Corrupted Studios Future & More

For a while now, I've been wanting to write in depth about not only mine, but the future of Corrupted Studios as a whole after PUNT. So while I do love what PUNT's becoming, and anticipate its completion, I can't help but plan for the future and toss ideas around for non PUNT things from time to time.

After PUNT, we're planning on getting into development of a game called Picskel. Picskel currently has a team of four main individuals, being a programmer, level designer, artist / graphic designer, and a composer. These individuals are Joshua Ashton, Stonie Blue (BlueASIS), an additional, still undecided, composer, and myself (Tristan Halcomb). While this team may grow slightly, I personally find game development more enjoyable when I'm in the midst of it all; Something which I want to ensure happens in my projects.

With Picskel, we plan on creating our own game engine for use during its development, and possibly other games of ours. It's current tentative name is the ECHO engine, which will be capable of 2d and 3d game development, with 2d as its focus. While this allows for more flexibility within the development of the game, creating the engine will also most likely take a while to perfect, which might set back development of the core game for a few months at the very least. However, as we don't have any set release plans for the game, this isn't an issue. We're making our own engine, rather than using something like Unity, Unreal, Construct, Gamemaker, etc, because we want to have full control over the engine, be able to fully customize any needed tools, and not be forced to pay royalties or fees for simple features. 

Picskel aside, PUNT has had its fair share of noteworthy changes lately. Most importantly, we've switched the engine branch to Source SDK 2010 (Alien Swarm), which allows for improved graphics and lighting, something which was holding us back in our previous engine, Source SDK 2013 mp. Additionally, workshop functionality will begin development in the near future, which includes a custom version of Source SDK's tools launcher and bsp uploading / downloading. We're also looking at the possibility of adding an in game level editor, which utilizes instances, similar to Portal 2. However, this is still in the works, and nothing is confirmed just yet (other than the sdk tools).

In other news, I'll be heading out to Seattle in October for Steam Dev Days. I hope that the event serves as a great opportunity to network and learn from fellow game developers. I'll most likely be showcasing PUNT in some format from 2:45 to 3:45 on Wednesday the 12th alongside some developer friends of mine and their games. I've yet to decide on a place to be during that time, but I'll make a post on Twitter once I do. You can follow me at https://twitter.com/tristanh816

After PUNT, we've got a whole bunch planned, and I hope that you all stick with us throughout our growth as independent developers. However, until then, we're still determined to complete PUNT and make it the game it deserves to be. For those of you going to the Dev Days, I hope to see you there! If not, I'll most likely post a video or two to the Corrupted Studios Youtube channel for those unable to attend.

Until next time,

-Tristan (BoxandRocks)

PUNT: Rebirth Plans & Progress

 With the advent of PUNT becoming Greenlit, changes were bound to occur (thanks again!). However, the extent of these changes has yet to be fully discussed by us in any of our previous posts. In light of this, this article is dedicated to making the changes which have occurred known to the public, as well as the future of PUNT: Rebirth as a whole.

 As discussed in my previous post to this blog, we plan on having PUNT: Rebirth release on Steam with full Steam workshop support so that new puzzles will always be available. While the completion of the game is still a while off, the game will most likely be at least 50% complete by the beginning of September. To clarify, this means completing a chapter of the game per month. This goal is already being heavily worked towards, as we aim to have the entire first chapter of the game done by the end of the month. However, past that 50% completion mark, overall progress will become rapid due to the story elements which will be featured in the second half of the game. Still, in light of this goal, I'd like to set the estimated release for the game as early to mid 2017, However, please note that this may change in the future.

CURRENT ESTIMATES:

• May 31st: Chapter One completed.
• June 30th: Chapter Two completed, two advanced maps created
• July 31st: Chapter Three completed
• August 31st: Chapter Four completed
• September 30th: Chapter Five completed, all previous chapters revised to be in line with story
• October 31st: Chapter Six completed
• November 30th: Chapter Seven completed, Pre-Gold build pushed to testers
• December 31st: Chapter Eight completed
• January 31st, 2017: Feedback from Pre-Gold build taken into account, changes are made based upon it. General bug and optimization fixes made.
• February 1st - 10th, 2017: PUNT: Rebirth is released on Steam. 

 As far as gameplay changes themselves go, a new fizzler type has been added, dubbed the deactivation field. When a player or object goes through the field, all cubes within a given room have their abilities deactivated. In addition, various aesthetic changes are in the works as well, such as cleaner textures for the tiles. The E.C.H.O. / Punt gun also has work being done on it, including new sounds, particle effects, and more to come in the future.

 In addition to the main game, the final release of PUNT will include a collection of advanced puzzles as well which were deemed too skill based or difficult for the main game. There's also the possibility of us releasing periodic map packs post release as free updates for the game, but this is all still far from final. We plan on implementing achievements as well.

For those of you who are unaware, we currently have an ongoing puzzle concept / design contest. For the details, please refer to this post:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/updates/394046362/1461963353

 Lastly, we're currently looking for a new mapper who could help with the overall progress of PUNT: Rebirth, allowing us to reach our goals in time. Please note, we need experienced, talented mappers as applicants. Anyone who has experience with Portal 2 or similar mapping, please email me personally at tristan.h816@gmail.com along with a selection of your previous works.

 The next upcoming month or two may prove to be quieter than usual, but that's because we'll have our hands full with mapping. Once again, thanks to everyone who's supported us so far, and we hope that our plans for the future will prove to be worth waiting for.

Until next time,

-Tristan (BoxandRocks)

PUNT: Rebirth Progress, Future, and More

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything on this blog. I think it may have even been a year or so, considering PUNT: Rebirth has been in development for over a year now, which is probably the longest I've ever worked on a project. Even more surprising, PUNT as a whole, including the original, has been in development for 5 years now. That aside though, there's been quite a lot of progress in PUNT: Rebirth's development over the past 2 months, and due to how I don't always post everything on Moddb, the extent of the changes which have occurred may not be the most obvious. So today, I'll run through everything that's been going on with PUNT, and detail where we plan on going with it in the future.

For starters, we've dropped the retro-futuristic art style in favor of a tiled, portal-esque, art style. This was primarily due to a lack of modular textures which fit with the art style, as well as the overall time consuming mapping process. The new style is the one which was used in PUNT's 2012 demonstration video, and solved all of our issues with the retro-futuristic style, proving not only to be extremely modular, but quick and easy to map with as well. It also looks a lot better, which doesn't hurt.

A new art style is nice and all, but without features, there would be no point. Due to this, after the switch in art style, I decided to tackle the multitude of code changes needed for the game. I took up programming for the mod due to the fact that Hogsy, the previous head programmer, has left the project.  Included in these code changes was finalized flip cubes, sounds for all cubes, overhauled func_puntblockers, and multiple edits to fix the various physics bugs which were present, mostly due to the implementation of the flip cubes. Within a week of starting, all code needed for PUNT was completed, and we began mapping as much as possible afterwards. In order to display the progress that has been within the past few months, I've started to map a short demo of 3 maps with two puzzles a piece for the internal development team. The following are a few screenshots from this build.

While PUNT's progress so far is definitely significant, its future contains much more. For starters, we plan on posting PUNT: Rebirth to Steam Greenlight fairly soon (within a month or so). While I have discussed this in the past, I figured it's best to re-confirm this. Next, we plan on having Steam Workshop custom map support for PUNT upon release. I've discussed this in the past as well, but I figured I'd go more in depth with how it's going to work. No, this will not function like the Portal 2 PTI tools. This is primarily due to the complete recreation of a system such as that being too ambitious for our current abilities as a team. Instead of this, we plan on releasing PUNT with a specialized set of hammer tools which the community can use to make maps. These maps will then be able to be uploaded to the Steam Workshop and downloaded via is as well. They will then be able to be played from the in game bonus maps menu.

Next on the agenda is story. While the original PUNT was great, it was entirely lacking a story, characters, or any narrative at all. While this was intentional, we plan on implementing an in depth story to PUNT; one which the player will be directly involved in, rather than just a back story. While this may not be shown in the screenshots above, if you take a look at some of the images available on Moddb, Harmonics Laboratories employees are visible through some observatory windows, which is the start of the story's implementation into the game itself. As of now, I'm not going to reveal all too much regarding it, as I don't want to spoil the story, but it's still best to acknowledge its existence once again.

Regarding the length and focus of the game, I feel as if it's time to once again address it. The game will primarily focus on puzzles, but will deviate at multiple sections of the game to present plot points. The game will most likely consist of 7 to 8 chapters with 7-8 maps per chapter. Each puzzle map typically contains 2 puzzles, but can have 1 to 3 puzzles as well. While we can't yet confirm how many puzzles will be in game, we are doing our best for there to be 30+ at least, not including early levels or tutorials. However, any of these estimates are just that, estimates, and may be subject to change in the future. 

I'm also considering holding a small contest on our official Steam group, in which members can submit their ideas for a in game map (sketches, mock-ups, etc.), and we'll make the best one into a legitimate level in the final game. At the current time, this is only an idea and isn't exactly set in stone just yet, but I would like to hear any reader's opinion on it. In the meantime, you can join the Steam group at: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/OPRG

While I'm writing this fairly large post, I'd like to address the topic of the price of the game, seeing as we've had individuals express their willingness to pay for it or ask about the subject. After thorough research into the subject, I've personally deemed making PUNT: Rebirth cost money to be too much of a hassle and not entirely viable. Therefore, until further notice, PUNT: Rebirth will release on Steam for free. We'd like to have it be standalone, seeing as we're running the game off of Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer, but the worst case scenario is you'll have to own Half-Life 2 before downloading the game.

To finish off this article, I'd like to ask the community what they'd like to see included in PUNT: Rebirth's final release, be it new features, plot points, or something else entirely. Thank you all for your positive feedback lately, and I hope that the final game lives up to your expectations.

Until next time, 

Tristan / BoxandRocks