More Statuses

I hope you guys enjoyed the Lolita doll, despite the technical difficulties *embarassed*

Some excellent news coming your way!

First of all, if you haven't already, you must dress up Giselle!

It's one of the most beautiful dress up games I've seen, EVER. I gave Azalea a lot of heck to put more purple options in the game, so please enjoy :)

DracheaRannak gave me the final artwork for the Sailor Scout Maker and I can already tell it's going to be super epic!!! XD

I've added a status bar on the main dress up game website page to keep you guys updated.

Oh, and I've been asked to review the Littlest Pet Shop Wii and online game, and I've been given two free logins. I totally forgot to post this earlier, but the first two people to e-mail me will get free online codes to access the Littlest Pet Shop online game! ([email protected])

I'll post a reply to this message once I'm out of logins.

Hahaha, what do you guys thinks about this? Rip off much?

The bad news is I've been super busy with doing graphics work again... but... the good news is that this is the last bit I'm doing for that company so now I'll have no distractions from doing dress ups!

New Question

- I added tights & hair colours to the Adventurer Maker dress up game

- I added backgrounds & some wings to the Snow Fairy dress up game

Question:

Should I install Google Friendconnect on the site?

And which of these "gadgets" would you like (or hate):

- Social bar- a bar on the bottom of the screen where you can see who's online, chat, see who's doing what on the site.. (only if they're logged in of course)

- Comments - comments boxes on each game's page

- Ratings/Reviews - a review box & star rating on each game's page.. you can tell me what you think a bout each game and I could see which are people's favourites

- Interests Poll - I get to ask stupid questions, mwahaha!

- Newsletter Subscription - I could send you site updates right to your inbox..

Do these sound useful? Sleazy? Annoying? Lemmie know =D

Adventurer

My goal is to finish the Adventurer by this weekend. I'm quite confident that it will happen :D

Some SUPER AWESOME games to keep you distracted:

Horse Maker - with CitronVert79's permission, I posted her gorgeous game and added a preloader and links to her gallery.

Garden Fairy - Azalea's newest, super gorgeous game! Explore it fully... there's more to it than just the menus ;)

Bride dress up - Azalea found this beautifully drawn game. Without a doubt the most beautiful bride dress up I've ever seen.

Rinmaru - they finally released the new version of their site, with some new games.

Quick Update

Just so nobody hurts themselves, I'm working really hard on the Adventurer and I promise it's gonna be worth the wait!

I've gotten some most excellent feedback from beta testers which helped me figure out what I needed to add and what I could abandon. Thanks guys!

The doll is totally done and I'm in the middle of doing the interface, and it's going smoothly so far (*knock on wood*). I'll hopefully finish that today so then I'll just have to draw up some backgrounds, do the Print version and release!

New Stuff

Ok, lots to report, here we go!

First non-DD game added to DollDivine: Galaedhel dress up game

I wasn't going to do this until later, but I logged in to MochiMedia, and there it was, so I thought "oh this is cute!"... and it only took a few minutes to add it :)

Thoughts?

Also: how annoying do people find MochiAds, and similar things? (ie. the ads WITHIN games that show up while the game is loading). I'm experimenting with them and I like the idea, but I find I'm getting annoyed on my own website lol! (they're currently on Japanese Fashion, Mermaid & Fairy).

That reminds me, I updated the Mermaid Maker and Fairy Maker with nicer lines and Print features!

Oh, and that's me this Halloween! The party was a success, and we almost made back all the money we spent, lol! (we bought more beer than we thought necessary)

Statuses (Stati?)

So, it seems people aren't super excited about me adding games, but don't mind either (except for a few hardcore fans hehe). But if I add them they must not suck, and be in a separate section.

Actually, when I look at these games what I REALLY wanna do is improve them... Some would be so much better if they just had... more than 1 hairstyle.. or better coding.. or skin colours that weren't hideous. I dunno.. I'll see how it pans out lol.

Someone asked about the Sailor Maker.. not starting it until the Adventurer is done, and even then I'm not sure if it'll be the next doll, but it'll definitely be soon. I just ran into this video on youtube. Thought it was pretty cool for Halloween.. err except for that end bit.. kind of odd :\

What's everyone doing for Halloween? Do they celebrate it where you are? I used to trick or treat until I was 20 hahaha! But now I'm 26 so I'm hosting a (hopefully) huge party and dressing up as Lara Croft XD

Question!

So I really need opinions on this:

Do you guys think I should add other people's games to my site? (In addition to mine)

PROS:

- something new every few days

- more stuff on the site to play with

- you get to discover more games

CONS:

- the games may not be as good as mine.. will this make the site look bad?

- it may be confusing if you just want to play my games

- Doll Divine wouldn't be as unique anymore

...other? What do YOU think?

Cuz playing around on the MochiAds site I got to see games that are free for distribution and it was so fun looking through them to find good ones!

Japanese Fashion

Lookit me, I'm on fire! XD

New game released today: Japanese Fashion dress up game!

This is so different from my usual style that I'm really curious to see what you guys will think, hahaha! Artwork by the fabulous Einlee.

I know a LOT of you guys wanna see a Female Vampire maker, and since I won't be making one for quite some time, you MUST try this one: Azalea's Hellsing Vampire Maker! All the facial expressions you can make are dazzling!

Also, I get very few visitors through search engines, so I decided I need to get a better search engine rating for the term "dress up games". You will now see me shoving it everywhere shamelessly LOL. What do you guys put into search engines to find new games?

Now I think I'll focus on finishing the Adventurer Maker :D

Pony Maker!

You guys didn't sound very excited about this one, but whatever... I WAS EXCITED ABOUT IT! LOL I love MLP's!!!

Well, I just finished it and I'll post it here a few hours before I post in on the website cuz I have to do a bunch of tinkering. So here you go, a very special Doll Divine Blog exclusive release:

My Little Pony Dress Up (aka Pony Maker)

Please feel free to post feedback :)

September Status Update

I've been pushing really hard to finish the My Little Pony Maker. All the parts are done; I just have to add the interface so it shouldn't be tooo long.

In the meantime, check out Azalea's newest game: Esmeralda

It's so gorgeous! Like a Disney movie.

(You may have seen it already on dressupgames.com)

I've also got something coming up for all the (gasp!) anime fans out there!

Here's the preview for an upcoming Sailor Maker with artwork by the very talented DracheaRannak.

Any other dolls I've mentioned are still on the go! I haven't dropped anything, just re-arranging and trying to manage my time :)

Puppy & Twilight

Look, this is my puppy! XD

She's the reason I haven't been getting much done, so blame her for slow doll releases.. hehehe but I know you can't really be mad at that face :D

IN OTHER NEWS: I just drove by the local high school and judging by the many trucks and crowds of 14 year old girls, Twilight is filming here again!!! But I was too pooped to stalk today lol. Maybe tomorrow...

STALKER TIP: Put "David Thompson Secondary, Vancouver" into Google Maps to get a satellite view of the high school that will be in the second and apparently third Twilight movie ;)

DOLLS: Still trying to work on Rock Chick amidst my currently busy life. I've just had another commission come in that is SO SUPER AWESOME, but I'm not revealing it yet hehe.

Game Updates

Just as I suspected would happen, I've had an overwhelming wave of amazing artwork come in all at once... Aaah!

I'm gonna try and get some of these commissioned dolls out the door first because they'll take me less time than the Adventurer Maker (which I'll finish later).

Coming Up:

1. Rock Chick Maker ->

art by pixelledanddead

2. Puppy Maker by Kamirah

3. My Little Pony by Baby Blue Bell

& four others which I'll reveal later...

A lot of people are asking about making a male Hogwarts Maker but that won't happen for a while.. probably not until the next movie release :(

In Other News:

I GOT A PUPPY!!!

A baby Bernese Mountain Dog girl named Misia (pronounced Misha). She is sleeping beside me right now.. she squeezed herself into a tiny corner lol. She likes to be squished it seems, which is exactly what I hoped for XD

Half Blood Prince :D

Saw the new HP on Wednesday. It was mmmmmRonalicious! XD

I thought it was definitely the best movie so far. Good effects, and even Harry was tolerable. What did you guys think?

This just in: Kamirah (kitten artiste extraordinaire) has agreed to do another game :D

Some cool links to distract you before the next game:

Princess Peachie - she makes really unique & adorable Flash stuff (dress ups and beyond). My favourite are the flash Polly Pocket sets

Azalea's Dolls - Azalea is a new-comer to the dress up scene, but her stuff is awesome right from the get go. The clothing in her dolls layers beautifully.

A Very Potter Musical - as recommended to me by HogwartsGeek93, this is simply amazing. AMAZING!

Next Doll!

I have sent initial payments to 3 artists on DeviantArt. I'll post links to their galleries as they send me their drawings, but not earlier just in case something falls through. (I'm commissioning them for artwork the way I did with Kamirah for the Kitten Maker).

There's one in particular I'm super excited about because the artist is totally into it, and is very talented, and I have seen a work-in-progress. It's gonna be AMAZING XD

By the way, if you guys find artists (on DeviantArt or otherwise) who's art you think would make a great Divine Doll, send me a link and I'll see what I can do!

As for my personal dolls, I started working on the dating sim, but the amount of work is sooo daunting! So I'm just gonna whittle away on it here and there, but make dolls in the mean time. I went through my list of requests and personal ideas, and decided on something I've really wanted to do for a long time. No one's ever requested it, but I think it'd be super fun. It's gonna be a puzzle again: can you guess the theme from the pics? Comment!

(I think it should be easy, but then again, I thought the last one was easy lol)

Hogwarts Student Maker!

Since it sounds like a few of you might hurt yourselves if this doesn't come out soon, I'm posting this UNOFFICIAL RELEASE on the blog.

Be warned, there may be bugs, and the page may not be finished, but the game hopefully works. Try it out, and please let me know if anything's broken!

Hogwarts Dress Up

Happy Gaming

~OLa :)

Quidditch gear, pets, backgrounds ALL DONE!! phew.

So that just leaves the interface, and printable version. It's looking good.

Tomorrow (well today) is Canada Day.

This is good news because it means I'll have 5 days straight without going to work and I'll be doing nothing but trying to get Hogwarts out the door, haha.

Since last time, I finished facial features and most accessories.

So there's still Quidditch gear, backgrounds, interface & pets.

(Do you guys need a wide selection of toads?)

If you haven't seen it yet, there's a teaser pic on my new deviantart page.

I've already bought my ticket to the new HP movie. This is the one where Ron makes out the entire time, right? So exciting... XD

Hogwarts Student Maker Status

DONE: socks/stockings, shoes, skirts, vests, blouses, robes, hair, body, skin

LEFT: face, accessories, quidditch gear, backgrounds, interface, pets

I've had a really bad cold this week so I got to work on it a bit more, but there's still a bunch more to go. Plus, remember I have to draw some things four times! (once for each house)

Kitten Maker will be released within the next few hours!! ;D

EDIT: Now released, chekkit out:

Kitten Maker

Status Updates

The good news: any day now I shall release the Kitten Maker!

The drawings were done by kamirah.deviantart.com and they are just amazing. Now I'm quickly trying to turn them into an animal generator the likes of which the world has never seen, hehe.

KITTEN MAKER STATUS:

DONE: drawings (thanks Kamirah!), patterns, backgrounds, shading

LEFT: interface, details

HOGWARTS MAKER STATUS:

DONE: shoes, socks, sweaters, blouses, robes, skin

LEFT: hair, face, accessories, interface, backgrounds, details

Oh, oh, oh! Annie Stegg released her follow up dress up game!

It's just as beautiful as the first.. hopefully it'll hold you over ;)

http://www.anniestegg.com/polkadotpirate.php

on release OUTSIDE!!!!!!!

I'm about to rant because I once again ran into perhaps the most common dress up mistake EVER.

Just about everyone is guilty of this, from amateurs to professionals: not setting a releaseOutside function!

"What's that?"  Well, I was just playing a really cute game on deviantart.  I slip shoes on under jeans, release, and I'm still hanging on to the shoes!  Why?  I was holding the shoes, but the pants covered them, so when I released the mouse, it didn't fall under the "onRelease" category.  Because my mouse was over something else above the shoes, that falls in the "onReleaseOutside" category.  No one ever adds this code, so it really makes gameplay awkward.

How to fix?

On top of the regular "onRelease" (or on(Release)) stop drag code, you ALSO have to set it to stop dragging "onReleaseOutside" (or on(releaseOutside)).

Happy Dolling :)

my blog leaves the stone age!

I'm right in the middle of releasing the new site layout, so I took the opportunity to actually move the blog to a real blogging site, so you guys can leave comments, anonymous or otherwise :)

I am very happy to announce that Annie Stegg has let me host Clockwork Couture, her first dress up game, and hands down my all-time-favourite.  I know the dress up world is a dog-steal-dog's-swf-file kind of world, but there's still something to be said for quality and respect.  So make sure to check it out:

Clockwork Couture on Doll Divine

She told me she plans on making more dress ups which is great news for all of us.

So enjoy, and pardon any strange occurances while I switch to the new layout.

Status Update:  The Hogwart's Maker currently has a colourful selection of knee-socks XD

Answer to the Riddle

Thanks for playing along guys! I didn't wanna make it too easy, and I guess I succeeded because only a few people got it, and only after a few hints.

Here's the answer:

Hogwart's Student Maker!

(Apple=School)

New Doll

I've decided on the next project.

However, I'm not gonna give it away just yet. Let's see if you can guess it from the three image hints on the right.

Guesses So Far: (April 28th)

Teacup: English/British ✓

Apple: Snow White, apple-eating, life, sin (nope :D)

Magician: Magic ✓

Overall: witch (x3) (it is a witch.. sort of.. there's more to it!), magician, Alice in Wonderland, Druid, Greek Goddess, Merlin, 

Morgan Le Fay

Hint 1: the apple is a really cliche symbol for something.

Hint 2: the doll is based on a book

Filming of New Moon

Warning - the two following things will make you very jealous:

1. Twilight New Moon is filming at David Thompson Secondary = HALF A BLOCK FROM MY HOUSE :D

2. My friend partied with Robert Pattison a few days ago and he even bought her a drink!

About the filming, I missed them when they were here, but hopefully they'll come back for more. Wow, it'd be quite something if I could post my own Edward pic... or Jacob pic.. hell, or even Bella.. the entire cast is so incredibly good looking!!!

About the partying, my friend said Robert's very sweet. She also says, no, he doesn't smell, and he laughs at the crap they write in magazines about him. Basically, he's a chill British guy who's into music, and quite surprised at his sudden fame.

What a drag!

So many times I see the same amateur mistake in doll makers: teeny tiny objects which are almost impossible to drag. You know what I mean... the necklace made of barely-there beads, the lace stockings you have to grab by the thread. I'm always annoyed to see it because it's SO EASY to fix! Here are the two easiest ways:

1. Using movie clips: Set your brush to "Paint Behind" and paint around/within your object in a color who's opacity is set to 0% (See picture).

The stuff you drew will be invisible to the user, but they will still be able to grab it.

2. Using buttons: The fourth frame of buttons, the "Hit" frame, determines which area of the button will react to the user.

Paste your object on that frame too, and then fill in all the gaps and outline it, to give the user a better grip.

(Both method #1 and #2 will work with buttons)

Status Update: The bad news: I won't beat my 3 week record.

The good news: This doll-maker is gonna kick ass!

Bling Bling

The Snow Fairy had drag 'n drop jewelry... 

The Kimono Maker will be kind of like that... times ten, on crack.

I thought kimonos were complicated... The things Japanese women put in their hair blows my mind. It's lending itself to an amazing free-form jewelry maker. I can't wait for myself to finish haha!

Working on these gorgeous designs makes me want to visit Japan. The economy and exchange rate makes me want to stay home and work harder on dress ups! :)

I'm doing well on my goal to beat my 3 week record. I have hopes of finishing this weekend, but knowing myself I'll need a few more days after that.

Stay tuned!

Something new.

I'm happy with how the Vampire turned out, but he took forever.

My new mission is to try to break my doll making record time (3 weeks). I'm making a girl in traditional Japanese garb. It's not fantasy, but folk costumes are something I always knew would work its way into Doll Divine.

Progress is steady, thanks to the abundance of both free vector patterns and ancient Japanese art on the internet.

I'm mixing classic kimono designs with some of my own, but wow it's hard. The Japanese put colors and patterns together that I wouldn't dream of combining.. yet it works somehow. Learning experience...

Life is hard!

Scouring the net for hot men of all races sure is exhausting. Poor me!

I'm sure you're wondering why the vampire is taking so long. I've been busy doing some design work for a local hockey product company. As I'm sure you know, here in Canada hockey makes up 87% of the GDP.

But I have a bit of free time, so as you can see, I'm working on the vampire again.

Done: body, skin, face shapes (yes, multiple!), facial features 1/2 done

Still left: hair, clothes, backgrounds, extras

Hang in there!

In other news: I've finished adding the Print function to almost all dolls!

Beginning of a Doll

I'm starting on the vampire, and if you haven't heard, it's a boy!

I'm trying to put more time into the planning of dolls... trying to decide on the stylistic theme, color palette, etc. I've probably watched too much Project Runway and now I fantasize that I'm putting together my own "collection", hehe. (I've watched all the American, Canadian and British seasons)

I'm really finding it hard to stomach the cliche Dracula cape. It just doesn't ooze sex-appeal. I want this doll to embody sex-appeal and I suspect my fans feel the same. Got a lot to think about here...

Requests

The Centaur Maker is finally done, so be sure to check that out.

By far the most common type of e-mail I receive are requests. I think that's great, so keep 'em coming. E-mail me with all your doll ideas!

I don't always go by requests, but usually they're things I was considering anyway, so it's nice to know they'll be well received. Right now the most requested doll is "Vampire". I'm sure it has to do with a little something called "Twilight". However, for me, it was "Interview with the Vampire" that really romanticized the lifestyle. Either way, that's the doll I'm starting now.

Fun Fact: Belief in vampires probably started because of the look of a decaying body. The decomposition caused gaseous build-up and bloating. Blood would seep out of the mouth while the skin became more rusty colored. So, especially if the person was pale and slender in real-life, their exhumed body would appear more well-fed. The seeping blood and rusty color implied the corpse is feeding on blood. (from Wikipedia)

Top Requests Right Now:

1. Vampire
2. Angel
3. Witch
4. Greek Goddess
5. Spirit of the Elements

Gradient Masks in Flash

Flash does gradients. Flash does masks. But combining the two? Not so simple.

It took a few hours of web searching, but finally somewhere I found a pretty easy solution.

Why:

For me, gradient masks allow for smoothing effects of alterable doll parts. I first used them in the mermaid. You'll notice that some of the tails "blend" into the body, yet both the color of the skin and tail can be changed by the user.

How:

1. Your mask must be in a movie clip, the object to be masked must be in a separate movie clip, and BOTH of those have to be in one all-encompassing movie clip (see bottom picture at right).

2. You actually don't use Flash's "Mask" function at all, so stop touching it! It's all done through the "Blend" toggle, in the Properties panel. Set the Blend as follows (see bottom picture at right):

- All encompassing movie clip: "Layer"

- Masking movie clip: "Erase"

- Movie Clip to be masked: "Normal"

3. The tricky part: The mask will work in reverse of the regular Flash mask (see top picture at right). The parts you want to show must be BLANK, and the parts you want to hide must be OPAQUE.

The good news? You can go to town on the gradients here, and it should work. Eg. A mask with 25% opacity will let the object below show with a 75% opacity etc.

Old School Flashback

How's this for a contrast?

Deep in my harddrive I found this picture; a relic from my centaur-obsessed past. It must be from high school, making it like 8 years old!

Interestingly, my style hasn't changed much since then. Not surprising, since I hardly drew at all during college. My degree was in genetics which had no requirement for drawing, and didn't leave much time for doodling.

This character was from the centaur comics mentioned in the last post. The Okapi people lived in Grecian-style white houses on the sea-side. They were the peaceful, well-read species (every sci-fi world has to have one). I'm not sure why they were so scantily clad...

I don't think okapi's are known for intelligence though. They're just not very well know, period. They live in Africa, and are the giraffe's only close relative. My "Mammal Handbook" says they were initially known as "forest zebras" and it took the geniuses a while to figure out that they're a separate species.

Centaur Underway/First Blog Entry

When a visitor e-mailed me requesting a "centre" doll, I spent a few minutes trying to figure out what in the world a "centre" was. When the Google image search returned no hints, I just started saying the word out loud.

"Centre... Centre... oooooh, CENTAUR!"

This was great news. I LOVE centaurs. I remember in grade 9, instead of paying attention in English class, I would draw centaur comics. I imagined an entire island where different types of centaurs lived in different geographical regions. There was an okapi centaur (like pictured to the right), a tiger centaur, polar bear centaur...

...so anyway, I thought it would be quite Divine to have a kick-ass centaur maker. Goal #1: Go waaay beyond just horses. I don't want to give away too much, but let's just say that this Centaur Maker will span a large portion of the animal kingdom.

Stay tuned!