New enemies and other improvements

   It seemed that just throwing enemies around was a bit too easy way to get rid of them in the game, so we gave the Guard units a shield that activates after one throw. The shield prevents further gravity gun grabs but doesn't stop projectiles, so it forces player to figure some other way to deal with them permanently. So far we're loving this extra challenge!

Security footage series: The Lounge

The first leaked video footage from Island Delta security camera archives:

Alright, this idea seemed like worth doing and it's fun to come up with these little video's so there'll definitely be more.

This is real gameplay footage and recorded directly from Unity's viewport. The video and audio are then lovingly seasoned with heavy post-processing using After Effects & Audition and then served online for your pleasure.

Cheers!

November 2015 Status Update

   Bugs, performance, AI, playability, UI, design, phone optimizations... all of the things we've been working on and will continue to work on, but now it's time to focus on content again!

October Update 2015!

   Long time no updates, boo! Here's a quick status update to revive the blog.
We've been working on improving basic gameplay based on the feedback from our alpha testers and the work continues. The feedback has been very useful in helping us eliminating problems with the basic gameplay and usability. It's also amazing how many bugs can be found using external testers, but luckily all the bugs have been easy to fix so far.

New Gameplay Teaser!

We recently released a Gameplay Teaser and here it is:

   A lot of work went behind this version. We've wrapped up things feature-wise and have been focusing on stability, performance and playability. The game is now running smoothly at 60fps even on our lowest target device (iPad mini).

Most of our current levels have been re-worked to have more complex and interesting puzzles and of course we're working on new levels daily. We will be adding more graphical assets and new enemies still, but no more feature creeping is allowed!

Conveyor belt physics and UV tricks

I had a bit of a problem making a secure and fully functional conveyor belt line that moves any objects on top of it towards one direction at a certain speed, regardless of the object's mass. It should also do so with multiple stacked objects and dynamic moving objects such as the player character.

July project status

Time for an update! There's lots of things going on and as a result we've again neglected this blog because of it. We're crunching new levels every day while optimizing the code and assets and doodling new art, but what else is new?

Fixerbot got sounds

Just a quick post!

I've added some sound effects to FixerBot and as a result, he's a lot more perky and alive. This unit has been neglected for some time, but it is now added back to the game and is fully functional with sounds.

June status update

Time to chat about what's been going on with the project. We've been very busy optimizing the code and assets, and creating new playable content.

Ragdolls

Everyone loves ragdolls! It's not like they're a necessity, but throwing enemies around with the GravGun looks stupid without them. We encountered some problems and found solutions to them and that's what this post is about.

Player movement

  One of the most important things about gameplay for me is how fluent the controls feel and how the character behaves in the game. It has been a constant battle of fine-tuning the values, adding and removing and changing the code to make everything as flawless as possible.

April status update

Lately we've been fixing various bugs and dealing with some Unity 5 transition problems. While the switch from 4.6 to 5 was easy overall, small problems keep arising and need fixing. Getting the demo to run perfectly has been quite a big task.

Porting to Unity 5: lightmapping

(Post updated 21-2-2016! Scroll down for the updated info)
We decided to port the game to Unity 5 already because of the promised benefits of the new physics engine, nav mesh improvements among other things. It was quite a big task. We spent a lot of time planning the transition and researching the differences. Here's how it all went down...

Building the demo

   The closed demo is just about finished, and we've been testing the scenes vigorously, as well as asked a few friends try them out. So far the results are positive, but have also forced us to make some changes and fine-tuning to the gameplay. This will surely be an ongoing process as the testing continues, but its a good start!

March update

Our closed demo is due to be released next week to our friends and colleagues so we're working very hard on the build. This post is to highlight some of the major aspects of the process.

Hacking minigame

Hacking UI mockup over a screenshot

   As we mentioned on our first post of this year, we have made a mini-game for the various hacking situations that occur in the game. Instead of a push-a-button-to-hack type deal, the player now has to complete a simple minigame.

   The .gif below is just a mockup animation created in After Effects, of what the end result might look like, as the current working implementation is composed only of green and red rectangles.

Outdoor assets update

I've been noodling with outdoor environment assets and scenes yet again. There's some new snazzy cliffs and rocks, terrain textures and tiles and a whole lot more is coming as we speak.

January 2015 update

Aaand we're back! We're neither dead nor sleeping. Lots of work has already been put into the game this year and here's a quick summary for you loyal fans and honorable guests.