next »

[Nikica]

Build 19 (Test) is out, next week the real-deal is coming !!!

http://www.datarealms.com/devlog/cortex-command/pre-release-build-19-is-here/

[Melly]

Man, 19 builds. How long has that thing been in development again?

[Stij]

Oh man.

Oh man.

OOOH MAAAAAAAN.

I've been following this game for at least 6 months, nice to see it's almost finished.

EDIT: Played it, it's just as awesome as I thought it would be. The new pathfinding AI actually makes the computer a challenge to fight now. And the detailed gib effects are cool also. There's something viscerally satisfying about nailing a flying enemy in the chest with a Flak Cannon.

I like the art too, Arne did a great job. Buying this game for sure.

[Inane]

Man, 19 builds. How long has that thing been in development again?

I believe 5-6 years?

[Akhel]

[20:36] <Doncommie> CC has been going for seven years?
[20:36] <Data_> sadly
[20:36] <Doncommie> You might have They Came From Hollywood beaten
[20:37] <Data_> however, not constantly full time for that long
[20:37] <Data_> but yeah, some of my source files are dated to 2000-2001
[20:37] <Data_> i always write in the creation date in a comment etc

From yesterday.

[Melly]

Holy shit. I bet he's greatly relieved now that it's nearing completion.

[Arne]

I'm not sure what Data thinks, but it's probably 1 year or so from completion, depending on work tempo. I know Data is itching to work on some other stuff as well, and with CC's sales system we can add stuff periodically to CC after it's in shape, and work on profitable(?) mini projects in between. It would be good to have a couple of games which roll in money. "Many small rivers" as we say in Sweden.

I know I have quite a bit left to do on CC. Maybe 2-3 months of graphic work if I enter the fast lane (and I mostly crash after 500 meters cuz I get distracted some hot chick in panties at the side of the road).

We have editors now, which is great, because before it was a waste of time to implement the new stuff by hand... Hence all the old placeholder gfx being in for so long.

[nayon]

Man, 19 builds. How long has that thing been in development again?

I believe 5-6 years?

7 years as cited on their site.

[Doncommie]

Think I'll wait for the next week proper release, partly because the store is loading but mostly because it's not long to wait for the "real" version.

[Bad Sector]

Seems to be a good game and i liked the introduction, music and the art, but the gameplay is painful for me. Everything is shaky and moving the bodies is a tiresome process. They move way too slow. Also controlling the jetpack is very hard, which makes the whole movement even more hard, since using it it's actually the only way to go a little faster.

Selecting bodies is strange too, because while there are previous and next buttons, there isn't any clear visual indication on what the active body is. You can still use the mouse, but then what's the point of "prev/next" buttons?

At some point i went with one body equipped with this digging gun to dig for gold. I digged and reached the gold but then i couldn't get out of the hole. I found that frustrating because eventually i had to abandon that body.

In general i felt that i was fighting with the controls most of the time. This is not a good thing!

Also i think that the instructions shouldn't be in "panels" in the world. The font is very small and hard to read, so it's easy to lose some information. It would be better to pause the game while you get instructions - or give instructions in a more traditional manner, like at the bottom of the screen... and wait for the player to do the action it was instructed to do.


In general i find this game to be a good idea, but currently as it is it has many glitches to be considered for final release. However it has great potential if you correct it :-).

[Doncommie]

It's always been a little clunky but it got a ton more playable when they added the gamepad support and ingame menu. If Arne is right it's still got a hell of a lot of development to go so hopefully it will get less and less clunky as time passes.

[Stij]

Coolest thing ever: I shot a dropship from above, the main body exploded but the engines were intact. No longer attached to anything, they rocketed off the screen. And hit another ship that was coming down. :D

Now for a few nitpicks:

• Rockets don't gib (I think), though it seems like the AI doesn't really use them anyway.
• I'm kind of disappointed they didn't add more weapons, but there's always mods.
• Dropships gib waaay too easily.On the harder diffulculties, the almost constant rain of dropship gibs makes it impossible to venture outside without getting squished. Either make them harder to gib (this would be easier) or make the AI smart enough to avoid each other.

Also, the little Pope-Bot from the intro would make an awesome playable character. 

[PHeMoX]

and with CC's sales system we can add stuff periodically to CC after it's in shape, and work on profitable(?) mini projects in between. It would be good to have a couple of games which roll in money. "Many small rivers" as we say in Sweden.

This sounds nice on paper and I'm not going to predict that it won't work for you guys... but more often than not people tend to keep making small projects instead of spending (also) time on a bigger one at the same time.

Regardless of that though, good luck with further developing Cortex Command. I don't quite understand why it didn't get through to the finals in IGF, but I guess competition is hot this year.

[ravuya]

I'm tempted to buy at this point, but I think the starting price point is a tad high. Us early adopters want thick, juicy discounts.

[Arne]

Yeah, I'm extremely vulnerable to distraction. I'm not sure how people can stay focused.

Rockets will gib. I think I made the gibs for that almost a year ago. I've made some 50+ weapons too. There might be 7 factions with their own unique stuff (hopefully). We're working on some kind of page which will ...present information.

Dropships will get an explosion effect eventually. It'll look neat. Right now they just kinda falls apart.