Saturday, April 24, 2010

Jools Watsham's Developer Diary - April 24, 2010

Saturday April 24, 2010: I didn't get a chance to post a development update last week. Sorry about that. It has been very busy. We submitted a milestone for Spirit on April 16, which has already been approved by the publisher (thank you for being prompt Mr. Publisher), and we submitted a milestone for Face yesterday. Phew! Both projects are going really well. Spirit is thick into the production stage. We have the game playable with AI, music, and all sorts of goodness going on. It already feels like a real game. We just need to add more "stuff" to it and tweak what we have. I am very happy with how it is progressing. Face is in it's early stage. We just finished the GDD, TDD, and milestone delivery schedule. It was a lot of work to get all of that completed, but it feels good to have it done. It shows us what the game is in terms of scope, which is vital for both us and the publisher in knowing what we're making in the time/budget available. We always weigh the contents of the game design against time and resources (people) to make sure it is doable, and as such I feel confident we're in good shape. As usual, it won't be easy to complete the creation of the game, but it is doable. If it is ever "easy" for us to complete a game, then something has probably gone wrong! :)

The publisher for Red visited us last week. That went well. It was part of their due diligence. So, it doesn't mean we've got the project. We'll hear more about that later.

We're in talks with one of our current publishers about a new game - let's call that Smoke. It is a fun, small game that would need to be started immediately if it is to be released on time. So, that may happen fairly quickly.

Hope you're having a great day. TTYL.

Jools

Monday, April 12, 2010

Tweeting

OK, so I have started tweeting now. I'm new to this, so I don't know how often I'll update - we'll see how it goes.

Follow me here: http://twitter.com/JoolsWatsham.

Jools

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Jools Watsham's Developer Diary - April 10, 2010

Saturday, April 10, 2010: Spirit is still on track - hoorah! No, that's not a reference to Spirit Tracks! :) Our game is progressing very well - I'm liking the results. I'm having fun playing it, even at this early stage. Bob, our programmer extraordinaire, is rocking the house as usual. We added a new gameplay feature this week, which is working well. We continue to refine the AI and player controls. And, we have all of the "player variation" assets in the game now, which is great. We also implemented a large amount of the music audio, which not only helps us see if it accompanies the on-screen action, but also helps us gauge how much memory it all takes up. I now have three "levels" designed out and built in proxy geometry, and I'm happy with how they play. Gregg is working on making them look pretty, and the results are simply gorgeous. We're looking good for our milestone next Friday, April 16.



Progress on Face is also cruising along nicely. We have most, if not all, of the GDD elements now in place and we're now adding details to everything. This stage really helps solidify the vision of the game, which is extremely important. The aim here is to list everything that exists in the game, and add as much detail as possible on how you see it behaving in the game. This not only helps build your own sense of what the game is in your mind, but is also tremendously helpful for the publisher so they too can imagine the game. We're constantly measuring features against the time we have for the project, so it is vital from that perspective too. The scope of the game must fit the time and team you have to make it. Sounds obvious, but it is easy to lose sight of that and design a game that is bigger than you can handle effectively. We should have everything wrapped up with a bow for our milestone on April 23.


Our proposal for Red has been sent to the publisher, and they're evaluating it. They will provide feedback and we'll have some time to implement revisions. This will happen next week. Some key people from the publisher will be visiting us in the next couple of weeks to check on us - all part of their due diligence.


Hope you're having a great day.TTYL.


Jools

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Dementium II's First Review

Official Nintendo Magazine's Simon Bramble reviews Dementium II, and he likes it... a lot!

"A sequel that trumps a very respectable first game."

"It's hard to fathom just how Renegade Kid have squeezed it all in."

"The impressively rank enemies that ram the claustrophobia home are the best we've seen on the DS since, oh... Dementium."

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Indiana Jones Trilogy!

We have a theater in Austin called Alamo Drafthouse that serves good food during a movie, and I mean real food like burgers, pizza, salads, etc. Oh, and beer! Anyway, they're having a special event next Sunday where they are showing the Indiana Jones trilogy (not the 4th - haters!) back to back. How awesome is that? I thought the 4th was decent, but they don't count it, oh well. :) And, they're serving a special menu for the day, which includes monkey brains! This is the menu:

1 - Fresh Catch

Striped Bass roasted in a tangerine sauce over wild forest mushrooms on mixed jungle greens


2 - Mousaka
Lamb, dates, in ancient Egyptian spices on roast tomato


3 - Snake Curry
Slow cooked snake and plantain in madras curry served with black rice on banana leaf


4 - Eyeball Soup
Roast pearl onion soup

5 - Fuhrer’s Fave
Richardson Farm’s Pork cutlet breaded and fried with sauerkraut and spaetzle


6 - Monkey Brains!!!
Sweet coconut risotto, strawberry reduction, lychee nut, monkey skull


...And for all you thrill-seekers: don't be surprised if some beetles end up as a side dish!

I am so freakin' excited. This is the best set of movies, ever. Can't wait until next Sunday!!!

Jools

Jools Watsham's Developer Diary: Busy!

Saturday, April 3, 2010: This week has been extremely busy. For Spirit we worked on a number of things, such as refining the existing player controls, adding new player control elements, and solidifying collision. The results are great, which is very encouraging. It's amazing what small differences can make to the overall feeling of a game. The player visuals are also progressing very well; it's looking really good. I've been working on "level" design, which involves creating what we call a proxy mesh. A proxy mesh is a 3D geometry model constructed in a program such as Maya or 3DS Max. I am able to make a "build" of the game to play test the proxy mesh. It is a lot of back and forth with refining the proxy mesh, play testing it, etc. We're making steady progress towards our goals. Our first official milestone is April 16, for which we need to have completed a laundry list of tasks to stay on track. All is looking good so far.



On the Face project we're in the GDD phase, where we focus on developing the idea in document format with descriptions of every aspect of the game, and diagrams and tables where needed. The entire game is already pretty much figured out, it is now a matter of drilling down in more detail on everything to ensure we're not missing anything. We have until April 23 to complete this doc along with a TDD and the milestone deliverables, which is our first official milestone of the project.


We have also been working on the next proposal phase for Red. This is a 12 page document that summarizes all aspects of the game, including design, programming, and art. The publisher is having a meeting on Monday to discuss, with a follow-up meeting later in the week. We will receive feedback the following week, and make updates to the doc before it is considered complete and ready for final review. This doc will determine which developer they'll choose to create the game. I am confident that our proposal is very solid, but at the end of the day you never know what the publisher is really looking for so it is a crap shoot.


Next week should be a little less crazy, and we'll be able to focus more time on fewer tasks - that's always nice! :)


Hope you're having a great day. TTYL.


Jools

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Press Release: Dementium 3DS

April 1, 2010 - Renegade Kid LLC announced today that it will be developing Dementium III for Nintendo 3DS. The third installment in the Dementium franchise, the next chapter in this horrific story promises to take players even closer to the precipice of madness than its predecessors when released in Q2 2011.


"We are extremely satisfied with what we have accomplished with the Dementium series so far, but knew we could do even more given the chance to develop an exclusive 3DS title," said Jools Watsham, Owner and Creative Director of Renegade Kid. "With Dementium III, we're upping the ante in a major way. You'd be a fool to miss it!"

Continuing the storyline from Dementium II, Dementium III will deliver better visuals, more haunting audio, and sharper scares than its predecessor. And, it's in 3D!


About Renegade Kid


Located deep in the heart of Texas, Renegade Kid is an authorized Wii and Nintendo 3DS developer, specializing in the creation of videogame software for Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. The experienced and skilled members of Renegade Kid are able to produce the highest standard of art, design, programming, and audio on time and on budget.