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[jO]

Sweet progress! What kind of gameplay will await me when entering the temples? Is there some kind of mini-game to it?

[eigenbom]

Yeah, it turns into TEMPLE RUN!

[Eigen]

Thanks, you guys!

Yeah, it turns into TEMPLE RUN!

Hah, yeah. Endless runner mini-game. Actually I'm not exactly sure what dangerous perils await you in there. One thing is for sure, the temple will be a whole lot larger on the inside than it is on the outside. So I'm thinking a bit of wandering in dark corridors with pressures plates and whatnot and lighting your way with a torch trying not to get lost. And maybe to open the treasure chest play a little sliding puzzle game. Or perhaps not because getting to it was enough of a challenge.

Last weekend I was at Garage48 hacking out a new mobile app (being the only mobile dev in the team the pressure was all on me) and this weekend IGDA Estonia is organizing a hackathon which I'm taking part of as well. After that I'll sleep and after that I'm back on Pioneers.

[muzboz]

I tried playing the Mac version, and it's cool!  But I got stuck right near the start, just not really sure how to move around and things. 

I mean, I figured out how to move, and end the turn so you get more movement points, but I couldn't progress north.  I just seemed to be stuck amongst some trees and hills and things, and couldn't get any further north.

I thought the intro was really cool, but perhaps a little more hand holding could continue while the player first starts playing. 

Great stuff, all the best.

[Eigen]

Hey, thanks man. Sorry for not replying sooner. I've been super busy.

So. I submitted Pioneers to IGF. It's not ready and won't be for a while but hey, what do I have to lose (besides 90 bucks which pays for quite a few meals). Perhaps some new peeps will come across the game as a result. That's enough for me.

I made a new little video to go along with the submission. Have a look.



I'll post a more detailed status update tomorrow. One thing's for sure - I got more done this week than in the whole last few months, which is both great and quite sad.

New build is coming in a few days also.

[eigenbom]

Deadlines are great for productivity. Vid looks great.

[hube]

The video looks awesome. The volume of content you have amassed in this production is really impressive. The game looks like it has incredible depth. The music in the video was great. Made me want to go camping.

[jmcmorris]

The video looks great. You've accomplished quite a lot since I saw this last. Keep up the good work! :D

[dukope]

The UI looks so great. And the little vignette animations. Really beautiful.

[kleiba]

I actually think that there's way to much text in the video (and whenever there's finally one of your beautiful landscapes or so, you cut away after half a second, it seems).

But I do think it's really amazing how far you've come with this game! I haven't followed very closely for a couple of months only, and wow! has it progressed! 

[Eigen]

Thanks so much guys! I *really* appreciate it. I've been working hard on it lately and I'm glad it shows.

I actually think that there's way to much text in the video (and whenever there's finally one of your beautiful landscapes or so, you cut away after half a second, it seems).

Yeah, sorry, video editing is something I find really difficult (and don't really enjoy as a result) so I probably got the balance wrong. I sort of wanted to show the text as it's part of the game but maybe I should've cut the appearing bit. I'll do better next time

The UI looks so great. And the little vignette animations. Really beautiful.

Ooh, thanks man. Appreciated!

The video looks awesome. The volume of content you have amassed in this production is really impressive. The game looks like it has incredible depth. The music in the video was great. Made me want to go camping.

Thanks. It's not very deep in fact. I have a bit here and bit there but none of the features go all the way nor very deep yet. Still a lot to do. I just wanted to some things to do rather than just wandering around. Eg. the temples. Eventually you'll be able to go in there and explore around, not just read a message "You emerge with this or that amount of treasure". But it will do for now.

Deadlines are great for productivity. Vid looks great.

Yeah, but they're rather taxing on personal life. At least this last week was.

The video looks great. You've accomplished quite a lot since I saw this last. Keep up the good work! :D

Hey, thanks! Seeing how the last build is from February it should be pretty different even at the slowest pace of development. But yeah. I looked at the earliest dev videos from April of last year and these are painfully old and primitive. I have this constant irrational fear "what if I had to restart from that point ... could I do it?". No is the answer.

[kcbanner]

Just stopping by to say this game looks great! I was just playing the alpha builds and it feels quite polished. Well done and I'm looking forward to more!

[jO]

That's great, I'm really glad you entered the IGF! Your out to win this one, at least in our book! I won't wish you luck because you should not need it - you put so much work into the game instead.
I wish for you to get the attention you deserve. 

[eigenbom]

I wish for you to get the attention you deserve. 

Yeah me too, good luck matey!

[TNERB]

Good luck in the IGF!
I haven't checked in on this devlog in awhile but I'm so glad to see its sailing to stars!

[Eigen]

Thanks, guys. You're very kind. Too kind even. I don't feel it deserves it yet because there's such a long way to go still. But I'm glad to know I'm on the right path because the thorny bushes on one side and the sheer cliff drop on the other sometimes make me wonder if I didn't take a wrong turn somewhere

Keeping on keeping on.

I should be able to release a new build this weekend. Right now I'm going through the game source and moving all hard coded texts into a localization file. I even wrote a little Java application to ease localization. So if someone wants to translate the game to Russian or German or whatever, they can do it pretty easily now. I'm bundling this little tool with the game, hopefully adding others in the future (one for editing items and whatnot).

I also

because the beginning of the previous one was too long and boring. I cut most of the texty bits.

[eobet]

I check this thread from time to time, but I don't read things closely, so here's some feedback on the re-cut video from a distant onlooker:

Amazingly nostalgic graphics and color palette!  Even more impressive is that the user interface seem to blend historic illustrations with the oldschool graphics AND be seemingly both intuitive and slick at the same time. That's a wonderful accomplishment and it looks super polished.

However, when it comes to the actual gameplay itself, I must confess I did not see much. I saw lots of leveling up, some ship building, moving of items and goods and lots of different ways you could travel. I didn't see any establishment of contact with natives, I didn't see any creation of new settlements, I don't think I saw trade or the acquiring of goods to trade. I saw no combat, disease, starvation or any dangers to make things exciting. The only interesting thing that happened was the discovery of a temple, but that seemed to only be a dialogue. In short, I don't think I saw much pioneering going on at all...

So, the TL;DR is it looks wonderful, but do you do anything in the game besides travel?

Hopefully gameplay will be fleshed out in the future!   

[Eigen]

I can't tell you how absolutely right you are. That is the main issue right now and the reason I'm not so happy about this all. Combat is there in the game but it's very simplistic and I'm planning to do a new combat system very soon. Maybe it should be the next task, even. Same with the native tribes ... still on the to-do list ... although I'm uncertain of the course of action.

Temples also. I wanted them in the new build but I had very little time so I implemented them in the simplest form. That's going to be scrapped.

And diseases and sickness and injuries and ... you get the picture

Your comment is very true and all I have is excuses. But I promise they will come.

Book them and they will come.


But I'm glad to hear you like the visuals and the UI. Keeping things clean and usable is certainly a challenge and I'm constantly adjusting things.

Cheers!

[08--n7.r6-79.84]

I really like the game, just as I really like graphics. Very nice :3

[eobet]

Same with the native tribes ... still on the to-do list ... although I'm uncertain of the course of action.

For inspiration, I would like to recommend the book 1491 by Mann & Johnson. The descriptions in that book are amazing, of sprawling native South American nations with agriculture and vast cities, who in the span of a few years get completely wiped out by disease brought from the old world. So, perhaps the game could start out with quite plentiful and large native settlements that have plenty to trade, but as time progresses in the game and disease spreads wherever the player goes, the settlements become ghost towns and disappear making it more difficult for the player. I tell you, the stories in that book are haunting, especially one about a native who goes to Europe a few years and when he gets back, his entire nation is just gone. All his family, relatives, elders, leaders, people, everyone he knows had gotten sick and died and all he finds are empty houses with skeletons everywhere.