Wow, what a week, so much has been going on behind the scenes and most of it has related to getting the game relaunched with a new trailer, new logo, new greenlight page, etc. The biggest thing has been the trailer, I've learned a lot from the feedback I've been getting and I think I can really improve on that 'preview' of the game, and let the trailer show you more of what the game is about, more of what the gameplay is like, more of what the enemies look like, more of what the story will be, etc. It's been challenging, as this is all stuff that is still in development, but I think I'm getting there. The new trailer should be filled with the good stuff I've been working on this week, including a brand new title track composed by Ilkae and Zebra. These guys are bring an amazing sense of atmosphere to the game, and I think it's really going to set the game up as the type of experience you can just sit back and relax with while blasting enemies into space crap.
The other thing that has been taking a lot of my attention is the fact that I've been experimenting with various technical aspects of the game to ensure that I can answer some of the questions that are being asked. Questions like:
Will the game have multiplayer support? (I still don't know... my hope is yes, but I still have not had a proper chance to test performance, etc.. a lot will depend on if the game is greenlit, and therefore if I can use steams servers for the connection.) Also, so far control is handled via keyboard and mouse, so to enable local multiplayer, I really have to get gamepad support working... which is the next question...
Will there be gamepad support? I've been working HARD on this. Not only does it mean I can sit back and play this on the couch, which is all ive been dreaming of, but it means I can have MULTIPLE cosmonauts blasting around space at the same time... or even open up new modes of gameplay where you race to plant as many plants as possible before the other person, or even a battle mode type game where its last man standing, etc. It's tricky because of the way you shoot, there are multiple ways to handle gamepad support. Im thinking the controls will be a lot like crash commando for PS3: left stick moves, right stick aims / shoots (automatically), triggers jump, etc. normal buttons plant etc. Of course I can certainly allow modification of those controls to allow more customization, but yeah.. that's the gist. The main thing is i have to get it working first. So far, it's about 50% good to go.
What about touch screen? This game looks like it would be fun on ipad, etc This has been another thing I have been devoting a lot of time to. Im getting about 30FPS on an ipad 4, which i consider passable.. The touch controls are decent but they absolutely require onscreen controls / buttons. Im trying to think of the absolute simplest method to allow all the controls, and in addition to that i'm re-thinking how to simplify on the PC version as well. Im thinking this will evolve over time, but I want to make it clear that I WANT THIS TOO. Very much. Again, nothing better than rocking a game in bed on a nice ipad / iphone screen... I'll keep you posted on this though. Chances are it's going to come AFTER the PC/Mac version is released as I want to make sure the game is solid here first. So far, it is running on ipad with basic touch controls at about 30FPS.. so i'd say this goal is about 30% complete.
What is this game even about? Im hoping the new trailer will help answer that. Let me just say it's about racking up a high score.. that's it. To do that, kill things with your gun, and plant seeds to turn them into plants which give you more seeds... The longer you stay alive, the higher the score. The deeper you get into the game, the more you will learn about the world, etc, but it's meant as a 1-life type arcade game. It just happens to have bosses, upgrades, items, etc which are all things I've added to make the game more fun / more interesting for the long term. At it's core, though, it's like a game of Asteroids mixed with a game of Spelunky... that's kinda the best way i can describe it...
Ill leave it at this. Im really looking forward to launching the new page, new trailer, new logo, new name. I think once you guys see what i've been doing for the game you're going to be excited to check it out! I cant thank you enough for following the greenlight page, throwing me Greenlight Yes votes (almost at 2000!!!) and leaving some great comments and feedback.
Talk very very soon!
Love Nate
