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Trichromix Is Still Nearly Finished
Monday, May 16, 2005
More and more people have been asking me about Trichromix lately. I guess that's understandable since it's been a while since I said anything about it and I have been saying for about four months that it's nearly finished. So, what's the current status of Trichromix?
Well, it's nearly finished. :-) The game code is done. I want to give it one more good run-through to make sure there are no bugs anymore and I want to test it on Windows 98 and Me, but I don't expect much trouble. I'll have to make a demo, which isn't that difficult. I'll just have to make sure that you can't trick the demo into allowing you to play the puzzles that are included with the full version.
At the moment, my main focus is with the supporting web site. The design is finished and taking payments - which is done through eSellerate - works. I haven't written all the ad copy yet, but I suspect that will take a day at most. Trichromix comes with access to the membership web site, which I call the Trichromix Club, and that takes a bit more time to implement. Whenever a sale comes in, the web site receives a message from eSellerate and from that message creates an account. The customer is notified by e-mail that an account has been created for him/her and he/she is asked to activate it. This is operational up until the activation part, on which I am currently working. After that, I have to add a small amount of content; enough to show the first couple of customers what's in store. I can always add more content after Trichromix has been released.
What has been taking up most of my time though, and why things are moving so slowly, is creating content for the game itself. When I posted beta 2, I already talked about adding personality to Trichromix. I have come up with a way to do this. Every puzzle pack, which consists of about twenty puzzles, comes with a riddle. Every time you solve a puzzle in the puzzle pack, you get a clue to help you solve the riddle. To solve the riddle, you first need to solve all puzzles to collect all clues. I truly believe the idea is winning, but I have had a lot of trouble coming up with these riddles. It seems to get easier over time, but I'm not yet at the point where I set down, come up with a riddle and be done with it.
That's about it for now. I'll post the demo here at the end of the week, so you can all see what the first version of Trichromix will be like. I know it's not terribly smart to make promises like this on your blog, but it gives me an extra incentive. :-)
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Stefan Holdermans says:
So this means that Trichromix will only be available for Windows platforms?
Monday, May 16, 2005 7:45 PM
GBGames says:
Well, good luck! I'm also a bit saddened that it will be exclusive for Windows, but I guess I am not that surprised either.
Monday, May 16, 2005 7:58 PM
Joost Ronkes Agerbeek says:
The first release will be Windows exclusive, yes. I guess Stefan was hoping for a Mac version and Gianfranco for a Linux version.
The main problem is that I don't have the means to test on those platforms, which means I can't really give proper customer support. I don't own a Mac and I know next to nothing about Linux. Support for other platforms than Windows is just one of those things I decided is not crucial right now. I do want to port Trichromix later on, though.
Monday, May 16, 2005 10:34 PM
wouter lindenhof says:
Ah, yes. Promises.
Promises are like a double edged sword (means you can cut yourself too).
It gives you more drive to do things, like a teacher asking where your homework is (people who had homework, know what I mean ;-) ) but at the same time it gives you presure which sometimes make you unable to make progress. But the worst part is not holding the promise. You have the feeling you failed yourself and your not worth to be a programmer at all (Where you ever?). This can take a while to go over and than you come to the following conclusion: "You're not the best, but your better than the rest."
Indeed, ignorance is bliss. ^_^
I'm sadded about the fact I have to pay for it but then again... I'm always sadded hearing the word "pay", unless I'm recieving. just make sure you cant fool the program.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005 12:12 PM
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