There's a new PV blooper reel comic ready and waiting for everyone who votes (just click the TWX banner or button and follow the instructions)! New ROM too.

Well I made it to PA, having a good internet connection, and things are going well. I'm spending a lot of time with my grandparents, but I'm also trying to get a bit of work done and have some fun too. Yesterday morning I went to The Amazing Maize Maze at Cherry Crest Farm. It's a giant corn maze that has a new theme and design each year. Right by the Strasburg railroad too, so you can get a nice look at the train going past (provided you're in a position to see over the corn). This is their 15th year running the maze and I've done it something like twelve times. Lots of fun. I got pretty lucky this time and accidently found the exit about 17 minutes after I started. But finding the exit is the easy part. If you really want to master the maze you need to find all the hidden map pieces and crossword puzzle solutions hidden throughout it and then get to the exit. I did pretty good this year and completed it all in an hour and twenty minutes, just a few minutes more than my fastest time on one of the previous mazes. Average is about two hours for me, though one or two of the past mazes took a full two and a half. Anyway, the maze was a lot of fun but I've got lots to do today as well so I need to get some sleep..

I'll see you Monday. Ink updates will resume sometime next week, so keep an eye out for that as well.

Josiah

No Ink update today for two reasons. First, I'm deciding what to work on next now that nearly all the menu related stuff is done. Second, I've got to get up really early for my flight to PA so I want to get to sleep soon. I'll probably have internet access while I'm there, but I can't be certain. Depending on how things end up, Friday and Monday's updates may be a bit early or late. There's a slight chance one or both of them will have to be skipped, but I'll do my best to avoid it. So I'll hopefully see you Friday.

Josiah

I hoping to finish up the first draft of my book today! There's still more work left to do after that (some revisions, some Power Points, a web site, etc), but this should complete the vast majority of it. Anyway, time for one last menu for Ink (well, actually there's two left but I think I'll save the second one for later).

Ink's Options Menu:
<Insert option menu mock-up image here.>

The following options will be available in the menu.

Music Volume: Adjust the volume of the music.
Sound FX and Voice Volume: Adjust the volume of the sounds and voices.
Subtitles: Turn subtitles on or off for spoken dialogue.
Language: Chance the language of the voice overs and/or text.
Controls: Change the button configuration.

Designer's Comments:
Can't really have a game these days without an options menu. Nothing too special here. The exact options selection may change slightly as the development progresses and it's decided that a particular option is or isn't needed. As a note on the language option, that's an iffy one. Personally I think that if multiple language versions of a game are completed in time, it's nice to include them all on one disc (never know when someone will want to play the game in a different language). But it's not that simple. Translating a game can take a lot of time, especially if you also need to re-record all the voice acting, so there's no guarantee that the other language versions would be done in time for the initial release. Then there's the whole disc space issue. While text (even a lot of it) usually doesn't take a huge amount of space, voice overs do. While the PS3 uses blu-ray discs which could easily hold multiple language tracks for most games (though for some even a single dual layer blu-ray wouldn't be enough). the 360 and Wii use DVDs which have far less storage space to spare. So, while having a multiple language option would be nice, it's not always very practical.

Josiah