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)
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