Release XIII is here!

Release XIII includes two new chapters, eight new bios, and three new music tracks! I've also updated the game's "You Lost" screen, and finally separated the options and the extras into two separate menus.

When I first released the game, I didn't really have that many extras, so I was unsure about giving them an entirely separate menu, at least at the start. But now with six extras, there's enough.

I do plan on making the design of these options and extras menus a little better — the current versions of these menus are temporary, as I will be adding more features to both of them.

This chapter really illustrates the pros of having a very formulaic story structure. The structure of the contest lets me swap out main characters, locations and even the entire cast of characters and it still feels like "Methods" — all thanks to that trusty game structure!

You know, it kind of reminds me of the same kind of storytelling as a shonen anime. An enormous cast, different "powers" (methods), different "arcs" and a very formulaic structure. One of the reasons why — and I can't believe I didn't mention this before — is that Methods is primarily based on the excellent manga Liar Game.

I highly recommend it — it also features multiple Game-masters, and I really like the characters.

Once a few more detectives from the "Ashdown Arc" are introduced, maybe it will be time for a new character poll, hmmmmmm...?

Finally, I just want to mention that getting a computer upgrade was an excellent idea. Working on the game is now 60% less frustrating — applications open and close in seconds instead of minutes, there's waaaaaay less lag, and TextEdit no longer gives me any trouble (Yes, TextEdit of all things was really, really slow).

Also, you may have noticed that I've started using en-dashes again. That's because I got a new keyboard as well. I spilled tea on my old one a while ago, and the delete key and hyphen key didn't work.

In order to get by without a delete key, I had to learn a bunch of new shortcuts to delete things, which didn't always work. "Command+X" both deletes AND copies. "Control+H" doesn't work in some text editors. I had to manually select text a lot and then retype it.

Anyway, it was a big pain, but that's finally over.

Until — next — time —

— LockedOn