Sunday, 18 October 2015
Sunday, 27 September 2015
The XBox Version is Finally Up-to-Date
The Steam patch from several months ago has finally made it onto the XBox. This includes:
- Spanish!
- Four new music tracks from Sounds of Circumstance
- The option to repair damaged buildings, or take over vacant ones (To use this, equip Toolbox and target the desired building).
- A bunch of minor bug fixes.
We also got some rather sad news from Microsoft - they are sunsetting XBLIG. But at least they're giving everyone plenty of advance warning about it. We will continue to be able to publish games, and release patches, until September 2016. And you'll continue being able to buy them until September 2017. After that you'll still be able to play the ones you've bought, but you won't be able to buy new ones.
So I'm still aiming to get online co-op into the XBox version before it sunsets. Once I've got it working on Steam it shouldn't be too hard to port it over.
- Spanish!
- Four new music tracks from Sounds of Circumstance
- The option to repair damaged buildings, or take over vacant ones (To use this, equip Toolbox and target the desired building).
- A bunch of minor bug fixes.
We also got some rather sad news from Microsoft - they are sunsetting XBLIG. But at least they're giving everyone plenty of advance warning about it. We will continue to be able to publish games, and release patches, until September 2016. And you'll continue being able to buy them until September 2017. After that you'll still be able to play the ones you've bought, but you won't be able to buy new ones.
So I'm still aiming to get online co-op into the XBox version before it sunsets. Once I've got it working on Steam it shouldn't be too hard to port it over.
Sunday, 6 September 2015
What I'm currently up to
A couple of months ago it occurred to me that I hadn't updated this blog in a while. The reason for that is I've been updating people on the project via Steam news posts as I think they get read by more people.
Of course, people who own the game on XBox 360 likely won't be reading about it on Steam and might be wondering what's going on. The answer is that I released a new patch back in June, but it hasn't made it to XBLIG yet. I figured I'd update this blog once it had. In fact I've been trying for the last month or so to get it on XBLIG, but the service seems to have run into some problems that make it impossible for people to update games on it, or indeed add new ones. Microsoft has been working on this, and we thought it was fixed recently, but now it's started happening again and my patch still hasn't made it through peer review.
So in summary, the patch is coming to XBLIG, it's just taking a long time.
In the meantime, I've also added an FAQ on the Steam forums about what I'm working on next. Short answer: Online Co-op. (Which I also hope to bring to XBox 360 once I've got it working on Steam.) After that I'll start on a sequel.
Of course, people who own the game on XBox 360 likely won't be reading about it on Steam and might be wondering what's going on. The answer is that I released a new patch back in June, but it hasn't made it to XBLIG yet. I figured I'd update this blog once it had. In fact I've been trying for the last month or so to get it on XBLIG, but the service seems to have run into some problems that make it impossible for people to update games on it, or indeed add new ones. Microsoft has been working on this, and we thought it was fixed recently, but now it's started happening again and my patch still hasn't made it through peer review.
So in summary, the patch is coming to XBLIG, it's just taking a long time.
In the meantime, I've also added an FAQ on the Steam forums about what I'm working on next. Short answer: Online Co-op. (Which I also hope to bring to XBox 360 once I've got it working on Steam.) After that I'll start on a sequel.
Friday, 20 February 2015
Survivalist is One Year Old!
A year ago today I unleashed Survivalist on an unsuspecting world! Well, the 20th of February is the date it launched on XBox Live Indie Games. I hadn't done any kind of pre-launch publicity (which was stupid of me really, but I was too busy making the game), so no one was expecting it and I had very little idea what to expect. Would people 'get' it? Would it be seen as just another zombie game? Would anyone notice it existed? Thankfully it was generally well-received, although there were some launch issues to contend with.
Three weeks ago it launched on Steam, and in that short time it has sold approximately as many copies as it did in a year of being on XBLIG :) All hail the mighty Gaben! Still, I owe a lot to the XBLIG platform - every time I read about it seems like someone's saying something negative about it, but it actually put my game in front of a lot of players and gave me a "long tail" of sales even after I slipped off the new releases list. Many of the people that bought Survivalist on XBLIG went on to vote for it and write positive comments on the Steam Greenlight page, which I'm sure was a massive help getting onto Steam. Yet XBLIG itself is a completely open platform with no gatekeepers - you just have to pass peer review from other developers (which is more just a useful way to get feedback and testing rather than a barrier to entry).
So yeah, happy birthday Survivalist - and I hope XBLIG carries on long enough for me to be able to release some kind of a sequel on it.
Three weeks ago it launched on Steam, and in that short time it has sold approximately as many copies as it did in a year of being on XBLIG :) All hail the mighty Gaben! Still, I owe a lot to the XBLIG platform - every time I read about it seems like someone's saying something negative about it, but it actually put my game in front of a lot of players and gave me a "long tail" of sales even after I slipped off the new releases list. Many of the people that bought Survivalist on XBLIG went on to vote for it and write positive comments on the Steam Greenlight page, which I'm sure was a massive help getting onto Steam. Yet XBLIG itself is a completely open platform with no gatekeepers - you just have to pass peer review from other developers (which is more just a useful way to get feedback and testing rather than a barrier to entry).
So yeah, happy birthday Survivalist - and I hope XBLIG carries on long enough for me to be able to release some kind of a sequel on it.
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
...and another one.
Latest patch is v31, it fixes a bug I introduced in v29 that meant you couldn't recruit Jim Gallager. *facepalm*
Sunday, 15 February 2015
Another quick patch
Someone discovered a crash, so I fixed it. As of yesterday the latest patch is v30 and it just contains a fix for that crash.
Sunday, 8 February 2015
A couple of quick patches
So it turns out that when your game is released on Steam it suddenly gets massively playtested and this can throw up a few bugs. This week I released two patches for the PC version, v28 and v29. They don't add any exciting new features, they just fix a few bugs and sources of confusion that got discovered by all the new players. If you're one of those players then thanks for reporting them! But I hope you don't find any more!
Here's the change log:
That aside, the Steam launch has gone pretty well, with lots of positive comments and good reviews. Yay!
Here's the change log:
- Added quest arrows to point to the next regional threat, if you are at war, when you select a Complete The Game quest.
- Fixed 'Sarah Slaughter has an easy quest for you' mission not going away if you chose 'au naturel'.
- Fixed being able to activate cheat mode before you were supposed to.
- Fixed being able to get Jim Gallager to join you before Cassie is dead.
- Fixed being able to trade negative items and get free stuff if you are over-encumbered.
- Fixed being able to transfer items to you inventory by dragging them across in the 'Bring Supplies Home' inventory page.
- Fixed fire and zombie sounds not being affected by the effects volume slider.
- Fixed game crashing on startup on PCs using the Turkish language.
That aside, the Steam launch has gone pretty well, with lots of positive comments and good reviews. Yay!
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Survivalist is now available on Steam!
I've released the latest patch for Survivalist, v27, on all PC channels - Desura, IndieGameStand and... Steam!
Yep, thanks to everyone who voted for the Greenlight, Survivalist is
now sitting on the front page of Steam under Popular New Releases.
Praise be to Gaben!
Steam Keys
If you already bought the PC version of the game, you can get a free Steam key for it! To claim it, go to the site you bought the game from.
Here's the change log for v27:
If you already bought the PC version of the game, you can get a free Steam key for it! To claim it, go to the site you bought the game from.
- If you bought it from the Groupees bundle, go to their website.
- If you bought it from the Indie Royale bundle, either go there or go to Desura.
- If you bought it from Desura, or recieved a free Desura key as part of a promotion, go to Desura. Underneath the link where you would download Survivalist there is a little Steam logo you can click on.
- If you bought it from IndieGameStand go there and click on the Steam logo underneath Redeem On.
Here's the change log for v27:
- ADDED
- Added Steam build that links with Awardments with Steam Achievements
- Added Take All button when scavenging a corpse, on PC:
- Added WASD default controls on PC:
- Added a button to equip ears of corn on the equipment info page:
- Added message box telling you if the person you are transferring an item to will want to hold onto it forever
- Added new awardments for recruiting people from various communities
- Added option to skip speech when reading novels etc
- Added option to stop farmers from planting new crops, so they'll concentrate on watering the existing ones:
- Added some extra info to late game quests to make them clearer
- CHANGED
- Changed Maize and Safflower to be passable and move out the way when pushed:
- Changed default Quick Load key to F11 (on PC) as F12 is the default screenshot key on Steam
- FIXED
- Fixed NPCs moving around whenever you tell them to follow/unfollow you
- Fixed being able to get Dick Short to join you, breaking the Willard mission
- Fixed bug where people were teleporting to the corners of the map (I think)
- Fixed various other small things
Monday, 19 January 2015
Steam Release Date - 30th of January!
I've set the Steam release date for the 30th of January, 10.00 PST. Woot! :)
This release will feature Steam Achievements (linked to the Awardments system), and a bunch of small fixes and improvements. For example you'll now be able to walk over crops instead of being blocked by them :) And the PC controls will default to the WASD configuration, which seems to be way more popular than arrow keys - you can still set it to the arrow keys with one click in the Controls menu if you want though.
This release will feature Steam Achievements (linked to the Awardments system), and a bunch of small fixes and improvements. For example you'll now be able to walk over crops instead of being blocked by them :) And the PC controls will default to the WASD configuration, which seems to be way more popular than arrow keys - you can still set it to the arrow keys with one click in the Controls menu if you want though.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)