Feb 23, 2024

A big UPDATE strikes back with new content and more!

Nerd Survivors - Heartbit Interactive

Welcome to the Latest Update for Nerd Survivors!

It's been an exciting two weeks since the release of Nerd Survivors, and our journey together is just getting started. Today, we're thrilled to announce a massive update that introduces new content and extends our reach across the globe with additional localizations. Our goal is to enhance your experience, providing more variety, challenges, and accessibility. Without further ado, let's dive into the details of what this update brings to your adventure:

What's New in This Update:

New Content:

New Stage: Lampyridiae Strikes Back!
New Nerds: Meet our latest heroes, Adventurer Esmeralda, Dominatrix Rose, and Cosy Violet, each bringing unique skills to the fight.
New Archetype Forms: Unleash the power of Fire Clicker, Pleasant Reaper, and Proton Beam to decimate your foes.

We're now welcoming players with French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, and Simplified Chinese localizations, complete with respective fontsets to ensure a seamless gaming experience.

Gameplay Improvements:

Enhanced power-up visibility amidst crowded enemy encounters.
Introduced collection sound effects and graphic effects for powerups, making each grab more satisfying.
Adjustments to enemy mechanics, including behavior after being frozen and directional facing.
Rebalanced weapon and form stats, including the Spadone and Death Dragon form adjustments.
Improved UI elements like dropdown buttons in the forge and options menu for better navigation.

Technical Enhancements and Fixes:

Corrected typos and added a new main menu message for unlock notifications.
Addressed the Black Guard Johnny sprite glitch.
Fixed audio and visual glitches, including BGS sound pausing and weapon slot display issues.
Refined boss attack patterns for increased damage and visibility, enhancing the challenge while maintaining fairness.
Implemented a new tutorial in the forge's Customize sub-screen for an improved learning curve.
Adjusted language options and descriptions for clarity and accuracy in game mechanics.
Addressed a specific issue where prototype alpha was inadvertently translated to Italian, regardless of language setting.

Forge Updates:

Streamlined the damage calculation for orbiting weapons and adjusted cannon rotation angles.
Enhanced control over the angle offset of the Laser Form and ensured correct projectile scale saving in the forge.

This update reflects our commitment to making Nerd Survivors the best game it can be. We're dedicated to listening to your feedback and providing regular updates to enrich your gaming experience. Thank you for your support and enthusiasm. Dive back into Nerd Survivors and explore all the new features, challenges, and surprises we've added. Happy gaming!

Feb 23, 2024

Slave Zero X: Artist Focus - Kebby

Slave Zero X - Poppy Works

Tell us about yourself!
Hello, I'm Kebby from the United States and the 3D technical artist for Slave Zero X. I've always enjoyed drawing detailed schematics on paper and eventually got into computer technologies. I can create 2D and 3D animations, high or low poly models in Blender, paint textures, make maps and even some programming. I've been combining these interests to create mods for Quake and discovering it's unique engine limitations. It can be a challenging process to design new weapons or enemies, but it's very rewarding once it all works!

How did you get started working on Slave Zero X or for Poppy Works?
I was hired by Poppy Works thanks to Greenwood, he recommended me based on my work within the Quake community. When I first played Quake I really enjoyed it's moody atmosphere and fast gameplay. I tried out some overhaul mods like Alkaline and Arcane Dimensions, then wanted to try making something myself.

I had some previous mapping experience thanks to Doom and Source Engine games. Quake's welcoming community made it easy for me find tutorials and get started. I began figuring game limits, how models are animated, palettizing textures and eventually began writing code to make my own mods. I posted my work to the Quake Mapping Discord and got the attention of some fantastic people that had their own big projects.

That's how I met Greenwood and bmFbr, the leaders of the Alkaline mod. I did some work cleaning up older models, animation fixes, texturing alternate skins and made brand new enemies. Eventually Greenwood approached me about Poppy Works, and this cool new game him and bmFbr had been working on. The levels and assets were made using familiar Quake tools, and was a big opportunity for me to get into making games. I took the interview, showcased my work, and I got the job!

What sparked your interest to work on Slave Zero X?
I've always been interested in game development my whole life, planning out concepts and testing new ideas. Finally working on a game like Slave Zero X has given me the chance to vastly improve my Blender knowledge. I've discovered so many new useful programs since getting the job, it's great being able to work with artists like this and learn from them!

What do you enjoy most about working on Slave Zero X?
My favorite part of Slave Zero X, and what I'll miss most, is being part of a team. Everyone here is a passionate creator, we have incredible artists, animators, mappers, modelers, programmers, writers and musicians all working together. It's very refreshing after working alone for so long. Sharing new ideas, helping someone find a solution or having meetings where we discuss topics as a group.

The best part is when you get assigned a really awesome task by one of our concept artists. The challenge is turning that idea into a finished textured 3D model, but after it's done you get to hear their reactions. It's always a positive surprise during the big reveal when their vision becomes part of the game. It makes all the time spent worth it, and is a joy that never got old while working!

How would you describe the world of Slave Zero X? How did that World influence the art style?
Slave Zero X is a combination of my favorite science fiction stories like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Deus Ex or Half Life 2. It's a dark and twisted mega city ruled by an all powerful, seemingly omnipotent, techno wizard who controls everything and everyone around him. Francine's incredible art direction has always motivated me to go above and beyond in everything I create to match that level of detail. Capturing the gritty decaying structures, wires crawling across buildings like veins, bio-growth masses of who know what, intricate metal workings and fantastical dark machinery with tubes everywhere!

What has been a challenge you over came working on Slave Zero X? An art piece you wrestled with? The pipeline? Or whatever comes to mind.
One of our biggest hurdles was at the start of development, we needed to decide on the texel density for the entire game. It dictated what resolution the environment textures would need to be and impacted every asset in the game. We also needed to be consistent with how our art style was presented for both 2D sprites and 3D models.

Since I already had experience with Quake's workflow and limitations, I was able to work with the mappers and programmers to provide some processing solutions. They were able to engineer custom tools to aid us in asset production and I ended up writing a massive design document for our final pipeline. This led to me getting a promotion from part-time 3D artist to full-time 3D technical artist!

What skill has helped you most on this project?
Blender's texture baking tools were a must have for this project. It allowed me to use Francine's concept art directly as a material texture while 3D modeling. I could then go back and add any necessary texture details, lighting and shading as needed to stay faithful to the original idea. This sped up development significantly since I could reuse smaller model pieces to create larger complex structures. I then spent the saved time iterating new designs to create a wider variety of similar themed assets. Francine really enjoyed seeing her work shine through the new models when they were complete!

Poppy Works has been completely work-from-home since 2012. They are a global company in the sense that they hire any one qualified from all over the world. What has it been like working with such a diverse group of people?
It's been a wonderful experience working exclusively online, it's easy to forget that the people we talk with online can be halfway around the world. Usually the only problems we have are time zones and someone might miss a meeting because they're sleeping. I've been very grateful for the opportunity to work from home and it's definitely saved me time, money and stress from driving around each day!

Tell us something fun about working with the Slave Zero X team, a funny moment, something special that stands out to you about the team, or something you would like the world to know about this experience.
The occasional memes were a personal highlight for me. We'd have our meetings or discussions and someone would mention a silly idea or make a joke, but I'd turn it into a picture and post it as fast as I could. Always really funny to hear the reactions in real time, not sure how many of those made it in as easter eggs. Lots of the in-jokes won't make sense out of context, but sometimes without warning, the three little dots appear!

What has been your favorite piece to work on?
My favorite assignment by far is the Zone 5 military assets. This was late in the project so I had gotten more experienced with the modeling process. Using projection mapping and symmetrical designs I was able to create over 100 modular pieces very quicky for our mappers to decorate the environment. It was really fun to play around with all the parts like Lego, I eventually ended up making a mini-mega-city mockup in Blender. The same city construction was reused for a 3D skybox in Episode Enyo.

Another favorite is the huge enclosed boss arena, I was in charge of the design, modeling and textures for the entire chamber. I didn't have much concept reference to go off of, but Francine was able to guide the art direction for how it should look. It took almost two weeks to finish and lots of scraped attempts, but the final result was worth the extra effort!

Was anything cut from the project you wish had stayed in?
We really wanted to include a section where you pilot a giant mech, if only for a single level. I understand why it was cut, we'd need a lot of programming work for a whole new movement system, engine rewrites and camera systems. Not to mention all the new 3D art assets, animations for enemies, gameplay encounters and larger environment textures. It'd be like trying to create a whole new game from scratch. There were also a bunch of enemies that we didn't have time to finalize, hopefully they make it into the art book so curious fans can see!

How did you get started in this industry? Any suggestions for up and coming artists who would like your job?
I've always wanted to work on video games and it's hard to believe it's actually happened. To be honest, this has been my first real job as a 3D artist. I had tried doing freelance work after college but that ended up not being finacially viable. I ended up working retail for a couple years, but never gave up learning new tools and programs to improve my Blender skills. My suggestion for new artists is to keep the creative dream alive, always try to teach yourself something new that challenges your abilities. It can take a long time, but you never know when you'll finally be able to do all the things you really enjoy!

Final thoughts?
Poppy Works has been a dream come true, I am incredibly thankful for everyone here! Thank you so very much, from Kebby : )

Feb 23, 2024

It's been a while!

Long Gone - Hillfort Games

It's been quite a couple of years since I "announced" Long Gone was in early development so let's talk about changes in the game and what's been happening. In 2022 when I announced the game for steam, I posted the very early prototype to see if anyone was interested in the game before I progressed onto a vertical slice, i was absolutely blown away by the support and today the game is at almost 23000 wishlists. I've been posting small updates on TikTok which has helped the game go viral a couple of times
too. Its been amazing to see the support of my little game as a soloDev!

In 2022, I was living in Canada, working as a Senior Concept Artist at a AAA studio, I applied for my US via and it ended up taking 19 months to process. My visa expired in Canada so i needed to return home to the UK while my US visa was processing. This meant i was on the road and busy with Freelance work on other games so progress on Long Gone was slow because i was working off a laptop on an ironing board (im not kidding).

In October of 2023 I got into the US and I'm back with my Wife, I have a full office again and so the project is FULL STEAM AHEAD.

...get it. Because Steam. ANYWAY.

So in the past couple of months i've finished the vertical slice, most of the game is greyboxed and the game is almost in Alpha. Alpha means that a game's mechanics are all coded and working in the game which means I'm now just making content. I've found a couple of artists to start helping me out in the ramp up to the beta milestone this summer but I'm not 100% sure when the game will be finished.

Updates

So lets talk about some changes to the game from the last time you saw it here on steam.

New Artwork for the front yard Demo assets (BG, porch, house, etc.)
Yard "Get in the house" Demo puzzles are complete and playable.
New Grass Shader
Interactive "Large" items Complete (Draws, boxes etc.)
Foliage system and art complete (still needs animation)
Bag UX and reading overhauled and fully functioning
Pick up and Drop system is complete
Cutscene Triggering is complete
Combining Items Complete
Item Use and Fail states complete
Dialogue System Complete
Keys and Unlockable items Complete
Character speed slowed down
Mouth Animation when the dude talks
Story outline is complete
So...so much more.

More devs and Patreon

I've had some concern from fans excited for the game that as a Solo-dev, ill not be able to make the game in a timely manor. While ive only just got back into the flow of making the game, ive also taken this on board and im in the process of hiring a couple of people to help me out on the game's visuals as that is the biggest time-sink at the moment. This isnt cheap though, so if youre interested in supporting the game then you can find Hillfort Games on PATREON https://www.patreon.com/HillfortGames

Next?

A playable Demo. Even though ive tried in the description of the store page to explain the game, people still think its a survival game. Gather the food and ammo, kill all the Zombies etc. While there is some of that; its not really the game. To to squash ambiguity, the game will be playable for you all to find out. I'm hoping the demo may attract finances for the game to thrive too. The demo will be from the vertical slice which is about just getting into the house from the front yard. I know you guys are sick of that yard, but its the most art-complete section i have right now.

“Is the whole game just that yard?!”

Of course not. At the very beginning of the project, I created that front yard, which you have all seen and probably got sick of by now, and this is commonly referred to as a vertical slice. Vertical slices are there to test the game can work as a product as a semi-polished piece, because that was successful by the amazing reaction from all of you guys, I went into production. While in production, I have a mantra; ”it has to work before it looks pretty”. Unfortunately all the work that isn’t pretty is ugly. Like…. Really ugly. Grey boxes, the items are cubes, animations are missing; but it’s working! This is what ive been focused on. This is why nothing has really been shown because whenever I do, it tanks in views, nobody cares, people just want the pretty stuff which I get it. I want to make the pretty stuff too!

Until next time!