Quick update

I've been working on starting up the Wild Lands storyline, and I can tell you it's definitely going to be a much more.. intense path. I don't think I'm going to add any kind of disclaimer on it, given that the text does a pretty good job of warning Terry not to sabotage the auction, but I do wonder how some of the players are going to take it. I suspect some might really like it, and that's totally okay with me.

As I revealed in the TFGamesSite thread, it also is going to be the part of the story where M/M sex is going to happen. Again, there wno't be a disclaimer and it will be consensual. I know that some people are far more bothered by male on male sex than female on female, and I think that's totally wrong. There is same sex female sex in the game, and I always intended to have male on male sex. It just fits with the world. I think in some ways the Wild Lands will be just as people expect it to be, while in other ways it might be somewhat surprising.

I think of it as three different points on a line. In the center is the Enclave, while on the far right are the Forest Females and the far left are the Wild Land Bandits. That's not to say they are going to be examples of far right and far left politics in their societies, but there might be elements of it that show through. We'll see.

Anyway! I'm typing away. I am hoping for a release next week with the first path established. If that doesn't happen, it won't be any later than two weeks from now. No worries, though - I'll be updating here again before that!

Stopping for a while

This is probably one of my Dad's two favorite musicians. U2 would be the other. I'd spend hours hearing Tori Amos's music being played around the house, whether I liked it or not. Haha, I kid. Hearing it pretty much since birth meant I had no choice but to like it. Honestly, the words are creepy weird but her music always sounds really nice to me. In this case, I just liked the theme of the music video and thought it would fit my post here.

Oh..

What?

Stopping for a while? Oh, yeah. I'm stopping for a while. Meant to tell you that. Well, stopping working on the Enclave storylines for a while, anyway! That's right! It's on to the Wild Lands now! I'm releasing 1.0 of The Journey Outside for the enjoyment of others, and officially stopping all work on current threads in order to introduce the Wild Lands and the much heard about bandits.

It'll start with the slave auction where you have no buyer and go from there. I'm looking forward to it!

So here it is.. the final release for the first third of The Journey Outside in its 90,000+ words glory. The second third, of course, will be the Wild Lands, and the final third the Forest Females.

Enjoy!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ljlybsppsv7yxs/JourneyOutside1.0.zip

And the lightbulb of ideaness shines!

I fell in LOVE with this song when I was in high school. It just really captured me. I loved the whole album, and recommend it and any of her other albums to everyone, but this song really just does it. I kinda tear up every time, but I really wanted to share it. She is definitely one that should be better known, I think.

Anyway, on to the reason for this post. I'm getting downright active on this thing!

The thing is..

I have figured out what my next game is going to be!

Hooray!

I can stop thinking about it now! It's going to be dark but humorous with a lot of unexpected consequences from choices that are made. It'll be both shorter but more varied than what I'm doing with Journey, since there won't be a whole world to build or specific timeline to follow, which is cool.

I'm still going to finish Journey first, but it's nice to have an idea of what's next on the road of creativity!

Channeling the Masculine

I was trying to think of a video that would encompass the theme of this post, or at least touch on it, and the above was the closest I could get. I can only imagine just how awkward that would be!

So I've been working on the male path with rescuing Barbara. It's fairly streamlined to begin with, which I kinda feel bad about, but honestly there just aren't that many decisions to make in the beginning of it. It does branch off significantly from there, so tomorrow night's writing should be more varied. That Master Lang is just such a tricky, tricky character! Can't turn your back on him for a second.. especially when you're rather valuable to him. He does like to get what he wants.

Writing the male path is always challenging, but kind of interesting at the same time. There's a love scene where I really had to work on considering the.. other side.. so to speak. It was definitely exciting and fun to write, and hopefully I didn't write anything that would be unrealistic or badly or inaccurately described. Mignon, the mastermind behind the visual changes, has been kind enough to help "fact-check" my writing so to speak, so at least if there are any problems they can be changed fairly easily in revision.

More than anything, though, I've enjoyed getting back with Barbara again for a little bit. She's one of the few genuinely kind and innocent people in the world I've created, without any real motivation beyond just wanting someone to care about and protect her. As a writer, I'm glad to be able to provide that, at least as much as I can.

Oh! Before I forget, I had some questions on how my back is doing, which is really sweet!! I am officially pain free! I still have to do a Mobic a day for a couple more days and a Flexeril when I sleep to keep from injuring it more, but that mainly just means I get to have a really nice, drugged night's sleep! I can live with that! I was even able to get out and work in the yard for a little bit before it started to be uncomfortable! Progress is a good thing!

Anyway, no actual download or anything like that.. just a status report and a bit of rambling. In my off-moments I kind of play around with what it is I want to do once Journey is over. I haven't settled on anything yet, but I suspect it will be shorter and more tightly focused. I'm limiting myself to only one project at a time, so that I don't get distracted or discouraged, but it never hurts to play around with thoughts in my head. One of the better tricks I learned was to let go of ideas and just let them live in the back of my head for a while, fleshing them out without really thinking about them. I call it "percolating."

Because I got Version 9

So yeah - my husband is a huge Kevin Smith fan, and he's been teasing me for the past two weeks over how loopy I get on Flexeril. Seriously, I have a total weakness for this drug, and I have no idea why! I'm either knocked out drooling in bed or staggering around, trying to figure out two plus two! I can't tell you how many times he's referred to this song, so I should at least share the evil, I think.

The good news is that I'll be stopping getting high as of tomorrow, which is gonna let me get caught up, since I'll be able to type without having to redo every other word and constantly check the spelling.

But more importantly still...

I'll be pain free! Hooray!

So this is the version nine update. I think we polished the graphics quite a bit and added a widescreen option for those that have crazy high resolution on their monitors. I just have a little laptop, so I don't know about all that, but I'm assured that it does make a difference. There are other options that we could pursue, from options for turning the images off to other options that would help customize the experience for each player, kinda like display options in games. We'll see how that goes.

In the meantime, here's the latest!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ixza8ic9hvn9cpd/JourneyOutside9b.html

Color of Cafe au Version Eight!

This video makes me think I need to own a corset or twelve! Fun fact.. two of my favorite movies are Moulin Rouge and Mamma Mia. I'm very fortunate, because any time I want to watch one of my favorite movies, my husband never complains! Apparently, he enjoys the "scenery" while I enjoy the story. I'm pretty sure if Amanda Seyfried came knocking on our door this afternoon, he'd leave me without a second thought. That's okay, though, because if Ewan McGregor comes knocking on my door, I'm out!

That's said, Pierce Brosnan's singing can still manage to run him out of the room every time. Can't really say I blame him for that one.

Who hires someone who absolutely can not sing to star in a musical?

Anyway! We're not here to talk Mamma Mia. We'll save that for another time. Right now, I have a present for everyone! That's right.. the official release of Version 8!

There are some.. distinct.. visual differences with this release, so please feel free to leave a comment here if you experience any trouble at all!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/24hmhykdofb6bpc/JourneyOutside8a.zip

That's all I've got to say about that..

Been knocked out by a pinched nerve in my lower back combined with significant drugs, so there wasn't as much writing as I had hoped for, but big changes are coming in the next 24 hours, nonetheless! These changes are thanks to mignon and barabbas from the TFGamesSite.com website, and I really can't thank them enough! So enough of that.. here's the teaser!