A short weekly update. DETOUR looks nice, struggles with AI, and newer graphics. Oh yeah, SCREENSHOTS within.
The DETOUR Overture
This week I’m not going to tell you, “DETOUR is progressing.” Which is not to say that DETOUR is not progressing. I definitely would not want to imply that, because DETOUR is definitely progressing, and that would be contrary to fact.
Wait, let me start over…
Logo Update!
You may have noticed a few graphical changes, you know, if you actually visited our website. But since you didn’t, we’re just going to rub your face in it. Try not to inhale. Here is the shiny new DETOUR logo! I’ll let this well-adjusted art speak for itself.
[IMAGE REDACTED]
This new logo now matches the style the rest of the DETOUR interface has gotten. Remember the bent arrow? That’s the DETOUR arrow.
Of course, we’ve been doing a LOT more than update the logo…
Screenshots. Yes, Screenshots.
Just check out these awesome SCREENSHOTS!!!
And when you’re done drooling all over your keyboard, phone, or touchpad, head on over to the forums to discuss.
Attitude Adjustment
I got my hands on the latest build of DETOUR, with its Heather-fied new art assets and all of the cool new features Richard and Zander have been adding, and I have to confess that this is the best this game has ever looked. The controls feel great, the water looks great, and the new art assets make the game’s tiles interesting and, dare I say, “pretty?”
But it’s not just the graphics and the gameplay, it’s the sound. Brad and Jon have pulled together some beautiful musical tracks, with a few more in the works, and we’ve finalized almost all of our current sounds for the build. Birds tweet, bombs explode, truck engines roar, and truck drivers … Well, OK, they don’t actually say anything in particular.
Nails are nasty now. You know when a truck has run over some nails your sneaky opponent dropped on your road, because you can hear your driver start swearing in our not-really-trademarked mumble-speak (everybody in DETOUR makes speaking noises, but there’s no actual spoken dialogue.) That is, you’ll hear the driver if you don’t start cussing yourself.
That “tinkle-tinkle” of nails is nearly as terrifying as the warning siren you hear when a bomb is launched. Trucks STOP when they hit nails, and they back up trucks behind them too. You might think you are scant seconds away from claiming your well-deserved victory, when suddenly, BLAM! Oops, flat tire. Time to pump it while your opponent unfolds his NASTY PLOT (the nasty plot, in this particular case, involved dynamite) which causes the game to tip back in his favor.
I might just be sore because I’m more of a turret man myself. Turrets can’t shoot nails, for obvious, pothole-inducing reasons.
Of course, not everything is perfect yet. The game’s artificial intelligence is way too good. Sometimes it will decide to sit there for an entire game, doing exactly nothing. We can only conclude that it must be pondering the totality of its own existence, and it’s way too enlightened to lower itself to actually play the game with you. Don’t worry, we’ll have it lobotomized by the time we ship the game so it doesn’t crawl out of your console/PC/unknown-platform-of-release and hold you hostage with a spatula once it finally snaps. It’s always the quiet ones…
Er, back on topic. Just last night, the AI actually figured out how to deal with turrets! We’re working out a nice balance between too hard, and just hard enough. Yes, there will be 3 difficulty levels for the AI. On a harder difficulty, it’s becoming very aggressive and will run you over.
Just remember, “no” means “no.”
This marks the end of our Yellow Light 2 build (yes, that does mean Green Light cometh soon), and it’s loads of fun! Even though you might not be able to play it yet, I’m still happy to answer questions about the game. Don’t forget to post your questions about DETOUR and Sandswept in the FAQ thread!
http://www.sandswept.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37&p=455#p455
You’re going to want to stick around and settle in now, because things are going to get a lot more crazy later.
Pardon our dust!