What does that mean?

Remember my previous news post talking about Colour Matching being made in C#? Well don't worry because it's coming back to Stencyl! I must sound like one of those annoying Project Managers from Blizzard, let's be fair they are just as bad. Saying something and then doing the exact opposite, well not quite me but at least Colour Matching is in progress.

I went back to Stencyl because I do not want to spend too much time on the game - I have other commitments I wish to attend to now and want to make sure that Colour Matching is still just as good as if it were being developed in C#.

Later, however, I do wish to make Colour Matching in C# because Flash is not very resource friendly in a web browser, especially when sizes exceed a certain amount. Plus I also wish to add Multiplayer options later to a planned Campaign, but I will talk about that later (it will require something that is not Stencyl).

Other than that it's been a rather slow week for me. I will, however, be seeing my dad for a week starting Sunday, which means I will not be around to make any more content. I may play and record my Harmonica before I do leave and upload the track to NG for you, as a way of saying "Goodbye" I suppose.

Well, thank you all for your support, and good luck in the future.

Where should I start? There is a lot to talk about in terms of the progress of Colour Matching and its foundations. They are coming along, assuming the code works. The foundations I have yet to test, by drawing a few bitmap images to the game screen.

First off, I just want to say that Colour Matching is going back to the original idea - that is using C# with XNA and then porting it over to MonoGame to be playable on Linux and Mac as well as Windows, so that's one thing I have considered, especially since my laptop screen broke and lost all the progress I had with the game previously in Stencyl.

Secondly, I would also like to refer you to my youtube channel which consists of a particular video in mind, this is a video going through the designs of the interfaces. You can check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he92KUbujZ8

Another thing that I want to talk about is my actual progress. I have returned to college and have been attending now for the past 2 weeks, so coursework is second to the top of my mind. The reason this is, is because I am also looking for a job, which is at the top of my mind. I have been recklessly going to websites, walking over to the center of my town almost every day to look in windows for job advertisements and have been applying to as many opportunities as I can, so progress of Colour Matching will be minimal while I am looking for a job.

Despite this, I should be getting my harmonica soon. I want to be able to play it again. The last time I played a harmonica was in front of 2,500 people at Colsten Hall in Bristol, that was when I was aged 10 or 11. That was just before I started my years in Senior school. I am considering playing the Harmonica using my condenser microphone and then, without any editing, uploading it onto here for your enjoyment. Honestly, in times like these, I want to look back at my past and I think of the harmonica and how that made me think the way I do now.

I think without the harmonica I would be looking at life from a different perspective, because the mood of a harmonica is not only unique, but in a spiritual sense I feel it is somewhat a connection to my own love and passion for unique sounds - particularly from the harmonica. Once I get back into it, I really want to share my knowledge and skills of the harmonica with you, so stay tuned!

With regards to Colour Matching, it will no longer have a Web-based solution, so sorry NG. However, it will still be developed just in a different environment to Flash, and I hope that you enjoy it when it is finally in its playable Alpha state. For now, I will continue looking for jobs until I am financially confident in pursuing that business career I really want.

I feel bad already, I have done little in terms of making any progress whatsoever with Colour Matching, and that is mainly due to the thought that the website needs redoing and to be redesigned ready for our business model to work properly. What I want to do is provide a Pay-What-You-Want service as well as a Subscription service, and without a full redesign of the website this cannot happen.

The website I am referring to links to Colour ID, which is currently incomplete and some elements on some pages, including the Donations page, are missing. Because of the way Donations are in nature, i.e. mostly suitable for a not-for-profit business (we are not a not-for-profit business), I am considering just getting rid of it entirely and replacing it with the proposed business model.

Consequently, I am making plans and designs for the new website, and I will be looking for web developers and designers willing enough to spend some time on creating this new website. It will also make it easier in the long run to produce content on the website. I am doing this now so that I can get all of the designs and plans done and ready for a team of web designers and/or developers working together while I work on Colour Matching for Newgrounds and other possible Flash game websites, which will most definitely include MochiGames, and maybe Kongregate.

The other option was to design and build Colour Matching, and once that gets going then start looking for web developers and/or designers. The only problem with that is that I would be leaving it too late and it leaves the company I am contracted with little to no revenue in relation with adverts embedded into Colour Matching, since most of the revenue will be based on the fact that the Soundtrack, Concept Art and Behind-the-Scenes content will be provided on a free basis to subscribed users on the website. That is the plan - get a subscription and pay-what-you-want system ready or face another delay.

This delay is deliberate, and once I have the designs and plans for the website done, I will be going back to Colour Matching to get the bare essentials of the core mechanics done for players. This will mean a lot of project management on my behalf, which will also include my time at college as well for my last year. It's a lot to take in, but I hope to be finished with the website and an Alpha for Colour Matching ready by February next year.

I have been rather busy during this week sorting out college issues with my Law work, consequently I have had less time working on Colour Matching than I would otherwise like. However, design and development will continue, and once I have got used to the sheer basics of Stencyl I will be recording my design and development of Colour Matching and put together these videos for behind-the-scenes content on my website.

What this means is that there are a variety of ways you can support me and the rest of the team instead of relying purely from advertisement revenue, which may not earn us enough in the long run to reinvest into Colour Matching for future plans, which I would like to do. There was a donation service over at our website, but unfortunately I just found out the widget I put on there is missing yet the code still exists - either PayPal has disabled access to the widget permanently or they are no longer supporting it, which is rather annoying.

Despite this, I will be offering another way of donating once I get around to doing it. Once I have written this post, I will be going off to sleep since sleep last night never happened, so I am extremely tired.

Of the other options that I am considering making available to customers is the ability to pay a one-time fee for accessing behind-the-scenes content for any and all games we make, as well as other content. I may also consider a subscription service that will not only give you access to this, but have the ability to get commercial game content completely free-of-charge, guaranteed Alpha and Beta access, as well as game merchandise such as OSTs and Concept Art also completely free. Both options will come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and anything you download you will be able to keep but features such as guaranteed Alpha and Beta access and free downloadable game content disabled if you choose to go with the money-back guarantee.

That measure is only there so people don't abuse our systems for supposedly getting content we produce for free. This may sound very ambitious for a small studio, but we want to make sure our content is as consumer-friendly as you can get.

Also, if you want to get into the Pre-Alpha please send me a PM here and I will invite you to join the project as a Beta Tester - I am looking to get feedback from players of all backgrounds if possible so that I can improve Colour Matching. There will NOT be an NDA or embargo, so feel free to share any information about Colour Matching with friends or family - the more attention and hype we get, the better. It also motivates me to produce more content - I like hype, it makes me happy :)

Thank you in advance for your support and co-operation.