Community Games has a date

If you’re working on your own game, or know someone who is.. You should be excited to know that the Community Games has a formal date!

http://creators.xna.com/en-us/xna_goes_live_october30th

“independent game developers will be happy to know that XNA Game Studio 3.0 will be available for download on October 30, 2008 so they can to convert their creations and prepare them to be a part of the launch of Xbox LIVE Community Games on November 19.”

Good news indeed. Looking forward to playing some of your creations :)

Codename ShackRPG has an official name!

With the nearing of the Dream Build Play deadline, and the completion of a pre-alpha build, I have taken the ShackRPG code name offline and given it an official title…

Meir

There are quite a few things left that still need touchups and some sub-systems that still need to be written, but for now.. the pre-alpha build is up and ready to be polished for the Dream Build Play competition. The only dilemma for me right now is do I add more content to the game? (Temporary storyline, more encounters, items, quests, maps, dungeons, etc) or do I polish what is already in there and give the Dream Build Play judges less content but a more fun experience?

For example;
- The battle engine is in, but only 90% complete (Magic is not implemented)
- The collision system is still “Loose” and I would really like to tighten that up and make it feel great.
- There are no special effects such as particles or explosions
- Dialog system, while crude, is in place. I would like to expand this to create a complete “Cut-Scene” system.

The Pre-Alpha (DBP build) has 3 main areas and a 1 room dungeon (4 maps), 1 major quest line, 8 or so weapons and armor, several music selections, several different monster encounters, and a few random scattered quests. Is this enough? Maybe… maybe not? The deadline is still in a few weeks so I have time to polish a bit and expand the demo a little.

Everything has been a great journey so far, learning how to program through this project was both a blessing and a curse.. but the engine work is almost complete and now the story is being written and content creation is falling into place. Within a week or two, I should have some screenshots and a “promotional video” of actual gameplay that must be submitted to the Dream Build Play site, so I’ll share them with everyone here as well.

So hang in there just a little while longer, and I’ll start leaking some tidbits on the game itself! :) With the demo nearing completion, it is time to set my sights on a full length game for the Community games. My deadline is Christmas, but we’ll see how things work out.