Drone Zero Gravity Progress Update (Post Delay) Post 5
Is this game done yet? I am starting to feel the pressure again but in a good way. Working hard on this game testing and doing my best to get everything together. I kind of abandoned the spreadsheet that I made a while back that has a checklist going, I will update it soon. Getting the series of levels at the end of the game together is a challenge, it has to be worthwile. The gameplay varies a bit here and there at the end hopefully to spice things up. I'm officially in crunch mode. Ideas to fulfill the story are flowing to me a bit easier now. Although there is still a lot to do, I feel I'm in a better place to launch the game and fix issues that may arise along the way than before. Still looking forward to adding DLC content, at no cost, in the coming weeks after launch. There are some game modes I want to play around with.
I guess this is more of me talking than a progress update. Pretty much all that is left is fine tuning the levels and finishing music tweaking sfx and optimizing a bit more. Oh and the text based dialogue, ah! :)
Talk to you later. See you Saturday ;)
Almost forgot, here's another screenshot of a different area.
Finally figured out how to add an image on these annoucements.
Bye,
Isaac
Drone Zero Gravity Steam Key Giveaway (9/12/15 @10:30am)
Hi all,
So I'm going to do a lil somethin somethin :) The amount of people who have added the game to the wishlist or joined the group is amazing to me. I'm very greatful for all of you taking the time and supporting this effort.
So in return, I want to give away a few Steam Keys to random group members. Unfortunately those who have added the game to their wishlist that are not in the group will not have a chance because I can't see their names. I can only see names in the community group however, that's good for you all in the group. I always encourage everyone to spread the word but if you want to keep it a secret in the meantime until the giveaway is over, that's ok :D
You may be wondering how many keys I will giveaway, I'm going to give away 20 keys. I will take down the names and provide them upon release date of the game.
I'm not sure how I'm going to do the giveaway, maybe a live stream while playing some of the game. It may be very short and I may answer some questions too. Well, it will be early but still give you enough time to get your favorite bowl of cereal out ready to eat. I don't think it would be wise for me to eat mine while doing the stream since cereal is probably the worst thing to hear in somebodys headphones...do they have ASMR for that?
EDIT: I got curious, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDm-8j3rcaI it does exist. :D
Anyway thanks,
Isaac
Drone Zero Gravity Progress Update (Post Delay) Post 4
Hello,
I figured that I would work on SFX this past weekend since I had some extra time off from work. I thought to myself, this shouldn't take more than a day or two and then I can work on some other things. Well, being a newbie, I underestimated how much time and effort is required to get sound fx done. After four days, most of the SFX are in the game just might have to tweak levels here and there or swap a few. Here's a link so you can hear the game and see some gameplay at the same time.
https://youtu.be/9FrE2iNxke8
I updated the loading screen and squashed a few more bugs. Also got multiple save slots now which is nice.
Thanks again everybody for joining the group and adding the game to your wishlist. You all make me push harder to make the best game I can provide. Please continue to spread the word, I look forward to making more games in the future hopefully with some multiplayer.
Lastly, some of the extra content like other modes and levels I may release as DLC if I can't add it all. I have a lot of ideas for extra content but I shouldn't focus on that right now. But don't worry this content will not cost you any additional money.
Well that's it for now. Throughout the week I'm going to keep cleaning up the levels and finishing the transitions between levels. Talk to you soon!
Drone Zero Gravity Progress Update (Post Delay) Post 3
Hello,
So this past week, I did quite a bit of play testing to fine tune some things, added some transitions between maps and reworked the players hud. Added a new enemy type, I guess it would be considered a mini boss.
The wave mode that is in the works will have mini games so it's a bit different. Looking forward to showing footage on that soon. Next weekend, I will have a good amount of time to work on DZG. I might be able to finish the game minus the music and all of the sfx. It's very close which is making it more difficult to complete. :)
That's it this week, didn't have as much time as I like but still on pace.
Chat with you next week!
Isaac
Drone Zero Gravity Progress Update (Post Delay) Post 2
Hello,
It's a beautiful Saturday morning, hope everyone is enjoying there cereal and Saturday morning cartoons. I personally enjoy Capt'n Crunch, Fruity Pebbles and Reese's Peanut Butter Crunch!
Anyway, progress with the game.
So this is week two and more progress has been made :D. This week I worked on things like separate sliders for music and sfx (even made a tutorial about it), gamma settings slider for brightness and finalized the ship in the game that you will interact with a little bit.
Here's an image posted on twitter for #screenshotsaturday
https://twitter.com/IsaacThreedart/status/632536145377820672
Lastly, I worked on some of the soundtrack. I found someone on the internet that can take care of mastering the music once I create and mix it all. Great investment and time saver.
That's it for this week, talk to you all next week.
Bye,
Isaac
Drone Zero Gravity Progress Update (Post Delay) Post 1
Hi all,
Quick update, I am very happy with the progress made with the game this week. The excel spreadsheet and knowing everyone can check it out has motivated me even more. Everyday I can just take something off the list and focus on that. Something as simple as a list is very effective.
Anyway, I feel the best progress was made with the rock optimization. The polygon count is much lower so that should help. I also took a look at some of the particles and cut back on that too. Checkpoints and "collectibles" are done. Both of these are treated a bit differently and how you interact with them. I will provide more details about that later. Fixed some physics issues and had to get creative with the moveable rocks. It was very buggy and I couldn't get it working but a happy accident happened. Ended up becoming a more interesting object for the player to interact with.
That's about it, I will most likely post once a week giving my progress report to you all. Once again thank you for all of your support and continue to spread the word.
Isaac
Spreadsheet of progress
http://www.dronezerogravity.com/#!game-development-progress/c1diq
Drone Zero Gravity Delay
Hello all, a bit of unfortunate news but I saw it coming. I will have to delay the release of the game. There's still alot of work that needs to be done and i don't want to release an unfinished game. I'm sure there may be bugs that I come across after release but I don't want to rush the game onto steam just because. The August 11th date did help though, it kept me focused and alot of progress was made due to that.
About a year ago, I released the first demo of the game on indiedb and that took a crazy amount of work. I guess I thought I would be able to release around the same time but that did not pan out. I believe the demo released on August 12th 2014. I'm working on a minor press release just to make it official. The new release date will just say Q3 that way when the game is complete, I will make an announcement a week before. I don't want to keep posting delays.
So to continue on track, I spent last week playing through the whole game identifying everything that needs to be worked on and created a list. What better way to stay on track than to make this list public :D You can get an inside look of my laundry list required to complete the game. Some things I left a bit general so not to spoil any experience. I really would have liked to release the game sooner but I rather have a more polished product with the least amount of issues as possible.
Thanks for all the support and joining the groups and recognizing the potential the game has to offer. Below are some links of what I have been up too so you can follow the progress.
Game Development Progress
Here is the link http://www.dronezerogravity.com/#!game-development-progress/c1diq
With that, I created a Presskit page on the website for updates as well.
Here is the link http://www.dronezerogravity.com/#!presskit/c1mv8
Lastly, a short video of some gameplay. Shows a bit of the combat system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PgDjCC_8Mw
I think it's time for bed now...goodmorning. zzzzzzz.
