Hey TA'ers! In the past few weeks I've started on a new game for iPhone and iPad called SOLUS. It's a first person mystery/exploration game set aboard a space vessel in the near future. I had a lot of fun posting about my first game, qub so I thought I'd start an exclusive developer blog here on the forums for SOLUS. (Also, so you guys can help keep me on track. ) Please feel free to chat, contribute ideas, etc. as the game progresses. If there's any specific areas you'd like to know more about, I'll try to cover it. And I feel like it goes without saying but everything shown here is pre-alpha and much of it will change/improve as development continues.* | story teaser | Year: 2080. Location: NGC1049, Fornax Dwarf Galaxy. Name: Allister S. I'm awake now and I'm pretty sure I'm looking at my own blood on that wall. My head hurts like mad. This place is a wreck, I wish I could remember what happened... I've got to find a way out of here. | Updated screen grabs throughout the thread! | Early screen grabs (All in-engine) Current feature plans: • Professional voice acting • Immersive, interactive environments • iCloud saving • Custom musical score • 60fps gameplay • Metal API integration • Support for Bluetooth gamepads • And more...
Looks great, i just hope you throw just the right amount of action so it pulls the player in, what engine are you using?
Post #1 - development evolution and prototyping One of the hardest things for me as a developer on a new project is just starting. Looking at pages and pages of ideas, notes, etc and imagining a completed game from it can usually be overwhelming enough to keep new projects at bay. One of the reasons I was able to get qub done as easily as I did was because the graphics end was very simple, and so I got that implemented quickly and then focused on features and backend stuff. I find that once a project is moving along, and there is a semblance of the final form visible, it's much easier to keep pushing and continuing to find inspiration. Luckily, I'm encountering familiar territory on SOLUS. Brian Kehrer from PSYOP, who did Guns of Icarus gave a great talk and something he talked about really stuck with me, rapid iteration. When you're making a game by yourself, it's really important to keep the momentum moving, like I said. Its easy to spend a lot of time on one art asset, piece of code, level design, or whatever else but the problem there is you finish that chunk with not a whole lot more visual evidence of forward progress, which can be frustrating and deflating. With rapid iteration, you essentially treat the project like at any point, you could release and have a working product. Maybe not the right product or the finished product, but a working one nonetheless. The idea is that just getting things working is the most important. The question of how isn't important (yet) because this is just about getting things moving. In this way, you're able to iterate quickly on a foundation, adding functionality and features, ballooning the project into what will eventually be the game. Later on, once things are working and you want to lock it in, you go back and clean up the code/integration. I find this usually causes less headaches as well because it's already working, now it's just about cleaning it up and improving how it's done. Personally, I find the ability to jump from task to task like this very refreshing. Instead of feeling like I have to slog forward one area at a time. An example is that today, I went from programming UI states to adding flashlight functionality and now I'm working on opening scene animations. initial flashlight integration v2 flashlight revision few weeks later That's all for now!
>CONNECTION TO PRINCIPLE CRAFT HAS BEEN LOST. ATTEMPT TO RECONNECT IN >3... >2... >1... >>CONNECTION FAILED. >RECALCULATING NAVIGATION VIA SECONDARY MOBILE BRACKETS. >>ESTIMATED SPEED AT FALLING RATE OF 263 KNOTS. >RATE OF SURVIVAL: 33% "How long have I been away?" >BY APPROXIMATE CALCULATION: 547 DAYS. >> SIRIS. DO YOU STILL WISH TO GO HOME? Awesome story moment from Coheed & Cambria's album 'The Afterman: Descension'.
Just wanted to let you guys know the updates will resume the first week of January, I'm out of town for the holidays and without my computer. Happy holidays!
By first week of January I clearly meant first week of FEBRUARY! Wow, sorry you guys but work has been crazy. I'm a woodworker by day and I've been in the middle of a few big furniture projects which have been requiring a ton of time. Anywhoo, back on the dev side I'm planning to do a writeup on my approach to being a (mostly) solo developer and the problems that can spawn. Until then, here are some more screens for you guys to peep! The overall tone of the game is getting a little darker and more suspenseful. More soon!
For those of you following, SOLUS is being put on hold for a short time. My friend who is helping me design the game is going to be unavailable for the next few months so this will be a project that will be picked up on when he returns. Until then, I'm making a new, smaller game called ROGUE SHIP. I'll post a link to the thread once that exists.
