^#^@^@!

[35]

[Summary:

Bad news: Screw up ruined game.
Good news: Now I can polish it into something releasable outside of WoZ. And get a real artist. Anybody want to draw a bit? And maybe some music people, too? And beta-testers?]

And one extra @! for emphasis.

Well, I decided to enter WoZ because, well, I had some time.

Then I was called into the lab as a last-minute replacement. (Worker, not test subject.)

But hey, I'm used to staying up! I worked to finish "HELLO, MR. TAYLOR!" up to the very last minute. I even kept two backups. Though one was painfully outdated eventually.

Note to self:

When you have two versions of a game, the backup and the real one, and you screw up the real one, the proper order of operations is:

1) Open (non-recent) backup.
2) Save backup over screwed-up version.

It is not:

1) Open corrupted version.
2) Save over backup.

This appears to be some sort of ancient Wells curse.

I can go through it board-by-board and salvag it, but my attempts have pushed me past the WoZ deadline.

Okay, whinging over. How does this conceivably relate to any of you?

Well, I see the germ of an actual decent game here. One that I would be willing to release even after ESP. I just need to expand this a bit and find somebody to polish the graphics.

So, any takers?

___
The topic choices we were given were "Authority" and "Yourself." I tried to tackle both of them at once. Now I think I'm going to back off, maybe change the protagonist to somebody a bit more endearing than John Wells in the fourth grade. But maybe not. I'll see how the beta-testers react.

Summary of game:

Genre: Interactive movie
Gameplay: Engines, dialogue. A fight scene or two.

Plot:

Meet John W. Wells, a fourth-grade elementary school student from Los Angeles. He's going to be your narrator, your PC, and your pair of slightly unreliable eyes.

His social life is surprisingly rich and diverse for a boy of his age; he has been taunted, beaten up by, and spat on by children of all races, creeds, and political affiliations.

In short, he needs to grow a backbone.

Enter Mort Taylor, Wells's angular, eccentric, and slightly unpleasant new teacher. He has odd ideas about education. For example, his vocabulary tests include words that fourth graders aren't supposed to know. Words like "fortuitousness," "eviscerate," "calumnity," "sartorial," and "scherzo."

He threatens to eviscerate the student who scores lowest in his class. "See? You're using your new vocabulary already." He may or may not be kidding.

In creative writing period, he teaches his students how to write in Greek. "I think it is a very creative way of writing. And, if you need any further incentives, it will infuriate your other teachers."

Mr. Taylor sees potential in Wells. At the very least, he sees a potential not to be so damned annoying, weak, and miserable. So he decides to teach him. This is the story of their adventures. Of course, Mr. Taylor also learns a few things from Wells. That's how the formula works.

But there is SOME departure from formula. Mr. Taylor has much more to learn about life than your typical Robin Williams teacher type. Much more. For example, he has this habit of eviscerating people...

__

If you're interested in doing art, e-mail me at kokolhe1@yahoo.com

[superbowl shuffle]

I'm interested in doing art, but e-mailing you would be bothersome.

also too long didn't read

[Dr. Dos]

Enter Mort Taylor, Wells's angular, eccentric, and slightly unpleasant new teacher. He has odd ideas about education. For example, his vocabulary tests include words that fourth graders aren't supposed to know. Words like "fortuitousness," "eviscerate," "calumnity," "sartorial," and "scherzo."

I only know eviscerate and i'm in 10th grade :(

i would totally be failing that class.

[Stak]

Enter Mort Taylor, Wells's angular, eccentric, and slightly unpleasant new teacher. He has odd ideas about education. For example, his vocabulary tests include words that fourth graders aren't supposed to know. Words like "fortuitousness," "eviscerate," "calumnity," "sartorial," and "scherzo."

I only know eviscerate and i'm in 10th grade :(

i would totally be failing that class.

I only know "eviscerate" and I'm in college

[Zandor 12]

I also knew fortuitousness kinda, so I win the internet

Where's my fucking trophy

Also hi JohnWWells

[35]

Blast. And, typing in the heat of the moment, I write "calumnity" for "calumny." That's what I meant. All clearer now.

[Dr. Dos]

<MadTom> I said to JWW in the file 'you've used an e acute for your extra syllable in the final poem'
<MadTom> 'I think it's supposed to be an e grave'
<MadTom> And the best thing is
<MadTom> I was right
<MadTom> And he changed it

madtom LOVES making you feel dumb.

[Ryan Ferneau]

I know scherzo! Maybe.

[Zenith Nadir]

i know fortuitiousness and eviscerate

and i'm sure i've seen calumnity somewhere before

oh wait, that was a mistype? nevermind then

i keep wanting to read it as 'calamity' anyway

also is this a teen angst game like that one leamas previewed in his zztv channel because that would be awesome

[Dr. Dos]

7:05? 8:05? 9:05? 4:20?

I remember that and loved it so much.

[Quantum P.]

I'll gladly do art. What will the balance between cutscenes and functional graphics (graphics for playable boards) be?

[Dr. Dos]

Quantum while I like your graphics they are not quite

[Commodore]

I on the other hand may prove to be close to par. Choose Commodore!

[Furry Jesus Freak]

um...I vote for the fuzzy guy with the drums. 'cause Wasteland was good.

[35]

The one e-mailed reply I have received so far is Quantum P.'s. I'll be working on the game over the next several weeks, so there's still plenty of time for other people to contact me if they want to do boards.

I'm not extremely concerned with graphical consistency, really. All that really matters is that the characters be represented consistently.

This is going to be a two-file game, with the second file being about half the size of the first. The ratio of art boards to game will be a bit higher than in ESP, so there'll be plenty of work for the artist or artists.

There will be limited interaction on the art boards (dialogue choices and so on); I don't intend to make a slide show.