PAX

Hey where’d you go?

By | Journal, Super Mega Mega, VR | No Comments

Nowhere, I’m right here. ..

So updates have been slow recently. Mainly because I’ve been too busy moving house but also because I haven’t had much to say!

However I can now announce that I’ll be showing SuperMegaMega at PAX Australia and EBExpo this year!

Also tagging along will be the latest build of We Of The Woods.

It’s coming very close to time to release more details about Super Mega Mega. I’ve been working on it again recently and once im happy with the state of the DK2 integration I will release a new demo publicly.

With the consumer Rift model looming on the horizon,  the goal is to have the game ready for its release. So far it looks to be on track but showing it at PAX/eb will be a real test!

Soon.

VR DevLog 9 : Post Prototype

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Prototype complete.

Now that’s done it’s time to start to flesh out more of the mechanics and level structures.

I’ll be avoiding anything theme/art related for a little while longer and just stick to adding a bunch of the platformer ‘tools’ (moving platforms, variable physics, enemy types, bosses etc) this should provide a good base to build the rest of the game upon.

I’ve created a few hacks during the prototype phase and I’ll need to throw a bunch of it away and re-make it in a nicer more user friendly way. For example, each unity scene stands on it’s own with no shared data or configuration files. That makes it nice and easy to load/reset a level but it also means all the levels need to be updated if any of the global configs change. This is first on the list!

The level editor will need to flow a lot better than it currently does. I’ve had to manually place a few pieces of the levels because I didn’t have time to create the editor support. Most of it is non-trivial it’s just a matter of getting in there. Manually placing tiles instead of painting them is some kind of hell.

During my short time at PAX AUS I managed to snag some time on the newer HD Oculus Rift. First thing noticeable is the massive improvement in clarity. Especially in the key portion directly at the effective viewing area in front of the eye. You have to look for the screen door effects and they are quickly forgotten about. Text is actually visible now, making it a bit easier to get some useful menu interfaces working.

I’ll be ordering the next dev kit whenever it’s ready. I don’t know what specs the consumer Rift will have but I don’t think it would be far off. I’d be happy just to include positional tracking with the HD screen. More improvements can come later!

So far I’d say any version of the Rift will have a limited session time for most people. The biggest factor here is related to the brains exhaustion levels with having everything in the scene in sharp focus all the time. We need some eye tracking support to allow dynamic depth of field calculations. Hopefully that’s not too far off.

Back to it!
-Ryan

Post PAX AUS

By | Journal, Screenshots | No Comments

Oh man, going to PAX AUS for one day was simultaneously awesome and extremely depressing.

I made the decision to only display for 1 of the 3 days. That one day was really cool! Met a bunch of great people and demo’d the prototype for a solid 8 hours. (side note…. showing off an oculus rift title is quite exhausting compared to more fire and forget game demos) I got to check out the HD version of the Rift and got a mention from the Oculus dudes!

 

Then heading home sucked….I had to tune out from all twitter and gamedev news feeds. I felt so bad for not being there but I’d feel a lot worse if I missed the birth of my next kid >_>

Next year will be different! There’s no fucking way I’ll be having another kid that soon so it’s clear skies!

The other slightly less depressing thing is the lack of progress on the other game we’ve been working on. It hit a bit of a brick wall recently. We had the intention of showing it at PAX too…. fucked that up for sure!

No matter… time to get this protoype build posted online and get working on the next version. Need to touch base with a few of my other projects too, spread the love a bit.

 

Here are a few more photos from the event, it went so fast I barely managed to breathe let alone take in my surroundings!

 

-Ryan

Hard Decision

By | Journal | One Comment

Well this sucks! Everything is booked and paid for…. but we won’t be able to attend the majority of the PAX event.

For too long I’ve been in denial about how close my wife’s due date is for our second baby. It’s due to arrive any moment now! This is too close for comfort. I can’t be in Melbourne overnight, especially three nights.

So anyway I’m taking a return day flight for one or perhaps two of the days. Less risk and guaranteed to be able to return.

This especially sucks because it means Przemek can’t justify coming for just one day :'(

All this could change if the baby comes before PAX starts! So… who knows

That’s life I guess! Meh!

-Ryan

Stress and an unfocused mind

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Been a while.. Time for another mini brain dump..

I’m feeling quite stressed at the moment! Life is throwing curve balls.
My wife is pregnant, on bed rest and due 2 weeks after the PAX Australia event. This is a whole bag of stress!
Do I cancel PAX and stay home in case it’s early? My usual dev time has been cut to pieces so do I stop trying to put together the PAX demos that were planned? Do I refocus and target something much smaller? Will It be worth going at all if that’s the case? I don’t know. Uggh.

At the moment I’m still planning being there, I just need a little focus time to get ahead of the 8 ball. I’m way behind on the non-dev side of things too, ill have to try organise some flyers and business cards sometime today.

On the plus side, i’m improving my ability to get things done with limited time!

I’m starting to reconsider my wizard beard effort too… It’s getting a bit ridiculous!

Oh and Game of Thrones.. Wtf! I haven’t read the books yet but I’m going to have to now.

<3 -Ryan

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