Hello dreamers!  As you know I’ve re-entered the wild and wooly world of Academia and with it my time has been severely compressed.  In a ruthless act of sheer survival this last quarter, I had to put Before You Close Your Eyes on hold while struggling to get through all my classes.  It was a distressing decision, but it paid off in some good ways.  Most notably, mid-quarter I wrote a grant proposal to teach an experimental game design class this coming year and I also submitted a paper to the Digital Games Research Association Conference.  I both received the grant (and funding from my department to run the class) AND my paper was accepted to the conference!  Both of these things will be very helpful when I am sending CVs out into the world, attempting to find an academic job.

But enough excuses!  I’m pleased to inform you of another exciting thing that happened this quarter -- I realized (with some help) that Before You Close Your Eyes fits my thesis research agenda!  Which means it can be included as part of my final thesis project!  Which MEANS…<gasp, gasp> that it is now, officially, a main part of my school work, and therefore will not be put by the wayside again! 

So this week, I am happy to say, I am back to work.  Other than a teaching job which I start on the 10th, and parenting, it is also my main work for the summer.  I am very excited to be devoting my life back to this game, which is a true labor of love for me! 

Where are we at right now?  Here’s a rundown:

·         There are 10 planned “scenes” in the game.  (Note that they are different amounts of content in each one. )

·         7 of 10 scenes have the first pass written and five of those are all coded up with the personality trait system. 

·         I have a second writing pass planned yet for five scenes, and a coding pass planned for six scenes

·         Only one scene has yet to be begun at all!

My plan at the moment is to release two versions of the game.  The first version will be…I don’t want to call it a “light” version, but it will feature all the main content of the game, written by myself.  It will likely not have much, if any, art in it.  After that’s out, I am going to work on an extended edition that will include the side-quests from Kickstarter backers and, hopefully, more art and we’ll see what else.  I think doing it this way will allow for the game to be released into the hands of people who want it earlier and provide a much needed sense of accomplishment for myself, while also allowing me to spend the necessary time with the Kickstarter side-quest writers with fewer distractions.  Backers who signed up to get free copies of the game on Kickstarter will of course be offered both (and all possible!) versions of the game.

Thanks again for all your support everyone!  It is huge to me. 

Dream well,

Heather

Hey folks! I wanted to poke my head back in to Kickstarter to tell you where to find news and updates on Before You Close Your Eyes these days.

The project has a page on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Before-You-Close-Your-Eyes/110046212351779...

Blog postings are automatically posted there, and occasional updates distributed through it. If you are on Facebook, keep up with BYCYE just as easily as watching your friends' crops grow.

If you want to keep abreast of more in-depth news and views, join our community page at http://www.bycye.com! Great new things appear there, and more delightful surprises are just around the corner! (You can even log in with your Facebook login! Easy!)

For you more hands-on types, we have started requesting help coming up with various assets for the game at Wreckamovie! http://www.wreckamovie.com/beforeyoucloseyoureyes So far there aren't a ton of tasks up there, but I will be adding more soon! (If you have contacted me in the past re: contributing art or sound, I haven't forgotten you! I will contact you very soon!)

I encourage you all (especially you who have given me money) to come join us, and see all the cool things we are up to!

Take care and dream well,
Heather

Hi there Kickstarter folks!

Since I've gone back to contracting, I'm still working on the game. Every day in fact. But progress is slower than I like.

Nonetheless, we have something really cool available now on the BYCYE community site! I have written an extensive back-story for the BYCYE world. Now you can read all about the Great Market, trading Secrets for food, and what the citizens of Thlanviviak do on a Saturday night.

Check it out at:
http://bycyeyes.ning.com/page/mythos-1

Its in a cool book format thanks to my friend Robert. Click the middle to make it fullscreen so you can read it more easily.

If you are one of the people who wanted to participate in helping create a side-quest or encounter, this back-story should help you get oriented in the world setting. Of course, let me know if you have any questions and I'll help you out.

ALSO! If you are a Facebook user, please click the little "Like" button that appears above the Mythos "book". This will help me out immensely with something that is a secret at the moment.

Thanks!
Heather

So. Here we are. April. Its been two months since I started working on BYCYE. So…where do we stand?

Well as I’m sure you can guess, the game is not done. I thought two months to finish this project would be “ambitious”. It turns out it was more like “crazy talk”. I thought maybe, realistically, it would be about a 3 month project. But in the real reality of the world we live in, it is more like a six month project.

Here is a summary of where the project is at as of today:

The game is about 90% designed (I had to do a great deal of redesigning as I went. but I feel confident that not too much is going to change from here on out.)

The game is about 25% scripted. It keeps getting faster to do the scripting as I go.

We have three side quests in production, being designed by three of our high-level backers with a little help from yours truly. If you were a collaboration level backer, its still not to late to get involved! (Message me for the information if you can’t find it).

I have started working with a fabulous PR/Marketing guy, Robert Pratten. He has started by setting up an awesome new community site for us which can be found at http://www.bycye.com He also has presented me with an exciting plan for spreading the word of the project far and wide.

I have enlisted the aid of an awesome writer and game designer, Jake Forbes. He's already half-way through his first scene!

Very soon I’ll be soliciting artwork for the game, then we will have more pretty pictures to look at.

I have made available a mini-demo of the game for all to try! http://bycyeyes.ning.com/page/demo-game

I want to thank you all very much for these last two months. This has been an amazing experience. I know that, without the backing I received through Kickstarter, this game would not exist at all today, not even in its partially done state. I have also learned a ton about myself, my creative process, and my ideal work processes.

And this is not the end! Even though the Kickstarter funds have run out and I am starting to pick up contract jobs again, I am committed to completing this project. It is likely to go much more slowly than it has been, given that I have to spread myself thinner in order to pay the rent. But I am going to continue to work on the project every day, at least in small ways. There is always downtime between contracting projects and I am going to make the most of that time to bring BYCYE to life. The momentum created by these last two months will not be stopped, even if it is maybe slowed a little.

One change that I am not excited about, but that is necessary, is that I am going to post updates on the official blog once a week from now on instead of every day. Its a bummer, I know. But I think I have to do this so that I can use my time more efficiently. So starting next week, expect to see updates from me every Friday.

Thank you again, and let me know if you have any questions, comments, or even just encouragement. (Love that encouragement!) The dream will continue, even if its at a more standard Indie-Game-Developer-with-a-day-job-and-small-child pace.

Do come by our new community site at http://www.bycye.com to see the project blog, mini-demo, ask questions and meet others interested in the project!

Hi all! Here is a tasty treat for you all:

A small section of the game to play: http://www.jetgirl.net/bycye/web/mygame/index.html

You can set your personality trait levels in a very cheating fashion just to try out what happens when you represent different personalities in the game. Go ahead and give it a try! Then give some feedback on the forums: http://www.forums.bycye.com/viewtopic.php...

Also, don’t forget about the live chat tomorrow at 2pm PST. Here is the link:

http://www.meebo.com/room/beforeyoucloseyoureyes/

See you there!

Hi everyone. First of all I wanted to let you know that I am currently planning another live chat before the beginning of April. This time, you can help pick the date and time. Just follow this link:
http://www.doodle.com/x3qf982upivm4es6

And pick the day and time that works best for you.

In the chat I would like to talk about ideas for getting the community more involved in the project and getting feedback about what types of updates you would like. I will also be happy to share what I've learned so far about the creative process, and what its like to work from home on a project you love while a two and a half year old throws a temper tantrum in the background. Plus anything else that comes up!

Next, in case you haven't been following along on the blog (which is here: http://www.beforeyoucloseyoureyes.com) I wanted to let you know that things are moving along on the project. I have been posting updates and musings mostly every day. There has also been some activity on our project forums: (http://www.bycye.com/forums), but it would be great to see more!

The project has been more challenging than expected in some respects, but it keeps moving forward. Sometimes in little spurts, other times in long strides. Expect another update at the end of the month on the current state of the game as the two-month window draws to a close.

I apologize if you've already read this on the BYCYE blog, but I thought you'd appreciate it. By the way, you can check out the blog at: http://www.beforeyoucloseyoureyes.com. Stop by the forums and say hello!

I have been having amazing days lately. In fact, today was nearly perfect.

I got up, got the toddler settled, and finished watching this video, which was sent to me by my friend Sheri Rubin. Inspired, I then cleaned about 200 emails out of my work inbox (only 98 to go). I checked some smaller things off my to do list, then my husband, daughter and I headed out to the Berkeley Marina for an hour. She played on the playground and the three of us had a nice stroll by the water. We grabbed some lunch on the way back and I settled in to work on BYCYE. I scripted for four hours without even noticing the time passing. Then we had some dinner, some 30 Rock and some toddler tickling. Now Celia (my little girl) is being put to bed, and I am looking forward to finishing this post and playing some Dungeons and Dragons Online (I made a new rogue character I’m eager to try).

My last few days (ever since I stopped feeling sick) have been magical. I’m engaged in everything I do. Yesterday I spent an hour cleaning my desk area and actually re-visiting my GTD system that I hadn’t touched in probably half a year! My tweets have been limited to a handful a day, I haven’t been playing any stupid Facebook games, and I’ve only played two games of Peggle in a week! I’m getting more organized, I’m getting my stuff together, and things are getting done!

Its all about the passion. I love working on this game. I am having so much fun just scripting the thing. Any time I’m not scripting I’m thinking about the story options or reading research material. Even when playing Dungeons and Dragons Online or cleaning or doing whatever, I have to have my journal pages nearby so I can jot down stray notes as they come to me, or doodle a freakish monster that is cavorting through my mind.

But loving the work I’m doing is having a powerful impact on the rest of my life as well. Everything else seems so immediate, and I have more energy than I have had in months. I’m getting things done that have been lingering forever, and getting more organized and efficient actually seems desirable, rather than hard. I am setting boundaries to protect my time better than I have ever been able to before.

I feel more vibrant and in love with my family and friends. I just feel….great. And I have my Kickstarter backers to thank for that.

So if you’re reading, thank you.

ps. The first scene is within striking distance of being done. One more four hour stretch and I’ll have it.

Hey everyone! So today I started officially working on Before You Close Your Eyes. I actually had been doing a bit of work here and there over the last few days, but today is the first day I have blocked out my schedule for it.

Here is the new Blog/Website:
http://www.beforeyoucloseyoureyes.com

On that blog I am going to be posting the daily progress reports for how the game is coming along. These will be posted every day around 5pm PST. Probably some other musings will appear there as well. I am still going to use the Kickstarter blog, but am only going to use it for announcements that affect all the backers. This is so that people who are interested in the game, but not avidly so don't have to get daily (+) emails telling them what's going on.

I also have made a forums where we can all chat!
http://forums.bycye.com

Check it out!

I want you to be aware that both of these sites are works in progress. I wanted to get something up and usable for now. They will continue to evolve until I am happy with how they look and function. (Eventually the blog site will evolve into the product site for the game). But if you have any suggestions at the outset, I'm happy to hear them.

Last week I turned down a contracting job. It was terrifying but thrilling. Thanks for letting me have that.

I am really stunned. I go out to see a movie and look what happens by the time I come back!

Thank you all so much.

I also really need to thank Kickstarter here, because DAMN this is awesome. Thank you Kickstarter for existing to give me this framework for dreaming. You Kickstarter peeps are doing great work for the world.

So here's what happens next...

I need to hide in a hole for a few days and finish up a client project I'm working on. When I emerge I will be an independent artist! I know you will miss my daily updates (hahah) but don't worry, the best is yet to come!

Then, next week I will put together a web-site with some tasty forums where we can hang out. And then THE WORK begins. My oh my. So much work to do! I am pumped though. Time to craft a dream!

While you await my return, I recommend you go play Choice of the Dragon:
http://www.choiceofgames.com/dragon/

Choice of the Dragon was created by my excellent friend and supporter Dan Fabulich. Our project here would probably still be gathering dust in a thesis paper on my bookshelf if it weren't for Dan! He has been on my case literally since I returned from Graduate School five years ago to actually make this game.

Dan created Choice Script, which is the scripting language Before You Close Your Eyes will be written in.

You can read more about Choice Script here:
http://www.choiceofgames.com/blog/choicescript-intro/

Also, why not check out other game projects on Kickstarter?
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/by/ending-soon...

Alright my friends! See you soon!

Heather

Thank you guys again. I am so stoked!

I have decided to have a launch party when the game is done and invite all backers! I have no further details about that yet because I need to figure out what the details will be. First I need to make (and launch) a game!

Secondly, I wanted to let you know that I have emailed today an AMAZING artist whose work enthralls me and would be perfect for the game. I don't know yet what kind of arrangement I can make with her (if in fact, any) but I wanted to let you know that thanks to you all my head is swimming with visions and ideas.

And finally (for now) I wanted to let you know that I have been getting emails, Facebook wall posts, and comments here all congratulating me and sometimes asking me questions. I will answer them all! However at the moment I really have to focus on some client work, so please don't think I am being under-appreciative if I don't get back to you immediately. We will have plenty of time!

I just wanted to say that I am super excited, not only for the opportunity to make this game, but by the fact that you are all going to be right there making it with me. I am going to figure out ways for you all to stay as involved as you want to be. I will take any suggestions you might have about this too!

I'll check in later. Talk to ya soon!
Heather

Well....whew! Here is a video!

Hey folks. Well here we are. 24 hours to go and 75% funded.

What will tomorrow bring? Will we be letting out a sigh of disappointment or dancing around our computer monitors throwing confetti?

Now is the time to call your childhood friends that you once swapped Choose Your Own Adventure books with on the bus before school. To tweet like a crazy person. To Facebook it up! To make sure all those people who said "Yeah that sounds cool, I'll totally kick in!" actually did.

Whatever happens before tomorrow evening, I want to say: Thank you all so very much. The fact that you care so much about this vision and/or my future is humbling in the extreme. I have found myself continually misty eyed and awed by the generosity of so many. It makes me truly excited to think of what can happen when we all pool our efforts.

As for me I am going to try to go to bed early tonight. Continually refreshing my Kickstarter page until the wee hours of the morning has started to take its toll. So good night, and have pleasant dreams of strange forests and dangerous creatures...