Dev Diary 5 :: 2015 :: March

[Ray]

To say that the last month wasn't Challenging (get the pun?) would be a lie, but it's time for a new month, and new goals!

We are now at the 3rd phase : Marketing / Distribution....however there's obviously a need for mini updates to problems so here's what this month will be about:

1. Small updates to clean up the game some
2. Kongregate Release
3. Affiliate system for big portals
4. Challenge Point milestone bonuses
5. 4th Phase - New feature (TBA when development begins on it)
6. Hopefully preparations for an Easter Event
   

These are not in any specific order. I will keep the community Posted (another pun) on how and where things are going. April will bring forth the 'clean-up' phase, where i'll be cleaning up all the mess that all of these patches are bringing, and improve the existing features.

Cheers to a new month!

[Ray]

Affiliate system is complete....not sure when i'll use it, but it's prepared now, and I can start working on the Konregate version this week

[Ray]

Due to recent issues with the servers, along with many players just losing connection because of their internet or for whatever reason, i've added a new system for the next patch that I think most players will love, assuming it all goes as planned. There may be kinks in the early versions of this feature but from my tests it went great.

Auto-Reconnect system!

If you get disconnected, the game will reconnect you. If you get a screwed up server instance because of cluster issues, the game will attempt to communicate with the server, and if it all fails after 20 seconds, the game will reconnect you as well. This will take effect in the next patch.

As usual, if you're patient with flaws (Bugs, balance, etc) in the early development of the game, good things will come in IOU...Your voices may need to echo a few times in the room of a thousand voices and only two ears to hear them, but you are being heard

[Ray]

A small patch will be released today to clean up a few things from the February updates. After this patch i'll be finishing things up preparations for the Kongregate release.

I believe we can then look forward to the next big feature

[Ray]

4th Feature announcement: Mining.

While there will be similarities to woodcutting in terms of energy based actions, mining is going to be a bit more interactive. Due to this, I don't expect the system to be ready until around March 15th, give or take a few days , but it's definitely in heavy development.

Kongregate release is pending, so primary development focus will be with Mining, and little fixes/changes in the meantime.

[Ray]

This last week has been moving along...perhaps not as quickly as I would have better enjoyed, but getting there.

Talks with Kongregate are continuing - the GDC was going on, so there's some delays in communications but they are slowly moving along. Great things could happen, or the game could end up self-published. Either way, nothing terrible, and I have no reliance of the games future on any single entity.

I have noticed growth has remained stable, but no longer exponential as it was, and I will be working towards the marketing & distributing portion of the game soon again.

There has also been a lot of little issues being reported, and a couple major flaws that I have to delve into for this next major update.

I'm looking at increasing the level cap (but not the max upgrade cap) perhaps to allow a few players for progress a little further while I jam out more long-term pieces of the game.

Aiming to get much more momentum going this week

[Ray]

Currently working on expanding the auto-reconnect system, and attempting to resolve the core of many sync issues. It's coming along!

[Ray]

The server cluster is currently having an assortment of problems. May be a ddos, or hardware. Will keep updated on what's going on.

[Ray]

Mining is coming along again and is finally shaping up to be a full gameplay element.

To keep it short, you can expect:

-Dynamite for quick depth mining - Both rare finds, but also purchasable with diamonds
-NRG (like woodcutting)
-4 x 4 squares to mine. Each time you reach the depth point for each square, you'll earn some 'Stone'
-Upon reaching depth point for all 16 squares, you'll snag some stone as usually, but also a crystal (to be used later for another system )
-To continue to the next depth level, it will require 'Wood Logs' to build the supports!
-The lower the depth, the more stone you'll earn.
-The lower the depth, the more Crystals you'll earn per each depth completion.

There will be Depth Milestone that inherit greatest boosts to the rewards from mining, and for those that have been heckling me about a new pack, you can eventually expect one for Woodcutting/Mining. As the game is further developed you'll see just how Wood / Stone / Crystals tie into everything. It's coming along, slowly but surely.

I know I was aiming for a 15th release of this patch, but with stability issues, and personal reasons i've been delayed a bit; but it's coming along more and more each day! I assure you.

[Ray]

Spent the better half of the day's development strictly on Mining. The system appears simple enough but apparently (based on all the work going into it) it has quite a few levels of complexity further than woodcutting.

I think the last touches for this system's release are the upgrades, sound FX (might delay for now, since no one seems to enable them), and top-list tracking for the future Top Miners List.

While this entire mining system has been a little heavy, i'm really excited to get it out there to add a new game-play element and move onto the rest of the promised features.