New map for part 1 of the final chapter!

This week I was working on the map that connects all the rooms in the final episode of the game (at least in part 1, since parts 2 and 3 don't use a map). Although I always consider this task to be fundamental at the beginning of development, as I try to get into the writing of the narrative and dialogs, this time most of the rooms were already finished and placed in the game when I started thinking about their geographical location. The reason for this decision is that I was still unclear to me  how the characters would travel between the southern part of the city (chapters 1 and 2) and the northern part (chapter 3), or if they would do so more than once throughout the game.

After the (recently made) decision not to make this story another one that ends up being a hoax, dream, drug-induced coma, etc., and this way return to its beginnings as an entirely science fiction story with touches of humor, these doubts disappeared.

There will be no travel between zones for the charcaters!

This new decision led to certain changes in the general map of the city, moving the docks to the northern part (update for maps in chapters 1 and 2 still pending) in order to give our heroes a reason to actually go there in the first place and also exaggerating the distances between both parts so that trip back is unthinkable. 

This way, I can refresh the setting and give the player a much-needed sense of progress.

Speaking of the map, it should be noted that, as I mentioned earlier in X, all of these places that the player has visited in chapters 1 and 2 and will visit during the first part of chapter 3 actually exist or have existed in my hometown (with the exception of the comic book store where it all begins) and have only been slightly modified in terms of their geographical location and layout (some are or were much larger or smaller in size and/or number of rooms than the originals) to facilitate the development of the story. 

This last point makes it extremely difficult to put together the layout of a map, and if I had to start over, I would do it 100% top-down (Thimbleweed Park style) instead of the slight tilt it currently has.

Although I think it turned out pretty well! 😎

And returning to the subject of the story, going back to the origins allows me to think again about interesting puzzles that return to the dynamic of discovering a great conspiracy (as in chapter 1). I always thought of this story as a mix between Armada (a book by Ernest Cline) and Space Balls (a 1987 movie), or what Space Quest would be like if it were made by LucasFilms Games instead of Sierra On-line.

Anyway, the map is ready and the rooms are starting to connect with each other...

Til next post!

Tiba

The Truck Conundrum.

When I began developing the third chapter of Stellar Mess, I wanna do it in a different location than the one I used for the first and second chapters. Anyone following the story will know that, although Diego and company have found the princess (her coordinates), they have not yet rescued her and therefore remain in the same city where it all began. 

Speaking of “the city where it all began,” I'll take the liberty of assuming that the reader remembers the first text of the first chapter, which indicated that these events take place in 1991 somewhere in Patagonia, Argentina. Well, for those who haven't yet put two and two together, that “place in Patagonia, Argentina” is based on my hometown, so you can imagine that I know its geographical layout very well. 

Comodoro Rivadavia (Chubut, Argentina) is divided by important geographical features, including Cerro Chenque (which means “cemetery” or “grave” in the Tehuelche language of the original inhabitants), which splits the city into two areas, north and south, with the southern area being the setting for the first two chapters.

Analyzing this and considering the amount of liberties I took when designing the map of the southern part of the city, I decided to move the third and final chapter to the northern part, also modifying it just enough to enhance the game's narrative.

Once I had decided this, the writing progressed steadily until I realized that I needed a starting point that would also serve as a connection between both parts of the city. Focusing my mind on how things looked here in 1991, I decided that this point would be a certain monument featuring a truck from a well-known oil company in the area after a serious traffic accident (completely wrecked). The monument was placed there in 1961 by the city's Rotary Club affiliate to raise awareness among drivers about the dangers of traffic accidents in that section of the road.

Everything seemed to be taking shape, but another problem arose, a doubt in fact, about the color of the truck. The (extremely scarce) photographic record of it only showed the last iterations it had gone through (white and yellow) until its removal after a large landslide in 2003 that took part of the road and ended up ruining the monument (even more).

As I usually do when something like this happens,  I turned to my friends to only to realize that we couldn't agree among ourselves either. After some discussion on the matter, an idea struck me... 

Noting that some of us remembered it as green, red, yellow, white, or even sometimes more than one color, and considering that this change occurred very often (perhaps to justify some expense that exceeded the city's budget), I decided that every time our characters go to this place, the truck will be painted a random color taken from among the colors mentioned above.

Anyway,

If you've made it this far, I imagine you're wondering why I'm telling you all these details, and the answer is because I not only want to leave a record of how important this game is to me on a personal and nostalgic level, but also because I want to share the way in which I have made some decisions that, when playing the video game, may not be entirely clear to those who did not live in Comodoro Rivadavia in said years.

I hope you enjoyed this possibly unnecessary information😝 

Til next post!

Changes, doubts and more changes!

I'm not going to lie, I toyed with the idea that the third and final chapter of Stellar Mess would involve a trip back in time, suggesting that the previous two chapters were an elaborate hoax orchestrated by Diego's father and his production company to get Diego (their star creative writer) back, who after being forced to write sequel after sequel of what he considered his most important work, he escapes to Argentina. 

This can be seen in several shared screenshots of the game in development.

But the thing is, I've never really enjoyed science fiction movies/games that end with the idea that everything is a hoax, a dream, like a drug-induced optical illusion produced by mental illness or something like that. That's why I decided to steer the wheel toward a pure science fiction story and follow the direction the story was taking, that is, rescue the princess, help the rebellion, and become an anonymous hero for the entire galaxy. 

Now a new problem arises: What to do with the “post-credits scene” of Stellar Mess: Operation Kush (ch.2)? 

Shoul I go all "George Lucas" style and change the chapter and hope nobody notice the difference? 

Even better! Let's go with the idea that this scene is a VHS reproduction that Claire shows Diego at the base of the four while Data prepares their transport to the northern part of the city, and let's leave this post-credits scene as an “idea” that Claire has for making a movie about her adventures with Diego and Data (idea that is not widely accepted by Diego). 

 Great! now I can continue 

 Till next post!

More screenshots from chapter 3 of Stellar Mess!

 Hello again! 

In this post, I bring you a new addition to the same collection of backgrounds for chapter 3 of Stellar Mess. Although it may seem strange, I think it's already clear (from the previous post) that the last chapter of the game begins as a prequel to the events we played in both chapters 1 and 2. 

That said, I think it's very easy to use this narrative device incorrectly and at the risk of overusing it, I have already used it to a lesser extent in chapter 2 (particularly when the game begins a few hours before the end of chapter 1), I promise that I am paying close attention to make the most of it and thus avoid exhausting players of the saga by going through the same scenarios over and over again without creating a total disconnect between chapters within an episodic story. 

Not to mention that I have discovered that I desperately need this resource to explain some fundamental events that will take place at the end.

In this case, I have only expanded and “related” the images of the office building of “TibbaFilms,” a film production company for which Diego (if that turns out to be his real identity) worked in the past.

Many of us have needed a change of scenery, a breath of fresh air, or even, in more extreme cases, a change of life at some point. So ...

Without spoiling the story any further, I'll leave you with the images and, as I always say, if anyone happens to read this post, please leave a comment with your opinion and questions.

Till next post!

Two new screenshots of the final chapter of Stellar Mess

Hi again!

This time, I want to share with you two new screenshots from the final chapter of Stellar Mess called “Stellar Mess: A galaxy in peril.” As usual, I also shared these images on X and Instagram, but despite this, here I will give more details about each of them without falling into to much spoilers. 

The first image is about the core concept of the game and if you've played chapters 1 and 2, you'll know who the characters are and why the story seems to have moved from the classic city of the Argentinian Patagonia to a metropolis that could easily be a haven for modern films 😉.

The trained eye will notice that this image is a clear reference to the beginning of a great classic of point-and-click graphic adventure games and that, as on that occasion, there seems to be an argument between the two characters (although it did not end in agreement).

Now, the second image is the result of this argument, perhaps a business trip, perhaps the protagonist is running away from something, the only thing that is certain is a change of scenery ... who knows! 

Well, me of course! 😂

All I can say is that one image symbolizes the beginning of part 1 of the game and the other symbolizes the end!

If you read this (if anyone read this) and want to guess what will happened between this two images leave a comment!

 

Till next post!

Tiba

The summer sale has arrived to Stellar Mess saga!!

I have just enabled a 50% discount on both published games on Steam and Itch.io! If you haven't played my game yet, this is your chance!

Till next post!

Tiba

New update of Stellar Mess: Operation Kush (chapter2)!

Due to several comments addressing the same "problem", I have decided to modify the way the player interacts with the nine verbs in the game. From this update the default verbs will depend on the object, for example, if you right click on a door, it will open (you no longer have to choose “Open” before clicking on a door), the same for the objects we must take, push or pull.

Additionally, I have fixed a bug that was found since the launch of the game, where when entering the cathedral and leaving the music did not change and also did not allow to disable it. After analyzing the problem I found that it depended on the prioritization of the audio file in the parameters of "****.Play(eAudioPriorityNormal, eRepeat)" since only in here it was with high priority .

Lastly, I have reorganized some things concerning the development of the story so that the game fits better with the general cohesion of the three chapters and the development of some characters.

As I said a great update that comes with a lot of new features!

till next post!

Tiba