Seeds of Time Online now has an automated PayPal donation system

At long last, an automated donation system exists within Seeds of Time Online, using PayPal.  Players can now purchase Energy Potions with real cash; this allows them to enjoy some in-game benefits while supporting the development of the game.

Up until yesterday, the system was not automated and had no in-game benefits, but, much to my surprise, some players were still very generous in donating.  I had the donation system up, without in-game benefits, for about a week and a half.  Surprisingly, during this time, I received over $200 in donations from players eager to see the money reinvested into the game.  One player in particular (and I'm not sure whether he wants his name mentioned here, so I'll err on the safe side) has donated $160 so far.. whoa!

The donations have opened up many doors in updating the game.  The largest monetary expense in creating new content is hiring artists to draw professional-looking artwork for the game (drawing new monsters/maps/items/etc.), and since I now have a budget to work with, I've been able to hire artists to do these tasks.  The results have been amazing, and Seeds of Time Online is starting to look like a brand new, highly-polished game.

Amazing new artwork on Seeds of Time Online

I hired a very talented artist to redraw the Birth Island map artwork in Seeds of Time Online.  Thanks to players who donated generously to the game, I finally had a budget to work with again.  Hopefully, more players continue to donate, and Seeds of Time Online will continue to transform into an artistically beautiful experience.

Interview: PokeCommunity.com

Here's an interview I took a couple of months ago, which was at last posted online about a week ago (only part of the thread is my interview, of course). You can learn a bit about me here-- why I became involved in video game development and more.

http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=160083

Design document for Bootworm Drop released!

Have you heard of Bootworm Drop?  It's a tiny Flash-based minigame I wrote today, over the course of two hours.


Here's a screenshot:


You can play it on Seeds of Time Online (if you have an account there), or on Kongregate (even if you don't have an account).

Having played it, you can also check out the entire design document here-- I strongly recommend you play the game first, or you may not understand the intricate details of this design document.

Starting to enjoy Flash game development

After originally being almost opposed to Flash game development, I've come to actually enjoy it.



You'll notice that Seeds of Time Online has several Flash minigames now, the most recent being a virtual pet sim called "Monster Resort," pictured above.  In this minigame, your active monster from Seeds of Time Online is imported into a small field to run around and play.  You take care of the monster through three buttons: feed, play, and bathe.  Keeping your monster content in all three of those areas (without overdoing it) will increase its Happiness rating.  At the end of the game, your monster receives real experience points (in Seeds of Time Online) according to two things: how well you took care of it, and how high your character's level is (the higher level you are, the faster your monster will level up).


There are four things I like about Flash game development:

• Development is rapid (the above minigame took only two days to write)
• Flash minigames can be integrated into larger browser-based games, like Seeds of Time Online
• Browser-embeddable functionality makes it easier to reach an audience that wouldn't otherwise bother to download and install a game
• Such games can also be uploaded to Kongregate and other Flash game portals, further increasing profits

Flash minigame development for Seeds of Time Online also gives me more variety in work, rather than simply coding PHP for Seeds of Time Online all day.


I'll be working on more minigames in the near future.  I'm also speculating a complete Flash remake of Seeds of Time Online at some point within the next few years.  We'll see...