<![CDATA[DEMING DEVELOPMENT - Blog]]>Fri, 29 Nov 2024 04:24:43 -0600Weebly<![CDATA[Hive//Mind Devlog thus far]]>Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:14:53 GMThttp://demdev.cc/blog/hivemind-devlog-thus-farAs seen in placeholder form on Games page, we're making a card game! We've been tossing ideas around for a little over a year now (started November-ish 2022), and some amazing progress has taken shape. As of this writing, the game has its core mechanics nailed down (though balancing is still in progress), a plan for set distribution, a working testing environment in Tabletop Simulator, and Alpha graphics... but I've realized I haven't done much writing about the game itself outside of brief mentions in group chats. So let's put it all together and get you (nebulous) caught up!
The genesis of Hive//Mind (hereafter HiveMind or HM) was my polycule's shared realization that Magic kinda sucks now, actually. And that many other TCGs both rising and established were making similar gameplay or PR decisions to Wizards and would eventually tend a similar direction. This mutual frustration led to brainstorming about what would make a better game and a couple very rough sketches:
A day or two later I turned the rough sketches into less-rough digital files to tweak until we felt right about things. Some of those tweakings can be seen below. Some iterations are more drastically different than others.
We're quite happy with the current visuals but all things are of course subject to change.
As proud as I am of my vector doings for these, graphics alone do not a great game make!
(take that, triple-A studios)
The core concepts of HiveMind have been ironed out at this point, but we continue to brainstorm and explore the design space in pursuit of fun. To turn our scribblings into cards, I've leveraged a fan-made custom card program called Magic Set Editor (hereafter 'MSE') and edited the absolute hell out of it. I've written over 1500 lines of code for this now!

​I've put a whole ton of work into the card editor files to make it as easy as possible to turn our ideas into workable, printable cards! Here's a brief six-card showcase of various features... few of which you're likely to understand at the moment, but go with me here:
This six-card "sheet" is itself generated by a deckloader python script I wrote which will stitch together all the card faces indicated in a loosely-formatted decklist file. It's a powerful tool when testing in Table Top Simulator. It should also be massively helpful when we approach print-readiness.

Using an intentionally-limited palette, I think I've created a rather striking visual style... even for the flat 'alpha' graphics they are! 
I realize you won't know what most of this means right now. That's intentional. Feel free to speculate~

Rules balancing and documentation is in the works... more Developments are soon to come!
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<![CDATA[Changed themes... like six times.]]>Mon, 11 Mar 2024 23:36:31 GMThttp://demdev.cc/blog/changed-themes-like-six-timesI'm hard to satisfy when it comes to design. Working within the bounds of a website editor which insists on having someone else's theme underpinning my vision is not ideal. But We're getting there. It just took changing theme. And changing theme again. And again.

Ultimately we're more or less back where it started, but sleeker. I think it'll stay this way for a while.

​Now to actually work on some of the projects place-held around the site!
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<![CDATA[It works!]]>Fri, 26 Jan 2024 07:11:29 GMThttp://demdev.cc/blog/it-worksDemDev is back after a rocky and uncertain late 2023.
When Google sold off its Domains to Squarespace, I attempted to pivot to Wordpress... only to discover that it's riddled with AI bullshit and actually quite difficult to wrangle for precise design. So after trying to build this very site multiple times and failing, I pivoted further to this cute lil' webhost called Porkbun. Eeeeeexcept that I couldn't actually move domains again that soon because antifraud things etc etc.

So now at last we live again. I now have a decent home on which to put all my little dreams as they develop.

Whee!
- Jules
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