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The Automated Asylum, new engine and teamwork
🕑 Added 2018-02-20 22:22:16 +0000 UTC TL,DR : Sealfield, professional programmer, joins me as a full time partner for TAA (and all other future projects) development.We're moving away from the Tyrano engine, which was way too limited, in favor of the much more powerful, versatile and reliable GameMaker 2 engine.
Expect a playable, new and (very much) improved version before the end of february.
And now for more details, for the info-hungry people with time to read, in Q&A form.
Q: Who is Sealfield and what does he do? How are you two working together?
A: Sealfield is a programmer, building codes and doing fancy math is his job.
We've always been interested in the possibility of working together on developing fetish games and TAA was meant to be a sort of trial project for us, a way to know if we had good chemistry when working together.
He helped me build the original structure of TAA on Tyrano and, since that engine is very limited and designed to be used by less tech-savvy people, we quickly reached a point where there wasn't much more that Sealfield could help with. At the time it seemed logical that I would just finish developing TAA by myself while Sealfield would hone his skills on an engine he had just started working with : Game Maker 2.
Our goal at that point was that we would join forces on whichever project would happen AFTER The Automated Asylum.
However, as time went on, I kept running into roadblocks because of Tyrano's limitations. Players would suggest things and I would often find myself having to reply "That's not possible with Tyrano". I would also often lose time and energy dealing with Tyrano's clunkiness and sometimes buggy code. Working around all of these bumps was stifling creativity in an unhealthy way.
Then, one day, Sealfield surprised me with a... thing he had made with Game Maker 2, it was a simple game (and we'll tell you more about that... in the future) but it showed lots of promises. I doodled some quick things for him to add in the game and we were pleasantly surprised with how efficient the process was.
As I kept working on TAA, we kept trying things out with Game Maker on the side and as Tyrano's flaws kept becoming more and more of a liability, our results with Game Maker kept getting better.
Ultimately, we realized that we had reached a point where it didn't make sense for us to wait a whole year (the estimated time before I would be done with TAA) before we could start really working together on a real game engine. After much deliberation, we decided that we would join forces right away, remake TAA together and give the game the care it deserves.
Q: Isn't it going to take forever to go back to the point we were in the Tyrano version?
A: A lot of time spent so far on making The Automated Asylum was spent on creating art, planning the game's progression and writing. At least half of the time spent on coding the game in Tyrano was spent struggling with the goddamn thing. We spent countless hours trying to do simple but important things for a fetish game that just wouldn't work and ultimately led to nothing.
Remaking what's been done so far in Game Maker isn't going to be that long. The Game Maker engine is a lot more powerful, most of the art is done and there is now two of us. We made sure that our chemistry led to greater productivity and greater quality before taking that decision, this isn't a shot in the dark.
Expect a playable demo before the end of february.
Q: What's the point of the remake for us, the player, though? Are we getting anything worth the wait?
A: I can 100% guarantee that this remake will bring a much better experience to you, the player. This isn't just about making things more comfortable for the dev team with nothing to show in the actual game. This is about getting rid of Tyrano's limitations and being able to make a real game.
Q: What DO we get, then? I want a list! I want details! Gimme gimme gimme!
A: I'll try to be as exhaustive as I can!
- Animation: As you can see above, we can now animate things and make scenes more immersive. We can also add small interactive animations everywhere we want! For exemple, dialog options now all have their own small animation illustrating what you are about to say.
- Real inventory and equippable items: The game now supports the ability to keep multiple items on you instead of making those event-centric. You'll be able to get a pacifier, keep it and pop it in your mouth whenever you want, get your grabby hands on laxatives and diuretics to force yourself to have accidents or, for the more bondage-inclined, find things you shouldn't slip into and get in trouble for it.
- Better UI: Your entire User Interface will change to better reflect Abbey's situation, wearing a straitjacket will give a canvas theme to your UI (and appropriately show Abbey's jacket on her portrait) while carrying Mr Kitty will turn it in something more appropriate for a baby girl. Overall, the game's appearance and feedback is going to be greatly improved and a much better emphasis is put on the player's prefered style for Abbey.
- Better customization : Volume control and comfort level for things like diaper's accidents is now a thing.
- Dynamic gameplay : Timed actions or replies, gauges, better visualization of your progression in the game with an achievement system and the possibility to even add full fledged mini games with their own gameplay. (At the very least, you can expect the gaming room to have more than an angry redhead waiting for you there at some point... *cue onimous jingle*)
- Can't reply to (at least gameplay-based) suggestions with "That's not possible in Tyrano" anymore: If you think of something fun, there is now a much greater chance of us being able to add it in.
- A team of two with good chemistry and proper tools get a lot more done than a single person struggling with a crappy engine: Expect more and better playable content more often.
Q: That is all fine and dandy but I have more questions!
A: You can ask them here in the comments OR use the game's Discord : https://discord.gg/vsJZjJQ
It's a great place, we have cookies and crinkly emojis.
Comments
Babyluka
Or a 1000 times our money back :D?! You got a deal! You: That's not what I sai- Me: Yes it is! (lol seriously though looking forward to it)
The new experience won't take up several additional months, I can guarantee that you'll have a playable update by the 28th. :)
Babyluka
do you at least promise an update at the end of February? Cause i hate getting news after waiting months for something that a delay is happening to bring better experience- only for the experience to take up several additional months (like smash bros for the Wii...)
Wombat
This is awesome news! <3
keep up the good work!!!
TheShortKeys
Parallax scrolling!!!
Yura
A male protagonist would be interesting too!
