Yes, I'm still working on Murder Mansion

ID:30085
 
Apr 29 2007, 4:27 am
I'm sure many are wondering, but rest at ease... I am still working on Murder Mansion...

It's been extremely slow going for the past few months... Due mostly to lack of time, and then procrastinating/wasting the little time that I have had...lol

I tend to get caught up in doing one aspect of development (or at least intending to do one aspect) which causes me to avoid working on anything but that single aspect until its completion... This is made into a problem when I hit a case of "programmer's block" in that area... I wind up not doing anything for long periods of time, other than opening Dream Maker, full of good intentions, but not actually working (which is about when I promptly go off and do something else, like read webcomics or browse BYOND, with Dream Maker sitting there in my taskbar waiting patiently for me)

For MM, my stumbling point has been the AI improvements... I'm at the point where they've reached that "last 20%"... The critical period where they're mostly finished, but need all of those little final touches and bug fixes that for whatever reason are just so hard to get motivated to do... The bulk work early on flies by, but then near the end the steam runs out...

So, after so long of not accomplishing much of anything, I finally forced myself to shelf the AI programming and move on to something else: map work...


People who have checked out the little "preview" edition I put up last Halloween have seen this map already, in a very empty state... I'm currently filling it up, though... Here's a shot of the rest-/locker-/shower-room...


And here's a shot of another of my planned new maps... Without looking at the filename, I hope everyone can guess what it'll be...

In addition to the original mansion and these two new maps, I have another 5 (maybe 6) planned...
Apr 29 2007, 7:46 am
Will there be a map editor released?
Apr 29 2007, 8:48 am
I guessed, then checked.

Damn, that's ironic. A murder in a hospital.
Apr 29 2007, 12:01 pm
Pictures are broken :(
Apr 29 2007, 3:42 pm
Its great that your still working on it, I love the game, all you need is people to host.
Apr 29 2007, 6:11 pm
GenoStar:

Probably not... Really the only editor suitable to make Murder Mansion maps is Dream Maker's built-in editor... I don't feel like spending the time to "reinvent the wheel" by copying it...

Squeegy:

:) The only problem I'm having with the hospital is coming up with a decent excuse for the events of the game... With the Mansion, the "story" is simple... But with a hospital, how do I explain the lack of staff (I could add staff, but it'd set me back far too long, because it would then require separate NPC behavior for them, a system of being "caught" by the NPCs, etc.)?

Yorae:

Yeah, for a little while tonight, it seemed my host was down, but they're back now!

KuramaRose9:

You're right... Go ahead! (and if you "can't", then look up how to configure your router... sorry, but I really hate that excuse)
May 11 2007, 3:49 pm (Edited on May 11 2007, 4:20 pm)
Atleast, I know the game is still alive. It is most definetely my favorite on byond.

I'm a big fan of your game I hope it goes further than byond.
May 12 2007, 12:20 pm
Rawr, i will still waiting for it :)
May 12 2007, 1:21 pm
SuperSaiyanGokuX wrote:
You're right... Go ahead! (and if you "can't", then look up how to configure your router... sorry, but I really hate that excuse)

I have the will and the knowledge, but not the means... with 1280 kbps (150 KB/s) download and 128 kbps (15 KB/s) upload, my internet connection simply isn't sufficient to run any communication-intensive BYOND game (such as Murder Mansion, which involves player eyes moving around in real time, lots of sound events, a lot of text output...). I imagine that the same is true for most other people who want to host.
May 12 2007, 4:41 pm
Bah! Lag builds character!
May 12 2007, 4:48 pm
Although, to be honest, "the will" in my case was referring more to other games. The whole ability for ghosts to indicate the murderers is just irritating as hell, and I hope you at least include an optional setting to disable ghosts in the next version. =P
May 12 2007, 5:08 pm
Actually, in the process of my work, I ripped out the bulk of the Ghost programming (with the intent to reprogram it, but I've since changed my mind)... I think I'm going to go one step further and delete their icon as well, so they can't do the "hover over the murderer" thing...
May 12 2007, 7:39 pm
I think you should only let ghosts appear to the murderer, no one else. That way the ghostly players can haunt the murderer's consciousness and make them feel guilty. :D
May 13 2007, 10:26 am
Actually, whether or not Elation's comment was tongue-in-cheek (I can't tell), that's a damned good idea. =)
Jun 5 2007, 3:37 pm
wow that looks like a nice map
Jul 3 2007, 7:54 am
btw supersaiyangoku if ya need help mappin or iconning i could probably help, me and my friend thought u stopped owrkin on it so we started makin an MM2 but since ur still workin on it, guess its canceled, anyhow, i have alot of ideas for the game and can map and icon if ya need a lil help.