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Posted by Germain on 29 Sep 2012 /
86 Comments
Sep
29
2012
86Hey there!
Wow, the month of September is almost over. Time is going by so fast when you’re working hard it’s scary!
We thought we would get a breather once the Kickstarter ended, but it’s not the case at all. During the Kickstarter, we bascially had nothing to lose, so the pressure was there, but not in an concrete way. But now that we actually have a lot of people with a lot of expectation and some money involved, the pressure is there right next to you, staring at you. It’s hard to not go crazy.
People who’ve seen Indie Game: The Movie are a bit closer to understanding what it means to be in the situation we’re in right now. In fact I encourage you to go see that movie. I can’t really find the words to express how much this movie shows EXACTLY what François and I have been living for the past two years (with Benoît and Thierry now in the same boat). And right now, with the possibility of success right on our doorstep and a 27,000 pairs of eyes looking at us with expectation. I’d say I’m amazed I haven’t had one of those emotional collapses that the guys in IG:TM have two or three times.
Anyway, I won’t bore you with the highs and lows of Sauropod’s spirits — On to the progress report! Here’s a list of what we’ve been up to this week:
- Our audio guy has finished installing his setup and we’ve started figuring out how to add sound effects to the game. I think every Unity3d developer will agree with me that Unity’s sound engine is pretty dreadful, so we took special care in finding a good plugin for our audio. At the moment, the sound effects don’t seem very impressive: we’ve added footstep sounds to our Bricktrons. But it’s way more complicated than it seems. We’ve had to sync the sounds to the character animation, and again, Unity is very reluctant to let us do that; a bit of hacking was necessary. Unity, if you’re reading this, please let us add animation events to our “read-only” animations!
- We’ve successfully separated our tasks (mining, construction, etc) into separate groups. So now, for example, you can build a wall in a certain group, and a tower in a second group. You can drag & drop Bricktrons in one group or another to make them work in a specific task. This is a really great tool to speed up the construction
- To accomodate those groups, we’ve started working on a GUI taskbar on the bottom of our screen. Basically it shows one button per group, with an icon to show what type of group, and a number to show how many Bricktrons are currently in that group. If you hover your cursor on the button, a tooltip appears above to show how many Bricktrons are working and how many are idle (although, this functionality hasn’t been added yet) Here’s what it looks like at the moment.
This is only a mockup, the interface might not actually look like this in the final version. ;)
- We’ve upgraded the mines a bit: the automatic stairs are now displayed during the moment the player is creating the mine. He can cycle through which corner the stairs starts from. This way the player can preview what the mine is going to look like. We’ve also added to the automatic stairs the ability to loop on itself so that you can create infinitely deep mines (provided there is enough space to do so).
- Thierry has also continued fixing errors in our user database. We’ve received other emails from contributors asking us to fix things like email addresses or duplicate pledges, etc. If you have any doubts that you might not be registered properly, please send us an email at [email protected] so we can fix it!
- The concept artist we hired to paint the posters has sent us a preview of what he’s been doing. Let me just say that it looks FANTASTIC! Miles ahead of what we expected. I won’t elaborate too much because I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but when it’s going to be finished, the posters are going to be really kick-ass. Here’s a link to the guy’s impressive portfolio: http://www.luisgama.com/
- I’ve been working on a lot of GUI recently. Unity’s Graphic User Interface engine is even more awful than it’s audio engine. I’ve been spending countless hours trying to solve problems as simple as displaying text. But on the other hand, I’ve also managed to create a few in-game icons. Here are three icons I’m particularly satisfied with:
These icons are 48/48. Don’t ask me to export them
in different sizes just yet, this is only a preview. ;)
in different sizes just yet, this is only a preview. ;)
Bwarg! François is on TV!
Two weeks ago we mentioned that François was interviewed on a game-related TV show. Well, there you go: we captured the footage and uploaded it with subtitles in Youtube!
Message to our Premium, Elite and Atomic backers:
Hey there, dear backers! We’ve been worried that we haven’t been contacting you enough this last month. You have put special trust in our project by contributing generous amounts of money. We want you (especially our beloved Atomic backers) to know that you have a special place in our hearts and that we are working really hard to create the rewards we’ve promised. The t-shirts and posters are coming along really well, and our seamstress friend has started creating batches of Bricktron plushies. We’re trying to come up with a good concept for the special “thank you” Atomic backer video, but it takes time. <3
- The Sauropod Team
Soundtrack of the week
The other day someone told me “Hey, you should put [insert dude's favorite band] on your soundtrack of the week!”, to which I answered:
What’s the point of putting music you already know on our website? The entire goal of this section is to encourage mutual discovery of new music. Of course, if the dude had suggested an unknown band, I would have gladly featured it, but he didn’t. So instead this week I’m going to feature another weird/crazy album : Statues by Moloko. Have a listen!
.
See you next week!
Team Sauropod
86 Comments for Dev diary number twenty six : Hey mom! I’m on TV!
Yrots Eltsac
8 months ago
<3
Josh Long
8 months ago
I too would highly suggest using NGUI for Unity. It will save you much time and grief.
Yrots Eltsac
8 months ago
Just feel the need to say, as people comment could you take a look at them and reply to them when possible? I’ve seen you do it many times before but I didn’t see any last time. And good luck with the game, I’m sure it’ll go great.
Corbald
8 months ago
Just feel the need to say, please disregard that last guy’s comment and focus on working on the game, rather than wading through miles of posts that probably have answers elsewhere, don’t matter or don’t have anything of use to say, just to find a small handful of relevant questions or comments that would probably be better served on the forums.
Mr. Eltsac (yes, I see what you did there). The Devs have a LOT of work to do. Adding to the pile with frivolities doesn’t help any of us get this amazing game any sooner. Please consider the MASSIVE workload they are under. Better yet, watch IG:TM and see for yourself, then ask yourself if YOU think the comments section here in the Dev Blogs would be a useful timesink for YOU, given similar conditions.
Dear Devs; Amazing work! Keep it up, but remember to take occasional ‘Me Time’ to keep your head on straight and to keep your private/social life in order. It does noone any good if you guys decend into madness!
Pissed_Squirrel
8 months ago
+1
Yrots Eltsac
8 months ago
Look, the most it’ll slow them down is a day or two. It sounds to me you’re so desperate for the game you can’t wait that much more?
Yrots Eltsac
8 months ago
And I didn’t say, “LOOK THROUGH EVERY COMMENT AND GIVE A DETAILED ANSWER TO EVERYTHING”, I was meaning that they could spend 5 minutes skimming through these replies and answering them if they felt it was necessary.
Crocodillius
8 months ago
Although Yrots Eltsac never explained himself I have reasons of my own for agreeing with him. At the same time Corbald is also correct. In a situation like this there’s no right way to handle it. On one hand everyone who leaves or reads the comments on the Dev Diarys get to see that the staff are reading what they have to say and therefore build up fuzzy feelings. On the other hand since they are using time that could be spent developing the game they will annoy everyone else and possibly even the people here (or at least some of them) if the release date gets pushed back because of it.
Jcyrano
8 months ago
“This is only a mockup, the interface might not actually look like this in the final version. ;)”
what are you talking, that is perfect! it looks amazing
Luk
8 months ago
Lego and Warcraft 2… Now i know why i like it so much.
Dario
8 months ago
I love u for saying that its exactly what I think lego and warcraft 2 my childhood in a nutshell.
Tudi
8 months ago
Looking good!
Will there still be dev’s between the prototype and beta ?
Nenjo
8 months ago
I want the prototype now! :P
Daladev
8 months ago
And I would like it if you people would stop complaining, but it looks like neither of us are going to get what we want now are we?
Doktor J
8 months ago
I think the “:P” face was to indicate sarcasm/jest — given that he (she?) is not whining “WTF WERE IS MY GAEM I GAVE U MONIES I WANT TEH GAEM”, I think it was more a personal expression of desire/impatience/excitement than a complaint :)
NotCras
8 months ago
O man, I’m loving this soundtrack you posted. I absolutely love to find new music! Thank you very much for that!!
As for the game, take as much time as you need to get the game looking good up to your standards. Frankly, seeing that GUI I think it’s great!
Good luck with all your troubles with unity, we appreciate it… if its going to be a good game that is. haha
WMD
8 months ago
Aww I was hoping for more new game play footage or at least new screenshots every week.
But i guess getting the database up for all the supporters is more important.
I really hope it is more stronghold + settlers than warcraft though.
Aaron Goselin
8 months ago
NGUI is actually pretty decent. You might want to give it a try. There is a free demo version and the full version is on half price right now. I’m using it in my current project and it does the trick, at least until Unity 4.x introduces the new GUI system.
trololololo
8 months ago
sooooooooooo…. me wantz game
The3X
8 months ago
Soundtrack of the week slightly reminds me of “Z”.
That’s a game.
A nice one.
^^ I do not really know why – but it reminds me of that game.
Ethan
8 months ago
Don’t stress too much guys!
Just take your time and be sure to relax <3
Gabriel Clark
8 months ago
Good work you guys! I know it can be stressful but keep up the good work and deliver the product you have promised to everyone! That will feel good! I cannot wait for the prototype and I wish you luck managing stress and creating an awesome game.
Allan
8 months ago
The interface looks great ! It might only be a mock up but it looks very polished.
Simple and gives a clean view and the information.
Vandor
8 months ago
I have to say you guys have dune an AMASSING job and also if it helps, no pressure I understand that the game comes out when you feel it is ready not when lots of people are waiting.
doodleopaper
8 months ago
I love the game what ive seen of it. To bad i missed the the kickstarter funding of it. I want it to be good but i also want to know if you have a approximate date of when the game is going to be released. Don’t be stressed at all.
Doktor J
8 months ago
They don’t have an official release date yet (they don’t even have an official date for the beta)… but since you missed out on the KS, I have it on good word that they will be making the beta available for purchase/donation “some time after the prototype is released” (which should be ~Oct 17).
Your best bet would be to stay tuned to the official community forums @ http://www.castlestoryonline.com :D
AssMan
8 months ago
Since we gave you guys almost a MILLION dollars, literally…..you should not have much trouble getting the Unity company to fix the problems with thier engine.
Rob
8 months ago
That is already happening, unity 4 is on it’s way ;)
8 months ago
Perhaps you should look up the definition of literally.
bills6693
8 months ago
*like*
Doktor J
8 months ago
There’s also the matter that $1m is not really going to get Unity to jump at their beck and call (let alone the issue that most of that $1m is going to go towards the team’s own survival, basic software licensing, and hosting and infrastructure costs).
Chris Polus
8 months ago
Hey Sauropod. Regarding Unity’s sound and GUI engine: I know exactly what you mean! They’re both preeeetty bad! I’m the producer of Son of Nor, a game we try to develop using Unity. Luckily, the GUI problem seems to be solved with Unity 4, as it will have a GUI editor. Nothing seems to have been done in the sound department, though :(((
I have you 2 great plugins tips for sound! As I’m also the sound guy working on Son of Nor, I’ve been successfully using the plugin and I’m happy with it as it requires almost no programmer interaction anymore. So I as a sound guy can just work on sounds and implement them without distracting the coders. It’s been a blessing.
Check out AudioToolkit by ClockStone:
http://u3d.as/content/clock-stone-software-gmb-h/audio-toolkit/2AG
Or Fabric by Tazman Audio:
http://www.tazman-audio.co.uk/?page_id=73
I wrote a lengthy article about sound in Unity:
http://chromonaut.ch/2012/whats-fun-to-work-with-as-an-audio-guy-part-3-unity-3d/
I hope that helps! We’re indies :) We have to help each other out!
Chris
doodleopaper
8 months ago
Around oct 17th you say yay thats not to far away.
doodleopaper
8 months ago
thx for the advice
doodleopaper
8 months ago
Ive never played warcraft 2 but i sure love legos.
Federico
8 months ago
Wait… Where is the YAY! comment guy?? There can’t be update without YAY!
Ethannat
8 months ago
Super excited! Gaaahhhh can’t wait!!!
Oh, and in response to the text on your soundtrack of the week, I guess I know a pretty good and pretty “unknown” band: Tally Hall. I would be quite enthused to see them down here.
Space Narwhal
8 months ago
YAY!
BigDaddyXD
8 months ago
“YAY!” should have a place in Castle Story!
Please Sauropod, make the Bricktrons say “YAY!” when you give them Orders… I can’t think of this game without “YAY!” being a main part of it ^^
Klawzie
8 months ago
Perhaps they could say, “Yay!” when they’ve “completed” a task?
ex: “YAY!” They’ve run out of invisible blocks to place.
“YAY!” they killed a badguy.
“YAY!” they’ve cut down all the trees in their queue.
;etc.
Tinnino
8 months ago
Oh my goodness! THIS IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA!
BigDaddyXD
7 months ago
I don’t care about when my bricktrons are saying “YAAAY!”, but i care that they DO :) I think of Marshmallow from Annoying Orange… That’s how i like my cute Bricktrons :)
Justin Fitzpatrick
8 months ago
Thank you for the movie recommendation :) it has encouraged me a little more for when I plan to make my game :P I still need to learn.. but I’ve been working on programming in c++ for 5 years. (Sadly not something for Unity which I would like to use). As well as Graphic Design, (I’m known as Jdfskitz on the forums ;) ) But the feeling of a kid staying up all night to play a game I made for release would be amazing :P
I wish you guys luck :) as the game looks amazing as it is :)
Oddly
8 months ago
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
MobbieAnimations
8 months ago
I was worried! But seeing how you even get to TeleVision with your game is a great excuse. Until its finished I’ll play AoE III, so dont hurry.
Stompy
7 months ago
Long last the Age of Kings!
Schwabe
8 months ago
Even though I don’t speak French, it was really cool to watch you guys talk about the game (with subtitles).
Josh
8 months ago
For your GUI problems, I STRONGLY suggest picking up NGUI in the asset store. That or EZGUI.
:D
Aaron
8 months ago
Yeah NGUI is best I think. The new built in GUI system looks cool but that ont be out for a while yet.
Troy
8 months ago
Not sure if Sauropod will read this but I know how to fix your Animation/Sound issue.
When you import your animations from Maya/3Ds Max or whatever, you have to copy the animation. The copied version of the animation will then be “Writable”. This allows you to add events at certain keyframes.
I hope that helped with your syncing the footsteps to the animations!
Cheers,
Troy
Stacetheace
8 months ago
Oh my god. I was very frustrated at the video as it was in French, it took me ages to figure out there was a subtitles button.
Stompy
7 months ago
Francois, you are beautiful <3
HungryDong
7 months ago
Has Francois considered a career in porn if this game flops?
Stompy
7 months ago
I hope so.
TyrisGC
7 months ago
Wth is with the captcha “Drag the Knife to the bathroom” And the knife is a picture of someone holding it and the bathroom is a woman in a shower… *Powered by Sweet Captcha* yeah right..
*ahem* Anyway just wanted to say really excited for this game, keep up the good work ^.~
GolemDevil
7 months ago
Nope the prototype is before the beta, you would of needed to pay $10 extra for the prototype.
Benoit FOULETIER
7 months ago
Regarding animation events: you can use custom asset postprocessors to add your own events at import-time. Eg in Maya to whatever, add custom attributes such as sound=”bla” (attach these attributes to the bone where you want the sound to be positioned), and in your postprocessor, read those attributes and add events.
I can dig up some examples if you’re interested.
Carnet de route 26 | CastleStory.fr : référence Castle Story
7 months ago
[...] ! Un petit coup de pub qui ne leur fera pas de mal. C’est en français canadien, et c’est sur ce site [...]
doodleopaper
7 months ago
I don’t quite know what that means.
Gameassassin1020
7 months ago
If you had even got the first level on the kickstarter would you receive a email or something?
doodleopaper
7 months ago
I would think so, but I didn’t get to donate on kickstarter I missed it. So I am not a 100% positive.
Firestorm146
7 months ago
HEY SAUROPOD!
IM A FELLOW MONTREALER!
AND IM FULLY SUPPORTING YOU!
WOOT
FREE HUGS!
p.s. SINCE YOUR IN MONTREAL….. IMA GONNA see you guys alot and that means alot of free hugs! :)
joebass
7 months ago
YAY! for sauropod studio ! less than two weeks before we can try this ARGKAZF game!
Tinnino
7 months ago
Oh my goodness! The GUI looks amazing! Well, the part we can see anyway x’D
Not to long now! :D
BattleBlunt
7 months ago
It’s 3pm on Saturday….. wheres my update!!
Yrots Eltsac
7 months ago
Now it’s 8:30AM Sunday!
Don Hylci
7 months ago
I’m eagerly awaiting the new dev diary, keep checking for it every 15 minutes….and it’s 01:00 am here in Germany :-) I think I’m hooked :-)
Driad13
7 months ago
Oh I just can’t wait to see what the news is going to be this week!
Joebass
7 months ago
they’ve not posted it, and it’s sunday 4:00am,…
maybe they’re doingt something BIIIG!
Losash
7 months ago
3am in Monreal actually)
Joebass
7 months ago
Yeah, i’m in france and I miscalculated, my bad. it’s 10:42am here ! yay!
IX
7 months ago
Well at least you guys have a decent chunk of your weekend left still.
In another hour or so it’ll be Monday here in New Zealand.
Ethan
7 months ago
YEAH MAN! NEW ZEALAND FTW XDDD
I’m quite sad that i won’t be awake for the dev update :( here it’s 12:30am now
Where is update
7 months ago
Just.. where
NO NEWS?! NEWS!
7 months ago
News, news, news, news, news, WHERES MY NEWS?!?!
Chris Polus
7 months ago
Hey Sauropod. Regarding Unity’s sound and GUI engine: I know exactly what you mean! They’re both preeeetty bad! I’m the producer of Son of Nor, a game we try to develop using Unity. Luckily, the GUI problem seems to be solved with Unity 4, as it will have a GUI editor. Nothing seems to have been done in the sound department, though :(((
I have you 2 great plugins tips for sound! As I’m also the sound guy working on Son of Nor, I’ve been successfully using the plugin and I’m happy with it as it requires almost no programmer interaction anymore. So I as a sound guy can just work on sounds and implement them without distracting the coders. It’s been a blessing.
Check out AudioToolkit by ClockStone:
http://u3d.as/content/clock-stone-software-gmb-h/audio-toolkit/2AG
Or Fabric by Tazman Audio:
http://www.tazman-audio.co.uk/?page_id=73
I wrote a lengthy article about sound in Unity:
http://chromonaut.ch/2012/whats-fun-to-work-with-as-an-audio-guy-part-3-unity-3d/
I hope that helps! We’re indies :) We have to help each other out!
Chris
IX
7 months ago
To be honest, if they’re that busy at the moment they can’t do a dev update I’m fine with that.
Just give me one sentence; ‘On track for the 15th’ and I’ll be happy, my hopes are up that it’s all going well.
Can’t wait :D
Kosh
7 months ago
FYI it’s Thanksgiving here in Canada, so they are likely filling up on real food with their families this weekend. It probably means they will also score lots of leftovers and be well fed for the rest of the week and thus extra productive, which will hopefully result in a Prototype announcement next weekend :D
Happy Thanksgiving, Sauoropod!
Tudi
7 months ago
To be fair, Thanksgiving will, in most cases, only delay production, since they can’t work while they are having a thanksgiving (Unless they are rude to the hosts of the thanksgiving :P)
However, I hope they will work extra hard (Not fast, but hard) on the prototype :P
Tudi
7 months ago
Well, we don’t have it in Denmark aswell. But I’ve been to one some years ago .. It’s nice :)
To celebrate thanksgiving, I will personally eat chicken today :D .. And cake. Lots of cake!
kadney
7 months ago
Mmh.. nom nom nom.. yumm.
I wish we had something like this over here aswell. :3
Have some nice meals and a happy Thanksgiving. :)
Gurgon
7 months ago
Gurgon is the new cool
Tudi
7 months ago
Well, we don’t have it in Denmark aswell. But I’ve been to one some years ago .. It’s nice :)
To celebrate thanksgiving, I will personally eat chicken today :D .. And cake. Lots of cake!
Yrots Eltsac
8 months ago
<3
Josh Long
8 months ago
I too would highly suggest using NGUI for Unity. It will save you much time and grief.
Yrots Eltsac
8 months ago
Just feel the need to say, as people comment could you take a look at them and reply to them when possible? I’ve seen you do it many times before but I didn’t see any last time. And good luck with the game, I’m sure it’ll go great.
Corbald
8 months ago
Just feel the need to say, please disregard that last guy’s comment and focus on working on the game, rather than wading through miles of posts that probably have answers elsewhere, don’t matter or don’t have anything of use to say, just to find a small handful of relevant questions or comments that would probably be better served on the forums.
Mr. Eltsac (yes, I see what you did there). The Devs have a LOT of work to do. Adding to the pile with frivolities doesn’t help any of us get this amazing game any sooner. Please consider the MASSIVE workload they are under. Better yet, watch IG:TM and see for yourself, then ask yourself if YOU think the comments section here in the Dev Blogs would be a useful timesink for YOU, given similar conditions.
Dear Devs; Amazing work! Keep it up, but remember to take occasional ‘Me Time’ to keep your head on straight and to keep your private/social life in order. It does noone any good if you guys decend into madness!
Pissed_Squirrel
8 months ago
+1
Yrots Eltsac
8 months ago
Look, the most it’ll slow them down is a day or two. It sounds to me you’re so desperate for the game you can’t wait that much more?
Yrots Eltsac
8 months ago
And I didn’t say, “LOOK THROUGH EVERY COMMENT AND GIVE A DETAILED ANSWER TO EVERYTHING”, I was meaning that they could spend 5 minutes skimming through these replies and answering them if they felt it was necessary.
Crocodillius
8 months ago
Although Yrots Eltsac never explained himself I have reasons of my own for agreeing with him. At the same time Corbald is also correct. In a situation like this there’s no right way to handle it. On one hand everyone who leaves or reads the comments on the Dev Diarys get to see that the staff are reading what they have to say and therefore build up fuzzy feelings. On the other hand since they are using time that could be spent developing the game they will annoy everyone else and possibly even the people here (or at least some of them) if the release date gets pushed back because of it.
Jcyrano
8 months ago
“This is only a mockup, the interface might not actually look like this in the final version. ;)”
what are you talking, that is perfect! it looks amazing
Luk
8 months ago
Lego and Warcraft 2… Now i know why i like it so much.
Dario
8 months ago
I love u for saying that its exactly what I think lego and warcraft 2 my childhood in a nutshell.
Tudi
8 months ago
Looking good!
Will there still be dev’s between the prototype and beta ?
Nenjo
8 months ago
I want the prototype now! :P
Daladev
8 months ago
And I would like it if you people would stop complaining, but it looks like neither of us are going to get what we want now are we?
Doktor J
8 months ago
I think the “:P” face was to indicate sarcasm/jest — given that he (she?) is not whining “WTF WERE IS MY GAEM I GAVE U MONIES I WANT TEH GAEM”, I think it was more a personal expression of desire/impatience/excitement than a complaint :)
NotCras
8 months ago
O man, I’m loving this soundtrack you posted. I absolutely love to find new music! Thank you very much for that!!
As for the game, take as much time as you need to get the game looking good up to your standards. Frankly, seeing that GUI I think it’s great!
Good luck with all your troubles with unity, we appreciate it… if its going to be a good game that is. haha
WMD
8 months ago
Aww I was hoping for more new game play footage or at least new screenshots every week.
But i guess getting the database up for all the supporters is more important.
I really hope it is more stronghold + settlers than warcraft though.
Aaron Goselin
8 months ago
NGUI is actually pretty decent. You might want to give it a try. There is a free demo version and the full version is on half price right now. I’m using it in my current project and it does the trick, at least until Unity 4.x introduces the new GUI system.
trololololo
8 months ago
sooooooooooo…. me wantz game
The3X
8 months ago
Soundtrack of the week slightly reminds me of “Z”.
That’s a game.
A nice one.
^^ I do not really know why – but it reminds me of that game.
Ethan
8 months ago
Don’t stress too much guys!
Just take your time and be sure to relax <3
Gabriel Clark
8 months ago
Good work you guys! I know it can be stressful but keep up the good work and deliver the product you have promised to everyone! That will feel good! I cannot wait for the prototype and I wish you luck managing stress and creating an awesome game.
Allan
8 months ago
The interface looks great ! It might only be a mock up but it looks very polished.
Simple and gives a clean view and the information.
Vandor
8 months ago
I have to say you guys have dune an AMASSING job and also if it helps, no pressure I understand that the game comes out when you feel it is ready not when lots of people are waiting.
doodleopaper
8 months ago
I love the game what ive seen of it. To bad i missed the the kickstarter funding of it. I want it to be good but i also want to know if you have a approximate date of when the game is going to be released. Don’t be stressed at all.
Doktor J
8 months ago
They don’t have an official release date yet (they don’t even have an official date for the beta)… but since you missed out on the KS, I have it on good word that they will be making the beta available for purchase/donation “some time after the prototype is released” (which should be ~Oct 17).
Your best bet would be to stay tuned to the official community forums @ http://www.castlestoryonline.com :D
AssMan
8 months ago
Since we gave you guys almost a MILLION dollars, literally…..you should not have much trouble getting the Unity company to fix the problems with thier engine.
Rob
8 months ago
That is already happening, unity 4 is on it’s way ;)
8 months ago
Perhaps you should look up the definition of literally.
bills6693
8 months ago
*like*
Doktor J
8 months ago
There’s also the matter that $1m is not really going to get Unity to jump at their beck and call (let alone the issue that most of that $1m is going to go towards the team’s own survival, basic software licensing, and hosting and infrastructure costs).
Chris Polus
8 months ago
Hey Sauropod. Regarding Unity’s sound and GUI engine: I know exactly what you mean! They’re both preeeetty bad! I’m the producer of Son of Nor, a game we try to develop using Unity. Luckily, the GUI problem seems to be solved with Unity 4, as it will have a GUI editor. Nothing seems to have been done in the sound department, though :(((
I have you 2 great plugins tips for sound! As I’m also the sound guy working on Son of Nor, I’ve been successfully using the plugin and I’m happy with it as it requires almost no programmer interaction anymore. So I as a sound guy can just work on sounds and implement them without distracting the coders. It’s been a blessing.
Check out AudioToolkit by ClockStone:
http://u3d.as/content/clock-stone-software-gmb-h/audio-toolkit/2AG
Or Fabric by Tazman Audio:
http://www.tazman-audio.co.uk/?page_id=73
I wrote a lengthy article about sound in Unity:
http://chromonaut.ch/2012/whats-fun-to-work-with-as-an-audio-guy-part-3-unity-3d/
I hope that helps! We’re indies :) We have to help each other out!
Chris
doodleopaper
8 months ago
Around oct 17th you say yay thats not to far away.
doodleopaper
8 months ago
thx for the advice
doodleopaper
8 months ago
Ive never played warcraft 2 but i sure love legos.
Federico
8 months ago
Wait… Where is the YAY! comment guy?? There can’t be update without YAY!
Ethannat
8 months ago
Super excited! Gaaahhhh can’t wait!!!
Oh, and in response to the text on your soundtrack of the week, I guess I know a pretty good and pretty “unknown” band: Tally Hall. I would be quite enthused to see them down here.
Space Narwhal
8 months ago
YAY!
BigDaddyXD
8 months ago
“YAY!” should have a place in Castle Story!
Please Sauropod, make the Bricktrons say “YAY!” when you give them Orders… I can’t think of this game without “YAY!” being a main part of it ^^
Klawzie
8 months ago
Perhaps they could say, “Yay!” when they’ve “completed” a task?
ex: “YAY!” They’ve run out of invisible blocks to place.
“YAY!” they killed a badguy.
“YAY!” they’ve cut down all the trees in their queue.
;etc.
Tinnino
8 months ago
Oh my goodness! THIS IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA!
BigDaddyXD
7 months ago
I don’t care about when my bricktrons are saying “YAAAY!”, but i care that they DO :) I think of Marshmallow from Annoying Orange… That’s how i like my cute Bricktrons :)
Justin Fitzpatrick
8 months ago
Thank you for the movie recommendation :) it has encouraged me a little more for when I plan to make my game :P I still need to learn.. but I’ve been working on programming in c++ for 5 years. (Sadly not something for Unity which I would like to use). As well as Graphic Design, (I’m known as Jdfskitz on the forums ;) ) But the feeling of a kid staying up all night to play a game I made for release would be amazing :P
I wish you guys luck :) as the game looks amazing as it is :)
Oddly
8 months ago
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
MobbieAnimations
8 months ago
I was worried! But seeing how you even get to TeleVision with your game is a great excuse. Until its finished I’ll play AoE III, so dont hurry.
Stompy
7 months ago
Long last the Age of Kings!
Schwabe
8 months ago
Even though I don’t speak French, it was really cool to watch you guys talk about the game (with subtitles).
Josh
8 months ago
For your GUI problems, I STRONGLY suggest picking up NGUI in the asset store. That or EZGUI.
:D
Aaron
8 months ago
Yeah NGUI is best I think. The new built in GUI system looks cool but that ont be out for a while yet.
Troy
8 months ago
Not sure if Sauropod will read this but I know how to fix your Animation/Sound issue.
When you import your animations from Maya/3Ds Max or whatever, you have to copy the animation. The copied version of the animation will then be “Writable”. This allows you to add events at certain keyframes.
I hope that helped with your syncing the footsteps to the animations!
Cheers,
Troy
Stacetheace
8 months ago
Oh my god. I was very frustrated at the video as it was in French, it took me ages to figure out there was a subtitles button.
Stompy
7 months ago
Francois, you are beautiful <3
HungryDong
7 months ago
Has Francois considered a career in porn if this game flops?
Stompy
7 months ago
I hope so.
TyrisGC
7 months ago
Wth is with the captcha “Drag the Knife to the bathroom” And the knife is a picture of someone holding it and the bathroom is a woman in a shower… *Powered by Sweet Captcha* yeah right..
*ahem* Anyway just wanted to say really excited for this game, keep up the good work ^.~
GolemDevil
7 months ago
Nope the prototype is before the beta, you would of needed to pay $10 extra for the prototype.
Benoit FOULETIER
7 months ago
Regarding animation events: you can use custom asset postprocessors to add your own events at import-time. Eg in Maya to whatever, add custom attributes such as sound=”bla” (attach these attributes to the bone where you want the sound to be positioned), and in your postprocessor, read those attributes and add events.
I can dig up some examples if you’re interested.
Carnet de route 26 | CastleStory.fr : référence Castle Story
7 months ago
[...] ! Un petit coup de pub qui ne leur fera pas de mal. C’est en français canadien, et c’est sur ce site [...]
doodleopaper
7 months ago
I don’t quite know what that means.
Gameassassin1020
7 months ago
If you had even got the first level on the kickstarter would you receive a email or something?
doodleopaper
7 months ago
I would think so, but I didn’t get to donate on kickstarter I missed it. So I am not a 100% positive.
Firestorm146
7 months ago
HEY SAUROPOD!
IM A FELLOW MONTREALER!
AND IM FULLY SUPPORTING YOU!
WOOT
FREE HUGS!
p.s. SINCE YOUR IN MONTREAL….. IMA GONNA see you guys alot and that means alot of free hugs! :)
joebass
7 months ago
YAY! for sauropod studio ! less than two weeks before we can try this ARGKAZF game!
Tinnino
7 months ago
Oh my goodness! The GUI looks amazing! Well, the part we can see anyway x’D
Not to long now! :D
BattleBlunt
7 months ago
It’s 3pm on Saturday….. wheres my update!!
Yrots Eltsac
7 months ago
Now it’s 8:30AM Sunday!
Don Hylci
7 months ago
I’m eagerly awaiting the new dev diary, keep checking for it every 15 minutes….and it’s 01:00 am here in Germany :-) I think I’m hooked :-)
Driad13
7 months ago
Oh I just can’t wait to see what the news is going to be this week!
Joebass
7 months ago
they’ve not posted it, and it’s sunday 4:00am,…
maybe they’re doingt something BIIIG!
Losash
7 months ago
3am in Monreal actually)
Joebass
7 months ago
Yeah, i’m in france and I miscalculated, my bad. it’s 10:42am here ! yay!
IX
7 months ago
Well at least you guys have a decent chunk of your weekend left still.
In another hour or so it’ll be Monday here in New Zealand.
Ethan
7 months ago
YEAH MAN! NEW ZEALAND FTW XDDD
I’m quite sad that i won’t be awake for the dev update :( here it’s 12:30am now
Where is update
7 months ago
Just.. where
NO NEWS?! NEWS!
7 months ago
News, news, news, news, news, WHERES MY NEWS?!?!
Chris Polus
7 months ago
Hey Sauropod. Regarding Unity’s sound and GUI engine: I know exactly what you mean! They’re both preeeetty bad! I’m the producer of Son of Nor, a game we try to develop using Unity. Luckily, the GUI problem seems to be solved with Unity 4, as it will have a GUI editor. Nothing seems to have been done in the sound department, though :(((
I have you 2 great plugins tips for sound! As I’m also the sound guy working on Son of Nor, I’ve been successfully using the plugin and I’m happy with it as it requires almost no programmer interaction anymore. So I as a sound guy can just work on sounds and implement them without distracting the coders. It’s been a blessing.
Check out AudioToolkit by ClockStone:
http://u3d.as/content/clock-stone-software-gmb-h/audio-toolkit/2AG
Or Fabric by Tazman Audio:
http://www.tazman-audio.co.uk/?page_id=73
I wrote a lengthy article about sound in Unity:
http://chromonaut.ch/2012/whats-fun-to-work-with-as-an-audio-guy-part-3-unity-3d/
I hope that helps! We’re indies :) We have to help each other out!
Chris
IX
7 months ago
To be honest, if they’re that busy at the moment they can’t do a dev update I’m fine with that.
Just give me one sentence; ‘On track for the 15th’ and I’ll be happy, my hopes are up that it’s all going well.
Can’t wait :D
Kosh
7 months ago
FYI it’s Thanksgiving here in Canada, so they are likely filling up on real food with their families this weekend. It probably means they will also score lots of leftovers and be well fed for the rest of the week and thus extra productive, which will hopefully result in a Prototype announcement next weekend :D
Happy Thanksgiving, Sauoropod!
Tudi
7 months ago
To be fair, Thanksgiving will, in most cases, only delay production, since they can’t work while they are having a thanksgiving (Unless they are rude to the hosts of the thanksgiving :P)
However, I hope they will work extra hard (Not fast, but hard) on the prototype :P
Tudi
7 months ago
Well, we don’t have it in Denmark aswell. But I’ve been to one some years ago .. It’s nice :)
To celebrate thanksgiving, I will personally eat chicken today :D .. And cake. Lots of cake!
kadney
7 months ago
Mmh.. nom nom nom.. yumm.
I wish we had something like this over here aswell. :3
Have some nice meals and a happy Thanksgiving. :)
Gurgon
7 months ago
Gurgon is the new cool
Tudi
7 months ago
Well, we don’t have it in Denmark aswell. But I’ve been to one some years ago .. It’s nice :)
To celebrate thanksgiving, I will personally eat chicken today :D .. And cake. Lots of cake!