Back from Germany

Got back from the trip absolutely shattered at 3am today. It wouldn't have been so bad if the plane hadn't been delayed and the train was off because of the flooding. the train company put on a bus from Manchester to York, but it took an absolute age to go through a number of towns picking up and dropping off.

The trip itself was great and Claas (the PR manager from DTP) and I met up with some really friendly people to show them an early version of So Blonde. They were even good enough to laugh at some of my jokes. :)

Mostly we showed the game to print magazines, but we also met up with two of the guys from the German adventure site, Adventure-Treff - Marco and Basti. It was a great evening; thanks for being so friendly, guys. They've already posted a piece over at the site, which includes a picture of Claas and I enjoying the Bavarian hospitality. The glazed eyes are because I was tired, honest...

The journalists from the print magazines were also very enthusiastic, which was a real pleasure. One of the magazines, Play Vanilla, is probably one of the coolest magazines that I've seen for a long time, even though I don't speak German. It's a gaming magazine that's aimed at female gamers and has the style of a top women's lifestyle/fashion magazine. Whoever had this cool idea should be making the magazine in other languages, too.

Although the trip was pretty short, we managed to fit in a lot of meetings and hopefully did the game a lot of good. I'm hoping to return to Germany in August for the GC in Leipzig. Maybe see you there?

WiiWare

Over at the Develop site there's recently been posted a report on Nintendo's WiiWare. This must be the coolest idea for a long time. Mr. Smoozles Goes Wii, anyone? :)

Now, if I could just find where I can get hold of the right tools...

Trips to Germany

I've got a brief trip to Germany next week to talk to some of the big print magazines about So Blonde. I'm really looking forward to it as I'm as pleased with the game as Pooh is with a hunny jar.

There's also a very good chance that I'll be going to Leipzig in August for the GC taking place there, so if any of you are also going, maybe we'll get an opportunity to bump into one another. I'll let you know more as my plans firm up.

Sam and Max

I've just played the first episode of the recent Sam and Max series from Telltale Games and thoroughly enjoyed it. I know it came out months ago, but I've been waiting for the whole series to appear before committing to it, particularly as the Bone games were put on hold.

I must admit to a little trepidation after I was a little disappointed with the first Bone episode, but I'm glad I bought the series and as I just said, I enjoyed the first episode. While it's not perfect (what is?), the sense of fun was wonderful and I just loved the dialogue writing and the voice acting and the way that the, sometimes fabulously nonsense, puzzles and gameplay held together within the zany world logic.

Although I loved the dialogue, it's the conversations where my only small (and I must emphasise small) gripe is aimed. It's nothing to do with the way the lines are written, but the way the interactive conversations are implemented. I wish they were a little more context sensitive with more options available depending on Sam and Max's knowledge. There were a few times where I'd just discovered an important plot clue and yet couldn't talk to the other characters about it. I realise that time was tight for the guys at Telltale, so it's understandable that they prioritised in other areas.

I've read in other places that people thought that the puzzles were easy, but I didn't find that to be the case. I'm not a fan of puzzles that cause you to be stuck for days. On the whole, the puzzles fit very well with the unfolding story, the characters and the zany nature of the whole premise. It's the first game in ages that's genuinely made me laugh for all the right reasons.

So, I'd heartily recommend trying out Sam and Max for yourselves. You know I must be right because I just used "zany" twice.

Comic Strip Hiatus

As much as I'd love to press on with the comic strips, they really have been taking up more time than I would like and I need to put more emphasis on my writing, particularly over the coming months with the game related projects I'm becoming involved in.

I've also been putting off the development of my novel, which is currently in the half-plotted stage and I want to finish off the plotting before too much longer.

I'm still searching for artists to help me out with the strips as I do want to continue writing them, I just don't have time for the artwork right now. Again, if any of you fancy a go or know anyone who might, please get in contact.

Nutso - New Vista Version - Special Pricing

I have just released a Windows Vista compatible version of Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso. Players can also buy it at a specially reduced price for a limited time only! For more details, please read the press release here: http://www.juniper-games.com/blog/labels/Press.html

Juniper Games - News and Information Blog

The Juniper Games community forums are closed for the forseeable future. In order to keep you informed of any news pertaining to Juniper Games and to allow you to make comments (should you wish to do so), I have created a News and Information blog: http://www.juniper-games.com/blog/JGblog.html

More to follow...

Steve Purcell - Pirate Artwork

Arrr...! Shiver me timbers, you landlubbers. Check out these fine specimens o' pirate treasure - artwork created by none other than Cap'n Steve Purcell.

Comic Strips - Looking for Artists

I find that I'm at a strange place with my comic strips. I'm really struggling to make the time to create them, yet I'm enjoying writing them. The answer, then, seems to be to find artists who I can work with and who will maintain the vision.

While I appreciate that an artist will want to bring something of themselves to such a working partnership, they should also do it in a way that's consistent with the aim and design of the strips.

There are a number of ways this could work. A single artist could work with me on each of the two strips; artists could commit for a short term (week, month, whatever); or there could be some kind of rolling deal where artists work on strips as and when they are available to do so. Or anything else that others could think of.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to pay anyone for this as I make no money from my strips and simply do it out of love, but should that position change or you can think of ways to market the strip to make money then such earnings will be shared.

Please let me know if you are interested in any way and we'll talk. Contact me on steve@steve-ince.co.uk

Juniper Games Forum - Closure

It's more than likely that I'll shortly be closing down the Juniper Games forum. While there are plenty of members, hardly anyone posts anything and the number of spurious members joingin every day is getting ridiculous and I don't have the time to be dealing with this. While one answer might be to appoint someone as an administrator to deal with this, if the forums are not active it's still a little pointless.

However, so that people can still comment, should they wish to do so, I shall replace the forum with some kind of news and information blog, the exact structure of which is still being developed.

More news as it happens.

0.5C - New Strip

I've posted the first strip in the new style. It's a re-working of strip 7 and I'm not entirely happy with the last panel, but I'm still working on my technique. I've gotten out of the habit of drawing more realistic people after all these cartoon style characters.

Check it out on the 0.5C page.

0.5C - New character art

Over on the main 0.5C page I've posted new character drawings in what I intend to be the new style. Feedback appreciated as always.

0.5C - thinking about the strip

The last 0.5C strip was posted almost a month ago because I went on holiday and then couldn't get myself motivated last week to create a new one. Part of this lack of motivation came from a feeling of dissatisfaction with the art style of the strip, which, to me, was a big problem in that last strip. In particular, the look of Pam didn't really do justice to her character.

In general terms, the way I've drawn the characters makes them look a bit like kids with old heads and when I started looking a little more critically at the whole look I realised that I want something that's a bit more substantial and a little less "cartoony". While I'll never get away from the cartoon look altogether (this is a comic strip after all) I'm at least going to give the characters more normal proportions and a slightly more realistic style of rendering.

I think that the issues with the style have come about from drawing Mr. Smoozles (and little else) for two years, which had the wrong sort of influence on my approach to 0.5C.

It may be a little while before I'm in a position to continue with regular strip updates, but I'll keep you informed of the progress. I already have sketches of Chris and Dan that I'm happy with, along with their wives, Pam and Shirley. Once I have inked versions I'll post them onto the website.

Thanks for your patience.