Last Days - the Out-Of-Game site

been a while since i've posted, but believe me that's not been for lack of stuff happening. just before this past christmas, last days acquired a former QA dude, pawel sasik, from yoostar.com. he's actually an even better project manager - which is what he's doing for the web-game. with his help, we've made some pretty quick progression and will be launching a quick alpha version of the game in about 2-3 weeks. if you're interested in being a part of this alpha launch, let me know and i'll get you the url when the time comes.

so about two weeks into working with pawel, he let me know he was interested in also helping in writing episodes of the tv show. needless to say, i was a little reticent as this hasn't worked out with any of the other writers who've approached me to do the same, but he gave it a shot anyway and right away it was obviously a good fit. while i'm a decent outliner and editor, getting something from outline to initial rough script has always been hard for me, and that's what pawel is a natural at - and in a way that's really true to the characters i've already outlined. so about a month in now, we're already more than half finished with episode three - even as progress with the web-game continues to move.

now regarding love story, we hit a roadblock for a bit regarding the edit several weeks ago, but we've passed it and saw the first true rough edit of the piece as written done this past weekend. i have to admit, the troubles we were having earlier in the year had me doubting the power of the piece. but even without a bit of music and even super rough, that last edit caused me to tear up twice, which renewed my confidence in the piece (thank god!). so we're now back on track with that and hope to have color-corrected, sound engineered and scored edits within the next 2-3 months. we're still open to other names for the piece though, so please send me any bright ideas if you have any. 'love story' makes me think of warren beatty and annette bening and that's not a good thing. =P
the last two tidbits are news about friends' projects - both of them picked up my crackle.com. the first, which my homey Peter Robinson of Geeks On! helped write is called Trenches. Trenches was originally greenlit by ABC's Stage 9 Digital but ended up spending the past couple years on some dusty shelves when Stage 9 went the way of the digital dinosaurs. thankfully, Crackle bought it recently and started airing it a short time ago. it's a fun star wars spin-off and actually pretty amazing for the very little money Peter's homies had to make it.

and finally, mark gantt & jesse warren's 'The Bannen Way' had a little premiere at the Egyptian Theatre last weekend. considering the fact that you could have made roughly 30 Bannen Ways for what they spent on just the pilot episode of
Lost ... well, let's just say those two boys deserve some serious props.

well, that's all for now. stay cool.

also posted on iam100k.com

Had kind of a breakthrough with the web-game last week. However we have definitely reached the point now where I can no longer mention specifics online - primarily because it's become something that does more than just re-hash elements that are available in other games out there and has become something truly unique and fun to play.

Suffice it say that the breakthrough makes the game both more simple and more enjoyable to play, and that it now replaces four of the pages we'd designed before with only the one new page. The new system also removes all the confusing and messy text on more than half of the pages with a very simple (and fun, IMHO) symbol-system. I'm actually really excited about this not just because it makes the game more fun (did I mention that yet? =P ), but also because of another new element that so seamlessly integrates the efforts and goals of multiple players with one another.

I really wish I could be more specific, but since it looks like I've roped in for some IA work one of the guys who has been working on yoostar.com for the past year or so, the tempo of this bad boy should start to pick up soon, and hopefully I'll be announcing the launch of the beta version by spring - I know I said that last year too, but this time there's actual evidence that it will happen.

Stay tuned!
(also posted on iam100k.com)

Been a little focused on my short, Love Story, the past few weeks - that's why we haven't posted anything in a while. We're in pre-production on the short and start shooting the weekend after Thanksgiving, but we're still taking meetings about the show and working more on the site.

The latest news with the development of the beta lastdaysjournal is that the game structure is currently going through some changes that will improve both its playability and simplicity. We're getting to the point where we should limit the details of what we post - mostly to protect the work that we've been doing as we start to boil this all down to the basics, but suffice it to say we'll most likely get the beta version of the web-game up before anything else.

The exact time-frame for the roll-out of the site itself depends a lot on how meetings about the show go, but the worst-case scenario puts our web-game up first with us adding the beta-versions of the other two parts of the site later. Once we have a structure for the web-game that we think is solid, fun & highly playable, only then will we consider putting the other two parts of the site up.

And the worst, worst case scenario has us launching the full site without having a TV deal at all. If that's the case, we'll probably abandon the TV show entirely and prepare to take meetings re: the feature version - the rough draft of which is already done. The main difference between the TV show and feature version is that it only covers Ned's storyline and doesn't even mention the Kim, Sandy or Allan. Hopefully we won't have to do things that way, but just so you know ...

Anyway, sorry for the long gap between posts, but feel free to follow our other exploits on the site for our brand new production company, superfreako productions, or on my personal site, iam100k.com

the most recent designs:

main character page: the page where the user can see his or her own avatar along with equipped items, current actions and other main stats

character tool equip / sub-page: this is a sub-page in which the user can exchange particular equipped items for others being stored. when the character is at the home base, the stored items expands to include items left there. otherwise only the amount of items that can be held in backpacks and other portable storage devices can be equipped.

shelter page: this is the shelter page - depending on whether a character has made a shelter in a large, medium or small sized house, building, complex or skyscraper, this graphic changes. this particular graphic for instance is for a medium sized building in a rural area. most slot in the shelter graphic are interactive, pointing to the appropriate building or follower page that would allow the player to upgrade the plot or follower as long as the player has the appropriate resources and/or skills.

main map page: the uppermost geographic overview level of the game. this shows nearby hexes as well as known occupants of them.

hex map page: this geographic overview level shows a single hex and all of the buildings in them. as your cursor hovers over each building, you can see whatever information you have of it's occupants. scouting helps to gather more info.

NPC overview page: this interface shows all of the non-player characters (NPCs) you have successfully recruited and whom are still loyal to you. NPCs allow you to perform more actions and may be trained up and kept loyal with the use of prestige points, but if you're not careful other players may steal their allegiance - sometimes even without you knowing and thereby making them a spy against you.

individual NPC page: this page shows a single particular non-player character (NPC) and this is where you'd make them more loyal with the use of prestige points, train them and give them equipment to use.

action page: this is the action page where you initiate actions and follow-up on the specifics of their progress

training - current skill page: this page shows the skills you are already trained up in

training - skill tree page: this is one of nine different training tree pages. this one is for movement - which is a survival skill tree. the other two survival skill trees are strategy and combat. there are also three for 'social' skills (analysis, leadership & medicine) and three for construction (agriculture, building & crafting). you start learning skills from the bottoms of the tree and as you learn each one, you may only train up in skills that are either on the lower-most level, or those that are immediately adjacent to the skills in the tree that you've already learned.

mail & announcements page: this is where you receive in-game mail from other players as well as announcements that cover all kinds of events including completed tasks or actions, completed moves, learned skills, attacks by other players or zombie hordes and all other pertinent events. in truth, this page will most likely be divided up into two or perhaps even three different pages, but even if it is the designs will be quite similar to this.

here's the real deal.

btw, still lots going on - mostly fun stuff. the project materials should be changing soon to reflect the much better pitch we have now. i'll post again when that changes. in the meantime enjoy this un-crushed selection of scenes from the show.

tally ho!
=ck