Happy new year!
Time flies when you’re having fun and 2017 totally flew by. I haven’t done a great job at updating this blog but this all changes TODAY. You know, in the spirit of all good new year’s resomolutions.
First things first. What the hell have we been up? Well, since I haven’t posted in a while and I don’t want to make this a behemoth of a post, I’m going to conveniently itemize the most important points.
Definitely not hiding behind a vase like this guy.
- Online multiplayer! This is a pretty big deal and used up most of our programming time. Nearly done now.
- Finalized the design for inter-mission stuff, including rewards, challenges, cosmetics and progression. It was a hefty design problem and it’s pretty much done. Well… at least insofar as anything is done before you test it with actual users.
- Levels levels levels! We’ve been experimenting with different mechanics and completed the visual design for the second campaign. Working on a lot of new levels right now.
- Destructible objects! With things in them! Radu built some awesome utility items that you’ll find in crates dispersed across the world. Smashing!
- Aliens! More details when the time is right.
Alright enough about that. I promised to talk about 2018 so let’s dig into that. First off, some great news. Radu just started working on Frankie full time! That’s great news because our programming backlog was really starting to go down the drain and Radu’s arrival is not unlike a knight’s timely intervention in regards to damsels and their state of affairs.
Second, we gathered our resources and upgraded our studio to Level 3. Here’s a photo of Dragos working hard while Radu gazes ponderously into his screen:
Boxes have taken residence in the studio and are refusing to leave.
Most importantly though, we’ve done a lot of planning and design work and I’m happy to say that WE HAVE A PLAN! It’s not the first one mind you but what’s new about it is that it stretches out until release. In other words, we’re starting to see a glimmer of the light waiting at the end of the development tunnel, although there’s still some way to go. Here’s our schedule, in a nutshell:
- Finish online multiplayer
- Run an alpha test and absorb feedback
- Release in early access and iterate
- Full Steam release
- … profit?
Dates, you ask? Don’t be rude! Well ok, I can tell you that this is all happening in 2018 and I hope we can run the alpha sometime in February-March. We’re going to need your help to spread the word so a tip of the hat to you if you’d be so kind to subscribe to our newsletter and help out when the time comes: http://eepurl.com/b0H5v6
To sum up, Team Rikodu is starting 2018 with big plans, lots of energy, and a desire to do better at keeping our community in the loop. And it’s on this point that I’ll make the final announcement: we’re going to start recording and sharing our internal bi-weekly demos. Think of it as a sort of dev diary. We’re going to release these videos on our YouTube channel regularly, starting in a few weeks.
Stay frosty.
-Alex