I'm Still Here!
First off I'd like to say I'm sorry for the lack of updates for the last few years. I'm still here, and I'm working very hard on a new game.
So here's an update as to what I'm up to, and what I'll be doing in the coming years.
Where Have I Been?
After finishing Beat Hazard, making DLC, and porting it to various platforms, I wanted to take time to make something different before embarking on the development of Beat Hazard 2. I initially thought this would only take a year or so, but as is apparent, it's taken a lot longer than I expected.
There are a few reasons for this. One is that family commitments have reduced my overall work time. My new game has needed more love and attention than I thought it would. I think it's going to be a great game, but I can't release it until it's up to the quality needed in today's competitive market.
A Quest for Better Tech
Another factor is my efforts to create some cross-platform reusable tech. Converting Beat Hazard from C# on the Xbox to C++ on PC, then PS3, iOS, Android, Mac and Linux was a bit of a nightmare. The game wasn't very portable and each version became standalone, which is a real pain in terms of support. It also makes it incredibly hard to fix bugs and add new features and keep all the versions in sync.
So I decided that while I make a new game I'd also take care and time to create a better engine. Even though it's taken some time, it's going really well. I can now make a change to my game and have the PC, iOS, Android, Mac and Linux versions running within a few minutes. I also have tech that means my games have cross-platform play and asynchronous challenges. You can play on a phone and then swap to PC. You can challenge a friend from your Android phone and play whether they're on a PC, iPhone or anything else.
So tech and game are going great. I feel it's a worthy investment of my time as this new tech will mean future games will be far far quicker to put together. As a side note, I'm a big fan of middleware and not re-inventing the wheel, so where possible I've used per-existing libraries to help me on my way. For example, I use SDL2 as my base engine library.
Martial Arts!
Right, so what am I working on now that's taking so long? I'm not ready to fully announce yet, but it's a F2P turn based martial arts tactical fighting game. It supports up to 10 people all going at each other, trying in inflict the most horrendous injures. It's brutal. It's fun!
Here's a sneaky look: A vicious side kick to the face, resulting in a shattered jaw and the loss of a few teeth!
It's in Alpha at the moment. Once finished I intended to release on iOS, Android and PC on Steam (If they'll have me).
Beat Hazard 2
Once my new game is done and dusted I will start on Beat Hazard 2. I've got a good idea about the design and with my new tech it should be quicker to develop and far easier to add cool features like cross-platform challenges etc.
So, I hope that was useful. I'm happy to answer any questions, just leave a reply here.
And it's back to work...
First off I'd like to say I'm sorry for the lack of updates for the last few years. I'm still here, and I'm working very hard on a new game.
So here's an update as to what I'm up to, and what I'll be doing in the coming years.
Where Have I Been?
After finishing Beat Hazard, making DLC, and porting it to various platforms, I wanted to take time to make something different before embarking on the development of Beat Hazard 2. I initially thought this would only take a year or so, but as is apparent, it's taken a lot longer than I expected.
There are a few reasons for this. One is that family commitments have reduced my overall work time. My new game has needed more love and attention than I thought it would. I think it's going to be a great game, but I can't release it until it's up to the quality needed in today's competitive market.
A Quest for Better Tech
Another factor is my efforts to create some cross-platform reusable tech. Converting Beat Hazard from C# on the Xbox to C++ on PC, then PS3, iOS, Android, Mac and Linux was a bit of a nightmare. The game wasn't very portable and each version became standalone, which is a real pain in terms of support. It also makes it incredibly hard to fix bugs and add new features and keep all the versions in sync.
So I decided that while I make a new game I'd also take care and time to create a better engine. Even though it's taken some time, it's going really well. I can now make a change to my game and have the PC, iOS, Android, Mac and Linux versions running within a few minutes. I also have tech that means my games have cross-platform play and asynchronous challenges. You can play on a phone and then swap to PC. You can challenge a friend from your Android phone and play whether they're on a PC, iPhone or anything else.
So tech and game are going great. I feel it's a worthy investment of my time as this new tech will mean future games will be far far quicker to put together. As a side note, I'm a big fan of middleware and not re-inventing the wheel, so where possible I've used per-existing libraries to help me on my way. For example, I use SDL2 as my base engine library.
Martial Arts!
Right, so what am I working on now that's taking so long? I'm not ready to fully announce yet, but it's a F2P turn based martial arts tactical fighting game. It supports up to 10 people all going at each other, trying in inflict the most horrendous injures. It's brutal. It's fun!
Here's a sneaky look: A vicious side kick to the face, resulting in a shattered jaw and the loss of a few teeth!
It's in Alpha at the moment. Once finished I intended to release on iOS, Android and PC on Steam (If they'll have me).
Beat Hazard 2
Once my new game is done and dusted I will start on Beat Hazard 2. I've got a good idea about the design and with my new tech it should be quicker to develop and far easier to add cool features like cross-platform challenges etc.
So, I hope that was useful. I'm happy to answer any questions, just leave a reply here.
And it's back to work...
RSS Feed
