Plan for Andy Schatz
by Andy Schatz · 07/22/2005 (2:20 am) · 12 comments
Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa has officially gone ALPHA.
In one month, we will go BETA. If you REGISTER with a valid email address you will be invited to be a part of the beta.
We still have some work to do, and if anyone is interested in helping out, email me at info@pocketwatchgames.com. We may need:
-Modeler
-Sketch Artist
-Programming help (to fix the remaining bugs in the TorqueSWF flash code, line rendering doesn't work)
And now, the hard push for a console or handheld deal begins...
Without further ado, the screenshots:
The first moment of the first level. With crickets:
Yummy! Notice the Spring Hares and the rearing zebras in the background:
Our new fancy tutorial:
zebras and flamingoes breeding:
All this pretty and the game will only be about 16 MB. I can't wait to get this game into the public.
Thanks to
-Adam deGrandis for his incredible environments, GarageGames intern and superstar
-John Seguin for badass sound design, soon to be a big playa in the indie music space
-Nicole Anguish for her AWESOME 2d art, flash development, and web design, what would I do without her
-Greg Lemon for his animations (this guy worked on XMen 2 -- yes, the movie)
-Artie Moffa for his brilliant poetry and philosophical outlook
-And everyone else for contributing or keeping me sane.
To close, I'll leave you with one of the limericks that Artie has composed. A different limerick tells the story in between each of 25 levels in story mode:
Dr Willoughby extolled:
"I think that flamingoes are great:
Rich plumage and well-balanced gait.
When our trip has ended
A pair would look splendid
In front of my London estate"
In one month, we will go BETA. If you REGISTER with a valid email address you will be invited to be a part of the beta.
We still have some work to do, and if anyone is interested in helping out, email me at info@pocketwatchgames.com. We may need:
-Modeler
-Sketch Artist
-Programming help (to fix the remaining bugs in the TorqueSWF flash code, line rendering doesn't work)
And now, the hard push for a console or handheld deal begins...
Without further ado, the screenshots:
The first moment of the first level. With crickets:
Yummy! Notice the Spring Hares and the rearing zebras in the background:
Our new fancy tutorial:
zebras and flamingoes breeding:
All this pretty and the game will only be about 16 MB. I can't wait to get this game into the public.
Thanks to
-Adam deGrandis for his incredible environments, GarageGames intern and superstar
-John Seguin for badass sound design, soon to be a big playa in the indie music space
-Nicole Anguish for her AWESOME 2d art, flash development, and web design, what would I do without her
-Greg Lemon for his animations (this guy worked on XMen 2 -- yes, the movie)
-Artie Moffa for his brilliant poetry and philosophical outlook
-And everyone else for contributing or keeping me sane.
To close, I'll leave you with one of the limericks that Artie has composed. A different limerick tells the story in between each of 25 levels in story mode:
Dr Willoughby extolled:
"I think that flamingoes are great:
Rich plumage and well-balanced gait.
When our trip has ended
A pair would look splendid
In front of my London estate"
About the author
#2
07/22/2005 (5:49 am)
Wow those enviorments look great!!! 
#3
Everything look very nice. I noticed that with the overhead map on the bottom right of the screen, some of the creature 'blips' extend outside of the UI. It might be more trouble to fix it than it's worth.
07/22/2005 (5:54 am)
The flowers over the flamingos head look good!Everything look very nice. I noticed that with the overhead map on the bottom right of the screen, some of the creature 'blips' extend outside of the UI. It might be more trouble to fix it than it's worth.
#4
Congratulations, and good luck going forward!
07/22/2005 (7:30 am)
Outstanding work guys! This looks very different kind of game - I'm anxious to see the final (or near-final) version!Congratulations, and good luck going forward!
#5
@Unsung- Regarding the blips outside the map: yes... that's why we're ALPHA and not GOLD :) Over the next few weeks that map will be replaced by the same map, texture mapped onto a sphere which spins as the player moves about.
07/22/2005 (8:01 am)
@Chris- ha, yes, they are not cross breeding... although that's a cool idea ;)@Unsung- Regarding the blips outside the map: yes... that's why we're ALPHA and not GOLD :) Over the next few weeks that map will be replaced by the same map, texture mapped onto a sphere which spins as the player moves about.
#7
07/22/2005 (9:21 am)
Oh yeah... we rule. :) 
#8
07/22/2005 (9:53 am)
@Andy - Not going to share how you got the project compressed so small ?
#9
By the way- We define "alpha" as:
-all non-aesthetic features present
-game is fun
-all assets at least at first draft level
-game playable from start to finish
-First third of game balanced to beta level
-All known crash bugs fixed
Things that are *not* included in "alpha":
-balancing
-final assets (animations still need a pass, some UVs on models need work, not all the Shell is pretty yet)
-Non crash bugs fixed (line rendering in flash is the big nasty one)
-Optimized (memory and speed) for low-end machine
You ask how did we get our file size that low?
-All UI is built in Flash -- that saves us a fair amount
-Sounds are compressed fairly small (but with high quality). We actually don't have that many SFX in the game, so that helps
-Environments are built from a fairly small number of textures, the variations we have are through the terrain geo, skyboxes, lighting, and ambience
-Relatively low count of dts models (11 animals + trees and bushes and a few other environmental models)
-We only have what we REALLY need. We don't have textures or sounds that are similar... we follow a mantra of getting bang for our buck
-Delete all stock Torque stuff that isn't necessary
-We use the NullSoft install builder tool, which takes your files and compresses them into an install executable. I've been very happy with this tool, though I wish there was a drag and drop interface for building the file inclusion script.
07/22/2005 (10:22 am)
Sorry for the late reply -- I was napping :)By the way- We define "alpha" as:
-all non-aesthetic features present
-game is fun
-all assets at least at first draft level
-game playable from start to finish
-First third of game balanced to beta level
-All known crash bugs fixed
Things that are *not* included in "alpha":
-balancing
-final assets (animations still need a pass, some UVs on models need work, not all the Shell is pretty yet)
-Non crash bugs fixed (line rendering in flash is the big nasty one)
-Optimized (memory and speed) for low-end machine
You ask how did we get our file size that low?
-All UI is built in Flash -- that saves us a fair amount
-Sounds are compressed fairly small (but with high quality). We actually don't have that many SFX in the game, so that helps
-Environments are built from a fairly small number of textures, the variations we have are through the terrain geo, skyboxes, lighting, and ambience
-Relatively low count of dts models (11 animals + trees and bushes and a few other environmental models)
-We only have what we REALLY need. We don't have textures or sounds that are similar... we follow a mantra of getting bang for our buck
-Delete all stock Torque stuff that isn't necessary
-We use the NullSoft install builder tool, which takes your files and compresses them into an install executable. I've been very happy with this tool, though I wish there was a drag and drop interface for building the file inclusion script.
#10
Yeah, this is a known issue with GameSWF. There is a workaround, from the GameSWF page:
There's a FAQ about random issues here: www.tulrich.com/geekstuff/gameswf.html I guess that should be listed in the TorqueSWF page. ;)
Hope that helps!
07/22/2005 (11:01 am)
Quote:
Programming help (to fix the remaining bugs in the TorqueSWF flash code, line rendering doesn't work)
Yeah, this is a known issue with GameSWF. There is a workaround, from the GameSWF page:
Quote:
Line drawing is not supported very well (doesn't handle thickness). Flash MX has a feature to convert lines into shapes, to solve this in specific problem cases, so it's not high on my priority list.
There's a FAQ about random issues here: www.tulrich.com/geekstuff/gameswf.html I guess that should be listed in the TorqueSWF page. ;)
Hope that helps!
#11
07/22/2005 (11:03 am)
Hey Brian THANKS!!! That's awesome. That should solve a big worry of mine -- especially knowing that it simply isn't supported, but there is a workaround -- takes away all the decision making for me... 
#12
07/22/2005 (9:11 pm)
mmmm Beta 
Torque Owner Chris Labombard
Premium Preferred
That's a scary thought ;)
Wow! I am having trouble getting mine below 55mb (zipped)... How did you get yours so low ???