Having this week encountered a healthy dose of heavy rain we are indefinitely trapped here in the office until further notice, unwilling to risk the grim possibility of a hefty soaking. The sound of progress rings vigilantly through our illustrious halls this past seven days, echoing a great jump towards finishing Flight: we have finally got each level up and running with the individual separate birds flying around in great looping arcs of success. But as they say one problem leads to another and there are some weighting issues with the birds which need to be resolved, our unfortunate eagle currently suffering from square-wings syndrome. The poor chap. Not ones to laugh at others' problems, we are working away at a resolution to this slightly problematic issue and should hopefully restore full aerial ability to our feathered companion forthwith.
What would another week be without a few more bugs nestling themselves deep within the game code like some binary based beetles, chewing away at perfectly innocent and healthy sections of programming - and we haven't been let down this week. A strange camera crash has surfaced which Jules is currently working on, and some levels are reacting adversely to the bloom effects at various times of day. There is a solution to this problem which involves integrating various aspects of the rendering together so implementing this workaround will probably be the next logical step in finalising the engine.
Gameplay: without it your game is as shallow as a pixelated puddle. Although each level is now working fine, the skies are empty. We will be carefully placing the cloud formations in each level to reflect each birds' special ability (which we are also tweaking at the moment) and to provide a different immersive environment for each bird therefore creating different rewarding experiences throughout the game. Playtesting is something that is so often overlooked within the industry - it is not simply an attempt to locate every conceivable bug and mis-drawn texture but a journey into the core of the game to discover what you have set out to do is being achieved. If it is a horror title, is the game scary enough and in the right places? If you are working on a strategy game, does it have that essential concise balance? This is what we will strive to achieve with Flight to bring you the relaxing, calming and empowering feeling that we set out to.
Still looking to the future, half of us (Rich and Andrea) continue faithfully on The Elder although university duties have temporarily stolen their wondrous skills away from us, while the other half of us (Jules and myself) tackle the wrapping up of Flight which we are so eager to get out to people it's unbelievable but a promise made is a debt unpaid and we will honour that promise of making sure that Flight is all it can be.
Keep on keeping up - it will be worth the wait! Until next week...
