I intended to post this update a week a go, but it took me way more time to finish than I had expected.

BACK TO WORK

While we were on holidays, we received several bug reports mostly regarding some broken achievements( one of them is "alpha" which should be available to everyone), and issues with controller in FS. All those issues will be fixed soon. Actually, most of the achievements are already fixed, but we’ve found several more bugs which need extra time to fix. I hope we release a beta update next week.

NEW PROJECT

In the last FS update, I mentioned that we had started working on something new and it wasn't related to FS. So, what's the new project? If you follow us on twitter or reddit you definitely could see some 3D models that would give you a hint. Naturally, you may already figured it out, but if you didn’t, the next genre we’d like to work on is first person shooter. I know, this is quite a departure from our previous games and a whole new uncharted territory for us as developers. Making our next game in a genre we’ve worked before would be much safer, but as indies we have a luxury of creative freedom and willing to take the risk. Besides, I think with the help of community we can make a great game in any genre. So, what kind of a fps? Well, the concept is slowly shaping up. Its details will certainly change and evolve over time, but the core is a fast-paced, reckless action with a high ceiling for mastery. All other mechanics are going to be built around this core. The main focus will be single-player, with a high chance of co-op, though much later down the line. If it’s still vague, try imagine borderlands (minus its gazillion guns and rpg-ish elements) and quake 1 had a baby. It’s not very good to use other games to describe your own, as it may lead to a certain misconception, but at this stage it should give you at least a rough idea of what we have in mind.

GAME DESIGN AS EXPERIMENT

OK, we’ve already established that fps is a new genre with a bunch of unknowns for us. To tackle those unknowns, we want to take a slightly different approach this time and share every process and design ideas from the get-go. That means you’ll be seeing lots of unfinished and unpolished stuff, including our design thoughts and prototypes. The purposes of which is with your help discard bad ideas and design decisions as early as possible. Scientists very often use experiments as a tool to test their hypotheses. Game design isn’t a science, but I think we can employ this method to design better games. In our case, the hypotheses would be certain game elements that require a playtesting in order to understand how they contribute to the gameplay and whether they are fun or not. Such elements can be : enemies, guns and fire mods, controls, etc. . However, before we start discussing our hypotheses, I need to say a few words about our main design principles upon, which we will be generating them. -Easy to learn hard to master - simple, transparent game mechanics, orthogonal enemy design -Exploration - nonlinear levels, secrets, key hunting -Fast, aggressive combat - no reloads, no health/shield regeneration, high player mobility In order to test the hypothesis, without actually building a whole game, we need a test environment. Currently we are developing a playground which we call “Arcade Mode”. These mode will allow to generate semi-procedural levels and test new features. We haven’t thought how we’re going to distribute it to the testers, but I think we will use itch.io or a similar platform.

HYPOTHESES

Even though our testing environment is very much in progress right now, I have a hypothesis to discuss. -Hypothesis #1 Many contemporary shooters have a two-weapon loadout system without any inventory or very simplified one. In Borderlands you have quick access to up to 4 guns ( + inventory). Destiny offers 3 gun slots + inventory. The old school shooters used to have an impressive arsenal of 9-11 instantly available guns. While none of those systems isn’t inherently bad or good, each offers a different gameplay experience. For our game we want to make around 12-15 unique weapons each with it’s own role, playstyle, and upgradable firing modes. All weapons can be found on the levels and carried in the player’s inventory, but you’ll have only three-four gun slots available to switch on the fly. One might argue that it can limit the strategy in a fast paced game. The more weapons you have at you hand the quicker you can react and change your strategy in the combat. Which is obviously true, however, in my opinion most players always have a handful of either favorite guns or the guns that better suit their play style, and they switch to other weapons when they can’t or don’t have their favorite. So, if you have any thoughts on this, please leave them in the comments. Please subscribe/follow on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/FLOX/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Flox_Studios Thank you Alex (satori)

[ 2017-01-29 17:02:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

I intended to post this update a week a go, but it took me way more time to finish than I had expected.

BACK TO WORK

While we were on holidays, we received several bug reports mostly regarding some broken achievements( one of them is "alpha" which should be available to everyone), and issues with controller in FS. All those issues will be fixed soon. Actually, most of the achievements are already fixed, but weve found several more bugs which need extra time to fix. I hope we release a beta update next week.

NEW PROJECT

In the last FS update, I mentioned that we had started working on something new and it wasn't related to FS. So, what's the new project? If you follow us on twitter or reddit you definitely could see some 3D models that would give you a hint. Naturally, you may already figured it out, but if you didnt, the next genre wed like to work on is first person shooter. I know, this is quite a departure from our previous games and a whole new uncharted territory for us as developers. Making our next game in a genre weve worked before would be much safer, but as indies we have a luxury of creative freedom and willing to take the risk. Besides, I think with the help of community we can make a great game in any genre. So, what kind of a fps? Well, the concept is slowly shaping up. Its details will certainly change and evolve over time, but the core is a fast-paced, reckless action with a high ceiling for mastery. All other mechanics are going to be built around this core. The main focus will be single-player, with a high chance of co-op, though much later down the line. If its still vague, try imagine borderlands (minus its gazillion guns and rpg-ish elements) and quake 1 had a baby. Its not very good to use other games to describe your own, as it may lead to a certain misconception, but at this stage it should give you at least a rough idea of what we have in mind.

GAME DESIGN AS EXPERIMENT

OK, weve already established that fps is a new genre with a bunch of unknowns for us. To tackle those unknowns, we want to take a slightly different approach this time and share every process and design ideas from the get-go. That means youll be seeing lots of unfinished and unpolished stuff, including our design thoughts and prototypes. The purposes of which is with your help discard bad ideas and design decisions as early as possible. Scientists very often use experiments as a tool to test their hypotheses. Game design isnt a science, but I think we can employ this method to design better games. In our case, the hypotheses would be certain game elements that require a playtesting in order to understand how they contribute to the gameplay and whether they are fun or not. Such elements can be : enemies, guns and fire mods, controls, etc. . However, before we start discussing our hypotheses, I need to say a few words about our main design principles upon, which we will be generating them. -Easy to learn hard to master - simple, transparent game mechanics, orthogonal enemy design -Exploration - nonlinear levels, secrets, key hunting -Fast, aggressive combat - no reloads, no health/shield regeneration, high player mobility In order to test the hypothesis, without actually building a whole game, we need a test environment. Currently we are developing a playground which we call Arcade Mode. These mode will allow to generate semi-procedural levels and test new features. We havent thought how were going to distribute it to the testers, but I think we will use itch.io or a similar platform.

HYPOTHESES

Even though our testing environment is very much in progress right now, I have a hypothesis to discuss. -Hypothesis #1 Many contemporary shooters have a two-weapon loadout system without any inventory or very simplified one. In Borderlands you have quick access to up to 4 guns ( + inventory). Destiny offers 3 gun slots + inventory. The old school shooters used to have an impressive arsenal of 9-11 instantly available guns. While none of those systems isnt inherently bad or good, each offers a different gameplay experience. For our game we want to make around 12-15 unique weapons each with its own role, playstyle, and upgradable firing modes. All weapons can be found on the levels and carried in the players inventory, but youll have only three-four gun slots available to switch on the fly. One might argue that it can limit the strategy in a fast paced game. The more weapons you have at you hand the quicker you can react and change your strategy in the combat. Which is obviously true, however, in my opinion most players always have a handful of either favorite guns or the guns that better suit their play style, and they switch to other weapons when they cant or dont have their favorite. So, if you have any thoughts on this, please leave them in the comments. Please subscribe/follow on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/FLOX/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Flox_Studios Thank you Alex (satori)

[ 2017-01-29 17:02:21 CET ] [ Original post ]