(Late) September’s Etc
Christmas is quickly approaching, and Tim and I have a long long list of things to do before CC2 is ready.
For those who have pre-ordered, a big thank you for supporting us and giving us the extra push to get this out as soon as we can! We know you’re going to love the game.
Not much has happened from a content standpoint in CC2’s development since my last entry. For the past few weeks I have been working primarily on the save function (which now works completely minus any kinks I have yet to discover!) that I went over with some technical details in my previous entry, and changing the spawning / difficulty curve for dinosaur threats. In the first BETA some testers found that they would suddenly get wiped out by up to 40 velociraptors later on in the game, an unrealistic number given the size of their tribe. The randomness of the director made it difficult to control the difficulty of each level. I have since changed the algorithm so that there is a more specific and intelligent method of spawning dinosaurs and other threats. This also allowed me to easily govern the types and numbers of threats in each level, and the enemy tribe’s growth rate.
Testing each level has lead me to discover that each level isn’t just ‘harder’ – different factors require you to play the game in a different way which really adds to the replay value and progression of the game. For example, in the second level there are less velociraptors and more pterodactyls – pterodactyls don’t hurt much but they tire your cavemen out. The level is also a lot larger and so your gatherers must travel further to get meat. This will affect your choice of XP rewards to use, and your micro management of each cavemen – when they sleep, which tasks they prioritise, and so on.
At this point there are 4 standard conquest levels. You must play each one to unlock the next. Along the way you will also unlock new gametypes, XP rewards, while facing new threats and tribe leaders. Some XP rewards are unlocked as you progress through the game, others are unlocked by getting certain achievements or reaching certain highscores in the unlockable gametypes. In Classic / Survival mode you can play as any tribe leader that you have conquered.
Very soon I will be beginning work on the “Classic / Survival” mode. This is the “build your tribe as big as you can” gametype you all know and love from Caveman Craig 1. While this is the next biggest gametype after conquest, most of the coding is already done and it’s just a case of stripping down the code and changing the way dinosaurs and such spawn.
As for the other guys..
Ricky is working hard on the soundtrack and I would say we’re at least 50% there. His musical diversity is really showing here with each level having a very different orchestration to fit the terrain type. Grassy levels have a very chilled out, slide guitar, country feel to it. In the snow you’ll hear metallic, electronic sounds layered with caveman chants. The highlight is most definitely the main theme – it will empower you and prepare you for battle! Think Halo.
Tim’s biggest job now is to complete the animations for the enemy tribes and prepare the frontend/menu. Past that, there are some rewards left to create, and some gaps to fill.
Greg has mostly completed his work for the game, being the stunning backgrounds and scenery in each level, as well as some trivial reward images and such.
Once this is all done, the other game types should come together very quickly and we’ll be looking at a finished product!
-Rhys
