Sidequests are fun.

In a few spots in the game, there are more than one way to solve one particular obstacle, some involving sidequests, some not. One of the side quests that's nearly completed is a dungeon for the thief that will grant you access to a thief only item.

Rather than be a traditional dungeon with monsters, treasure, etc., it is filled with various skill games and timing events more akin to the deftness of a thief.


Stop the cursor in the circles, and Mr. Thief is safe. Stop the cursor on an X, and Mr. Thief becomes Mr. Splat!


Look out below!


Once this is complete, there are only a couple more locations to finish up before the next continent is completed. Next I will be putting together the resort island that houses all of the casino type minigames. This will mostly consist of mapping since all of the minigames are already coded. I figure at this point the game will be about half done, which is not where I had hoped to be when the project was started one year ago, but is great all things considered (job, school, girlfriend, hockey, etc. are all such selfish time sinks).

Doing it all and doing it well.

So I have decided to go all out and make all the minigames I was deciding whether or not to make. As I was thinking, and so many people have pointed out... if a game's focus is on game play, then minigames only add to it and it's a no brainer. So yes, it will delay the completed release considerably, but it will definitely add more to the finished product than it will hinder it by a delay of release.

So, the first of three minigames is nearly done! Drumroll please...



Yay blackjack! I've got the system to recognize when there's an ace in play and gives a display on what number you would have if you were to count it as an ace or a one.

In addition to this, there's a card counter at the bottom of the screen that if you are able to draw five cards without busting, you win 8 to 1 on your bet! The only thing left to finish is the dealer's programming (hitting and standing).

The system can already count the value of the cards to see who wins, and the real bitch to code was making sure that the same card won't show up on the table more than once. That took ridiculously long to get working properly.

So next up as far as minigames are concerned is the racing game. I have a plan in place and I think it will go pretty well, but before work starts on that I will be making some more maps on the third continent.

More updates later!

Are minigames worth the effort?

Just a quickie post here today:

I'm considering putting more minigames into Reminiscence, namely a blackjack game, racing/betting game and a one on one arena game. The opinions I've gathered thus far are people saying "why not just do all three?" The problem is that takes an awful lot of work and it would delay the final product considerably.

So I you, dear readers, do you think it's worth a fairly large delay in order to put in more minigames?