Archive for June, 2008
Setback
Monday, June 30th, 2008Frustration sets in once again. I’m not sure how to say this without giving anything away…hmmm. Let’s try it this way:
I had all the work done for what is basically the main puzzle of the game. It requires the use of, uh… extraneous “materials” that I have no control over. I wasn’t sure if these materials would ever change so I took a chance. I found out Friday that in fact the do, and did, change. So now I basically have to redo the entire thing. Not the whole game, just the main puzzle. No easy task considering it took me more than 2 weeks to create it initially. It is the largest and most complex puzzle I’ve ever craeted. Now about 80% of it has to be redone.
The game revolves around this puzzle and it’s too late (and too much work) to change it. I would have to redo just about every puzzle. There’s NO WAY I’m doing THAT! The worst part is that the materials could change again though probably not for awhile. But when it does, the game will be rendered virtually useless. But I’ll deal with that later.
The good news is that I was rechecking one of the hardest puzzles and I found (and fixed) an error. There’s not much worse than having the players, racing against time and other players, get stuck because of some mistake I overlooked (think Game 2, Puzzle 9).
Other than that, all is well.
Game 1: Puzzle Master to be removed
Friday, June 20th, 2008I have been toying with this idea for awhile now and I think I’ve finally made the decision to take Game 1: Puzzle Master down. Here’s why:
Games 2 thru 4 follow a story line. Game 1 doesn’t. It is independant. I think there are some good puzzles in there but few people get to see them because they are very hard and most give up before they get past the 2nd puzzle.
So after Game 3 or maybe Game 4 I will take Game 1 down and clean up the puzzles, changing them if necessary, so that they are independent of each other and post them individually. By doing this, it allows the other games to be a nice happy family without being distracted by the orphan Game 1. Additionally, visitors to the site will have the opportunity to view and solve multiple puzzles just for fun without having to solve one to get to the next.
I will leave the information regarding the winner in the Hall of Fame but I may take down the message board comments for it.
By doing this I think the website will be more fun for visitors as well as have a nice series of games that follow the same story line for the more adventurous players.
Let me know what you think.
There is light ahead.
Monday, June 16th, 2008Another puzzle complete. Feels good. This leaves me with only 2, maybe 3 puzzles left to create and then I have a whole mess of internet work to do like creating the webpages and stuff like that. I think after I finish one more puzzle I will release the Game 3 video. I decided to add a little puzzle to it as well and the first person to figure it out will win a free membership to the clue club. Excitement is starting to build.
Introducing…. Clue Club
Thursday, June 12th, 2008I am proud to announce the creation of the Clue Club. For a small membership fee of $5 (half off the regular price) you gain access to exciting benefits like a two hour headstart on the games and double the prize money if the member is the winner. Get more information about it here. Join by clicking on the coffee cup on the left.
PayPal fixed
Thursday, June 12th, 2008The situation with the PayPal has been resolved. Thank you to those who brought it to my attention.
If you had tried to buy us coffee and it didn’t work please try again. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Frustration!
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008I just found out that the PayPal is not working correctly. Apparently it will let someone donate money but a notification is not sent to me and the person who donated receives an email stating:
“The transaction that you made on [removed] with the amount of [removed] have an “unclaimed” status because it was sent to the wrong email address or to an email address that is not attach to any PayPal Account. I suggest that you cancel the payment on your end and contact the seller to ask on what email address you will be resending the payment.”
This is very irritating. (Sigh)
Gaining momentum
Monday, June 9th, 2008Ahh yes. Things are finally coming together once again. My brain is finally starting to spit out some puzzle ideas.
After each game it seems to be important that I take a 2 or 3 week break from it just to let it all settle in my mind. After that I can s l o w l y begin to get the tiny wheels inside spinning again. Creatively speaking things are just about up to full speed. I have finished the logic behind 2 more puzzles and have an idea for another one.
The process for me is first to come up with an idea. I then figure out the logic behind it. Once that is figured out I gather the items I need to visually create it. This process usually means scouring the internet for pictures, or background information, or just learning the information I need to put the puzzle together. Materials are gathered and a draft of the puzzle is created. I then look for way to either make the puzzle harder, or if I feel it is necessary, I look for ways and places to put a clue. After this I then pass over to my puzzle checker. She tries to figure it out while I begin to work on the next puzzle. I follow this process until the have them all but done.
The next step is to put them all on web pages, followed by two rounds of making sure the puzzles don’t have any mistakes, the flow is good, and it stays with the story line. I had to add the second round of “quality checks” because of the mistakes discovered by the players during Game 2: The Missing Mr. E.
Often I break away from creating the puzzles and I work on things like getting the Cluechaser.com website ready and I do as much promotion for it as I can.
There’s alot more involved, many more details but I’ll save that for a different post.
Bogged down
Monday, June 2nd, 2008I’m currently stuck. The creative juices have stopped flowing. Fortunately I know this is temporary. It happens all the time to me. What I don’t know is how long it will last. I hit a roadblock in my mind and had no choice but to put ClueChaser aside for awhile. It’s still in back of my head (seems it always is) but I had to return my focus to the areas of my life that I’ve been neglecting.
My brain works in a funny way. I know that in the back recesses of my mind puzzle ideas are churning and working themselves out. At some point the back of my brain will throw an idea to the front of my brain and I’ll be back on the job, creating puzzles, working them into the storyline, etc.
Currently I have the main idea of Game 3 in my head, the video to introduce it, and the main pieces almost complete. All I really have left is to create 6 to 8 more puzzles of varying complexity. That’s where I’m stuck. So far I have created over 20 puzzles for ClueChaser and each one has been different. Continuing this trend of original puzzles is beginning to take its toll on my limited imagination. It’s not just a matter of slapping something together, you have to make it so that it can’t be solved right away, perhaps there is, or should be, a hint placed somewhere. You’ve got to make sure the answer can’t be determined by accident but only by completing the entire puzzle (done well in game 1 I think but not as well in game 2). I could go on and on but I’ll save that for another post.
Just know that I factor these down times into my forecasting so I still plan to have Game 3: Puzzle PiEces ready by late July early August.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my ramblings. Feel free to post your thoughts/reactions. Maybe we can make something good of all this verbal nonsense.
Later,
Cowpatty Bill