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[dangerz]

I wanted to introduce my game, AstroMiner. I've been documenting the build at http://dangerz.blogspot.com and recently put a website/forums up at http://www.astrominer.net.

AstroMiner takes place on a remote asteroid belt.  You were headed towards another planet when you lost control of your main ship and you had to make an emergency evac. You have to explore the asteroids, gather resources and build a base so you can eventually figure out a way to get back home. There are currently 4 different types of enemy in the game, ~15 different types of resources, 8 different structures you can build and liquids that you can find on the asteroids.

The game is written in XNA and I'm looking for a PC release primarily to start.

I have a whole bunch of screenshots at http://www.astrominer.net/g/, but here are some of my favorites.







I'll keep posting my updates here.  Downloadable version can be found here.

[dangerz]

There's some footage of bombs being dropped.  Bombs need ~2 blocks worth of space to fully materialize.  If you don't give them that, they won't detonate and you'll waste the bomb.  You can see this in action near the end of the video.

My testers have been working the latest build and so far nothing major has come up.  Here's the changelog for the next build: http://www.astrominer.net/f/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7.

[kamac]

Ow man. Hard to see something with so small range of view.

Water physics seem nice, but i can't tell for sure (small range of view  ).

Can't say more from current footage.

[dangerz]

Created a new launcher for the game.  More details at http://dangerz.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-launcher-updates-on-future-of-game.html.  I also toyed with porting my game over to MonoGame.  It was super easy to port, but I wasn't entirely happy with the results.  I posted those stats at http://dangerz.blogspot.com/2011/11/monogame-vs-xna-comparison.html.  Lastly, if anyone's interested in testing, sign up on my forums at http://www.astrominer.net/f.  I'd like to get at least 5 more testers for the next build.

[dangerz]

I've spent the night working on a forge.  Full details and more screenshots are at my dev blog, http://dangerz.blogspot.com.  It was fun to make and it adds another crafting element to the game.

[dangerz]

Huge image of the base I've built.  I use it to test all the new stuff I add.

[dangerz]

New image showing the new lighting and new background.  You can kinda see the new sun too.

(click for big)

Current list of changes for this build are at http://www.astrominer.net/f/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13.  I'm going to release it to the testers tonight.  As long as nothing major comes up, I'm hoping for a bigger test release on here soon.

[dangerz]

Not sure how to embed YouTube videos, but I uploaded a new video showing the new lighting setup.

[dangerz]

3000x4000 image of my new Alpha base.

Alpha II


I lost the original Alpha base when I was updating the code to save maps.  The code update went successfully, but I stopped the application using the Debugger's Stop button in the middle of a save :[

Anyway, I took more screenshots of the surrounding area this time.  This also shows the new lighting that I have in the game.

[dangerz]

New video showing the pumps and tractor beam: 

[dangerz]

First public build is released: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=22847

[keoni29]

Quite dark in there

[dangerz]

I'm working on brightening it up :]

New post on my devblog at http://dangerz.blogspot.com/

I have some new art that someone made for me and game updates!  In a nutshell, open alpha is going really well :]

[dangerz]

Released a new build.  You can download it from the Feedback thread.

Here is the list of changes:

• Radar
• Better Mouse Controls
• Beam lights up the area around it
• More Base2
• Performance updates - more specifically, the structures draw method and the world draw method have been combined, giving me an increase in 30fps.  Player won't notice because the game is fixed at 60fps, but it gives me more leeway for when I want to add features in the future.
• Chests now drop items if they are destroyed
• W and A can now be used to control the menu.
• Top left GUI can now be modded.
• Ability to turn audio on/off has been added to the options screen.
• Logging support has been added.  A game.log file is created in the root folder.
• Background track from Connor Humphreys - Artist of the Fortnight (1 of many!)
  

Pretty soon I will start work on the terraforming aspect of the game.  I can't wait to get into that.. I have a lot of ideas sketched out.

[dangerz]

New release tonight.  Here's the changelog:

• All items and blocks now have their own floating graphic.
• Memory leak in floatingItemsManager has been fixed.
• Fixed bug where breaking glass could destroy tractor beam.
• Fluid engine has been completely redone from scratch.
• structuresManager draw() method has been optimized.
• The higher the player goes, the less thick the asteroids become.
• Pipes can now be placed inside of blocks.
• When a player is on the ground and they place an item, it gets placed 2 blocks below.  This has been fixed so the item is placed directly below.

This version has an important map update.  You cannot play your old maps until you convert them.
Follow the directions at http://www.astrominer.net/f/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=66&p=126 to convert.

[dangerz]

I've been working on multiplayer a lot lately.  I've hit a lot of hurdles, but I have a path forward and I'm following it.  You can see the full details here:  http://dangerz.blogspot.com/2011/12/multiplayer-milestones-and-summary-of.html

I also have a summary and lots of screenshots of my year in game development.  I'm hoping to have the first multiplayer build complete within the next 2 weeks (in time for the holiday break).