Double Dude Studio » Double Dude Studio

Hullfire beta 0.2.0

Netsu — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:33:26 +0000

We planned to release 0.2.0 before January so we’re now a month behind schedule. But that’s alright, because this update brings a lot of new stuff.
There were some changes in the engine, but most of them won’t be visible until we make new maps. There is now an in-game chat (activated by pressing ‘t’) plus a lot of convenience changes and bug fixes. All the GUI you see during a game was also reworked (this includes new pickup icons, HUD and menus).

There’s really too much to mention in a blog post, but you can check the full changelog in the downloads section as usual.
Enjoy!

Hullfire downloads

Hullfire beta 0.1.3

Netsu — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:32:25 +0000

This update took longer than we expected, but it has one major new feature, and bugfixes that were very important to netplay.

As usual, the full changelog is in the downloads section (link below) but the most important changes are:
-addition of repair stations
-massive changes in netplay code, should give you a much better online experience
-ships no longer collide with each other (this is for the sake of better network synchronisation)
-acid shotgun somehow buffed

Download the new version here:
Hullfire downloads

Hullfire beta 0.1.2

Netsu — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:15:05 +0000

The third release of Hullfire beta is uploaded. I fixed some bugs (a few of them pretty serious) and implemented some features people requested, including hiding the pointer, camera shake control, more visible ship ignition and better controls explanation.

As usual, see the download section for full changelog and download links.

Hullfire downloads

Hullfire beta is here

Netsu — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:50:05 +0000

Yesterday we released the Hullfire beta 0.1.0 and gathered quite a lot of feedback. Based on the bugs people found I put together a patch (took me 7 hours straight). Changelog and download links can be found in the downloads section of the Hullfire sub-site here:

Hullfire downloads

I hope this patch contains enough bugfixes to make playing the game comfortable so we can focus on version 0.2.0 which will bring some new features.

Hullfire development continues

Netsu — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:50:00 +0000

No video this time, but I just felt like sharing the fact that I finally got around to optimize font rendering and it sped things up significantly.

Also, text can now be colour coded, AI has 4 difficulty settings, GUI can be used with just the keyboard, we have a second tileset for new maps, there is a ton of bug fixes, ships can now be instantly exploded by a hit instead of always just catching fire upon being shot down, there is message log, and last but not least expect a playable beta build pretty soon!

AI and spectator view

Netsu — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:02:09 +0000

After a little vacation/exam session break we’re back at development. While Tymek is busy drawing the artwork for all the characters I made some adjustments to the map editor, wrote the AI (still needs a little polish and more than one difficulty setting) and a simple spectator view which allows you to follow other players around before you respawn.

See the video above for two bots fighting each other seen in spectator mode.

Map editor finished

Netsu — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:11:40 +0000

The map editor is finished, it still might have some bugs and as the game will gain more features so will the editor, but for now it has everything we need: placing and rotating blocks, pickups and spawn points (both with optional snapping), changing background colour, rotation and dimensions of the map and switching between various views.

Having a WYSIWYG map editor is already showing it’s great advantages. Tymek should soon get down to making some more tilesheets and maps.

The sounds so far

Netsu — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:59:30 +0000

We finally got around recording the sounds we’ve been adding to the game. In the video you can see two new ships, Shock Mines, Plasma Blaster, Machinegun and the Bolt Driver.

Hullfire Map Editor WIP

Netsu — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:03:33 +0000

Today I managed to make the first map using our map editor. I hope this development tool will be ready for use in a week or so, then Tymek will be able to fill the game with delicious map content.

As you can see maps consist of blocks and tiles which are scriptable and distributed with the map as simple text files. Once all different types of blocks are scripted they can be used to build the map. It’s quite fun, like Lego bricks or something

We plan on releasing the editor together with the game, but the interface probably won’t be very friendly as I’m writing it mainly for ourselves. It will have a tutorial of some sort though.

A sound update (with no sounds)

Netsu — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:13:40 +0000

I was supposed to upload a video showing the sounds, but I can’t get my desktop recorder to capture it correctly and after a few days I give up, so a text description has to suffice.
I finished the sound module some time ago and been fiddling with different game sounds. The 4 previous weapons have all the sounds in place, although some of them are still place-holders and all of them require some further refinement. There’s also this neat engine/exhaust sound that we’re still improving on.

I’m also adding two more weapons to the game, one primary and one secondary:

Bio Cannon (primary) – basically a giant shotgun that shoots green goo. The substance does little damage but sticks to ships slowing them down, so you can easily finish them off with your second weapon

Shock Mines (secondary) – small mines with a 5 second fuse that also go off when an enemy touches them, we plan to balance them in a way that encourages using them as offensively as possible (cutting your enemy’s path and placing them right in front of him)