GunFlame

They may put it on paper, but the reality is much, much different. I mean, for starters: "Beta: All issues have been found. Fix the outstanding issues and any bugs that arise from those fixes" All issues are never found. Outstanding bug fixes continue and run past the Gold submission date. "Alpha: Content lock. No new features should be added. Start looking for and fixing bugs." The Content Complete can run way into the above "Beta" stage. Place holders for some assets and animations last for a long, long time. Those terms are used for milestones and contract payments, but they are in no way locked to that description. I've worked on Microsoft games that are no where near close to sticking to those guidelines, and I know guys who have worked for Sega and EA who have seen similar things. Alpha and Beta both have very little meaning, regardless of what they are supposed to mean.

Meh, Alpha and Beta lost any sense of consistency ages ago. It only used to have any meaning within the walls of a single company, across multiple companies, they mean shit. In this current day of open Beta and advertised Alpha's they mean next to nothing at all. Generally, we move to terms like Prototype, Content Complete, Feature Complete etc...Alpha and Beta are too subjective to be useful. There's no such thing as a pre-alpha, unless people want to see something unplayable and hardly resembling anything. You could call this a Prototype if you wanted. An Alpha is usually something that has the core functions in place, and that's about it. It's likely still unplayable in reference to the final game, due to the amount of content that is still absent. A Beta you could say is where the functions are all in, and so is most of the content. There are still plenty of bugs, and plenty of things to finish and fix up. But all of these meanings are screwed due to MMO's and games like Minecraft just using them for sake of convenience. Alpha and Beta are worthless terms.

So, it's been a few days since I last updated, but that's not to say we haven't been busy. This last week, we have mostly been getting the remainder of the groundwork in place so that we can actually start to build something that will closely resemble the final game in the coming week. I'll do a brief run down of the progress and tasks of the individuals of the team. Engineer - Basically Unity sucks for UI. Big time. But during the week, we had a mock up Victory Screen up and running in the game environment, as well as some aspects of the navigation. We can now move around the non-existent map, and gain coins and experience even though it isn't being stored 100%. But that will be changing this coming week. We have done a lot of integration for the algorithms that define a lot of the dynamic game mechanics. The ones that have visual representation are working, but we need a few more things in place to see how the rest has keyed together. It'll likely end up with us seeing some gaping holes in the balancing of the game, but that is expected. But, I'm fairly confident in the base algorithms that I designed, so we shouldn't see anything that is way, way off the mark. Also this coming week, we had a healthy boost of good news; we should be bringing on another engineer sometime between Tuesday or Wednesday. This'll allow us to simultaneously develop the UI and the game logic at the same time. It'll be a huge step towards making this coming milestone. Art - The artist has been working her socks off, both in office and doing OT. But we have all of the base sprites now, and a whole assortment of UI. It looks pretty good, but there will need to be some changes made and a little tidying up done. But the design is something that definitely works, and some of the stuff really does look excellent. I'm very happy. We'll finish the background for the second stage, and then move onto making some of the assets for things like equipment and items. That'll help us get the UI really in shape, and also give us something visually functional from a character progression perspective. The art was originally one of my biggest problems. But it's looking to be coming together nicely. Design - The designer finished up creating the maps for the first two stages, as well as rescaling some of the enemie's stats and how they will develop depending on how they are leveled. It looks pretty solid so far. She's currently in the stage of drafting out some possible scenarios that show the potential experience that could be earned in a playthrough. This was something that was initially started a while ago, but it got delayed due to tuning up some other areas of the game so that they could be added sooner rather than later. Now, it will be a case of entering and tweaking the changes in an XML file when Monday comes. Sound Design - Wow! fast! She has almost finished up the 80+ audio effects in about 2 1/2 days. I'm very pleased with that. We'll start to get them in this coming week where applicable, so we can see how much they affect the file size of the game overall. I will receive the files tomorrow morning, and spend an hour or so going through them first to see if they are all good. But I'm sure that we will be able to take about 70% of what has been created. Music - The composer has begun shaping some ideas, but he is going to be away next week. So this week, we'll have to see what he can do. The music isn't something that we need asap, but I want to see the impact on the file size. We are now coming up to the second milestone and to be honest, we will likely miss it. But that could change depending on what the new engineer can do. Usually, it would be problematic to bring on another engineer like this, but she has knowledge with Unity. So that is going to be a massive help. I'm still weary though, so I'm prepared to be behind. As I update the documentation, keeping track of the assets and changes, I usually end up spotting something that I missed out of the original estimation. It's frustrating, but I haven't let anything big slip through. It's just things like an icon somewhere, or a screen transition. In regards to content and completion, we have about 40% art complete and about 50% game logic. The UI is at around 10% in total, and the audio is something that I can compile and calculate come Monday. It's always slow through the beginning, but we are starting to get our grove. Come Monday, we'll have a brief meeting so I can run through current progress plus the tasks we need to start looking at. We'll finalize how we want the equipment assets to be delivered, and also, go through the XML with the designer. It'll be her first time. I have decided to cut out 1-2 of the tutorials that I was originally going to have in favour of adding text that will be optional to read. There will still be two major tutorials, but I don't want the small amount of game that will be available, to be too bogged down with hand-holding. It's a bit frustrating to remove it, but it the mechanics in these areas to not directly relate to the main gameplay interactions. This week, regardless of it hitting or missing the milestone, is going to be a big indication on what the final delivery will be like. I'm currently mulling over whether I prefer "Mini" or "Petite"...

Hopefully we can use a few tricks, but there are a lot of voices present in the sound effects library (or will be), that will be quite space hungry. They not even lines of dialog, just basic grunts and roars, but when you have a potential cap of around 20mb, even the smallest audio file has an impact. We are using Unity as well which gives us some issues. Although it is quite flexible in some places, the runtime library can take up quite a lot of space compared to if we built something from scratch. But this was an early decision that we had to make, and although it's a real space hog, it is already giving us access to a nice range of visual effects.

This is the first time since the start of development, that we have been able to start the week with a full team. I'm hoping to hold this through to at least the end of the week and really build up some momentum. The art asset creation is coming along really, really well. The artist has made some excellent progress and stacked up a bunch of assets ready for use. She has been working hard on the UI lately, but the quality of it is very pleasing. She has pretty much nailed the style that I wanted and it should offer a nice amount of polish to the presentation. The designer has drafted out the layouts of the dungeons and how the spawns will work in regards to what enemies, with what properties appear where. She is now in the process of simulating some runs through the dungeons to see the amount of experience and coins that the player may be able to accumulate in a playthrough. It's all about variables, and checking what the glancing or pedantic player types may build up during their time playing. The engineer is now working on integrating some of the aspects of the UI - namely navigation - and also, some tuning to the leveling up and experience distribution all in preparation for integrating related UI components. Going by my project plan, we have two weeks until we hit the second milestone. We missed the first by just a few percent in regards to the completion of tasks, so it wasn't too bad. But to meet the next one, we may have to step up a gear and work some OT. This is fine, I would rather get the meat of the work done now, rather than having a harmful push at the end of the schedule. I'm a little concerned about the size of the game at the moment. I have drafted around 80 separate sound effects that will be needed, and about 8 audio tracks. 5 of the tracks will only be small, and it looks like the other tracks will have to run on shorter loops than I really want. I may also have to cut out some of the variation sound effects too, but it's finding the balance. I don't want repetitive SFX plaguing the player's experience. To try and counter this, I'm actually looking into different ways to distribute the file. Hopefully I can avoid cutting stuff just for the sake of file size. Anyway, this week is going to leave a pretty big mark in regards to how well development is going, and how far we are behind or in front.

I recently just watched the trailer for the Berserk anime that is coming next year. Part of me is pretty pumped because it looks excellent in regards to animation and presentation. But it's the Golden Age again... The Golden Age is a great arch, but I hope that they try and fit in some of the key aspects that they missed in the original series. Like the true nature of the KIng and also, sending the Black Knights after Griffith. But it's going to be (3 movies?), to short to actually show all of that. I think they'll go the Fist of the North Star when they released that as an reworking, and tone it down for a wider audience. Which would be disappointing indeed due to the tone being what sets Berserk so far apart. Not meaning the violence, but just the terror and darkness in the world that is created. It's that, that really makes you route for Guts. Going back to the trailer, I as pretty as it is, it takes away some of the mood that is created by the original hand-drawn, non-digitized animation. The rough styled suited it more, this way it's just too clean... Dunno, I'm happy for more Berserk, but I'm not sure if it is going to add anything to what is already available.

That comparison seem pretty lose to me, and was "Warren Buffet/Einstein sort of" or something like that. I'm surprised so many people got caught up on it. But it wasnt my comparison, so I can't say I know the exact intent of it.

That's not what I asked though. I asked about if those people were mourning him, and we're doing so on the day that he died. Like today's scenario. Like I said. I can understand your opinion of the guy. But I don't know why you feel the need to voice that today. But it's your choice. Can't argue with that.

He died today. People are mourning him on the day of his death. When people mourn, the mourn together and on their own. How about if a bunch of guys were at a bar, just back from the funeral of Steve Jobs and were discussing how his influence on them, would you intervene then and offer your opinion?

How about Warren Buffet? Is he on a par with Einstein, or just Steve Jobs shouldn't be sat in that 'sort of' category? I understand that we want to defend things that we think strongly about. And I can 100% side with you when you believe that some people may be going to the extremes due Steve Jobs' recent death. I just don't know why we always feel the need to challenge someones thoughts, regardless of the time, place or reason. We seem to be caught up we saying how little we care about the deaths of certain people. Especially popular or well know folk. It's kinda sad really. Sure, we can debate their relevance or impact, but must it be done on the same day that they guy died? I'm pretty sure you didn't know my Grandfather, but I'm also pretty sure you wouldn't go out of your way to say that you didn't care that he had died. Basically, I'm just saying that there is a time and a place for everything.

I don't know why, when someone popular or well known dies, so many people try and make the passing as irrelevant as possible. Does it really bother people so much to see others show some appreciation and pass on condolences for a person that made a mark on them in some way? Why go out of your way to do this? I see no other reason that to simply start an argument. If you don't like Apple products or Steve Jobs, then that's fine. But do you really feel the need to voice that now, right now after he has passed away? It does you no harm to let people share a moment. Surely we are mature enough to simply ignore the things that we don't care about, right?

Right, we have 5 weeks. We have a lot to do. We have started on the UI, this is going to be a big, big hit on the programming side to try and get it right. Part of the issue is actually linked to the engine that we are using (Unity) and it's lack of decent base functions in this area. But the UI is a huge component of any game, it can make or break the accessibility and presentation. The graphical content is coming along now, we are now in the process of creating a lot of the UI Icons and Menus. Once this is done, we'll then continue to create some more of the background assets and the rest of the characters that are going to be needed. There aren't many, but they soon add up to take a lot of time. The designer has started on some of the pricing of items and will later start on creating the maps/levels for the First and Second Stages. This shouldn't take all too long, but having them in gives the game a huge boost in regards to completed content. Especially when the simple navigation functions are in place. At the moment, I'm coordinating with the Sound Engineer and Composer, as well as approving the art assets. Later today, I'll start on the 'Help' text, that will act as an In-Game manual, as well as continue to update the project documents. We really don't have a lot of time now, it's all up to how painless the UI can be integrated. Once that's done, we should be on easy streak. Take note of the 'Should'. I'll break away for the current tasks for the moment, and give some details on the project itself: - Firstly, the game is being built using Unity, but we won't be taking advantage of all of the 3D capabilities. We are using it to create a hybrid which uses the visual aspects of 2D, with the flexibility of 3D. This will show more in how the effects are shown in game. - Obviously, the game is entirely touched based due to the platform (smart phones), but it will not use any kind of virtual d-pad/joystick or buttons. - It is an RPG, very light but also very grindy. It's to hopefully help it's appeal to all groups. Cuts and Changes: There have been huge content "cuts" so far, but this isn't a cut in the traditional sense. It just means that it won't be going out in the first version. For actual cuts, a Default Skill system has been cut and instead, replaced with just Skills aligned to equipment instead. It's actually not that big of a change at this point. It's a slight compromise, but there was a change in the system anyway. Originally, the player would have limited access to Skills, that's why a Default was always available. But we changed that so more Skills would be accessible to the player. So the cut was really due to it no longer being a factor. The initial version will also have a Level Cap inserted into it. This was something that I decided last night. I hadn't considered it too much before, because I wanted people to have the freedom to keep playing regardless of some new levels not being available. But by doing that, it would actually break the balance of the game when an update gets made available. Busy times ahead, time is tight.

I can't think of a more influential individual from the last 5 years. Away from what he did with Apple, he just became a business man and leader of massive influence for many, many people. And this could been seen and felt not only by making Apple the most valuable computer company on the globe (value), but also by seeing his presence on advertisements. He became a face that people knew, and from there; trust. There was a bus advertisement (not for buses, it was on buses) in Hong Kong, and I can't remember exactly what it was for (it wasn't for Apple), but the key word in the ad was "integrity", and there was a caricature of Steve Jobs. I used to be another Apple hater until I actually starting to get a feel around the products. For some reason, I'd had an iPod (that still works) for about 5 years, but never thought of it as an Apple product...dunno...anyway, once I actually played around with a MacBook, I was accepting of it. I may not have fell in love, but I can't think of another Laptop that was built that way. The build quality is top shelf. So I could appreciate why people bought them. Before I picked up my iPhone 4, I was trying very hard to find an Android alternative. There was no shortage of choice, but it in the end I went with the iPhone. It was and excellent choice, and I can see just why it was the device line that revolutionized mobile devices. I'm just unsure of how this will impact Apple now. The iPhone 4S was hardly met with delight, and even when he resigned, there was a huge ripple. But now, he is gone. The face and man that many trust is no longer there... All I hope, is that Apple can continue to go the direction that Steve led it, and that we as the consumer, can continue to have faith in the brand that he did. Rest in Peace buddy, you have certainly added to my life. True Genius, now Legend.

It's getting some pretty rough press in places, but other places are receiving it well. But there do seem to be some big, big issues with it technically at the moment, which really wasn't expected for a game that was so long in development. Also, Carmack seemed confident in it a Quake Con. He mentioned some problems and weaknesses, but he seemed to speak as though it was looking as they wanted it. Well, something must have went wrong somewhere by the sounds of things. I expect that after a couple of patches, all should be okay though. It will end up being a solid offering from the reliable id. But reliability isn't what gets high ratings and praise now days. So I also expect it to rank up there with the years biggest disappointments. But time will tell...

Right, so over the weekend I spent sometime drafting up all of the UI that we will be using. We are getting to a stage where we can start to really build out the game, to well...look like a game. It was something we would have liked to have done last week, but the days we lost due to not having an artist set us back quite a bit. The designer started today. To begin, she will be looking to put together an algorithm for enemy levels, and then with more content coming in, she will be assigning effects and audio to some of the actions in the game. It's basic design, but that is actually a more routine design position, than entering a company and creating huge aspects of a game in your first try. Unfortunately, the programmer is sick, so even though some of the UI has now been drafted, we won't have it being built until tomorrow - that's if all goes well and the guy is back to his best. But, it shouldn't be too much of a problem though, he is ahead of schedule (the guy's a beast!) and would be waiting for content anyway. So although not desirable, the set back is only minor. The one thing it does impact though, is that we were supposed to be demoing the current version. We can't do that now because all of the code is stored locally. So no demo today. I'm kinda glad to be honest, we have little difference to show that would be obvious from a glace. At least this way, I can push forward with what I want, without too much outside influence. Today I'll be stepping back into a more producer/director like role now that the designer is on board. I'll be mostly updating the documentation and trying to push as much through while the PM is out of office. It's going to give me a little leeway and allow me to be a bit bullish in regards to additional resource. I'll also be looking to get some audio together. Today I should be getting in touch with the composer and also, speak with the sound engineer some more in regards to what else we may need. She sent me some generic effects about a month a go, but now we need to start to tag all of the actions with some audio feedback, so she needs to be aware of the scale. If we get everyone going tomorrow, this week could be highly productive. On a side note, you may have noticed that I mentioned 'she' twice. That's right, including the artist, the team has three female game developers on board. Women DO work in the games industry! Take note equal rights!

Well, yesterday was a write-off. Storms prevented people from working, so we lost a day. It's not ideal, but it shouldn't be crippling. We should have the first environment finished today, which will mean we have all the base assets for the first stage. It will then really start to look like a game. We're doing something a bit different with how we are putting the environments together, if it works, it's going to help create diversity as well as depth. I'm pretty excited to see how it will come together, and hopefully by the end of today, I'll see just that. On the programming side, we are adding all of the gameplay variables so that we can look at how the game plays when all of the values are thrown together. But, even though the base stats that I have drafted up for different components have yet to be proven in the game environment, I'm confident that the algorithms are right, and will prove to give a solid foundation for balancing as we develop further. As long as they work, the rest is a piece of cake! For adjusting stats and such, we are using a basic XML file. It's convenient for small scale stuff and allows for everything to be in the same place. As we ramp up the scale, we'll likely have to use specific tools. One suggestion - that was based on experience - mentioned about building the tools in a web page, which would be a great move. It means that they can get accessed very easily. At the moment, I am in the process of writing the script and refining the tutorials. I did most of this a while ago, I just need to make sure that all of the text is using the same terminology and following the same tone. That's the problem with writing over a broken time period, when you go back and forth, you sometimes slip out of the mood that you began writing with, which changes the tone in places and the consistency. I'm not a professional in terms of writing, so I have no special method of negating this. But it's a minor problem that has quick and easy resolutions. All in all, it's not going too bad at this stage. The features and code are coming together well, we just need those visuals.

Thanks, I hope it can provide an insight. In regards to your question; so far the main problem has been getting movement on the art and asset creation due to resource availability. At the moment, it is slowing things down, and this morning, it took a step back which made it even worse. Besides that part, it was quite a push to get it off the ground. My original idea was deemed too complex, so I was asked to simplify it. That ended up stripping away part of what I wanted it to be, I lost a lot of interest at that point due to the new concept that I created - although it was solid - not being what I had begun with. It was irritating to have to strip away so much simply because it could not be easily understood. I got lucky though in the end, and we managed to hire a guy who was able to see what the original idea was saying. And with that, I could try and put together my original vision. Anyway, back to the current progress update... After yesterdays minor boost in regards to more resource, this morning I was welcomed with my current resource being taken away for maybe a full day. This is quite a big hit. Another issue is, is that although more resource has been granted, we don't have it available. So granting that extra overhead at the moment is meaningless. The art creation has been an issue from the get go, and the biggest resource that I mentioned I needed during the green-light meetings and scheduling. Today is going to be a case of doing what we can do. It's a real shame because the artist has been doing a great job, but any momentum we seem to try and pick up gets taken away after about a day or two. I'm still confident that we can reach the submission and launch date, but at what cut in content and polish, I'm not sure.

Minimal but satisfying progress today. We managed to integrate some of the latest assets into the game ready for the demo with the review panel (they aren't really called the review panel). The reception of the current version was pretty positive, there were some basic user related feedback issues, but that will be fixed with polish. I mean, this is a super, super early build still. But to be honest, the condition of this build is pretty good. Even with the place holders and limited assets and features, it comes together. We have been asked to push it out sooner though, they have taken about 2-3 weeks away from us, which is rough. But on the flip side, we have raised that we have a bottleneck (art), and we have been granted another artist. It's just a case of finding one that is available at the moment. But it will be a massive help. To be honest, I'm enjoying playing the game as it is. So I'm looking forward to playing it some more when the content gets pushed into it. There were some suggestions that I didn't really feel would fit, or at least they would seem like too obvious a cash-in, rather than a worth while addition that syncs with the game, so I kinda dodged that aspect and instead, promoted what we will have prepared in the next week or so. But with that, I did realize that regardless of the small content that we will have to roll out, they will want to see some monetization for sure. This isn't ideal, but it isn't a problem. I have something in place ready to go. By the end of the week, we are looking to have the content to structure out the first scenario/level/stage/world, and from there, we can then move onto building the UI. The UI is a huge deal because its addition ties everything together by ironically, breaking it apart. It's still looking good, but there are some spanners being thrown into the works. Hopefully the artist can help balance the cut in time, and also, I get confirmation on whether they want to have the initial release monetized in a certain way.

To explain a little more, I'm going to end up revealing some little tidbits that help actually reveal the kind of game that I have designed. Which is going to be interesting, but anyway... All of the base sprites for the main characters have now been completed. We are keeping it simple, so I have asked for each sprite to only have 2 frames of idle animation and a frame of attack animation. It's actually working pretty well and it looks fluid when everything is running, regardless of it still being pretty much bare-bones. The enemy resource is slowly being built up now, and so far I have been very happy with the work. I haven't felt the need to revise any of the designs so far, which was a potential headache that has now been removed. A testament to the talent that I am fortunate to work alongside. On the programming side, it's mainly adding features and tuning a little more, some of the base mechanics. But like the art, everything here is going swimmingly, it's all looking good so far. I could hardly ask for more. I've been mulling over the best way to implement the leveling system. I had been thinking to simplify it, but as things are going smoothly, I decided to see if we can push in the original system. Luckily, we can! It's actually not going to be a problem at all, which is great because it's going to offer a nice level of diversity and make things feel a little more organic than they could have. I'm still working on the overall numbers, but I have a foundation now. No designer this week, but that's all okay. I don't really need one yet. There is still plenty to be down, so the designer isn't needed right now. Perhaps next week or beyond thought, it really does depend on the amount of content we are able to squeeze in. It will also help make balancing adjustments a little quicker later in development. We will have to show a demo tomorrow. This could have zero impact on what we are currently doing, or it could be drastic. It depends on how the current product is received. I'm hoping for a little more art resource, this will give me a chance to beef it up and little, and really put something out there that is closer to my original concept. Then again, things could go the other way. I'll have to wait and see, but I'm confident.

I guess it depends on the Podcast really, well, obviously. But if it's going to be done, I think that it shouldn't be influenced be current media and gaming stigma. Lighten up a little, talk about games. I mean, do we really need to debate games as art, or Japanese vs Western and the like? Are we not already tired of all of this stuff? I think it's a great idea to openly discuss subjects related to gaming, but to topic should be considered carefully.

So the monetization aspects have been roughed out in how they would be implemented. Originally, I discarded the thought of it due to the version being massively cut down. I found it hard to warrant the original purchases planned in the initial launch. They would come after an update possibly, but the full version was monetized. But due to the changes, we moved to hold it for now...until I thought of another possible way to implement. But for that, we can wait and see. It depends how well we progress over the next 3 weeks. Kinda quiet today. The team are basically working of the designs that I had come up with a while back. So we are seeing asset creation along with developing the core functionality of the game. All is well for now. I'll get my hands on the latest working build later today. It will have included, some of the new assets, and one of the key features in the game. I'm still in the process of compiling the Project Files and creating a high level time-line. At the moment, it's slow and steady. A still a long, long way off. I've had to adopt Google Docs recently to help create a better and more flexible share point. But I don't like GD, I think that both the Spreadsheet and Word Processing tools are terrible. I would have liked to have used One Note for some of the documents, but it just isn't feasible due to who actually has the software and who doesn't. The weekends going to be quiet.

To be honest, I think everyone here is clued up enough about games and the community to understand the stigma attached to most high profile games. And it is only with high profile games where there are these huge sways in positive and negative feedback. So taking that, you can use something like Metacritic, just understand the flaws in the system. For example, if I read a review on a Final Fantasy game, or a Call or Duty game, you can expect that the perfect scores and incredibly bad scores are there due to a certain bias. The meat is what is in the middle of the sandwich. You want to be looking for around the 6-7 like ratings for true opinions. To choose those numbers shows a balance in thinking. But that's if you care to use Metacritic as a way to influence your purchases. If you want to see if it is useful for showing the general opinion of a game, then is it useful? Actually, yeah, it is. Regardless of what bias may be there, it will show what people think of the game. And how much they like it. The key word here being 'like'.