[img=http://www.lantanagames.com/steamimg/ex3.jpg]Greetings, Patriots! We are pleased to announce that Children of Liberty EX3 has gone live. Here are the changes in EX3, and a preview of what’s coming soon:

• Direct links to bug report form: automatically fills out most of the form! Just press right to scroll over to it on the main menu, and left to go back.
• Feedback Focus: a new message from us about which part of the game we need feedback on the most, in the main menu.
• Added version number to main menu
• New video options: 16:9 resolutions, windowed mode, and three quality settings
• Updates to & improved legibility on About, Instructions, and Controls pages
• New on-screen UI to show currently available actions

Bug fixes:

• Fixed bad Y positions on at least 1 checkpoint’s respawn point
• Fixed player takedown detection
• Some Redcoats had slightly off spawn coordinates; added auto-correction for this
• Fixed a bug with using Esc key to go to main menu
• Fixed a bug with Redcoat vision cone rotation
• Fixed main menu movement on keyboard
• Fixed shader settings on some sprites
• Fixed some red/blue line sprites
• Fixed some text objects not having the correct material

Coming soon, in no particular order: Long Wharf! Cutscenes! Dialogue boxes! The Codex! Mouse controls! Pause menu! Return of the controller UI! So, with that, please allow me to make some corrections to the previous post: We’ve been preparing to expand the team! We’ve been doing a lot on the management side so that we can hit the ground running! The progress graph is going to massively accelerate when this happens! I said that we as a team have been focusing on bug fixes in the month of May, but that’s not true. I wanted to emphasize that we acknowledge the bugs, but I went overboard in that regard. Bug fixes are obviously important, but building content is equally important, and I neglected to mention it. The state of content building is that we are working on expanding the team for this endeavor; the state of bug fixing is that the programmer has to put aside all but the most critical, most easily solvable bugs in order to focus on management. I owe my programmer Brian four big apologies for that post!

• Brian has had many important management tasks, and they’re mostly done now. The bugs are actually not “very tricky;” many have been fixed already, and many continue to be easy fixes, but for the rest, we simply need more information. I owe him a public apology for claiming he was having trouble when he wasn’t.
• Brian told me to write that we were “expanding the team,” “preparing to accelerate,” and specifically that he wouldn’t have time for bug fixes or content building until that was done. Instead I wrote that we were focusing on bug fixes, but what Brian said is exactly what ended up happening in May.
• I didn’t inform Brian (or Julia, for that matter; I’m super falling on the sword for this one) that I was going to change the content of the post from what he recommended. I owe him AND her an apology for this unexpected rewrite, and need to vastly improve my chicken scratch notes on these things in meetings so this never happens again.
• I was also three days late making that post, and if I’d done it the same day it was assigned to me, then I wouldn’t have ended up altering the post and none of this would have happened. I owe EVERYONE an apology for not being my usual efficient self and for writing an overall misleading and misrepresenting post.

So, for misrepresenting Brian’s current efforts, not being clear on our current endeavors as a team to expand, posting the update a couple days later than promised, and changing the content of the previous post from what the team had discussed: SORRY BRIAN! And to you, the Patriots, I apologize for steering you the wrong way. Obviously bug fixes are important, but finishing Children of Liberty is our number one priority. The three of us are improving our in-team communication efforts. To do this, we have upped the consistency of being able to meet in-person and we are collaborating more on project management and documentation instead of having those as individual tasks. We are also investigating the possibilities of table space in the area so we can work not just in the same room as each other, but also among the incredibly tight-knit and talented Boston game development community for feedback and guidance. All of these efforts will help us deliver a great game that matches everyone’s expectations. Brian, Julia, and I lament that there aren’t enough hands on the project right now, but I am working to change that, because that’s more important than bug fixes. We PROMISE, first and foremost, that your content will be delivered, and that while it is being built, the bugs will get addressed. There are still bug fixes in this update, though, because Brian is in crunch time. We’ve thoroughly investigated all bug reports internally, and have even found unreported bugs. Also, the reporting process has been streamlined significantly with inclusion of error text and auto-filling the majority of the form! Later, we’ll also be able to retrieve coordinates and states to track down the nastiest bugs. So, as you can see, we are still busy. For now, enjoy Children of Liberty EX3! Also if you plan on live streaming the game, please let us know! We'd love to hop into the chat and answer any questions you have.

[ 2014-05-31 14:03:43 CET ] [ Original post ]