Hello everyone.

We have quite a number of things to talk with you about in today in our last post of 2017. We believe 2018 will be a very exciting year! Flashing Lights will enter Early Access and by the end of the year we hope to have implemented many of the suggestions from the community.

But let's get this year out of the way first and tell you what we've been working on for the last couple of weeks.

With a simple press of a button, you'll be able to switch back and forth between third person and first person driving view.


Of course, this is still very muck work in progress with the spedometer not working right now and some of the art is still placeholder while we begin our work in securing artists. But it already makes driving much more exciting, even when involved in some crashes!



The mirrors also work, as you can see from video evidence of the patrol car being rear ended by a civilian!





Some of you may have noticed the chunky PC screen inside the patrol car. We're actually very pleased with this system and hope that it makes a lot of sense to players who want to operate the PC while driving.

Simply when in the car you can press the Shift key and this will create a cursor in the bottom right corner of the screen. This means that you can operate the PC by gently moving your viewpoint up or down while core focus is still on the road. It takes a bit of getting used to but it is very intuitive to use.



And lastly as part of today's update we have also been working on AI drivers. They can use all of the roads for the new map.





They do right now have some lightning quick reflexes and are by no means complete. There is still quite a bit of work to do as some particularly nasty accidents can also occur at times.



So that's it for todays post, we hope that you join us into the new year when development will really start to ramp up. We'll have new artwork to share, new features and of course the games first release as a Early Access title.

We thank every one of you for the support and if you want to continue to support the game and be the first to find out any news, make sure to wish list the game on Steam.

From all of us, happy holidays and here is to a spectacular new year!

Hello everyone.

We have quite a number of things to talk with you about in today in our last post of 2017. We believe 2018 will be a very exciting year! Flashing Lights will enter Early Access and by the end of the year we hope to have implemented many of the suggestions from the community.

But let's get this year out of the way first and tell you what we've been working on for the last couple of weeks.

With a simple press of a button, you'll be able to switch back and forth between third person and first person driving view.


Of course, this is still very muck work in progress with the spedometer not working right now and some of the art is still placeholder while we begin our work in securing artists. But it already makes driving much more exciting, even when involved in some crashes!



The mirrors also work, as you can see from video evidence of the patrol car being rear ended by a civilian!





Some of you may have noticed the chunky PC screen inside the patrol car. We're actually very pleased with this system and hope that it makes a lot of sense to players who want to operate the PC while driving.

Simply when in the car you can press the Shift key and this will create a cursor in the bottom right corner of the screen. This means that you can operate the PC by gently moving your viewpoint up or down while core focus is still on the road. It takes a bit of getting used to but it is very intuitive to use.



And lastly as part of today's update we have also been working on AI drivers. They can use all of the roads for the new map.





They do right now have some lightning quick reflexes and are by no means complete. There is still quite a bit of work to do as some particularly nasty accidents can also occur at times.



So that's it for todays post, we hope that you join us into the new year when development will really start to ramp up. We'll have new artwork to share, new features and of course the games first release as a Early Access title.

We thank every one of you for the support and if you want to continue to support the game and be the first to find out any news, make sure to wish list the game on Steam.

From all of us, happy holidays and here is to a spectacular new year!

Hi everyone,

We're prepping an awesome announcement which will be posted within the next week that shares development details and progress.

But recently we've been placed in the top 100 games in IndieDB's Indie of the year award. We've been nominated for the genre of best "Upcoming RPG". If you want to vote for the game, head on over to our IndieDB page and click the vote now button.

http://www.indiedb.com/groups/2017-indie-of-the-year-awards/top100#vote56785

It's interesting being put into this genre because we had been looking into how we could handle online role playing elements for players. The traditional RPG is often within the fantasy genre, but we know from successful police mods that players like to role play in emergency sims. This is something we'd like to explore further. Let us know your thoughts!

Next week we'll share some more details on the development of the game! Thank you everyone for the support.

Hi everyone,

We're prepping an awesome announcement which will be posted within the next week that shares development details and progress.

But recently we've been placed in the top 100 games in IndieDB's Indie of the year award. We've been nominated for the genre of best "Upcoming RPG". If you want to vote for the game, head on over to our IndieDB page and click the vote now button.

http://www.indiedb.com/groups/2017-indie-of-the-year-awards/top100#vote56785

It's interesting being put into this genre because we had been looking into how we could handle online role playing elements for players. The traditional RPG is often within the fantasy genre, but we know from successful police mods that players like to role play in emergency sims. This is something we'd like to explore further. Let us know your thoughts!

Next week we'll share some more details on the development of the game! Thank you everyone for the support.

Hello everyone. The gif above will surely make more sense as you read further into this post.

Over the past few weeks we have been working on the visuals for Flashing Lights. We are in negotiations with a character modeler to improve the look of all character models in game. We are also still moving towards populating the map. Therefore any images currently shown are subject to change and are likely not final. So please stick with us as we continue to share development progress.

So let's continue! One of the things that we've been working on is a mini map which the players will appear in the corner of the screen. You can see the first version of the map below:



Of course, there are a few circled icons which represent the location of the police department, fire department and the hospital... But the map will also show the players location indicated by a blue arrow. This also factors in the direction the player is facing, so if you are driving a vehicle, you are able to plan your route.

The green circle is the location of the players objective, but we'll get to that soon!

We are investigating road names for the map and may have a larger map which can be brought up and reveals more information. But if we were to put street names into the mini map in its current state it might be a bit tricky to read.

Now onto the floating orb!



The floating orb is actually part of a test which will allow players to track an objective on the map. If we look at the mini map while the orb is circling, we can see that the map is updated in real time.



Of course, if you've played GTA or any other open world adventure game, this is all pretty familiar to you! This system will allow us to create more interesting missions and update the player in real time.

So that's it for now, I understand it's a pretty short dev blog, but I can assure you we'll have some much more interesting news to share very soon!

Hello everyone. The gif above will surely make more sense as you read further into this post.

Over the past few weeks we have been working on the visuals for Flashing Lights. We are in negotiations with a character modeler to improve the look of all character models in game. We are also still moving towards populating the map. Therefore any images currently shown are subject to change and are likely not final. So please stick with us as we continue to share development progress.

So let's continue! One of the things that we've been working on is a mini map which the players will appear in the corner of the screen. You can see the first version of the map below:



Of course, there are a few circled icons which represent the location of the police department, fire department and the hospital... But the map will also show the players location indicated by a blue arrow. This also factors in the direction the player is facing, so if you are driving a vehicle, you are able to plan your route.

The green circle is the location of the players objective, but we'll get to that soon!

We are investigating road names for the map and may have a larger map which can be brought up and reveals more information. But if we were to put street names into the mini map in its current state it might be a bit tricky to read.

Now onto the floating orb!



The floating orb is actually part of a test which will allow players to track an objective on the map. If we look at the mini map while the orb is circling, we can see that the map is updated in real time.



Of course, if you've played GTA or any other open world adventure game, this is all pretty familiar to you! This system will allow us to create more interesting missions and update the player in real time.

So that's it for now, I understand it's a pretty short dev blog, but I can assure you we'll have some much more interesting news to share very soon!

Hello Everyone,

We’ve been quiet over the last few weeks but rest assured that we have been busy. During this time we have been calculating our time and resources, we’re looking at the best way to become as efficient as possible and have made some important decisions that will shape the games development in a positive way.

As you may or may not know the current predicted world map size for Flashing lights is 3.5km x 3.5km. This may increase over time, but it could also decrease should there be any technical issues. The whole map can already be explored (although it is a bit empty) with no loading screens. We are currently working on populating the map with new details and objects.

Here’s a shot of the current map from a top down view



We have had to make some important decisions for the games first release in Early Access. One option could be to release the entirety of the map as work in progress. Unfortunately this would lead to parts of the world which will feel under populated and areas that will not have many missions.

So we've come up with an idea. We are planning to release the map in chunks throughout Early Access. This means that up to the release of Early Access our artists are able to create more engaging environments for the smaller area that we are going to focus on.

This also allows us to refine the mission objectives more clearly for each area. For example, the city may not see the same types of emergency's as a small beach town. We are hoping that as we continue to release new areas, we'll be able to create more dynamic events based on the areas that those emergency's take place in.

We have a few work in progress images for you to check out below:







Additionally, We have been negotiating some work with some artists to assist with objects and creating new character models. While they've handled a few items of work, we're still at a contracting stage so unfortunately we can't share anything they've done just yet. But we're looking forward to sharing more images with you soon!

Thank you for your support and let us know what you think.

Hello Everyone,

We’ve been quiet over the last few weeks but rest assured that we have been busy. During this time we have been calculating our time and resources, we’re looking at the best way to become as efficient as possible and have made some important decisions that will shape the games development in a positive way.

As you may or may not know the current predicted world map size for Flashing lights is 3.5km x 3.5km. This may increase over time, but it could also decrease should there be any technical issues. The whole map can already be explored (although it is a bit empty) with no loading screens. We are currently working on populating the map with new details and objects.

Here’s a shot of the current map from a top down view



We have had to make some important decisions for the games first release in Early Access. One option could be to release the entirety of the map as work in progress. Unfortunately this would lead to parts of the world which will feel under populated and areas that will not have many missions.

So we've come up with an idea. We are planning to release the map in chunks throughout Early Access. This means that up to the release of Early Access our artists are able to create more engaging environments for the smaller area that we are going to focus on.

This also allows us to refine the mission objectives more clearly for each area. For example, the city may not see the same types of emergency's as a small beach town. We are hoping that as we continue to release new areas, we'll be able to create more dynamic events based on the areas that those emergency's take place in.

We have a few work in progress images for you to check out below:







Additionally, We have been negotiating some work with some artists to assist with objects and creating new character models. While they've handled a few items of work, we're still at a contracting stage so unfortunately we can't share anything they've done just yet. But we're looking forward to sharing more images with you soon!

Thank you for your support and let us know what you think.

Hi everyone,

Today is a pretty small update, but we wanted to keep you in the loop. Currently we're working on handling foliage tests for the regions outside of the city. The goal is to make sure that we keep the game optimized throughout development and provide the best FPS we can deliver. With the map we are creating Nils has been looking at ways to handle loading and unloading of objects while the player is not in a particular area. Loading all objects at the same time can cause some drops in frame rate and that's a goal we'd like to avoid (of course, based on certain PC requirements)

Here are a few screenshots of our tests so far!







We are also look at hiring new 3D artists to help us improve upon the visual quality of the game. Up until now have been using some bought assets which has helped us to focus on improving the core game play. But now we're at a stage where we need to increase the graphical quality of the game and are placing job postings on relevant forums to search for the right person. We might not have anything to share for a few weeks but wanted to let you know what our immediate plans are as graphics quality is a common discussion.

Make sure to add the game to your wish list if you want to stay updated with news!

Hi everyone,

Today is a pretty small update, but we wanted to keep you in the loop. Currently we're working on handling foliage tests for the regions outside of the city. The goal is to make sure that we keep the game optimized throughout development and provide the best FPS we can deliver. With the map we are creating Nils has been looking at ways to handle loading and unloading of objects while the player is not in a particular area. Loading all objects at the same time can cause some drops in frame rate and that's a goal we'd like to avoid (of course, based on certain PC requirements)

Here are a few screenshots of our tests so far!







We are also look at hiring new 3D artists to help us improve upon the visual quality of the game. Up until now have been using some bought assets which has helped us to focus on improving the core game play. But now we're at a stage where we need to increase the graphical quality of the game and are placing job postings on relevant forums to search for the right person. We might not have anything to share for a few weeks but wanted to let you know what our immediate plans are as graphics quality is a common discussion.

Make sure to add the game to your wish list if you want to stay updated with news!