First of Art

As it often happens with the non-salary projects, they have to wait for a while when the creators must earn their living. Thus, it has been a bit quiet and slow with After Now Archeology for a month or two. To do something productive code- or art-wise, I need to have many days free from other responsibilities, so I can focus on the actual task. Having small tasks for some hours 2-4 times a week break the concentration efficiently.

Anyhow, I have managed to do something for ANA. The design for the first Art-path puzzle is maybe ready, and I have even started to re-paint one photograph I took around New year, as a background image. The puzzle will be an association map but with meaningful hints. The player is given an image with one or more lines with hints starting from it, and the player must write the correct answers to the end of the lines to open new images. Repeat until the end.

The genre has been around in the internet for a while - usually without hints. The games are interesting, but they can be really frustrating, since the player really can't know what the designer has been thinking when building the network of things and connections. Hinting also works well with the information gathering idea of the game.

Anyways, here is the planned structure.

And here is a work-in-progress-version of the background.

The evil gatekeeper of the Art-path? At least, gatekeeper he is.