The Sands Whisper Your Name News

Hey folks!

I just wanted to reach out to you all and let you know that I've been working on a new game over the past couple months. To say that I've learned a great deal from the mistakes of the past would be an understatement.

It's smaller in scope and very different from Atajrubah. Development for the new game has had a lot of planning, organising, work and testing put into it. I've reached the end of the first phase of development and have a functionally complete prototype(minus sound and music for the time being).

I've done a lot of internal testing but I'd like to do testing with a larger group of people before commencing with the second phase of development. If any of you are interested in getting involved there are Windows 10, Linux and macOS builds of the game available for testing. I've included a signup form below.

https://forms.gle/pcYqzgDBy1ViF1GP9

Kindest Regards
MrNexy

Hey there folks,

Bad news,
It's become clear over the past 6-12 months specifically, multiple re-development attempts and versions of the game that this is not going to work out. With no team members, limited resources, mounting personal costs and now a lack of time to allocate to active development I'm simply not able to sustain the development of the game. It's a bummer but all things come to an end. I really appreciate the patience and support that you folks have shown and its a regret of mine that I haven't been able to deliver on the game.

Kindest Regards,
MrNexy

Hey there folks,

This is a short announcement regarding development.
There are a number of things about the game that are changing, foremost being the name. The theme will remain the same, however (Arabian inspired).

I'll be sharing more information soon.

Kindest Regards,
MrNexy

Hey there fine folks!

While this isn’t a full update post with pictures and all, I wanted to pop by and update you on my progress.

As mentioned in the previous update post, the remaining tasks were to finish off the core AI functionality and to set up the menu systems. As of today, those tasks have been completed.

In addition to that, I have added support for game modes. Regular mode would have reasonable survival and resource rates, whereas Hardcore mode would have higher thirst and hunger rates but lower resource rates. I do plan on using these different game modes to affect other mechanics in the world as well.

The saving and loading of player placed structures, storage prefabs, and cooking prefabs have been completed. That way when a server goes offline, players don’t lose all of their stuff.


I've setup a new website where people can get a brief overview of the game and it's development. For now, it's pretty straight forward but I plan on changing it as we move through the different stages of development.

Atajrubah Game Website

AtajrubahGame.com

That’s some of what I’ve been working on this past month, the tasks to follow are the more exciting and tricky ones.


This involves making sure that all the single player functionality works in multiplayer too. This is definitely a little trickier than just flipping a switch.

Seeing as I have a server browser setup, I will also be tying in the functionality for hosting and searching for game sessions through it. This can also be a little tricky to test but with time I’ll get it setup properly (again).



Rejoice! The end is of stage 1 is nearly upon us. There are a number of things that need to be setup before we can get started with the testing phase.

• Make sure that the crafting menu is fully populated with everything the player needs to build their own structures and weapons.
  
• Make sure that players can do damage to structures and that structures can be destroyed.
  
• Make sure that projectile weapons work properly in multiplayer.
  
• Make sure that the test level has adequate resources for players to gather for crafting, cooking, and construction.
  
• Prepare a beginner's guide for players.
  
  

I just want to thank you all for your patience and support, there is still so much further to go but I know that we’ll get there together.

Kind Regards,
MrNexy

Hey there fine folks!

I'm back with another update, it's not quite as lengthy as the last one but I've made some progress and wanted to share it with you.



I've completed the setup for collecting resources from plants, rocks, and trees. This system is setup so that I can quickly expand resource collection. Different plants, rocks, and trees will yield different resources at different rates. One plant might yield herbs used in medicine while another might just yield plant fibre and wood.

I've been doing research on the different flora in my part of the Middle East and most of them have multiple purposes. A lot of it medicinal and some of it for crafts.



I had a socket based construction system prototyped in the previous version of the game. It never made it into the Early Access build however.

I've just finished a new socket based construction system, based off of the older version but with improvements and optimizations.

Using this construction system, the player will be able to place prefabricated items into the world and also make their own structures using construction elements.

I've made a demonstration video and have also detailed it below.

Construction System Video Demonstration
https://youtu.be/xwt__9TPuyg

• This is the placeholder UI for the construction system. I have plans to tidy it up and possibly add a second bar solely for prefab elements.
  
  
  
  

• Most prefab elements can be placed directly on the floor. However, construction elements have to be placed on a foundation or relevant construction element.
  
  
  
  

• Construction Elements that cannot be placed are highlighted as red
  
  

• Construction elements can be snapped to each other for proper placement. If another construction element is already in place, a construction element of that type cannot be placed.
  
  

• Most prefab elements such as campfires, storage chests etc can be freely rotated using the [Q] and [E] keys. Rotateable Construction elements rotate by snapping in increments of 90 degrees so as to maintain a precise alignment.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Prefab construction elements such as campfires in this example can be placed on foundation and ceiling construction elements.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Using this system, players will easily be able to build single or multi-story buildings.
  
  
  
  

With another couple systems in place I can get to work on this tentative list of remaining tasks for stage 1.

• Finish off core AI
  
• Expanded Survival Mechanics
  
• Main Menu, Options Menu and Multiplayer Menu Systems.
  

There is still some work to be done in terms of UI layout and a couple minor bugs that need squashing. There will likely be many sub-tasks and adjustments that need to be made as I move through the list of remaining tasks for stage 1 but I'm happy with the progress thus far.

Thanks for taking the time to read this update, please feel free to share your thoughts as I love hearing from you.

Kind Regards,
MrNexy