Nock Goes Live Today!

Yes, that's right.  Nock: Hidden Arrow is going live in Early Access today.  Exciting times!

Check it out here.

Where have you been?

Yes, just where have I been?  Where's my #1GAM submission for August?  Or September, for that matter?  What's up with the silence?  Didn't I just recommit to the onegameamonth challenge?

On July 26th I got an HTC Vive.  It was amazing.  It was everything I imagined as a child, and more.  Something burst open inside me that day and started to grow.  Something that had been asleep for a long, long time.

Soon I knew there was no turning back.  My childhood dreams swarmed me, and wouldn't let me go.  I had to do this.  It's not that I wanted to.  I had to.  There was no choice.  So I gave in.  I quit my job (my last day was today).  It's decades later than childhood me thought it would be, but I've finally made it.  I'm finally where I'm supposed to be.  I'm now a full time VR game developer.

This is what I'm making right now:

More info coming soon.

It's getting real, folks!  We're going to go some amazing places.

#1GAM - Far And Wide - Complete!

This is my July onegameamonth submission, Far And Wide.  It's a procedurally generated infinite driving game.  Listen to live Internet radio tunes (multiple stations) as you frantically dodge rockets while trying not to drive over mines or run out of gas.  Good times.

Today's changes are:

• Handling - improved car handling and power.  Makes for a faster, more frenetic game.
• Turret accuracy - much more accurate now - sorry.
• Score tracking.
• Minor radio improvements.

Here's the latest video:

And here's the full playlist if you want a sense of its evolution.

You can download and play it here.

#1GAM - Far And Wide - Almost Done

With only Sunday to go, it's time for finishing touches.

Today I improved turret accuracy, tweaked UI, and made the radio available in and out of game.  I also added a couple more radio stations for variety.  Hopefully there's something for everyone.  Listen to the audio effect switch when entering and exiting the car.  The dubstep and heavy metal stations are definitely not happy with the tinny car radio, though they sound great at full fidelity (eg when you're dead).

#1GAM - Far And Wide - Week Two

About two weeks in to my July 2016 OneGameAMonth submission - Far And Wide.

We've got actual gameplay instead of just a driving demo.  I've added improved UI, mines, rocket launchers - all kinds of good stuff.  Once I add prediction to the turrets, an actual menu, and a couple other tweaks I'll be ready to wrap it up and move on to the next one.

One Game A Month - Back in the Saddle!

I've decided to take up OneGameAMonth challenge again.  Here's what I have after one day working on my July submission.  The theme is Far And Wide.

The terrain is (theoretically) infinite, and procedurally generated at runtime.  In reality, I'm likely to run into some floating point precision errors after driving too far.  I'm not sure how much of an issue this will be.  I guess I'll find out.

There's Nothing Like A Good Dungeon (Crawl)

Some of my oldest memories of gaming are classic dungeon crawls.  No matter what I do, I keep coming back to them.  And every time, I find the one thing that's missing is multiplayer.  I want to play them with my friends.  But all the classics are single-player.

So I'm going to fix that.  Sort of.  My new project, Delve (working title - it may end up changing), is going to be a cooperative multiplayer dungeon crawl heavily inspired by classics like Dungeon Master, Dungeon Hack, Halo (kidding!), and all the other dungeon crawlers that ate far too much of my time.

Development is still super-early, but it's Screenshot Saturday, so here's some candy:

That's where we came from.  Wonder how we'll get back out?

What's that off in the distance?

That looks important.