Amazing Frog? News

Since we last spoke we’ve been picking up a lot of stuff. I mentioned last time that we were having some issues with how to hold certain items. We had dealt with this in previous versions with the “holster” button. This was more of a workaround rather than an actual solution, mainly due to the "pick up" button and "get in" button being the same. Now getting in or out is prioritized above picking up. This means you can get in and out of cars while holding objects or take an item to other spaces, like fart gyms or the sewer. Also, smaller held objects are more like an extension of the ragdoll so this will result in less craziness**.


Portable items not just about guns, of course. There is a multitude of new items we are building to use, but what we also discovered is they all need to get fingered. It really came as a shock recently that when you add a level of detail like fingers ... things get complicated real fast. It's great having extra detail and, with hindsight, we should have seen this, but the extra work that comes with that extra detail can become overwhelming. Every portable item on pickup will sit in the hand differently… try it, try picking stuff up in your office, your kitchen, your garden, your toilet... we do. Everything needs to get fingered and standard hand pose stuff doesn't really cut it for our 3 fingered friend. So a system was needed.

Its not all bad. We tend to rely on IK ( inverse kinematics) for how we carry most objects and have done for some time. I mean we wouldn't be able to make an animation for how you carry each of the items in the game. It's not feasible for a small team to make individual carry animations for each object…we'll leave that to AAA farms. So we use IK to map hand positions to targets or map targets to hand positions. Having hand pose data for fingers enhances this and inevitably opens us up to a new level of froggy expression.

There are quite a few new objects we have been preparing for the new Amazing Frog? some you will not have seen before, but one of my favorites from the new batch has to be the torch.






We can certainly see the benefits of the more stable physics system that unity has brought to the software, but for a game like Amazing Frog? fundamental improvements can cause headaches. Capturing the essence of the previous Amazing Frog? without losing the “floppiness” or "floopyness" has been one of the hardest challenges I  have had to face in programming this new version and is an ongoing concern.



Previously, I would concede that some of the essence of the "character" of Amazing Frog? was derived from the inherent flaws in the underlying physics system. For us, it's important that movement feels fluid, but also floppy(sorry I can’t think of any other words to describe it at the moment, but I know what mean) Each day we spend a bit more time just fiddling with the ragdoll system. However, as much as the new stability has created headaches it has also brought other exciting opportunities.  We have been experimenting with the idea of holding your pose in flight, tightening your ragdoll for more control while falling its new for the system so we are not sure how to present it yet, but its looking promising.

Certainly one obvious benefit of a more stable underlying physics system is actually being able to "ride" the dumpsters, dumpsters with closable lids in a more determined and predictable, yet chaotic manner.



Accidents do still happen of course.



Does everyone call them dumpsters? we sometimes call them wheelie bins… but you get my point.


When we added pigeons to The Swindon Space Program Update earlier this year,  it was something we had been meaning to add to Amazing Frog? for a long time. Hal's original super low poly pigeon was in fact made for the OUYA version back in 2014, but we couldn’t get a bunch of pigeons flying about on that tiny little cube… in the end, we put a pigeon on a skateboard for a laugh. Either way, wildlife, vermin or rodents were always systems we wanted in and around SwindonShire. As much as the FrogLife, the rubbish or post system, it is another ecosystem to interact with, collect from or just use for target practice. For this new version, we thought we had better get the new bird assets in sooner rather than later.



Aside from the new pigeon models Hal also made some seagulls which we have added to vermin life. Of course, we’ll need more.





So whats been going on outside of Swindon? The Swindon sign is a major feature in the SwindonShire Landscape (not sure why I visited it naked in this screenshot I tend to take these screenshots in the middle of the night and I guess I just forgot to get dressed). We had always wanted The Sign to feature more as part of the gameplay, but it never really had a level of detail high enough that we wanted to build on... until now. Like the golden pug, building up these architectural assets as more than just points of interest in the landscape is our intention.


This last week saw our Steam Early Access anniversary. Thanks to everyone who nudged me about that. We released Amazing Frog? on Steam Early Access Nov 2014.  We’re so grateful every day to be doing this. We really love this game I get a kind of emotional fart brewing when I think about ithow far we have come … With that in mind, now might be a good time to have a quick look back over the development of Amazing Frog? which hopefully should explain whats coming next...

The way I see it, is that Amazing Frog? development to this date has had 3 major versions. Describing them as versions should also help when I am writing these blogs

Version 1: The OUYA version (and the never released iPhone and Android versions)

Version 2: Steam Early Access version PC, MAC, Linux (in Unity 4) up to f0.2.9e The Swindon Space Program.

Version 3: The full rebuild with integrated online multiplayer (f0.3.0).

Version 3 actually began development in the middle of last year and is without a doubt our primary concern and what we spend pretty much all of our time doing. Last year, however, there were problems with our approach, we make mistakes and try to learn from them. Originally, we thought we could “port” from version 2 to version 3, but I don’t think even unity was ready for that process. So we decided to make version 2 more complete by adding features we were working on for version 3 such as fire, tethers and the moon and a bunch of other stuff. Following that, since May this year, we have been developing Version 3 exclusively and purging anything that was still left over from version 1. Version 1 graveyard includes things like the multi-story carpark, hideous low res textures, old buildings one poly thick walls. We have been creating completely new assets for just about everything, like the new car system, new weapons, new vehicles, new buildings, new creatures, new landscape and most importantly a new Frog (and frog system) All of which designed visually to work towards better graphics and systematically to work at core with the online multiplayer system.

So, yeah, version 3 is like a rebuild (kind of) or I guess you could call it a full Strip down clean, enhance or replace followed by a reconstruction…rebuild is easier to say. We have no intention of losing anything from Version 2. Version 2, or -"f0.2.9e The Swindon Space Program”, let's just say we like the game as is, but to progress, we had to bring break a few eggs.

So where am I going with this?

Our intention and indeed goal is to get the first Online Beta available before the end of this year. I need to be realistic about what this means. This would be a stripped down unoptimized build of version 3 with online capability for testing, that players can start messing about with. And into that beta, we will drip feed the new assets. As we move forward we will be spending most of our time housekeeping and fixing version 3 and certainly be spending much more times watching the forums and not in a development crunching cocoon.

Let's face it to properly test multiplayer we need players in the system and considering Fayju is just me and Hal, well lets just say we don’t have enough people in the office. We‘re working really hard to achieve this.

but also… since it almost Xmas….



Version 2 still very much exists. Version 2 and 3 will coexist in your Steam library and maybe at some point next year Version 2 could even exist on other platforms, provided nothing gets in the way of version 3!   So in the short term, considering that we are a bit crazy, we figured what the hell? Let's also do an update to version 2  and call it f0.2.9f  - The Magical Mystery Toilet. Which should be available in December before Xmas. Is it an opportunity for us to loosen up a bit after some rather intense and challenging periods of development and add some more strange shit to Amazing Frog?

Thanks again for following this. I hope we are getting better at explaining whats going on… but for now, back to development and will post again before Xmas.

Things are really starting to come together for f0.3.0. Its been a long road, but the decision to do a full rebuild is certainly starting to show that it was worth it. It gets to a point when you have been reprogramming game from the ground up that it all starts falling into place rather quickly. There are many things that we have done in previous iterations, that in redoing, we benefit from our previous experience. All the mistakes we made in the original are also influential and helpful on the path forward, but thats a whole other conversation about development in general. The bottom line is we do want to do everything to be so much better than it was and be futureproof. Not only that, but f0.3.0 will be the first multiplayer version of Amazing Frog? and that is at the core of the rebuild. Its likely that the first few versions we make public will not have all the features of the previous versions as it will take time to convert them in. But each feature will have loads more depth.



Customizability has been another incredibly important theme in the rebuild such as with the new clothing systems and the car modifications and in the spirit of creating more customisable assets we have moved on to the AKs. I mean lets face it you are going to want to shoot stuff and each other. Hal has been playing around with gun skins on the new gun models. I guess he better get on a build a gun shop pretty quick.



I've still got a few issues with the holding certain objects,  like what to do with them while driving. (Obviously we want you to take them with you, but not while they are poking through the windscreen)




I went up the Golden pug because its a nice view from up there with a bit of morning mist, perhaps I should have gone at sunset as its quite pretty then.



SwindonShire in general, its starting to feel much more stable visually. We are having some issues with nighttime water rendering that we will need to find a workaround for because the Day night thing is pretty important, as will come clear pretty soon. The landscape, in general, does feel much more expansive and you get a much better sense of scale and distance. It is still a work in progress, but improving all the time.



I saw a question come up on the last devblog about if the images we show are renders or screenshots. We take all these images while the game is running. I tend to take them all at once and then start writing. Basically, we run the game on my laptop, its an ASUS ROG with a gtx 960m graphics card. its some years old, but still pretty good.  I run the game as it is at that point and try and look at the new stuff that we have put in recently and then hit printscreen at the right moment. Every now and then there are some images like the one of the guns, that Hal has set up with newly created assets in Unity and screen grabs it from there, but most of the time its screenshots taken from one quick session. It means that we take all the images pretty much on the Friday I start writing the devblog… Lol which is why I am typing this stuff at er… well its gone 2 am.





There would be little point making all these “customisable” features, the clothes, the cars, guns.. etc without the facility for currency and this comes curtosy of the Bank of Swindon. We always said that we couldn’t introduce money until we had a branch of the Bank of Swindon to facilitate it. The Bank branch is now added to the high street, next to another curious building in blue .. but we talk about that one next time. I suppose you could argue that we could have introduced currency before building a local branch for the Bank. We could have had a number at the top of the screen displaying your money or even used online banking on the fPhone, but thats just not how our minds work. That's not to say that the Bank of Swindon won't have an fApp, but you'll have to go set up your account first.





Now that we have quite a few functioning locations of multiple purposes, the town is going to come alive very soon especially with the new FrogLife™ system. Beyond that, we take a lot of pride in some of the little things. I mean check out some of this pretty impressive furniture Hal has been making and after I have written this devblog I intend to spend a bit of time making these new seats functional.



And obviously we have been adding the odd secret here and there.



Thanks for following this, we really appreciate it. I can’t say it enough, but we do really love working on Amazing Frog? each day we are getting closer now and to think that at the end of Nov we will have been on Steam Early Access for 3 years.

First off, did I mention last time that I was working on User interfaces…?  I don’t really like working on interfaces, because it reminds me of building websites and boring advertising stuff that I used to have to do every day before I was able to focus purely on making games. Nonetheless, I am thankful for my history of building “boring” applications as it is incredibly helpful in getting the new user interface set up for f0.3.0. So I had to start with fOS 2.0





As I have said before getting the foundations of this version right are incredibly important. A flexible user interface is at the heart of delivering all the new capabilities which are coming to f0.3.0. In the previous version the fPhone was responsible for most “UI” stuff, like navigating, controlling and modifying the game. It was not our intention for the fPhone to become this. It was supposed to be just one of many interactive gadgets rather than the core navigating and interacting device.  Unfortunately,  the way it was originally built, specifically the UI behind it was quite limiting and we just didn't have the time to make it more flexible and to deliver more complex user interaction outside of the fPhone. Also lets not forget that in the versions before f0.3.0 the user interface only worked on the Dpad (and IJKL), no mouse click!  This is no longer the case and I’m quite proud of the new system. Not just how can use all control devices (including a mouse finally!), but its not limited to the phone screen like before.

And its more flexible.



I don’t really know how to explain how or why it was so important to create a new interface system or why i rebuilt fOS 2.0 for the fPhone, other than to mention what we are about to do with it. Because until the UI could become flexible enough for our demands it was like a developmental bottle neck restricting our creativity. The new system is enabling things like the more advanced apps needed for multiplayer connectivity (e.g. f inder and frogBook working titles), fMaps 2.0 with more detailed realtime info viewable not just on the fPhone, interactive cashpoints and other electronic devices, outfit and car customisation, in car menu, the coming inventory,  phone driven remote control er..stuff... ,  playable fApps… I could go on we have a massive list of stuff and i needed to ensure the UI would work reliably and efficently for all of them.

But for now, lets look at some world stuff.




Dick Lovett is a working title for the Car Showroom. We may not call it that (google it), that is the name of the local car dealer in Swindon , yes thats right there is car show room called Dick Lovett in Swindon and across the West Country of England. So we probably shouldn’t use it. (We’ll probably end up calling it Swindon Discount Motors or Swindon Bargain Basement Autos, We’re still thinking it through. (Suggestions welcome)



So why do we now have a car showroom? As I have touched on before coming soon is the Bank of Swindon. Frog Milk coffee co was our way of testing out currency as a mechanic pre f0.3.0. Its always been important for us to get money in the game. What better way to spend your hard earned 'frogbux' than to buy a car and mod it. The exact workings, how much car cost, what parts upgrades you can buy etc, is still being considered.


So did I mention car parts?



You are also going to need somewhere to customise the cars too. The first beta may not feature the full extend of this as car customisation is a big undertaking and what with all the new costume, Ai, finance and multiplayer stuff I can’t say exactly how much will fit in f0.3.0. But f0.3.0 is just a beginning. As we mentioned before, back when Hal spent a few weeks building parts for the vRog - cars have a lot of parts and add ons and we want this to effect the drive too and that gets complex. So here is a glimpse of the interior of the new Mod shop. (Its on the other side of Swindon to Dick Lovett)



The new buildings are really starting to come together. Now that we have established a pipeline with how the lights and volumes and LODs work in the game the architecture is coming together nicely.

I think thats it for this devblog. As i said earlier I am feeling pretty positive at the moment. I think the news is going to get more exciting more quickly from here. Sorry for the wait to this point, thanks for keeping with us on this.

Oh yeah we got the Pants I promised to show you last time… well they are in a lot of the images here today. But heres an image around there back of the car show room.