Thursday, November 6, 2008

Surprising development


Yes, we are still alive :)

Basically , our team has been hard at work on locking down the features list for the full game, and implementing some new stuff such as:

  • Weapon systems and devices - this basically includes what the ship can use against an enemy or to aid an ally. We also have plans for non-aggressive utility devices which alter the gameplay quite a bit
  • Communication systems - we all love to taunt the enemy or to boss around the wingmen. Now everything is possible with the help of a few key presses :)
  • Input enhancements - force feedback , gamepad or joystick controls will be present with all the bells and whistles. You'll be able to use the XBOX 360 controller as well
  • Multiplayer - this is really the biggest thing added to the game in the past few months. So far a classic free for all mode has been tested, but more complex modes are in the pipeline.
On a totally unrelated note, we have tested the game on the lowest configuration to date, an Asus EEEPC 900HA. Here are the specifications
  • Intel Atom CPU 1.6 GHz
  • 1 GB ram
  • Intel Mobile 945 Express video card
The game's performance was surprising, even in a state where optimizations are pretty much missing. We had to disable some of the unsupported features such as pixel and vertex shaders, full screen bloom and some other minor things in order to get it started. In spite of all this, the graphics still remained decent, and the frames kept playable values, with the maximum at 80, and an average at 15. Mesh-heavy levels dropped to 3 fps sometimes

Here are some screenshots :)