January 2016 update!

The holidays forced us to take a small break and this month's been spent catching up.

We've done scheduling, design and planning work, fixing bugs, improving gameplay, polishing existing graphics and making new levels. We have a tight schedule of pushing two new levels per week which is quite difficult, but so far so good. Our first night-time level is in the game now and more will follow.

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!

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!

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.

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.

Status of art assets

This is just a very quick update. Here's our latest #screenshotsaturday... shot; guards taking care of their physique:

Guards keeping in shape

I'm currently adding missing assets to the game and getting stuff ready for all the required levels of the first third of the game. There's not much missing anymore, and today I'll be focusing on new decals and effects work. I'm constantly updating old assets but also being very aware of the fact that it's a never-ending task; everything can always be improved but one has to set limits and focus on the big goal...

Introducing... The Turrets!

This time we'll continue the tradition of introducing the different types of enemies you'll encounter in the game.

Turrets are automated, stationary guardians of the Island Delta complex. They are equipped with a variety of weaponry, including ear-devastating grenade launchers and tissue slicing heavy laser cannons and plasma projectiles.

About the team and the game

We're doing something different with this post: what you'll find here is stuff about the team and how the project began, how it has evolved, and what our plans and goals for it are.

October status update

Development hasn't stalled! We've been working on improving mechanics, designing the level and story progression, designing the characters, and working on more puzzles. It's all very good and all, but we haven't been able to translate all this work into an interesting blog posts.

There are however, some things to write about...

The very first gameplay video is here!

We welcome you to enjoy the first pre-alpha gameplay video of Island Delta!
In the video you are able to see some of the features that are being worked on the game, plus few different surroundings, some enemies and the flow of the gameplay itself. Obviously its still just a very raw glimpse of the game with just basic mechanics, minimum amount of sound effects and just a handful of locations and different enemy types, but it should give you some idea of the style we are striving for.

A quick status update!

Here's just a very quick update on what's been happening: we've been cracking our skulls open working on our pre-alpha version, and making our very first video of our very early gameplay. The video will be released later this week, with a more thorough blog post about all the new features, changes and plans that we have.

In the meantime, here's a collection of new screenshots. We hope you like them!

Introducing the Guard Unit(s)

CraBot was the first enemy type we made for the game and it is quite a straightforward melee class enemy unit that chases you around and tries to slice you to bits with its claws.

Guards on the other hand are more diverse enemies that have a wide variety of tricks up their sleeves. They form the back bone of the Island Delta security. They are very aggressive units and will gun down any intruders on sight. They will also knock you down should you get too close.

July project status update

Some of the new decals

It's almost the end of July and things are progressing, albeit slower than originally scheduled; real life has slowed things down temporarily and also it's the hottest month of the year right now so that takes a beer related toll on all of us. The situation is normalizing now though and tons of work has been done.

Edit (August 02): one of our screenshots is selected as Image Of The Day @GameDev.net screenshot showdown! How cool!

Winning screenshot showdown IOTD for today #gamedev http://t.co/KE5lqvuni4
— GameDev.net (@gdevnet) August 2, 2014

We've been working on pretty much everything related to the game such as design, mechanics, backstory, characters, assets and even some sound work. We noticed that some of the core functions of the game were actually not as functioning as they should be, so there has been a lot of planning and re-tweaking some key features.

Now let's get specific...'ish.

Enemy AI behavior

What makes the enemies tick? A lot more than two weeks ago, that's for sure.

Recent weeks have been focused mainly on game design, but there has also been some steps forward regarding the enemy AI. Few improvements to mention are that the enemies now react to sounds and suspicious noises, and seek to investigate their source.

Introducing the FixerBot unit

"FixerBot - He'll happily fix all the things you break!"

This unit is a fun one since it's not just another aggressive enemy. It's also far from being a passive decorative unit because it affects gameplay in many different ways: it can revive other bots that have been disabled and open doors that are impossible to open otherwise. That's not all of it though...

We're working on fun mechanisms that allow the player to hack FixerBots to manipulate the game surroundings in various ways. More of this later as things progress.

Just for fun, here's a video showing FixerBot working on a broken CraBot:

Introducing the CraBot unit

This post is a small making-of about the first enemy unit we have in the game. There's also some ramblings about tools and workflow.

"Crabot is a standard enemy unit, a security robot that is found patrolling in various locations around the bases and labs of Island Delta. These crab-like contraptions use their claws with deadly accuracy and efficiency against all intruders."

The model and animations

CraBot was originally modeled and uv mapped in MODO 701. I personally like the modeling & uv mapping tools with some great 3rd party scripts to ease the process: