Monthly Archive for April, 2010

Weekly Update: Constructive Deconstruction

Hey Sandswept Fans and other people who read this! We were going to be all long-winded here, but we’re out of breath from all the stuff happening with DETOUR and another small (by small, we mean huge) project we have in store. So, again, to all our fans and that one guy. You know the one. Hey, you. The creepy dude in the back. Yeah, you. Check this out. This stuff is hot. We’ve got a brand new page full of content, with more to come! The weekly update this week is this page, right here. Don’t come back until you’ve read it, then go to our forums, and demand more. Will there be more, you ask? Oh yes. There will be more… So. Much. More. Have at it, you ravenous beasts. You can find the link to that page on the DETOUR project page as well. The image looks something like this one you see below. Something like this that you should click. Click it.

If by this point, you — for some odd reason — have not clickified any of these links, they all pretty much go to one place. The new DETOUR items and weaponry page, thusly dubbed “Construction and Destruction”. It’s fairly self-explanatory. Click the image below to see just what we’re going on about. More items (and more elaborate information about each item!) to be added very shortly!


[IMAGE REDACTED]

Did we mention there are rewards to be had on the forums, and member title advancement for posting a lot? Get to the forum posting. That place is a ghost town. We’re very much afraid of ghosts.

Pardon Our Dust, ladies and gentlemen. Kicking up a lot around here.

Weekly Update: Bug Squashing!

This week has been declared “KILL ALL BUGS” week for our latest build. This weekly update is brought to you by Geoff. Thomar is around somewhere, but he found himself busy with other things. Steel your nerves, gentlemen (and ladies.)

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

There’s so much hot in here right now, we’re sweating like an obese man in a sauna. Like all games, DETOUR has some bugs throughout it’s development. Little breaks, tiny hiccups, and the occasional burp. This week, we’ve found ourselves waist-deep in a pile of issues that need addressing, after implementing six million (probably) features. Occasionally the mountain of bugs is so ridiculous, you’d think you were looking at a scene from The Mummy. You know, the gross one where the guy gets eaten by lots of little beatles? Yeah, we don’t really remember that one either.

So! In a effort to keep the drool from cascading gently off the corner of your mouth and dancing down your chin, we’re going to tell you about some of the bugs we squished this week… Some of these are embarrassing, revealing, and very strange. It’s fairly humorous to load up the game and suddenly an option or menu item is simply missing. Funny how that works… Hah. (NOTE: Someone might bring this up, so we’ll just toss it out there… The bug numbers are very small due to us transferring to some new bug tracking software just recently.)

Now off we go!

bug-005

Severity: Moderate

Build: Yellow Light 2

Bug:

In Player.cs about line 4413, method DrawLaserShots.
The AirShotsList has the tiles that are fireing.
It needs to draw in the beam.
It gets called just after the rest of the scene is drawn.

Resolution: Laser beam now draws in the game!

bug-007

Severity: Critical

Build: Yellow Light 2

Bug:

Issue: Can’t select or change map in game lobby. Coupled with issue of loading TD [ed note: Yeah, this is a gametype... Can you guess it?] map by default, even in FFA and other gametypes.

Repro:
1. Launch DETOUR.
2. Go to Multiplayer Lobby.
3. Notice that “Change Map” option is missing.

What should happen:
We should be able to change the map via “Change Map” option, when we are the host.

Resolution: Fixed.

bug-008

Severity: Moderate

Build: Yellow Light 2

Bug:

Issue: Factories of a certain team color are trying to obtain roads in the editor, causing all sorts of road connection issues.

Repro:
1. Launch DETOUR
2. Open Map Editor
3. Place a Factory
4. Use [redacted button] to assign a team to the factory (or one should be given automatically)
5. Place a road in front of the factory.
6. Note that the road tries to obtain the factory’s color.

Expected: Roads should not try to obtain the team color of a factory, because team color DOES NOT equal player color etc. Roads should only be obtained once a game has begun. In the editor, roads should remain neutral or belonging to a player, but not belonging to a factory or team.

Follow-up with Geoff on this one if confusion arises — it is an odd issue, but ultimately causes roads to not connect properly in the editor.

Resolution: Fixed, also several other editor problems with team color etc.

bug-013

Severity: Moderate

Build: Yellow Light 2

Bug:

Bug: Turrets etc. do not connect to roads properly.

Repro: Run a default game, and build a turret next to your own road. Note that the road does not connect to the turret.

Intended: Turret should connect to the road.

Resolution: Fixed, along with donut shops connecting properly as well.

I overheard a hilarious remark from one of our playtesters when he ran into a terrible crash (you know, the kind where your test machine begins to smoke and you’re thrown violently out of the executable…)

“Code must be very delicate.”

“Yes, yes it is.”

“More delicate than peanut brittle?”

“… Yes. Yes it is.”

Sandswept fans, we love you. We’re working on DETOUR with all the time we have, and it’s actually coming to fruition in so many different ways. We’re hesitant to show things right now because we’re still jumping through some hoops regarding how to get it into your hands once it’s final. We will divulge lots more information, screenshots, and video before completion, that is for certain. We appreciate all the patience and interest every one has shown, and we’re hoping to get this delicious beast into your hands sometime before the end of this year.

Oh, and you might want to check out this thread. It has some new stuff in it, and will continue to have new stuff.
Post on our community forums, follow us on Twitter, love us on Facebook, and continue being an awesome group! Tell your friends DETOUR is gonna hit them in the face with awesome if they don’t grab a mitt to catch it.

Weekly Update: April Not Fooled

Yeah, the server issues frustrated us too.

On the bright side, everything’s working now, so there shouldn’t be any more problems.  If there are, please let us know immediately, or else the rest of the site may dribble out onto the server room floor.

Short Update

DETOUR is still moving along, we’ll have more screenshots “when they’re ready.”  The game’s looking better than ever, thanks to the hard work from the team. We wish we could stop saying this and start showing this. The tide is coming in. It might be a tsunami.

This week, it seems Heather deserves special mention.  She’s completely redoing the pretty little menu graphics (what we call the “GUI”) for DETOUR, and you’ll get to see that really soon. Essentially things have been brightened up to match our color-tastic theme and vibrant look of the game, whereas before it was quite gritty, dark, and flat. The DETOUR logo *may* get a revision as well, but we’re holding out on that one until we’re absolutely sure. Like all the GUI art, nothing has changed aside from the visual appearance and style. Everything remains the same position and size as you’ve seen before and — Oh wait. We haven’t really shown you guys the latest menus yet… Stick around.

The rest of the team is rocking out the awesome on something else. We’ll definitely getting into the who’s and what’s, but not until DETOUR is clean out the door. Know that there is another beast lurking in the shadows. A really cute beast.

We apologize in not-advance this week for the lack of April Fool’s tomfoolery, but the server issues had left us busier than we had planned. Possible April Fools’ jokes you missed out on from us because of the server dying (which, sadly, was not a joke.)

- Sandswept is shutting down forever! Oh no! This is either due to some huge company buying and dissolving us, or we just gave up on our life’s dreams!

- Sandswept announces new product that Sandswept would not really announce, like hand sanitizer. (We call it “Handitizer”)

- Sandswept changes things, like adding a forum filter to common words (Turning words like “The” to “I’m a monkey!” in every single post.), or flipping images upside down, or changing every one’s avatars to the ever-so-succulent Team Edward. He can suck MY blood any day!

- Sandswept announces funny game that they’re not really working on.

- “Pink color scheme.” “Website has been hacked.” and other classics.

So in short — you didn’t miss much. Next year, though. Next year we’re gonna get you.

Did you believe us? April Fools, friends. April Fools.



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