While I hate to post with nothing really new to offer up, I felt I should at least let everyone know that I'm not dead, that Arena is still a live project, and that all my myriad other projects have not yet been abandoned, either.
Sadly, I've been in a very long creative slump lately, and I don't know why. I've been tired, bored, restless, and irritable for months now, and it's gotten to the point that I haven't even been wanting to join in the TFGamesSite chat. My patients for some of the folks there has just been at an all time low. I only bother to join the chat at all for the pleasure of interacting with some 4 or 5 people there. Most of the rest are just...depressing. I'll spare you the rant about all that, though.
In any case, I have not made much progress on Arena 2.0 lately. Currently, I'm stalled while working on the magic system. What I have runs, and everything works, of course, but it's far from a playable game. No AI, for one thing. The cheats are in, and a magic system is in place, and a map has been set up, and a number of NPCs have been entered. A debug mode has been implimented, as well as stats and descriptions for various levels of TG. I'm not satisfied with the quality or variety, but that can be filled in much better later on. I also have a basic idea how I'm going to handle clothing.
The trouble, at this point...or at least the point I'm stalled on, is fleshing out the magic system. I have a sneaking hunch I'm just going to say to hell with it all, and build the game the way I feel like building it, and just paint over it with a plot after the fact. It's totally bass-ackwards...but I can at least ensure that way that the game itself works and looks the way I want it to. A way I am happy with. And honestly? Plots are over-rated anyhow. ^^
