Devlog Weekly News - TR Run Progress and Art, KAG Modding

Original: http://www.thd.vg/post/129121579945/weekly-news-tr-run-progress-and-art-kag-modding

Hey guys, sorry for the delay on the update. Last week was a trying time, but we’ve gotten back on track. So, lets get to it.

Trench Run News:

TR development has been going along strong. The Run mode testing has shown that playing in a team on bigger maps gives the game a totally fresh feel. Run allows for much more depth than the free-for-all skirmish mode, but requires a bigger commitment.

Some issues that we’re addressing include:

• runs being hard to deny
  
• missing feedback for when a run is being threatened
  
• some connection-transfer issues between game servers.

Of the issues from last week:

• Engineer air-striking is harder but still possible ; you just cant sit right at spawn and rain hell on the map.
  
• The medic is more useful even in the hands of an idiot. You can pick up a wounded medic as a living teammate - which then allows the medic to heal the rest of the wounded.

However, the big news is not related to gameplay…

When we first started making Trench Run, it was meant to be a fast, quite small, 2-6 month project. More experimental graphics that we could produce quickly were settled on at the start of the project. However, as the project exits its first year we are at a point where the game should probably at least pay for itself. As such, we’ve decided to rework the graphics to be more appealing to a wider audience. They’ll still be lo-fi, but less abstract, and with room for team colours to help readability. Our graphical aim is “a game made from 2015 styled like the 90s, not a game from the 90s released in 2015”.


Current pass over The Forest biome (new on the left, old on the right, full size x2 pixels here). We hope the extra time shows, because getting all this in game is going to take some doing!

This is quite a frustrating decision for us to make. It pushes game code work from me on to Michal, and it will take a few weeks of full time graphics work at least for me to get a full game’s worth of art reworked. However, its a decision needed the good of the game’s financial success. The game being more accessible should mean you guys have a bigger crowd of people to play with instead of another small clique of die-hard fans.

We’ll be doing more experimentation and polishing of the current mockup graphics this week, but I think we’re set on this direction now. We’ll keep you updated as the game and its art style develops, and we trust you’ll bide your time alongside us as we work towards a better Trench Run!

KAG News:

Verra has got to work on investigating various modding “annoyances” and smoothing them out:

• Error messages in the console now refer to the right line even for included files, and dont miss errors when the error occurs at the end of the file.
  
• The “infinite mod redownloading” bug.

Progress is looking good and we’re happy to have him aboard!

Until next time,
Max

Forum Addendum: We're looking for feedback from you guys on the art. Those who didn't like it before, do you like the new direction? Those that liked the old art, is the new art still appealing? Try not to focus too much on details like "the placeholder green guy jumping looks a bit crap" but more on the overall feel. Do you like the less abstract, brighter look?

(Also, the default font is pretty crap and doesn't seem to want to go bold. What gives?)

 

OK the edits should have calmed down now, this posted a little before it was ready. Looking forward to your feedback.

 

I've always liked how the strong flavour of the 90s retro art complemented the (actually rather modern) stream-lined play; it felt like a fully realised nostalgia package where everything looked the same, but the gameplay matched my memory ("things weren't that fiddly/clunky, where they?") rather than the reality ("Yes. Yes, they bloody were").

All that said, I have to echo others here that the new graphics definitely makes it more a game I could introduce to a wider range of friends/family and be assured of a positive response. Things feel 'lighter' and more approachable. A good move.

...

That said, here's hoping for a oldschool texture pack for when I want to get my full nostalgia bent going.