Hey all,

So we've had a prety good week at poking a stick at things.
We have (hopefully) resolved:

• The change of resolution crash
  
• The lack of resolutions to choose from, for full screen mode
  
• Made the bonus costumes work in Episode 2
  
• Figured out how some of the scripting works and are doing some fixes to some of the Episode 2 levels

We're also in the process of getting content together for review by all the various ratings boards (PEGI, OFLC, USK, etc).
Oh, and also, we've uploaded this... enjoy!

http://youtu.be/upEyfaZoRp4

Hey all,

So we've had a prety good week at poking a stick at things.
We have (hopefully) resolved:

• The change of resolution crash
  
• The lack of resolutions to choose from, for full screen mode
  
• Made the bonus costumes work in Episode 2
  
• Figured out how some of the scripting works and are doing some fixes to some of the Episode 2 levels

We're also in the process of getting content together for review by all the various ratings boards (PEGI, OFLC, USK, etc).
Oh, and also, we've uploaded this... enjoy!

http://youtu.be/upEyfaZoRp4

Hey Everyone!

Things have progressed to the point that we have an update that we can share with you, on what’s happening with Episode 2 and our plans.

Yes, it is still being worked on!

We have a few things still on our list of Ep2 specific items that we have to get finalized before we can do final QA testing:

• Finalize Episode 2 specific achievement implementation.
  
• Implement enemies in a few areas of the levels that weren’t quite finished in 2010.
  
• Try to remember what we were thinking with the game logic in 2010 and fix up some AI brain issues in the level scripting.
  
• Fix up some level placement issues and camera issues that are causing out of memory and/or rendering problems.
  
• Finalize plans for bonus goodie.

We’re also trying to resolve these general game issues:

• Crashes on some configurations, if you enter the Breaker menu.
  
• Crashes on some configurations, if you try to change the resolutions/enumerate the resolution options.
  
• The list of full screen resolutions is missing some resolutions, on some configurations.

Now the bad news – we don’t have a timeline that we can share at this point, as we’re working on this around other projects that are paying the bills, in our own time. We have made significant progress on getting it finalized though, and we are hoping to have more to share with you in the next few months.

Episode 2....

• Continues (and puts a nice little exclamation mark on!) the story from the original release.
  
• Has full voice acting throughout the Episode – just like in the original release.
  
• Will give you 5 more huuuuge Blade Kitten levels, with a bunch more collectables, two mini bosses and a final Boss battle!
  
• As well as 3 new blades – unlock the power of the Darque Blade!
  
• Also it has 15 new unique costumes (so long as we can count properly!) – 7 to unlock and a few you get just for buying the Episode! (we’re nice that way).
  
• With 7 new achievements.
  
• And, if you have a save game from the end of the original release and hit continue… it should segue straight into Episode 2! So you can start Hex farming now!

• Episode 2 will be paid DLC (we’re still figuring out the price point), distributed solely via Steam at this point in time. You’ll have to own the base game to be able to get Episode 2.
  
• We will probably also offer a “complete” pack (the original game and Episode 2) as well.
  
• We are not currently planning on offering any pre-release/pre-purchase options – it’ll be released when we have it completed.

So that’s the information we have to share right now – laying things out as they are and letting you guys know what we can! Hopefully you’re all as excited about what’s to come as we are!

Cheers
Krome Studios

Hey Everyone!

Things have progressed to the point that we have an update that we can share with you, on what’s happening with Episode 2 and our plans.

Yes, it is still being worked on!

We have a few things still on our list of Ep2 specific items that we have to get finalized before we can do final QA testing:

• Finalize Episode 2 specific achievement implementation.
  
• Implement enemies in a few areas of the levels that weren’t quite finished in 2010.
  
• Try to remember what we were thinking with the game logic in 2010 and fix up some AI brain issues in the level scripting.
  
• Fix up some level placement issues and camera issues that are causing out of memory and/or rendering problems.
  
• Finalize plans for bonus goodie.

We’re also trying to resolve these general game issues:

• Crashes on some configurations, if you enter the Breaker menu.
  
• Crashes on some configurations, if you try to change the resolutions/enumerate the resolution options.
  
• The list of full screen resolutions is missing some resolutions, on some configurations.

Now the bad news – we don’t have a timeline that we can share at this point, as we’re working on this around other projects that are paying the bills, in our own time. We have made significant progress on getting it finalized though, and we are hoping to have more to share with you in the next few months.

Episode 2....

• Continues (and puts a nice little exclamation mark on!) the story from the original release.
  
• Has full voice acting throughout the Episode – just like in the original release.
  
• Will give you 5 more huuuuge Blade Kitten levels, with a bunch more collectables, two mini bosses and a final Boss battle!
  
• As well as 3 new blades – unlock the power of the Darque Blade!
  
• Also it has 15 new unique costumes (so long as we can count properly!) – 7 to unlock and a few you get just for buying the Episode! (we’re nice that way).
  
• With 7 new achievements.
  
• And, if you have a save game from the end of the original release and hit continue… it should segue straight into Episode 2! So you can start Hex farming now!

• Episode 2 will be paid DLC (we’re still figuring out the price point), distributed solely via Steam at this point in time. You’ll have to own the base game to be able to get Episode 2.
  
• We will probably also offer a “complete” pack (the original game and Episode 2) as well.
  
• We are not currently planning on offering any pre-release/pre-purchase options – it’ll be released when we have it completed.

So that’s the information we have to share right now – laying things out as they are and letting you guys know what we can! Hopefully you’re all as excited about what’s to come as we are!

Cheers
Krome Studios

Hey guys

The camera fixes we did into the OpenBeta branch a couple of months ago have now been pushed to the standard build.

The original notes on what this did are below.
Cheers!

Linds

----
Camera state transitions when you enter and exit a camera override region are now improved.
There are three major components to the improvements.

• When transitioning between two “Side Scroll Camera” states (the most common transition type by far), instead of blending the resulting camera state the code now remains in the one state and instead blends the state parameters.
  
• For the remaining state transitions, transitions between different states when entering an override are now performed as a cosine blend, instead of a linear blend. (Looks the code used to attempt something overly complex with springs before switching to linear.)
  
• The camera code now maintains a running approximation of the camera’s velocity. When a state blend is performed, the old ‘from’ state is extrapolated based on the velocity when the state changed rather than being a fixes position.

Long story short, these changes fix the *CLUNK* the camera would experience when entering and existing the camera override regions.

Hey guys

The camera fixes we did into the OpenBeta branch a couple of months ago have now been pushed to the standard build.

The original notes on what this did are below.
Cheers!

Linds

----
Camera state transitions when you enter and exit a camera override region are now improved.
There are three major components to the improvements.

• When transitioning between two “Side Scroll Camera” states (the most common transition type by far), instead of blending the resulting camera state the code now remains in the one state and instead blends the state parameters.
  
• For the remaining state transitions, transitions between different states when entering an override are now performed as a cosine blend, instead of a linear blend. (Looks the code used to attempt something overly complex with springs before switching to linear.)
  
• The camera code now maintains a running approximation of the camera’s velocity. When a state blend is performed, the old ‘from’ state is extrapolated based on the velocity when the state changed rather than being a fixes position.

Long story short, these changes fix the *CLUNK* the camera would experience when entering and existing the camera override regions.

Hi all,

We set Skiffy free in amongst the codebase and he's come up with something.
This is what he said:
Ska-Skee Skeeee

That wasn't particularly helpful, so we went and had a look at what he did in the code.
Turns out that...

Camera state transitions when you enter and exit a camera override region are now improved.
There are three major components to the improvements.

• When transitioning between two “Side Scroll Camera” states (the most common transition type by far), instead of blending the resulting camera state the code now remains in the one state and instead blends the state parameters.
  
• For the remaining state transitions, transitions between different states when entering an override are now performed as a cosine blend, instead of a linear blend. (Looks the code used to attempt something overly complex with springs before switching to linear.)
  
• The camera code now maintains a running approximation of the camera’s velocity. When a state blend is performed, the old ‘from’ state is extrapolated based on the velocity when the state changed rather than being a fixes position.

Long story short, these changes fix the *CLUNK* the camera would experience when entering and existing the camera override regions.

So yeah - check it out on OpenBeta and let us know what your thoughts are on it. We think it's pretty cool.

Cheers
Linds

Hi all,

We set Skiffy free in amongst the codebase and he's come up with something.
This is what he said:
Ska-Skee Skeeee

That wasn't particularly helpful, so we went and had a look at what he did in the code.
Turns out that...

Camera state transitions when you enter and exit a camera override region are now improved.
There are three major components to the improvements.

• When transitioning between two “Side Scroll Camera” states (the most common transition type by far), instead of blending the resulting camera state the code now remains in the one state and instead blends the state parameters.
  
• For the remaining state transitions, transitions between different states when entering an override are now performed as a cosine blend, instead of a linear blend. (Looks the code used to attempt something overly complex with springs before switching to linear.)
  
• The camera code now maintains a running approximation of the camera’s velocity. When a state blend is performed, the old ‘from’ state is extrapolated based on the velocity when the state changed rather than being a fixes position.

Long story short, these changes fix the *CLUNK* the camera would experience when entering and existing the camera override regions.

So yeah - check it out on OpenBeta and let us know what your thoughts are on it. We think it's pretty cool.

Cheers
Linds

Hi all!

We've pushed the build that was up on the OpenBeta on to the default/normal branch now - so everybody can switch off the OpenBeta if they want to.
This means that the following is in place for a standard install:


60 fps selection

• There is an option to set “60 Hz” on and off in the graphics menu now – to unlock to 60 fps
  
• 60fps is the new default setting

Demo

• The demo build should be working again! Hooray!

Graphics

• Hopeful fixes to some peoples' inability to select fullscreen resolutions. Full screen resolution window now shows display rate (Hz) and resolutions.
  
• Added fix for Nvidia 660 issue, which stops some textures displaying as white
  
• Added some new larger window sizes, that correspond to UHD display resolutions

Borderless Window Mode

• As a work around for those people who are having full screen resolution issues, we have implemented borderless window mode, as a command line option
  
• In the Properties panel for Blade Kitten, click “set launch option” and use the following commandline: noborder x=0 y=0
  
• This will create a window at the top left of your screen, at whatever resolution you have set as your “window” resolution in the graphics settings
  
• You can then use the x= and y= offsets to change the position of the borderless window
  
• It will not remember the last window position, so that you don’t accidentally “lose” the position
  
• Borderless window mode supports minimize and maximize via the system menu

User Interface

• Added smooth/continuous scrolling with the mouse on the scroll lists in the breaker menu and PC options screen
  
• Swap to use X360 controller icons when the gamepad control configuration is selected, instead of "generically similarly colored" icons
  
• Added basic mouse scroll wheel support to the Resolution Select, Control Config and Breaker Item screens
  
• Added crowd-sourced translations for 60 fps mode - for "Frame Rate Lock"

Language Selection

• The game now selects the appropriate language, based off the Steam language setting (in Steam Preferences -> Interface)
  
• If Steam is set to a language that doesn’t exist in the game, it will default to English
  
• The game supports English, French, German, Spanish and Italian

Background gamepad support

• There’s another command line that will turn on background gamepad support – so you could (eg) run the game on one screen with gamepad, while somebody else is doing something on the 2nd monitor with keyboard/mouse
  
• Add the following to the launch options (with a space between any other options): MKBackgroundGamepad

Have fun!
Linds

Hi all!

We've pushed the build that was up on the OpenBeta on to the default/normal branch now - so everybody can switch off the OpenBeta if they want to.
This means that the following is in place for a standard install:


60 fps selection

• There is an option to set “60 Hz” on and off in the graphics menu now – to unlock to 60 fps
  
• 60fps is the new default setting

Demo

• The demo build should be working again! Hooray!

Graphics

• Hopeful fixes to some peoples' inability to select fullscreen resolutions. Full screen resolution window now shows display rate (Hz) and resolutions.
  
• Added fix for Nvidia 660 issue, which stops some textures displaying as white
  
• Added some new larger window sizes, that correspond to UHD display resolutions

Borderless Window Mode

• As a work around for those people who are having full screen resolution issues, we have implemented borderless window mode, as a command line option
  
• In the Properties panel for Blade Kitten, click “set launch option” and use the following commandline: noborder x=0 y=0
  
• This will create a window at the top left of your screen, at whatever resolution you have set as your “window” resolution in the graphics settings
  
• You can then use the x= and y= offsets to change the position of the borderless window
  
• It will not remember the last window position, so that you don’t accidentally “lose” the position
  
• Borderless window mode supports minimize and maximize via the system menu

User Interface

• Added smooth/continuous scrolling with the mouse on the scroll lists in the breaker menu and PC options screen
  
• Swap to use X360 controller icons when the gamepad control configuration is selected, instead of "generically similarly colored" icons
  
• Added basic mouse scroll wheel support to the Resolution Select, Control Config and Breaker Item screens
  
• Added crowd-sourced translations for 60 fps mode - for "Frame Rate Lock"

Language Selection

• The game now selects the appropriate language, based off the Steam language setting (in Steam Preferences -> Interface)
  
• If Steam is set to a language that doesn’t exist in the game, it will default to English
  
• The game supports English, French, German, Spanish and Italian

Background gamepad support

• There’s another command line that will turn on background gamepad support – so you could (eg) run the game on one screen with gamepad, while somebody else is doing something on the 2nd monitor with keyboard/mouse
  
• Add the following to the launch options (with a space between any other options): MKBackgroundGamepad

Have fun!
Linds