I suppose I should apologize for quietness on my end
Developing two, possibly three games at once makes it difficult to get around to working on PBNJ. Hopefully one of the games (which has a nearly complete engine and one of six worlds entirely completed) will have everything but the artwork and beta testing complete in the next month or so, and then I'll get more time to focus on PBNJ. I can't tell you what it is yet (the producer of the game doesn't want the name leaked) but I can tell you it's very enjoyable to play and will be free on the Android and Iphone markets. As for my other game, it's undertaken as a long term project-- something that won't be complete for years, so I don't plan to do much now. After adding perhaps 100 of the 256 characters, I'll probably call that phase of the project done.
Now, for PBNJ news:
While I /have/ gotten some time to work on the game, most of it has been pushed to a later date. Writing a weather, time and seasons system is a lot more difficult than I gave it credit, and finding a way to implement achievements that doesn't weigh down computers is more difficult than you can imagine. I'm probably going to abandon the concept of 'achievements' altogether, despite it being a staple of the idle games and macrogame genre; however, I notice that A Dark Room did away with achievements and was better for it. There will still be a 'questing' system, but nothing like the achievements as you think of them.
Finally, one of the assistant programmers is having trouble at school. They probably won't resume programming with me until that is resolved, so I'll have to wait a bit longer for their help. If /you/ want to see items implemented into PBNJ, submit your suggestions and I /might/ just squeeze in an update... after all, I've gotten all of the non-achievement non-weather content squeezed in and fixed for bugs. Also, we are still looking for artists, musicians, foley artists, programmers, marketing and one web programmer for a very special project. If you are interested (or know someone interested) in making games, contact me at [email protected] or though skype at 'chemiisan'.
Expect regular updates to resume in late January, after I settle into my classes and schedule my life out. I can't wait.
