The Last Morningstar

So much has happened since the last update, both personally and in Ira’s development.

I created a post awhile back detailing the passing of my Grandfather (Patrick Morningstar) who is one of the inspirations for Ira, and the Morningstar family (in game). I’m sad to say that my Grandmother has now passed as well. She lived 96 years and was sharp as a tack to the very end. Ethelyn and Patrick were married almost 80 years. They experienced so much together and saw the world slowly change before their eyes.

The homestead is based on the home they lived in throughout their entire married life together. Patrick built the house from the ground up starting with just the basement, and building it up level by level over the years. He would always share stories about how it was built. One story I will always remember is how the main cross beam of the house was put into place. When it came time to build the first floor Patrick did all he could to be thrifty as they had a small budget to work with. The day Patrick needed the main beam set for the house he went down to the local pub, and offered free beer to anyone that would help him hoist the steel crossbeam into place. In about 5 minutes time Patrick had the whole bar following him back to the homestead. In no time they had the beam hoisted above their heads and dropped into place. They spent the rest of the evening drinking and celebrating the laying of the beam. The beam which would support their home for the rest of their lives.

It’s stories like this that exemplify the best of human nature and our drive to prosper (regardless of the odds) that inspire much of my work and development today. I miss them both, and will do my best to honor their legacy.

The picture on the projector below is of Patrick and Ethelyn on their front porch.

Development news

Scene conversions/updated levels are coming along well. The Homestead has come such a long way. Remember this old living room scene?

This is what it looks like now!

Still needs some fine tuning but it's just about 100% complete and ready for the final game. The house has been expanded and is now fully explorable. You’ll find lots of interesting story elements and world building throughout the house. Maybe even a few of Patrick’s stories here and there. You might even notice some call backs to the original prologue / demo released back in the day.

Overall visual quality

At this point I’ve decided that (besides some fine tuning) Ira’s visuals are complete. I’ve come to the conclusion that any more large tweaks would just give diminishing returns at this point. In my heart I feel like there is always more that could be done, but, after the MegaGrant updates it’s time to let things settle as they are. Overall I’m happy with what I've created, and I’m content to have reached the end to this area of production.

Web page

If you noticed Ira’s web page being down, that’s because the web page had been hacked, and I lost years of web work including the backup copy on the server! This was extremely disappointing but there is a silver lining; I’m currently rebuilding the web page with final Ira content where there’s a lot more fleshed out info about the final game, dev blogs, and press kit, and