Mysterious Song is now released

[nodtveidt]

Really? This is news to me, why has it not been mentioned on the Monolith dev forums? I might have jumped in at the time quite prepared to do some spriting work.

I had hired someone to fill in for Keranu while he was away. And I do mean "hired"... as in, paid money to... he did a few sprites and then disappeared. Nando was doing the cutscenes but then got busy with other things.

Personally, I slowed down my work on the background tiles partly awaiting clarification on several level sets, but mostly because the development seemed to grind to a halt with a lack of any updates on how the game was progressing. Then you seemed to move on to other things so I assumed that the whole project was either on hold or cancelled because there was nothing posted on the dev forums about the current status.

I'm not big on giving regular updates; that's why I tend to just list out the work to be done and let everyone work at their own pace. There seems to be less stress on a project that way.

There was certianly enough art to build a lot of the game, allowing for some temporary elements to be upgraded later. Basic placeholder sprites can be easily generated and maps can be adjusted later when more art is complete. I don't understand how this can cause the sudden halt to production?

There is plenty done so far using what resources it has already. There's just not a whole lot more I can do right now without new sprites. I do not like to use placeholder resources because it is an inefficient way to spend development time, especially considering things like frame count or even size can change, so things sometimes have to be done more than once. I prefer to work with finalized resources. If something is stalled because of that, then that's okay... the project will resume when it can. It's not a huge deal.

[Arkhan]

I had hired someone to fill in for Keranu while he was away. And I do mean "hired"... as in, paid money to... he did a few sprites and then disappeared. Nando was doing the cutscenes but then got busy with other things.

With the multitude of free artists who are enthusiastic about PCE, why would you even consider paying someone?  Seems like a waste of money, and a great way to get an inconsistent art style with the game.

I'm not big on giving regular updates; that's why I tend to just list out the work to be done and let everyone work at their own pace. There seems to be less stress on a project that way.

You've got plenty of Lucretia update videos on YouTube.   Probably more of those than the rest of your projects combined.

It would appear that not giving your team regular updates on projects they're invested in leads them to believe you have bailed for something else that you're starting/posting about. 

That might seem less stressful because no one is communicating, but is probably more of a problem in the long run.

There is plenty done so far using what resources it has already. There's just not a whole lot more I can do right now without new sprites. I do not like to use placeholder resources because it is an inefficient way to spend development time, especially considering things like frame count or even size can change, so things sometimes have to be done more than once. I prefer to work with finalized resources. If something is stalled because of that, then that's okay... the project will resume when it can. It's not a huge deal.

I disagree with this.   You should have set guidelines for art sizes and frame counts so you can plan ahead and get away with placeholders.

and if you're using something as simple as a #define, you can relocate things in VRAM with about 5 seconds of work.

same goes for frame counts. 

[vestcoat]

Thanks for all of the answers Rover. You explained most of my gripes away and the others don't weigh on me now that I've voiced them. My apologies for the dick tone. I'll continue to support whatever you do.

[nodtveidt]

With the multitude of free artists who are enthusiastic about PCE, why would you even consider paying someone?  Seems like a waste of money, and a great way to get an inconsistent art style with the game.

It was a waste of money and I hope the jackass never returns, honestly. I really like Keranu's style, and of course, that was the first thing this dope insulted before he gave me pixels that don't hold a candle to Keranu's sprite work.

You've got plenty of Lucretia update videos on YouTube.   Probably more of those than the rest of your projects combined.

Only because its development moved the fastest. I've never put together a game as quickly as Lucretia. But take note that no new videos have been posted lately.

It would appear that not giving your team regular updates on projects they're invested in leads them to believe you have bailed for something else that you're starting/posting about.

You're probably right.

That might seem less stressful because no one is communicating, but is probably more of a problem in the long run.

This is probably right too.

I disagree with this.   You should have set guidelines for art sizes and frame counts so you can plan ahead and get away with placeholders.

and if you're using something as simple as a #define, you can relocate things in VRAM with about 5 seconds of work.

same goes for frame counts.

I like to give a lot of artistic freedom to the artists. That's why they're artists and not just pixel-making machines.   So sometimes, things change around. We reorganized Lucretia's entire level 1 VRAM map four times before we finalized it because we had new things to add. It eventually settled, but it took a lot of reworking to get right. While some might argue that this is "bad design", I disagree strongly... it's dynamic design, and makes things more loose and free.

[nodtveidt]

Thanks for all of the answers Rover. You explained most of my gripes away and the others don't weigh on me now that I've voiced them. My apologies for the dick tone. I'll continue to support whatever you do.

No worries dude... thanks for being civil and cool.

[esteban]

...peace, love and harmony snuggled together in pcefxland once again...

[Mathius]

...peace, love and harmony snuggled together in pcefxland once again...

*sighs peacefully*

[sunteam_paul]

It would appear that not giving your team regular updates on projects they're invested in leads them to believe you have bailed for something else that you're starting/posting about.

You're probably right.

That might seem less stressful because no one is communicating, but is probably more of a problem in the long run.

This is probably right too.

This.

For the sake of smooth operation on future projects, don't be afraid to over-update everyone on progress. I usually chat or email Arkhan on a daily basis regarding our games and it really helps to be in the loop. I have had too many bad experiences when I spent months drawing art and the programmer just gave up and moved on to something else that if I even see a hint of that, I'm gonna seriously reconsider my options.