July in Review! news

July in Review

As we've progressed along with overhaul to Blockade Runner's engine, we'd previously concluded it'd be best to keep only the main website, Twitter (as a daily log), and forums up to date while we were deep in the trenches so we could keep our concentration focused.

Now with the work on the overhaul beginning to wrap up and we're approaching bi-weekly (supporter-only!) indev builds once again, we're thinking at the very least we can manage a month-in-review to keep y'all up to speed as we return to our regular routine. The format is essentially a brief description of the week's events with links to the individual news postings that makes the 'newsletter' less demanding on our busy schedule!

In-case you weren't already aware, the front page of the site and the Twitter feed are the go-to sources for daily progress reports on BR's development, followed by the News Board on the forums where I post the daily Twitter log, as well as our (community suggested) "random development snapshots".

Tidbits from July Week 1

In Brief: We discover a single line of code that solves a bunch of issues with resolution changes, Nathan makes accelerating progress, we find something in the 2D elements system that's causing a sever performance drain. Then near the end of the week the fourth of July is celebrated at the Traverse City Cherry Festival, Gabe finishes the second level of the input screen, and Zack and Nathan double the framerate on Nathan's PC!

Tidbits from July Week 2

In Brief: Terah gets some learnin's on 3DMax and UVW unwrapping, Gabe discovers, an issue with hooks, and does his homework to devise a major upgrade to the Input system. Meanwhile Nathan wraps up the majority of the 3D Surface end of the 3D pipeline.

Tidbits from July Week 3

In Brief: Nathan figures out why transparent models are showing up as opaque, Micah experiments with some armor textures, Gabe knocks out a 3-day project in one afternoon, Nathan and Zack hunt down bugs in the 2D / 3D Pipeline.

Tidbits from July Week 4

In Brief: Nathan and Zack wipe out a bunch of bugs in a hurry (causing a major schedule change), I show a creepy doodle of a Goblin and re-work the scroll-bar code (It's super effective!). Blippiness becomes an issue and is cornered by the end of the week thanks to Nvidia's Insight!

For More Info

I can put together these brief tidbits, but to really get a broader sense on our daily progress, please do check out the News Board on the forums where I post the Tweets of the day.

When's the next release?

Our development focus for 2013 is on the upcoming multiplayer sandbox update to work out the kinks on ship systems! For more information visit the Update Faq on the website: Blockaderunnergame.com

Closing Comments

The agile development style makes boiling down a month's worth of work a real challenge. One day Gabe can be working on Input and the next work with some 2D interface. It's part scheduling, part waiting on other components to be done (sometimes the game would only be a black screen), and part individual interest. Hope y'all are entertained by it all. ;D

Also, I really do wish ModDB could just link to a forum post and auto-post it. 'Tis would be convenient...

- Aaron