What a month November was! Spent more time preparing then developing Area 86 ː2018bestcoffeeː Don't get me wrong, it was for the best for Area 86.
Submitted Area 86 to Baltic Sea Games Award and got nominated for Best Game Design! I was super excited and thrilled for such an award and the possibility to continue to next available award - Best Baltic Sea Startup Game. ( This included a trip to Lithuania where the final is held at video gaming event GameOn + a booth with Area 86 at the event )
Captured quick moments of Area 86 booth at the expo:
I felt no pressure until arrived at the event and started to acknowledge that will need to go to the stage and talk in front of other people. ( not done it before and I'm not the person who enjoys talking ːsteamfacepalmː)
So the moment came and it was time to go to the stage! How do you think it went?
I would say, it was not great but not terrible also ːcozyrealmroyaleː Heres how it went: It was hard to start, almost forgot what did I create, but then something snapped and words came out! Completed speech 1st part [ pitch about Area 86 ], but had a blackout and forgot to tell about the business side which was 2nd part of the speech ːsteamfacepalmː The judges where a bit surprised, that my talk was so short, but the show must go on and they started to ask questions. Must say, I did not hear the questions what they asked, but tried to read from their lips and answer as good as possible. It was a crazy experience, but for 1st time - I'm proud of my self, even if failed ːsteamhappyː As you may notice, I did not take the grand prize. But I take it lightly because I got even more than planned!
Hey, Best Game Design - that's huge !!!
Now that the expo is over and I'm back home, took a week to get everything back to normal. Work on Area 86 is continuing and plans have slightly changed! The most important part - will release in 2020 Q1 That's better for all of us - you get a non-rushed game with more polish! ( probably a Steam Demo version will come before full release, but that in next blog )
And of course - thank you all for your feedback and support! Till next time!
Devblog #14
Happy Halloween!
Area 86 did not release in this year's 2019 October, but still, I wanted to create a pumpkin and put it on our robot! With this said, character customization is official. ( For now, it's just a pumpkin on the head with a button in options to enable it ːsteamfacepalmː )
What else did happen in October? Oh - right - I got some great news to share!
Submitted Area 86 to a contest called Baltic Sea Games Award. There are 4 possible nominees in this contest: “Best Game Design”, “Best Game Art”, “Best Game Audio” and “Best Game Narrative”.
Can you guess what Area 86 did in this contest? Before you answer, I must say that I was surprised when received the mail. Area 86 did win Best Game Design ːsteamhappyː OMG - I was happy and proud of my work. As a winner, I need to prepare for the award ceremony which will take place at GameOn on 16 November 2019.
But it does not end there! The contest has 2nd phase and now there is a possibility to online vote for a favorite game from the finalists. The online vote can be found here: Baltic Sea Games Award info and Vote! ( don't want to push anybody, but a vote for Area 86 would be great ːcleanfloppyː)
Apart from preparing for the event and preparing stuff for contests. I did progress in Level 5 ːsteamhappyː It still requires work on the visual side, but I just wanted to share the progress of it.
After playing around with visual effects, I decided to add Post-Processing to Area 86. It does make look Area 86 better, but if it hits your performance, there is a possibility to disable it in options!
Not sure if anybody will notice, but added a little feature to our robot. When the robot jumps and falls back, it bounces back a bit from the ground. Such a little simple feature - but get all the little things together and you get a decent game. ( at least that's what I think )
That's it for now and I hope you're ready for November?
Devblog #13
Good news!
Planed to release Area 86 very soon. Like Mid-October, but perhaps it was too soon. One level is still missing - life happens!
Will need to push my self harder. ːsteamfacepalmː As soon the first chapter gets completed will notify you all!
For those who don't know - the first chapter will contain 6 levels. Right now 4 of 6 levels are completed and only some minor tweaks are made to them.
Level 5 is functionally completed, but the visual part is missing. That makes total progress for Level 5 development 75% [ no screens as it's just a bunch of blank boxes ]
But what about the chapters last level? Well, level 6 is 0% completed! Let's look at this from the bright side. The last level will not be so "huge" as others and it will be more like a boss fight level :) The main idea for this level is to use your parkour skills and a bit of planning to reboot the system. To make it more interesting, some sections will depend on saved robots!
P.S. If you want to sneak peek in development of Area 86 or just say hello, your welcome to join SimDevs Discord Server
Devblog #12
Let's start with the most important?
Are you ready to escape from Area 86?
You better be, because I added a deadline on my self for releasing Area 86! For now, all I can say - it's October 2019! ( A more accurate date will follow in the next blog post ːsteamhappyː )
Finally, Level 4 has hit the finish line and is in a playable state.
It contains more different features than previous levels and one of the best could be with the saved robot from the previous level.
( if you released and saved it )
A new challenge awaits you with the drone that patrols his room!
Will you outrun, blow in space or ride on him?
Perhaps you will find another way how to deal with drones.
If you want to try something different from escaping - I got you covered!
The new level includes a basketball field.
Go wild and score some hidden points?
And don't you worry - there are some challenging tasks/puzzles too.
Some will require your own solutions and perhaps a little bit of parkour.
No matter how you do it - you got this!
But that not all!
Made a huge change to the whole project by upgrading to newer game engine version!
Stuff did break and was a bit painful, but you will like the end result.
Better performance and more stable PHYSICS ːsteamhappyː
Alright, the deadline is close and work still needs to be done.
Till next time!
Devblog #11
Improvements, polishing, bug-squashing & feature implementation!
It all brings a good game together. ːsteamhappyː
As last time mentioned, I reworked the item pick/throw functional.
Oh, that did take more time than planned.
But now - I can say it's finished and every possible item that can be picked up by our robot is converted to the new logic.
No more instant item dropping on wall/obstacle/etc. touching :)
Next was tutorial with controllers.
The tutorial had already keyboard buttons visible, but nothing when you played with a controller.
Checked top controllers from Steam stats and implemented their visual buttons for Area 86.
Now we have perfect tutorial feedback for controllers and proper button visuals in settings.
Alright - what about multilanguage support?
Have a plan to launch with multiple languages, but does it work?
Nope - total mess - went over all possible texts and implemented proper font support for different languages. Now can say that Area 86 is multiple languages ready.
[ only need to find people to translate it properly ] :cleankey:
Did you ever notice that physics in games is a beast that can go crazy at any time?
Well, Area 86 is no exception.
Squashed some physics bugs thanks to streamers who encountered them!
Now it's more stable than ever!
[ till next shows up ]
But wait! Probably you will like this.
One day had an idea:
why not allow you to do a flip with the robot in the air?
The trick is simple, you jump and then hit jump again to do a flip in the air.
Awsome - right? ːsteamhappyː
On that note, we could end this blog post and return to development.
Till next time!
Devblog #10
Spent some quality time by implementing your requested features and improved gameplay with your suggestions!
Let's start with the biggest trouble maker - item dropping! It's was so easy to drop an item and get mad [ possible rage quit ]
Well - made an outstanding move!
I reworked from scratch our controllable robot logic including pick/hold/drop item code.
It took me a while, but I'm so happy about the outcome result.
[ hopefully, you will appreciate it too ] ːsteamhappyː
Don't think that it stopped all there!
Now as the new item pick/hold mechanic is implemented, need to go over all possible items and update their colliders.
[ not a hard task, but takes some time ]
To give more joy by smashing/throwing items - I started to add items that can break apart when defined force is applied :)
[ more on that next time ]
The next cool feature: Throw trajectory! Such a simple line, but makes life much easier for many players.
[ if you think you can live up to the challenge to not use it, you have the power to disable it in settings! ]
And of course, Level 4 visuals updates:
By size, I think this level is the hugest of all levels in chapter one!
P.S.started to work on the new trailer and here is a sneak peek of first ~4 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpTM297ERb4
Share the news & till next time!
Devblog #9
Yep - have set my goal to finish AREA 86 this year! [ earliest possible release at summer or latest at autumn ]
From planed 6 levels in the 1st chapter, only 3 are completed and 4th is coming together. The functional part is completed, but the visual/audio part is way behind schedule. ( had planned to finish it till April, but will see how life goes )
Maybe it took "a bit" more time because the idea fairy did hit me with features that should be included? Check these features that did hit 4th level:
basketball court with best ball physics ever made
parkour room where you control the parkour elements
stealth room with a possible getaway run
smooth camera switch between different rooms
explosive boxes which can be used in different combinations with the environment
the previous level saved robot ( if saved ) visits you and helps with the tasks
door slamming!!!
. . . [ need to stop here ]
Summing it all up, it's one of my favorite levels at this moment. ːsteamhappyː [ but there are 2 more levels incoming ]
What else did happen without the level building?
Right - Finally added some proper controller support! ( there was controller support before, but it was shitty ) It was not an easy task and I'm proud that finally did it. To start playing with your controller - just plug it in and off you go! And if you ever feel the need to change some button actions - you have the power in the settings menu!
Other than that, have planned to make a new (hopefully better) game trailer. ( as soon will finish this crazy 4th level )
P.S. Did you notice that AREA 86 has a new logo? I tried to improve it a bit with my limited skills and hope it's better than before!
How do you like the new logo?
Devblog #8
Welcome back in the year 2019!
January is already over and did not share any work progress about Area 86
Must say, that January was a pretty progressive month!
[ maybe the cold weather helps? ] Started creating a new level and added some interesting features.
One of them is a flying drone!!!
[ was a bit challenging but at the same time funny ] Be aware that this drone will not be your friend!
Because the main goal for the drone is to keep the assigned room clean from unauthorized objects, including your robot.
But don't think that you can't use it for your needs ːsteamhappyː
There is always some choices - will you destroy it, will you ride on it or maybe you can outrun it?
Also made some improvements/polishing to previous levels and added some new features:
- When you make the choice to save another robot, when saved, it will try help you get further in the active level. You will notice a speech bubble above the robot and it will include the required item which is required to help and proceed further!
- Added new universal "save spot" icon for robot saving.
If you see this icon, you know where to transfer your saved robot!
- Added little tutorial hint on how to operate other robots and improved robot friendship/trust factor visualization!
[ robots don't trust each other on the fly, you will need to gain the trust! ]
- Improved some previous puzzles by adding more visual hints and making them easier to complete!
And that's it for now!
P.S. Spread the word about Area 86 ːsteamhappyː
Devblog #7
It's close! So close that this is your last chance to prepare gifts/surprises for your closest ones!
Quick Math level did hit the latest update and it's time to develop to the next one.
( probably still will update it with some visual features but it's playable )
Made some visual changes to the tutorial level and smashed little bugs which did not notice before.
Nothing exclusive, but each little thing makes a better whole picture ːsteamhappyː
Check this little feature:
When you approach any interactable object, your robot focuses his head on it!
Looks that this is it for now :featherduster:
Oh, one more thing:
Finding and adding sound effects takes a lot of time!
Take care and Happy Holidays!
P.S. Updated store page screens shots + New trailer WIP!
Devblog #6
Finally finished integrating feature: saving other robots! Was fun - so many bugs and fixes went in such a "simple" feature ːsteamboredː
But don't think that it will be so easy to get other robots trust!
You will need to figure out how to gain the trust and build a team.
More updates were made to the current development level and it's still possible that more are incoming this month!
