http://www.moddb.com/members/dirtbag007/blog Subscribe to the Mod DB dirtbag007 blog feed, and get the latest updates as they are posted. en-us Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:57:10 -0600 Copyright 2009, DesuraNET Pty Ltd Articles 180 http://static.moddb.com/cutoff/images/logos/rss.png http://www.moddb.com/ 120 90 http://www.moddb.com/members/dirtbag007/blog/choices Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:10:10 -0600 Hey all, after having finished up my first game (done with the help of a tutorial), I'm standing at a crossroad. It's about what game I should make next. I ain't really sure what to do now. That's why I'm asking you the question! If you want to help me, vote here in this thread: http://www.moddb.com/forum/thread/what-would-you-prefer Thank you in advance! articles46370 http://www.moddb.com/members/dirtbag007/blog/progress-of-star-apocalypse Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:32:24 -0500 Hey all! Here is a little update about our current progress of Star Apocalypse. Currently, we're still trying to simplify the underlying mechanics, while not decreasing gameplay depth. It is not going as we want. We have found some mechanics, but not enough to simplify the design up properly to make us able to make it. What we really need, if we want to make this, are better skills. This is not the easiest thing to get, but I've been considering a few options. The most useful option is to create a small game in between, to gain experience. I'm already writing the concept for it. It will be a simple arcade-like multiplayer shooter, heavily focussed around teamwork. It will have fast-paced gameplay. It is a mixture between a RTS, FPS and RPG. 2d, top-down view. I've already thought about how many functions can be expressed in code, and it seems that most of the functions are quite easy. That isn't the case with Star Apocalypse. That's why we're likely going to develop this game before Star Apocalypse. Expect more details about this game soon! Cheers, Dirtbag007 articles31341 http://www.moddb.com/members/dirtbag007/blog/revival-of-star-apocalypse Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:46:09 -0500 Hey all! Last blog was about us stopping with Star Apocalypse. I explained there why we stopped and what the future would be like. The future I refer to was making a different game. All started as expected, but after alot of delays during february to may, we finally had a very basic concept done by the end of may. Eventually, our coders grew dissatisfied with the concept, and left the team. I must admit that it's partially due to my own fault that we didn't get a concept really done in time, but it was also due to lack of information about what the person in our team (who came up initially with the concept) wanted in detail. After the coders left the team, I talked with the other devs what to do. The best course of action would be returning to Star Apocalypse, since we had a clear and detailed concept already done. We just needed to simplify the game alot up development-wise. We started discussing about some very simple mechanics which would still provide great depth. One of these mechanics is the income mechanic described in one of the latest news posts. More mechanics will follow, and we hope to have improved the concept sufficiently by october-december 2008 to start recruiting new people and put them immediately to work. By that time, I hope that I have learned at least one decent programming language, so I can help with coding. Hopes are back that Star Apocalypse will be developed further! Cheers, Dirtbag007 articles29780 http://www.moddb.com/members/dirtbag007/blog/new-chances Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:28:54 -0600 Hey all!  We had some tough months in Darkmatter Development in the last part of the year. The main coder fell inactive, rendering most of the coding out of reach. We tried 2 months to get a replacement, with no results. Last week we decided to leave Star Apocalypse for what it is, and wait till we got the skills and experience to finish it. It was a tough decision, because we already worked for 1 year on the project. The post-mortem article also had influence in the decision. It also offers us new chances. Firstly we can start with an entirely new concept, without having to stick with the Star Apocalypse universe. Secondly, we can now create a far more simple game coding-wise. We will also be able to finish a game far sooner now, because Star Apocalypse would have taken several years if we continued to develop it. DD will announce their new project in January or february. We are now making a new concept within the team.  Keep an eye on us in the future ;)  Cheers, Roberto 'dirtbag007' Moretti  articles25069