Hey Lava Bear fans! Parker here with a development update! It's been awhile since I last posted, and we've been up to a bit of planning here at Lava Bear Studios.
We've had a few things come down the line for us these last few weeks, and we'd like to let you know about them.
We've recently discovered that the scope of fireBreak, as it was originally intended, outweighs the capabilities of a six-man team within the projected duration of the project. This was a bit of a bummer for us, and we had to talk about the future of fireBreak-- whether or not we would be able to continue, or whether we would switch over to a different project.
However, the good news is that we came to a conclusion that both allows us to use what we have and have a plan for the company going forward! As it stands, we're going to continue development, albeit at a slightly reduced scope. We're going to fully develop our systems, as well as the first full level of the game. We're shooting to have this done by January. At that point, we'll look to release to a crowdfunding platform such as Kickstarter or Patreon to gauge interest in the game, using what we have done as a demo. We'll use that interest to determine how to progress on fireBreak and where Lava Bear Studios is going in the near future. In the meantime, development is going to continue as planned!
Without any further ado, let's get to development progress for the week!
Design
Ian, working on the Style Guide
This week, Ian began to restructure level one, starting with the paper map. He'll be consulting with the other Ian (pictured here) on what needs to be included in the experience.
In the meantime, I've been generating values for the different equipment types that we've developed. Without being able to test these values in-engine, most of them are arbitrary. However, their values have all been hashed out relative to one another, so that they can be fine-tuned later.
Right now, Ian and I are developing the style guides for these items so that they can be modeled and imported into the game engine.
Art
Bryce sculpts some beastly eyebrows
We're keeping Bryce busy this week, with the player model eating up most of his time. He's getting close to having a complete model for our player, after which he'll be taking a short vacation. Once he gets back, we'll have him working on equipment models. Jake is still working on building models so that we can populate our levels with scenery.
Programming
Dave battles syntax errors
Last but not least, Dave is hashing out the system that lets actors shoot at one another, still going strong despite the occasional program crashes that Unreal likes to throw at him. Characters no longer take damage when they shoot their own weapons, which is a marked improvement over the old system.
Developer Spotlight: Ian Goldsmith
Note: Hereafter, any references to "The Buff Ian" mean this guy. Ian Fermanich is the "Skinny Ian".
The Man, The Myth, The Legend
What has your role been on fireBreak so far?
I am the lead Game Designer. I help Skinny Ian manage the creative direction during development, and occasionally assist Dave in managing roadblocks and other hurdles during the coding process. I am the primary author to the current game design document, and I crafted a number of methodologies and templates for other designers on the team to work from when creating levels, quests, and identifying areas of interest in their level design documents.
What has been your favorite part of the development process so far?
I have really enjoyed working to help other people. I find that when I task myself to a longer term project I can get bogged down in the minutia, and loose steam. But when I am approached with a problem or notice someone stuck on something and offer to help, I find the time spent problem solving with that individual to be the most rewarding and engaging.
What are you working on right now?
After reviewing the current state of the first level, and having come to the group decision to move development into chunks instead of a minimum viable product, I begane reworking the first level. With the way our team was developing fireBreak up until now, the level was fine as is. Although, with stepping into the chunk direction of development I felt that we could put more content and detail into all of our levels, starting with the first. So my current task is twofold, first is to rework the level to have everything I feel a standard story level should have in it, and second, keep close notes as to what steps I follow so as to create another more detailed template for future designers to work from.
What has been your favorite “development story”?
Getting hard in february stands out for sure. But I feel that story has been beaten to death. So instead I will go with a tried and true ever re-occurring story of me saying something and Skinny Ian totally missing the point. I can’t remember the exact context as this usually happens at least once a week, but I was trying to explain a particular design piece to the group, and Skinny Ian would claim that he understood what I was getting at, knowing better I would ask a pointed question that would prove his mastery of my meaning, and he would fail epicly. This again is something that happens if not once a week, at least once a month, but what sets this story apart from the rest is that Skinny Ian was so sure he had understood what I was saying, that when he got the follow up questions wrong. He laid down on the ground face down. Just straight up got down on the ground, and laid there.
Long enough for me to snag this pic….
