Demo release plans

March 11th, 2010 by Greg  |  comment

Well, we’re T-minus one week and counting until the Stitch demo releases! The Stitch testing team has been hard at work getting this launch together, and we now have a final release candidate ready to go as a downloadable Adobe® AIR™ application (filesize weighs in at about 11Mb). It will be up on our MediaFire account in a week!

However, the bigger news is that we’ve decided to try releasing an online-playable version of the demo. We think our fans will really enjoy being able to jump right into the game without the hassle of installation. This online version will also be available next week, and will remain online for as long as our in-page advertising revenues keep pace with our hosting expenses (fingers crossed that it pays for itself – otherwise we’ll need to pull it).

For our fans who are excited to play the demo, we highly recommend that you take the extra step and download the AIR app. You’ll avoid load times, and you’ll enjoy the experience with full quality graphics and sound. Either way–we’re looking forward to sharing the demo, and we hope you’re looking forward to playing it!

Until next week…

Day and Night

March 3rd, 2010 by Greg  |  comment

I’ve posted an article on my Flash Makes Games blog about the process of creating day and night time switches for “What Makes You Tick: A Stitch in Time”. The article covers some of the exploration and discovery processes involved in the feature, as well as the challenges and technical solutions that have come about while implementing it. If you’re interested, have a read at: http://lassieadventurestudio.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/day-and-night/

Matt Kempke Interview

March 1st, 2010 by Greg  |  comment

An interview of Matt Kempke by David Steffen of Diabolical Plots appeared today on the zine’s blog. Matt offers some narrative on the production of “What Makes You Tick: A Stitch in Time”, as well as some discussion of future plans and general interests. Read the full interview at: http://www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=1179

The Clock is Ticking…

February 26th, 2010 by Greg  |  comment

March 18th, the demo of “What Makes You Tick: A Stitch in Time” will be released. It’s been a long haul, but Matt and I are both pleased with the result. This demo combines the efforts of many talented and creative folks to deliver what we hope our players will appreciate as a very atmospheric and nostalgic experience. The demo will be available for free, so we hope our fans and friends will join us that Thursday to try it out!

Some things to look forward to:

• Spend some quality time with old “Tick” friends.
• Enjoy a warm welcome to Ravenhollow harbor.
• Test your Houdini skills by staging a daring escape with nothing but a fish!
• Get involved in local politics (better here than in real life, right?)
• Wreak havoc upon the fish in the sea!
• See what’s in store for the full version of… “What Makes You Tick: A Stitch in Time”.

Demo News

February 8th, 2010 by Greg  |  comment

Greetings from back home in Washington, D.C.! I made it back from La Paz, Bolivia a few weeks ago and have been winding back up on Stitch development ever since. And the good news is that a lot has happened over the past two weeks. Matt and I have programmed another act in that time, which brings us up to three out of four acts being playable. Also, we’ve been working hard to refine the demo release. Our initial beta testers provided us with some great feedback, so we’ve been working hard to polish the experience. The second beta release has been issued to our testers this evening, so we’re closing in on a demo release candidate.

In the meantime, I’ve posted a couple more screenshots in the media section. You’ll now see the game inventory and the port authority office.

Happy Holidays!

December 22nd, 2009 by Greg  |  comment

Happy Holidays to all, and Happy New Year!

Well, Matt and I are winding down for the year right now – Matt is heading home for the holidays, and I’m heading out for some holiday travel (give me a shout if you’re in Peru in early January!). It’s been a long year with a TON of work on Stitch, so Matt and I are both looking forward to the break. However, 2010 will kick off with a renewed push to wrap up the project.

So, let’s talk about the coming year… I know the big question right now is “when will the game will be released?”. Unfortunately, that’s the one thing we can’t say at this point because –in the end– it will be our testers who tell us when the game is ready. However, looking ahead at the more immediate future, we have lots of good news! The project is moving right along, there is a huge portion of the game built, and what isn’t yet built is at least entirely drawn and animated (thanks to Matt’s herculean effort on art production – seriously, he’s been on fire). However, the best news for fans is that there is a demo, and it will be releasing… soon (…as in late January/early February after I’m back from travel and Matt and I get a chance to wrap up a few last details).

In the meantime, have a great holiday, enjoy New Years festivities, and stay warm if you’re in a snowy portion of the world… Matt and I both are (brrrrrrrr).

The Story of ‘Stitch’

December 10th, 2009 by Greg  |  comment

It all started when I met up with Matt Kempke (creator of What Makes You Tick?) in September 2007 for a hiking trip into the Swiss Alps. What Makes You Tick? had been out for about six months at that point, and Matt’s batteries had recharged enough that he was  starting to think about game development again… and he had an idea brewing.

As I fought off trans-Atlantic jetlag on my first night in Leipzig, I stayed awake to hear out Matt’s game concept that built upon the themes of Franz Kafka’s “The Castle”. His concept had nothing to do with WMYT – or at least, it didn’t until the random idea emerged to throw in some WMYT character cameos. Suddenly the concept took a turn: what if this Kafka story WAS a What Makes You Tick? sequel, but took a sideways approach at joining into the first game?

Those familiar with Tick would probably understand why we thought an immediate resolve to the original story would feel a bit anti-climatic. Therefore, the idea of a new story with a new hero on a new mission really appealed to us. It gave us the opportunity to kick off a new game that walked circles around WMYT until finally joining up with the original story at an “opportune” moment.

So, our hiking trip proceeded with many ideas brewing. I hammered out a feature list for the next generation of the Lassie engine (which would be specifically engineered to power this game), and we visited some fantastic locations that ultimately inspired the world of Ravenhollow (Füssen, Germany and Jungfrau in Switzerland have made very direct appearances within the final world). At the end of the trip, we hammered out the last of the major story arc over pints of beer in an Interlaken tavern after coming off the trail.

However, like all good ideas – Stitch went on the back burner once we returned to our normal lives. And it stayed there – for almost a full year. Finally in fall of 2008, after lots of talk and no real action, Matt and I met back up in Prague, Check Republic (more great world inspiration, and ironically the home of Franz Kafka) to hammer out a hard plan and production schedule. Finally, in late October 2008 the first real production began.

It’s been a long, hard haul over the past year, but the game is looking great. We’re looking forward to wrapping up major development in 2009, then going into testing and debugging in 2010. So, that should bring readers up to speed on where we’ve come from; and we’ll keep you posted on where we’re going…

We have a website!

November 21st, 2009 by Greg  |  comment

After many months of intense development and focusing entirely on game production, I’m finally taking a breather here to get an official website together for A Stitch in Time. Many thanks to the fans who have waited patiently these many months for some indication that the project is still underway – rest assured that it IS. We’re making good headway and the game is looking (and sounding) great! While we’re still some months off from a release of any kind, we will do our best to keep the community informed of our progress here on this website.