A quick video update
almost 7 years ago – Tue, Jun 11, 2019 at 08:31:59 AM

Here's a quick video update.  This shows further development with NESmaker, and how it enables collaborative work on Mystic Searches between Austin and myself.  I know some of you like to see the behind the scenes of things, so I figured I would share!

I'll be posting these roughly on a weekly basis, so feel free to subscribe to the channel if you want to be notified.  

Video update
almost 7 years ago – Mon, Jun 03, 2019 at 05:55:59 AM

Hey everyone - just letting you know that I posted another video update.  I recorded a Twitch stream last night and posted it to YouTube this morning.  It shows a bit about NESmaker, some bts of Mystic Searches, and further delves into the relationship between our development of NESmaker and the development of Mystic Searches.  If you like seeing the BTS process work, check it out here!

Some confusion with the last update -
almost 7 years ago – Sun, May 26, 2019 at 12:28:28 PM

Hey everyone, in response to the update I just posted, there seems to be a lot of people confused.  I'll give you the short version, and link to the long version, again, for you to read, to clear up any confusion.

Mystic Searches is still in progress, and not ready to ship yet.  A few years ago, at about the time that the film was finished, we realized just how much more we could do if we improved our engine and our tools to go with it, at the time called the Mystic Searches Screen Tool and Game Engine, which eventually became NESmaker.  We stopped work where we were, and created MYSTIC ORIGINS with the engine as it existed at that time.    

When we realized that we were going to push in this direction, we knew that some people would be impatient waiting, while others would be fine waiting for a better project.  So we offered users to let MYSTIC ORIGINS fulfill the pledge, since it is a full NES adventure game, while we continued to work on MYSTIC SEARCHES.  We have expressed this in just about every update since.Two years ago we offered this up, and a few users took us up on this.  We recently ordered another batch, and another few people who apparently missed this offer back then, asked for this in response to this update from January.  So I ordered copies of MYSTIC ORIGINS for these backers.

***If you did not submit an email over the last year saying that you wanted to substitute Mystic Origins rather than wait for the completed Mystic Searches as it is being completed with the new engine, you can disregard the message about the emails being sent out.***  This is the group that part of the last update was targeted towards.  

Hope this clears up some confusion!  

You all rock.

Joe

Mystic Origins NES game, BTS on Mystic Searches continuing development.
almost 7 years ago – Sun, May 26, 2019 at 12:56:52 AM

Mystic Origins: 

Hello, everyone.  For those that opted for Mystic Origins to fulfill your pledge for a new NES adventure game as part of this campaign, the carts, boxes, and manuals have arrived and are ready to ship.  I have contacted each of you personally to insure I have the correct address.  We will not send this until we have received your address in response to those emails for obvious reasons.  If you have opted for this, please get back to us.  Most of you have responded.  Thanks, and we'll get it out to you this week!  We hope you enjoy the Mystic Searches universe where it was upon completion of The New 8-bit Heroes film in that game, and hope to continue to have your support with the larger world and much more detailed game that your patience has allowed us to create.

If you still don't quite understand the connection between Mystic Searches and Mystic Origins, you can read a much more detailed explanation in the update here.  

Mystic Searches:

For those that want a look at more BTS work with Mystic Searches, considerations and updates that go into this sort of development, and with our development tools in general, here is a video that shows some of the updated work.  Here we show our updated box system for NESmaker that we'll be using for inventory in Mystic Searches.  This is another demonstration of how the two work in tandem.

Additionally, here is a quick image of a comparison screen between a screen created with the tool as it was at the time we began putting effort into NESmaker versus the same relative screen created with all of the updates.  

It's not about being able to add better pixel art, it's about updates to the methods and ease of modification yielding more capability.  Because of the new methods we are using, we can add much more diverse graphics sets to screens based on the same amount of tiles, and can squeeze about two  more colord on a screen as well, allowing us to create better sense of depth and variety.  If you missed the explanation, there is a fun look at this in a previous update that you can find it here.

NESmaker "Developer's Package":

For those that backed at the developer's tier, there will be a forum on our page to submit information if you have not received this reward.  I will let you know in a personal email when that is up!

An example of how NESmaker i inexplicably tied to the development of Mystic Searches
almost 7 years ago – Mon, Apr 15, 2019 at 10:00:20 PM

Hey everyone - a few updates.  

1. MYSTIC ORIGINS

First, for those that opted in for the Mystic Origins substitution, your carts have been ordered (actually, they were a few weeks back).  The process is that the boards are manufactured by Infinite NES Lives, then sent to Stone Age Gaming for shells, labels, cases and inserts, then they are sent to me, at which time I verify addresses, manually address, and then send out (usually the first available Saturday afterwards).  So for those who have contacted me regarding this option, your new NES adventure game is currently in the process for you!

For those that are confused about this, please read the previous updates.  This one here can give you all the info, but this info has been shared for the last two years or so in various updates.  

2. The Question

Many of you guys know that NESmaker exists.  Some of you seem very confused about its role in the development for Mystic Searches.  I've tried over and over again to convey that NESmaker is necessary to create Mystic Searches...we created tools in order to create the game that we wanted to create.  If you've watched The New 8-bit Heroes film, which almost all of you have had full access to thanks to your pledge for a few years now, you probably understand this pretty well.  But some people are still confused about how and why the two things are linked, and how it's impossible to determine how *far along* the game is in some arbitrary percentage way.  Fortunately, a perfect example of how the two things are linked just occurred, about how developments to the tool are needed to handle particular features that we want Mystic Searches to have, which also leads to further functionality for NESmaker users.  I did a Twitch stream on this, and I wanted to share it with you guys.  It also has a quick look at a few Mystic Searches teases.  Hopefully, this makes the relationship between the tools we are creating and our flagship project a bit more clear!