New eBook. Spirits of Depression (Poems and Photography)
I put together a dark poetry and photography compilation in this straight forward .pdf ebook. Most the poems are old, the photography is more recent.
New Short Film “Damp Air”
Some video I shot in last nights fog. Testing out the Super Takumar 50mm 1.4 and the Tamron 28mm 2.5 in low light with the Canon 550d. I used warp stabilizer and it did some whacky effects on some shots, but I left it. Kind of looks cool.
VIDEO DEMO FOR MANTRA
So after getting balls deep into development with MANTRA:The Forbidden Scroll using the TWINE engine, I decided to switch over to Construct 2 so that I can publish the game directly to mobile devices as well as browser. So it’s back to ground zero. I made a video that demonstrates what the game plays like on the TWINE engine. It kind of spoils the first part of episode one, but I wanted to show people just how far you can push this engine that is primarily built for text based games. I have yet to see some one create a multimedia TWINE of this caliber. It bums me out that I wont be using TWINE anymore just becuase I thought this would be a pretty groundbreaking TWINE game, but I have to monetize this project right away, and I can’t do that without getting the first episode on all the mobile markets. So anyway, here is the video.
I hope to have the first episode out by Q1.
Dev Blog#3: Battle System DEMO
After alot of research, I discovered all the coding I needed to create a turn based battle system for my next twine game. So for the past day I have been putting together a demo of a multimedia turn based battle using png, gif, jpg, image mapping, randomization codes, time codes, you name it. But the final result is pretty cool. This demo is a little laggy since the image files are hosted on photobucket. I imagine having everything on one server may solve that issue. This was a great step forward and allows me to create something pretty unique.
PLAY DEMO HERE
Another cool thing to note:
It took relatively few passages to make this, thanks to the randomization codes and the timer codes.
DEV DIARY#2: Battle System
After some snooping around I finally found a code that allows for a random action every time a twine passage loads.
<<set $dice to random(0,1)>>\
<<if $dice is 0>><<set $health -=25>>You have been ATTACKED!<</if>>
<<if $dice is 1>>Moose!<</if>>
Using this code, I can make an enemy randomly use an attack and take away from the players health. Not just one attack either, I can create a list of attacks with different damage to be used at random.
In a weird way this has created a sort of AI function with twine. The battles will be more genuine like an actual video game. Depending on what the enemy does at random, will determine the players course of action. It will be turn based as well. So when enemy attacks (or doesn’t) what will the player do? Attack? Use a healing item? ect.
This code makes battle within twine possible which is exciting because I almost abandoned the idea. Before this discovery I was going to have one battle per episode, since I would literally have to create a series of passages for every possible scenario or action that the player would choose. That would have been WAYYYYYY to much work. Below is a sample of the code in action.
TRY THE SAMPLE HERE
DEV DIARY #1:New HUD design for next Twine Game
Created a new HUD design for my next point and click Twine game “Mantra:The Forbidden Scroll”.
New Point & Click Adventure/Horror Game!
The Dead House
(Short Point & Click Adventure/Horror Game)
LAUNCH GAME
The Dead House is a very short and creepy Point&Click adventure twine game. It was designed using still photos (photography and graphic design), original audio, and a desire to make something cool. This game is a prototype for future games I hope to produce using similar concepts. Please share and enjoy.
-Justin Thomas Squires
Winter 2016 Update
Exciting news on the homefront. After many years I finally broke down and bought a Canon t2i (550D) DSLR camera. This will allow me to get the quality I desire out of my future projects.
So about the future.
Right now, I am in the pre production stage for a short film that I plan on submitting to the Purgatory Film Festival in Detroit. I got a short piece (cobwebs) in the festival back in 2014 and wanted to participate again since it was such a fun time.
Also, I am currently serving as a production assistant in a couple local indie films in hopes to build my resume since I have decided to pursue work in the field. More details on that later.
So in short, expect some videos!
