NOTE: As with all of my updates on stuff, it is helpful to know what I'm talking about. If you strayed in here, you'd be advised to quickly visit two pages: http://64digits.com/games/index.php?cmd=view_game&id=1119 is the page for the HPE (HamstaPowah Engine, an RPG/Tactics engine I've been tampering with for far too long), and this engine is for a game based around my comic, found at www.hamstapowah.com. In fact, you may not even need to visit those pages, just acknowledge they exist, but I love it when people enjoy the comic.

(Is there a tag to shrink text size to make that smaller? I get asked what HPE is enough to want to include it, but at the same time, it's kinda huge. >: )

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"Juju" and "Mojo" both mean "News" in this case.

Laptop is out. I can occassionally get it to run Safe Mode and thus get things for back up, but for all effective terms and uses, the laptop has bit it. I think the video card is loose, and I'm so useless with ahrdware I dare not tamper with the thing and would jsut as well have a proffessional deal with it. Or Lardman. Whichever. Just not me.

So, what this means to those of you who follow my general works is this:

- HamstaPowah, Matt Matter and most of my other digital art and comics are on hold for the time being. Tablet drivers aren't installed on the desktop, and the living room is an akward place to work as everyone else is in it staring at me all the time, asking what I'm doing, which annoys me for some reason.

- With Matt Matter on hold comes my hopes of shooting the idea to publishers by August's end being dashed , leaving me no options besides more fast food or going back to college for something I can't seem to convince my parents that I don't even want to do. Understandable after so much work convincing them and myself that I *did* want to do it. Whatever.

+ I got the HamstaPowah engine backed up before the computer died. If the Flash drive is okay, so is HPE. I will be transferring that to the desktop and maybe (since everything involving drawing is on hold) I can work on the inventory and event systems. Battle system is two frames of Zenith away from being able to move forward, which really sucks. (I need to fix shading on one image and at least give him a defend stance again. I could use the old one, but my presentation tendancies keep me from mixing the pixel sprites with teh drawn ones I've been doing). I've got the battle placement finished, the Status menu seems to be functioning beyond what the original had, even, stats have been reworked a bit and all in all things are finally starting to come together in a manner I think I can work with. The equipment and spell options won't be as deep as I'd hoped, but in keeping in continuity with the coic that may work out better anyway - the day my come wher eI can expand them for the game around the comic itself instead of before it, in which case skills at the least will be vast in number and well worth going out of your way for.

On note of HPE's general advancement in the game's overall design, I've decided on some things about teh game's general level design, and feedback is welcome.

> Areas are generally going to be kept fairly open, encouraging exploration and in theory offering just rewards.

> However, there is a beaten path to follow, which leads directly to your goal or what have you, and will be relatively devoid of risk compared to the more open areas.

> Monsters in open areas will be more dangerous, especially if you wander off the main path into an area completely optional to explore. (Say, a path goes north, but you go off east into the depths of the woods. This is fine if you're over-levelled or on a return trip, but not recommended your first time through.)

> I hope to make more dangerous monsters stand out and thus be more easily avoided. Obviously, a monster the size of a small tank that's not attempting to attack you deems you beneath its notice, and unless you're feeling pretty confident, you'd best leave it alone.

> Having been playing way too much FF12 lately, and enjoying the Mark system quite a bit, I may try and work something similar in, as well, and there will undoubtedly be an optional battle tower of some sort for the daring.

In short, I want to make the main game fun, but also include enough replay value that it would be worth keeping on your HD a while longer than it takes to finish the main quest.

Of course, this is dependant on me finishing the stupid engine. Which is moving along slowly, mind, as GM isn't the focus of my attentions, but the whole "aiming to get published" thing probably told you that.