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We have the best soundtrack in the world!

You can check out some game info and the entire Rorasuketo soundtrack by Michael Chadwick here . It's absolutely divine. When I said I wanted to pay homage to the Super Nintendo games of my youth, he went to town and grabbed some soundfonts from games like Final Fantasy IV, Earthbound, and Battletoads . I am so happy with the results. The battle tracks are head-bangers, and the emotional lows are perfectly bittersweet. I wouldn't change a thing. I've known Mike since the boom days of of LiveJournal  — which is a long time, for the kids following along at home. He's an immensely skilled guitarist and songwriter, and has a really impressive catalog of work . Originally, I was going to write the music myself, but Mike has far more experience. And in creative projects like this, doing everything yourself has the potential to turn out an inbred, constipated piece of art. Collaboration adds depth to the work that you might not have realized before. It lightens the workload....
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In the queue!

I have spent the last day toiling away on graphical assets and officially pushed the "submit for review" button. We'll see what happens next. Here's the preview that I can see, at least: The Japanese in the subheader of the logo is a little treat for the manga fans and gives a little taste of that influence. I'm not putting the subheader in  all  of the promotional materials because the game is in English and I don't want to give the wrong impression. Previously, the subheader was all katakana, but I seem to have dialed in the right kanji. At least, Google Translate seems to think so. Phew. I also realized that in my own Steam store, I have filtered out the tag "Sports" (I played a little  Mutant League Football  when I was a kid, but even then, I was randomly selecting plays), so hopefully that will not do any harm in the scheme of the almighty algorithm. Prioritizing tags was very difficult, but in the end I listed the first five as: JRPG Skating*...
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Yūrei and you.

This post contains a mild spoiler. One of the things I try to do is give Rorasuketo a bit more of a Japanese flavor. I am not necessarily what I would call a "weeb," but I have enjoyed some Hey! Hey! Hey! " Silent Library" and played a lot of games from Japan, some with the occasional strange translation (spoony bard!). I have watched both Fullmetal Alchemists all the way through, and I collect Yotsuba and Black Jack manga. Of course I love me a Studio Ghibli film. But 90% of the time, if you ask me if I have heard of a manga/anime/band, I will probably say no. As someone with a lot of white guilt, who tries to be hyper aware of power dynamics, I wrestle a bit with the idea of injecting Japanese culture into the game - or at least my second- or third-hand interpretation of Japanese culture. In a way, I consider Rora's tongue-in-cheek references fair game due to the massive influx of such media into the west. My little game does not have the power of the Nint...
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Affection gets an upgrade (kind of).

I have this dreadful personal flaw where I tend to operate under the assumption that other people know the things I know. I don't mean to be rude or confusing or annoying. I just spend so much time rummaging around in my own neurotic head that I forget other people's heads might work differently. So when I'm writing dialogue for seven skaters,  I  know the differences between them. But a cast of seven Affection-garnering NPCs is kind of a lot for a 4-hour game, especially when those NPCs are always gathered in the same physical location, all more feminine-leaning in gender, and all  wearing   uniforms. Maybe this is why no one's made a game like this. It's a fool's errand! All that to say: I'm adding a diary in Kady's apartment where you can look up your teammates' names, portraits, Affection level, what gifts they like, and what's happened on your dates (if any). You're welcome, player.   I remember playing video games in the '90s, like...
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Title screens.

  These kinds of things are always subject to change, but I thought I'd share what it looks like about now. And what it looks like about now is... almost like a real game. I enjoy the cast, and having a more horizontal graphic was going to fit better than a full-length skater on the screen, so I thought I'd put our skaters front and center. Just kind of smash 'em all in there. Lots of color, lots of personality, lots of possibilities.
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In which our hero crunches numbers!

I'm happy to say I'm getting somewhere after fighting through the fog! Stats are aligning with some of the minigame mechanics in what will hopefully be a semi-balanced way. Gifts and Affection points are on the up-and-up. Previously, with one particular skater, a $5 gift gave 2 Affection points and a $15 gift garnered 3. Huh?! I think I know what I was trying  to do with that, but it's just tedious for a game of this (short) length. You can expect a dollar value and an Affection bonus to be at a fairly solid ratio in  Rorasuketo . I won't try to bamboozle or irritate anybody. I'm also inserting a Hunger mechanic. HP drains a little during the story and a lot during derby bouts. Similar to the Confidence mechanic, the game will contain certain checkpoints. You can let things slide sometimes, but if your statistics aren't taken care of at certain critical moments, the story suffers. This is my answer to lacking a classic JRPG system but still wanting food around. ...
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Background noise.

I did a cool thing this weekend, which was to drop $100 USD on a Steamworks account. This means I can soon start developing a Steam page for Rorasuketo , and maybe this will light a little bit of a fire under my ass to get this thing done. Not sure when I'll actually publish the page - and whether it will exist as "coming soon" or only after it's ready for purchase - but I've at least put in an investment that goads me into putting something out there. Homework hasn't piled up yet, but I am still feeling a little worn out from the winter break work blitz, so I am meeting in the middle by doing what I'll call "nuts and bolts." You could also call it quasi-procrastination. Deciding where Achievements are going to go, making checklists to ensure I don't miss anything before exporting the final product, writing the walkthrough, deciding price points, that kind of thing. Dare I even say I networked a little bit with a Let's Player with about 5...
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Another break winds down.

I played through  Rorasuketo 's linear story so far, recording commentary along the way, and it was about 2 hours. (I'm not ready to release the video to the world... yet.) I'm feeling at once proud and insecure, exhausted and energized. I've put in some long - and manic - days the last few weeks, and I'm starting a new semester. This means that progress will likely grind to a crawl until about May. A few things I noticed on this playthrough. I was extremely happy to earn some teammates' phone numbers. Affection mechanics are working nicely! However, I may have to bump up the challenge a little. Do I want the game to be crafted in a way that's it's possible "max out" affection with everyone by the end? I'm not sure. It always feels like a fun accomplishment, but there's also something hollow about it. I think being able to be besties with absolutely everyone sort of cheapens the friendships you forged first, and prioritized, and actuall...
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