PlayFirst Grapevine
Behind the Scenes of Emerald City Confidential
2009
by annemariePF
FEB
17
Ever think about creating your very own game? Get behind the scenes of the latest PlayFirst release, Emerald City Confidential with Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games. Check out Emerald City Confidential today.
David Gilbert writes: Three years ago I wrote my first game from inside a New York City café. Every morning for a month I would walk in, nab a cup of joe, sit down, plug my battered laptop into a handy outlet, and get to work. It was a great way to make a game. There was no office, no schedule, and no rush hour subway crowds. I had an epiphany during that month - I was going to do this forever. So, I proceeded to do just that. The games have gotten bigger, prettier, and more expensive since then; but I still work in cafés. I'm actually writing this blog entry from one!
It's been over a year since Emerald City Confidential went into production, and what a ride it's been! It is without a doubt the largest and most ambitious project I've ever worked on. It has interesting characters, tells a great story, it looks beautiful, it has a bunch of neat puzzles, and it takes place in Oz! I look at the game now, all shiny and new and on the verge of release, and I'm so gosh darn proud of it. I am so thankful to PlayFirst for believing in my work and making this possible. This is the type of game I dreamed of making ever since I was a kid.
I just try not to think about the amount of coffee I consumed while making it. This game has probably kept my local café in business all by itself.
The Animals of Wandering Willows
2009
by bobonut
FEB
13
This week, I'd like to cover the animals in Wandering Willows. There are over 40 animals in the game. Each and every one of those animals can be your pet.
What does your pet do?
Your pet does 3 things:
- Climbing
- Digging
- Charming
How are pets different?
Well, some pets are faster at climbing, some are faster at digging, and some are better charmers than others. Each pet also has a special perk. These perks range from digging up rare metals more often to receiving eggs from charming more often. There are quite a few different perks, so I won't list them all here. In addition, you can outfit your pets with special collars which enhance them. That's a whole other topic though…
Also, I'd like to answer some questions that came up in the comments from the last blog:
Psycology99 asks, "When will it be released?"
I'm not sure how specific I can be about the release date but it won't be this month. It could be soon after that…
Ender asks, "How does one go about making a game so clearly awesome? Also, where can I procure a torpex?"
Thanks for the compliment Ender! It was a lot of hard work by a handful of people here. For all who don't know, a torpex is an explosive (I had to look it up myself). There is a point in the game where you make an explosive and you acquire the raw materials by digging them up.
Drbronty asks, "Are you going to have additional beta tests before releasing it?"
Unfortunately, there will be no more beta tests but the game is almost done! So, that should be even better.
-Dan
A few new points about Points
2009
by JenMP
FEB
12
Hey, look, we changed some of the Points stuff! Wish we could take credit for the clever ideas, but of course we were mostly just listening to you, our brilliant and loyal PlayFirsters.
When we introduced PlayFirst Points on the beta version of our website way back when, we were surprised (happily so!) by some of the reactions we got from you. Our intent was to add a casual little game element into the website experience—put some low-key competitive fun into our newest website features. But fans really latched onto the idea and became very invested in their Points. We got a lot of requests to redeem Points for things and earn Points for different things. We toyed with spending Points to ask questions. But people didn't want to lose what they had worked hard to accumulate—even though they couldn't yet do anything with them!
Well, that kind of investment deserves a payoff. So, we went ahead and revamped Points! Some changes come directly from your suggestions; some we had secretly planned all along (heh heh). Here's a quick summary:
You earn Points not only for answering questions (and being selected for providing the best answer), but also for asking questions that other people find interesting. You get Points for improving the Tips knowledge base by voting for best answers, and for becoming more engaged with the PlayFirst community by choosing an avatar and validating your email address.
And what's even better? You can now redeem Points for actual online stuff!
- Like backgrounds! Dress up our website with a special background. Your background gets noticed on your Profile page—whenever anyone views your Profile, they'll see your special background.
- And avatars! Dress up your PlayFirst persona with a brand-spanking-new avatar, only available via Points redemption. You can show off your avatar in the forums, Tips, and blog comments;
...which we know you will be ;-)
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