What have we been up to?
After our successful Kickstarter, we’ve been heads down. Much of our work has been focused on some fairly large technical achievements. One of which we are incredibly excited to show and explain in our first-ever team stand-up!
What's a "stand up"?
A stand-up is typically when a team meets to show and explain their progress on given tasks. While Chien, Tim, and I do this regularly, we want to invite backers when we are at a good point in development to see the current state of the game and answer any questions they may have.
Team “Stand Up” will be held Friday, Nov 4th, @2pm PDT
http://twitch.tv/preyforthegods
Ok, what's new?
Prey for the Gods is an open world!
During our Kickstarter, while Chien and Tim were able to get the pre-alpha build running on consoles. Chien was still actively working on getting our game to work as an open world.
Why an open world?
For some people, the open world may sound easy, even a “no-brainer” but depending on team size and engine, it can be a major hurdle. For three people? It’s not something to take lightly. For us, we knew we wanted Praey for the Gods to take place on a massive island filled with impossible odds, and one of them is the island itself. We want the player to see the vast landscapes and explore the brave unknown.
Cool! So what does that mean for development?
A big reason people avoid open-world development is to do with the sheer amount of work that’s required to build the levels. Thankfully, Tim has set up a system that allows multiple people to work in areas on the island and check them in without fear of overwriting each other’s work. This allows for flexibility and an ability to move faster, as large areas won’t need to be locked off. We’ve divided up the island into several locations so that we can better focus on them. Names like “frozen lake, shores of the dead, highlands, etc.” are some areas we’ve concepted out and have begun laying out.
Ok cool. Soooo what else?!
- Elite Outfit, Heavy Outfit, Elite Pouch, and Torch are modeled, textured, and in the game.
- Raven Outfit, and Wolf Outfit are concepted and in modeling state.
- Elite Grappling Hook, Wolf Skins, and Raven Skins are initially concepted
- “Shores of the Dead” is the first pass in-game.
- Began rehearsal and experimentation with music
- Added additional states to our climbing. Revising the core locomotion and making it feel better.
- Trying out new lighting to help the player character colors be slightly more saturated.
- The second boss first pass is playable in the game
- Implemented cave system into the open world
- New tools for world-building
What are we working on now?
We wrapped the Kickstarter, laid out the focus for the rest of the year, and are pushing forward on those goals. Currently, we’re laying out locations on the island and iterating on the 2nd Boss. We have the 3rd boss prototyped and have some ideas mocked up for the 4th and 5th bosses. Even in this early stage, it’s very exciting, and we can’t wait for our first live stand-up on Twitch! Hope to see you there!
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