Hunt Game Studios

Heading to GDC13

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:43:33 GMT

It’s finally time to head to GDC13! While I am only attending the main conference this year, it’s once again jam-packed with amazing sessions (PS4, Windows 8, post mortems, design sessions, and more). I’ll be posting a daily recap for each day of the main conference along with a photo feature next week, so be sure to check back for the updates.

Revamped Menus

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:30:34 GMT

Last week was spent on programming activities and started with the reintroduction of the save/load system. The process has been streamlined with defined file slots and automated saving which lends a nice modern touch. You can also see more details about a file including Lor’s location, gear levels, etc before selecting it.

The flow between areas has also been redone with the introduction of region maps. Work was also done on refactoring the underlying menu systems to make it easier to create new screens without duplicating code. The new scheme has an event structure (to simplify input logic) along with the ability to define menu items (text or image) that are pre-loaded. This has streamlined the process of writing the draw calls but has also improved performance.

Managing Equipment

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:26:25 GMT

A great bit of retooling was done this week with the focus on the Shard System and overall inventory. The process of equipping/removing Shards was a bit cumbersome so I managed to refactor it so it’s all within the same screen. The flow of the screen is much more natural now and I even managed to add stat comparison details. Work was also done on the crafting and shop screens which have improved flow along with additional item details.

A few other cool things that were added this week include new defensive maneuvers, improved layering for multi-tiered maps, and smoother screen transitions. Time was also spent on the Equipment screen where I replaced all of the text with newly drawn icons. The plan is to finish the menu screens by the end of the month and then switch to planning out more maps.

Raging Fire

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 02:29:33 GMT

This week was once again dedicated solely to programming and a slew of new additions were made across the board. Several new traps were added including the fire breathers seen in the Debut Game Reveal feature, timed spikes, and monster gates. Golden versions of enemies now also appear in completed areas and offer better rewards than their normal counterparts.

Several improvements were also made to the main field screen which now allows more layers for both painting and collision detection. I re-added the ability to climb ladders and took it a step further by increasing the number of planes on the map. This allows Lor to walk under and on bridges and has enabled some cool multi-tiered maps.

Improvements were also made to the Shard and Equipment systems. Shards are now properly typed which means you can only socket them in certain gear. I also re-introduced Slayer Artes and started with the Heal spell. The ability to upgrade your gear was also added along with the initial version of the fuse screen which is used to craft Shards.

A Dark Wizard Appears!

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 02:52:48 GMT

This week was another productive week filled with programming tasks that touched several different areas. Major changes were made to the map system to improve screen flow and connect areas to the overall world. I also redid the way that the area map works in the pause menu and it is now possible to actually see map elements like walls, water, etc instead of just boxes.

A day was also dedicated to adding buffs and debuffs to the game which were absent in the demo. I was able to integrate these into the Shard system and certain attributes can influence their effects (increase duration, resistance, etc). These added effects have already made the combat more interesting as there are several new layers of strategy when approaching monsters.

This week also saw the re-introduction of the skeleton warrior enemy and the real addition of the Dark Wizard (now with working projectiles). Time was also spent on several menu screens that display monster information – these screens reveal more information as you defeat more monsters. The pause screen is almost finished from a functional standpoint and flows much better than the original version.

Lastly, I added the ability to configure the game’s controls for both the controller and keyboard. Analog support has been re-added to the game and has been greatly improved – no more zigzagging unnecessarily. I also managed to get the new version of the game running on the Xbox360 and it runs pretty smoothly so far. Some optimizations still need to be made but the initial run is much better than last time.

HGS will be attending GDC13!

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 03:25:01 GMT

Hunt Game Studios is excited to announce that it will be attending its second Game Developer’s Conference this year, which takes place in San Francisco from March 25th through the 29th. Unfortunately, I have to skip the summits this year but the main conference has another amazing array of great sessions (how can you pick between some of these?).

To learn more about the conference, check out the official site here - GDC 13

Last year’s conference will be hard to beat but with the next generation of gaming fast approaching it will certainly be interesting. Hope to meet some new people at the event – see you there!

Get with the Program

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 02:40:44 GMT

This week has been entirely dedicated to programming with the intent on getting as many of the core game objects done as possible. I’ve moved away from the overly generic event model of the demo version in favor of a more focused object model that is flexible depending on the type of object (complex events will still need an event editor). This means I can now trigger simple events for interactive objects like gate switches without wiring up a ton of event triggers. This new model has greatly simplified the floor spike traps which used to be a convoluted series of timed events for switching frames and remembering their state. With the introduction of this new scheme I was able to add both traps back in with relative ease and they can now be placed on the map like any other tile without the need to configure each one individually.

Other programming tasks this week included modifications to enemy respawning, the reintroduction of the floating crystals (restore health and set respawn point), the reintroduction of Lor’s crossbow (now with the ability to trigger switches), and proper tileset support in the Map Editor. I am also working on adding more puzzle elements and was able to give Lor the ability to push statues.

Lastly, I started working on the new menu system with the hopes of making something that is easy and efficient to use. I took several notes during the play sessions at PAX and I am implementing those changes now to streamline the process of equipping Shards and navigating the menus. I also started work on the Arcane Forger (not in the demo) which will be used to upgrade gear, fuse materials, and socket Shards.

Stay tuned next week for a special announcement!

Work Resumes

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:22:16 GMT

Work resumed on Gheldia this week with a good deal of progress made across several different areas. High level world planning is finally finished with all of the areas mapped out at a basic level. The types of monsters and their individual properties have also been fleshed out including their attack types, drops, behavior, etc. The stat system and damage formulas also received some attention along with improvements to the Shard System which should allow for some cool customization.

Along with the extensive scoping work, I was able make several improvements to the game engine. The most notable improvement is the enemy AI which has been expanded to make the monsters a bit more challenging. In the demo version, their AI was very basic and mostly random – the new version has them confront Lor and they now have the ability to use skills. With these new changes I will finally be able to implement the Dark Wizard properly which should definitely make things more interesting.

Year in Review 2012

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 21:20:23 GMT

A Year in Review for 2012 has been uploaded to the feature section. You can read it here. This feature goes into more details about Hunt Game Studios’s second year including GDC12, PAX Prime, and what’s been happening the last few months. Here’s to a great 2013!

Collision Decisions

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 04:37:49 GMT

The refactoring process for Gheldia continued today with additional modifications being made to the editor. I’m spending a good deal of time refining the way that layers are constructed along with how objects interact with the environment since collision detection was the game’s biggest sticking point at PAX. I’ve redone the collision editor and replaced the simple can/cannot pass indicators with a dialog that allows me to define the actual collision rectangle per object. I’ve also expanded the map editor to have more layers so objects can now render above Lor, which will allow him to walk behind trees. The next month or so will probably be dedicated to programming as I redefine how the editor saves its files, how map information is stored (for optimization on the Xbox), and changes to the game engine to accommodate the editor tweaks.

PAX Prime 2012 Media Feature uploaded!

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 23:20:26 GMT

A photo recap of PAX Prime 2012 (our booth, the event, cosplayers and more) has been uploaded here. Check it out!

Gheldia Preview

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:00:29 GMT

Chris Lock of Level Save stopped by the Hunt Game Studios booth at PAX Prime 2012 and wrote up a short report about the game. You can check out the preview here - Gheldia Preview

In other news, I am almost done with the media article for PAX Prime 2012. It should be up by the end of the weekend.

Third Day of PAX Prime 2012

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 03:45:53 GMT

Yesterday was the third and final day of PAX Prime 2012. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a bump in the road as my power went out the night before, which forced us to go to a family member’s house to get ready. We were able to pull things together and made it to the convention without issue but could have done without the power failure. Once we got to the venue we had some time to check out some other booths on the 6th floor. Before doors opened we spent a fair amount of time playing a super hero flavored card game called Sentinels of the Multiverse, which is very different from your standard card game as it focuses on players working together instead of battling each other.

Once the doors opened we were at it again for the third day in a row. The reception for the game was pretty good and the game continued to strike a chord with those who grew up playing SNES games. We also received some great feedback from younger players who seemed to enjoy just running around and slaying gels. However, I definitely need to work on Lor’s navigation as control and hit boxes have become my number one priority. There were a lot of good conversations among developers again and it’s cool to see what everyone else is working on.

Overall, PAX was an amazing (and exhausting) experience and I want to thank everyone again who stopped by and shared their feedback with us. There were a few instances where people were surprised that I was taking so many notes, but I want to ensure that I address issues with the game while playing to its strengths. I also want to sincerely thank my brother and girlfriend for helping me out in managing the booth and I couldn’t have done it without them. The next thing I need to do is aggregate the survey results and start working on making changes to the controls. I will also post a photo feature by the end of the week with photos from the event that focus on it from an exhibitor’s point of view. Make sure to check it out once it’s ready.

Second Day of PAX Prime 2012

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 02:31:24 GMT

Today was the second day of PAX Prime 2012 and it was definitely busier than the first. We started the day by wandering around the fourth floor looking at all the exhibits before the doors opened. They definitely did a great job down there but I’m not sure if the long lines are worth the 5 minute demoes. I’ll check out those games when they’re released.

Back up on the 6th floor we received a good reception again with a lot of people commenting on the retro look and feel. There were also a few common comments about the collision detection and making things a bit more visible in terms of what you can do. Several people had some great suggestions around handheld devices and multiplayer that I’ll be looking into in the future. There were also some good discussions around the evolution of games and programming – these are always appreciated.

Tomorrow is the third and final day of the event so we look forward to another full day of game play. I want to thank everyone who stopped by and shared their thoughts with us – we are going to go over the comments and survey results sometime next week. Lastly, there will be a feature uploaded later next week with pictures from the event.

First Day of PAX Prime 2012

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 03:14:11 GMT

Today was the first day of PAX Prime 2012 and things got off to an "interesting" start. When we started to hook up the actual gear, one of the laptops wouldn’t boot. Fortunately it was just a dislodged battery and after reinserting it we were up and running. After finishing our preparations the doors opened at 10 o’clock and the event officially started.

We got a fair amount of people throughout the day to come by and check us out and it was a great experience. It looks like a lot of other people share our passion for old school games, those that let you play instead of watch. It was also interesting to see how different people interacted with the game depending on their gaming background. We just wish we had a better release date as it looks like things are going to slide into next year (spring/summer).

I do want to sincerely thank everyone that stopped by, played the game, and shared their feedback. I am already working on new ideas that will improve the game that I plan on implementing in the coming months. If you didn’t get a chance today, feel free to stop by tomorrow to check it out. We appreciate it – see you there!

It’s time for PAX Prime 2012!

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 03:49:27 GMT

The time has finally come for PAX Prime 2012! Today was also the second and final day of PAX Dev and while not as elaborate as GDC, it still had a wealth of great sessions. The event had a certain level of intimacy that is missing from other conferences so it was a nice change of pace. The dev landscape is continuously changing in the software industry so it’s great to see so many different perspectives. The sessions I attended were mostly focused on production and there is definitely a number of new design issues that need to be kept in mind in the current ecosystem (looking at you freemium).

Today was also Hunt Game Studtios’s move-in date for PAX Prime so we spent the morning trying to get the booth set up. There are still a few last minute items we need to address (hooking up the gear) but we should be ready for tomorrow’s 10 o’clock opening. We also had some time to check out some of the other booths and they are quite extravagant (most of the 4th floor).

We hope to meet a lot of people over the next few days and are looking for honest feedback. We have some cool ideas in the works for the core of the game and it will continue to evolve over the next few months. So with that being said – come by our booth on the 6th floor at 6413 to share your suggestions. See you there!

PAX Week Begins!

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 03:39:28 GMT

PAX week is finally here! Everything is kicked off with a two day conference for developers only – sorry media. Since this is strictly a developer conference we won’t be posting any pictures of the event and will probably only do a small recap at the very end. However, there are many great sessions on the schedule so there’s definitely a lot to learn. Things will really take off when Prime begins this Friday. We hope to see many people there!

Full Expo Map

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 18:04:15 GMT

I came across this really cool PAX Expo map that I thought I’d share. Check it out here - PAX Expo Map

PAX Booth Details

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 02:01:09 GMT

PAX is almost here so we thought it was a good time to share some booth details. PAX Prime starts next week on the 31st at 10:00 AM (continuing into Saturday and Sunday at the same time). You can find Hunt Game Studios’s booth on the 6th floor at stall 6413. The booth can be found by heading up to the 6th floor and heading into the exhibition area from the West Lobby entrance. Then head all the way to the back and you will find us on the right.

To learn more about the conference, check out the official site here - PAX Prime

To get more information about the convention center check out their site here - Washington State Convention Center

We hope to meet many people at the event and are excited to finally show off the game to a larger audience. We are looking forward to your feedback!

PAX Build Ready

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 02:47:51 GMT

The PAX build for Gheldia is ready to go for next week’s conference. I was able to finalize the survey along with making minor adjustments to the menus to optimize it for the event. Next week is jam packed with both PAX Dev and PAX Prime (hopefully we won’t need any last minute adjustments). Check back tomorrow for PAX show details!

DBP12 Finalists

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 03:26:03 GMT

Microsoft recently announced the list of Dream.Build.Play finalists and we wanted to congratulate those that made the list. Sadly, Gheldia didn’t make the cut but there’s always next year when things are further along. However, you can still help us by play testing it next week at PAX. Stay tuned for more show info!

Survey Says

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 03:16:25 GMT

In order to obtain feedback from the players at PAX I am implementing an in-game survey. We will use information obtained from the survey to improve the overall quality of the game along with seeing what real gamers feel are the trends in the industry. Also, we are still working on getting the booth materials together and should be announcing some more details shortly. Stay tuned.

Preparing for PAX

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:09:48 GMT

Updates to the game have been put on hold while we finish our preparations for the PAX convention, which is now only 3 weeks away. Due to the focus being elsewhere, the demo at PAX will be close to the DBP12 version. However, this still shows off the starting areas and the basic mechanics. The hope is that development will pick up after the conference as we can focus our attention solely on the game.

Monsters & Refactoring

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 04:41:21 GMT

The last week has been an interesting one and the work focus has been split between monster designs and refactoring. We are collaborating on some really cool monster designs (along with the Beast Lords) and should be able to get more enemies into the game soon. These new enemies require a bit of refactoring of the core game loop which is being rewritten to allow for better monster AI along with better handling of character states. The hope is to have the refactoring complete along with a new build in time for PAX, which is only one month away.

Back to Work

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:57:46 GMT

Now that work has completed on some of the PAX materials focus has shifted back to the actual game. I was able to add the preliminary versions of the Crossbow and Hammer weapons. There’s a good deal of refactoring that needs to be done in order to support these but they are now usable in game (with real time switching to boot). Also, the Equipment Screen needs some modifications in order to accommodate these weapons since there are six extra Shard slots. Lastly, I managed to add the first version of the Dark Wizard enemy that was shown in the debut Feature. His fireball attack still needs some work but it’s coming along nicely.

HGS is heading to PAX!

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 03:47:38 GMT

Hunt Game Studios is excited to announce that it is heading to PAX this year! Along with attending PAX Dev we will be exhibiting at PAX Prime, so be sure to stop by to get your hands on Gheldia! PAX Prime takes place on August 31st – September 2nd at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, WA.

To learn more about the conference, check out the official site here - PAX Prime

The main event (Prime) sold out in less than 24 hours this year so it’s definitely going to be an exciting event. More details will be revealed closer to the date. Stay tuned.

Incoming Announcement

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 18:08:56 GMT

Check back on Friday for a special announcement from Hunt Game Studios. We’ve been working on many things over the past few weeks and something very cool is just around the corner. Don’t miss it!

DBP12 Screens!

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 17:58:16 GMT

It’s time for another fresh batch of screens and this time they are from the DBP12 build. Check out the feature for all the details!

Last few Weeks

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 19:42:07 GMT

The last few weeks have been extremely busy with most of the effort being put into preparing the build for the Dream.Build.Play contest. This included several tweaks to the quest system along with dialogue writing. A lot of time was also spent on fixing bugs and making tweaks to the overall engine. I also added more help text along with a controls screen which shows the button layout for the game complete with a 16-bit version of an Xbox360 controller which took a few hours to draw (definitely not 16x16!).

Work was also done on the trailer which can now be viewed on Youtube (see News item). It shows off most of the functionality of the game including exploration, shard management, battles, etc. I hope to spend more time on trailers in the future but this one should at least give you an idea of the direction.

As far as the contest goes you can check out the Dream.Build.Play entry here. Finalists will be announced in August with winners coming in September. We wish everyone luck!

Lastly, more new screenshots will be uploaded later this week showing off a few locations that weren’t previously shown. And now that the judging is underway we are going to go back to focusing on the game. We also have more exciting news to share but need to wait a little bit longer before we can reveal it. Stay tuned!

DBP12 Trailer!

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 03:15:33 GMT

Dream.Build.Play is finally here! We’ve just submitted the game and are very excited to have completed the demo. You can view the debut trailer for Gheldia here. We wish all our fellow contestants luck and look forward to a great contest. Lastly, we will issue an update in the next few days with the last week of changes.

Music & Narrative

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 04:01:50 GMT

Today was focused on composing the Dungeon and Field themes along with expanding the world’s characters. I replaced most of the placeholder text to flesh out the characters and added some backstory in the form of books you can read throughout the village. I also updated item drops so they show text when they are picked up – this is working really well for Shards and Materials. Everything is coming together now so it won’t be long before the trailer is posted.

One More Week

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:04:05 GMT

There’s only one more week until the deadline for submitting games for Dream.Build.Play and we are almost there. The monsters now have proper death animations (unique per mob type) and a few more objects have been animated (flags, Crescent Strike when it hits an object, etc). I also decided to modify how the Will spheres work – originally it would only increase your Will allowing you to use Artes more often. However, I found myself not wanting these to drop when I wanted to focus on upgrading my Shards so now these spheres increase both Will and Essence.

I was finally able to fix the spike trap bug which would cause the player to get stuck on spikes and take damage until they died. With this bug fixed a lot of the tricky trap navigation has become more manageable. However, I had to modify some maps to ensure players couldn’t cheat their way around the spikes. I also managed to improve the load times and now the game loads in under 20 seconds on the Xbox 360. It’s still not fantastic but everything caches beyond that point so it never has to load again.

Lastly, I worked on composing some new music and actually got the basic melodies down for the Title and Town themes. I still need to add more instruments and do the Field/Cave themes but things are progressing well. Time to get back to work...

Loading...

Thu, 31 May 2012 03:00:33 GMT

The past few days have yielded some great progress. I managed to animate the Gel monster and totally redid the skeleton guard, including his animation. I added more Shard types (Will Regen, Life Steal), item drops, and even got around to adding the Shop Screen where the player can buy Shards and sell off unwanted items. The town has also been touched up and more characters now populate it along with some new quests. I also added a loading screen and redid the Title screen. Along with that I fixed a number of annoying bugs that started to creep in (you could revive yourself by attacking after death, graphics didn’t always load correctly after saving/loading, and a few others). Lastly I started messing around with the trailer which will be posted next week.

However, not everything is going smoothly. The XML serialization on the Xbox 360 is much slower than the serialization on the PC and the game takes a little too long to go through its initial load. I would build my own serializer but a lot of the classes I would use are not available in the XML assembly used by the Xbox. I have an idea of how to get around this but I don’t know if I’ll be able to implement it in time for Dream.Build.Play. The good news is that after the first load there is no downtime so once it’s up everything is good. More to come soon so stay tuned.

Exploration Screens!

Sun, 27 May 2012 22:00:43 GMT

It’s time for another fresh batch of screens and this time they are focused on the new locations and latest feature additions. Check out the feature for all the details!

New Screens Soon

Sat, 26 May 2012 04:22:52 GMT

A great deal of progress was made tonight with work spread across map building, graphics, and programming. A few of the remaining maps were finished and the world is definitely starting to feel fleshed out. I also got around to drawing more interior objects so I was able to complete the Inn. I also added support for longer text strings for item descriptions, regular message boxes, etc. A new screenshot feature will be uploaded in the next few days to show off some of the new locations. Stay tuned.

Map Building

Wed, 23 May 2012 05:02:01 GMT

The focus of the night was on building maps and the town of Arbor has been expanded a few screens (one outside and a few interior ones). The highlands were also expanded with a few more maps added to give the player some more exploring and monster slaying. I plan on finishing these up tomorrow night as the highland area is mostly a rough layout at this point. After the new maps are in place I will probably draw a few more objects for the building interiors and then move onto music composition.

Transitions & Damage Numbers

Tue, 22 May 2012 05:07:46 GMT

More programming work was done tonight with some improvements made to the screen transitions. The original screen transitions were just a series of overlays of varying transparencies that gave the illusion of a fade-in/fade-out. I removed these and replaced them with a global color value that can be changed to affect all objects which yields a much smoother fade-in/fade-out. I also added floating damage numbers so you can see how much damage you are dealing and receiving. Lastly, I updated the death animation for Lor so that it doesn’t just cut to the Game Over screen after you lose all your health.

Taking Shape

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:33:35 GMT

The demo for Gheldia continues to take shape as multiple areas were focused on in the last few days. The graphics for the interiors received some attention with a few new objects (book cases, plates, wine bottles, etc). The Home Point feature now has a floating crystal to go along with it instead of reusing the Crystal switch. Some work was also done on the programming front and the scrolling bug has been fixed in the menus. Lastly, a few of the maps have been tweaked to give the game a more cohesive feel. For instance, more NPCs have been added to the town and Odo actually makes it back to the Inn after you save him. Hopefully we will be able to get some new screenshots up soon along with some footage. Only 3 more weeks to go!

Item Drops

Fri, 18 May 2012 04:47:16 GMT

Some more programming work was done over the past few days with more effort put into the Shard System. Originally you could unleash the Crescent Strike attack without having the corresponding Shard but now you must actually equip the Shard in order to use the skill. I also implemented material item drops from both destroyed items (bushes/barrels) and enemies. The loot calculations are still a little off but it’s starting to smooth out a bit. I think I’m going to stick in the programming swing for the next few days and wrap up some of the outstanding items around the menus and eventing.

Welcome to our Town

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:34:38 GMT

Over the past few days work continued on drawing the graphics for the building interiors. The hope is to get at least a few more objects finished before the focus can shift back to other areas. There is still some programming tasks to finish up (redoing the way spikes damage the player) and of course the music. I hope to get to the music side of things soon as there is only one month left until Dream.Build.Play. New screens and game footage should also be ready by the end of the month. Don’t miss it!

It’s Questing Time!

Fri, 11 May 2012 05:02:45 GMT

The baseline for the Quest System was added today with the ability to receive and complete quests. The next item on the list is to expand the Quest Screen to give the player more details about the quest including its location, rewards, etc. A few tweaks were also made to the Event Engine to allow for graphics to reset when the Event Page is switched. Lastly, I started working on the interior of buildings to help flesh out the town.

Heading to Town

Thu, 10 May 2012 04:40:43 GMT

The maps to the first village have been completed which introduce the player to the trap and enemy mechanics. The next thing that needs to be worked on is the introduction of the Shard and Quest systems. Right now the player already knows the available Slayer Artes and Skills but they should acquire these as they play. This is going to require some retooling so programming is up next.

Healin' Good Time

Sat, 05 May 2012 05:30:07 GMT

I was able to implement a few more graphics today with most of the effort being spent on the healing animation along with building out the two maps to the Tutorial Cave. The actual animation for healing wasn’t that complicated to draw, but the actual playback isn’t quite right yet and is mainly due to a limitation in the Player class. I plan on addressing this at a later date but at least it looks much better than it did (no animation at all). The HUD was also refreshed today with a few more tweaks made to the equipped weapons/skills boxes.

Slimes & Chimes

Fri, 04 May 2012 05:11:04 GMT

Over the last few days work was spread across multiple areas including music, art, and programming. The title theme is starting to take shape although music composition is definitely the slowest part of the entire project (so many ideas but not enough cohesion yet). I was able to add the lowly Gel enemy to the mix which will be the first enemy that Lor encounters. The Shard System was also expanded with the introduction of Armor shards which can be used for defensive purposes such as increasing health, healing damage, etc. Some work was also done on the HUD to show which weapons, Slayer Artes, and skills are equipped by the player.

Randomness (Music + Animation)

Wed, 02 May 2012 05:37:10 GMT

I’ve been into a little bit of everything over the past few days including music composition, graphics, and programming. I was able to get the general idea down for several of the themes with the most progress being made on the Game Over music. Work was also done on various animations including updates to Lor’s walking and slashing graphics. The demo is also being expanded from a content standpoint with a few maps being added to extend the overall scenario. A short tutorial cave was added today to introduce concepts to the player and act as a way to get Lor to the starting village. Only 6 more weeks until Dream.Build.Play!

Interactive Object Update

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 23:54:36 GMT

Most of the interactive objects in the demo now have multiple frames of animation (breaking barrels, cutting vines, opening gates, etc). The majority of the Game Switches had to be modified in order to allow for these animations to play out but the end result is much smoother. A number of tweaks were also made to the Editor to allow for the manipulation of frames during event sequences. Lor, enemies, and NPCs still need a few more frames of animation and this will probably be the next item on the list before production on music begins.

Animation Station

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:34:29 GMT

While the original plan was to handle music composition this week, that has been pushed to next week due to time constraints. The focus for the last few days has been on drawing the icons for the game files along with animating a number of interactive game objects (gates, levers, etc). The additional frames of animation really enhance the game world and it’s amazing what a few additional frames can do to make the world feel more alive. The event engine requires some minor tweaks to display these extra frames but that should be done by the end of the week.

Menu Screens!

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:20:02 GMT

It’s time for another fresh batch of screens and this time they are focused on the menu system. Check out the feature for all the details!

Mad Skills

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:22:17 GMT

Work continued today on sprucing up the system graphics for the game – the mini map received some updates in its placement along with a new coat of paint. The equipment screen now displays which piece of equipment you are embedding shards into. The Save/Load screens have also been modified and now include more graphics showing the current player’s health, time, Essence Count, etc. Lastly, the Skills section was added which holds all of Lor’s currently equipped skills. This is where you will see which Slayer Artes are active along with any magic. The first spell is a self-heal that Lor can use when his Will is full to replenish his health.

A new feature article will be uploaded tomorrow outlining the recent additions and will include new screenshots showing off the new system graphics and menus. Don’t miss it!

Gradients Make Everything Better

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:00:37 GMT

Work continued on the menus tonight with the focus on adjusting the alignment so that nothing important is cut off on a TV screen (the safe area on a TV is a great deal smaller than a monitor’s). I also managed to spruce up the menus a bit with some new gradients and additional icon placement. The equipment screen still needs a bit of attention and then we should be ready for some new screen shots. Check back this weekend!

Menu Icons

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:29:24 GMT

I took a slight break from programming tonight and redid the menu icons. I also put together some game icon thumbnails for the Xbox and PC versions. Work continues on the menus as well with effort put into ensuring that the borders aren’t cut off on different monitors. Hopefully there will be some screenshots by the weekend so check back to see how the Menus have progressed.

We are Xbox Bound

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 00:21:57 GMT

The major area of focus for the last few days has been getting the game running smoothly on the Xbox360. The process of deploying the game is pretty painless after I separated the Content Importers so that the two builds don’t conflict with each other (PC vs Xbox360). After deploying to the Xbox360 it was apparent that a few optimizations needed to be made so I refactored a number of inefficient loops and now things are running smoothly. I also managed to rework the save/load mechanism to support multiple save slots and to have it work on the Xbox360. More system programming will continue tomorrow followed by some new screenshots at the end of the week.

Game Over Man

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:58:58 GMT

Programming continues on Gheldia with a few new features being implemented tonight, including player death. In the Alpha Demo it was impossible to die even if the player lost all their health, but now the player is given the choice to continue or load their last save. I also implemented the fast travel system that lets you set a home point and then return there for quicker adventuring. Lastly, some refactoring was done around the PlayerState object to improve the efficiency of the engine so that values are no longer copied to multiple locations. This has the added benefit of simplifying the Save/Load mechanic.

Shards + Menus

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:37:23 GMT

Work continued on the Shard System today with a number of improvements including the ability to actually equip Shards (Shards were automatically equipped in the last build) and monsters can now drop Shards when defeated. The underlying loot system had to be retooled a little bit but the overall outcome has yielded better item ranges. Menus are also being transformed from their current state (plain white text on a black background) into fully graphical menus. Screenshots of the new features will probably be posted in a week or two.

Very Productive Programming Day

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:01:51 GMT

Today was an extremely productive day on the programming front. Work for the menu systems is in full swing with several features implemented in their initial state. I was able to implement a functional Title Screen, the Mini Map, and even began working on the Shard System. Right now, the player can pick up a Shard, level its first tier ability and actually have that ability affect gameplay. I also managed to add Save/Load capabilities although it is restricted to one slot at the moment. I hope to get more of the Shard System implemented over the next few days along with some menu graphics.

Map System Started

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:09:50 GMT

Work on the map system started today with the introduction of locations and floors. The map system in the Alpha Demo is made up of individual screens that are linked together through teleport events. Since there is no real relationship between maps it’s not possible to build a proper map layout. However, locations and floors add this relationship and give the player the ability to see how maps connect (screen exits, stairs, etc). The pause screen is being modified to show the full map of the floor for the current location. The editor still needs some more tweaks to accommodate the location/floor changes but things are moving along without too much rework. After the pause screen is finished work will begin on the Mini Map.

Fresh Demo Screens!

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:19:31 GMT

Now that the Alpha Demo is complete we have prepared a batch of fresh demo screenshots for your viewing pleasure. Check out the feature for all the details!

Alpha Demo Complete

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:40:07 GMT

The Alpha Demo for Gheldia is complete! The demo strings together several maps to form a simple quest that features a small village, forest, and dungeon filled with traps and enemies. I finished touching up the maps today along with redoing portions of the HUD (still a work in progress). Also, messages are now displayed in message boxes instead of plain text on the screen. The collision detection still needs some work but has been improved since the last build (enemies no longer get stuck). A fresh batch of screenshots will be coming in the next few days showing off the demo maps and new features. It’s still a little too early for a trailer but I plan on putting something together with video in May.

Finishing up the Demo Maps

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:58:54 GMT

The maps for the demo level are almost complete – after the last map is finished I will polish them up a bit to smooth out the flow. I was able to implement the Crescent Strike special attack seen in the reveal, which is proving to be a rather useful ability. After completing the last of the maps I will capture some screens to share. The original screenshots were conceptual and were not fully playable; however these new maps are 100% playable. While these maps may not appear in the final game they will help prove out the next series of concepts – Shard system, menus, map, inventory, etc. Check back in a few days for the screenshots.

DBP12 - it’s on!

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:23:32 GMT

Hunt Game Studios is proud to announce that it has officially registered for the Dream.Build.Play 12 contest! We are working hard on getting a build of Gheldia together to enter for the competition. You can check out all the contest details here.

It’s a Trap!

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:29:18 GMT

A lot of work has been done over the last few days and things are progressing along quite nicely. I was able to implement some simple traps (ground and moving spikes) by utilizing the event engine. It’s always great when you can expand on an existing feature to utilize it for something it wasn’t intended for – the event engine is definitely going to get a workout in the near future. I also put together a basic audio engine that is now pumping out some sounds for various things (collecting items, slashing, etc). The sounds and music aren’t final but it’s nice to finally have some audio to go with the visuals.

In order to test out all of these new components, I started to build a basic demo level. The game is pretty fun so far, but the enemies are getting stuck on the environment too often. Time to take another look at that collision detection...

You’ve Got Combat

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:07:50 GMT

Steady progress is being made on the combat engine and it’s now possible to battle basic monsters. These monsters are also dropping loot, although the formula for dropping items still needs some tweaking. Further work was also done on improving the collision detection across all objects and collision types (striking, touch, interacting, etc). It is also now possible to strike an event and have it trigger e.g switch crystals actually work now. Traps will probably be next, followed by some menu screen implementation as there is only a Pause screen at the moment.

In other news, scoping has begun for the Dream.Build.Play demo – hopefully we’ll be able to announce something around that soon. Stay tuned!

Programming is in Full Swing

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:02:24 GMT

The programming work for Gheldia continues this week with time spent on a number of different areas. The focus for the week was originally going to be on combat only, but it turned out that some of the engine needed to be refactored to accommodate this. Support was also added to the engine so that it actually understands different types of screens (allows for screen transitions). This will set us up for implementing the menu system (map, equipment, shards, etc). Now with some of the refactoring done, the focus will shift back to combat.

Tweaking the Editor

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:23:20 GMT

Work resumed on Gheldia today and most of the time was spent adding enhancements to the editor. Countless features were implemented, including the ability to cut/copy/paste/delete events, better tools for managing the steps of an event, shortcuts for switching layers, and much more. The collision detection of the game engine has also been cleaned up a bit, but needs more work as you can still get stuck on pieces of the environment. Lastly, the eventing that allows you to talk to NPCs has been wired up. Programming work will continue next week and will focus on the combat.