Big updates from the month of March in the form of cryptic point-form-notes:

-The big grant application has been completed and submitted! If all goes well, in the Fall of '22 a team of 4+me will begin work on a full-length release. In the meantime, I'll just keep plugging away at this thing, 20 hours a week.

-The Game Design Doc is growing and getting really fancy-looking. This is where all of the lore, story notes, character sketches, concept art sketches, and miscellaneous good/bad ideas live.  The notes get digitized in weekly spurts of hyper-caffeinated fits of transcription which constitute the game's Digital Design Doc, a much more streamlined and legible affair.  The book itself was painted with a metallic copper acrylic paint, scrubbed smooth with steel wool, then sealed with a glossy spray topcoat.

-This month I'll be releasing the latest build of SAMOOBSLUGOWA which features a roughed-in NPC dialogue system, vocabulary-collection system, location-based inventory, procedurally generated world maps with bus travel, and a bunch of other things (possibly even a working washing machine!). Big changes have been made! One really good thing about writing a grant is that it forces you to nail down every little detail of the project. Even if you're not approved, you have a razor-focused design doc and clearly defined scope, budgets, etc. etc.

-I've been working with text generation through Markov chains and some Dadaist-inspired collage techniques. The core mechanic of the game is the dialog system, and it will feature fairly complex interactions with NPCs using a customizable vocabulary built out of words collected through gameplay. The system blends written and procedurally-generated content. There are currently 14 written characters, 6 "cults"(factions), 26 locations. 

This month's goals:

-office location (drawer inventory fix, light switch/breaker, tape deck, antenna, radio, writable/erasable chalkboard)

-broom closet (porting v.0.06's floors and windows, garbage can inventory, garbage takeout, bug zap)

-washing machine (rundown timer, wet clothes, breakdown, part replacement)

-laundromat (dryer functionality, dryer multigraphic, bring the plant back, flippable open/closed sign)

-terminus (newsbox headline generator & vocab dispenser, playable Mazemazter)

-world map (bus stop distribution, 10-location X 7-street setup, building graphic layers)

That's it. Thanks for your interest if you've read this far!

Ryan