day that I can release a demo version of the game, and then hopefully release the full thing for people to play and enjoy!

Thanks for tuning in today! Until next time!