Since I'm confident with it's progress, and something new is finished just about every day on Fetch!, I've decided to create a little blog surrounding its development. You can find the blog at Chevy Ray Games, and comment on my progress thus far. I figure there are going to be so many updates, I'd rather not flood them here and cover up everybody else's blog entries. In other news, my Wacom is on its way, and I have also purchased a PC game pad. It's a nifty little thing, a little on the cheap side, but mostly for testing purposes. This way, Fetch can have configurable controls and game pad compatibility. According to CosMind, it multiplies the enjoyment of a game when you can play it with a gaming controller, so I figured I had nothing to lose but a few bucks.

As far as the health goes, I'm free of cancer =) which is good news, and only have to endure some minor surgery in the future. It's all good, and I thank for whoever watches over us for giving me this break and will accept my health as a blessing, or the sort.

Chev

So, I decided to finally purchase myself a tablet, and decided on the Wacom Graphite4 6x8. As for my project, it's been 4 months in production now, and is picking up considerably now that the amount of free time in my life has quadrupled. But now that I feel that the project is under considerably stable production, and the more difficult pipeline and engine programming aspects are completed (as this is key to programming a stable RPG engine that won't bite you in the a** in the future). At this point, the story events, character development, dialogue, and more interactive of the gameplay elements are what remains to be done, which is all the fun parts. It kills me to have to keep it all in, even though CosMind and other friends are helping me with several key design issues, but I've decided to put it on the In Dev. page as something that I hope you all can look forward to playing in the future.

For those of you who may feel that things are quiet around here, don't be fooled. 2007 is overflowing with Eo projects on the go, and is looking to have several hard worked releases within the next following months. I can hardly contain my excitement!

In other news, I have an appointment at the hospital on Thursday afternoon; I won't go into detail, but it is to my knowledge that I may have cancer. Note the italicized may, as the chances that it is cancer are lower than they are high. Either way, wish me luck, because I plan on hanging around for years to come. Life throws you curveballs every once in awhile, and I'm willing to accept that :)

Good luck to everybody, keep an eye out for some great releases to come, and have a great week!


Chev

I must say, the times can get really rough every once in awhile. Usually it's the holidays that drive people's stress levels over the limit, but for me this year, it did quite the opposite. Things had built up, I'd gotten fed up with just about everybody I knew, I was hardly eating, and my activity in school was becoming less than enthusiastic...

If any of you knew me well, you'd immediately KNOW this was completely out of character, and that something was definitely wrong! Well, fortunately I have a wonderful girl who knows how to drag me from work, numbers, scores, grades, paper, money, and reminds me what REAL life is all about. Now (after a wonderful break doing some provincial service projects, visiting the capital, and discovering that I'm a good skier), I'm back and feeling 140%!

Lesson to be learned? Well... it's not like I went through the dark ages, or even considered suicide or anything silly like that... but what I find myself doing often is driving myself into work and education and always trying to do the best and look out for everybody's best interests. This isn't bad, but when things overload, it gets harder and harder to be there for other people and help them out, or even focus on what's important to you. The grades you get, the money you make, the people you impress, and the activities you master aren't what's going to make you a happy person. Everyone achieves happiness their own special way, and I think the most universal way to represent this is words sung by Tom Gabel:

"Don't Lose Touch!"

Now that I've said that, I must say that I've been itching like a naked man in a feather factory to get working on my bloody game! I worked nights and days, struggling for hours, to master the status, inventory, character, skill, and equipment system for what I'm hoping will be the most engaging, attractive, fun, innovative, and humorous active-time role-playing title build inside the walls of Game Maker. Now, that might be aiming a bit high (or even getting a little dreamy), but I always find it so much easier to work on something when I look at it that way. You can always dream high, but the tricky part is not to let reality take you down. Go ahead, dream of painting a beautiful picture; but when it's finished and nobody likes it because it looks like something pulled out of the privy, just nod your head and smile. Sure it was a lot of work, sure you concentrated hard on it... who cares if it doesn't look as great as you imagined? Isn't it the drive, the energy, working on the masterpiece and putting yourself to the most difficult of tests... isn't THAT what we really battle for? Isn't that where the heart of achievement lies?

Sometimes I wonder if I ask more questions than I answer. What do you think?

Well, everybody... at parting, I'll just say to keep an eye on the In Devs, and soon enough here I'll have it there for you all to see... to see what my nimble little fingers have been meticulously poking away at in high hopes and energy! Aha! You'll see it there in big letters soon enough, and you'll all be full of wonder. Or not. Keep your eyes peeled for "Fetch".

Just having an atmosphere to work in has inspired me more than I ever believed possible. My first two days, and I already have so much that I want to work on. Hopefully, I'll find a way to work around all of them and come up with an actual product(s) in the end. I have a game in mind, but I'm going to keep it in the design and preliminary hard-thinking stages until new years. If it's still in my head by then, then I'll know it's worth a go. Until then, I've got some scriptwork and articles that I'm just itching to start scribbling down.

Since life matters also seem to find their way into these blogs, and I have many of those myself, I'll throw a couple in.

Youth Parliament
I was nominated and elected to participate in the provincial Youth Parliament in Victoria, BC. I'm very excited for this! I get to dress up all snazzy and debate all sorts of political and community-concerning issues and organize some fund-raisers and events. It's a great step to learn my way around politics; I'm not personally interested in entering politics as a career field, but political skills and knowledge are things that are applicable to everyday life, and will benefit me in the long run -- or at least I'm hoping. Anyhow, I'm looking forward to this extremely, and I leave the day after Christmas. It's a 3-4 day long thing, so I won't be gone long. But apparently I have zilch for free time while I'm there. Good, that's how I like it.

School and Such
I've got all kinds of stuffs happening at school, being Student Council President, having a whole timetable of difficult academic courses that I can hardly keep up with, and also taking charge of the Yearbook committee. I've got so much work it's pouring out my ears, and I'm still aiming to topple the stack with some GM stuff here. As long as I keep myself from crashing it's all good, but it's not an easy game to play.

I can driiiiive
Next thing I know, I'll be promoted off my diapers. Yeah, I just passed my driver test the other day and received my license. Passed first shot, not bad for a country boy, and already feel like there's been a weight lifted off my back. I'll be going to university on Vancouver Island (I sure hope, at least), so probably won't have much use for a vehicle while I'm there . . . but point missed! I'm hoping to find some way to buy myself a cheap road bike to use while I'm there, get me and the backpack/laptop around, ya know?

Anyway, keep an eye out for some treats that I hope to be introducing here by the new year, 'cause I'll be hard at work. If not, I'll give you the mailing address to my psycho-rehabilitation facility so you can all send your condolences. (Had to look up the word "condolences" . . . realized that I've never actually used it before! Fancy that.)

Ciao, Cheers, and Au Revoir pour maintenant!

Chevy Ray (aka. Tad, or The Duke . . . or Vee . . . cripe I gotta settle on one.)