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Recent shenanigans

By RodatGHG | 18th August 2018 - 8:56 pm | Uncategorised

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OK, got some new pics to share along with the odd gif. This is all new gubbins that I’ve added to the game over the past few weeks. There’s always stuff I can’t show right now ‘cos it’s still under development, like the Giant, or new butterflies, or details of some of the puzzle ‘quests’ (that’d be a spoiler right?), or how the new tutorial stage works during game play (gotta make a game dev video shortly for that).

First up, Nora the Hedge Witch – a horrid old lady that combs the hedgerows for magical creatures and oddities to add to her grim collection of fey things.

Also, meet the snail rider clan – work on these little folk has been going on for a while – but here’s a few shots of their more recent activities.

Cargo Snail design in Blender

What mischief will this lot get up to I wonder?

Lots of other stuff to mention – I’ll stick to screenshots for now as a picture tells a thousand words. Aphids, hives, hand made terrain, bug vision….the list goes on…

Aphid farm – a nutritious source of green protein

Bug Vision – never get lost in the woods again!

The Blue Frenemy Hive

OK – my head is spinning now – did I forget anything? Well, if so I’ll get it in next time – dont forget you can catch up with regular teensy updates with my posts on Twitter at – @RodatGHG

See you out there! Woot!

The Queen’s journey

The Quest for Hive Quest!

By RodatGHG | 1st June 2018 - 12:41 am | Uncategorised

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Things have been pretty intense since the last post – the Old Orchard has been growing, steadily spreading its gamedev roots through the Hive Quest world. Sometimes it even feels like the project might have a life of its own, when, after a lot of thought and meditation, a slew of elements are created and they somehow, amazingly, fit together nicely.

Then, the sudden realisation hits, like the slap of wet haddock across the face – ‘I haven’t done a blog post for flippin’ ages!’

Shut Up and tell us what’s happening!

Ok, ok – I’m working up to it.

First off, you’ve all heard of ‘Urban Decay’, right? Well I began investigating stuff about ‘Rural Decay’ instead to shed light on new game play areas. A fun and totally cool research session came up with the inspiration to design the following scenery. These new additions to the game present some great opportunities to explore and discover strange mysteries and, likely, some unknown weirdness & danger.

Rural decay – lovin’ the way old stuff looks..

Uh oh!

And then there’s this guy. A new villain (every story needs a few) – Erwin the bug exterminator. Look after your Hive folks or he might receive a phone call you really don’t want him to answer!

Don’t do it Erwin! Nooooo!

Oh, yes! And then there’s the new caterpillars – lots of little wriggly playmates that also double as a great, (non fattening) food source. Awww…cute, (but make terrible sushi). After working on these critters, I have a new found appreciation for how cool they are. Some of these insects have up to 16 legs! This fact blew my tiny insect brain right out my spiracle. (Though the extra legs are more like ‘not really legs’ according to my massively extensive research……..(wikipedia) )

Opening up new vistas!

Caterpillar at full sprint

Oo…oo (chimpy noises) and there’s this creature too! – its name is ‘Yuna’ – a mysterious guide that will help the player out here and there with valuable advice. It is a servant/ pet to a higher power and is also an important figure in the story line (but more on that…..later).

What a very odd little fella!

Yuna the Guide in Unity

So there it is for now. There are a bunch of other things that have been done to improve Hive Quest that haven’t been mentioned here – such as the AI for the Shrublet, and various shaders for lighting, but that is a rabbit hole I won’t go down right now. The last thing I’ll leave you with is a shot of the Shrublet looking very pleased with himself for learning how to create a food spell ball.

Thanks for getting this far! More #indiegame dev news on its way 🙂

Find me on Twitter – @RodatGHG

Spring News Update

By RodatGHG | 3rd April 2018 - 12:36 pm | Uncategorised

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Hi folks! A whole bunch of new stuff has now been added to Hive Quest since the last update. Things really are coming together with the completion of the following game mechanics (see screenshots for each of these in this post) –

– Bug battles – swift and deadly skirmishes that flow smoothly
– The Entling now has to be cared for and fed, or he will begin to get sad and become ill
– New puzzles, environments & denizens of the wild woods, like the snail rider clan
– Improved hive building, with a builder drone tasked specifically for expanding the hive

During the game development process there is often a balance between creative flare, which is where all the crazy ideas come from, and the limitations imposed by my level of coding skill and the game engine itself.

That creative flare is needed for things to look as super awesome as possible. Without it, it’s a bit like Batman running around without the cape. But this is all tempered by the regular reality checks involved in making something that plays well and makes a fun experience. Along with the need to stick to deadlines, this creates a workflow that wobbles erratically between ‘Oh..that’s a great idea, gotta add that!’ to ‘That’s never going to work, it’ll take forever, and there’s this to do too…and that…and that other bit too <sigh>’.

So right now the cycle is –

Creative surge -> GameEngine/Time reality check -> Creative surge -> Game engine / reality check

and so on…

However, this as a good thing. As a solo game dev you need to have these board meetings with the rest of your team, even if it leaves you feeling like a crazy person talking to themselves (which is exactly what’s happening). This is where things get done – the melting pot of cool stuff. The raw, creative energy that forges new ideas.

Anyway, enough about all that – here’s those screen shots!