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SKEIN RELEASE DATE SET!

November 6th 2017
Store.steampowered.com



Skein is an old-school-style dungeon shooter currently scheduled for release at the beginning of November.

Taking a leaf from the Gauntlet school of games, Skein is a fast paced one or two player (co-op) game where you battle through hordes of monsters on a quest to save the soul of a talking sheep.


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What's New In Skein?

News

It's been a while since I posted anything about Skein, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working hard to get it finished! I have...

Integrating Steam and Porting To Linux

So, the big news from me is that I have 99% completed the integration of the Steam API into Skein. It was a hell of a lot easier than I thought it would be and I've got all the current crop f achievements in and working, as well as the ability to take and upload screenshots. There are are also leaderboards, although that functionality is currently hidden from the user as I try to work out how best to add it into the game UI...


The other big news is that (as you can see from the screen above) not only have I got Steam support up and working, but I've also managed to port the game to linux! Although Linux users are a very small minority on Steam, I know they are a passionate one and I wanted to ensure that I supported them with Skein. Next up will be the MacOS port (which I suspect won't go quite so smoothly...).

Redesigned HUD

After getting some very valuable feedback on all aspects of the game from a friend of me (John Bell to be precise) I modified and update the HUD. It's still essentially the same, but it's got a bit more colour and the spell layout makes it easier to associate spells with gamepad buttons.

I'm pretty sure that this is now the definitive UI, so I hope you all like it!

New Sprites For Spawners

I've always disliked the sprites I've been using for the "spawners". they were all very drab and boring and a bit too small, when what I've always wanted was something that would stand out and make the player notice them - something important since you'll probably want to take them out before mopping up the mobs they've spawned.

So I started drafting out some new ideas and eventually came up with this:


That's a big improvement (imho), but I still felt they should be more colourful, especially since the game is pretty colourful in general... so I experimented a bit more until I finally came up with the following set of spawners for each of the current four enemy classes:


I'm pretty pleased with these - although I suspect I'll be revisiting them and changing a few details - and I hope everyone else likes them too!

Currently Working On...?

And what am I working on at the moment? SOUND! Yes, Skein has almost zero sound effects, and it's very, very noticeable when you play without music... so I'm currently working on resolving that and getting some kick-ass effects in there.

My main problem is that I've left it a bit late and now have to revise everything I've done so far and assess what sounds it needs and add them. Normally I'd add sound as I go along, so that if I add a new spell - for example - then I'd add a sound effect for it at the same time. However I've been so caught up in the programming side of things that I've neglected this area and it'll only get worse if I don't get back into the habit of adding sounds as I go along. This in turn means that there is a bigger risk that the final game will ship with missing or low quality effects... and that's something I don't want! So... sound is my priority right now.

Thanks for reading this, and thank you again for your continued support. The game is progressing nicely and I'm still loving working on it, so hopefully I'll be able to get it finished so y'all can play it!


Black Triangle Days

Black Triangle Days

News 3 comments

In this newest dev diary, I'm going to talk a bit about what's been going on behind the scenes in the game, since visually not a lot has changed in the...

Sound? What sound?

Sound? What sound?

News 4 comments

I've been ignoring sound a bit in my dev diaries, so it's time to fix that and talk about how I go about sourcing and creating sound effects for Skein.

Saving The Day

Saving The Day

News 1 comment

In any game, you need to be able to store information away for retrieval later, but what information should you be saving? Where to save it to? Local...

Eye Candy And Easter Eggs

Eye Candy And Easter Eggs

News 2 comments

This news post is about how I approached some of the effects (other than lighting) in Skein, as well as how (and why) I created hidden "easter eggs" in...

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TKAzA
TKAzA

Well done getting greenlit, keep us posted :D

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tirousdidathing
tirousdidathing

I like it =D

vary well made, i look forward to playing it someday =D

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Guest
Guest

Looking very good, Really enjoying your development diary on this...very informative on the whole process

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PiGuy
PiGuy

Wow this really looks awesome! And YES, I am so so glad that someone is finally using that just-too-epic sprite set to make another great game! :)

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Richardlord
Richardlord

I've been an ardent follower of yours since I started with game-maker 4 years ago. This is looking terrific!

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Guest
Guest

Great Game!

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LurkersLair
LurkersLair

Like to read your entries each time new one pops up on game maker main page. Thumbs up & looking forward to see how this project turn out.

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INtense! Staff
INtense!

Big fan of the super indepth development articles. Like lurkerslair i'm tracking this to see how it turns out

Reply Good karma+4 votes
TyphonBaneOfTheGods
TyphonBaneOfTheGods

I have to agree. This is a very great article. Very interesting how Nocturne does all this stuff. I never even thought about sounds that much before he mentioned that.

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