The Good Life Development News - July 2019 / The Good Life 開発状況 2019年7月
Publié par White Owls Inc. Collaborateur
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Dear beloved backers,
This is SWERY, the original creator and director of The Good Life.
I'm writing this because I have a very important announcement to make today.
One year and three months have already passed since this Kickstarter project met its goal. I can't believe it's already been that long! Time goes by fast when you're working hard every day to make a good game.
In the campaign, we stated that The Good Life would be released in Q4 2019 and received support from you all. After a long deliberation, we have decided to change the schedule and extend the development period in order to deliver The Good Life to all our backers in the best condition possible.
It's a very important, heavy decision, but we made it believing that it's the happiest decision for all the people who are going to eventually play it. Therefore, we humbly ask that you wait a little bit longer for The Good Life to reach your hands.
We expect the release date to move from Q4 2019 to Spring 2020.
We're very sorry about this, because we know you've all been waiting very patiently for The Good Life. We only came to the decision due to prioritizing the quality of the game above all else.
We sincerely hope you can understand our feelings on this issue, and will continue to support us.
Throughout this period of one year and a few months, the team has been working hard on deciding the details about what sort of game The Good Life is supposed to be. They've withstood my crazy manifestos and continued working hard on developing the game. The graphics have all been powered up compared to how they originally appeared during the campaign, and we even increased the map size so that you can sink your teeth even further into the world we've created.
Here, we'll post comparison videos that you can use to compare the current state of the game with the state of the game during the campaign. We hope you'll be able to watch these and stay excited for this new, powered-up version of The Good Life.
Graphics comparison
Alpha version play video
Project-related various elements
・Map is larger
・More background details
・More shops are accessible
・Photography is its own little mini-game now, with a tag system
*These images are still in development, so the final product may change.
・You can discover things with the Cat's Eye, and move comfortably and easily just like a cat
・We've added various parameters for Naomi such as hunger/sleepiness/beauty care
・Item gathering/crafting
・You can take food with you and eat it where you like
・You can memorize scents as a dog and visualize them to find things
・Gardening
・You can fight wild animals as a dog
・Lots of new items!
07/30/2019 SWERY
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The Good Life Development News - July 2019
■The secret to indoors
When you push the button to enter a building, it appears like you just entered. However what is actually happening is Naomi gets warped to a totally different part of the map.
With a few exceptions, most indoor environments are located in completely different areas then where the entrance is placed. It is kinda strange.
■ New backgrounds
Here are some new backgrounds, the Rainy Woods church and the farm outside of town.
You can not enter the church, but with a certain secret you are able to climb to the bell tower.
It will be exciting to see what kinds of drama awaits here.
■Scenery with the time of day
Like fog in the morning or orange skies in evening, the background will change depending on the time of day.
Places you visit during the day will have a completely different view when visited at different times.
You will want to take pictures even if your not Naomi!
We will have more development updates next month so stay tuned.
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Etna Comics 2019 vol.2
In this section we'll continue SWERY's report on his trip to Venice. You can check out the previous installment [
here].
Last time, I talked about Venice's food, and it may have seemed like I didn't enjoy my trip. So this time, in order to make up for that, I'd like to reveal some notes I made about the city and other things that interested me.
The truth is, even though it was only for two days, I really enjoyed my time in Venice. The streets and canals were so complex that I couldn't imagine how they were all built. The bridges were unique and artistic, none of the buildings seemed too tall, and the city was filled with religious buildings and their beautiful decorations. Gorgeous statues often stole my gaze, and even the lights and fountains in town had artistic touches to them.
The faded plaster walls and the brick that could be seen within, colored plaster that decorated the veranda windows of beautiful houses...and the laundry blowing in the wind, declaring to me that this is a city that lives, breathes, and bleeds. The gondolas and small boats that moved through the canals even seemed to be powerful symbols of the strength of the people in this city. Each one of these things was so beautiful, I don't think I'll forget them for the rest of my life. I think it was very meaningful me to come to this city while I'm still in good health, and still have some time left on my hands.
From the bottom of my heart, I'm glad that I decided to change my travel plans and come to this city. Now, here is a collection of notes I took on the buildings there.
The girders of the houses' roofs were very unique.
Whether it was a restaurant or hotel lobby, once you step inside the spacious area, you're unconsciously nudged to gaze up at the ceiling. In most normal buildings, the girders usually branch out from one thick beam that make up the central framework and passes directly over the central pillar, with smaller ones supporting the surrounding area of the ceiling (or upper floor). In Venice, girders of the same size extended parallel to one another, supporting the weight of the ceiling together. As I wrote before, I have no grasp of the language, so I wasn't able to find out why the ceilings were built that way. When I get back to Japan, I want to look through architecture books and discover the answer.
Most of the windows in Venice had wooden shutters attached to them, which would open out from the center.
If opening them from the inside, you would have to push toward the outer edges with both hands. Completely normal, but they were also affixed in the proper place so that they wouldn't interfere with any planters placed on the veranda. In comparison, the inner glass windows opened in the same fashion, but in toward the room itself, so it was hard to open them without the curtains getting in the way.
Mosquitos are everywhere in Venice (and all over Italy), so anti-mosquito measures are essential. Therefore, I actually don't recommend opening the windows at all. Personally, I bought a VAPE (an anti-mosquito device that plugs into the wall) and had it running the entire time in my hotel room. That reminds me, there's also one more thing you need to take care of regarding the planters on the veranda. If you ever visit Venice, and go out for a walk in the morning, you may wonder why the street is wet even though there hasn't been any rain.
In Venice, you'll always be able to find wet spots underneath the windows of hotels and homes. As I'm sure you've figured out by now, this is because every morning, people give their flowers lots of water. The water that spills out of the planters drips down to the walkways, but people walk along them nonetheless without a care in the world.
In Japan, if only a few drops of water were to drip down from your window, it would without a doubt summon up some peer pressure to force you to conform to the rules.
"You're causing problems for others," "streets are public property," or other accusations using extremely simplistic logic. These extremely unreasonable people would certainly also use 'public' electrictity to prove to other people that justice is on their side.
Compared to that, even if graffiti was visible in several areas of the city, and even if it had a little bit of litter here and there, I felt a deep sense of respect for the people in this city and their tolerance towards the water dripping from the planters.
Sorry for getting off topic - back to the graffiti. All Italian cities seem to be filled with graffiti drawn with paint. Some of the graffiti just looks like someone mindlessly used up a spray can on a wall, while other graffiti looks artistic and well done. Since long ago, people have always possessed a desire to draw pictures on nice-looking walls.
Just like all the murals around the world prove to us, this is a trait of the homo sapiens. No matter how much civilization progresses, and even if we forget how we used to run around naked in our past, we will never be able to rid ourselves of this trait. Just like no matter how well-trained a dog becomes, if it hears an ambulance siren, it will start barking.
Just so you know, I've only visited these five places: Roma, Pisa, Valencia, Catania, and Venice. In other words, I don't know anything about the other places, so if these sort of things don't happen there, then allow me to apologize. It's not really that important, but ever since coming to Venice, I've felt like my body has been shaking the entire time. Not as far as something like being seasick, but I definitely feel different than usual.
When I got to the airport, I had to choose a ground or water transport. Of course, I selected water just like the majority of the tourists, but I didn't realize how far Venice was from the airport, so I ended up shaking on the Vaporetto (water bus) until I reached the hotel.
Since the Vaporetto is a public transport, it had to constantly yield the right of way to private boats and water taxis. In the end, this made the trip very slow, and it got overtaken by a variety of different people (hand-paddled gondolas, and even birds). When we finally reached land, my legs were so unsteady it felt like I was standing on a huge, soft marshmallow. Then I had to drag my suitcase to the hotel.
The island I disembarked on (and where I stayed) was right in front of St. Mark's Square, but we couldn't head straight toward it because a canal cut across our path. So we had to make a large detour and head to St. Mark's Square, either by crossing the Ponte dell'Accademia, or by taking a boat that went between the islands (only from 9 AM to 6 PM, 2 euro per person). Since I was clearly a tourist, even though I still felt like I was shaking, I chose the boat, and felt dizziness assault me every time I moved off a gondola onto a pier - as if the ground was coming toward me, rather than the other way around.
But the city was so beautiful and filled with experiences that I could easily forget all that. The stray cats walking through the streets weren't just normal cats, they were "the cats of Venice."
The cats of Venice...doesn't that have an intriguing ring to it?
In the end, for people who may visit Venice for the first time at some point in the future, I'd like to add a little more info from my experience that you may not be able to pick up from photos or videos.
Temperature: Even though it was June, it was hot and humid. Just like Japanese summers.
Noise: It's a tourist area, so there are a lot of people and voices. Plazas and streets are filled with noise. But gondolas and cafes near the water are surprisingly quiet. At night, sometimes you'll hear young people yelling or talking, or gulls crying, but I could still sleep.
Scent: The Vaporettos smell terribly of the kind of gasoline they use in boats. The smell even permeated the rooms of the boat. I could barely breathe, so I kept a towel over my mouth the entire time. The water in the canal was green and looked muddy at first place, but it didn't smell at all. The smell I noticed when going out to the sea felt far more intrusive. Additionally, from the street, I could often smell the pleasant fragrances of flowers planted in people's gardens. The smell of Jasmine, which was in season then, was particularly relaxing.
Thus ends my prejudice-filled thoughts on my two-day trip. It was a lot of fun. If I ever get the chance again, I'd like to go for a little longer next time.
2019/6/13 SWERY
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Inhabitants of Rainy Woods
Time to introduce some more of Rainy Woods' unique inhabitants!
Enjoy this brand new illustrations!