Deeper into the Wild Lands

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what video to put up along with this update. The Wild Lands aren't a pretty place, and coming up with music videos for that can be.. challenging. Especially since parts of this update have a "voyeur" feel to it.

My husband came to the rescue, recommending Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up." I'd never heard of it and wasn't thrilled with the title, but I have to admit the music video really nails the wanton, wildness that The Wild Lands may (or may not) turn into. I'm not going to spoil everything now!

All of these updates are taking place in the Wild Lands. If you want to get there, I recommend going for some female sabotage. After that, things will just happen. There will, of course, be other paths for getting there later on but right now this is really the only way.

Anyway, feel free to check out the 1.02 update. This still isn't huge, so I'm only going to put it up on here instead of the other places, but hopefully the people that check this blog will get to enjoy it. Consider it a special "welcome back" thank you. :)

Download Journey Outside 1.02

She's alive!!!

It's been too long. I am so sorry that I've been gone for so long. It took a lot more time and effort to heal than I expected. Life goes on, as does my writing, even if very slowly at first.

This isn't a big update. Rather, this is my coming out and saying, "I'm still here, I'm still dedicated, and expect more from this point on similar to the amount of creation I did before this."

It's a long statement, but an important one. Haha.

Anyway, this takes the first thread into the Wild Lands. Sabotage will get you going. There's not much there, but it gives a taste of what the Wild Lands will bring to the table. What seems shallow to begin with will be getting deeper over time, however. There is depth here, I promise!

Anyway, feel free to download and try it out or wait for something more substantial. Either way, at least I'm getting my toes back in the water so to speak!

Download The Journey Outside 1.01

R.I.P. Daddy

No silly video posts today.

Just an update on why there hasn't been a release.

On Monday, my dad picked me up to go out for lunch together. Totally normal. We do it about once a week.

This time, we drove through an intersection where a large truck was driving through the red light and smashed into our car. Of course the guy was drunk.

I ended up with a leg and wrist smashed up, along with lots of little cuts and bruises and a ton of aches and pains.

Daddy died in surgery at the hospital from his head injuries.

Thankfully, we were the only two in the car.

Of course, the drunk driver was fine with just a cut on his face.

I have been sitting at home staring at the walls and letting my husband take care of me as I try and process.

It's kinda hard.

Everyone talks about me getting over it someday and time healing wounds and all that junk, but time isn't going to bring Daddy back. That is something I'm just going to have to get used to.

I know I'll get back to work on Journey and want to get involved with stuff again. I know this kinda thing happens to someone pretty much every day. I'd just rather it have been someone other than me and my Daddy.

For right now, i just want to stare at the walls and wait to feel again. Maybe after the wake tomorrow.

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!

How Can You Afford Your Rock and Roll Preview?

People point out the weirdest songs to me sometimes!

Shhh... don't tell anyone I did this, but I'm going to put up a preview here.

It's not finished by any means, but you can get a sample of the Forest Female path as well as the Male path with Barbara.

Feel free to download and check it out.

Most importantly, this is going to be the first version released with SugarCube, so let me know if there are any problems!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zn5o0am4ydizajs/JourneyOutside8Preview.rar

The Plot Thickens!

I hope no one is really offended by my including videos with my posts. They are just things that capture my attention at that moment, and kind of reflect my mood at that time or things that had happened. The above video, "Otherside," is one that my husband pointed out to me that I really fell in love with. It makes me wish I could do more visual stuff.

Anyway!

We're not here to talk videos.

We're here to talk The Journey Outside. Well, I hope we are, anyway. If you're here to talk about iCarly, that's a different blog.

This is the delayed release that I skipped last week, other than a sloppy preview. I'm running into a lot of "to be continued with the Wild Lands" endings at this point.. and that's a good thing! I'm excited to take us into the Wild Lands and have everyone meet all the happenings there.

It's going to be hairy. We're talking anarchy, chaos, death, war..

Yeah, an entire war. That'll be interesting to write!

So as I reach more and more "To be continued" endings, that's going to leave two significant areas. The Forest Women and the Wild Lands and its bandits. That means that the next update is going to focus on completing the Forest Women lines, expanding it and adding details. That will make sure that I don't have to split the difference between the two competing stories.

Also, I am aware that the male path you're going to experience is pretty stream-lined right now. That's for two reasons. One, most of the choices on that path are going to occur once you head to and arrive at the Wild Lands, and those choices are going to be pretty radically different. Also, it's because there an entirely separate path where you choose to travel with Barbara rather than Coren, and that will include many variations.

Just remember that this is a work in progress and, at this point, is still far more complete in my mind than in writing. I'm looking forward to changing that and hope you come along for the ride, but this is still very much Beta.

OK, on with the show!

Download version 7: The Journey Outside v7

Bring on the Promised Preview!

As I promised a few days ago, here is a sloppy preview to hold those desperate souls over that don't want to wait for next week's release. There are some nice experiences to be found in the harem, and the male path to Seattle is written if stream-lined, so it might be worth checking out for you.

Up to you, really. As always, if there are any problems with it, let me know here or at the TFGames forum.

The Journey Outside v. 0.65

Am I Wrong.. to delay a release?

^^ I was reminded of this song while talking with someone I consider to be a definite friend. Had to share it, so listen and enjoy. Or not. Either way.

I wanted to post up that the release this week is going to be exclusive to this blog, since it hasn't made nearly the progress that I was hoping for. Not for lack of effort - It's just proven to be both more detailed and more challenging to get exactly right. There's a lot of plot and world-building as I move into what I consider to be the second act. The male path will be more clear, the Forest Female path will be more defined, and the brothel path will lead up to a rather critical encounter that I won't spoil here.

In other words, things are starting to come together rather than being entirely separate. Terry is starting to have an effect on the world around her/him, depending on when and where she/he ends up.

It's been fun to write, without a doubt, but I really want to make sure to get it as right as I'm capable of.

So anyway, if you're interested in seeing where it's going, take a look here Tuesday or Wednesday. If you'd rather wait until it's more complete, that's totally okay as well! Either way, hopefully it will end up satisfying!

Version 6 Released!

Prince - Get Off - MyVideo

I have spent far too much time loving this video. That a man who is all of five feet can drip so much sex just knocks me outta my shoes!

There are some fun elements to discover that I enjoyed writing, enjoying the chance to smack someone and, potentially, end up paying for it. I'll leave it to the player to find it.

Some elements are still pretty linear, but there will be other options added later. I have to keep myself somewhat focused, and that's one way that I can do it.

We've gotten up to around 63,000 words, which makes it around 30-35% of what I've estimate would be needed for a final version. Luckily, I'm still really enjoying working on it. The world is complicated enough and the paths varied enough that there is always something to catch my interest for writing.

As always, thanks to all those playing the adventure, and I hope it continues to be enjoyable as I keep working on it. Best wishes to all.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/efu8lrhvj6s2s5u/JourneyOutside6.rar

Struggling With a Penis

Who knew it would be so challenging to write sexy times from the perspective of man parts?

I've been working my way through the challenge, writing what I can and stepping off to do some female scenes to keep the creative juices fresh, so to speak.

I still plan on releasing what I have done this week, probably Thursday or Friday at the latest, but it won't be quite as much as anticipated.

Of course, a recent addiction to old Columbo episodes probably isn't helping.

On the plus side, I really like what I've written this week. There is a really fun scene in the brothel where you get another option for resisting, and on the male side I'm getting ready to write them kicking back at a tavern. No details here in the interest of spoilers, but I'm pretty sure if you are reading this blog, you're aware of the fact that there is a brothel, and that there is a male path.

So yeah. If not, my bad.

OK, back to work for me!

Version 5a - Now with more artistic lighting

What? I like the video for the artistic lighting!

Anyway, there were a couple of missed back macros with Version 5, so I skipped posting that here and will instead put up version 5a. I would recommend just using this version, as it will keep you from getting trapped with a description.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/48kegreee7b6r48/JourneyOutside5a.rar

Cooking up a preview

Surprise! A day early, I'm putting up a blog-exclusive preview of the release for tomorrow. There's still more to be added, but this gives a pretty decent idea of what is going on with the Forest Women as well as another flash-forward ending. Some dialogue throughout was cleaned up, as well as redefining a few plot details.

Enjoy some tasty country cooking, TF style.

In an unrelated note - that is easily one of the most bizarre videos I've ever seen on Youtube.

In an additional, but actually related note, I've fired 4shared. I'll be hosting exclusively through Dropbox now. If that causes anyone any trouble, please let me know.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/38srtqxi85g5euo/JourneyOutside5beta.rar

Enough is Enough

You guys have waited long enough for the next update. I'm planning on putting one up this Tuesday. It focuses exclusively on the male path, and even has a new ending.

With those done, I'm going to be going back and wrapping up the brothel and RichSub paths for the week after.

After that, the plan is to head into the woods. I want to hold off a bit on the bandit camp as that is, essentially, the other half of the game.

So.. yeah. Look for an update on Tuesday at some point between midnight and midnight.

And another attempt to release a working version 4!

The very sweet kappakappa was kind enough to inform me (and seemed a bit embarrassed to have to do so) that the links were still broken on the RichSub path at the end.

I have no idea why they were still broken, as they tested appropriately before, but broken they were.

So, that means 4b must now come around.

Links are below.

http://www.4shared.com/rar/tnzkJG1q/JourneyOutside4b.html
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6ip4g8u2kjsfn2/JourneyOutside4b.rar