Bigger, Faster, Stronger

Hey, readers! My posts have been a bit more sparse this month due to "crunch time" for Project 87. I'm going to be submitting it to the Indie Games Festival, and I need to finish it soon to allow enough time for my team of elite testers to get their hands on it!

In other news, Project 87 will probably be my last Game Maker game for a while. Game maker has been a great tool to teach me the fundamentals of building games, but at the same time, it is fairly limited in what it can do. It has 3D capabilities, but they're quite weak and require a lot of workarounds to do basic things (lighting, for example). Also, I realize that I have been using Game Maker for almost a year now, and I have grown increasingly more comfortable using it. So much so, in fact, that I have almost gotten bored with using it simply because there are no more challenges. If I want to make any gameplay mechanic (in 2D), I can. While this is an exciting prospect, I have to acknowledge that although my Game Maker skills have come a long way, my skills in other, more practical game development areas are lacking. If I'm comfortable, I'm not learning. I need to get out of my bubble and teach myself something new.

So it's time to move into uncharted territory: Unity. Unity has built-in 3D support and a physics engine, and it beautifully handles all kinds of crazy things that I don't even understand yet. And it can create games for almost any platform! To use Unity, I'll have to learn C#, which is going to take a fair amount of work.

The plan from here on out, then, is to finish Project 87 in Game Maker, submit it to the Indie Games Festival, and then dive headfirst into learning C#. I recognize that C# is going to be way more complicated than what I've been dealing with, but I fully intend to plow through it and start using Unity within a month after I start learning C#.

As a side note: Skybrawler is not scrapped -- I will be rebuilding it in Unity. This will allow for much better gameplay and graphics in the long run and will be well worth the transition.

Wish me luck!

Particles! Explosions! Glowing things!

Quick Update: Video Blog, Game Jam

I just have a quick update for the day, since I've been running full blast all day. I got a ton of stuff implemented today; they were mostly housekeeping things that I've been meaning to do but haven't gotten around to. Now that the interface is almost totally finished, I can focus a bit more on the game's content.

For example, one of the big things I did today was go back and make "exploration" versions of all of the levels that currently exist. Once you complete a level, it would be weird if you could then go back and fight the bosses again or if the characters would say the same things. Instead, I want to create a sense of forward progress at all times, and I want to make it seem that the player's actions impact everything in the game world. So if you go through a level and rescue some alien buddies, when you return to that level, they should be safe and sound and no longer under attack. If you've killed a boss at that level, the boss should be dead when you return. And so forth.

I'd estimate that now, after about 2 months of 55-70 hour workweeks, Skybrawler is roughly 10% complete. Thankfully, the interface and core mechanics are shaping up, so from here on out it's mostly story writing, dialogue writing, level design, artwork, and generally just coasting -- with a few cinematics thrown in, of course. I have only a couple weeks of full-time development left for the summer, and then I'll be trying to squeeze it in on the weekends and in the evenings after MBA classes. I'm still planning to get 20+ hours of development in each week after mid-August.

Tomorrow I'll be starting Level 9: The Front Lines. It's a battlefield in the Searing Sands where the Stonefangs have set up barricades and have prevented the Dredgers from attacking them in their hollowed-out mountain, Dianttua. Captain Moore will be assisting the Dredgers in pushing through the front lines. I'll also be posting a brief video blog, but it will be fairly short since I'm leaving for the Saint Louis Game Jam at noon.

In all, it has been a short but very productive week. Stay tuned for the video blog!

Testing, Searing Sands Wallpaper!

READERS!

I've made an executive decision (not just a regular decision) to start spreading out alpha tests by at least a couple months. While it was great fun to rush to cram together something playable each Friday for the past couple weeks, I don't want to burn out the alpha testers by having them play through the game every week. Plus, I'll be starting MBA classes at the beginning of August, which will slow down development tremendously. So I'll plan on having the next Alpha build out on September 2nd. It'll have a bunch of new levels, interface improvements, gameplay tweaks, bug fixes -- the whole works. If you want to see how it's coming, just check out the patch notes at the forums!

In the meantime, though, here's some other news. The Searing Sands zone houses the Dredger capital city of Airo, and it is also the site of a huge armed conflict between the Stonefangs of the Stonefang Mountains and the Airo City Dredgers. In the next Alpha build, you'll be able to play through the Searing Sands zone. To help you prepare for the glaring sun, dive-bombing Eibo monsters, and bloodthirsty Cactogons of the Searing Sands, feel free to download the wallpaper above and plaster it onto everything in sight!

Ability Stats

My Friday this week was spent developing the stats page for your various abilities. It's coming along pretty well! One of the more important features of the stats page is the ability to see whether or not you can purchase upgrades for whatever ability you're looking at. Here's an example:

(Click the image to enlarge it)

Friday video blog #5: Interface & Overlook Tundra!

Midweek Update: Alpha 0.0.3 tomorrow!

I'll be releasing the next build, Alpha 0.0.3, tomorrow. I've got tons of big changes coming, particularly with the interface. Here are some of the highlights:

• A new level, "Overlook Tundra," which is the last level of the Overlook Plateau.
• A much more easy-to-understand interface when it comes to taking damage, picking up health, and picking up resources.
• A pause button!
• A variable main menu screen, which changes based on how far you have gotten on your most progressed save.
• Punches cause less recoil, allowing you to avoid bouncing to your death much easier.
• Your punches become more powerful as you defeat more enemies. It is a small effect in the short-term but accumulates to a large effect over the entire game.
• You have a "combat rating" which is tied to your "combat score." Both of these things are based on your kills at each difficulty level and your overall deaths.
• The Daniels Industries shop now has prices. The prices are reduced depending on your combat rating.

And a bunch of other shenanigans. To see the full patch notes, check the forums. In other news, I've been shopping around for animators, and I very well may have found one! Always moving forward.

Testers: Keep an eye on your email either tonight or tomorrow for the next alpha build!

Friday Video Blog #4: The Hive, Interface changes, and more!

Enjoy the movie magic! Also, Stoz Studios is now on Twitter. Username: StozStudios. I think it's a pretty catchy username. FOLLOW IT.

Patch Notes!

Now that I've got a legion of alpha testers, it's time to start actually documenting the game's changes! You can get to the patch notes either through the link on the sidebar, or, if you are an alpha tester, you will be able to get to the patch notes through the game's main menu.

And if you're super lazy, here's the link right here:

https://docs.google.com/a/stozstudios.com/document/pub?id=1UPJ1wx4_epYjfC1-Pp4Qit1WZFWANEbcqaD4JO6mWVQ

Enjoy!

Updated HIVE!

More doodads and fun stuff to die on! Click to zoom.

Level: The Hive

Just southeast of Jamestown, on the Overlook Plateau, there is a vast, underground network of tunnels. Within these tunnels lies the Dive Worm Queen, hatching thousands of eggs every day. The Dive Worm menace started as a simple nuisance. Nobody could determine where they were coming from, but they seemed to grow more numerous day by day. Over centuries, the weaker creatures of the Overlook Plateau were weeded out as they were carried off and wrapped in coccoons, buried deep underground in this vast hive, soon to become snacks. And today, there are almost no animals left but the Dive Worms and their insectoid cousins, all constantly streaming out of the Hive.

James Daniels chose a location just northwest of the Hive as a "safe haven" for the Jamestown outpost. Of course, it is anything but. Daniels thinks his turrets will hold off the swarms of Dive Worms, but each one that falls from the sky is replaced by three more. As long as the Queen and her hive persist, the Overlook Plateau is firmly in the hands of the Dive Worms, and Jamestown will never be secure.

Friday Video Blog #3: Daniels Industries Shop, Abilities

New video blog! Here you can see some of the upgrades purchasable at Daniels Industries once you have built Jamestown. I've also got some ability previews in there. On to making more levels now!

Dev Update

I'm a month into development for the summer, and I have just surpassed the point where I thought I'd be at the end of the summer. This is obviously great news, and I've learned a lot so far. In addition, I'll start sending the game out for alpha testing to my Kickstarter backers fairly soon.

I've also decided to make a few changes to the blog; namely, I'd like to make it more video focused than text-focused, since that's a much better way to showcase what's actually happening in the game, and I can ramble about how things are going while you see it in action.

Here's some stuff to watch for in upcoming videos:

• The character progression system -- getting new skills and getting stronger!
• Skill previews, including teleportation, bombs, energy pump, hydraulics, and more.
• Zone and level previews.
• BOSS FIGHTS!

There'll be some structural changes to the site as well, but stay tuned for the Friday video blog!

Friday Video Blog: Jamestown

Friday Video Blog: Intro and Beginning Levels

The first of a series of weekly video blogs for the summer!

Daniels Industries Presents: The DI-PDP Pocket Turret [Model X-37.2B]!

DANIELS INDUSTRIES

is proud to present:

The DI-PDP Pocket Turret [Model X-37.2B]!

Perfect for dinner parties with your annoying neighbors!

Daniels Industries, maker of the famous DI-1.22GWEP5K Energy Pump and the Skybrawler Combat Suit, is proud to bring you our latest and greatest creation, the DI-PDP Pocket Turret [Model X-37.2B]! The PDP comes fully equipped with a self-generating ammunition chamber, capable of producing one face-exploding ball of energy every 2/3 of a second! Each of our lovingly crafted face-exploding energy balls comes complete with a homing device. It'll destroy your enemies!* Guaranteed, or your money back!**

ALL FOR THE LOW-LOW PRICE OF $143,997.98!

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

The PDP is fully upgradeable and customizable! If you would like YOUR PDP to shoot EVEN FASTER and EVEN HARDER, mail us a hefty quantity of steel scraps, hyper-explosive chemicals, bacon, and $400,000. We'll send you the parts you need to EXPLODINATE THE BADDERTONS!™

CALL NOW and receive a complementary apple, valued at $0.89.

THIS DEAL WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY!

Daniels Industries: We make things.™

* May also destroy your friends.

** Not a guarantee. We will not refund any money.

Garry's Army: DOZ-3R

DOZ-3R ("Dozer")

Aim for the weak spot?

The Dozers of the Progeny were originally built for clearing forests and doing all manner of heavy lifting. But the Progeny has been floating in space for several hundred years now, and the Dozers have just been sitting in storage, mostly forgotten. But not by Garry.

During Garry's mutiny, he dusted off a few of the Dozers and retrofitted them with modified force field generators. Although the high power cost of the force field generators essentially robbed the Dozers of most of their original functions, they do have two new abilities: short periods of invincibility, and the ability to overcharge their force field generators to emit a powerful shockwave which can known down almost anyone or anything nearby. They aren't particularly dangerous when alone, but when placed in the ranks of an army, a Dozer can disrupt enemy forces so powerfully that it can almost single-handedly turn the tide of the battle.

Garry's Army: B0-UNC3R v4.28

B0-UNC3R v4.28

Not as jolly as it looks.

Garry developed the first version of the B0-UNC3R as a form of sentient bomb, coated with a hyper-elastic synthetic alloy, to be dropped from aircraft. But there were too many accidents in the testing phase, during which a huge amount of Garry's military equipment was destroyed by B0-UNC3Rs that had bounced off the ground at terminal velocity and then exploded on impact with whatever they hit next.

Not one to be a quitter, Garry continued refining the B0-UNC3R until he settled on version 4.28, which oddly resembles a reclining fat man. Garry claims that this is the most aerodynamic shape possible.

Garry frequently deploys B0-UNC3Rs all over Desia for a myriad of uses, including bombardment or flushing out underground tunnels and cave systems. This latest version can even be set to only detonate on impact with certain individual targets! This is bad news for Captain Moore.

Character: Saphrix

Saphrix

Saphrix comes from the Liosse Clan of Stalkers, who dwell in the Deep Woods. Although most Stalkers work alone, the Liosse clan is one of the few organized Stalker communities on Desia. However, true to Stalker form, the Liosse Clan's community revolves entirely around teaching and learning subtlety and misdirection. Saphrix showed tremendous talent and finesse even at a young age; so much so that she caught the eye of Master Sioro, the most skilled warrior on the northern continent. Master Sioro took Saphrix in and trained her starting at age seven. Today, she is only 22 years old but is now revered as one of the most skilled blade dancers of the entire Stalker race. Rather than using the customary Stalker daggers, Saphrix developed a new fighting style using arm-mounted blades, granting free use of the hands in combat.

When the Progeny crashed to the planet's surface, Saphrix used her skills to move undetected while observing and tracking Garry's forces. She began picking off bots one by one, but Garry quickly grew tired of hunting something he could not detect, so he sent in a legion of bots to clear out the entire Deep Woods, assuming that without a thick forest to hide in, Saphrix would be left a sitting duck. She and the Liosse clan have been fighting back, but the forests are being cut deeper and deeper. Soon, Saphrix and her tribe will have nowhere to go.

Character: Sacred Atom

Sacred Atom

Thousands of years ago, the Channelers were a simple race, dwelling on the Sumiria Archipelago as sea-faring fishermen. In those days, Atom was a young merchant who had set up shop on the shores, frequently trading with the local undersea-dwelling Gluaglian tribes. One day, the Gluaglians brought a strange, bluish crystal to Atom's shop. It had a pristine purity to it, and it seemed to catch the light in such a way that made it glow. Atom offered to purchase the crystal so he could examine it further.

He took the crystal home and kept it secret as best he could. He soon became obsessed with the thing. The more he was around it, the stronger he felt. And the crystal's luminescent glow seemed to get brighter and brighter the more he was around it. It was almost as if it knew when he was near.

Atom went to the Gluaglians and offered his life savings in exchange for as many of the crystals as they could find. To his surprise (and joy), they came back with armfuls of the things. Atom bundled them up and secreted them away to his home. But fearing his fortune would be discovered, he migrated to a small nearby island and took up shelter in a cave, surrounding himself with his crystalline companions. He spent the next thirty years studying the crystals and obsessing over them. He came to understand that the crystals rejuvinated him and seemed to prevent him from aging or feeling hunger or pain. And with enough concentration, the crystals allowed him the ability to manipulate water molecules. He could create steam from the humidity in the air, or create vortexes in the sea. He could even direct the water molecules in the air to create wind and currents, which allowed him to fly. But he also discovered that the crystals seemed to store his life essence within them, so that if he were to get too far away from them, he became weak and wracked with pain. If he was away from the crystals for too long, he would surely die.

It was then that Atom decided to ensure his immortality and strength by embedding the essence crystals into his own body. The self-surgery was traumatic and amateur, and Atom lost his legs due to infection by the time he had finished. When he had finished, he was forever changed. His blood ran blue with crystal dust, and he glowed with the light of dozens of essence crystals emerging from his skin. His eyes were no longer black but instead surged with a glowing white light, as if they were a window to the soul of the crystals he had buried in his body.

As Atom gracefully floated on air currents back into the village, thirty years after he had departed, hundreds of his fellow Channelers crowded around, awestruck. They all thought he had died at sea, yet he had returned with supernatural power and immortality.

Atom believed that the essence crystals held the key to solving hunger, pain, and war. He wanted to spread his message and teach about the power he had discovered, but he wanted to ensure that it did not fall into the wrong hands. He chose a handful of worthy disciples and spent the next fifty years teaching them all he knew. From then on, Atom returned every fifty years to select a new handful of disciples.

Today, Atom is now revered as Sacred Atom, and he has thousands of disciples who have all embedded essence crystals into their bodies. Although none have attained the power Atom wields, each of his disciples is honorable and good at heart, just as he had anticipated. Sacred Atom now resides somewhere out on the sea, and he and his disciples serve as protectors of the secrets of the essence crystals, only unveiling them to those who are worthy and pure of heart.