ShapeVS News

Final Patch Notes!

• Added Shape Race and Shape Blast
  
• Fixed various audio bugs
  
• Restructured performance
  
• New splash screen opening
  

In 2021 I set myself a goal to create my first fully released PC game. Up until then I had released a series of mobile games and worked as a consultant on other games – some released, some fell to the aether, but overall my journey into solo game development had many hurdles.
For a long time I was a designer with minimal programming skills but after being let down in the goals, I decided to take my own steps; this was the Shape series of games and the first steps into what would eventually become ShapeVS.

This game has allowed us to achieve some truly amazing things, from the people we have met to being part of an Australian representative in Germany at Gamescom. It has truly been one of the craziest parts of my life.

But where did we end up with it all? A few things had to be cut, priorities shifted, and overall the ShapeVS planned and ShapeVS released are two very different beasts. So let’s go through the main ones:

• 10 games overall instead of the planned 12.
  

Overall I am happy with the number, clearly disappointed against what we planned with dwindling sales and player numbers. The justification of expanding the games list instead of just improving on what was there became the clearer focus.

• Customisation and lack of.

Whilst originally planned to be part of the base game, this feature was cut to allow for time and other goals. Whilst the basic taunts are in and randomised for the most part, we had to cut the feature.

• 2 v 2 games.
  

Whilst initially part of the main design, player numbers and overall interest from myself and players wasn’t there to put in the man hours. As this is a mini-game collection, each game requires rules, playtesting, and a lot of time, so we made the decision to cut them.

But again, the opportunities this game has given me have been insane; joining Drop Bear Bytes and the training and learning I have taken on in Broken Roads has made me realise how much I still have to learn.

Now, if I was to personally review this game, I would give it very much a solid 5/10, nothing particularly good. It’s very jank, probably not worth the price, and overall a good representation of the journey I have taken, but now it’s time to close this chapter.

Though to hear so many people enjoying it did make the journey a worthwhile one, and so as with all things, the journey to 1.0 does signify the end of development on ShapeVS. There are various indicators such as sales, active users, and overall passion for the project. Since joining Broken Roads and learning more about myself and my craft, I have realised just how poorly this game is programmed and the thought process behind things is not how I would direct a project now.

As the solo programmer on the game now, all bug fixes and testing falls on me. I have done the best I can, but for the most part, there’s not a whole lot left that needs doing anyhow. I can confirm that I am working on new projects, with members from ShapeVS filling in roles that I can't, but for those who have supported ShapeVS throughout its development, I thank you.


The journey has truly been one for the ages and I look forward to more in the future but for now, support Broken Roads. It's a pretty exciting game and I can't wait for you to experience it alongside me come April 10th.

Apart from that, new things are coming.

See you all soon.

ShapeVS Dev Team

Hi testers and players,

It’s officially been just over one year since ShapeVS burst into Early Access on Steam and we have been going through this journey together. From launching with four games to now having doubled the number of games and added a bunch of quality of life fixes, it has been great to see the overall response to ShapeVS.



From an amazing appearance at Gamescom in 2022 and PAX Aus 2022 at the Tasmanian creators booth, it has been great to see the reactions of players and onlookers as they enjoyed the game. We are so grateful for the response to ShapeVS and the opportunity to develop this game for you all.

The story of ShapeVS has been a success in many ways but also a failure in others. It achieved the goal of setting up individuals in the team to move forward in their game development career but also failed to live up to the sales expectations we set.

We had a fantastic first couple of months but then things really just slowed down. We understand we were never gonna be a huge success in the sales department but we are very happy with the opportunities that people like Dean have gotten with Broken Roads. We also know that with these other opportunities expanding, we have to look at the future of ShapeVS.

And it’s with this we announce that we are sunsetting development on ShapeVS. We had so many plans for ShapeVS but with where we are going individually it’s just not something we as a team can maintain. Between Broken Roads for Dean, birth of their first child for Woj, and changes in careers for other members of the team, it is becoming more and more apparent that we can’t achieve everything we wanted for ShapeVS.

We will be committing to making it a complete package, though just a bit slower than thought. So over the next few months we will commit to completing the two current games in development which are Shape Blast and Shape Race. We know we may be disappointing those who are eager to get more content but game development is hard and we all have lives that need to be managed as well.



We will commit to small changes around UI/UX, audio quality, and general quality of life. The roadmap below is updated to reflect on what is coming and what we would like to achieve but essentially 1.0 of ShapeVS will be content-complete and anything else will be updates to the systems.

We are aiming for the completion of ShapeVS to begin post November 14th when Broken Roads launches; as Dean is the main programmer, we are just awaiting availability on when he can jump back into the project.

We thank you all for your support and the continued support in other projects. For those who have followed Dean’s journey on Broken Roads, we thank you. For those who have expressed their love for Woj’s audio, we thank you. For those who have enjoyed ShapeVS, we thank you and know that Smash Attack Studios will be back. Smaller projects, more simple/unique experiences, and overall just making games that are more inline with what we are capable of as a studio.

It’s been a long read but thank you for taking the time to go through it, and for those of you who want the tl;dr…

ShapeVS development coming to a close. We will make the game content complete as of our current status. Will take longer than expected. Smash Attack will be back with new games down the line.

P.S Wishlist Broken Roads

It's taken some time but here we are finally. Firstly apologies for the delay on this. With family things and Broken Road things, it has been crazy!

Here is a quick breakdown of what is to come and what is in 0.5

Firstly is that Shape Ball is now in and playable. It's a single style/input game similar to Shape Fly. The whole point of these games is to get as much 4 player fun as possible out of simple rules and one input. Feedback for this has been good but as always it is just me and Woj (the audio tech) so any help would be appreciated in balancing and overall feel of the game.

Some other additions include taunts being added in and some basic code refactoring. Nothing super exciting but this does come in the form of the new roadmap. Some streamlining of things should help out in the long run.

Again thank you all for your patience and we look forward to sharing more soon!

Hey, testers!

The ShapeVS dev team here touching base with a quick update as we head toward ShapeVS 0.5. We apologise for the delay in getting some regular updates but with the Easter break and other family commitments, all of April was a bit of a write-off.

But we are back! Woj has been working on some banger tracks and the dev team is back to just fixing some bugs around Shape Tag and working on the new game Shape Ball. Shape Ball is similar to Shape Fly that it is a one-input style game and is essentially a giant free-for-all soccer game where anyone can score from any side.

This was a game that was in development at the early stages and helped us lean into what we wanted from ShapeVS but it was also a game that kept coming up in internal playtests so we tweaked it to be a little less broken and will be rolling it out in ShapeVS 0.5 update.

We are also clearing the final steps of customisation and how to handle these decisions, current issue is saving the decisions but really only a matter of time before we nail those bugs out.

We again thank every for their patience as well as the support we have received in getting the game to where it is. For now, we will keep trucking along and doing the best we can. For those unaware ShapeVS is an after-hours project for our team so we pretty much find the hours where we can.

Looking forward to updating you all soon on a release date for the next update.

Til next time.

ShapeVS 0.4 Update is now live!

Featuring Shape Tag, this game is the first game designed by someone else on the team and we are eager to get feedback from the players.

The main difference is that it doesn't feature power-ups and is entirely focused on movement and outsmarting your opponents.

As always we will monitor any bugs that other people may detect and you can always follow us on our socials to keep up to date!