And we're back!!!

So it has been two years since our last post and a lot has happened! There was a wedding,we had a baby, it's all go! And now there is a new game...Space Thinger is Wytchlight's third game and our first using the Unity Engine. After two platform games we thought we should try something a little different. We started the project last year and although we got a lot done in very little time our efforts of late have been rather thwarted by a chicken pox plague! It wasn't pretty. No one had fun. That is all on that subject. Our space shooter as it stands at the moment is in the alpha stage. We have released a couple of videos on YouTube to give you a taster of what is to come. The next step in terms of production is to refine the space combat mechanics and start adding some actual levels. We are hoping to create a Glados style voiceover to act as a helping hand as you play the game. We are pretty sure there are tools available to get a good result but some research will need to be done first. If it works out though we'll have a lot of fun with that! There is no release date for the game at the moment but we are hoping to keep you updated so when that changes you'll be the first to know. We are hoping to release on PC initially and, as we are part of the ID@XBox program, console at a later date.
In other news D has been playing through the Halo Masterchief Collection on the XBox One. He is on Halo 3 and we are working on Halo 2 in co-op mode. I am slowly chipping away on Lego The Movie and my games are seriously piling up! Tomb Raider is high on our list for this year so I should probably get a shift on...

And we're spent!!!

Drum roll...Exploding Imp is finally finished and out now on XBox Live Games Marketplace! We are delighted and relieved in equal measure!!! We weren't really expecting it to pass peer review so quickly so when it came to midnight last night and Imp was through we had nothing to celebrate with. We have however made up for it today by heading out for a cooked breakfast and buying some tasty spiced rum for some serious celebrating! I think the next stop will be some marketing and publicity before lining up our next project. We are fairly tempted by the prospect of a 3D game but it will require some additional reading and practice. Either way we look forward to the next year of more hard slog!!

Another update!

Well the great news is we have now finished putting together the levels. What remains to be done is decorating the last few and finished the level script for each. We are hoping to have the game up in playtest by the weekend. We didn't do that initially with Lemmy Lizard which is partly where we went wrong. This time round no friends or family are testing, only strangers/fellow developers who have always been very helpful and willing to give advice where needed. The AppHub is indeed a vital part of the process!
It would be nice for the game to do better than the last but one can never tell. I think that's one of the hardest parts of the game development: constantly asking yourself whether it'll be all worth it, whether this game will be more successful...especially as your last game was not so much!! Once playtest is done and any tweaking implemented it'll be peer review time and then the sales begin...hopefully! What a delightful Christmas present that would be :)
On another note entirely D and I have both been playing Halo 4 everyday since it came out. We are currently making our way through the co-op campaign on Heroic which is proving very exciting indeed. Better than ever I'd say! I'm definitely getting more enjoyment out of the deathmatch than I did last time, maybe because I'm getting better at it this time round as oppose to sucking constantly. I'm not saying we are master assassins but any improvement is good improvement, right?! We have also been playing all of the chapters in the Spartan Ops Mode although we haven't yet started Episode 2 that came out recently. I don't personally enjoy those as much as the war games or campaign but they are cool if you only have time to have a quick bash on Halo rather than a 2-3 hour sesh!
Anyway for me next month means Lego Lord of the Rings so I don't know where that will leave Halo 4 but I imagine I'll find time for both. I haven't yet finished Lego Batman 2 and D is still working his way through Dishonored so Halo certainly does have an effect!
Obviously Exploding Imp takes priority but you've got to play games to make a game, right?!

Progress report!

Well the past few weeks have been a bit slow going due to an epically exhausting house move! We are only just getting a regular work pattern going with Imp again as well so we have fallen a little behind on any sort of deadline. Nonetheless everything major is pretty much in place bar the levels for Exploding Imp which I have yet to design and implement. When we did Lemmy Lizard the levels were the last port of call and the same has been done this time round also. We've decided on fewer levels this time round, approximately 20, so between us we are expecting to bash them out pretty promptly. Unfortunately life tends to get in the way and there always seems to be some kind of house-related issue to resolve. On top of doing our data entry in order to pay the bills general Imp production has been slightly slower than expected hence the lack of blog update. I waffle enough as it is, no one wants to hear that on a weekly basis!
On a non work-related note I have still been playing a lot of Lego Pirates and D is making his way slowly through Mass Effect 3. We have our eye on Halo 4 and D has pre-ordered Dishonoured (or is it Dishonored?!) so that should see him through until Christmas. I have Lego DC Heroes waiting in the wings so I'm legoed right up!!! And don't get me started on Lego Lord of the Rings! Excitement of immense proportions! We went to see Looper at the weekend also. I would recommend but I'm not sure how impressed D was. I'm not sure I'd rave about it but it's definitely worth a 'Love Film' grab. Gordon-Levitt certainly does a good Bruce Willis (In the non-biblical sense, of course!)
Anyway I'll keep you updated on our progress. Hopefully next time I write Imp will be in Peer Review...One can dream!!

Exploding soon...

Haven't updated the blog in a while as life seems to get in the way! We've had birthdays, a family wedding and a broken exhaust pipe...and that was only the last week!
Regarding Imp D is putting the finishing touches to the enemies and I have been finding suitable sound effects before we sit down together and design the remainder of the levels. As I've said before we are only doing  about 20 levels this time round so we'll have to make each one count.
We've got a lot going on this month ie another wedding, holiday, moving house so there'll be no way we can finish the game this month however we are hoping for a release date at some point next month, October at the latest. I think by Christmas we want to be well into our third game so one can only hope that the second game is a better success than the first! Alas Lemmy was not received as well as hoped and our confidence took an epic bashing, live and learn though!

And so it continues....

Well we entered into the competition but left it so late I'm not sure whether our entry went through or not. All the same we achieved what we wanted to achieve and are now well on our way with Exploding Imp. Again we are saving the level design for the last task so at the moment D is working on the mechanics and finding small problems that need fixing and amending. We've found that one of the most important elements of the game is to keep it engaging and interesting so we're going to take a fair bit of time designing the levels together and rather than 50 they'll be 20 long ones. We have an artist on board to do our box art this time which is encouraging! We're hoping to finish the game by the end of next month give or take. We have a very very busy August so ideally we want the game up and running so we don't have to worry about it in the summer. We'll see how things go though. We've learnt that things never go to plan!

Oops!

Oops! I've just noticed that it has been pretty much a month since our last post. We have been incredibly wrapped up in working on Project Imp and tweaking it in time for DreamBuildPlay. I say tweaking but we still need to put some levels in. 11 days doesn't give us much time but we like a challenge and the deadline keeps us motivated! D has been doing some programming today, along with graphics as well. I've had to do data entry at the mo in order for us to pay our bills!! We're hoping that Imp might do a little better than Lemmy Lizard but you can never tell...We have been working late nights and weekends recently as well in order to cram everything in! We're hoping it will pay off in some way, be it the competition or sales afterwards. Imp won't be ready immediately after submission, maybe a month give or take...This time round we are making a conscious effort to right any wrongs that are pointed out to us and will be efficiently using the Playtest function on the App Hub!! We'll keep you posted on our submission which is due on 12th June at the latest!
On a non-work related note D and I have just started watching 'Dexter' after many recommendations. We're only watched 1 episode so far but already it shows a lot of promise. Also eagerly anticipating the season finale of 'Game of Thrones', especially after the last episode. Down with Joffrey!!!