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  OOPS 08:16 PM -- Sat September 20, 2003  

D'oh. So it took all of 48 hours for the first bug report in Supreme. Not that it's something serious... But if you own Supreme and haven't checked on the forum, note that there is a patch you need to download, on our Patches page. The only thing affected is quite literally ONE TILE in one level of the Spooky Forest world. You need the patch to make it possible to pass the level "Fumigation". I'm sorry about that... I know just how it happened too - if you care, read the next paragraph.

There's a special in that level that opens a wall up when you beat certain monsters. Initially, it had converted wrong from the original Dr. Lunatic, so it worked fine, but it made a patch of grass show up instead of nice wooden floor, which looked a little odd in this lovely bug-infested house. So a tester noticed that and pointed it out to me, so I fixed it, simple enough! Well, I didn't bother testing my fix, since all I did was click on the new tile to use, and it was so simple. So let this be a lesson to all game developers, especially me: ALWAYS ALWAYS test your changes!! The tile I picked WAS the right one (wooden floor)... only it was one of two copies of that tile. I had a special copy of that tile made which was impassable to use somewhere, I don't even remember where. And somehow I managed to click on the impassable version instead of the normal one. So there's a lesson learned. I hope!

But that's the only downer! I'm BLOWN AWAY!! by the response to Supreme! I don't usually sell this many games in a month! And the orders are still coming in! It's slowed down a little, but since thursday night, I've done nothing except make CDs and package them and mail them. Well, with a stop at Staples today to pick up more supplies! On top of that, when we were at Staples, some other customer gave us these coupons she had, but couldn't use, which were expiring that day - $10 off on one, and $30 off on the other, and we used both of em. I tell you, when you release Supreme, good things happen! To celebrate, we also stopped at the grocery store and picked up any snack and treat items we wanted. We ended up spending $100. But don't freak out - they were having one of those "bag full of frozen items, 10% off" sales, so we couldn't resist stocking up on WAY TOO MUCH frozen food. We got hummus & pitas, I need to go eat those.

Truly, this is my first break since thursday... and here I am spending it typing in my journal! Time to kick back with a movie - there's no way to ship games on Sunday!
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  YAY! 09:06 PM -- Fri September 19, 2003  

I'm having a really great day. Really tiring too. This launch has been beyond anything I could've imagined... this is already my best month for sales ever, and it's only the 19th! In fact, by the end of the month, sales will probably be much more than double the previous record.

But this is Hamumu... we're not all about the money! No, there's so much else I'm happy about here. The thrill of seeing people besides me on the high score chart was cool (but the rest of you who are playing, submit your scores and profile NOW!!!! You should be doing so every session you play, or otherwise, what good are you to me!?), but it's the comments I'm getting in the comment box on orders, and in the emails from people requesting the discount. That's the kicker! You guys are great! I wish I could share some of the comments, but I suppose I should ask for permission if I want to do that.

I'm looking forward to this Halloween Horror too... finally, I have the time to participate again, and I get to do it with Supreme, which will be a blast. And I see a lot of interest in it this time too - it'd be great to get 10 entries or more! I think the previous record is 4 (maybe 5 with Zook or POP showing up after the fact one of the times?). There's a kazillion names to choose from - 267 so far. Picking them will be a challenge, but I've built a special webpage and database backend and all kinds of goodies to handle it. Still isn't easy - you have to scroll through a page packed with 267 different names. But I tried to make it as easy as I could.

So the page isn't up yet of course, since I can't officially declare the end of name submission time until tomorrow, but come tomorrow, everybody come on out and vote for your favorite names! Even if you have no interest in participating in the contest, vote for names. It's easy as pie, and the more participation, the more fun for all. Especially me, and I wanna have me some FUN!

What a freaking great day. Whee.
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  I gotta shower 09:10 AM -- Fri September 19, 2003  

Just finished my morning bike ride and came to look at the high score table. It's a great feeling to see people up on it!! It's also a great feeling to have tons of orders in my inbox! Looks like today will be a today of hefty CD creation and shipping (I haven't created any CDs yet, but don't worry, I'll have them ready to ship out today if you ordered yesterday or today!).

There was one major snafu in this whole process... when I first put up the ordering site, I had left in a piece of a really old code which made orders for Supreme subtract the shipping charge. So the first few people who ordered CDs got not only the $5 discount they requested, but an EXTRA $5 discount, because the shipping wasn't charged!

In one case it was funny, because the person ordering said in their comment that they wanted to pay full price even though they were eligible for the discount... that was really nice - but in the end they got the discount, whether they wanted it or not!

Oh well, the whole thing was my mistake, and I paid for it in straight up cash. Not too much - good thing I caught it earlyish. So, off to the shower, then the printers come on and the work commences. You'll love this DVD case and CD, they're funny.
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  It's HERE! 07:17 PM -- Thu September 18, 2003  

Supreme's here! What a load off my back... except that now I have to start cranking out CDs for the hopefully giant flood of orders, and build the demo to cause a bigger flood of orders. That demo's a big task... and one I can't yet figure out how to do. Supreme's such an enormous game, and the variety and unlockables are what make it special. It's really hard to figure out how to express that stuff in a demo. Any ordinary demo would just kinda be a nicer version of the Dr. Lunatic demo. So I have to come up with an interesting thing to do, without incorporating too much stuff - gotta keep the demo small, so people will download it!

Phew... I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we really fixed everything in there. I really think this is our most stable, solid, functional game yet, but there's just so much content that there's a billion ways it could crack. We tested so much, but you know... fingers crossed!

Well, the announcement newsletter just finished going out! Hooray. So now people know about it, and my nerves are all a-tingle! Scary. I think I'll go announce it on the forum too - I know you forum junkies never look anywhere but the forum.

Speaking of other parts of the site, check out the Scores Page. It's part of the Community section. Right now, it's looking pretty empty. So you better buy Supreme and be the first to fill it up! I guess it'll probably stay empty for a while... even if someone orders the game right now, as a download, it'll still take them hours and hours before they can play it. Sigh, oh well. I could go earn some scores and be the first one up there. Maybe I will... always fun to start a trend!
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  Tired 09:52 PM -- Mon September 15, 2003  

Working hard... today I finished what I think is the final version of the Supreme CD case. Just the outside, that is. But it's pretty cool. I like to do themed ones, like Stockboy's crate. We're really just wrapping up the loose ends of Supreme now! Barring a catastrophe, it'll be a September release. Of course, I wouldn't rule out a catastrophe either. Anyway, not much for me to do but go to bed now. Even though it's 8:30. I'm worn out. Always a rough day here in the trenches!
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  Strangeness 07:59 PM -- Sat September 13, 2003  

Today, I saw a motorized scooter, a 2 person bicycle, and a limousine, all traveling right alongside each other down the road. They were all different speeds of course, so they split apart after a little bit, but for one shining moment, it was a Moment Of Strange Modes Of Transportation. That's what I was thinking of as I saw it, and it's what my wife said at the very same moment!

It was not a life-changing event.
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  Gnu News 10:38 PM -- Tue September 9, 2003  

Exciting for me: yesterday someone ordered EVERYTHING we sell except one game. That also makes them the first person ever to order Amazin' SPISPOPD on CD, so I invented the Amazin' SPISPOPD CD case. I really like it actually, but the printer didn't match the colors well - on the CD itself, they're perfect, and in fact I think it may be our best actual CD in terms of appearance - it's snazzy! But on the manual and cover, everything's kind of blued out... it's functional, but it's not nearly as pretty as it should be.

Supreme is still hovering at "just about done". The testers are finding a few little things every day. They take no time at all to fix, but it's scary to keep seeing them arrive when you think the whole thing is perfecto! Most of my time has been spent writing the editor instructions though. 82kb so far. All hand written... that means I have had to hit keys on my keyboard over 82,000 times in the process of making it. You BETTER read it! It's just my usual wordiness though... I think the new editor is a lot easier to use than the old one. Let's just hope Mark comes back with some of his amazing tutorials again when the new editor is here! I made a tutorial in the instructions, but I'm always too wordy. See? If you've read this far, you know that.

Besides Supreme, I came up with what might be the best plan for Sol Hunt yet. It's still very up in the air just what exactly it will be, but this new idea is the most original, coolest thing ever. It's also our most top secret idea ever. Before Sol Hunt happens though, there may be one or two smaller games - these huge epics can get draining, and I know you get as tired of waiting for the new releases as I do.

Speaking of new releases, there's yet another Dr. L addon that I was sent by World Tester Guy. But it's late. I'll put it up tomorrow!
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  Sneak Peek: Dr. Lunatic Supreme With Cheese 05:25 PM -- Thu September 4, 2003  


WOW EE WOW!!! I had an idea this morning, to implement smoothing of the lighting effects (actually, I had the notion years ago, but never bothered), thought about how easy it'd be... and bam, 6 hours later, here's your screenshot! This single bit of work just made the game look SO much better! I'm freaking out with joy over this. Even just the regular little wall shadows are now super-premium top notch (in fact, they also extend to the upper left now instead of just directly left) - you can just barely catch that in this screenshot, just above Bouapha. You'll have to see this stuff in action to really appreciate the beauty. I love it. I'm happy! Happy!!
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  We said NAY! We are but men! 11:30 PM -- Wed September 3, 2003  

Whoa, whoa, oh oh oh... oh sorry, Hamumu is currently listening to: Tenacious D!!! Fun stuff. I just invented most of the user stats that will go online, and I have to say, it's seriously cool. It calculates such intriguing stats as "Fish Factor" and "Obsession" and "Roadkill Rate". And there will be a feature set up so you can all actually compete to have the highest values for these statistics. I was just noticing a couple minutes ago that I've worked at least 12 hours today. That's something! But it's just what I felt like doing at the time... this game is very close to completion and I'm ready to get it out the door! To clarify: I personally am ready to have it done - the game itself is not ready. But it's getting there. And I can't wait!
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  Oy 01:20 AM -- Mon September 1, 2003  

I am tired out. It's way past my bedtime! I just upgraded the forum software, and at the same time while I was in the neighborhood, I got rid of the Editing Dr. L Worlds and Saving The World forums. I merged them into Dr. Lunatic and General Crap respectively. There were just too many forums, I was tired of scrolling the screen so much! So along with that, I discovered a minor bug in the music thing above, which I have to fix soon.

But the main thing of course is that I created the IGF install of supreme at last. I think it's ready to go, I'm just seeing what some tester types think. Anyway, fingers crossed, I wanna win! No really, I know it's not even in the ballpark of winning, but if I can hit the finals, that'll be worth a whole lot to me, with the exposure and interest. And besides, that would include a free trip to the GDC (Game Developer's Conference) next year, wherein I would get to stand around and show off my game to passersby. That sounds rather wacky. I'm so tired!! Supreme is almost done. Really! And it's good too, I played tonight. I was surprised at just how many coins you can rack up just for doing the tutorial. But I think it works out - it's just about enough to buy one world and a stick of gum.
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