First blog
by Very Interactive Person · 12/11/2004 (12:46 am) · 10 comments
My first .plan ever! Don't know why, but I never got around writing one before. Anyway, I tought I'd let the community know what I'm working on without posting a snapshot.
So what have I been doing the past couple of months? Well, in June I made Nitro, looking back on it, its a rather crappy game, but, somehow more then 20 000 people downloaded it, and some even played it for a while (altough you could hardly call it playable). I even got tons of fanmail telling me I should continue with this, becuase there weren't enough games like this around anymore(there used to be a lot of this type of games out there). I was also encouraged by some game news website editors etc, so in september, I decided to go for it, and create a more proffesional game built around the same idea.
Now we are a couple of months later, and I'm no longer alone. Michael Mastracchio is helping me out, and he's doing a more then fantastic job. It has turned into a fun little game, and I catch myself racing against our evil (but dumb) bots way to much (I should spend more time working on the game ;) ) Gameplay has improved a lot, more weapons and powerups were added, bugs have been fixed, car handling is a lots and lots better, etc And a lot more is on the way.
We are hoping to finish it in the coming months, and then release it commercially. Hopefully trough GG, but if not, some other publisher, or maybe even self publishing. But the main goal is still to gain experience and to have something to add to our portfolios.
Oh, we still don't have a name for the game. So if anyone has any (good) ideas, let me know!!
Here are some screenshots (early, and a bit rough, specially the HUD. And yes, this is with the lighting pack.):
What will the future bring?
Well, hopefully this game will soon be finished.... but besides the game there's also this:
I'm currently setting up a webshop with some content packs (yeah, I know, some of you are sick of the word by now, but if that's the case just stop reading ;) ). The packs will mostly be art packs, like texture packs, skybox packs, model packs, and be sold for a very reasonable price. The reason I'm selling them and not giving them away for free? Well, I tried trading them for code, but no one was interested, and now I have a fantastic programmer helping me out, I no longer need to trade, so I decided to just sell them ;)
[edit]And by the way, if any Belgians are visiting this site... I'm jobhunting, so if you know any companies who could use someone like me, let me know[/edit]
So what have I been doing the past couple of months? Well, in June I made Nitro, looking back on it, its a rather crappy game, but, somehow more then 20 000 people downloaded it, and some even played it for a while (altough you could hardly call it playable). I even got tons of fanmail telling me I should continue with this, becuase there weren't enough games like this around anymore(there used to be a lot of this type of games out there). I was also encouraged by some game news website editors etc, so in september, I decided to go for it, and create a more proffesional game built around the same idea.
Now we are a couple of months later, and I'm no longer alone. Michael Mastracchio is helping me out, and he's doing a more then fantastic job. It has turned into a fun little game, and I catch myself racing against our evil (but dumb) bots way to much (I should spend more time working on the game ;) ) Gameplay has improved a lot, more weapons and powerups were added, bugs have been fixed, car handling is a lots and lots better, etc And a lot more is on the way.
We are hoping to finish it in the coming months, and then release it commercially. Hopefully trough GG, but if not, some other publisher, or maybe even self publishing. But the main goal is still to gain experience and to have something to add to our portfolios.
Oh, we still don't have a name for the game. So if anyone has any (good) ideas, let me know!!
Here are some screenshots (early, and a bit rough, specially the HUD. And yes, this is with the lighting pack.):
What will the future bring?
Well, hopefully this game will soon be finished.... but besides the game there's also this:
I'm currently setting up a webshop with some content packs (yeah, I know, some of you are sick of the word by now, but if that's the case just stop reading ;) ). The packs will mostly be art packs, like texture packs, skybox packs, model packs, and be sold for a very reasonable price. The reason I'm selling them and not giving them away for free? Well, I tried trading them for code, but no one was interested, and now I have a fantastic programmer helping me out, I no longer need to trade, so I decided to just sell them ;)
[edit]And by the way, if any Belgians are visiting this site... I'm jobhunting, so if you know any companies who could use someone like me, let me know[/edit]
About the author
Recent Blogs
• game video• Alchemist progress (TGB game)
• Time for another blog post...
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#3
12/11/2004 (2:29 am)
Ward - The production quality has come way up... good to hear from you. Have you modified the vehicle physics? It looks like there are explosions - are there weapons I'm missing?
#4
@Jay:
The vehicle class was changed a bit (steering etc), but the physics are the same. The scripts handling the vehicle collisions were changed but we are still having some problems with them. Nothing we can't handle tough.
And about the explosions/weapons: Each vehicle has a rocket launcher on the front. You can pick up powerups along the track. There are 3 rocket powerups available (normal rocket, cluster bomb (like in the 3rd screenshot), and a nuke), there's also a heatseeker powerup wich turns all your rockets into heat seekers for 15 seconds. Other powerups are shield and boost (I think that's all ;) )
Oh, and btw, just want to make it clear that on the screenshots, that's me racing against bots. For the last month we have been focussing a lot on the AI (well "we".... hmm, most of the credit for this goes to Michael ;) )
12/11/2004 (2:56 am)
Thanks for the comments@Jay:
The vehicle class was changed a bit (steering etc), but the physics are the same. The scripts handling the vehicle collisions were changed but we are still having some problems with them. Nothing we can't handle tough.
And about the explosions/weapons: Each vehicle has a rocket launcher on the front. You can pick up powerups along the track. There are 3 rocket powerups available (normal rocket, cluster bomb (like in the 3rd screenshot), and a nuke), there's also a heatseeker powerup wich turns all your rockets into heat seekers for 15 seconds. Other powerups are shield and boost (I think that's all ;) )
Oh, and btw, just want to make it clear that on the screenshots, that's me racing against bots. For the last month we have been focussing a lot on the AI (well "we".... hmm, most of the credit for this goes to Michael ;) )
#5
Unfortunately this video doesn't show the boost effect very well becuase the bots were stealing all the boost powerups. But I'm boosting at the start of the race, watch the blue flames come out of the engine.
12/11/2004 (2:58 am)
Here a short video showing the game in action (me racing against some bots): gamevid.rar (i'll remove this link if it eats too much of my bandwidth tough)Unfortunately this video doesn't show the boost effect very well becuase the bots were stealing all the boost powerups. But I'm boosting at the start of the race, watch the blue flames come out of the engine.
#6
12/11/2004 (5:43 am)
Very impressive stuff guys, its getting to look like a very professional feeling game. Keep up the good work, this project could do very well. 
#8
12/11/2004 (9:43 am)
I'm glad to see you continued work on Nitro. I love the updated look especially the new cars
#9
Also, altough this is re-using a lot of the Nitro code, i wouldn't really call it a continuance of Nitro. The concept of the game is almost the same (just added a lot of things), but it looks, and more important, plays, completely different. That's why I need to come up with a new name.
12/11/2004 (2:25 pm)
Thanks, the cars will undergo some more changes tough. They have already been improved over the past month, but there's still a lot of things that need to be fixed/changed. Also, altough this is re-using a lot of the Nitro code, i wouldn't really call it a continuance of Nitro. The concept of the game is almost the same (just added a lot of things), but it looks, and more important, plays, completely different. That's why I need to come up with a new name.
#10
One thing that I see immediatly is that it doesn't look like the regular gray Torque.. is that just the lightingpack in action or is it even TSE? Splendid work!
Edit: Bah, I just can't read. I saw it was SLP now.
12/12/2004 (3:53 am)
Ey Ward, god that's nice stuff!One thing that I see immediatly is that it doesn't look like the regular gray Torque.. is that just the lightingpack in action or is it even TSE? Splendid work!
Edit: Bah, I just can't read. I saw it was SLP now.
Torque Owner Lobo the Duck