Nominations and Milestones

So we found out yesterday evening that we were nominated for "The best new Talent" award at Nordic Game Conference this year. This is a huge deal, not only because it gives us a lot of recognition, its because we also get placed next to big names like Avalanche, Dice and Funcom. It places us on the map, a bit, so to say.
So what do this nomination mean, well for starters, we are going to Nordic Game Conference in Malmö 19 - 20 May to show off our game, go to lectures and talk to a lot of cool people from the industry. And also, of course, see how it goes with the award. It’s a huge event with people from all over the world coming to Malmö to talk and share ideas and knowledge about the greatest phenomena of them all, games.
So we are booked and we have taken our bags out of the closet. But before we pack them we need something to pack them with! The idea is that we will showcase our game at the Gotland University booth and for that we really want to bring our fresh demo, strait from the ovens. So lets recall what this monday had for us!

Let’s start with the bad news. We have a lot of tweaking to do. This does certainly not come as a surprise to us which is reliving. It is only natural and as a bonus it’s probably the most fun process (for me) in the whole production chapter since I get to play the game (a lot) and scream at Olof all the time! Screaming is fun! Especially when you have something important to say as a producer!

It is my responsibility as a Producer/Game designer that Vertigo feels right and plays right and if it doesn’t no one can blame anybody else but me. Sure Olof is the “gameplay/physics” programmer, but it is my descriptions on “how things should” be that he is working by. And if something is wrong, it is my responsibility to make sure that it gets fixed!

So the tweaking is ongoing and will be so until we put up our thumb and say “it’s done”.

The next thing is the Interface, which is a mess. We have bugs and a lot of positioning to do. Right now stuff is pretty much all over the screen bouncing and skydiving (?). So the interface is a great deal of pain. However, the interface is today looking a lot better and works a lot better (with no skydiving ;)). So it still needs some polishing but we’re getting there, fast!

Also we have gotten to test the new game design stuff that’s in the GUI. And it turns out it works alright as of now. But we are taking in consideration that the cards could turn and we need to look over the features again.

So let’s talk about the really good news! (Besides the nomination).

We have taken our first play sessions in the new version and we have competed against each other for the first time, so, a bit modest, we have a game! AND you could call it a demo!

So, we kept our deadline! This means that we are in focus and can continue following the schedule and work our way towards the final product.

So, I’ll try to get some screens up as soon as I can, and might also post some video footage!

Stay tuned!

Also; Be shure to check out our Swedish game award Entry!

http://gameawards.se/competition_entries/304

Just in! Nominated for Best New Talent award 2009 by nordic game!

Vertigo is nominated for the new talent award at Nordic Game Convention 19 - 20 may! Right now we're pretty much overjoyed and we'll come back to you with more info when we have started to calm down =D! THIS IS AWESOME!

Here are some links;

http://www.developmag.com/news/31614/Nordic-Game-Awards-finalists-shortlisted

http://www.nordicgame.com/?id=45

Vertigo Dev Blog!

HEY! Check it out! From this day forth we blog about the production of Vertigo!

We figured... everyone else is doing it... Why won’t we!!!

No just kidding. Its a very delicate process developing a game, especially when your just a few dudes with ALOT of stuff to do. Therefore our beautiful face out through the internetz is kinda suffering from a… well, not such a beautiful face. The website has been up for a long time now (since 9 aug 2008) and it still looks like crap and doesn’t really say a lot about us, the production, or how the game is doing.

So in order for us to gradually get something fancier then what we have, we need to go through a step by step process, and right now we’re at the beginning.

So the first thing we try to fix for you guys is the information. It’s really what it’s all about. Get information about the game!
Get information, get hyped and look forward for the final product (hopefully=)). That’s why we right now is starting this blog, and will completely rewrite everything on the website. The information about Run Jump Duck Entertainment, the "about the game" section and "News" is examples of stuff we really need to fix. The news section is also going to work parallel with the blog but act more like a "headline" page where all the "more important stuff that isn’t about Mao writing about how much work he have on his table right now", is going to be.

So with baby steps we are fixing it! But now let us begin with:

THE VERTIGO DEVELOPERS BLOG!

Its milestone time!
Tomorrow we will for the first time have a new demo made with the XNA plattform ready for testing! This means that we will this week play the game, address bugs, tweak gameplay, and address what do absolutely not work and what works brilliantly. And the most important thing of them all, Fix the problems that may occure.

So at the end of this week, we might have some new screenshots for you! And during this week we will rapport to you about what is happening behind the curtains!

So stay tuned!