Content uploads.
Hi everyone! So this week has been really fun for us, as we've been getting all of our old content re-released on our new central channel (look up Arkode on YouTube), and we're nearly done. All existing videos are either uploaded or scheduled for release, and blogs posts have been going up on time twice a week, which is really great and bodes well for the rest of this year.
I personally am very happy with where we are at now in terms of our content and I'm sure Matthews agrees. He's been helping me with finishing touches for some newer videos which will be added to the schedule, and we've experimented with the podcast again with Sandesh making another appearance. We've been working around some audio sync issues, but it wont stop us from getting those up!
The podcasts are a bit behind in terms of release dates as we don't want to upload them all at the same time, but the livestreams are only behind by a few days now (time to make more!). Pacing with uploads is important for us so we maintaining consistency on the channel and it helps keep a buffer with certain videos in the event of missed weeks. To give you an estimate on the podcast delay, the one's we've recorded this week will go up in about 5 weeks time, but we expect this gap to close slowly but surely. This delay also accounts for the small buffer we want for a small holiday this year.
Prop system.
So moving on from our more social work, if you've been watching the livestreams you'll know that I'm currently designing the prop system, and working out how props will interact with the voxel engine and editor. I'm going to say for now that pretty much everything is placeholder as it's hard to tell what will stay and what will need to change as I go along. I'm a bit behind on this, but this has mainly been due to getting the content schedule all caught up. Now that this is in a great place however, I have no excuse and can really knuckle down getting this to where it needs to be. Livestreams will be frequent moving forward, so look out for those on Twitch (my brief change to mixer was a bad idea for a number of reasons which I may talk about in another blog post).
Matthews has been working on a starting model list for me to test with the new terrain editor and this is coming along nicely. We've settled on some basic starting assets to work with our first content pack, which I believe will be medieval England. Our discussed vision for this is to not lean hard into large castles and such, but more into countryside elements and small towns (we will however have at least one castle featured at some point to show off indoor voxel tech).
I just so happen to have loads of touristy guides for things like British wildlife, trees and minerals all by the same publisher, which have been invaluable in providing a coherent inspiration for our work. Matthews has been using them as quick reference for further research, but will ultimately take creative liberties if he thinks it works in the context of our game. I will just aim to provide feedback and help prevent hitting technical limitations if I foresee any.
Insomnia (the event, not the medical condition).
So one thing we've been talking about for months is looking into going to the Insomnia gaming festival in Birmingham, which would be really exciting if we could pull it off. Discussion has flared up again as it's fast approaching, with financing being a major point of contention. We asked for a booth quote and essentially decided that for the stage that we're at and the money we have, it simply isn't worth it. Our plan is to see if we can secure funding from our business support team (who are great BTW) to go as attendees instead.
Once there our intention is to experience the event as your typical attendees, and also try get to know fellow indie developers. We have our business cards and a laptop, so we can show our work as we go, and hopefully we find the audience we think is there. I really want to use the opportunity to grow our network and I hope we can provide just as much, if not more value and feedback to everyone else demoing work at the event. It is really about supporting each other at the end of the day, and making the most of the opportunity to talk to so many interesting people.
Fin.
So that about wraps it up this week! A bit more focused and concise, which is exactly what I was hoping for. There's a lot that we have to be hopeful for in the near future, and we really have to double down now and go for it. It's somewhat at the point of no return for us now, where with this project we're all in. It's a good kick up the back-side if nothing else! Hopefully we keep this up, with this increased level of transparency being something meaningful for you guys and as always, have a great week everyone!