Gondolier Update, New website and what not

Randy Condon — 2008-03-04T04:45:50+00:00

So I'm sure most of you are tired of awaking every morning, pulling your lids apart from encrusted eye gunk and asking yourself, "What the hell is going on with that Gondolier of Love game?" Wait a minute, that's what I do every morning. You people probably have far less adhesive eye gunk.

"Gond-O-Lier. Of Love?" those of you who have read this far may ask themselves. "What in the wide, wide world of sports is a Gondolier of Love?" Well, Gondolier of Love aspires to be one of the top five gondoliering sims ever created. It's also a game of laughs, love, rhythm and romance. And navigation. And matchmaking.

If you attended the last Garage Games IGC, you hopefully had a chance to see the demo. The game was voted first place in the Player's Choice Award. (Thanks to all who voted and played). To tickle those neurons, here is a fresh screen shot (don't touch, pixels still wet).

Since that time, we've been showing the demo to publishers. A process that takes longer than I anticipated and continues to this very day. (Oh sure, they'll let you see their wheelbarrow full of cash, but do they leave you alone in the room with it? Sadly no.)

I continue towards completing the game. In the meantime, I've created a web site describing my company. You can visit it here: www.JustOneCookieGames.com. So while the trek for funding continues, I am taking on contract work. (contact me for inquiries, complaints, ridicule or a review of San Francisco public tennis courts).

Finally, during my many travels amongst the code base, I came across this interesting little discovery.
(www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=72167). Kind of a cool little nugget if you're doing a single player game.

Stay tuned, I'll return to these pages (electrons?) in due course.

Gondolier of Love

Randy Condon — 2006-10-03T05:38:14+00:00

Introducing the Gondolier of Love

Sure, you've worn your fingerprints smooth from playing all the other Gondoliering games, but now the genre witnesses the creme de le creme. This may very well be the best Gondoliering game you've ever played.

Kindle amore in your passengers while navigating the surprisingly treacherous canals of Venice. Forget about fleecing the tourists of their vacation Lire. This is about romance. This is about love. This is about getting your passengers to smooch (and keep smooching).

Paddle languidly through the canals of Venice, ferrying passengers, navigating the narrow canals and avoiding the many floating hazards. Pilot carefully, as even the slightest bump can denude a blossoming romance. Look to the skies as well, for hot-blooded Venetians often throw offending objects from their windows.

Smooth sailing only catches cupid's eye. Your passengers need something extra to embrace amore. They need mood. They need song. They need you to whistle. Lucky for them, you are the most romantic whistler in all of Venice. (And lucky for you. I mean, look at yourself. You're not exactly Tony Bennett, although you could move his piano pretty easy.)

So now you're steering the boat while whistling up some romance. Musical notes fill the air. (For real, you can see them on-screen). Give one a click and bump up the ol' meter of love. Fill it up and the smooching begins. Challenging multi-tasking for certain, but such is the life of a Gondolier of Love.

Ah, but Venice is a complex city, inundated with noise. Loud noise. Harsh noise. Noise that pretty much ruins a romantic mood. A cacophony emanates from restaurants, karaoke bars, time share salesmen and the yodeling institute, to name but a few. (You can see the dangerous noise, just like the musical notes). The harmful notes and visual sound bites fly at your passengers, determined to disrupt your carefully crafted cocoon of romance. The enemy notes must be destroyed (clicked) or avoided (maneuver, or for those with weak hearts, powering-off the computer).

Work your way through a hectic week of smooch-producing gondoliering. As you successfully meet your quota of smooches each day, earn longer and more powerful songs, bug spray for the occasional swarm of mosquitoes, speed boosts and deodorant, because you can get a little musky paddling a gondola around in the hot sun.

The game features a wide range of passengers, including shy couples that need encouragement, a Cassanova that dates a different female tourist each day, but can never remember their names and a delusional sea captain dating the masthead from his ship. These are but a few of the riders on your gondola of love.

The Venice in Gondolier of Love features over thirty kilometers of canals (kilometer is an Italian word meaning 'not a-quite so far as a-mile'). Paddle past the many bars and cafes, the palace of the Doge, the park, zoos, time share areas, conference center (hosting a pirate convention, Arrrr), and many other locales of a cosmopolitan European city. (What, you thought this was in a Vegas casino?).

So anyway, the Gondolier is rowing into Eugene for the GG Hootenanny (or whatever is replacing the IGC thing). Hopefully between the hangovers and drunken Duck fans someone will be around to see us.

Special Note: This demo will be an homage to the great silent stars of yesteryear, and has nothing to do with not getting around to putting any sound in the game yet. (Although plenty is planned).

Gondolier of Love is on schedule for completion by early 2007 for PC and then Mac soon to follow. (And maybe even Linux). This product is made with TGE 1.4 + TLK.

Blog for Randy Condon at GarageGames.com

Gondolier Update, New website and what not

Gondolier of Love