Here's the plan!

When you have your nose to the grindstone for so long, sometimes you lose sight of just how much progress you've been making. A recent conversation with THE FONZ has shone a light on just how far we've come. We made a checklist of everything that was yet to be completed and that list just seems to keep getting shorter everyday.

We won't announce a release date, but we can give you a run down of what's going to happen after the game is complete.

After the last line of code is written, we'll begin our QA testing. The process should be pretty laborious but luckily the game isn't as complex as, say, a 3D action game, so organizing the process and narrowing down every little bug should be a fairly simple task. We're committed to providing at least a full month of QA testing but, depending on how broken our Beta Candidate is we may devote more time to it.

Rest assured we haven't put this much effort into building a game that will crash on boot.

Once the QA testing is done and we're confident that the game is clean we'll begin the manufacturing process. Since we're a small venture this process will take a little bit of time. We'll be shipping each game in order - so if you've ordered later expect the game to take some time to get to your door. We'll let everyone know how the manufacturing process is going as it happens so hopefully you all won't be left wondering where your game is.

On the Dev side we're kicking it up a notch to get things out the door as quickly as possible. You've all been waiting for a very long time but we're almost at the end of the road.

Thank god. Because I want to play this thing as much as you all do.

Cheers!

-WM

Words.... so many words...

We've mentioned on the forums that our script is unusually large for a Genesis RPG and a lot of that has very little to do with the core script. We've taken care to populate each city and town with lots of NPCs and unlike most 16-bit RPGs what they have to say is actually (GASP!) interesting.

We've treated each of the little guys as mini-stories. Stories that are unrelated to the core plot, but will nevertheless evolve with the main game. Most of them have multiple lines of dialogue in each "chapter" and then as events progress those lines change.

Usually there are a, b, and c sets of lines. So on average, we'd guess that each NPC has around 7 - 10 lines throughout the plot. We haven't looked at the NPC script as a collected whole, but I imagine it's almost as big as the core script.

You better actually talk to them or all that work will be for naught!

My brain is no work good.

Whoo...

Umm...

*Awkward*

Hi everybody! I forgot about this for the second week in a row. That's embarrassing. But here we are! Humbled and ready to provide you with more weekly snippets of the development process.

There are a couple of reasons we've missed these though. First, we're all still working hard on the game but more importantly there have been some exciting developments in the world of Pier Solar and Watermelon. We can't discuss details but rest assured that they are exciting enough to be keeping us up at night.

Here's a hint: We may all be knighted because of it.

Is that a real hint?

Here's a hint: No.

We've also been pretty distracted by E3. Or at least I have. I don't normally discuss non-WM related stuff here but Fumito Ueda's latest is worthy of these hallowed halls. If you don't go out and buy The Last Guardian the moment it comes out I'm going to take you all outside individually and slap you in the teeth.

Slapped. In. The. Teeth.

Project Status: FTW

One of the most complex tasks in creating a game is simply organizing and keeping track of all the little (and occasionally gargantuan) pieces that at some point in time are all supposed to come together. In last week or so we've made this task considerably easier by employing some great project tracking software. After we completed the task and crunched all the numbers we're quite happy to report that the game is inching ever so closer to that wonderful 100% complete number. We're not there yet, but the digits we did see were certainly comforting.

Never underestimate the power of forms and numbers and spreadsheets. They may look complicated but they are oh-so-comforting. Like a fuzzy blanket, a warm fireplace and a goblet overflowing with the blood of our enemies.

The basics are all moving forward as usual. Scripting is going ahead and we're beginning to officially lock down content. We've put a halt on any new content and are now satisfied with simply building the rest of the game. Basically, everything we want to go in has been designed and is being implemented as we speak.

So no pulling a Peter Molyneux and delaying the game for three more years because we want to make trees grow in real time.

*Cough*

To Work! Again!

Phew! Well that was a fun little treat, no? Our little preview video garnered some very positive response and we're glad you all are still as excited about the game as we are.

Getting it out the door, though, was like fighting three dragons with our hands tied behind our backs. Weaponless. Underwater. And having to listen to a Paris Hilton interview.

Horrifying, as you can imagine.

We do have plans for another video but it will be further down the line. Since our resources are stretched to their max any time spent doing a video ultimately means time spent NOT doing the game (quiet you grammar Nazis). Just know that another audio visual treat is on the way.

On the translation side things are looking sharp. We've sicked [sic?] our translators on the latest batch of NPC dialogues and as always they're plowing ahead at a speed previously unknown to man.

The speed of AWESOME.

But, we are out of time! And I must venture forth and join the fray once again. Later all.

Pray for us!

-WM

Time to show some progress

Hello friends of Pier Solar.

As we advance through the year, I've been inquired about the game development state on a frequent basis.

As I usually answer, "We're doing a lot of improvements, and working hard to assure the best quality on the game". I'm sure you like to hear this and to view the game shots we've been bringing on the weekly news, but wouldn't it be better to see it in motion?

Well then let's do it! I hope you enjoy! Just beware of spoilers!



Thanks and seeya soon!

Tulio
-WM

We Hear Voices

Pier Solar's presence on YouTube has been growing recently, and rather than bore you all with our numerous witticisms about dialogue implementation and if/else statements we thought we'd spotlight some of the kind folks who've posted about our game.

Without further ado...





And in case you're interested in a video play through of our demo, check this out:



Until next week!

-WM