The year is coming to an end and most of the GJL team is on vacation enjoying the holidays. This makes today an ideal opportunity to look back at the past year of the game's development. So how was 2016 for Galactic Junk League and its dev team? Read on to find out.
Jan - Feb: 3D art team formation
The start of the year was marked by the personal buildup of our 3D art team. At the end of 2015 our producer Dexter realized, that the original plans for a two person 3D production were a bit unrealistic for this kind of project and a team had to be assembled.
In late December the team was joined by Vlado Polony, an experienced 3D artist who worked on projects such as Mafia 2 and 3. He would later become the lead 3D artist for the game. Alongside art-direction he is responsible for most of the maps in the game. Another senior addition was Tana Zacharovska, who serves as an art-direction consultant and part time artist. Currently she focuses on the remake of the User Interface, which will be implemented in the Steam release patch.
In February we welcomed two additional experienced 3D Artists Roman Barna, who did a lot of work on the hangar and the new Steel block series, and Martin Adamek, who’s speciality are particle effects.
At the end of January we bid farewell to our first 3D artist and author of some of the early 3D assets Roman Pajdlhauser, who went on to work for Massive Entertainment in Sweden.
Since February the personal composition of the art department (that is our concept artist Lukas Ceman + the listed 3D artists) has been stable. This has allowed them to gradually create the entire visual identity of the game from the levels and ships to the UI.
An example of the game’s early art direction.
March: Public reveal of the game and GDC 2016
The team's first major test came in March with the public reveal of the game at GDC 2016 in San Francisco. The game was still very deep in pre-alpha back then and we had to rush to create a playable demo. This required to create both a presentable early art style (check it out here) and a functional offline single player build (we quickly programmed bots, which have proven quite difficult to beat for some players :-) ).
Our efforts at GDC were rewarded by positive feedback from the public, the 'Best in Play' award and some early media coverage.
Alongside the GDC presentation we launched the website and our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
April - June: Alpha preparations and testing
The months before the alpha launch were filled with the implementation and play-testing of new features such as the progression and ability systems.
We also focused on early-stage marketing. In this phase that meant the collection of some 40 000 alpha subscriber emails, to whom we would later send out the closed alpha invitations.
The initially designated closed-alpha launch date was the end of May, however due to technical issues we had to move it to late June. From a game designer’s perspective, this wasn’t that bad, because it gave us a few extra weeks to playtest and polish the game :-)
Our tech team grew larger during this time. In April Zalan Korosi joined. He has proven to be a great addition not only as the programmer of the ingame store and UI, but also as one of our best GJL player-testers. At the end of June we were joined by a senior programmer and current project tech lead Martin Slavkov. He's basically the guy behind all that significant performance optimisation. You can thank him for the improved framerate and lower lag in the Steam version.
July - August: Alpha is live and Gamescom
Very soon after the Alpha launch we realized that the closed email invitation system wasn't going to cut it in terms of player numbers, so we opened the game up to everyone. Very soon youtubers and the general public started pouring in and we were able to get literally thousands of feedback messages. This didn't last very long, however, and we decided to cut Alpha because of a player shortage in mid-August.
GJL was also present at the Pixel Federation stand at Gamescom 2016 in Cologne.
September - October: Beta launch and soul searching
On September 15th we successfully launched the open Beta (changelog here). Since then we have spent a great portion of our time analyzing and polishing the game.
October has been a time of reflection for the whole team. We collected feedback from the community, discussed the game and thought about, where to take it until the planned Steam launch.
Our marketing manager Marek Valasik became a full time member of the team to work on project promotion and the Steam Launch.
An example of the Steel Series - a new block set that will be available with the Steam launch.
November - December: It's all about Steam now
In mid-November, we successfully passed Steam Greenlight in a week (read more about it here).
We welcomed a new team member - the producer Daniel Keder, who has taken on the management of the art department and marketing as well as people development.
The entire team - art, tech, game design and marketing - is now focused on the game's Steam Launch on January 17, 2017. We're working hard to bring you new features and polish the existing ones, promote the game and insure everything works just right on D-day :-)
And that’s it for this... year. 2016 was the year the game got from a functional prototype in January to the Steam-ready product that it is today. We’ve had our ups and downs, but I can say for the whole team, that we are very excited about what 2017 will bring for Galactic Junk League! We hope you will join us for the ride.
What do you consider the most interesting GJL developments in 2016? Let us know on the Forum.
Next time we'll look at the planned construction rule and block balance changes.
Martin "Gajxo" Gajarsky
Game Designer
System maintenance!
Hey there, junker pilots!
We will be performing a maintenance of our network systems. You may experience connectivity issues or be unable to play the game in these times:
January 2rd, 2017 from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM (GMT)
January 4th, 2017 from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM (GMT)
We apologize for the inconvenience and hope you will hop into your junker right after the maintenance is over!
Best regards,
GJL Team
Dev Diary #18 - Music & Sounds of the League
Hey, guys!
My name is Robo and I am a game designer on Galactic Junk League. I will dedicate this Dev Diary to talk about sounds and music. It is another one of the improvements, which you will be able to enjoy after the game is released on Steam.
We know that the sounds in our game haven’t been the best. So far the weapons have sounded vague and didn’t really communicate their power and size (the biggest problem was the Gatling Gauss). Also, the abilities all sounded similar and didn’t have a characteristic sound. We are quite satisfied with the music in our game, but even there, you can expect some small changes.
Therefore we are currently working on completely reworking the sounds. The first changes should be released during January, but it will only be the first step for the sound aspect of the game to be top notch. The first batch will include reworked sounds of abilities and weapons.
Lost in sounds.
The goal of the new ability sounds is to better communicate their effects. We want the abilities to be easily recognizable, not only visually, but also with the specific sound they make. Until now, most abilities had only one, max two sounds. Now, some more complex abilities will consist of more sounds to better communicate all of their phases, which can influence other players. New notification sounds will inform players, which have been hit by stun or silence abilities. Until now, these notifications have only been shown in the UI with text. The player often didn’t notice this, and it wasn’t clear why he is unable to move or shoot. The new sounds should prevent such situations from happening.
But how are the sounds actually made? Our sound designer Milan Malík, with whom we’re working externally, has the best answer for this:
“I begin the process of creating sounds by browsing through my sound library. Afterwards, I divide them into several categories. I record the missing special layers in my studio, using professional microphones and preamps, or by using special hardware which is listed below. I am using the Cubase and Wavelab software to create the sounds, with a huge amount of available VST plugins.
Further process involves sound editing, which consists of shortening, stretching, looking for the right volume, tune and frequency. Then, I continue with layering, mixing and post-processing, which involves refining the sounds using saturators, equalizers, compressors, limiters and other tools. I create more versions for a more varied selection of the final sound.”
The studio of our sound designer Milan Malik.
Another important component, besides the sounds, is of course the music. We are quite satisfied with the music we currently have, but some of the tracks need to be a little reworked to fit the arena battles better. For example, the new version of the track Nord Runner sounds better and more dynamic than the current version which is in the game.
Ha! You must be wondering, what is the Nord Runner? The thing is, we’ve never communicated this before, but of course, all of the tracks in the game have a name. We currently have 8 “battle” tracks for the arenas, which are divided into two groups:
1st group:
Moon
Nord Runner
Rise
Time Warp
2nd group:
Dark Star
Lighthole
Dreamscape
Novas
We also have a track for the lobby, which is undergoing some changes to create bigger expectations of the player before the battle. We have two tracks for the hangar – Hangar of Construction and Hangar of Reconstruction.
Milan Malík will again tell you more about his process of creating music:
“I create music using software and hardware synthesizers, groove boxes, 8-string guitar and more string and percussive instruments. Here is a short list of my gear:
Software – Steinberg Cubase, Wavelab + many VST and VSTi.
As a small bonus and to finish this up, here is a new track called Hologram, which will be released with the launch of the game on Steam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beZfxDuj9Xs
That’s it for today. We are looking forward to your feedback on our Forum. Bye!
Robo "Robinson" Kazmér
Game Designer
PATCH v. 0.1.1102 is live! – Builder Improvements and Item Bundles
Hello, Junkers!
We’re here with another larger update with several improvements to the build mode, an upgraded new ship screen, block bundles in the shop, bugfixes and more. We would like to further improve the UX of these new features, so please give us feedback.
Mirror block placement has been implemented. It allows to symmetrically place, remove and paint blocks along a middle plane. The default activation key is ‘M’. There are two types of symmetry (a line of 1 block and a line of 2 blocks), which you can change by pressing ‘N’.
Painting mode has been added. It is activated by pressing ‘5’ in build mode and allows to “spraypaint” blocks witch have tintable spots. Color selection is activated by pressing TAB while in painting mode.
A basic skin management system. Skin management is now activated by pressing 4 and a skin is selected by left clicking.
New ship selection has been improved. It now displays more detailed and accurate stats about each class. It also allows to start construction not only from a Ship Core but also from pre-made ship blueprints for each class.
Ship blueprints allow the player to own a large number of ship designs without placing them in hangar slots. It is possible to own a ship blueprint without meeting its class level or research requirements. It is only possible to place a ship blueprint into a hangar slot once you meet its requirements. This mechanic will be complemented by including premium and junk ship blueprints into the Shop in the future.
Item bundles have been included into the shop for discounted prices. Currently there are three Pirate set packs and one Junk pack available. Prices of individual premium blocks in the shop have been slightly increased.
Several under the hood improvements to client network stability have been implemented. This should decrease the number of disconnects from matches.
Czech language localisation has been added. Příjemnou zábavu!
Bugfixes:
A bug that allowed to stack several components in one place was removed.
The game now remembers your Show tips settings.
Several minor bugfixes.
Dev Diary #17 - Improving your building experience
Hey guys,
Serath here, for those who do not know me already, I’m a gameplay programmer, working to bring you the coolest new features. I felt like it was time to contribute with a diary myself and decided to let you know what we have been working on lately.
Many of you have asked us repeatedly to improve the building system and we listened - you can expect a patch with building improvements next week. I’m here today to give you some insight about the features to be looking forward to.
Building Panel revamp
There is just so many freaking buttons, to build stuff in this game!
Well, not anymore. We have decided to improve the user experience, by letting you have the building panel effectively accessible with the numeric keys. Since most of you are not using all the block slots anyway, let’s find a better use for them!
In the place of the former 4th block you will now find the skin slot, which will open the new skin panel, where you can select the skin your heart yearns for. You can also preview those skins you have not bought yet; these are marked with the SHOP label, meaning you can buy them in the shop. The 5th slot is now used to access the new painting mode.
Revamp of the blocks panel
Mirror mode
Mirror mode is the feature that has been requested a lot. When activated, the system will create a mirrored copy of your block on the x axis. The mirrored copy is flipped, to make sure the positions align precisely. You can also change the plane of symmetry of the mirror mode, which will move the mirrored component further to the right. This will be useful with mirroring blocks that have a base of 2 blocks wide.
Mirror mode will hopefully help you speed up the building process and allow you to make those ship designs visually more appealing to the eye.
Mirror mode
Painting mode
We reviewed some of the ships you have built and discovered that there is a prevalence of colorless ships. We would like to see more color, hence we have taken a look at the current coloring system and realized that it is quite hard to use, and so we have come with a better way to paint your ship.
Accessing the 5th slot now switches the game into painting mode, where you can paint blocks with the selected color using your mouse. It is also possible to use the mirror mode in combination with the painting mode to paint your blocks symmetrically. The new system will simplify the painting process allowing you to paint multiple blocks quickly and bring more color to your designs.
Painting mode
Hopefully all these new features will improve your building experience and help you to build visually stunning ships. I’m looking forward to see what you will be able to create.
What do you think about the new building improvements? Let us know on the forum.
Marian "Serath" Kuruc
Programmer
PATCH v. 0.1.1100 is live!
Hi, everyone!
Like every two weeks, we’ve updated the game. The biggest changes are the “quality of life” improvements to the camera. Here is the full change log:
The camera now automatically adjusts, based the vertical size of your ship, so that the player’s ship never blocks line-of-sight, even when zoomed in.
It is now possible to point the camera directly above and below your ship.
The camera no longer sinks into walls. If it collides with a wall, it moves closer to the ship.
A bug, that caused the “Skins” and “Add-ons” tab button in the shop to stop working, has been fixed.
The tooltip for Space Whiskey in the lobby has been fixed.
A bug that caused volume settings to stop working properly has been fixed.
Game localisation has been improved.
The network code has been slightly improved to reduce lag.
Have fun playing and let us know what you think in the comments below!
