Hey all!
Back again with another update and video. I know I haven't been keeping up with updates here as frequently. We've just been keeping our heads down and working away on the game.
I have got some good news. The game is now finally playable from start to finish. You can start from the start screen, play through the game, get to the ending, get the credits sequence, and then go back to the start screen.
Needless to say, this is a major milestone for us.
I've included more information and game footage in the latest development update video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQyc7rDkGvM
This one ended up longer than usual, but there was a lot of ground to cover.
Tech
The save system and level loading system had been persistent problems for a long time, and getting the two to work together was especially challenging. A large part of the issue was due to the complexity of these systems. Manifold Garden has persistent save - you can carry objects between levels, save the game at any point and restore to that exact state. On top of that, we have dynamic level loading - once the game starts, there is no load screen of any kind. Instead, levels are loaded and unloaded automatically in the background.
Behind the scenes, there's a lot going on. Scenes need to be tracked and save data needs to be updated accordingly. If a particular scenario is overlooked, it's easy to end up with duplicate data, causing the game to not load or save. This was a major problem for playtesters as it prevented them from progressing very far. After spending quite a bit of time tackling this issue, we're happy to say that these issues are fixed. At least, we haven't seen observed them in the playtests for a while.
Otherwise, for tech, it’s been a lot of little bugs here and there. Object physics behaving weirdly in certain points, being able to noclip into the wall if you change gravity at just the right angle, stuff like that. We’ve been addressing these as they come up.
Audio
We were having a lot of issues with audio at one point. Sounds crackling, sounds getting delayed, sounds not playing at all.
In the end, a lot of it turned out to be the way we had things set up in FMOD. For the team, this was our first time using FMOD, and there’s a lot of nuance to the program. The number of active voices you can have, which sounds are streamed, etc. A lot of the problems didn’t come up when testing individual levels, but once you have the whole game running, and hundreds of objects loaded all emitting sound, that was when it became an issue. Fortunately, a lot of the problems have since been addressed.
We also added a custom audio occlusion system. While the basics of the system were straightforward, getting audio occlusion to work across portals proved to be much trickier.
In the video, starting a 5:55, you can check out a short preview of the audio design and an explanation of the audio occlusion system.
Art
The art style of the game is pretty finalized. Most of the remaining tasks are polish.
There are minor things like the button here needing to be updated to match the style of the cube.
We still need to play around with color correction as well. This is especially evident in the green gravity.
All in all though, the art issues are fairly minor.
Design
Design has undergone a massive and significant change in the last 6 months. It became clear with the most recent playtests that the layout of the world was too convoluted. Additionally, there was too much emphasis on large open areas. While these do provide stunning vistas, they were overused, which lead to a lot of pacing issues.
We've been focusing on streamlining the core experience, and adding more diversity in level size and design. There are now more mid-sized indoor levels in between the large outdoor spaces, which provide strong contrast and a better sense of progression through the game. Previously, we were seeing players getting to 90 minutes, and just stopping due to feeling overwhelmed or lost. Now, we’re seeing players go for 4, 5 or more hours.
Production
Between the design changes, development, and overseeing the project, I haven’t really had much time left for anything else.
We’re on track to get the game out in early 2019. I know at the beginning of this year that I said 2018 was going to be the year. We didn’t quite make it, but we did make really significant progress. There are still several things that need to be sorted before we can announce a launch date, but we’re getting there.
I’m excited to be in this final stretch. It’s been a long journey, but there’s still ways to go, but I’m so happy to have made it this far. In the coming months, we’re going to be publishing a series of articles and videos explaining all the tech of the game in detail: how our graphics pipeline works, how we’re optimizing levels, and so on.
If you want to stay up-to-date, there are a couple of options:
Mailing list
YouTube channel
Twitter
Discord
Twitch
And don’t forget to wishlist the game here on Steam!