Feedback

I would like to thank everybody for the great feedback and support for my project. I read all of the comments very carefully and surely I shall use the gathered information in my game.

Some of you have proposed to help me in English, for which I’m very grateful and surely will need it. Alexandru Simion had written me an email with some great advises how to improve dialogs.

Basing on your feedback I decided to put some improvements in the playable demo. You can download it the same way as the previous demo.

What has been changed:

- I’ve added some little animations in the background. It’s not much, but they put some life in the scene;

- the animation for the talking scene between Myosotis and Wiseman has been changed;

changed talking animation

- some illustrations “describing” the story of Wiseman have been added.

new "cutscenes"

I know I can count on your feedback. Thank you once more!

By now I’m working on details of the story behind the game, like miniquests and dialogs. And as fascinating it is it’s not very spectacular to show.

Playable demo

The playable demo is ready for download. I plan to make the game much bigger. Write me what do you think about it? Would you be interested in playing such a game? I count on your feedback. Every comment shall be appreciated.

Soon I will write some more about the world of “the Dreams of the Forest” but now let me tell you about the game.

The main character is Myosotis, better known as the Trader of Stories. She had lost her memory and now is traveling the world, gathering stories in search for her past.

The main character of the game - Myosotis

Her animation (as well as all other animation in the game) was done in traditional matter. Well, almost traditional. The paper and a pencil was exchange for a tablet and a pen, but beside that it is still frame by frame animation.

The frames building the “walking” and “playing the flute” animations

Beside her the demo is also habited by a Wiseman. He’s pretty strange but you would be too when your only occupation would be talking to lizards (especially if you can hear them talking back).

the Wiseman - from sketch to final drawing

There is also Zephyr, Myosotis trusted companion. The fact that he’s an animal with a intelligence of a sheep says much about her ability to establish grown-up relationships.

Zephyr with cart - from sketch to final drawing

The action of the demo is set in the Great Steppe. The land of grass and a mystery behind it. The location itself was constructed from several layers moving independent when character is moving from one side of the screen to another. It was hand-drawn by pencil and colored on computer with the use of a tablet.

the Great Steppe - from sketch to final drawing

And last but (hopefully) not least – the cutscenes. They compose of a series of handrawn illustrations sometimes in comicbook style.

the game cutscenes - from sketch to final drawing

That’s all for now. I hope you will enjoy the short demo. If you have ANY comments please write them to me.

At the beginning there was a Seed…

The Trader of Stories is an oldsql adventure game based on one of my worlds: The Dreams of the Forest. The world was created for the purpose of a comicbook. Thanks to a great support of my friends the world grew bigger and bigger. Soon it was big enough to supply not only the comicbook but also some short stories, tons of illustrations and now – a game.

a page from my comicbook, if you look closely
you can see the resemblance with the game

Why adventure game?
I use to be a great fan of adventure games. I had that luck that my gaming years (when you left computer only in case of lack of electricity) felt on theirs golden age. When technology didn’t knew the magic of 3D and everything was so wonderful flat. I miss those carefree days and I miss these oldsql adventure games.
I always wanted to make a game and when my brother had shown me the Wintermute Engine I didn’t hesitate long. I tried to make it as oldsql as possible. So no 3D renders, no quick-button-pounding action cutscenes, simple hand-drawn backgrounds and traditional animations.