Memory Leak!

We've struck Gold!! Er... not quite actually. Black Gold? Not even, but we've sure dug a hole :p.

When creating an advanced program in c# there are always wonky problems to be expected from the auto memory management. In this case, it looks like Unity is using an older version of Mono to compile the code which still uses Boehm's Garbage Collector. There's a great article on this over here at Gamasutra which includes a lot of basic information and background on what memory leaks are :).

The line in particular we're having trouble with is a the Init (Initiation) function for our Attribute Editor, particularly when being used/referenced in the Dialogue Editor. You open the Dialogue Editor from the main story tool, and this uses the same memory referenced style as the Attribute Editor. Similarly, the code for this was working fine, and has not changed. This comes after a series of changes in the main UI one would think have nothing to do with our problem. I'm kind of at a loss. While I decide on how I want to approach setting up some discovery tools for memory leaks, me and Bob have decided this is an excellent time to reach out in our area and find another coder willing to step into the project.

Meanwhile, Bob is nearly done with a revised version of the desk, has already completed quite an amazing pocket watch we can include as an in-game clock...

I'm terrible about keeping social schedules, despite my work ethic, but I'm going to try and view this as a job, and make sure to get out a regular blog on here now that we've reached our Alpha release and put a little polish on it. Especially while we're searching for a coder and stuck behind this memory leak. For now, I've got to leave for work in a little over an hour (can't wait for *this* to the work I leave for !), and I'm going to do a little more research and experimentation before I get ready.

Unfortunately, because of the nature of this memory leak, it can take a while ( and often a restart ) to stabilize my machine after testing until the memory leak is fixed. So it has been taking quite a bit of time to achieve progress on it :(

Alpha Release, Advertising, Story Writing, and Work

All the things that make up my life right now :). Work is alright, we have the full-time sales lead from my old store working as the co-manager of my new store, that will be fun to have her back. Otherwise, we've put out our alpha demo at www.tikihubgames.com. Really! You can try it right now! It is a Procedural Story-Telling Game called Manifest. The concept puts you in the role of a writer developing a story through options in a notepad and a book which fills pages from beginning to end with a different story depending upon your choices.

I've been spending a lot of time trying to bring the demo to anywhere people invite playtesting, feedback and introductions. Twitter and facebook have been handy tools as I work through the process, but altogether, I think it comes down to a simple matter of time and effort. The more work I put into the game, update online for people to see, and repeat, the more exposure I seem to get. Seems like an honest way to find followers, customers, fans and just attract new eyes in general, so I'm full-speed ahead. The game itself has come a long way, with a full 3d GUI integrated, one we can use later on in a larger action RPG to write your own stories for lore... we'll get into that another time though. Fact is, this is what we've been waiting for, debugging, writing stories, making art, all the fun stuff! :)

Manifest Kickstarter Preview!

It's been a long time once again, but with good reason. We buckled down and completed Manifest's engine and UI. Yesterday night we finished setting up our kickstarter, which we sent in for community management review. This is SO exciting to me. I feel like my whole life is beginning with this day. I finally get to start showing off the game and working on stories regularly, I can even do a little artwork :). Bob has been instrumental in accomplishing this, his models look incredible, and his texture work is so detailed! I was blown away by the final result of our visuals, here's a preview! You can also check out the demo at www.tikihubgames.com, which we will begin adding content to *today*.

Kickstarter Preview:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1137395854/1786273707?token=dda8c481

The flame lights up and you see a place to enter your name and age. After doing so, you are presented with a number of choices based on your age which represent your time-developed personality. You are then given a choice of item and two roles within a world that fits your created personality. From here, you choose options to direct the story.

I want to say we spent about six months developing this game so far. Maybe less. I did spend a good chunk of that doing retail work in season, at which point I was hardly able to work on it for weeks. I invested a few weeks myself in bringing Inventorium to a near-complete status (it's still coming I swear, just like the dragons!). So all-in-all we probably spent something more like 4 to 5 months of development in our spare time. It was fun, hard, and the end is becoming pretty stressful, but it's worth every second and penny of it. This is the life I want to live, working on products like this, producing something that everyone can enjoy or benefit from. I don't think I've ever done something that's felt more rewarding than this project, and I look forward to topping it in the future!

Kickstarter Preview:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1137395854/1786273707?token=dda8c481

Our Website:
http://www.tikihubgames.com

Inventorium Update

We've been working incredibly hard at a number of things over the last several months. Game Design is a lot of fun, but it can also be frustrating. Coding bugs, compatibility errors and the fast-paced change of the industry can all leave you feeling a little down sometimes. Some people might just hunker down and get through it, it's a part of the job to them. For me this is such a passion, that I find I thrive on it, even if my body doesn't :p. Sometimes the stress of this job can be something that makes you feel exasperated, but it's also a sign of innovation and creativity. When you are at your most frustrated and angered, it is (for me) always when the turning point is just around the corner. The last few weeks I've been working at our new Asset Store product - Inventorium, which is just about done, but the last few days have been torture.

Sifting through code for one-off bugs I'd overlooked when overhauling a local declaration system, sheesh, they seem like they never end sometimes. There is this moment though, and it's always just as surprising. After try and try and try, fix and fix and fix, you grow accustomed to the pattern of creating bugs by squashing them. You start to feel like the bugs are multiplying, like they're alive, when in reality, you're just trudging through them one by one. Sometimes you lose scope of the fact that there will be an end. It applies to everything, but lately it's applied quite often to programming for me - you have to remember that feeling of victory when everything works as it should. That relief, and shed of burden, when your work is complete, is the reward. You have learned, accomplished, created, and are ready to move on to newer, bigger things - a better coder, a better artist, a better designer, a better you :).

Inventorium Web Player Demo (Temporary Link)

Press E to pick up and put down objects physically. Click to move items through inventory management. R to rotate. I (i) for inventory list. Cylinders are three different items I set up, a sword, an axe, and an apple. The blocks are containers, there are two, the double up arrow is a large "backpack", the other is a small "satchel".

What a ride!

I don't even remember the last time I posted here! I feel bad actually, this is a nice outlet with all the work we've been getting done. Our Procedural Story-Telling Game: Manifest, will be out soon, and the demo even sooner (2-3 weeks). We can't wait to start showing it off! The response from the previewers we've had has been amazing, and we're growing quite confident in the product :).

http://www.twitch.tv/tikihubtony/c/6222946 for a preview!

In the next few days I'll be wrapping up "Inventorium", a Unity Asset Store tool that allows you to easily set up containers and items with multiple slots of any configuration (like Diablo's inventory system, or Path of Exile's), and rotate them. The UI and tool is done, all that is left is the logic for storing items in containers, then pretty it up with some custom models for examples and package it up for the store!

We also stream that at our twitch, but you can find a WebPlayer demo here:

http://tikitemp.netii.net/Players.html
E to pick up objects, and to place items back down. R to rotate, I to show your inventory master list.

Finally, we of course set have updated CityScaper several times, and have some new features planned. Check out the feature list on the official thread:

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/released-cityscaper-procedural-city-generator.247856/

In the next patch we are planning a new Saveable Settings Editor Window for setting up multiple city generation types, run-time functionality, a WebPlayer demo, and multiple material slots per building by request! It will be like a completely new program in 1.1.0. That update will take some time, but we will be able to focus on it shortly.

Thanks for reading our update!

Tiki's Corner

Since this is my personal blog about the business, I'd like to post some things about myself, apart from the business once in a while. In the tradition of work, let's start with my newest job. While I'd been working the stock expert at a clothing store (I still work as an associate on the floor a day or two a week), I'm now working as an embroiderer. I'll post some pictures soon, but I made my first patch for a hat today. Sure, I redid their logo in photoshop and converted it, but I did it :). Hopefully there will be some print in the future as well with this job. For me, it's a great relief to have something that's not typical retail, and allows me to use my skills as a digital artist.

Talking about Talking

One of the more innovative ideas I've been working on is what I call procedural storytelling. To explain what this in more depth than I have elswhere:

Procedural Storytelling is the art of telling a story using multiple parts, to create a cohesive narrative that is still entirely unique to the player. Differing from branching story gameplay, procedural storytelling aims to play events based on requirements met by the world and it's actors/pieces. One of the biggest drawbacks of such an engine is Voice Acting is impractically expensive, and would require a highly sophisticated automatic voice algorithm to make it affordable and worth it. On the bright side, with it being such a new idea, there is plenty of fun to be had with nothing but text while the newest flash-based supercomputer prototypes are still being built. That's all I'm willing to release on it before we begin sending out demos to reviewers, which should be within the month. We haven't settled on a title for the first game, but we've finished the toolset, the base of the UI, and have only a small set of graphics and a large volume of stories to create to bring you an engaging and unique experience...

Meanwhile, I've made contact with our first feedback customer for CityScaper, who's already helped me largely prevent compatibility errors. If you've been getting LibNoise compatibility errors, they will be fixed in the next patch. Contact us at 'thetiki@gmail.com' with your order # if you've already purchased the asset and would like the updated version early. We are still looking for more feedback and errors, if you have another problem, don't hesitate to email us as well with your debug. No problem is too small for me too look at!

Finally, the Inventory System has been put back on the top of my priority list, withholding responses and patching for our CityScaper feedback. I've managed to fill in some of the holes I had left previously and now you can pick up the backpack and attach it to the character. All that's left now is to draw the GUI, and then I'll be spending a bit of time doing back and forth with the people who had requested this asset before releasing the *first* asset. From there I plan on releasing several small add-ons, as well as a final pack including all of them at a discounted price when finished.