Alas, this is definitely also a reason... But, the smaller we make the boards, the bigger the ship becomes but the more normal he looks, and vice-a-versa. We had to trade proportional realism in favour of moving space for the player. Ships are generally a very small place, especially after you add in all the props. We will do all we can though to make sure the proportions aren't really noticeable. Once everything is places you will see that it looks a lot better. Also, I have went ahead and darkened the slat colour, because right now it is looking a little too orange/yellow for my taste.
Lemme know which you guys prefer. It is actually quite easy to edit the overall colour value for all the slots since I have everything separated in to layers. I may also reverse a lot of the water damage seen near the sides of the ship as I think it may be a bit distracting.. OLD NEW
Just a quick message to let you know that the Dev Diary will be late... Unfortunately YouTube mucked up the audio sync so I am attempting to upload it once again, though since it is 4:30am I will be leaving it overnight... (took about 2 to 3 hours last time) Sorry!
One last texture update for tonight then I am going to bed... Also, the post by Ollarin, was actually from me, I was using his computer while mine compressed the texture. Ohhh, nice thing to note, I have been able to greatly reduce the muddiness in the textures by doing two things. 1. Enable 'Force PVRTC4' This is a compression method used for the iPhone platform (I believe) 2. Set my LODBias to -1. This really helped because it tells the system to essentially stop saving performance... This would be more of an issue if we were making a First Person Shooter, or some other game where you have free reign over your camera controls. But, since you don't and we aren't then we can take utilize this trick. Check out the difference Before LODBias change. After LODBias change. Ohh ya, the screen shot.. I have started on the sides. Still not sure what we are going to cook up for the railings and what not, but it shouldn't be an issue. I also reduced a lot of the specularish brightness from the boards as I felt it was way too distracting. May still, as I said previously, go a step further and mute the wear and tear on the slats themselves, but we will see.
Just wanted to throw some compliments out there... I'm not a developer and I have no experience programming, scripting, etc. I suppose I have experience in QA, but that's very different (and much easier, I'd imagine!) Even still, it's very enjoyable to read your posts about the development progress of this game. It's really cool for me to see all the progress that you guys have made and how well everything has come along. I also really enjoy how dedicated you are to keeping us up to date (i.e. updates nearly every day). I'm very impressed with the gameplay, too. The idea behind the game is unique, clever, and cute all at the same time. I think I'll really enjoy this game. I cannot wait for it to be released - I think it's safe to say I'll be buying it as soon as it's available
Hey Monkeyy, Thank you so much! We're trying our hardest to make this game enjoyable! Posts like your really motivate us to keep working our hardest on this project. Thank you again.
The new wood stain coordinates better with the pirates dark red garb. I'm curious to see how this does; after Minigore burned everyone I would worry single level survival dual stick shooter would induce cringing.
Hey undeadcow! That is a VERY good point, and as consumers of products you should be cautious with your money. But realize that we are in this for the long run, the long haul if you will. We have 5 story missions planned with a survival mode for each story mission. We also have different powerups that are dependant on (at this stage anyways) enemy killed. For instance, if you kill 10 bombers you would get the bomb powerup for 5 seconds. Things like that. We also have achievements planned for each update, leaderboards, more enemies (lots more), more heroes, more weapons, etc etc. We are also seriously contemplating a leveling system, which would enable the player to unlock more powerups and such later on. Also, we will NEVER include In App Purchases that break the game for users that have already paid. Example: If you have bought in to version 1 then we will not be selling you chapter 2, 3, 4, etc. The only kind of In App Purchases we have even contemplated are things like $1.00 will let you open up chapter 3 right away. Basically cheat codes. People that decide to utilize any kind of IAP system, should we ever include it, will get the same content as the folks that don't. We don't like being ripped off, and we assume you guys don't either. So, with all of that said let me reiterate the fact that we are a two man team that have started game design for the first time in our lives. It is a learning process and we want our product out in the market as soon as possible. This not only allows us to keep working full time on the game but also lets users share the journey with us. I understand many may see our first release as lacking, but we hope that by the time version two is released you will all see that we are serious about making this game. Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us! I really love reading everyones thoughts and constructive feedback like yours is honestly what makes us, and all developers, better. You should demand the best from your products.
Yup, Michael summed it up pretty well. This first level is just the start of something much larger, we've got most of the story and levels planned out and we'll progressively release updates after version 1. As for updates, here's the new developer diary. We finally got it uploaded. Youtube does not like big files. I hope you guys enjoy it!
Hey fellow pirates! I am sorry it took so long but the conclusion to my series The Start of Something Special is finally up. Part 4 is now on the blog, follow the link below. The Start of Something Special - Part 4 Please leave and comments or critiques at the blog or here in our thread.
Here is a time lapse of me painting part of the ships textures. I really just wanted to show you guys the texturing process that I go through. The original session took me about 45 minutes with this sped up 500%. It was done in Mudbox on a 12 inch Cintiq.
Hello everyone! Here's a quick playblast. It's only two seconds of animation with a mock explosion (courtesy of AtomCentral.com)
Hello everyone, Here's a rig demo of the tentacles that will be wrapping around the ship. Nothing fancy in the setup, just a simple IK and FK system and it probably lacks a lot of control, though, I think it should do the job for our needs.
Thank you so much Redskull, we're trying out best and appreciate any comments. If anyone had any questions they'd like to ask, don't hesitate to post it up, we'll do our best to answer any questions you might have (regarding the game anyway, not about the theory of relativity, though we might be able to answer that in the most basic way. )
Hello everyone! Here's an update for the day! I spent most of the day animating the tentacles on the ship. I would have put up a playblast of the animation I have so far, though Maya isn't being nice to me at the moment and it wouldn't let me make a playblast. I'll have a video for you guys tomorrow when the issue is fixed. Here's a screenshot for now. Not the most exciting update so far.
