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[Tanner]

I so can't wait for this.

[marshmonkey]

just a quick bump to show a screenshot of a new game mode we are hoping to have in by the first:

[cyber95]

just a quick bump to show a screenshot of a new game mode we are hoping to have in by the first:

SKEE KART! 

[Craig Stern]

This looks great! 

[marshmonkey]

Here is a video of a playtest we had last night of our new game mode, it was a lot of fun!

[Akhel]

Looks like a lot of fun!

It would be awesome if this was on a console too.

[marshmonkey]

small update, we now have one of these new-fangled "Official Game Groups" on steam - you can join it / check it out here: http://steamcommunity.com/games/zerogear

Also, I took some new screenshots last night, I replaced the old ones on our media page here: http://myzerogear.com/media.html

[marshmonkey]

new blog post

been pretty silent over the last week because we have had our heads down furiously pounding keyboards in order to get a build ready for IGF submission. After some very late nights and many eye drops later we have emerged victorious with a build to submit. We made it! Woo!

Along with the submission I have been working on an awesome game manual to submit along with it, you can check it out if you want.


This milestone also marks the start of our closed beta, and although we initially have a limited amount of keys we hope to expand it as we get further in development. If you have a dedicated windows server on a fast connection and are interested in keeping up a ZG server for us, there might be a key for you - drop me a note.

as always, you can keep up with the latest by being in our Steam Group (and you can also just help us climb up the list of games by joining )

[medieval]

Congratulations on getting it done on time to submit it to IGF 

[___]

Daaamn this is lookin nice.  Good luck in the IGF!

[Corpus]

 

[marshmonkey]

We have been keeping very busy as usual - spending a lot of time dealing with some nasty memory issues and other non-glamorous things. But to keep our spirits up we started on a new game mode, check out the screenshot and maybe you will be able to guess what it is!

[Tanner]

HOLY SHIT I LOVE GOLF

[marshmonkey]

you have a sharp eye sir! 

[Tanner]

I get that a lot. 
But seriously, that looks like a lot of fun. It reminds me of the multiplayer soccer game in the new Banjo Kazooie game, which is is a lot of fun.

[Hempuli‽]

Now that I've read this whole thread from beginning to end, I must say that you've done an awesome job here! 
I really love all the little bonus things you've been adding.

It is also weird that I recognized the music that plays on the background of chute shooting. We sang it in our school's choir! (choir? Doesn't sound correct,but I've got to trust my dictionary this time.)

[marshmonkey]

yea, it is a rock rendition of waltzing matilda which is an austrailian (I think) folk song. I really love the folk song so when I discovered this rock version I had to use it somehow.

this is not entirely related to the game per say, but it gives me an excuse to bump this thread! Brian got some Zero Gear t shirts for his b-day. Brian not pictured in photo!

[Hempuli‽]

Brian not pictured in photo!

I was ready to say "He looks quite feminine." Now I can't :D

Oh well, looks superb. You know, it's probably cool to wear a shirt about your own game-like!

[eobet]

I searched the thread for any mention of physics, and sadly there was only one, which I find worrying. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous, Pixar quality, but at least in the "fallout" gameplay video, the physics seem like a very, very rudimental implementation of a rigid body code example, with some extra bounce added to it. The collision detection allows the objects to clip into each other far, far (really bloody far) too much, and if I would have gone to my 3d graphics teacher with that, I probably would have failed the class.

I'm sorry to say, but: Graphics, Pixar quality. Gameplay, freshman college student quality. 

I'd like to see you try to add the same soul and style to the physics as you have to the rest of the graphics. For example, Pixar is famous for the little "re-bounce" (forgot what they usually call it), which gives life and character to their movement. Acceleration also doesn't have to be super realistic, and you should be able to draw some inspiration from cartoons in order to get the players back into the game faster, I think (watching something bounce a hundred times while you can't do anything might only be fun the first couple of times... everyone's already seen physics in games these days).

[marshmonkey]

the physics system we use is Bullet which is a pretty robust rigid body (and some soft body stuff now, though that is pretty hard to translate over a network) physics library.

We are always working on the vehicle model and the physics, there are so many things to tweak and tune with a physics based game that it is always evolving. All of our gameplay revolve around physics, and in action it is a pretty full fledged physics simulation, nothing is faked or fudged. (well nothing major)

There is some clipping issues, which is a byproduct of the way our physics simulation is run over the network - but something we have some ideas to fix. In any case I have not found that they detract very much from having fun in the game. I'm pretty happy with what we have achieved so far with the resources we have. I hope you get to try out the beta or we release some newer videos with more gameplay to change your mind!