27 February 2011

Status Update

Hmm, about a month since the last one, so let’s summarize how things are going: the game is probably feature complete in terms of code.

Before you get too excited: there are a number of known bugs (some serious enough that you could argue that the feature isn’t really complete). And the game is not content-complete. We want to add some more interactive scenes. And a manual!

However, the tutorial is now in. Some of the edge cases (like a list of usable treasures in battle screens) are implemented. The economic model is simplified: sheep and pigs are abstracted, and barley, wheat, and rye are gone. And thanks to ShareKit, Twitter and Facebook integration are in.

What’s next? Obviously, fixing known bugs! But also getting the new events in the game. We can’t really do much testing until they’re added, because new events break saved games.

But other than some new content, I believe game and UI design are complete. Which is a nice milestone.

10 comments:

  1. uh...so this version will have more interactive scenes than the original? o_O

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  2. Yes! Not sure how many more, but four are already in.

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  3. I don't have an iphone, but I plan to buy a copy of the game for my sister's birthday, if it's out by the end of April.

    Will you make the new content available for the pc eventually?

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  4. (if it's not done by the end of april, I'm sure I will still buy it for her, but probably not till Christmas)

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  5. Don't forget iPod touch or iPad.

    It's extremely difficult to make new content work without breaking saved games. As well as the fact that content has changed to work with the updated economic model. So, no plans on making content available for the 1999 edition.

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  6. Hi David,
    Really excited to see this KoDP development for iphone/ipod touch. Looking forward to seeing the finished product. I know its been mentioned before, but the iPad would be the perfect medium for this game IMO. Its bigger screen size with full screen art would be fantastic visually. I believe it would really be worth the effort to recommission art for this project, or alternatively to rescan the previous art work at higher resolution to take into account future screen upgrades(like retina display etc) . I see a massive potential for your game on the iPad, with distrubution through the App store I'm sure it would get quite a following. Good luck with the current project.
    Josh

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  7. And I think I’ve commented before on our inability to predict iPad, back in 1997. Who knew that a handheld would have a screen 2.5x as large?

    We don’t have all the original artwork, and right now I’m not even sure that all of it was even in physical form (as opposed to digital).

    Art was the single biggest expense for the original version, so redoing all of it doesn’t seem like a good idea.

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  8. I agree, we couldn't have really imagined how technology was going to develop as it has, back in 1997.
    As excited as I am about the ipod/iphone version of Kodp, which I sure is going to be absolutely fantastic, I still feel that the iPad was made for this game.
    On an intuitive level I feel that this game would really excel on the iPad, providing a substantial profit margin, far greater then when the game was originally released. If you were to recommission full screen artwork for an iPad version, I think this game would pay for itself and much more besides.

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  9. Oh man. I'm going to have to buy an iPad to play this. Really happy to hear from the team again! I'm going to get as many fellow finns to buy the game this time around as I did ten years ago :-)

    Agree with Josh that iPad is optimal, but I do understand the graphics issues.

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  10. Yes, if we were doing the game from scratch, it would definitely be for iPad.

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