Hello Everyone,
V2: We would have updated today, but we ran into a few snags and found some better ways to work a couple systems. I'm sorry we weren't able to do an update, but itll be well worth the wait. Like I said below, October is going to be amazing. We're looking at early next week to do the push, which will have a much higher frequency to follow.
V1: I haven't made an announcement in a while, so I wanted to let everyone know we're still alive.
October is going to be a busy, yet fruitful month for us. We are finalizing a lot of the network framework, and preparing the back end of the game to handle the upcoming gameplay features. We were hoping to have a lot of things plugged in last Friday the 25th, but we found a few things that were a little shaky, so we decided to spend some extra time improving the stability. By doing so, we've been able to prepare a lot more than we imagined, so this is a very good thing for ABD.
What we are doing is very rare, and incredibly difficult to achieve on a scale that is unprecedented. I would rather we spend a little extra time and get things perfect, versus sending you something that isn't rock solid. I am very sorry that it has taken so long, but I assure you the wait will be worth it. With the framework being nearly complete, ABD is about to come to life as we move from stability to functionality implementation. So thankfully, the wait is nearly over for gameplay!
The UI has also been given quite a bit of consideration, as well as the environment and animations. On a side note with the UI, we have restructured it in a way that can be translated into a huge number of languages. It isn't quite a high priority right now, but I would like to ask the community if they would be willing to translate the game to their native language. Make a comment below if you are interested in translating for ABD, and I'll get in touch with you; your name will go in the credits of course.
We are finishing up the last two weeks of work, and we will be doing a push a little later this week on the Beta branch, and if all goes well it'll be live on the public branch. I'll be posting an inclusive update on what's involved in the update, as well as what's planned to go in next. We will start doing weekly announcements that start with major updates, and edit the announcements with "V1, V2, V3, etc" bug reports or events that pop up throughout the week; then posting another announcement with the following content release. This way, nobody has to search around for issues or upcoming concepts it'll all be in one place. Please still use the forums, just make sure to post in the correct branch.
Again, I'm very sorry it has taken so long, but I am absolutely thrilled to see your reactions in the coming weeks. This is truly going to get rather interesting, and I can barely contain myself from spilling all the beans! Boris and Jack would kill me... So in the interest of self preservation, I must remain quiet... ..For now.
-Robert Bonner
Creative Producer for ABD: A Beautiful Day
www.gagamaggotent.com
PS: It is possible that we will be having a really famous developer working with us, but it is highly dependent on sales. He has shown a huge level of interest, which coincides with the passion you guys and gals have for ABD, so this is pretty exciting to get noticed like that. Once the time comes I'll name drop, but until then I feel it would be jumping the gun. Either way, it's a huge compliment to our team.