Bear and I've talked for a long time now how we want to make a game eventually, but the fact that our programming experience is severely lacking has made the transition into the production process difficult and a little daunting. There are so many factors on Bear's mind on what to consider when starting, like wanting to choose a programming language that gives him a lot of freedom, yet does not tie him to a system that might be outdated in the near future. Bear's had a little programming experience from his old job and from working on the website, but I pretty much have near nil. Making a game is definitely something bold and underlined on my bucket-list and I figured that even though I have next-to-no experience programming, I should at least get started learning the mentality and basics behind it. The biggest step for a beginner is getting started, right?

Bear and I've recently found Game Maker: Sudio by YoYo Games. I was excited to learn that it's the program used to make the original version of the currently popular game Spelunky! I checked out Yoyo Games' showcase of other games made through Game Maker and though there were a number of not-so-interesting games, there were some that I found surprising; Risk of Rain and Valdis Story, two indie games that have been building steam lately. Other interesting surprises I found were Savant Ascent and Savage The Shard of Gosen. It got me really excited to start jumping in and getting started! =)

Yoyo Games offers their bare-bones version of Game Maker for download for free so I've been checking it out and making my way through the tutorials when I have time over the past month. =) It's been fun seeing things coming together.

As Bear mentioned the last two weeks, we've been checking out Aura Kingdom with a few friends and having a fun time. =) One of the features that I'm surprised isn't mentioned on their website is that at level 40, you are made to choose a subclass from the selection of beginning classes. I always tend to get really excited at the idea of mixing classes in RPG's; it's the idea of customizing and making something like a special class of your own and thinking up and finding out strategies on what skills and/or specialties can work with other classes. I had a blast of a time with this back when playing Final Fantasy 5 and Final Fantasy Tactics! XD

Aura Kingdom only has eight classes out at the moment for the international version, but I think Taiwan has revealed to have three more! =3 Oh, the combinations!! XD Choosing a subclass when the time comes in-game is a one-time choice so if you decide later that you don't want that subclass, you have to either dish out about twenty dollars to reset it or re-roll your character. Oh the Choices. >.< -also, if you delete a character above level five, the character's name is locked for thirty days so I'm not sure if re-rolling is the better option unless you don't mind choosing a new name. '_'