So I have been keeping a few awesome little pieces of news close to my chest lately, and the first of these that I can announce is that Nine Lives of Nim is in Indiepocalypse Issue #28. This is an amazing initiative where every dev contributing to the zine gets a cut of the sales, which is just like… honestly just such an amazing thing when you are an unknown indie dev.
Oh my gosh, I cannot believe it is finally over. Seriously, it has been around about nine months to get this voice acting re-release out into the world. Largely we can blame the expanded lifespan of White Rabbit’s Diary getting in the way, and my very busy life, but I am happy to announce that The Nine Lives of Nim: Fortune’s Fool has now released with fully-voiced dialogue and additional quality-of-life improvements. Big thanks to my voice actors: Laura Kvigstad as Nim, Tom Tobin as Felix, and the wider cast of Brent Ahuriri, Kristen Devine, James Dunning, Samuel Hatch, Tom Kereama, Jade de Preez, Benjamin Teh, Vitas Varnas, Lauren Wilson (who is also the sound engineer, big thanks and love!) and, well, yes I am in there too 🙂
So what’s next on the slate for everything? – The Nine Lives of Nim: Simplified Chinese translation should be all ready to go around September 2021. It’s very close to done as it is right now but I am giving my tester lots of time (which also means I get some breathing space!) – Wonderland Nights: Waiting on the results of the Sir Julius Vogel Awards still, but other than that multiple language translations and console ports are being worked on still as we speak! – Her Jentle Hi-ness: Something is happening this weekend, as I will explain below, but I definitely intend to Kickstart this soon. July, probably.
I think I need to give myself the month of June off! Because guess what? I got a secondary infection after recovering from the cold two weeks ago. My throat glands swelled up and I could barely swallow without crying in pain. I’m heading back into the workplace today, I’m maybe 90% better now. I can at least eat, drink and talk, though I am reluctant to do that last one cos I sound pretty husky.
Also, I had better save my voice for this weekend, because I am going to be showing Her Jentle Hi-ness at the Indie Game Showcase, at GridAKL in Wynyard Quarter, Auckland, this Saturday 29th May from 2pm-5pm. It is free to the public, so why not come along and try a bunch of indie games and support the community? (Also don’t worry, this thing I am currently recovering from is not infectious!)
James is super hyped to record tonight (hope I don’t have to talk too much!) and review the new Ravenloft guide. We’re going to record our attempt at using their rules to make our very own Dark Lord! Exciting times. Less exciting, for him mostly, James is trudging through the next Dragonlance review and dragging his feet on it. At least for the next one he gets back to the more digestible medium of novels.
And the final word for this week, let me remind you to subscribe to our mailing list here: https://forms.gle/Z1EWrDP8KRMNZ5o2A . You will still get most news from us here on the blog of course, but the newsletter will be less granular, more promotional, and have occasional giveaways too!
There’s only four days left to get in on the Kickstarter campaign for our first computer game release! If you’ve been holding back, now’s the time to get in before your chance is up. Hopefully we can reach the next stretch goal before then 🙂
OurPrince of Cats kickstarterhas managed to reach its first stretch goal! I’m really excited to be able to bring you ten new images (plus one freebie to celebrate) which will decorate the end of each unique storyline in the game and be unlockable in the main menu gallery as game collectibles. You can check out more, including exclusive hints to unlock certain plot lines, on our latestKickstarter update.
We made it to our goal in less than 24 hours over on our Kickstarter for Prince of Cats. Thanks so much to those of your who backed us and spread the word! This went beyond my wildest dreams. I really didn’t expect such a rush of excitement for the game.
If you head on over there, you can check out the ideas we’re considering for stretch goals, and join in on our community play through of the game on Facebook.
Get in quick for the limited spaces for unique art of yourself and/or your cat. Or just get the game at a cheaper price than what it will be when it comes out.
I don’t much like tooting my own horn much, so it might come as a surprise to you to know I’ve been working on a computer game since 2015. I like to keep things quiet until I actually have something to show for my work.
Tomorrow I launch the Kickstarter for my game Prince of Cats. It’s about a faerie from the Court of the Cat Prince, who has to find her master who is lost in the mortal world. While there, she sees a lot of familiar characters from the plays of Shakespeare. It’s in the visual novel/life sim genre, and has many different endings and achievements to unlock.
The game was actually mostly finished in 2015, but being a poor student at the time, I didn’t have the budget for the artwork I really wanted. Now, working in the IT industry and in a better position, I have been paying the wonderful Jade du Preez of Forrest Creative and she’s been making the game beautiful for the last five months (yes, the same artist we used for Cat Capers!). Also my brother Brent Ahuriri, who created the music for my award-nominated play Dracula, is steadily working away at the soundtrack for the game.
I’m super thrilled to be bringing this game out finally. It will be finished, whether the Kickstarter is successful or not, it will just take a bit longer if we don’t get the funding. But this is your chance to get the game really cheap ($10NZD), or to get some of the nice bonuses, like your cat in the background artwork, or even your face for one of the characters!
I’ll make a new post tomorrow with the Kickstarter link once we’ve launched, but for now, please Like the page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/princeofcatsgame and you’ll get to see lots of new art as I update it.
Tomorrow, March 1st, is the start of something called NaNoRenO. Along the same lines as NaNoWriMo for novels and NaGaDeMon for game design, it’s a contest where you basically compete against your own procrastination and create something in one month. NaNoRenO is the version where contestants use the Ren’Py game engine to create a visual novel and/or life simulation (or dating sim) game. Think about games like Magical Diary or Long Live the Queen (or yes, even Hatoful Boyfriend…)
And I intend to take part!
Last year for a little bit I worked on a game in the Ren’Py engine and I found it wonderfully intuitive to work with. On the forums people said things like “Go out and make your first game, then throw it in the bin, cos it will be rubbish”. Well that’s certainly true, my first game was pretty terrible but it taught me how to use the system and how to make a better game.
So now I am coming back to it with my experience and further research into the genre, and starting tomorrow I will be making a game called “Prince of Cats”. You play a female cat-spirit, in the Fae court of cats (or cat-like things). The Prince of Cats has gone missing and you fear that without his protection your place in the court is too dangerous, so you venture into the mortal world to find him. What will become of you in the mortal world? Will you retain your spirit powers, or forget them and become a simple animal cat? Will you find the Prince? Does he even want to go home?
My rough timetable for making this will be along these lines:
1. Work out the event scheduling system
2. Work out the stats
3. Work out the different possible endings (there will be many, in the style of Princess Maker 2)
4. Write the events
5. Write any leftover bits of the story
6. Create character art
7. Create background art
8. Create music (or find free music)
9. Create a gallery so you can look back at all your achievements and endings
10. Create custom UI
And all within a month! But I’m really looking forward to starting. Wish me luck!
Sky Bear Games 