Progress Introduction
Hey, everyone. It's been a while since the last update a result of being busy. I thought I'd update everyone on the progress we have made since, and where development is heading. We'll also talk a little on the release date.
System and Mechanics
Northern Regime has a lot of its core systems implemented and ready to be added to and refined. A few of these systems include; crafting, animal breeding, animal migration, experience, weapons, level bonuses, reputation, and a few more. The game right now is getting really close to being a fully playable and fun experience. It takes a while to create a game that can be played for hundreds of hours, and it's especially hard to make a game fun. I think we are getting really close to accomplishing that feeling, but it will take many more hours to get it perfect.
Kickstarter
I'm not sure if we will make our funding goal with-in the next 20 days but it's okay. Kickstarter would have allowed us to take a little longer and really polish Northern Regime. This just means we will be able to get help from the community earlier in development. Something super amazing happened, though; Kickstarter gave our page a "Project We Love" badge and that really means a lot knowing that the staff at Kickstarter has an interest in our game and ideas.
Road Map
We're going to be working on a lot of pretty "minor" stuff. It's minor but in a sense, it makes the game. I'm talking mostly about adding different items, resources, plants, ores, etc. As well adding different crafting recipes and item unlocks. I usually procrastinate on adding new items because it's a little more intense than I would have imagined. It's not difficult to do but it requires so much art and models it's insane. To craft one item we have to make at least 4 models and 4 images. 5 items would be about 20 models or more depending on the recipes. When Northern Regime does come out we'll allow people to submit item ideas as well as the recipes. The next few months of development will pretty much consist of adding items, recipes, level unlocks, enemies, just small things that make the game feel like it has a large amount of content.
Graphics
A lot of development has been focused on quality and graphics. I have a heavy compulsion when Northern Regime doesn't look fantastic, so I am usually always tweaking the graphics and color scheme to try and accomplish the best look possible. I think now I am finally happy with how it looks so the graphics will most likely be untouched for the next little while to focus on making NR fun and engaging. I mean, most of the development for the next few months will be tweaking and polishing.
Testing Team
Developing a game for 12-14 hours a day you really start to forget about small bugs and problems. To get around this I would like to assemble a devoted team to test and report all bugs and problems they encounter. There will be a private forum on the Northern Regime website so the team can make entries. This will really help development form around the opinions of others which is what I really want to an extent.
Release Date
I personally would like to release sometime in November or even better, December. However, these are two months would be the worst time to release an indie title. Because it is near Christmas time, so many big companies release their games. I know we are not competing with these companies but we are competing to gain the same consumers which causes a conflict of interest.
Outro
I know this update wasn't totally about game-play, sorry for that. We will make sure the next update will go over Northern Regime a lot more, it will also come a lot sooner for you guys! Thanks for the support everyone, developing Northern Regime has been a total dream. I haven't enjoyed making anything more.