Dev Notes: The road to SIX

On Sunday, September 1st, Chess Heroes will make its first public appearance at SIX3, the Seattle Indie Expo. This was not part of "the plan" until it was announced, but I feel like I can have the build in presentable shape by then.

So! Thus begins the Road to SIX. And, honestly, the journey started last Monday, so we're halfway to TWO or something. I have a laundry list of stuff to do, and here's a list of what was accomplished last week.

ART

• Value study of the Castle (this is where I use shades of gray to "sketch out" what will eventually be color values on the model. It helps makes things cohesive when actual color gets involved)
• Windmill Model and value study
• New chess piece model: Pawn King
• New chess piece model: Harbor King
• New chess piece model: Scarecrow
• Hi-rez King
• Hi-rez Pawn
• Hi-rez Bishop
• Hi-rez version of Oreganik Logo

ANIMATION

• Created an in-game cinematic system for camera and actor control
• Scripted the intro sequence.

DESIGN

• Added "boss battles"
• Integrated the Pawn King, Harbor King, and Scarecrow
• Added Boss Ability functionality (sort of like a unique spell)
• Created a boss ability called "Riptide" (it pulls pieces towards the boss, and they can be swept off the board)
• Created a boss ability called "Wither" (shrinks pieces on the XZ axes and limits their movement to one space)
• Finished the demo scenarios for Castle
• Finished the demo scenarios for Harbor
• Finished the demo scenarios for Granary
• Switched demo flow a bit, changed the order you get certain spells and abilities

TECH

• Discovered and fixed a handful of bugs

This week I'll focus on re-modeling and texturing all of the chess pieces, then animating them in game, to give them a bit of "life." (the example I give is Pixar's wonderful short "Luxo Jr.") I also need to set up business stuff so I can accept money for the game! Very important.

On an unrelated note, even though the game code framework is holding together, and I can add new features (like boss battles) fairly seamlessly, I am fighting a huge desire to go back and re-engineer the game "properly" now that I understand exactly what it is I'm making! I understand this is common...