Cold times! Weird times! I need hot cocoa!! Before this strange year ends I wanted to tell you about Globoform and how it’s going with episode 6.

And some other things too! Hope you enjoy.

Globoform

Over the summer, I wrote a shorter script. I’d been chipping away for two years at a giant episode with more than 100 pages. I finally, very reluctantly, showed some of it to friends and immediately found out it wasn’t working; too bloated, too complicated, too many scenes that didn’t add anything.

So, turns out showing people things is good! I made a new version with only 40 pages and it feels like a huge improvement. Scenes are shorter and characters feel more alive!

Some of these scenes are currently in storyboard phase:

Other scenes are finished entirely! I did a couple of playtests with a few people and I’m getting some very helpful feedback.

This is all running on a new engine I’ve been developing, which I’m also very excited about. Browser based, but feels like an offline game. There’s spatial audio, dynamic music, character animations, save files, controller support, oh and…

Speak.js

You know the typewriter effect every RPG uses for dialog boxes? Makes text look like a character is actually talking? I wrote a browser version that’s very easy to add to any webpage and it’s open source! Use it for your own Twine games, visual novels, anything you can think of. Here’s the demo on GitHub.

That’s all the Globoform related news! No release date for the episode yet. But, not before the end of the year. I hope that’s not too much of a surprise.

Smoke Break in the Alley

A mellow downtempo track I made for Jeremy Blake’s Liminality pack, as part of a monthly challenge in the Red Means Recording Discord. Features Zoë taking a smoke break in the alley of a nightclub called Club 9.

Listen on YouTube.

Eclosión

As part of their 6th anniversary, experimental music label Arthropoda released a compilation album with tracks from old and new artists. There’s a new Waterparken track on this one! It’s called 13th. Solemn and minimal. At the moment you can only get it as a physical CD, I believe they’re planning on adding digital downloads later on. Check out the album here.

Melon Computer

There’s a name you might not have seen in a while. The Melon Computer server went offline in 2022 but it’s back up! This time, it’s a long term thing. The virtual museum still has all previous works on display and the plan is to keep it open indefinitely. There’s a temporary website that explains how to visit. More info coming soon to a nuel news near you!

Bye

And that’s it! Probably last newsletter of the year. Love you and remember:

Fish are real.