#f.i.n.

So I got thinking about the identity of the game. What is F.I.N.? What is it not? Can I even describe the feeling I have about my game? I thought back to something I read in Eden (it's an Endless world): a list of 'What is Eden?'

Just a list of things, brands, feelings that correspond with the story. I thought I'd steal that idea.

tl;dr I've been busy and am now working on the game again.

Work. Work everywhere. Evenings, days off, I even dreamt of solutions to problems I have been having (sadly, one does not simply dream up JavaScript). Don't get me wrong, I love having a job but all of this meant that I have had little time for my own projects. End effect: F.I.N. has been on hiatus for the past couple of weeks.

But here I am again, with some motivation from Daan,  working again!

The game contains 270 screens of dialogue.

These screens contain a total of 4,965 words,

for an average of 18.4 words per screen.

The game contains 17 menus.

And it's going to get bigger today. Doing the hipster thing with project-scavenger and hanging out in Victor's cafe, drinking Cappucino and game-creating. Today I will write more dailogue and see if I can fill the last few scenes with it. On the menu is the beginning of Sam and Rin's friendship that builds after they get into a fight. 

It started as an harmless note in my design document's character descriptions: "Has tattoo on left shoulder."

When I designed Rin, I wanted her to have a tattoo. Something permanent on her body that would never allow her to escape her Yakuza heritage. I didn't know what it was yet, I just made the note and continued describing my characters.

Last week I started writing a scene where Rin sits on the school's rooftop and thinks about a lot of things, including the tattoo she got the previous year. For that to make any kind of sense, I had to know what the tattoo depicted! I knew a few facts about the tattoo:

It was a 'present' to Rin from her mother.

It was meant to honour Rin's father.

It was meant to symbolize the hope that Rin would bring the Yamamoto family back to it's previous glory (so no pressure there, then).

And so I went digging into the beautiful world of traditional Japanese tattoos.

I stumbled on this site and the description of the Koi fish caught my eye:

Koi fish:

Koi fish tattoos are perhaps the second-favored symbols in Japanese tattoos. Generally, koi fish are bright-colored fish that have special symbolism in Japanese culture and you can even find them in front of many temples. The myth states that the koi fish swim upstream to a bridge or gate of heaven where they were transformed into dragons. This design symbolizes luck, strength, power, ambition and individuality. So if you are looking for a tattoo that symbolizes the struggle faced by humans in life, the perfect choice is a koi fish tattoo.

Strength, power: Awesome. Ambition: More awesome.

But the best part?

Struggle.

Rin's story is one of constant struggle. The struggle of bringing honour back to her family's name. Struggle with her heritage, the broken mess her father left inside her head, her mother's overbrearing nature.

Yes, the beautiful Koi would fit Rin just fine.

After some more research (I say research... I mean clicking around on the internet) I found out that the colour of the Koi actually means something as well.

Black Koi 

Fish Tattoos – Black Koi fish tattoos are actually reserved for the men of the family in Japan.  However, there is a lot of discussion about the colors of Koi and their meaning. For instance if you look at Yin and Yang Koi Fish Tattoos, you’ll notice the inclusions of a black Koi.  This doesn’t represent the father, but the mostly masculine side that also contains some feminine qualities.

Blue Koi 

Fish Tattoos – Blue Koi Fish Tattoos are reserved for the son in a Japanese family.  However, just like the Black Koi Fish Tattoos they have been westernized and can take on other meaninga.  The electric blues in these tattoos are stunning.  Blue represents calmness, tranquility, and peace.

Red Koi Tattoo

Red Koi Fish Tattoos – Red Koi fish tattoos are reserved for the mother of a Japanese family.  Pink Koi fish tattoos are for the daughters.  However these colors in the western world have a different meaning and can be used to color Koi fish tattoos as you choose.

Well Rin, a pink Koi you'll get! Rin normally wouldn't go for that kind of colour (she's more a purple and white kind of girl), but if it's tradition... and I like the idea of Rin having a beautiful pink tattoo on her arm. Of course, there's going to be quite a few black scales on that Koi, to resemble her respect for her father. No red scales? Hell no, no red scales. A little act of rebellion of our dutiful daughter.

And then I stumbled on the last aspect of those beautiful Koi tattoos: the direction the koi is swimming towards: up or downwards. It's rather obvious, once you think about it in the perspective of the legend.

Which way is the koi fish swimming? It is said that if the koi fish is swimming “up” the part of the body it has been placed on, the person who dons the tattoo may be trying to overcome some sort of personal hardship. If the koi fish tattoo is swimming “down” the body, the tattooed individual has possibly persevered and overcome the problem they were facing.

Although if you think about it, a Koi fish that swam up the stream and reached it's goal should have been turned into a Dragon, so wouldn't the Koi fish that is swimming down have failed in it's quest? I'm probably over-analyziing the symbolism here...

So, for Rin we have: A pink Koi that swims upstream with some black scales.

Sweet. I will leave you with some eye-candy. Because: goddamn, tattood ladies.

For a description of the game, go here.

Right, here we go, co-working on a saturday! After a very good Bagel breakfast with project-scavenger it's time to set my goals for today!

I'm pretty close to being able to show a very crude demo of the complete game, which is the short-term goal I'm aiming for. That means I've got a game filled with content that needs to be polished until it shines. After I've added all the content I'm going back to my original planning and list of ad-hoc ideas and see what needs to be done. I do believe I planned to have some testing done when the content is completed, too... *shudders* Scary!

Alright, here's the list of things I want to do today, in order:

Create content for the following scenes:     a) Rin skipping class and heading up to the school's roof     b) Rin and Sam meeting on top of the school roof (lovingly dubbed: Rin meets Sam, face meets fist)

Put new content and already existing content in the game. This includes Dragons + Lillies awesome soundtracks.

Create new build and distribute to the Chosen Few.

If I have time left I'll work on a title screen and user interface. Ugh. I am understanding more and more why UX is a discipline on it's own.

Well, here we are. I'm not a hundred percent happy with it, but at least I typed enough to fill a scene. Here's a preview!