Stuff Under the Header

2/09/2013

New Stuff

A friend of mine said something that I identified with. I believe it speaks for itself. Online, he goes by Rathskellar.

"Gamer.
At it's simplest, it means someone who plays and loves video games.
Deeper still, it's the common bond of those who chose a hobby that's often misrepresented and incorrectly maligned in the media. One that's not necessarily the most popular, and likely to be dismissed.
It's a title that brings people together in a world where it doesn't matter who you are, or where you're from to a world where what you do matters. A world where the only difference in status comes from your own choices and skills.
That's why as a gamer, this does make me angry when I see that label co-opted by those who trivialize it, or are not actually gamers. It's not about who you are on the outside, but who a person is on the inside. The gaming industry and its fans worked hard to help our fandom spread, and we do stand against those who would attempt to buy in hypocritically."


What does this mean for you?

Computer
I will finally be getting a new computer this month. Not sure when, but definitely soon. To the testers (I know I haven't been able to talk to you guys lately), this transition may slow down the next build a little, but in the long run, will speed up workflow by A LOT. To put some things forth with what I sometimes have to go through with this computer. There is about a 20% chance the computer will blue screen upon running the current full build of DT3. Lately when I make something new, specifically when it's very code driven and not level design driven, I will often make it in the base DT engine without any other resources as trying to run the full game apparently kills the computer. There are loads of other issues this computer is going through. I'm unable to install things beyond roughly 50mb. This is a problem that has persisted for about a year and been getting worse and worse. Some might be asking how the mess I play Planetside 2. That's done on another computer that Jeremy owns. It barely runs Planetside 2 though. I get roughly 15fps in most fights. I tend to stay away from big ones since it goes to about 8fps. The DT problem is curcumvented like stated above, but it won't be long before this computer completely flips out on me. The game is backed up daily just in case anything at all decides to die. This computer will, however, be kept around for side stuff that will also boost workflow. Jeremy is a beast with building computers and he's got stuff lined up for me. We'll be ordering parts today most likely. I've needed updated tech for years anyway, it's about the right time to do so. Also on a good note, I'll be running Windows 7, so I might be able to troubleshoot any remaining issues that DT3 may have with the OS. There are many many MANY other problems with the computer than those listed above. It's not virus related, it's just old/bad hardware. It chokes at the weirdest things these days.

Anyway, I should finally have Chapter 10 done in a week or so as long as the world permits it. Which means over half the project is finished. Lots of stuff planned that I think will be pretty nifty.
Someone asked if DT3 will have a section like the first game's Primary Memory where the player is given his 11th hour super power. The answer is yes, but I won't elaborate on that. As for screenshots, I'll be willing to post them again once we're out of Chapter 10 content, and as I've done lately, no boss fight shots.

7 comments:

Kurtis Haren said...

So, what kind of computer are you getting? Just something up-to-date, or are you planning on getting the parts to assemble some kind of roaring beast of a PC?

I had no idea about how you've been having to put individual bits together by themselves, and then add them to the game. It sounds like it's been making development a lot harder than it needed to be. I really hope that the new computer makes things easier for you.

What came to mind when I read this was that there's probably going to be something really awesome added to DT3 because of this. If you're anything like me, getting a new "toy" means that you're going to come up with something with it that you simply weren't able to do beforehand, even if it's subconsciously, you're going to probably end up making something just to play with the new possibilities.

Anyways, I wanted to ask a question. You've been making DT3 out of the base engine used for DT1, right? Does that mean that you'd be able to do things like add the version of Jerry and Claire from their first games, possibly as prizes for beating the game? So far, out of the three games, my favorite character setup has been Jerry from the first game, and I was thinking how it would be fun to play through the new levels and places with the same basic controls from the first game, even though you already said that the game's being designed in a way that it would have been too overpowered.

Off topic: I was curious, have you ever played the "Freedom Planet" demo? It's a really fun game that somebody I've been talking to has been making, and put on Steam Greenlight. If you have, what'd you think of it? (If you have a Steam account, could you do us a favor an up-vote it?)

ZephyrBurst said...

Getting the parts for a new machine. I plan to have it for awhile, so it needs to last for a bit. I've capped my spending budget to about $600 .(Minus a monitor, I all ready have a decent one.)

I don't always have to build everything in parts, that's actually a more recent event. I've always done it at times, since sometimes it's faster anyway due to compile/run times when making isolated scenarios. Game Maker's merge tools are absolute shit, so all level design has to be done in the main build, but code and other resources are simple and fast to bring over.

I'll check out the Freedom Planet game sometime very soon. :] Will definitely greenlight it if I like it. I can't in good conscience greenlight something if I don't like it, it feels like it's circumventing the very reason it's in place.

For the other question, I might. The testers have all wanted to have the third ability set as an unlockable. (The one that was removed.) This definitely adds in tons of ideas of a 100% thing.

Anonymous Tester said...

When you said that a test build would fall back a bit do you mean 10.5 or the one after 10.5? Cause after all you also eluded that 10.5 might be finished in roughly a week (so I wonder if the slight delay will affect 10.5 or ratehr the version after that).

Also I am an anonymous beta tester out of all your testers so you will never know who of these people I am. xD :P

ZephyrBurst said...

It may affect 10.5. If it starts taking too long and giving me too many problems on this computer, which have been getting worse these days, then I may split the new content a bit and release with a bit less than I originally had planned. I would like to get all of the remainder of Chapter 10 in the next build. Shouldn't be too bad, nearly all of it is very code driven. The only big concern is getting the full build compiled into an exe without the great and power BSOD occurring.

In the mean time, I may do some later code driven content, or at least get all the structure done. Such as the chapter 15 content. A lot of that is going to be minor tweaks that need to be done to get the cost vs efficiency just right. (You know the content, so you know what that means.) :P

I tried seeing if some of the current DT project files were just corrupt, but I've ruled that out. If any of them were, none of it would work anyway. I think that specific problem has to do with the HD cache not being able to handle much anymore. This computer was on its last leg months ago, I'm surprised it can do anything anymore aside from run media player and browse the internet.

Anonymous said...

Hmm meh, I don't know if it would be a good idea to actually cut content for the next version. So either it should take longer to release or you actually manage to finish it.
Here's a little tip, something that helped me out in many situations: Tryto focus on a specific work/ task by setting a time limit. You basically tell yourself that you need to finish something within a cerain amount of time. It's just like when I write a test: I know that I need to have learned all the important stuff till a certain day and I always managed to learn it all even if it was lots and lots of things to learn.
If you do not manage to put the dialogue sequence at the end of a chapter (which I think might exist due to the chapter's story driven nature) I wouldn't delay it though. I think as long as all planned gameplay content is there it's cool. :D
Ihope this advice helped.

ZephyrBurst said...

Thanks, though workflow isn't the issue. It's whether or not this computer will let me run test builds for myself without giving a blue screen. I haven't attempted compiling to an exe since the last build.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to the Primary Memory-esque segment. That bit easily gave me the best overall "feel" in any of the games in the Distorted Travesty trilogy so far.