Hey...


Wow. Feels a little strange posting on this board again. A little nostolgic even. Well, anyway--

I spose you guys are a bit surprised to hear from me! Been awhile, eh? I was recently directed to this board by Fquist (thanks man), particularly ToxicBunny's post about closing Possum World. I would have posted this there, but I didn't want to get lost amongst the off topic discussion, heh.

First off, I'd like to say thanks to ToxicBunny, a whole big lot of thanks, and to Electric Ir as well. I love both your sites, and was sorry to read about PW's closing. I especially liked the fan tilesets and pScript suggestions. I'd like to ask you a favor (tho I don't deserve too, deserting you all like this for so long!) Could you leave PW online, even tho you won't be updating it? Who knows, maybe you'll change your mind later on-- and even if you don't, I like having it there. :) Well, even if you take it down, thanks for putting it up to begin with.

Well now... I guess I've kept you in suspense long enough. You're wondering about the real message here - the one in the title. Just where ARE we now? This is a difficult question to answer. On top of that, I know that probably many people will misunderstand what I'm about to say, altho I hope they won't. Anyway, that said, let's start with the bad news. The cold, hard facts:

Zero. That is the precise number of lines of code I have written for Possum since last... August or September.

Still breathing? :)

I know that sounds bad, terrible even. In reality, it really isn't. Allow me to explain. First off, we have the extenuating circumstances (excuses): Last September I started my first year of college. On top of this, add a few other responsibilities, including various work (paying and non), and trying to realize an almost lifelong dream of writing a script. Also, I've had a lot of personal things to deal with, which I won't go into here. All this stuff has made it difficult, if not impossible, to find time for Possum.

Okay, so that's why I haven't written code. Why isn't that entirely bad? Well, I have done some planning work. One hour of planning is worth twenty of coding, or something like that. In other words, I save myself a lot of time coding and recoding (as if I've never done that before...) when I plan it thoroughly ahead of time.

Also, when you think about it, standard game development time is 1-2 years, for the pros. And that's for a small game. IMO, we're still making good progress for a "bunch of kids".

Oh, while I think of it-- quick note to whoever else on the team is reading this (Dino), the programming is still well ahead of the artwork. I have a couple ideas about the scope and design of the game, send me an email (webmaster@sphere7studios.com ) and I'll get back to you. It's just too crazy for ICQ.

Soooo.... I know, I know, I ramble :) Here's the bottom line: I'm stubborn as a mule. I haven't given up on it yet and I probably never will. Even if everyone else quits, there's a megaman fan game in my head that I'd just as soon use the engine for. And who knows what else. How long will it take? How should I know? And why should I care? Making this game is an adventure, one that I plan to enjoy. (And have been!)

Thanks to everybody who's been along for the ride thus far, and to those who will stay or join later. I leave you with a couple quotes, which I like-- maybe you will too:

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." -Bilbo Baggins

"Dare you to move." -Switchfoot


PS: You're all welcome to drop me an email if you ever want to, whether it's bugging me for info, being encouraging, or whatnot. Just don't be annoying or frequent as my schedule will force me to ignore you ;)

--Metal