The Dope Game News

Hey there, dope fiends! OK, so this week's dev diary is a little different... you know, as I mentioned in the last one. This week is all about The Dope Game: Remaster. So without further ado...


Right now, this very minute, you can swap over to the "beta" branch and try the very janky WIP version of the remaster. This contains a snapshot of the game as it stands today; with all the bugs, missing images, and problems you'd expect with such a build.



Broke AF

That being said, it is very broken as I have been changing shit up to the wire and broke many things in the process. You WILL experience crashes and, yes, I am aware they are there and why they happen. I have a whole list of notes of things I haven't done yet or haven't fix yet or just freshly broke and need to fix. But don't despair! This branch will be updated frequently as I make changes and fixes. You can expect updates at least once a week until the game is ready for full release.



Why release this now?

This sort of "early access" build is available to do a few things. First, I felt it was time to let some folks get a look at it up close and personal. Granted you can't really play from start to finish, but it gives you an idea of what it'll be like soon.

Second, it also gives you guys an opportunity to help direct where this is going a bit better. You know, because often times development is working "in a tunnel" and things that make sense to me might not make sense to you; and vice versa. So feel free to jump over to the game's community hub and drop some threads into the Remaster forum.



Now what?

I am going to keep plugging away at it, obviously, and will release another snapshop next week. Each subsequent dev diary after the next one (which is all about Haulin' Oats only) will have information about the current snapshot and where things are. And, as I mentioned before, I'll keep cranking out snapshots each week until we get where we're going.



What can I expect?

Other than some brutal crashes when you least expect it? Or getting stuck somewhere? Well, here is a list of things you can see in the remaster WIP build:

• All-new interface designs
  
• Customize your character (new cloths, accessories, and icons soon)
  
• Multiplayer, coming to a build near you
  
• A fourth dialog option?!
  
• Sell your organs, or other people's with the right tools
  
• Accessibility options to make it work for everyone
  
• Play the classic game from the remaster (launches a new process)
  
• Four new achievements because you love them
  
• New Street Loyalty unlocks
  
• All-new bugs that never existed before
  

Stay tuned for next week's snapshot!

Hey! Hey. Hey? That's right, time for another development diary for Haulin' Oats and The Dope Game remaster. I must say I am enjoying this bi-monthly update more than the weekly one; and I'll enjoy it more once I stop writing these altogether! Anyhow, let's get down to it, folks.



I've mostly been polishing and added content since last we spoke, as well as tinkering with the multiplayer stuff; like this hideous interface.



There really isn't a whole lot to talk about as it has been code tweaking and most people are pretty disinterested in such things. Especially when there are no shiny pictures to show. However...

The Steam Game Festival is coming back in October, before the launch of Haulin' Oats. So I think the demo for that festival will be the official demo for the game; minus any subsequent bug-fixes and such.

And speaking of, the game is now slated for the end of October. Any later than that and it would have to be delayed until January 2021 because you never want to launch a small, relatively unknown indie game during the holiday seasons.



This last chunk of time was getting more stuff ready for the first test build which will be released next Friday (August, 28th). The build will obviously be missing some assets and have a lot of bugs but will give you the chance to see all the changes in action. Speaking of...



You can see here an early version of the character customization screen. I can't remember if I talked about this already but you can change how your character looks and server icons for games. There will be unlockable bonuses for playing other CoaguCo games as well as the ability to purchase new outfits and icons. Purchasing will use an in-game currency which you can exchange your hard-earned drug money for... because fuck real-money micro-transactions for cosmetics, or anything really.

Speaking of hard-earned money, as mentioned a long while ago, once the remaster update is out the game's price will increase slightly. After talking to a bunch of folks about it, it was decided to raise the price instead of making this all a completely new version or a DLC package. Plus, I'm pretty sure everyone who wants the game already has it. I mean, it was two dollars, fam. If you don't, I would get that shit sooner than later.

See you next week for the first test build! There will not be a new dev diary that day but there will be a post talking about what to expect. Til then!

Oh, hello there, stranger! The time-off has come to and end and here we are... time for another development diary for Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game Remaster. As I mentioned in the previous post, these diaries are being cut down to every other week. And, of course, never again once each project launches. That being said...

[h2]Haulin’ Oats[/h2]

A fair amount of the time after my time-off was spend on The Dope Game’s networking system. However, what work Haulin’ Oats got was divided between setting up music and polish for the next alpha which should be out sometime this month.



To prevent music from getting horribly repetitive throughout a game session, the music will be set up like a radio. One song will play then the “radio” will “scan the channels” looking for the next song; like driving in a big rig. Some tracks have been assembled so far and more are coming. The current ones will be added into the next alpha version so folks can hear them.

The polish phase is almost done and (I hope) most of the bugs have been squashed. I’m going to try to jam in the racing feature before releasing it to the folks who have alpha access but we’ll see how that goes.

Also some accessibility features will be added prior to launch. I have to get in touch with some folks to go over what all needs to be added and then create a plan to add it!

[h2]The Dope Game Remaster[/h2]

Most of the work done around my time-off has been networking. This is actually a drawn-out process; especially when testing it against yourself on a LAN. Nonetheless, the Steamworks integration is going pretty well.



All the lobby stuff, after multiple iterations, is now done. So far all the testing works, thanks to pulling some stuff from other CoaguCo games. Currently I am implementing the multiplayer P2P framework in the game itself so folks can run around and slang together. Well, more against each other.

You will be able to play against six other friends or foes though currently there is no option to join an in-progress game. While it was considered, I think it might be too hard to catch up once a match starts. However, maybe down the road that will get added.

Next update I will talk more about the character and server customization. There will be a decent amount at launch with some add-ons over time.

More on that next time, folks!

Why hello, sweetlings. It is time for another week of development diary entries for Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game. Also I will be taking the following week off of development to do some real-life stuff instead and will be changing the dev diary schedule to twice a month (every other week). Yes, the applause is deafening but please remain calm… here are this week’s updates.

[h2]Haulin’ Oats[/h2]

This week was all about getting that multiplayer up and running. As you can see below, something that was visible in the current alpha (I think) is the hosting settings. These are now functional.



All of the lobby set-up functionality as well as server list functionality is now in the next alpha build. In-lobby chat also works. Still tinkering with kicking players from the lobby though. Avatars should show up next to each player too.

Now the focus is shifting to making the game playable. Luckily there were hooks already for bots / remote players, so it’s just all about adding in the client-server functions to talk to these.

When the next alpha version hits, this should all be ready to go. Expect that, probably, in August at some point.

[h2]The Dope Game Remaster[/h2]

Combat was the name of the game this week. And a lot of changes were made since the last version, like armor, multiple enemies, better healing, etc.



So yes, armor is now a thing. It will be depleted before health except on criticals. It can be purchased from Pinky or the Shady Merchant.

You can also now heal your crew in combat from the heal menu. This will hopefully keep them in better shape during rough fights. And speaking of rough fights, NPCs can now call in allies; there can be up to five different opponents in one fight.

There were also some minor tweaks to rewards, how buttons are laid out (no more accidental surrender), and more.

That’s it for now. More in two weeks!

Hello, friends! We are gathered here today for yet another development diary for Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster. No time to dally, let’s get into it.

[h2]Haulin’ Oats[/h2]

This week not a whole lot of exciting stuff got done for Haulin’ Oats. Mostly worked on improving things under the hood as well as completing more cards for the game; given there are currently 75 cards per deck planned.



Despite all the art still needed, my goal is to move ahead and get the multiplayer functional for alpha v0.0.3 then backtrack to the issues list and get those ironed out.

Oh, and per last post, here is something for the quickest of you who actually reads these things (IZJ7A-XNJVG-0B8ZB). There will be three more popping up in randomly places. Or maybe they are actually in this dev diary entry but different in the other places it is officially posted? Hmm.

[h2]The Dope Game Remaster[/h2]

The Dope Game got a lot of love this week. More restructuring of the underlying code happened to make things more efficient. Basically gutting the whole system. This ended up happening because of a few more features added to the game from The Dope Game 2, as tests.



Like you’ll notice in this screenshot. You can actually donate a few “unneeded” organs to make some cash; some with unintended side-effects. You can also now treat conditions, primarily the one you get when the old lady on the bus sticks a syringe into your neck. Additionally you can now heal your crew members at the hospital.

There are some other new features that will be covered next week along with related screenshots to really give you a visual of what is new. Lastly the Russian version of the game may be delayed a bit longer due to the new script not being complete and getting those changes in place. However, it shouldn’t be delayed too much.

Well, that’s it for this week. More coming soon!