The most British of deaths. Aboard the Teatanic.
7 Likes
Came back to this tread after a while. I am impressed with your progess. I loved the previous Jolly good and I’m excited for the sequel.
1 Like
Thanks, @Elilovescola! Me too. I can’t figure out if it has actually been five years that I have been working on this project so far or if I have simply allowed five-years’-worth of life force to drain out and into this game. Either way, worth it.
I am not a naturally impatient person, but there are definitely days where I want things to propel forward so I can share everything with you. We’re getting there! Thank you so much for your words. They mean a lot to me.
20 Likes
I always knew there was a dark side to this game, I didn’t think that it was some sort of mutated online vampire, though
2 Likes
Still working my way through the Vyv chapter, adding tons of content to the party that you are at: intrigue for those who want that, artistic stuff for those who want that, and just plain enjoying a party. Lots of ways to get in trouble, cause property damage, and help Vyv’s career if you are so moved, whether by directly helping in a creative way, by sabotaging rivals, or by staying well out of the way.
Today I wrote a long scene about helping someone with writer’s block, and that was good. Then I realized that I didn’t actually need two other vignettes I had originally planned, and that was doubly good. That counts as writing, when you cut something.
As far as I can tell, I have 15 vignettes left to write for the party, some short (a card game, a shakedown) some medium (graverobbing, dealing with Figs and/or Mopsie) and some longish (a romantic scene on a piano).
That will conclude the major part of Vyv’s chapter, to be followed by a big chase scene that will come in two or three varieties. It’s coming along. The only reason it’s taking so long is because I am trying to stuff it with content such that you are tempted to play the party several times because you’ll feel like there’s a million things going on in the background. But progress is happening!
30 Likes
Now there’s an image.
2 Likes
The last time I’ve been here, you were still writing chapter 5. There is not a single day that goes by where I don’t think about the Jolly Good series and the release of Tea and Scones. Otherwise, I’ve returned harboring another question about Jolly Good’s writing. If it’s alright to ask, how do you keep all the character voices consistent, if that even makes sense? I just find it so fascinating that each character is so unique in terms of how they speak (but that’s probably because writing dialogue is one of my few weaknesses). The rebelliousness (or maybe the wit, as well) that Haze and Fitzie exhibit, for me, is different in some way, but I can’t tell what.
4 Likes
This game is going to be so epic
1 Like
I’m juuuuust about getting to the big finale of the Vyv chapter now, so you find me maybe a little more than halfway through the various chapter sevens!
As far as character voices, I have a few advantages, one of which is having a small alpha-reading group who know the characters and off of whom I can bounce things if I need feedback.
The other advantage is that I revise a tremendous amount, constantly going back and reworking older chapters, which helps me make the voices consistent. So the actual trick is not actually that I’m always able to keep the voices consistent as I write but that I go back and make it look like they’ve been consistent.
Some voices I find very easy to slip into. Parsnip, Uncle Chum, Ernie, Gilberto, Tabby, Rory, Col. Firesnuff, Figs and Mopsie…but other voices are really hard work for me to hit just the right tone. Vyv is a challenge because they have a more subtle voice. Fitzie is fun but a little exhausting to write. I do have some music I put on at times to set a character or a scene mood.
I think it’s probably like juggling. I don’t want to think about how I catch the falling objects too hard or else I’ll psych myself out. At any rate, I’m just sitting down now to write a scene about Figs, and I have to allow the spirit of Figs to inhabit and control me.
21 Likes
Friends and wellwishers:
The time has come. Not the time when the game is done. That’s later.
This is the time when I suddenly, shockingly, have this:
Yes, it has happened. There is a Patreon, and on that Patreon, one can find an actual piece of Tea and Scones that a person can, if they are motivated to join up, play.
It is not a big chunk. It is a morsel. But I think it’s a tasty morsel, and the morsel will be bigger in time to come.
There will be stuff there such as posts and game design musings and deep dives into the process. I’ve never done this before. I didn’t think I would do it at all, but Time makes fools of us all, as the fellow says.
I’m looking forward to it. I wonder if it’ll work.
P.S., I have absolutely no social media presence on purpose. But I can see how it might be useful for purposes like this. If you would help me spread the news of this new branch of the Noble Gases club hither and yon that would be much appreciated. Honestly, even just “yon” would be welcome if you can’t swing hither.
P.P.S:
47 Likes
Very exciting stuff! Can’t wait to whet my appetite with these morsels!
2 Likes
After spending a very short-ish time adding the save game checkpoints into Tally Ho yesterday, I am so happy that it’s going to be easy to do the same with Tea and Scones, and I won’t have to do the whole duplication of variables (for thousands of them) for the save/load function.
Saving one day of work on this project seems like a drop in the bucket, but I’ll take it!
27 Likes
If you like writing about scene structure and some super crude drawing, here’s some!
I want every large-scale scene to have a really different feeling as the game starts to explode into the end, and so every one of the chapter sevens has a wholly different structure.
Tabby’s is pretty linear until you get into a location, and then you wander around for a while until you make your way to a particular goal. The emphasis there is how efficiently you find the place you are going to.
Gilberto’s adventure has you follow a path into increasingly dangerous location, and you have two main routes down; the route you take intersects with the other path halfway down, and you can change not only the path, but who you travel with. Then, when you get to the bottom, you have multiple locations to explore in a limited time.
Vyv’s is a single location that you never leave the whole adventure, but there are all different adventures going on all over the place at all different overlapping times.
But I was stuck on how I wanted to do Fitzie’s adventure. Then I figured it out. It’s quite linear, from point A to B to C to D, and you can choose to hit those points from two different angles, but they are the same points. Think of them not as routes, but attitudes or approaches. You can just do A to D perfectly straightforwardly. However, throughout the adventure, you will frequently be presented with compelling, highly attractive reasons to detour and linger and do things that do not seem to advance the mission. Those are the detour circles. If you want to be efficient, you may ignore them and deal with the fallout. If you want to take your time, you may indulge (and deal with other kinds of fallout). I like this because it helps me get at the Fitzie-relationship’s push and pull with responsibility and pleasure, authority and disobedience, and with work and fun.
39 Likes
I love this insight into the chapter structures, thank you for sharing it! I bet each one will feel really distinctive.
7 Likes
This isn’t related to the post itself, except that they both contain Fitzie, who is the best (as they will undoubtedly tell you if you give them a chance or a chance to create said chance), but I just wanted to tell you that a week does not go by without my brain pulling out their ‘You have corrupted my delicate servant sensibilities’ line out of nowhere, which is hilarious because Fitzie doesn’t have anything servant-y whatsoever except perhaps the uniform and definitely NOT the sensiblities (of any profession), and I doubt they could point to delicateness if you gave them a manual on manners and etiquette (which they would make good use of by throwing it at the head of any over-enthusiastic morning fruit sellers).
I love them. 15/10, would be bereft of servant with professionalism so I could hire them instead again.
17 Likes
I suspect your opinion is the opinion of rather more than a few readers:
(Sorry, this is a screenshot of a poll, not a poll–sorry to those who tried to click it! and yes, “Appointmnet” is a purposeful typo.)
18 Likes
I understand that the Noble Gases have dashed off a Press Release regarding this fascinating development, which may be read wholly free of charge at this location:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/press-release-125388652
I understand that no punches are pulled in the opinions regarding some of the winning Hosted Games in that press release.
28 Likes
Well deserved! Hip hip.
3 Likes
The demo of the character maker and the prologue for Tea and Scones is now available for all to freely play here!
23 Likes
This is really wonderful! I love how the character creator is done in-character - it’s so different and evocative. Really inspirational, as always!
3 Likes