Hello everybody - I'm moving this blog over to our corporate-ish-esque blog for Doppler Interactive.
Just to keep it all in one place... I don't know why I start so many blogs (I really do start a lot) - but I guess it'd be better to have things in one handy-dandy place.
See you there! - http://blog.dopplerinteractive.com
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Interactive Fiction Toolkit - Onward, Upward, Outward
After an oh-so-brief hiatus working on other things (a mobile RPG, an OCD-Tamagotchi) I got such a kind and encouraging email from a gentleman who was interested in the Interactive Fiction Toolkit.
And yes! yes! yo' - that was enough to pull me back to revive this project.
Thrill - as I present to you.....
The Doppler Adventure Game Toolkit (yeah, still unsure about the name) - which now exports to a solid, nice little file format and will present a text based adventure game on iPhone / iPad, Android, in a web browser and etc etc etc. Yep. Pretty exciting business right there.
Wow. I seriously just went to get you all a nice set of photos of the iPad / Android adventure in action - but it's evening here (midnight) and - along with the glare, you get a delicious mirror-effect that makes my bare chest the dominant subject of the picture.
Probably not the precise thrust of the blog post, right?
Stand by until tomorrow - I'll update this post to capture the original intention.
In the interim, here is an on-faith screencap of the toolkit in action:
I have a really big idea coming up too... related to this... something really massive. I think you'll like it.
But we'll see. Motivation pending. You know how it is.
Questions, comments? I'd love to get into some sort of dialogue.
And yes! yes! yo' - that was enough to pull me back to revive this project.
Thrill - as I present to you.....
The Doppler Adventure Game Toolkit (yeah, still unsure about the name) - which now exports to a solid, nice little file format and will present a text based adventure game on iPhone / iPad, Android, in a web browser and etc etc etc. Yep. Pretty exciting business right there.
Wow. I seriously just went to get you all a nice set of photos of the iPad / Android adventure in action - but it's evening here (midnight) and - along with the glare, you get a delicious mirror-effect that makes my bare chest the dominant subject of the picture.
Probably not the precise thrust of the blog post, right?
Stand by until tomorrow - I'll update this post to capture the original intention.
In the interim, here is an on-faith screencap of the toolkit in action:
I have a really big idea coming up too... related to this... something really massive. I think you'll like it.
But we'll see. Motivation pending. You know how it is.
Questions, comments? I'd love to get into some sort of dialogue.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Interactive Fiction Toolkit - Continued.
The Interaction Fiction Toolkit... although I doubt I'll call it that. It will be something else I imagine.
You know, I've got to wonder - what do you think the difference is between Interactive Fiction and a Text-Based Adventure Game. The immediate difference is that the former is easier to say than the latter.
But the latter sounds more fun.
Tricky.
The toolkit is progressing quickly and well - and is now capable of creating a piece of work that can be saved and loaded in a game test window.
 | It's a fairly full-featured affair here - to give a summary you:
|
So there we go - the Interactive Fiction Toolkit.
Questions? Comments?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Interactive Fiction: Toolkit
Yes sir!
It's the Interactive Fiction Toolkit, currently being developed by your humble narrator.
And it is going swimmingly.
The Interactive Fiction Toolkit takes your written content - your descriptions, your items, your game-world map, and translates them into a single script file.
And what do you do with the resulting script file?
Why, I'm glad you asked!
The script file will be loaded into the Interactive Fiction Game app - which will run in your browser, on your iPhone, on your Android or simply on your desktop - and thus you can share your Fiction with the entire world, all from a convenient toolkit.
This project is a labor of love at present, your feedback would be much appreciated.
The toolkit itself is nearing completion, so it will be eager to accept all of your beautiful fiction very soon.
Are you interested? Are you excited?
Leave me a comment!
Interactive Fiction
So I was using StumbleUpon today, as I do near-constantly everyday, and I happened upon a website devoted to "Interactive Fiction" tools.
"Interactive Fiction?" I thought aloud, scratching thoughtfully at my jaw.
"Seems contextually-relevant to what I am working on now."
And my goodness, upon searching for that business in Wikipedia, that is exactly what this genre is called. Interactive Fiction.
Amazing!
I am constantly surprised and delighted by the niche-communities with ... names and tools and pursuits and such.
Are you into "Interactive Fiction"??
If so, leave a comment!
Me? I'll probably just keep on being myself. The more I learn, the unhappier I become.
"Interactive Fiction?" I thought aloud, scratching thoughtfully at my jaw.
"Seems contextually-relevant to what I am working on now."
And my goodness, upon searching for that business in Wikipedia, that is exactly what this genre is called. Interactive Fiction.
Amazing!
I am constantly surprised and delighted by the niche-communities with ... names and tools and pursuits and such.
Are you into "Interactive Fiction"??
If so, leave a comment!
Me? I'll probably just keep on being myself. The more I learn, the unhappier I become.
Currently Reading: No Country for Old Men, Kamikaze Girls
Picked up two novels I've been looking at for a while. The contrast didn't hit me until I put them on the counter.
My hypothesis: Based on the cover... a guilty little piece of literature that may or may not give me a mild mid-life crisis in which I walk about my house wishing that I was sixteen years old once more.
, as did 
.
My hypothesis: Tricky. I'm going to say... dry... gritty. Very masculine, almost Hemmingway-esque. In terms of the economy of words and such. That's a guess... and I dare say it's probably based on posters I've seen of the movie.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Episode Three: City Streets
You love this crazy business.
So many people - navigating their way to arbitrary destinations - to perform arbitrary actions - and somehow as a side-effect of this you arrive at...
The buildings.
The billboards.
The monorail.
Economy.
Government.
Society.
[Look]
You are standing at a busy city intersection. The monorail rains sediment down upon the scene.
A steady stream of people weave their way up and down the path - at intervals across the street.
To your left there is a traffic light - with a button at chest-height.
There is a pedestrian crossing here, but the indicator's indications are negative.
To the north, the train station is steadily recycling pedestrians - one enters, one leaves.
[Look at monorail]
A solid idea: Light-rail suspended above the ground, to provide more granular transport around the city. You could see how this would help to de-cluster the CBD.
But, in application - the monorail is just for tourists, regional visitors. The carriages are too comfortable, the tickets too expensive.
Now it is just a punctual reminder of the city's inability to execute a simple idea.
[Look at people]
Everybody is so well-groomed. Hair is well-aligned, shoes glossy.
Their gait has a peculiar stilted quality - you can hear the inner monologues:
"Just have to keep this skirt unwrinkled until I walk past the boss"
"Just have to keep this fringe neat until I walk past the HR girl"
You attempt a smile, but it is quickly caught in the current and washed downstream.
[Look at traffic light]
It's meaningless. Red - they go, Green - they go.
Taxi drivers, bus drivers, truck drivers - they are far above the traffic laws in this country.
After all - it's not 'fair' to fine somebody for 'just doing their job'.
Tastes a bit like Nuremberg.
[Look at pedestrian crossing]
It's a defined subset of the street at which you can cross when a defined light is a defined color.
If you think too hard about this business, everything becomes so meaningless and contextual that the whole world falls apart.
[Look at button]
You read somewhere that these buttons were deactivated a long time ago, and that the pedestrian crossings simply activate at each light change.
But that was a report from London.
The local government can barely coordinate across electorates, much less large spans of water.
[Look at station]
You picture the station as a massive, cartoonish head - chomping up and down on commuters.
Somehow it's not comforting like it should be.
You get a strange urge to play 90s console games.
[Use button]
Don't think about the germs.
Don't think about the germs.
Don't think about the germs.
You press the button.
You think about the germs.
[Use button]
You press the button repeatedly.
When you were younger, somebody suggested that the timer resets upon repeated pressing.
The suggestion irritated you then, and it still irritates you now.
You resolve to punch that person in the eye if you see them again.
[Use button]
You press the button again - and it begins to beep impatiently.
Success.
[Use button] - repeat
The crossing is safe. Relatively safe. Better take advantage of it now.
[Look]
You are standing at a busy city intersection. The monorail rains sediment down upon the scene.
A steady stream of people weave their way up and down the path - at intervals across the street.
To your left there is a traffic light - with a button at chest-height.
To the south there is a pedestrian crossing - and the green man is frantically indicating: "Go! You dogs! Go!"
To the north, the train station is steadily recycling pedestrians - one enters, one leaves.
So many people - navigating their way to arbitrary destinations - to perform arbitrary actions - and somehow as a side-effect of this you arrive at...
The buildings.
The billboards.
The monorail.
Economy.
Government.
Society.
[Look]
You are standing at a busy city intersection. The monorail rains sediment down upon the scene.
A steady stream of people weave their way up and down the path - at intervals across the street.
To your left there is a traffic light - with a button at chest-height.
There is a pedestrian crossing here, but the indicator's indications are negative.
To the north, the train station is steadily recycling pedestrians - one enters, one leaves.
[Look at monorail]
A solid idea: Light-rail suspended above the ground, to provide more granular transport around the city. You could see how this would help to de-cluster the CBD.
But, in application - the monorail is just for tourists, regional visitors. The carriages are too comfortable, the tickets too expensive.
Now it is just a punctual reminder of the city's inability to execute a simple idea.
[Look at people]
Everybody is so well-groomed. Hair is well-aligned, shoes glossy.
Their gait has a peculiar stilted quality - you can hear the inner monologues:
"Just have to keep this skirt unwrinkled until I walk past the boss"
"Just have to keep this fringe neat until I walk past the HR girl"
You attempt a smile, but it is quickly caught in the current and washed downstream.
[Look at traffic light]
It's meaningless. Red - they go, Green - they go.
Taxi drivers, bus drivers, truck drivers - they are far above the traffic laws in this country.
After all - it's not 'fair' to fine somebody for 'just doing their job'.
Tastes a bit like Nuremberg.
[Look at pedestrian crossing]
It's a defined subset of the street at which you can cross when a defined light is a defined color.
If you think too hard about this business, everything becomes so meaningless and contextual that the whole world falls apart.
[Look at button]
You read somewhere that these buttons were deactivated a long time ago, and that the pedestrian crossings simply activate at each light change.
But that was a report from London.
The local government can barely coordinate across electorates, much less large spans of water.
[Look at station]
You picture the station as a massive, cartoonish head - chomping up and down on commuters.
Somehow it's not comforting like it should be.
You get a strange urge to play 90s console games.
[Use button]
Don't think about the germs.
Don't think about the germs.
Don't think about the germs.
You press the button.
You think about the germs.
[Use button]
You press the button repeatedly.
When you were younger, somebody suggested that the timer resets upon repeated pressing.
The suggestion irritated you then, and it still irritates you now.
You resolve to punch that person in the eye if you see them again.
[Use button]
You press the button again - and it begins to beep impatiently.
Success.
[Use button] - repeat
The crossing is safe. Relatively safe. Better take advantage of it now.
[Look]
You are standing at a busy city intersection. The monorail rains sediment down upon the scene.
A steady stream of people weave their way up and down the path - at intervals across the street.
To your left there is a traffic light - with a button at chest-height.
To the south there is a pedestrian crossing - and the green man is frantically indicating: "Go! You dogs! Go!"
To the north, the train station is steadily recycling pedestrians - one enters, one leaves.
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