Doll Divine Blog

Crowns

2011-11-08T10:54:00.002-08:00

Trying something new... now members can login and collect "crowns" that they can bestow upon other members' dolls to show that they like them. I was wondering if you guys had any thoughts on the system? Login and give it a whirl :D

Tudors Progress

2011-10-20T11:47:00.003-07:00

OMG a blog post!!! Hehehe...

Just wanted to tell everyone that I'm hard at work. Between blog posts, facebook comments, deviantArt comments and e-mails, I've had to pull back or else I wouldn't have any time to actually make games.

I'm currently adding items to the male Tudors doll, adding to the wonderful stuff Azalea already put in.

It is a funny thing, this doll. The Showtime TV series is, of course, based on the real Tudor dynasty. However, the costume designer took liberty with the costumes. I was reading something to the effect that she wanted to audience to think "Oh, how beautiful!" rather than "Oh, how strange." Apparently purists are angry, but I think it made a lot of sense. The real Tudor costumes don't have that much variety, and some of those head doodads are straight up ugly. That being said, I hate for things not to be accurate, so I've been making sure that the staples of real Tudor fashion are in the game too.

Because now I'm watching Game of Thrones, and I notice that they, even being a fantasy series, seem much more adherent to real fashions. I constantly find myself saying "Oh, look, he's wearing a leather jerkin over a doublet... again". (I've learned a lot of new terms doing research for this game). So.. I dunno.. It's just neat I guess.

Designing Continues...

2011-05-13T16:12:00.003-07:00

SO EXCITED!!! I HAVE A LOGO!!! XD
Props go to my sister for suggesting a tiara. I got to sketching and came up with that thingy in the picture.

So yeah.. day 3 in the design trenches. Got the background, logo, colour scheme. Now it's just about the layout. Where to place ads? Where to place navigational tools? Where to place login buttons?

YES I'm going to have a Random Game button... So don't worry ^_^

At this point I need feedback of that sort...
How are you finding the site navigation currently?
How do you find the current categories?
How can I make it easier for you to find the game you want?
Also, do you mostly go on the site looking for new games? Looking for favourite old games? Looking for game suggestions?
Are there some ad placements you hate more than others?

Emergency Site Redesign!

2011-05-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Google sent me a little spring bonus of its own yesterday. There's a new rule about how to place ads that has been implemented to prevent accidental clicks even further. It's pretty drastic and basically I have to re-design the entire site.

Also, you're probably wondering what's happening to those new site features. They're on the way and they're super awesome! :D

We're getting very close to sending it out to the testers, but it'll be another week or two.

Both of those mean an opportunity/necessity to overhaul the site.

What needs to go?

What needs to be added?

Post links of any/all sites that you like and tell me what you like about them (not just dress up sites.. any sites that have well designed features).

Let's brain storm! =D

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EDIT: What do you think about this:

Spring Bonus

2011-05-08T21:51:00.002-07:00

A few months ago a friend of mine who also develops games in Vancouver, was looking for an artist. I recommended some of the lovely people I've had the privilege of collaborating with on dress ups, and he ended up working with Claudia, aka Madmoiselleclau, who you'll recognize as the artist behind the Princess Maker ^_^

The game is out now, chekkit out: Spring Bonus

Download the free demo and give it a try! As you progress, you unlock new beautiful backgrounds by Claudia that you can use as your desktop backgrounds =D
Also, check out Claudia's blog for a special bonus ;)

New Games

2011-05-07T14:49:00.002-07:00

So the unthinkable happened and I had some down time. I needed something totally frivolous to do, so I started working on the Angel Maker. The artwork was at a high resolution and incorporated into Flash so smoothly, that I had the game halfway done in one day! Then I was on a roll and just had to push through until I finished it. I set a new record for game making for sure: THREE DAYS :O
The average is a month, and Airbender took like 6 months O_o

You'll notice I also posted another game: Nyan Cat FLY!
It's a game my boyfriend made XD
It's obviously a bit different from the usual Doll Divine stuff, but technically it has an Animal Maker component hehe. What do you think? Can anyone beat my score? I'm "OLa" on the scoreboard :P

School 26

2011-04-25T16:06:00.001-07:00

Out of curiosity, has anyone played this game, School 26?

If so, any thoughts?

Image Saving, Attempt #3

2011-04-04T17:45:00.003-07:00

I'm getting closer to having image saving capability working, I hope.

Does this work for you guys?: Sailor Maker with saving function

(you should see a "SAVE" option on the last panel.. if you don't, your browser might not be reading the latest uploaded file)

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EDIT: We're currently doing some testing with the Sailor Maker, so weird things might be happening. I apologize if anything's wonky. I'm glad it has been working for everyone so far! :D

More on Girl Gaming

2011-03-28T15:35:00.001-07:00

To clarify, I'm not mad that there aren't many women.. I just find it intriguing. And some people say that it's because it's a boys' club, but I haven't found that. I feel more like a hot commodity than a reject in the game development community (from my experience so far).

I definitely agree about the "no fighting". Some girls do like fighting, but they're already catered to, kind of. I'm more curious about those who are looking for something new.

But let's think about totally new stuff.. Like, I've always dreamed about a castle building game, somewhat similar to what Larissa just described. You design a castle, but not to prepare it for battle, just for the fun of it! And maybe the challenges are technological... and you have to combine materials in new ways to unlock new structural possibilities to make towers that can stick out of cliffs etc.

Like someone said, I've also always preferred the character creation part of games. I often lose interest after that. I guess that's why Makers are so popular ^_^ I love Age of Empires right up until you have to fight.

There's gotta be a way to expand on that.. What else could Makers (dress ups) do?

What about dating sims? But quality ones, geared at girls/women? I think there's a lot more demand than anyone suspects (and a lack of high quality supply).

Like, what about an immersive adventure-game-style dating sim with Disney-quality graphics? I'd be down with that... Rachel, I know what you mean about games being geared at women focusing on stereotypical things, but I think if such a game was actually designed by a woman it would be quite different from the crap that's out there now.

And yeah, I actually agree that games shouldn't have to be geared "at women". When I say women, I more mean people who aren't into shooting games, which just happen to mostly (but not all) be women.

Girls and Gaming

2011-03-26T14:31:00.002-07:00

(pasting from my dA journal cuz I wanted blog opinions on this too)

So I'm back from the Game Developers Conference. One thing that was very apparent is that there are very few women in game development. Like, very few. I finally found a group of women at one point and tried to chat them up and it turned out they worked for the conference >_<

Thank goodness I got to hang out a bit with Heather from emeraldactivities.com ^_^

Not that I mind... I had a blast lol. But it just makes one think about women and games. They keep talking about trying to tap the female market but they keep failing, probably because the majority of games are made by men and men are not women.

What do you guys think about that?
What kind of other games do you play? Are there games you wished existed but don't?

Great Suggestions!

2011-03-16T21:16:00.002-07:00

Holy smokes, guys! Awesome ideas!

I've already incorporated some of them, and have a list of the rest. I'm gonna see how many I'm able to implement.

Oh, also great news! Madmoiselleclau has agreed to collaborate on the additions and will be drawing a few more hairstyles :O
Check out her blog to see some Princesses she's just made :D

My current plan is to stay up until I finish this game, but in case that doesn't happen, tomorrow would definitely be the last day for this game. Stay tuned and thank you!!! <3

Princess Maker

2011-03-14T20:56:00.002-07:00

Dear neglected blog readers,

I've been too busy to keep up with correspondence, and I'm putting any available time straight into hardcore game development. To apologize, I'm posting a sneak peak of the Princess Maker on the blog only!

Chekkit out: Princess Maker dress up game (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Lemmie know what you think! This post will only be up for a few hours :O

I know a lot of things don't work properly. I'm just wondering what other stuff I should add at this point.

Call for website testers!

2011-02-11T19:23:00.002-08:00

Thank you everyone for your awesome feedback :D

One thing's clear, which surprised me, is just how much everyone wants to see the future games area expanded. That's cool.. What about even more like, in-progress screen shots or webcams of me working? hahaha
I've also been toying with the idea of Livestreaming, so that people can watch me work in real time.. what do u think?

Also, with this feedback, we're gonna start working on a test version of the new site features. If you have spare time, and want an early peek, we're gonna need some testers! Please e-mail me at ola.rogula@gmail.com and put "SITE BETA TESTER" in the subject line. Hopefully within a month we'll have something up and I'll send you guys the link to try it out!

Haha and yeah Tudors is going ahead! I wasn't trying to keep it a secret or anything, just hadn't re-organized the front page for a while ~

Exciting News!

2011-01-30T00:39:00.001-08:00

I've had the privilege to meet an amazing web developer who's interested in working with me. Do you guys remember way back I was thinking of adding stuff to the site like comments and polls? But through an external site? Well, this guy can program anything from scratch... ANYTHING O_O

So, let's let our imaginations run wild!
...in a world where ANYthing's possible...
Have you ever finished a doll and thought "Boy, I sure wish that now I could... [____]"?
...what were you thinking?...
Have you ever loaded the site and thought "Gee, I sure wish I knew... [____]"?
...what were you wondering?...
Have you ever gotten frustrated and thought "Grrr, I wish Doll Divine had the [____] feature, the way that [_____].com does!"
...what seemed to be missing?...

I don't want it to be THE next social networking site. But, I want it to be the ultimate experience for those that love making dolls. Please, sit back, close your eyes, and picture logging into the wickedest doll site ever. What would it offer you? Let me know! Hopefully we can make it happen! =D

~OLa
PS. no more genetics for ATLA guys.. The next two months of my life are swamped (luckily this time, with Doll Divine related things, but still) and I need to make more games!
PPS. I see we gots some drama on the last post, and I don't have time to intervene directly this time but thank you to those standing up for me, and to those brave enough to give me honest feedback! You're all wonderful! <3
PPPS. I gots some programming help, and there are actually 3 games being worked on at once, so there'll be a flood of new stuff soon! :D

Poll

2011-01-21T00:10:00.002-08:00

I need some stats on my users so I stuck in this poll... but for me it'll only show one result?

Do you guys see more results? Does this thing even work? It was kind of embarrassing putting it on the site and I can't even get stats out of it :\

**************************** UPDATE ***************************

I removed the poll, and removed it with one from PollDaddy. People seem to be curious so here's the final breakdown:

Toph & Speech Bubbles

2011-01-12T22:34:00.003-08:00

I updated the Avatar the Last Airbender Scene Maker!

As you can see, Toph doesn't have that much stuff, but I also had less to work with in the beginning, especially in terms of accessories. Expect more of this trend.

What do you guys think about the speech bubbles?

Avatar Cut-Backs

2011-01-04T12:57:00.002-08:00

The good news is I'm back in full force!!!

The bad news is that the only way I'm gonna get through this Scene Maker is by focusing only on the most important parts and cutting out a lot of the items. Alisa has drawn sooo many gorgeous items and I would love to include them all, but I'm just not physically capable lol. I've bitten off more than I can chew... I admit it XD

So I'm gonna give you guys a chance to vote for your favourite items to make it into the game!

1. Please check out Alisa's gallery of wardrobes.

2. From Sokka/Azula/Ty Lee/Mai/Toph/Suki/Yue's, give a shout here if you see something you MUST see in the game.

3. Mention also if you want to see it in a different Nation's colours.

Polish Folk Costume

2010-12-29T00:42:00.003-08:00

Soooo.. my mom, who initially didn't believe in the whole dress-up-games thing, has since then been convinced otherwise.. so much so that she herself decided to make a game O_o

So without further ado, here's my mom's Polish Folk Costume dress up.

Soooo.. what do we think, lol? And be nice to my mom! XD

Hogwarts Final Version

2010-11-24T23:00:00.002-08:00

As many of you noticed, I uploaded the final Hogwarts Couples dress up game.

I'm having a lot of "oops" moments, since there are some things I meant to add because they were very popular (ie. snake, voldy nose etc.), but I just got lost in my notes and exhausted.

But YES, there is still one more film, so for that I'll re-open suggestions, as well as add multiple-character options. Thank you everyone for the awesome suggestions and very honest feed-back!

*scurries back to work on Avatar*

Hogwarts Couples Maker

2010-11-19T13:12:00.003-08:00

It's not quite done, but I have a busy day today and I thought I'd let everyone have a go anyways: Hogwarts Couples Dress Up

There might be glitches.. let me know.

There's more pets coming.

Now that we see what's there, what's still sorely missing? (re-post if you like)

Male Hogwarts

2010-11-13T23:00:00.001-08:00

What items do we wanna see in the Male Hogwarts doll? (and possibly added to the female, if it's simple)

Ads!

2010-11-06T17:36:00.002-07:00

Haha, you don't hear this very often, but YAY, ADS ARE BACK!!! XD

Sheez, now I can get on with life. However, I feel a bit burned and will investigate alternatives if time allows.

Also, contest winners!

No Ads

2010-11-01T00:58:00.002-07:00

Pasting from deviantArt, for my dear blog followers:

You might have noticed that ads have disappeared from dolldivine.com. Google sent me some automated message that I'm tricking people into clicking on ads and told me to make changes (they didn't say what changes). I removed all of the text ads off the entire site. Three days later I get a message that I did not make the right changes and my service has been discontinued.

This is terrible news!!! If I don't have ads, I can't work on the website full time and games would grind to a halt!!! I'm very hurt and insulted that Google would A. think that I would want to trick people and B. cut me off in such an impersonal and cruel manner.

I've filled out an appeal form, but if you know someone who works for Google, kick them for me!!!

Also, check out the awesome contest entries!

Status

2010-10-22T23:33:00.002-07:00

The bad news is that I'm horribly busy (what else is new). I had an awful computer virus which took 3 days to fight, and in the end I reformatted anyway. I just got back from a month long trip to Winnipeg. I'm helping my mom organize a major Halloween party, which I now have to decorate for. blah blah blah

The good news is that other people are picking up my slack! Yay!

First, you've probably noticed, but Ammotu created a lovely Steampunk dress up.

Also, I just got a peek at an awesome Scene couples game that I'll be hosting very shortly.

Kamirah is also nearing completion on a game that I'm super excited about.

Oh, I just got the artwork for two beautiful games which will satisfy those waiting for historical games!

Of course, Azalea just finished a gorgeous THREE part game... And if you haven't been there lately, Rinmaru is cranking out the awesome faster than I can handle lol.

Happy Halloween! What are we this year? I'm gonna be a traditional Polish dancer.. just.. slightly modified lol.

Last Airbender Preview!

2010-09-28T22:29:00.002-07:00

I feel bad for taking so long, so I posted a preview of the upcoming Last Airbender Scene Maker!

There will be more characters coming, but with less options. This is a great time for reporting bugs and ideas ~

As I do research I keep coming upon all this talk of shipping. I can't help but throw in my two cents:

Kataang makes sense. Aang is fun and Katara organized, but they are both simple and virtuous. This works.

Zutara is stupid. Zuko would find Katara way too idealistic and boring. Katara would find Zuko too cold. Maiko all the way!

I don't see anyone for Toph.

Sukka could work, but the timing is wrong. Sokka's obviously still obsessed with Yue and his love for Suki isn't strong enough to steamroll that. He needs a strong lady, but he's obviously physically attracted to girly girls. Also, I think she's years ahead in maturity and can't wait for him to grow up. They will break up in a year or two. I would propose Suki/Jet but it's not exactly possible.

I know I'm like, years behind on this haha, but whatever. What did you guys think?