Welcome to Week Four of my project, “I Created A Video Game in 8 Weeks, Using RPG Maker MZ,” where I create a self-contained video game quest with impact, choices, and multiple endings, from scratch, using RPG Maker MZ!
Last week, I created my video game’s intro! (Did anyone order a boatload of exposition?) Read all about it, here!
This week I focused on the soft skills of game creation: narrative design, theme, and how to create complex, interesting villains…all while implementing the hard skills that I have gained over the course of the project.
It was a hodgepodge of creation.
A flurry of activity.
A hotbed of ideas.
...We’re talking theme, we’re talking sex dormitories, we’re talking sympathetic villains. It was a little bit of everything, all rolled into one (cue Alanis Morisette voiceover).
Read MoreWelcome to the time I wrote two stories in twelve hours.
This actually isn’t unheard of for me; ideas sometimes start flooding in for me all at once—something about unlatching the door to the Imagination Cupboard and seeing what’s been accumulating inside. What is unusual for me is having no other option but to write two stories in 12 hours.
When the pressure is on, suddenly that cupboard latch starts to feel more like a well-loved toothpaste tube that you’re fighting to squeeze the last amount out of.
This is the position I found myself in when I entered the final round of the NYC Midnight 250-Word Microfiction Challenge writing contest (contest results are currently pending).
Read MoreWhen Outfit7 posted a job opening on their website for a “Narrative Designer,” I had a lot of fun creating a personalized project for my application.
For my project, I:
Created a brand-new character to add to the Talking Tom & Friends universe
Wrote the script for a “Talking Tom & Friends” episode that introduces this brand-new character
Provided base outlines for two games based on said character
Meet Kyle, the Fugitive Alien Prince!
Kyle (K.Y.L.E.), which stands for “King of Your Little Earth,” is a prince from space who is on the run, and he needs the gang’s help to stay hidden where his alien parents can’t find him.
Young by alien standards but old by Earth ones, Kyle is inquisitive, impulsive, and used to getting what he wants, when he wants it. He wasn’t allowed to have many friends growing up because of the security risk, so when he meets Talking Tom and friends, he is eager to fit in.
Episode Description:
An alien prince named Kyle lands on top of the garage and demands that Talking Tom and his friends help hide him from his intergalactic parents! The best way to keep an alien hidden on Earth is to teach them how to blend in…right?"
Read MoreHi! My name is Charlotte Toumanoff, and I am a first-time game developer. This post is part of my project, “I Created A Video Game in 8 Weeks, Using RPG Maker MZ,” where I create a self-contained video game quest with impact, choices, and multiple endings, from scratch, using RPG Maker MZ.
To see the rest of the project (and play the game), click here!
…Welcome to the time I learned how to program self-switches, in order to have my character interact with a sack of flirtatious potatoes!
Read MoreThis is a short story I wrote for a writing contest back in 2020. Although it is technically “finished,” I know what happens next and haven’t written it, yet—which makes this also very, very unfinished. Or maybe possibly a Part One?
Warning: Rated “R”
My Monster Wingman
"It's safe, now," I whisper, leaning over the bed.
My monster sticks his head out. "Really? You mean it? I don't have to go back?"
"Never again," I reassure him. "It's popsicles and strippers from here on out."
He growls with displeasure. "You know that doesn't do anything for me, right? Too few arms, not enough eyes."
"...Gross."
"You're gross."
I pat my bed. "Come on, hop up. Be my wingman." I hold out my phone and show him the violently pink heart bubbles floating on the screen. "She keeps sending me 'likes,' but ignoring my messages."
Read MoreLucinda stretches, luxuriating in the heat rising up from the volcanic lair’s floor.
Life as a super-villain’s beloved cat is good: treats and snuggles flow freely, and Lucinda gets to menacingly purr from the cradle of her mistress’ arms during big speeches.
Read More“Hello, and welcome to Supers Anonymous, where we help each other recover from the trauma of being Overpowered Beings.”
Anthony, an apartment building superintendent, shifts uncomfortably in his seat. Contrary to what he had believed upon seeing the sign, he would not find himself in the warm bosom of like-minded brethren, swapping horror stories about clogged toilets and nightmare tenants.
A man wearing comically-large oven mitts stands up. “Hi, I’m Mega Mitts, and this morning a tenant of mine clogged up her toilet like she was angry at it.”
Huh. Or maybe I will.
Read More…A recently orphaned boy, on the verge of adulthood.
...A mysterious summons from an ineffable presence.
...A cult that sprang out of a famine.
...A choice that impacts the lives of many.
Welcome to Visiting G.R.A.N.D.M.A., a video game I made from scratch using RPG Maker MZ!
Grounded in emotional realism, yet swimming in absurdism, Visiting G.R.A.N.D.M.A. is a hilarious romp with a dark storyline. It has multiple endings that each emphasize the impact and consequences of the players’ choices and will stay with you long after you finish playing.
What will happen to the people you encounter? How will meeting you affect their lives? Only you can say.
Read MoreGreetings, humans!
I, a fellow human, have decided to keep track of my comings and goings on this blog.
I am not here as part of an assimilation project.
You have nothing to be afraid of.
Read MoreDon’t look at yourself in the mirror from a distance of less than 3 inches. You will be haunted by what you see.
Read More