I'm totally not getting any good ideas this time. I only had two ideas going into this. One is impossible to work into the topics now that I know them, and the other turned out to be way too complicated to do in three days. And I'm failing to get new inspiration from the topics for anything worth starting over and trying.
(Not to insult the topics, really. They're actually pretty good. It's me; I've just got nothing this time!)
So, uh, I guess what I'm saying is I'm out
Sorry guys :(
"You're alive," said the maker, and smiled at the aardvark.
<Kjorteo> "yiff"
<gbelo> Wanna yiff.
<Kjorteo> yes
<gbelo> No no no.
Well, I kind of want to do Murder on the Orient Express or And Then There Were None with ZZTers but I haven't read those in years and don't remember them that well.
Bad news: Original idea (The Living Daylights ZZT) is kinda not gonna work, because:
1. It isn't really MUCH of a mystery. (Once you see Whitaker in the movie, you KNOW he's the villian.)
2. I'd have to watch the movie again.
3. And transcribe the four main songs. (The Living Daylights, Bond theme, Where Has Every Body Gone?, and If There Was a Man...)
Good news: Still struggling with an idea to work on for automation!
I've got an idea. I'm working on it, but I think I'm spending too much time on art and not on gameplay :( I was kind of suprised, I came up with the idea about ten seconds after reading the topics.
So I've got a basic plot line and my title screen and first two boards done, so it seems likely that I'll submit SOMETHING. It probably won't even hold a candle to my last entry in terms of awesomeness, though.
Looks like everyone is having probs. In my case also...
1. Topic started at the afternoon... so did work...and I go back in in the morning...yea.
2. BOOM!! Sever thunder storm. The computer remains off because it's not mine. Nevermind, I wasn't supposed to use it at all right now
3. "Since tomorrow is mother's day, I want you to take a break from the house and go out and eat with granny and me. IT'S THE LEAST YOU CAN DO >= /." says mom.
Still I'm trying at it at least, I know what to do for the topic.
Only disappointment is that a certain individual was not supposed to drop out when I competing.
After struggling with a ZZT version of The Living Daylights, I did what anyone else would do: I went to my job and thought about what I'd want to make, based on mystery/automation/Swiss cheese.
Inspiriation! The knowledge that I was working on a MZX action RPG, along with the realization that the heroine would need a new nemesis after she kills the old one, strikes. And so, I start thinking of ideas for "The Rose Angel versus MECHAN NINE."
.....Yes, Mechan Nine is from StarFlight. Shaddap.
The premise, as narrated by Timothy Dalton, was that "One thousand hours have passed since Karen Sutton, the Rose Angel, defeated the EEEEEEEEEEEVIL Bad Lord the XXVII. Having just saved The Blue Planet from near-certain annihilation, she did what any other teen superhero should have done. She went back to school."
And from there, the plot details that she studied for her chemistry final, so she loses all her magic and weapon skills. Enter a nice little Kingdom Hearts 2-style thing where Karen has to choose one of her original weapons: The Elven Sword of Great Antiquity, which did medium damage; The Bashing Stick of Kthuloo-Achoo, which did a lot of damage, but you had to wait a little longer between :touches; and the Ancient Mystic Lunar Blades- piss-poor damage at best, but Karen could re-hit very quickly.
This kinda crapped out when I realized ZZT just... didn't have what it took. (Considering the MZX game has a D&D-style Feat tree...)
So, once again, problem. Need something- anything. Once again, inspiration hits. Do something in a similar vein to the Infocom classic SUSPENDED: A Cryogenic Nightmare. You've got your mystery (What the hell's going on?). You've got your automation (SUSPENDED had you stuck in a cryogenic chamber the whole game, so you had to remote control six robots). The Swiss cheese, though, you'd have to buy from your local deli. =p
Then I realized if I made that, at least one judge would have said, "Yeah, Chris? I liked this better when Anthony Testa called it 'Compound'."
So, no more from me. Here's your fucking mystery: Why the hell does nobody on FFN want to write a Fayt/Sophia story.
Was highly tempted to put two duplicators next to each other, and have them duplicate each other, but I don't know if that would make ZZT do... not good.
I decided that if I'm out of inspiration for the WoZ, I would at least spend those days working really hard on Adventure of Sam, so I could at least be contributing to ZZT either way. Then the whole hospital thing happened and now there's catch-up work, so I guess nevermind even to that. >:(
I'll make it up with some AoS work as soon as I can afford to, though, I promise
"You're alive," said the maker, and smiled at the aardvark.
<Kjorteo> "yiff"
<gbelo> Wanna yiff.
<Kjorteo> yes
<gbelo> No no no.