What we've been up too
Well, It has been over a month since Erich last posted on our blog. We've been extensively working on our mobile version of Mech-A-Pult and have handed it out to a couple very close friends to test. For those of you that love knowing frame rates and such of games, well I can announce that Mech-A-Pult runs at a perfect 60 FPS on both mobile and PC. This is for beyond mobile's target which is normally 30 FPS, we have been looking for ways to make things work better for mobile and we have been able to cut much of it out. We are also extremely close to sending out our Alpha/Beta invites, they would have come sooner but we realized it is not going to take much to push it very close to launch ready. Mech-A-Pult is built for mobile first and PC second and many of you want to test on PC, which we are fine with. This does mean, though, that the game will NOT be the optimized PC version with our crazy animations and extras we are planning for it.
Looking Ahead
With the end in sight, we are now looking forward to our launch and beyond. With only a few more things to do from animations for Spencer and Sprocket, finishing up the music, and extensive play testing we will be ready to launch. What are we planning after launch you may ask. Well we don't plan to start a new project for some time as we have a very large list of updates already planned for Mech-A-Pult. Just to give everyone an idea of what we have in store I will elaborate. When we launch, there will be 15 items present in the game with only one level, a junkyard. Shortly there-after we plan to raise the level cap and add anywhere from 5-15 more items to the game, along with another level, and launcher upgrades! Also each level is going to be a separate style, meaning, one may have low gravity and one may be under water, guess you'll have to wait to find out :). Right now we have 3 extra levels planned and are in the mist of figuring out at least 30 more items to add to the game, along with new environment items. To top it off I have begun building the achievements for the game, along with there being more then I can even count, there are some that are absolutely ridiculous and hilarious.
Beta!
Ahhh, our beta testing, I touched on this a little bit ago but I want to just throw a few things out there. As you know we planned to have a semi-closed beta for Mech-A-Pult. What I mean is we have close friends testing it but will let anyone that wants to test it, test it. They just need to come forward and say they want to and give us their email and boom, you are a beta tester, nice and easy. Now the reason I am bringing up our Beta is I want to lay down some perks for people helping us out. Upon the Beta invite you will have a link that will link back to our website's forum section, this is where we want everyone to post bugs, changes, issues, and so forth. However, we also are leaving a section for what people would love to see in the game or taken out. With that said for those of you that have a creative mind we are extremely open to objects and additions to gameplay you would like to see. If we all like your idea we will add it to the game to your specifications. We will make sure that if it is a store item we give you credit somewhere in its info and if it is an environment item we make sure in the info for them you also get credit. Remember, everything is going to be through the forum so we can maintain the posts and check for duplicates without sifting through a number of emails. It will make it easier on us and it will allow everyone to have discussions within the forum and possibly come up with even better ideas.
Sorry for such a wordy and not picture filled post guys, this is more informative then anything. As always stayed tuned to our blog, as we creep closer to launch we will update more frequently with add-ons and insight into the game that is Mech-A-Pult
Erik Smith
Project Lead/Programmer/Design
Well, It has been over a month since Erich last posted on our blog. We've been extensively working on our mobile version of Mech-A-Pult and have handed it out to a couple very close friends to test. For those of you that love knowing frame rates and such of games, well I can announce that Mech-A-Pult runs at a perfect 60 FPS on both mobile and PC. This is for beyond mobile's target which is normally 30 FPS, we have been looking for ways to make things work better for mobile and we have been able to cut much of it out. We are also extremely close to sending out our Alpha/Beta invites, they would have come sooner but we realized it is not going to take much to push it very close to launch ready. Mech-A-Pult is built for mobile first and PC second and many of you want to test on PC, which we are fine with. This does mean, though, that the game will NOT be the optimized PC version with our crazy animations and extras we are planning for it.
Looking Ahead
With the end in sight, we are now looking forward to our launch and beyond. With only a few more things to do from animations for Spencer and Sprocket, finishing up the music, and extensive play testing we will be ready to launch. What are we planning after launch you may ask. Well we don't plan to start a new project for some time as we have a very large list of updates already planned for Mech-A-Pult. Just to give everyone an idea of what we have in store I will elaborate. When we launch, there will be 15 items present in the game with only one level, a junkyard. Shortly there-after we plan to raise the level cap and add anywhere from 5-15 more items to the game, along with another level, and launcher upgrades! Also each level is going to be a separate style, meaning, one may have low gravity and one may be under water, guess you'll have to wait to find out :). Right now we have 3 extra levels planned and are in the mist of figuring out at least 30 more items to add to the game, along with new environment items. To top it off I have begun building the achievements for the game, along with there being more then I can even count, there are some that are absolutely ridiculous and hilarious.
Beta!
Ahhh, our beta testing, I touched on this a little bit ago but I want to just throw a few things out there. As you know we planned to have a semi-closed beta for Mech-A-Pult. What I mean is we have close friends testing it but will let anyone that wants to test it, test it. They just need to come forward and say they want to and give us their email and boom, you are a beta tester, nice and easy. Now the reason I am bringing up our Beta is I want to lay down some perks for people helping us out. Upon the Beta invite you will have a link that will link back to our website's forum section, this is where we want everyone to post bugs, changes, issues, and so forth. However, we also are leaving a section for what people would love to see in the game or taken out. With that said for those of you that have a creative mind we are extremely open to objects and additions to gameplay you would like to see. If we all like your idea we will add it to the game to your specifications. We will make sure that if it is a store item we give you credit somewhere in its info and if it is an environment item we make sure in the info for them you also get credit. Remember, everything is going to be through the forum so we can maintain the posts and check for duplicates without sifting through a number of emails. It will make it easier on us and it will allow everyone to have discussions within the forum and possibly come up with even better ideas.
Sorry for such a wordy and not picture filled post guys, this is more informative then anything. As always stayed tuned to our blog, as we creep closer to launch we will update more frequently with add-ons and insight into the game that is Mech-A-Pult
Erik Smith
Project Lead/Programmer/Design