Atajrubah
Something New
I just wanted to reach out to you all and let you know that I've been working on a new game over the past couple months. To say that I've learned a great deal from the mistakes of the past would be an understatement.
It's smaller in scope and very different from Atajrubah. Development for the new game has had a lot of planning, organising, work and testing put into it. I've reached the end of the first phase of development and have a functionally complete prototype(minus sound and music for the time being).
I've done a lot of internal testing but I'd like to do testing with a larger group of people before commencing with the second phase of development. If any of you are interested in getting involved there are Windows 10, Linux and macOS builds of the game available for testing. I've included a signup form below.
https://forms.gle/pcYqzgDBy1ViF1GP9
Kindest Regards
MrNexy
End of Development
Bad news,
It's become clear over the past 6-12 months specifically, multiple re-development attempts and versions of the game that this is not going to work out. With no team members, limited resources, mounting personal costs and now a lack of time to allocate to active development I'm simply not able to sustain the development of the game. It's a bummer but all things come to an end. I really appreciate the patience and support that you folks have shown and its a regret of mine that I haven't been able to deliver on the game.
Kindest Regards,
MrNexy
Things are changing.
This is a short announcement regarding development.
There are a number of things about the game that are changing, foremost being the name. The theme will remain the same, however (Arabian inspired).
I'll be sharing more information soon.
Kindest Regards,
MrNexy
Atajrubah Re-Development Update 16/05/2017
While this isn’t a full update post with pictures and all, I wanted to pop by and update you on my progress.
As mentioned in the previous update post, the remaining tasks were to finish off the core AI functionality and to set up the menu systems. As of today, those tasks have been completed.
In addition to that, I have added support for game modes. Regular mode would have reasonable survival and resource rates, whereas Hardcore mode would have higher thirst and hunger rates but lower resource rates. I do plan on using these different game modes to affect other mechanics in the world as well.
The saving and loading of player placed structures, storage prefabs, and cooking prefabs have been completed. That way when a server goes offline, players don’t lose all of their stuff.
New Website
I've setup a new website where people can get a brief overview of the game and it's development. For now, it's pretty straight forward but I plan on changing it as we move through the different stages of development.
Atajrubah Game Website
AtajrubahGame.com
That’s some of what I’ve been working on this past month, the tasks to follow are the more exciting and tricky ones.
Multiplayer functionality
This involves making sure that all the single player functionality works in multiplayer too. This is definitely a little trickier than just flipping a switch.
Seeing as I have a server browser setup, I will also be tying in the functionality for hosting and searching for game sessions through it. This can also be a little tricky to test but with time I’ll get it setup properly (again).
End of Stage 1: Prep for Community Testing.
Rejoice! The end is of stage 1 is nearly upon us. There are a number of things that need to be setup before we can get started with the testing phase.
- Make sure that the crafting menu is fully populated with everything the player needs to build their own structures and weapons.
- Make sure that players can do damage to structures and that structures can be destroyed.
- Make sure that projectile weapons work properly in multiplayer.
- Make sure that the test level has adequate resources for players to gather for crafting, cooking, and construction.
- Prepare a beginner's guide for players.
Conclusion
I just want to thank you all for your patience and support, there is still so much further to go but I know that we’ll get there together.
Kind Regards,
MrNexy
Atajrubah Re-Development Update 17/04/2017
I'm back with another update, it's not quite as lengthy as the last one but I've made some progress and wanted to share it with you.
Resource collection from plants,rocks and trees
I've completed the setup for collecting resources from plants, rocks, and trees. This system is setup so that I can quickly expand resource collection. Different plants, rocks, and trees will yield different resources at different rates. One plant might yield herbs used in medicine while another might just yield plant fibre and wood.
I've been doing research on the different flora in my part of the Middle East and most of them have multiple purposes. A lot of it medicinal and some of it for crafts.
Socket Based Construction System
I had a socket based construction system prototyped in the previous version of the game. It never made it into the Early Access build however.
I've just finished a new socket based construction system, based off of the older version but with improvements and optimizations.
Using this construction system, the player will be able to place prefabricated items into the world and also make their own structures using construction elements.
I've made a demonstration video and have also detailed it below.
Construction System Video Demonstration
https://youtu.be/xwt__9TPuyg
- This is the placeholder UI for the construction system. I have plans to tidy it up and possibly add a second bar solely for prefab elements.
- Most prefab elements can be placed directly on the floor. However, construction elements have to be placed on a foundation or relevant construction element.
- Construction Elements that cannot be placed are highlighted as red
- Construction elements can be snapped to each other for proper placement. If another construction element is already in place, a construction element of that type cannot be placed.
- Most prefab elements such as campfires, storage chests etc can be freely rotated using the [Q] and [E] keys. Rotateable Construction elements rotate by snapping in increments of 90 degrees so as to maintain a precise alignment.
- Prefab construction elements such as campfires in this example can be placed on foundation and ceiling construction elements.
- Using this system, players will easily be able to build single or multi-story buildings.
Tentative List of Remaining Tasks
With another couple systems in place I can get to work on this tentative list of remaining tasks for stage 1.
- Finish off core AI
- Expanded Survival Mechanics
- Main Menu, Options Menu and Multiplayer Menu Systems.
Conclusion
There is still some work to be done in terms of UI layout and a couple minor bugs that need squashing. There will likely be many sub-tasks and adjustments that need to be made as I move through the list of remaining tasks for stage 1 but I'm happy with the progress thus far.
Thanks for taking the time to read this update, please feel free to share your thoughts as I love hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
MrNexy
Atajrubah Re-Development Update 27/03/2017
This development post has been a long time coming. Since re-starting development in December, I have made swift progress on the core systems of the game. As a forewarning, all the assets seen in the screenshots are placeholders. It’s all quite ugly but what’s important is that it works and does so bug-free.
Inventory Management System
- Inventory management is an important part of survival games. While it’s not ground-breaking in its implementation, it is functional and works smoothly. Players are able to visualize their character model and stats on this screen.
- The setup for facilitating loot collection of any type of loot item has been setup. Food, resources, clothing and weapons can all be picked up and dropped back into the world.
- Just as collectible loot items have been setup, equipping of those items via drag-dropping them and using the action menu has also been implemented. A vast variety of equipable items, each with their own stat modification properties can now be created with relative ease.
Crafting System
- Crafting in Atajrubah is going to have a more standard recipe list approach.The act of crafting isn't exactly the main focus, rather more the exploring of the world and gathering of the crafting elements in order to craft is where the player will spend more of their effort. The current size of this recipe list can be expanded, once again with relative ease.
Cooking System
- Players will be able to use camp fires to cook now. The cooking system acts as a secondary crafting system. 1,2 or 3 slot cooks can be performed to prepare raw food for consumption or make a number of more complex food items. Different fuel types can be used and cooking times will change depending on this.
1 Slot Cook:
1 Slot Cook in Progress:
Player Death and Respawn System
- Player's will die in a number of ways and most likely often. This system records and handles player death, the cause of death, the respawning of the dead player and the transfer of player inventory items to a player corpse item in the world.
World Lootable Items
- Lootable World Items have been setup. These can be anything from chests to Npcs, Player and mount corpses. World Loot Items can have inventories of different sizes and with some modification can be used to store player items.
World Lootable Item UI
Player Corpse Loot UI
Saving/Loading
- Saving and loading data is critical for persistent worlds and progress tracking. Once again this system isn’t anything special but it is functional and works seamlessly and with no bugs.
Mounts
- Mount Implementation that allows for the efficient creation of mounts. Attributes of the mount can be changed to suit mount type. Horse,Camel,etc.
World V1
- I've begun work on what will become the first version of the world map. It certainly beats always working in the development map.
And much more...
This is just some of the progress that has been made over the past couple months. Stage one of re-development is starting to draw to a close, there are only a few more systems that I need to finish off. Those would roughly be the following:
- Resource collection from Plants, Rocks and Trees
- Core AI (this is about 80% done, all that needs implementing is AI behaviors!)
- Construction System and UI
- Expanded Survival Mechanics
- Main Menu, Options Menu and Multiplayer Menu Systems.
As always anyone is free to check the public Trello boards below. I try and keep it as up to date as possible, especially when I am doing development work on the game.
Public Trello Boards
https://trello.com/b/sYDNccVy/atajrubah-re-development-roadmap
Conclusion
I'm looking forward to moving out of Stage 1 and getting it into your hands for testing. Thanks for all the support and for taking the time to read this longer than usual update!
Kind Regards,
MrNexy
Update Announcement Heads Up
I hope that you've all been well.
I just wanted to pop by to let you all know that work on the game has been progressing in leaps and bounds. I'll be making a full update post in the coming days with all the juicy details. Until then keep the name submissions rolling in on the link below. We're at 81 suggestions now, not that far until 100! :)
Atajrubah Change of Name Submission Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclVqlH-ep9mFxtuX8oeBdFIFAjUM0p7Y92tJ07ARuyzawxjA/viewform
Kind Regards,
MrNexy
Atajrubah Development Update - Choose a new name !
I've made some good progress with Atajrubah's re-development recently. Just yesterday I finally finished the core implementation of the crafting system. With each passing day, the end of Phase 1 of re-development draws closer. There is an ever growing list of completed features that you can check out here:
Atajrubah Re-development Roadmap
https://trello.com/b/sYDNccVy/atajrubah-re-development-roadmap
My main focus in this phase has been to make sure that all the systems put in place just work. No bugs. No glitches. As such, there hasn't been a playable build uploaded to steam just yet. That time is coming soon, possibly within the next 2 months. At that point, I will need all your help to stress test the systems that I've put in place.
For the time being, I really need your help with an important part of the re-development process.... A new name for the game.
Over the years I have received the same comment over and over again about the name,"It's too difficult to pronounce".
Atajrubah is still going to be a game about exploration and survival in an Arabian inspired world. It is however, going to be a radically different game from what it was both visually and mechanically. With this, I feel that a fresh change of name would do the world of good and
I want to turn to you folks in the steam community for suggestions.
I've created a google form below where you can submit a suggestion, along with your steam username and email address. The first 100 submissions will receive a key for the game. From these submissions, a list of names will be compiled for the community to vote on. The submission with the most votes will win and the user who submitted it will be credited for their contribution and receive 4 keys to share with their friends once the game re-enters Early Access.
Atajrubah Change of Name Submission Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclVqlH-ep9mFxtuX8oeBdFIFAjUM0p7Y92tJ07ARuyzawxjA/viewform
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I look forward to hearing from you!
Kind Regards
MrNexy
Atajrubah Development Re-booted !
It's not often that lone developers get a second wind once a project fails let alone a third. However.This happens to be the case, as the development of Atajrubah has resumed.
After much time away from the game and with a great deal more development experience under my belt, I feel that I can apply the lessons learned to Atajrubah to create a smooth and entertaining game experience.
Development is planned to take place in 4 stages which are detailed below and on the game's Trello board.
Everything thus far has been rebuilt from the ground up to work as smoothly and seamlessly as possible, the game will be going in a more stylized direction to make it more manageable for a solo developer such as myself to create and the name of the game may very well change too.
New keys for the game won't be issued however as there are many, many of them out there in the wild (+- 200-300) but I do hope that those of you who don't have a key will also keep up with development. For those who do have a key, I will make an update announcement regarding a test build within the next 3-4 weeks.
Development Stages
Stage 1
Stage 1 of re-development concerns all the mechanics and systems that need to be in place. At this stage all art assets are stripped out, the focus is on functionality.
Stage 2
Stage 2 of re-development focuses on visuals and the overall look of the game. The visuals of Atajrubah will be heading in a more stylized direction.
Stage 3
Stage 3 of re-development will focus on gameplay elements such as quests, story arcs and multiplayer. In this stage, regular testing will be needed in order to get the game ready for re-entry into Early Access.
Stage4
Stage 4 concerns development under the Early Access program. At this point, the game's core elements of survival mechanics, gameplay and visuals will be in place. Under the Early Access program, these will be polished and expanded upon to provide a solid and enjoyable experience for players.
Trello Board
https://trello.com/b/sYDNccVy
I look forward to making a great deal of progress on the game and interacting with you all way more in 2017.
Kind Regards
MrNexy
Supporting Development.
As you may know I have not had as much time to do development work on Atajrubah as I would like this year. This is for the most part down to taking on freelance work in order to support myself.
When I have had time I have made significant progress however. I'd very much like to be able to spend more time working on the game. This is something I'd only be able to do with your help and support. Many of you fine folks have made generous donation offers in the past that I've had to kindly decline.
At the time I didn't have a mechanism through which to properly manage contributions and offer adequate rewards. Lately however I have been looking into Patreon, how I could possibly utilise it to help support development and give something more than just a copy of the game in return.
My question to you fine folks is would you consider, helping to support development through Patreon ? I have set up a poll where you can cast a vote on this. I'd be most grateful for your feedback.
Best Regards
MrNexy
http://www.poll-maker.com/poll512364xcf4c5E1C-21
[Notice]
I'd like to stress that contributions to a Patreon campaign would not be in exchange for a steam key. There would be a separate build of the game available for download. All developments would of course make it into the Steam version of the game for those of you who already posses a key. You would be under no obligation to contribute to a Patreon campaign if you already have a key.