#arenafps

[patchoulii-2hu-144p]

duel, map is unbalanced but fun

[bustacell]

What's your favorite gaming soundtrack? 🤨

[castledoes-blog]

Its a start!

[midwestlans]

Reflex - Arena FPS

Last week, I stumbled upon a Kickstarter campaign for a new Arena-based FPS shooter called Reflex.  A first view through their front-page video might leave you asking what sets it apart from other Arena FPS games we've been playing for more than a decade, and fortunately, the guys behind the scenes have been posting updates that I encourage everyone to read.  Check out the kickstarter campaign here. Their latest update was regarding movement, and I think this is really going to refine the recipe that has made arena FPS so much fun.  This easy-to-learn-but-hard-to-master approach was done for games like TF2.  It's a game that is incredibly easy to pick up and play at a competent level, but in order to get to the next level of play, you really have to spend a lot of time on muscle memory and practice.  I can't tell you how much time I spent in TF2 during my competitive years just rocket jumping off of walls. While I don't have the time to invest 30-40+ hours a week perfecting my skills in a game, I do believe the guys behind Reflex are doing the right things.  They're not re-imagining the Arena FPS; you don't need to.  What they are doing is taking a formula that works well and adding their own spin to it.  Skill jumping is a huge part of it, but after watching streams of their pre-alpha build, there's so much more behind it that I find very compelling. I suggest you go check out their Kickstarter campaign.  They crossed over the $60k mark over the weekend, but their aggressive $360,000 goal is still quite a ways away.  So, consider backing it if that's your thing. They're also on twitter and facebook, so you can at least catch when they're streaming the pre-alpha content.  The other thing that I've grown to expect these days, especially with planning .LAN every year, is that folks typically don't take the time to reply to you.  I send out hundreds of e-mails in the months leading up to .LAN, and I would say that a small percentage is replied to.  These guys have been very candid and up front with my personal messages to them and I give them a ton of credit for it.  Surprisingly, Blizzard and Hi-Rez are the other two that have not grown too big to support this growing event where they can.  

I say this because when I do find folks that seem passionate about what they do and take time to reply and be respectful, I make every effort I can to support them.   Reflex, and the developers behind this seem like they want to do this. I support that, because I have the same drives and goals with .LAN.  Money has never been a determining factor for me.  If it were, I would have quit a long time ago.  Passion, games and friendships all drive me to keep doing .LAN year to year.  It may not be a glorious endeavor, but it's worth it in the end.  Let's help Reflex realize the same successes I've seen with .LAN over the last six years.

[bustacell]

Perfect audio-to-video synchronization 🤩

[patchoulii-2hu-144p]

more progress, showing the top floor of the building

[castledoes-blog]

I see a lot of menus in my future...

Delving into the exciting world of options menus is not something I have done a lot of in the past. But its good to do something new every once in awhile right?

Last night a spent a decent chunk of time looking over how the menu systems work and for the most part it seems pretty straight forward. Basically its a series of buttons that call console commands.

Project Stray will likely be in a state of menu and hud hell for a good portion of the month. So bear with me on that.

[castledoes-blog]

A new location for the blog stuff.

So this will likely be my location for my longer posts about game development, future plans and anything else related to Castle Does. Its a shame that TSU does not allow me to post my content to the public as it would work quite well as a blogging platform.

At least in this case tumblr is designed from the ground up as a blogging page. Perhaps this wont be so bad. I just really liked the idea of having 90% revenue share on my blogs!

DAMN YOU TSU!!! Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass! Anyway, welcome to the place I will post news, videos and updates on all of my future projects.