A note on Final Mixes

I come from Puerto Rico, which is property of The United States of America. Therefore, the game releases of Puerto Rico match those of The United States of America.

I started getting into the Kingdom Hearts series with Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, then Kingdom Hearts I1.

Having an Internet connection, I found out about Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, a re-release from Japan of Kingdom Hearts I. I learned of the Final Mix pushing several bosses (including Kurt Zisa and Sephiroth) that were already in the game, but also some elements (including the Diamond Dust Keyblade and the Neoshadow) that were already in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. However, I also learned of the new end movie, the new equipment, and new opponents (including Unknown).

Because I lived in a territory owned by The United States of America, I did not see the significance of the Final Mix. I did not even understand the significance of the phrase “Final Mix”. To me, “Final Mix” meant “awesome version of the game that you would never get to play”.

To people from Japan, though, the Final Mix was very valuable.

In real-world development, you need to make compromises. Ironically, electronic games, which are amusement devices, need the most work due to the interactivity, story, graphics, and sound on top of the programming. That is not even getting into connecting with other people and any additional add-ons if necessary. You also have finite resources: any time the game is not released is time that the game is not making money that you can pay your workers, and that is not counting worker energy and will into working into the game. (Workers get tired, you know.) There is also the risk of feature creep; you might end up wanting to add things to the software that would extend the deadline, use up resources, and may not be useful anyways. Another factor is the non-development aspects, including manuals, price calculations, packaging, commercials, websites, other forms of advertising, agreements with stores, possible pre-orders, and shipping. All of that has to end on a specific release date when the games are available to the public. Things getting cut are very likely at least. Even after release, players may find bugs. That is not necessarily an effect of cutting testing; the game is just being subjected to real-world situations with orders of magnitude of more sequences that may trigger an unknown flaw. The same can be said of gameplay enjoyment: beta testing may not catch the different ways a game can be unbalanced, confusing, or just not fun.

Now days, you can normally send a downloadable patch that would fix these flaws. However, that already is a problem to those gamers who do not have reliable Internet access or enough storage. There is also the problem of the patch-sending servers no longer being functional or simply no longer supporting the game. This was an even bigger problem in 2002; though there were several old console-specific online game services (including the Atari GameLine, the Sega MegaNet and the Nintendō Satellaview), the games and even the consoles back then were in read-only memory and therefore could not be modified. By the time Kingdom Hearts I was released, the current generation was starting to get to grips with online play, but contemporary consoles still required add-on hardware and sometimes even a large amount of external memory. Kingdom Hearts I specifically used the Japan-only PlayStation BroadBand Navigator only in helping to reduce load times. At the time, the normal case was just to cut then ship. Both the developers and the players had to suck up the flaws and omissions.

Square2 found a loophole, though.

After the popularity of Kingdom Hearts I, Square eventually approved the release of the game to The United States of America. Since that country mainly speaks English, the game had to be translated to English. That includes translating the text dubbing the voices, and modifying graphics, all to English. These new assets needed to be inserted in the game, plus the text inputs and outputs needed to be modified to a format that supports English. Those insertions and modifications require modifying the game code and assets… in other words, development. Square realized that, if they were reopening the code, putting things there, and going to the entire development then post-development (including packaging and so on) processes anyways, they can use that time in fixing flaws from the game, putting in the things that they had to cut before primary release, and even inserting entirely new things. In this case, the American versions got new bosses: Ice Titan, Kurt Zisa, and Sephiroth. Other significant additions were “Night on Bald Mountain” and new difficulty modes.

That caused an awkward moment: though Kingdom Hearts I was a Japanese game, the American version was superior. Square then decided to release a new version that had the American content added. While updated re-releases of current games was not rare even at the time, this awkward moment gave Square a good excuse. That meant opening up the old game files again, which meant going through the entire game development and post-development processes again, which meant yet another opportunity in adding more cut content and fine-tuning the game further. They even included new cutscenes, adding to the story.

That meant that now the people overseas did not have content that the native Japanese version had. You can logically think that they would export those new changes and additions, but that would essentially go through a back-and-forth of new versions where developers are repeatedly expected to keep working on the same game and players are expected to repeatedly purchase the same game. Both developers and players are going to be tired of the same game. Square decided to just stop right there and turn to new games. This updated, Japan-only version was called Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, named such because that release would be the final time Square was going to remix the game.3 An unfortunate consequence is that international players had to import the Japan-only game and struggle through an unknown language if they wanted to enjoy the new content.

Thankfully, Square found another loophole.

Mr. Tetuya Nomura, the director of the Kingdom Hearts series, wanted a high-definition release of the Kingdom Hearts series. This also would solve a problem with the overall Kingdom Hearts story being spread over many consoles, since the remastered games would be released in a compilation, putting the games on the same console. However, by then, Square (now “Square Enix”) lost the original assets of Kingdom Hearts I, meaning that Square Enix had to remake them. Even if that was not the case, the target was the PlayStation 3, whereas the original game was of the PlayStation 2, meaning that new code needed to be made that supported the new system on top of the new, remastered assets that Mr. Nomura wanted. That meant going through the entire development and post-development processes again… which meant that they could actually port the Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts I instead of the original version. Square Enix then decided to release the high-definition releases internationally, which needed remastered English-language assets, which meant going through the processes again. This time, Square Enix decided that, since they have to go through development anyways, they could include the content exclusive to Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, meaning that international audiences can comfortably play with the ultimate version at last.

Square was no stranger to this procedure: Final Fantasy games had International Versions. Square was also not alone here: Sega did an International Version of Sonic Adventure. Once again, I once failed to understand what “International Version” meant; I thought that subtitle was just a marketing stunt.

This process followed through the entire series but went through changes along the way. Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep got Final Mixes. However, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories on the Nintendō Game Boy Advance and Kingdom Hearts coded on the Docomo cellular telephone service actually got Re: versions in the form of Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories on the PlayStation 2 and Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded on the Nintendō DS respectively. Because they were not remasters released on the same console, but outright remakes (new code and all) released on different, stronger consoles, the term “Final Mix” would have been somewhat a misnomer. The above Final Mix and Re: versions were re-released to the high-definition compilations. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance also got a high-definition re-release but got some significant new content along the way. A small problem was that, since the game was a Nintendō 3DS game re-released on the PlayStation 4, the re-release was not exactly a Final Mix. However, since the re-release remained mostly the same otherwise, the re-release was not exactly a Re: version. Therefore, the title became “Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD“.4 By the time Kingdom Hearts III got released on the PlayStation 4, though, contemporary consoles had mature, built-in online support and plenty of on-board memory, which meant that Square Enix could simply send out downloadable patches online. In fact, Mr. Nomura put the true ending of Kingdom Hearts III in the form of an online patch just in case the game got leaked early, thus avoiding spoiling the ending early… which became a good idea, since the game did get leaked early. With no actual need of re-releasing and re-selling the same game, Square Enix decided to instead release an online patch that had the content that would have once been put in a Final Mix. Installing that patch would turn your Kingdom Hearts III game into a Kingdom Hearts III Re𝄌 Mind game.

The actual value of these Final Mixes and re-releases, however, vary with the applied game. Some are skippable, while others are worth a re-purchase. When I am going through my path through the series, I shall put a small section at the end of the article where I discuss the worth of these re-releases.

From what you would expect from a game developer who runs a blog named after a term from the Kingdom Hearts games, I want to release my “Final Mixes” of my own games.

I am not planning on deliberately releasing buggy, unfinished versions of my games then fixing them later. Rather, I am aware that, despite all of the work I can put in my games, real-world experience is necessary in knowing just what parts of the game need improvement. What is one person doing balance work by himself in a closed environment compared to hundred, thousands, or even higher orders of magnitude in the real world? I cannot get that real experience if I do not publicly release the game, first!

Take Bioglobes, my current project: despite the game being based off the Pokémon series, I made a lot of important changes to the gameplay from the more interactive overworld to how the chi of the Waybeasts affect them inside and outside battle. Even if I do have some dedicated testers, there is no substitute of having many gamers engage with the game and finding out what they think of the game, especially if they are forming a competitive scene. That real experience would help me fine-tune the game until I can properly release a “Final Mix” of Bioglobes. I also want to take the opportunity of releasing a Final Mix in releasing new goodies to the game that make the Final Mix worthwhile. I might, in one instance, add all new Waybeasts to the Final Mix, though that would mean another round of real-life experience.

Thankfully, I plan on giving every translation I have the same content.


  1. The official name of the game is just “Kingdom Hearts“, but I am experimenting with the unofficial nickname “Kingdom Hearts I” since both the first game and the whole series share the same name. Since I shall be writing about both here, I feel that using the nickname gets rid of confusion.
  2. Back then, Square did not merge with Enix into what is currently called “Square Enix”.
  3. I actually did not notice the meaning of the terminology until I was mentally composing this article.
  4. I actually did not notice the significance of the terminology until I was actually writing this article.

Size-based credibility

Picking on large corporations is easy.

Large corporations seem to be always trying to exploit you. They have been accused of putting their workers (especially female or minority workers) through terrible experiences, refusing to recognize or reward their hard work, repeatedly put their health through unnecessary, outstanding risk (even denying them sleep or covering up their deaths), withholding pay (or even decent pay) out of whatever reason, firing workers out of even the smallest reason, destroying any efforts at unionization, taking advantage of immigrants, taking advantage of prison labor, taking advantage of even indentured servants, and even just straight-up doing crimes. They have also been accused of going way beyond competition by forcibly purchasing smaller businesses, destroying the businesses they purchase, using extortion on companies that refuse to comply with the purchase, temporarily pricing down their goods until they bankrupt smaller businesses who cannot compete with the lower prices, subsequently raising their prices far higher than normal due to the resulting monopoly, committing constant invasions of privacy, purposefully selling unsafe or otherwise unethical products, destroying instead of donating perfectly good products, polluting the environment (even if through mass advertising), sending out advertisements that falsify close relationships but actually stimulate then exploit dissatisfaction with depression, and buying out deals with the government then using government force in getting away with large corporations they want to do. Above all, they have been accused on running on nothing more than greed. Aiding this mentality is how many barriers an outsider is to the head of the corporation: even if you did manage to be in the same physical location of the company, there are many layers of bureaucracy, including appointments and security. Even then, there is no guarantee that you are going to get any response, much less not an automated rejection message.

Because of the above accusations, people tend to support their small businesses while actively fighting large corporations. There are grassroots campaigns involving “buying local” or even “make your own”. People frequently support laws that lay extra regulations on large corporations and whatever practices they do. Many shows and movies had plots where plain citizens managed to stop a large corporation from ruining their current livelihood. People are even romaticizing outright stealing from large corporations and destroying their property… or worse. In all, mocking, criticising, and even hating large corporations is not only fashionable but furiously defended; you side with large corporations at your own risk.

What if the small business grows to a large corporation?

I can afford to say this because I am not even a true startup yet; I have not even finished a single game. However, if I grow “too big” (which is, in the end, an arbitrary label), I risk those same supporters suddenly hating me. This is not simply them guarding me from being under the influence of having too much influence; those supporters think that I am “selling out” simply because my profit achieved a certain size. The reverse becomes reality; the supporters take on envy, which is beyond jealousy. Envy is the desire to destroy someone who has more than you, even if you destroy yourself in the process.

They do have some reason. Sony and Microsoft end to promote and cultivate a gaming addict who follows hype, buys whatever Sony and Microsoft gives the addict (even if that is a barely changed “sequel” or “re-release”), and defends the companies no matter what genuine flaws the company has. Worse, Sony and Microsoft seem to enjoy making games that would make your parents cry. Nintendō would rather make their customers subsidize “art pieces” that would be of interest only to the developers, not the general population. Both approaches are exploiting their customers. Sadly, a lot of independent publishers are going Nintendō’s way. Not everything is the fault of companies, though: mobile game stores are considered magic money-making machines. People tell you that you can make lots of money by publishing a mobile app. The problem is that there is no talk about what kind of app you should make, much less the quality of the app; they say that an app is easy money. That mentality leads to many, many knock-offs and just plain poor-quality mobile apps littering mobile app stores, turning the Google Play and Apple iTunes stores into dumps. If anything, I dare say that Apple and Google are the victims here: Google has an open policy that brought benefits to users who can install Android in lots of devices and developers who do not have experience with developing apps, whereas Apple has a “walled garden” approach that gives user assurance of higher-quality apps, and developers assurance that their apps in the Apple iTunes store would not be pirated, though that is mainly because of the extreme difficulty in emulating Apple iTunes apps. Finding out which apps are worthwhile is an extremely complicated task, especially with that criterion being ultimately very subjective.

Why did I cross that line from consumer to producer?

I wish to redeem videogaming.

I had a series of very influential games since I was 3 fears of age. From Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins through Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon through Pokémon: Silver Edition through Pokémon Colosseum through Sonic Mega Collection through Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories through Kingdom Hearts I to even the Wii Virtual Console, each of these games (and an entire service) had taken my interest of electronic games to new levels. Despite this, I did not pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science because of electronic games. Instead, after being “that one person who is great with computers” most of my life, I wanted to be better able to help others with their computer problems. Besides, playing video games all day will get you nowhere. However, on October 29, 2013 1, I got some counselling that had me discover that making games is a worthwhile way of making a living. I therefore would have made my Master’s Degree in Game Development… but that major was going to be cancelled due to inexplicably getting too few applicants, even if I was included. I ended up going through a compromise: I studied Software Engineering while taking every course that was exclusive to the former Game Development major. I even implemented my interest in electronic games whenever I could; my final project was a prototype of Wuu Shyng! During this time, I discovered Sean Malstrom’s writings, read Coding Horror’s plus Simple Programmer’s reading lists, discovered the strength of Lisp, and found out about the cancellation of Nintendō fangames, notably Pokémon Evoas. That is not saying that the years of my Bachelor’s Degree were wasted, though: I learned of my large affinity towards programming, me being able to program at 3× the speed of my classmates and feeling comfortable with X86 assembler language, while I had taken an appreciation of free-and-open-source software.

That course of action was probably the best to me. While I initially wanted to work under a company of electronic video games, I eventually felt uncomfortable with the idea, since I would very likely be made to work on games that, at least, would be M-Rated and therefore against my principles. Making my own game company would let me make games the way I feel that they should be made:

  • The games should be customer-oriented and content-oriented: focus on giving the player interesting choices and let the player’s imagination grow.
  • The games should be free and open-source: over the years, we have been seeing large software companies (not just game companies) make increasingly larger restrictions on software and even violations of privacy. There is also how not everyone lives in North America, Western Europe, and East Asia: many people in other countries would not even be able to access the software in the first place, much less pay the software. This is not just restricted to games; a lot of artistic material gets locked down due to extremely strong copyright laws that enforce terms that effectively run over a century and get their copyright terms reset all the time. These restrictions go way beyond simply supporting the artist.
  • The games should be integral: there are already way too many games that delight in being shocking and vulgar. Our culture would only benefit from clean games that are also high-quality.
  • The games should be international: I, who am Puerto Rico–Dominican Republic, know the value of getting material in different languages and even different variations of the same language. I wish to translate my games into English, Spanish, and beyond while making other translations easy to other people.
  • The games should be light: there is normally no need of making a 53 GB game.
  • The games should encourage best practices: software development in general seems to be chasing trends that occasionally touch upon principles that have already been established decades ago. I would rather make games that are done right from the beginning while popularizing these long-forgotten relics. One example would be me making my games on Lisp.

The problem is that, while I can make my own games that follow these principles, video game culture overall will still be stuck in the “gaming addict”, “pretentious art piece”, and “money-making trash heap” paradigms. If I were to defeat these paradigms, I need a massive influence that would challenge those paradigms. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendō all have massive sizes that spread their games—and therefore their paradigms—all over the world, backed by not only their massive money but also their prestige built over the decades. If I were to challenge their paradigms, my business should rival them in size.

Another problem is that I frequently see games that are cancelled despite their potential. I also see franchises that, while having successfully released games, end up withering to obscurity instead of ending in a strong conclusion at least. That is not mentioning the games that simply are not accessible to other people due to no currently legal form of re-release. There are also games that, while technically accessible, are locked to other countries despite worldwide demand. Nintendō’s Virtual Console already did a lot of legal and technological handwork in giving a lot of these forgotten games new life, but I feel that a more permanent solution would be necessary if those games are not just going to be lost later: putting them under a free license2 would effectively protect these games. If their games would be compatible with the above enumerated elements of my game-making philosophy—at the very least, they should be integral—then I would gladly give their games new life. That would need a lot of money at least. Having a company that has the prestige and influence of Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendō is a necessity in practice. This may even require me to actually purchase the companies outright due to rights issues and maybe even oversight. This gives the bad impression of being a greed-driven corporate takeover that would suffocate a once-loved company, despite the intentions otherwise. This is not a conquest, but a rescue mission.

I also wish to use that large size in helping others get their first step into publishing their own games. I may be able to do things on my own, but not everyone would have that opportunity, especially if this theoretical independent developer has no other forms of support. This is not new, either: Nintendō did their WiiWare service after Sony did their PlayStation Store and Microsoft did their Xbox Live Arcade. Once again, if their games are compatible with my game-making philosophy (or at least integrity), then I would gladly help them. This time, however, I do not strictly need to actually purchase those independent developers; we can more likely work out an investment deal. From another perspective, though, giving their games a free license, especially with my company having some ownership of the game, would protect the independent developer and the games from more hostile takeovers.

Another way of helping others is spreading a healthy culture. Though I already wrote a bit about this in my response about good taste and plan on writing more in-depth articles on the subject, I should bring up this topic again since spreading a healthy culture is a goal. These days, lots of electronic games (though thankfully not every one) seem to delight in adding vulgarity and “shock value” then getting your entertainment from these. If anything, they seem to have a mentality that “media that is not nasty is boring.” Media that is child-oriented (even if only because the media is not particularly nasty) is considered not only boring but also disposable and embarrassing. If I were to fight this toxic mentality, I would need to produce a lot of quality media that does not delight in the profane and have the influence in promoting that media. That would require a large business that would still be running decades from inception.

Writing about culture, I also hope that I could use my affinity of languages to great benefit. Ever since I got a challenge of graduating from my Bachelor’s Degree with knowledge of 5 languages, I ended up setting goals and tiers of what languages I wish to know. They range from the familiar French to the out-there Ubang with Esperanto in between. While I already said that my games should be international, I should explain why. That is a natural outreach of my interest of languages; if I have learned—say—German, then I would be interested in translating all of my games into German. I also know that not everyone knows English… or Japanese, in that matter. People overseas may be used to playing games not in their native languages, but that cannot be pleasant to those who do not intend to learn English or Japanese, especially if the game is mainly story-based. The reason that is really subject to size-based credibility, though, is my desire to revitalize endangered languages. I cannot learn every language in the world, but I can learn a few, then translate my games, which will preserve and teach the language to more people. However, had a large company done so, people would be angry at the company apparently trying to exploit minorities out of their money and being respectless to their cultures by profiting off their languages. I wish I knew how to exercize a respectful and beneficial interest of their languages.

Then again, maybe the countries who need the most love from me are the ones at home. The people of Puerto Rico, despite being from a country owned by the United States of America, mainly speak Spanish, not English. The Dominican Republic, which has a more complex relationship with other countries, definitely speaks only Spanish, albeit one that is slightly but significantly different from the one from Puerto Rico. Also, while Puerto Rico can get video games quite easily, the Dominican Republic gets games at a very high markup; the cheaper option would be to have someone buy in Puerto Rico then ship the item there on vacation! However, the biggest reason is nationalism: I love my home countries and feel that they need me. I have a feeling of loyalty and obligation to them. Another important element is my familiarity with the countries: because I lived in these countries, I know the finer details of these countries that would be. After all, aside from the subtle differences in the dialects of Spanish, which differ from the Spanish from Spain, I also have a sense of the price points and other considerations when regarding availability in these countries, or again, both of their cultural sensitivities. I could even employ the people from my home countries, thus helping them along to their own careers. If my business grows to the point of making Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic remarkable worldwide, then I would feel grateful.

That is not saying that the popular aversion to large companies is unwarranted, however. Having so much money and influence would tempt me into purchasing other franchises and companies “because so”. These people outside the company would keep me grounded to the true reason why I became big in the first place: I wanted to help people and gaming culture. I just find that a balance is necessary: sometimes, big problems need big solutions, but big solutions are not necessary in solving every problem. In fact, sometimes, the best course of action would be to do nothing at all; either the problem would solve itself, or the problem was non-existent in the first place.

I just hope that I retain these values throughout my entire career.


  1. I might be off here, but the date was definitely at the end of October 2013.
  2. My preferences are the GNU Affero General Public License and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licenses, though I am open to other free licenses.

Bioglobes Pitch (March 2022)

Loyal to the Old; Breaking into the New

The Chinese spent thousands of years upholding their traditions of medicine. One such tradition is the concept of the Wǔ Xíng. Everything in this world, from bolidy organs to the weather, follow 5 Ways: Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth. Each of these Ways nurture and regulate each other in a balance. Traditional Chinese medicine is all around maintaaining this blaance. Despite this upholding traditions, Chinese medicine and the concept of Wǔ Xíng is applied even to day.

Scientists spent years building in space a series of 5 interconnected Bioglobes , each bioglobe following a biome in an enclosed environment that represented one of the 5 Ways. After connecting each Bioglobe, research began. To their surprise, the biomes, despite being in enclosed environments, were subjected to change. The terrains shifted and grew, apparently forming life. The biomes communicated each other, these changes forming some sort of harmony. Most shockingly, creatures began to appear inside the biomes.

In light of this, a few scientists began to research investigate the biomes themselves…

A Love Letter to Pokémon

Made by a fan of the Pokémon series since the early years, Bioglobes (name subject to change) seeks to appeal to fans of the earlier entries of Pokémon who fell out of favor from the series and people who have never played video games. Featuring gameplay that is streamlined but challenging, a simple plot that puts the player in control, and a wealth of content, Bioglobes seeks to return to the original form of Pokémon while reaching beyond the confines of the mainline titles and even the creature-collecting genre. Former fans and nonsgames should feel pretty comfortable with the game, wherea.

After making your character and deciding on 1 of 5 creatures, the player is expected to prepare extensively before setting off into the biomes. There, each biome is a randomly-generated map where the player can freely explore. Being living lands, each biome has terrain that affect movement and battle regarding both the player and the opposing wild Waybeasts. The player has to be active, being on alert to geographical different terrains, times, weathers, and even Waybeasts with their own movement patterns. Would the player decide to go alone or try to have the player’s own Waybeast in the open? Thankfully, the game is always keeping track of your discoveries, whether they be of the biome itself or the creatures that you encounter there.

A big feature of the game Biobglobes is the battle system. Each Waybeast not only can be of 1 or 2 Ways but also has one no-frills move and the palyer’s choice of 4 moves, each which follow a certain Way. Whether they simply deal damage, affect the opponent’s status, aid the ally Waybeast, or even affect the terrain, the player is ultimately in control. Though there may be only 5 Ways, each Way affects each other. Whether one Way attenuates, generates, controls, masks, or insults each other, a cohesive balance between each Way challenges contemporary though regarding elemental weaknesses in role-playing games. The wild Waybeasts definitely think; they actually make strategies depending on the moves they have and the items they carry. Of course, you can also try to recruit the beasts you encounter; by arranging your team and managing their chi and the flow of their chi, you can persuade the opposing Waybeast into following you without a fight. Though each Waybeast scales its level with the player’s team, the new moves Waybeasts have grow in variety, while the player can make their own beasts stronger either by directly training specific statistics (Speed, Strength, Technique, Defense, Constitution) or by having them accumulate chi, which can be used in “morphing” them into stronger forms. Add innate abilities and player-dictated equippable items, and Waybeasts turn out to be very customizable. With at least 100 Waybeasts that can be collected, the player would have plenty of research material.

The emphasis is on the single-player experience, but there are plans regarding the involvement of other players. Players can battle with each other, trade their Waybeasts or items, mix together the layouts of their biomes with, or simply hang out together, Someone lost inside a biome can signal help to other people. Others can go inside the other player’s biome and give the player a boost in going deeper into the biome or helping the player back to safety.

Different and better construction

Bioglobes is planned to be released under the GPLv3 with its assets under the Creative Commons By-Share Alike 3.0 license, respecting the consumer’s freedoms in software and encouraging the consumer in getting involved even long after fully completing the game. Full translations of English, Spanish, and Standard Chinese (in both Simplified and Traditional Characters) are planned. Without a fear of straying from the norm when better alternatives exist, Bioglobes uses alternatives to contemporary software, these alternatives that n uses the Scheme programming language, GNU gettext, GNU Bazaar, Ubuntu Launchpad.

Plans involve a Lite version and a Deluxe version: the Lite version is targeted at the Nintendō Game Boy Advance™ and intends a more portable experience that can be run in many systems at no more than 32 megabytes. The Deluxe version uses JavaScript with NodeGUI and intends to be a quality aesthetic experience with more beautiful graphics, animations, and sound, plus better support of online multiplayer.

Why keep going?

These months, I have been silent on my blog, posting occasionally in commemoration of several anniversaries.

What I have been doing is silently working on a LÖVE take on Re-Hoard. After all, what I liked about LÖVE is not only its interoperability with Libretro through its Lutro core but also how LÖVE included a lot of “batteries”, ranging from random-maze generation to animation. In fact, the reason why I know about LÖVE is because I made a technological demonstration of Wuu Shyng on LÖVE. I went pretty far, even including other important screens, including language-selection, an intermission, and a pause menu. I did not upload anything, since I wanted to make sure that I could deliver an actual game.

I ended up getting stuck at doing the physics, since the physics demanded pixel-perfect movement, which made the gameplay frustrating. Though a few weeks later I remembered the mature and flexible Box2D physics library, since then, I realized…

…why keep going?

I spent years doing what was supposed to be a simple game that should have been done in about 6 months normally. While I still want to see Re-Hoard be a reality, the purpose of Re-Hoard was me getting used to the entire game-development process. I spent years finding out what did not work, reading up on best practices, and learning about myself, especially on how I work and what are my weaknesses in the software field. In my case, I lacked experience, which made sense, since this is the first project that I was doing on my own. Another weakness was in knowledge of common algorithms; while I have spent 2 college courses studying them, the “rush, test, and switch” nature of mainstream education courses meant that I did not have actual long-term experience with common algorithms by the time I started working on Re-Hoard. I also found out just how necessary initial direction was; I could not work properly when I was simply coding ahead, which was a classic mistake.

Despite my experience, I did not deliver anything. I could have sent a lot of applications and even gotten pretty far with my job search, while I should have released Wuu Shyng by now. That is not even getting into the visual and aural arts, reviewing mathematics, getting used to new languages, and so on. I should not spend half a decade stuck in the same game, especially after the government lockdowns of the coronavirus grounding everyone at home where I could be spending my time learning and practicing. In light of this, I decided on something since this New Year:

I am officially declaring my indefinite suspension on the development of Re-Hoard and commencement on the development of Wuu Shyng.

I said “indefinite suspension,” not “cancellation.” I plan on going back to Re-Hoard after I finish Wuu Shyng, since, despite the modest goals of Re-Hoard, I still have a fondness of the game and want the game to succeed. I just think that my efforts, especially after all this time I have spent on Re-Hoard, are better spent elsewhere. The LÖVE-based code is safely stored, albeit offline, though Re-Hoard will almost definitely not use LÖVE anymore.

After all, I have my sights on JavaScript, Phaser, and Lips.

On the Kingdom Hearts project

Last year, I went through playing all of the Kingdom Hearts games in order. My intention was that I write my commentary on the game I recently finished. However, I was so eager; I ended up playing every game while indefinitely putting off writing the commentary. I ended up forgetting most of what I wanted to write.

Oops.

That turned out to be a better option, though:

  • I have since found a solution to the problem of Kingdom Hearts χ being identification-hungry, which was reading a novelization of the game.
  • On top of that, the actual game (currently named “Kingdom Hearts Union χ“) is going offline soon and getting a full Theater Mode after that. Months later, the side story Kingdom Hearts χ Dark Road is also going to have its story completed.
  • My playing though all of the console games gave me a better understanding of how all of the games fit together in the timeline.
  • Having played all of the games already lets me focus on the story more.
  • There was a very cheap sale on Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 + II.5 ReMIX. Buying the series meant that I could have all of the Kingdom Hearts console series in one console with reconfigurable controls and a few needed extra fixes, including adjusted text size and a Theater Mode that has both versions of “Another Side: Another Story”.

The Offline Mode of the Kingdom Hearts Union χ part launches in the end of May while the Offline Mode of the Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road part launches in around the end of September.

At least I will be going through Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs until then.