On Call Ver 1.05 Patch Progress

I'm nearly done with the work for the next patch and so I'm here with a list of all the changes and tweaks that will make it into the patch. Its a large patch, so large in fact that I've gone through several version numbers during testing.

Space ship explosions:

Color and lighting tweaks as well as new art / posters:

• Re-Coded camera for the space ship:

1. Changing to the follow camera and then back to the normal orbital camera will no longer cause the camera to glitch out in terms of position.
2. Using boost now makes the camera follow the ship so that its easier to control.
3. Holding square now also causes the camera to center and follow the ship.
4. Optimized the camera code, removing a few hundred lines of code.
5. Added different positions for the camera, so that when boosting, it will be further away to give the player more screen space.

• Tweaked the space ship:

1. Fixed a glitch where the player would continuously lose health.
2. Re-Balanced the health and damage of the ship for more fun.
3. Added the ability to slow to a halt in space, this will double the sensitivity of the ship, allowing far better control in tight dog fights.
4. Gave the player infinite boost in the interest of more fun.
5. Doubled bullet speed so that its easier to hit your target at great distances.
6. Improved collision detection for objects and bullets.
7. Improved aimer.

• Tweaked the space AI:

1. Added a new routine for the ships to speed up slightly while the player has stopped, allowing the player to over take.
2. Tweaked speeds and general awareness in the interest of fun.
3. Tweaked damage dealt to the player in the interest of fun.

• Arcade Mode:

1. Tweaked colors and lighting due to player feedback.
2. Added a menu for when the player dies showing the players current score, high score and asking the player whether they wish to play again, or return to the main menu.
3. Added explosions for the enemy AI. (still tweaking the sound for this as it currently crackles)
4. Added force to those explosions that will push any ship away that is close enough.

• Space:

1. Tweaked colors and lighting due to player feedback.
2. Added an explosion to the drifting ship.

• Fire ranges:

1. Added new art in the form of papers and posters that litter the levels.
2. Added sparks for when the player shoots the turrets.
3. Added a smoke particle for when the turret is disabled.
4. Tweaked colors and lighting due to player feedback.

• Hanger:

1. Tweaked colors and lighting due to player feedback.
2. Added new art in the form of papers and posters.

• Life support:

1. Tweaked colors and lighting due to player feedback.
2. Added new art in the form of papers and posters.

• Crew chambers:

1. Tweaked colors and lighting due to player feedback.
2. Added new art in the form of papers and posters.
3. Added gore and particles to the creeps for when they are shot and when they die.

• Bridge:

1. Tweaked colors and lighting due to player feedback.
2. Added new art in the form of papers and posters.
3. Added sparks to the turret when the player shoots it.
4. Added a smoke particle for when the turret is inactive.
5. Added gore and particles to the creeps for when they are shot and when they die.

• Engine:

1. Added gore and particles to the creeps for when they are shot and when they die.

• Credits:

1. Added new names according to their contributions and also tweaked their appearance.

Good and Bad News

Hope the holidays are going well for everyone!

Things are going ok over here, but alas, I have some good and bad news.

I'll start with the good. I have several large projects lining up with several other small time indy devs. What this could mean is the formation of a studio in the far future... What it definitely means is far larger scale games. One project is an art orientated project that I'm keenly interested in and another is a more tech orientated project that I've been asked to join. Both are far larger than On Call but both are likely to be about as small in terms of success. I honestly love the idea of working on my art and improving, but at the same time the large scale and technology I would need to make for the other project intrigues me greatly. In all honesty though, the more arty idea will likely see a full game being released, where as the more tech idea I can foresee everyone else leaving me to work alone on it in my spear time as soon as they realize how hard it will be. Hopefully both can come together well. One of them is in concept while the other is only gearing up to start concept next year, so anything could happen.

The other good news is that I'm gearing up for the reveal of a new project. I've been working insanely hard on the art for this one, as I feel my art is whats lacking in order for me to land a job at a studio. I cant wait to show it off.

Lastly we come to the bad news. It looks like I cannot finish working on On Call unless I turn it into a sequel. This is a two part reason. Firstly and most importantly, I cannot change the age rating to include human enemies... Apparently that is set in stone, which means I cannot add any of the new levels I've been making... Which means that the only way to release it would be to make an outright sequel... That is not in all a bad thing, as my second reason is that the new levels would make On Call around 5 times longer and larger than it is now, which in truth does seem more like a sequel than a simple update...

Because of these things I have decided to release all the game play changes and new weapons for On Call, as they do not need to be re-rated. I will also work on anything else people do not like, like the fact that the creeps just disappear when they die as well as adding in the great art supplied by Matthew Sibler, while adding the new names to the credits for their help. Then we shall see if there is enough interest and support for me to make a sequel in my spare time. I'm extremely upset by this, as I've done a lot of work and preparation for On Call's new levels, story and enemy types.

The last think I need to talk about is how I really really want to make a multiplayer test game for PSM. It would be free, but small so that we can all test it to see if it works. I would add 2 modes, one on the ground as normal people in a small map, and one in space... I'd love to do that just to see how viable it is performance wise and how the networking code would need to work...

So there you have it... As you can see, my future is extremely uncertain at this point... I'll let you know how things progress.

Tweaks

I've re-written the space-ship camera code to add and revise some features:

• If you hit circle, the camera will still go behind the ship, but now it will follow the ship completely instead of allowing the ship to have some free rotation. Its better like this as the player can see what is up above and down below them.
• If you hit square the ship will rotate faster and your speed will come to a halt. The camera will revert to the follow position while this happens. This new mode of movement will add a level of ease to controlling the ship in combat.
• The camera will subtly follow the player when no movement is made to the camera stick after a period of time, akin to GTAs car camera.
• The camera should also never forget its position when changing camera modes now as it has before.
• Now that the glitch where the player automatically loses health has been sorted out, I've re-tweaked the damage ratios for all enemies. The player will now die fastest from collisions, followed by large shots and then by small shots.
• I've added a new routine to the enemy space AI so that they will speed up when the player goes slowly allowing the player to let them overtake.

These additions / changes are purely to enhance controls of the ship and camera, hence providing more fun gameplay to the player.

Progress Report

Happy holidays everyone. Hope everything is going well.

I've been working on some really cool stuff of late and I'm ready to talk about that stuff and hopefully show it off soon.

So first off, lets talk about On Call. I've been adding / tweaking a lot of things that I'd like to discuss.

• I've added explosions to when enemy space ships explode. These are a big deal in a lot of ways. They are not only cool looking and sounding so the player gets feedback on a kill, but they also have a lot of physics code beneath the hood, so if you blow up a nearby ship, it will cause your ship to shake and even be blown away with a powerful shock wave of force from the explosion. I still need to optimize this for the Vita, but its coming along well.

• I'm fixing a particular bug in the space arcade mode where the player continuously takes damage and seemingly dies out of nowhere. Once this is fixed, I will also tweak the damage the player receives on impact with objects in space.

• I'm playing with some visual damage to the players ship. So far results are good and its probably going to end up in the game. Its still weird sometimes, but I will work out kinks.

• I've also made a lot of improvements to the ship. It can now have a permanent boost so the player can always escape from the AI. I came to the conclusion that its just not as much fun if the player has limited escape options. I'm also adding in a slow down ability that the AI will not be able to match, allowing the player to slow down and have the AI fly past them, once again opening up space combat vastly.

• I've made a lot of progress with the character model for the enemy AI. The model is nearly fully modeled and then I will texture, rig and animate it. From there we will be able to put them into levels, both new and old.
• Lastly, I've been doing a lot of color tweaking for the game. I've received a lot of complaints that its too dark. So, where the levels are not designed around that darkness I will lighten them up. But the levels where the darkness is part of the gameplay will stay dark.

Secondly, I've got a new game that's coming along really really well. I cant wait to show it off soon.

As always, hope you guys have a great time. I hope to upload another patch before Christmas with as much new stuff as possible, but probably not new levels.

I'm Back

Exams are over for now, so I've gotten back to working on making games.

I'd like to talk a little about what I've been working on.

Firstly, I've been working on another level for On Call (Its one of several levels I've been planing for the game). Its an office/space station and Its coming together quite well. As with the other levels it has completely new assets and such, so its been taking a long enough time for me to make and place them in the game. I'm happy with where its going though.

I'd like to thank Matthew Silber for showing interest and helping out with the amazing posters and art that he has contributed.

As well as that, I've also been working on the model that will be our rebel enemy class and Its coming along quite well.

I'm still working on the 2 Prologue levels, the Forrest level, the Bar/Race level and re-purposing the old levels to feature the new enemy classes.

Onto the AI. Its going well, I'm happy with the results, it easily finds and navigates through the environment to find the player. Now I must do a lot of testing to figure out how accurate I want them to be, as well as seeing if I can code in some good stealth elements (Such as being able to lose the AI and have them search for the player).

I've also been working on several other things that I cant wait to share.

General Stuff

Multiplayer

So I've coded up a vast majority of systems for a multiplayer game. I should be able to implement it into On Call, but for now I will be working on it separately as I want to make sure its amazing by it self before slapping it into anything.

After seeing some great volunteers on this blog and also within my friend circle I've decided that when the time has come I'll post a demo here for everyone to share and play with their mates. It should be great fun.

I've got most the networking stuff sorted, but I still need to do gui, hud, weapons and animations... As well as think of how I'm going to code different game types... As right now its just free for all with no score, no character models, 1 gun and no animations... So that will need to change...

But once I have a playable demo working I will be sure to upload it. My outlook on this is that the only way we will build a strong multiplayer community is if we make sure its fun, which means a lot of testing with a lot of people. So thats cool.

This also opens up avenues to co-op play. I would love to do a more co-op / multiplayer orientated shooter some time. Perhaps something akin to destiny or borderlands?

On Call

I'm nearly done with the first new weapon for the game. Its a SMG/Auto-rifle hybrid that I quite like. Its harder to implement than I anticipated as I need to re-write some code, but its coming along nicely.

I'm also testing the forest level on the Vita, its surprisingly good. I have one or two issues that I'm working out though.

The other levels are coming along... I will push hard to get something to show from the space station and perhaps the city. I will need a lot of new music and art for these, and while I do most of it my self, I am planning on implementing some of the cool stuff that people have been passing onto me. Its great to get to help everyone out here.

The other development on the game is the AI. The code is doing fine, but I'm struggling to find the time to model and animate the enemy characters... The last time I did a full body character it took me 3 weeks to do the model, so finding time has been tough... Luckily though, its holidays in a few weeks after exams and I will finally have the time.

Other Projects

I would like to get some smaller projects out there during the holidays. I've been fleshing out the concept I showed a while ago and will post a demo for it when its functioning and then there are several other concepts that I will show you as they come out.

There are several reasons that I'm doing multiple projects. Firstly is that I'm building my portfolio, secondly is that I'm trying to teach myself everything I can by making games. It is true that I am at university doing a double mjr in Games technology and Computer science, but its practice that builds the skills I need.

Multiplayer

On of the things I really want to learn how to do is multiplayer. Recently I've found a good way to do it and Ive been testing it out on a few of my pc's.

Today however, I tested it out on my vita and it worked beautifully. Of course that was my Vita against 3 PC's and 1 laptop... But still, initial testing is proving good!

The problem with this is that Sony want me to test the game on the maximum amount of Vita's... So if I want to add multiplayer to On Call on the Vita I'd have to buy a minimum of 7 Vita's (4v4)

I'm looking into how to get around this, either through testing with people I know that have Vita's or even if I will be aloud to do a free multiplayer test from the PSM store...

I will keep you posted on progress with this as well as On Calls progress and several other small projects.

I have a week before I have to study for my next exam, so I plan on spending it making games / adding to On Call. After that I will be on a hiatus for a few weeks for exams and then I have 3 months of holidays that I can dev in!

On Call Progress Report

Work is slowing down for me now that exams are weeks away and the free time I use to make On Call has started to become study time. It sucks, I know, but I do need to study.

On the up side, I came across a great concept in a lecture on the future implication of technology. ITs quite cool and dark and I look forward to drawing from these real world concepts for the lore of On Call's future. At this point in time On Call doesn't really have many SciFi concepts or designs. You are a dude in a ship with an AI. I want to make that far deeper. What is it like to live in a galaxy with advanced AI? Whats it like for everyone to be interconnected? These are great concepts for SciFi.

On another note. I've made great progress with the new levels for On Call. I'm fleshing out several other level types as well as testing shaders and techniques to figure out how I'm going to portray them. I've also made great progress with the forest level and I want to show that off here:

I will keep you guys posted on any progress I make with On Call. Its currently my main game dev focus, but I need to study for the next few weeks, so progress will slow a little.

Hope you guys are having a great time. I look forward to sharing more with you as soon as I can.

On Call Mountain Range Update

I was left a little disappointed by my solution for the grass, so I invested some effort into finding a better way to do it.

Not only have I redrawn the texture for the grass to help it suit the style of On Call, but I've also found a far better shader. The new shader still casts shadows, but now has a more consistent, less patchy look.

I'm also currently reviewing the mesh for the grass, as I have concerns about its performance... I will test it on the Vita within the next few days to make sure, but the level is coming along well.

On Call - New Level Report

So I've finally got something that I'm happy enough to show off. Its not much, but it should give a fairly good impression of the scope and style that I'm trying to get too with this map in particular.

So far I've only done some rough asset planting where the player spawns in, so its rough and unpolished, but its a fair representation of the work in progress.

This level will be one of the 3 largest levels in On Call once its done. The other 2 may end up larger, as this one is truly limited by the amount of trees and grass that I have envisioned for it once its completed.

I'm working on an extremely tight polygon budget that I had to painstakingly calculated before starting with asset creation. I hope that this yields far more assets on screen in comparison to the rest of On Call.

The main point of On Call is for me to learn how to function as a developer and I feel like I am learning important things, like the aforementioned polygon budget.

I'll keep you posted with progress and shots as they are up to snuff.

Progress Report

Over the last weeks I've been slowly marching forward. The new levels for On Call are coming along well, and there is one in particular that I will be showing off soon.

Work has been slower on these maps than I had anticipated as each map is about the size of On Call in itself and there are 5-6 of them in development here.

They are also the most demanding maps I've made as of yet. The one that Im going to share with you soon has a massive amount of grass that I'm placing by hand onto the vast fields and pine trees. It looks amazing and the level is vast and explorable with multiple pathways and things to do. However, this takes so much more time than anything I've done as of yet.

Another thing that has held back development is that I'm struggling with Sony. I have not received any of the small sales profit On Call has made, and everyone at Sony seem to just pass me onto the next person as no one there seems to be able to help. This is by far the biggest problem with PSM. It has NO support. There is a community forum, but they cannot assist with Sony's banking. If this persists I will simply drop On Call to a price tag of Free. Its not like I'm making enough off of On Call to do anything other than get a few pizzas or see a movie, but it would have been nice to see even a penny for my work.

I will show off 1, hopefully 2 levels as well as the new weapons I'm making soon. I will also show off the prototype upgrade system I'm making. Its unique and reminds me of F-Zero where you have a slider that changes the stats of your ship.

What I can say is what these levels and weapons are:

• A Forrest / mountain range planet with multiple objectives to tie up the side story
• A space station that a side quest
• A City world that serves to open up and start the side story
• A Dock area and downtown area that serves as a prologue to the current On Call
• A rocky and barren world that I'm not ready to discuss
• A desert world that I've not fleshed out fully yet, but have done various concepts and early development on
• An auto rifle with customizable stats that the player can tweak at ANY time in the menu, tweaking fire rate, damage, energy supply and more
• A shotgun that will work as the assault rifle does
• A vehicle for when the player is planetside... More on that below

Because the player will be going planetside and exploring large maps. I've quickly discovered that its just not fun to slowly move around these big worlds. As such I've started designing a ground vehicle. It may be something like in Destiny, or even perhaps Mass Effect.

As you can see there is a lot in the works for On Call. Its taking a lot of time and hard work, but its coming along well. by the end of all this work, On Call will probably be 5-10 times the size that it is now. Which is awesome.

As usual, all updates will be completely free and I will keep you updated as progress is made.

On Call Patch 1.03 - Planning

So, I'm deep into level creation for On Call. I'm also working on new AI, story content and systems.

These things take a lot of time to do, so I've planned out the next patch according to how much I can do in time for the deadline. I cannot create a story that spans multiple levels and then only have one level done per update. I'd rather release the entire string of new levels.

So Patch 1.03 will hopefully have things like the new weapons, upgrade system and other ground work for the bigger additions. In other words, the next patch will prepare the game for the new content, as a lot of systems have needed / will need to be re-coded for the new content to work.

I'm also planning on showing off the progress I've made on the new levels soon.

Concept Idea

I've made good progress today with the new concept that I've been working on.

I thought I'd show off the level concept as it currently stands. Its still got a lot of work to go into it, but I'm really enjoying every moment of making it.

I've still got to get the AI into this level, as well as finish its 3D assets and then get some co-op into it. I hope to have this level in Pre-Alpha by the weekend so I can send it out to testers and such for feedback.

I plan on whipping up a video to show this concept off, as the gameplay really is quite unique and so Ill let it explain itself rather than me trying to explain it away.

As for On Call. Do not fret! On Call is still our main project and we will continue to work hard to get more content and fixes out in future patches. The only other projects we are currently working on are far far smaller than On Call.

On Call Patch 1.02 OUT NOW!

Good news!

I've JUST received confirmation that the patch is live on the PSM Store for On Call.

To download the patch, simply log into the PSN Store, navigate to the PSM section, select On Call and hit the download button. This should re-download whatever assets have changed since the last build and update the application.

Patch Notes:

• Massive performance optimization for more constant 60fps (especially with the flashlight)
• Removed graphics options due to player confusion and the chance to optimize better
• Reduced some Lag spikes
• Tweaked lighting due to player feedback that the game was too dark
• Fixed numerous AI bugs
• Fixed numerous other bugs
• Added and optimized textures
• Added options to invert the controls
• Added look down sights
• Added dynamic FoV on the player and the ship to correspond with looking down sights or speed
• Tripped asteroid count in space
• Updated Control images in the menu for the new functions
• Faster character movement due to player feedback that it was too slow
• Faster ship turning as I felt it was too heavy
• Tighter ship and character controls due to feedback of "floaty controls"
• Took out annoying turrets in space
• Ship now takes a small amount damage on collisions with objects
• Added version number
• Improved texture filtering on baked shadows
• Optimized shadow resolution
• Compressed textures (not too noticeably) to speed up load times and prevent crashes when too many textures attempt to load up.

I hope you enjoy these changes, as most of them are gameplay and visuals related. Hopefully the experience will be much improved.

Progress

So here's some news on what I've been working on.

I'm not ready to show off the hand full of levels I've been working on for On Call. Most of them are still in the grey, unfinished model stages of concept. But I can tell you what they are.

The first 2 new levels take place in the Prologue of the story. They tell of how and why the Officer needs to retake his call. They are set on a Planet with large cities and I also hope to use this to flesh out some lore.

The second new level is an introduction to the side story. It takes place in a bar on a nearby planet, I've done the most of this level, and I've posted screens for it before.

The third new level is a space station that is a side mission.

The fourth new level is a forest / mountain planet where the side story wraps up. I've done a lot of concept and design for this planet and I've even gotten quite far into crafting props and level assets for it.

Lastly, the last new level is where we have the epilogue. I've done the least for this planet so far, and its almost completely in concept.

On top of that, I will also be redesigning the levels on the Cruiser and the Space station to fit better into the larger story, as well as being able to hold the new AI and just to be more fun in general.

I've also started adding in mini games for the Officer to play on a TV inside the station. The first game is a side scrolling shooter and I'm just working out the kinks to make it enjoyable.

I have been thinking of ways to replace the automatic rewards with skill trees that the player can chose upgrades, this will probably be something I add in later, as it requires XP from the new AI.

I'll also be adding in several new weapons with the new AI, cos none of us wants to have only a pistol.

Other than content, we have this:

• I've been working madly on a new AI system for On Call, it just has 1 or 2 more things that I need to add to it, then it will be complete. After its complete I just have to model and animate several different classes of enemy, and then they should be good to go.

Picture of the AI finding a path to the corner:

• I've also added in a boost function to my space ship code, as I believe that if we are going to be traveling more, racing, or evading pilots, we should have a little something to help us out.

Picture of the new Boost I've put into On Call:

• This is the basic principal of the new fun concept I've been playing with. Imagine you are the ball in a pinball machine? If I were to bluntly describe it, it could be similar to a first-person game of Wipeout. Its an interesting idea (or at least I think it is) and I'm having a lot of fun fooling around coding up different pads for the player to use, like boost pads, jump pads, short range teleports. Its also interesting to use my existing Car and Space Ship code with this idea, as it has a lot of different applications.

Picture of the pads for the new fun concept:

Stuff

So obviously I've been spending most my time working on new content / patches for On call. But I've also been doing some experimenting on several projects. One of which is extremely fun and even a little unique. Its a concept that I would love to share with you guys over the next few days. I've gotten a lot of the main features running and I just keep thinking of fun new things to add to it.

On Call is obviously my main priority and so this side project is significantly smaller. In fact, most the work I've done for it has been on my laptop during lectures at university, where as my work on On Call consumes most my free time (IE when not studying) at home.

I hope to have something fun to show you about this new idea within the coming days, as well as some great progress to share about On Calls new levels and story I just know you guys will like both these things as I like them and I'm incredibly excited about them.

So keep your eyes peeled!

Also, still no news from Sony on the new patch. So if its not up by tomorrow it will probably take another week... Again, I'm sorry its taking so long. This experience makes me wish I had one of those systems like MMOs have where I can send out updates to my own games... Will look into this.

So in summary:

• Soon I'll be showing off a new idea
• Soon I'll be showing off entirely new levels for On Call
• Soon I'll be showing of my new IA system and new enemy types, such as rebel soldiers for On Call
• Soon the patch will be live

These things all take time to make by myself, but I know they're worth it and I hope you enjoy it when its all done.

On Call Patch 1.02 - Progress Report

The patch has been with Sony for some time now, the review process took a few days longer than it normally takes, so there was an unforeseen delay that I had no control over. Its frustrating for me as I try to maintain a strict schedule.

Alas, it should be on PSN oven the next few weeks. Ill update you guys here as soon as I hear anything. As of now its passed review and is waiting to be uploaded. I'm sorry for the delay, even though I had no control over this, its still a pity to have to let you guys down.

On other fronts. My dev PC has crashed and I've needed to re-install windows. Don't worry, everything is fine as my workflow is good and I have many backups. The problem is that Sony wont let me test new content till the patch is on the store. So the next patch for on call cannot be tested till 1.02 is on the store.

I've been working very hard on coding AI. What I want to do with that AI is add brand new levels and story content, as well as overhaul existing levels to feature this new AI model. Its coming along extremely well and I look forward to posting more details as i make more progress.

I'm also re-designing the way upgrades work in On Call, but I first want to get the new AI model and levels done.

So, that's great, now to recap:

• Patch 1.02 will be out within 1-2 weeks (a week later than planned, again, sorry) and features many changes, the biggest of which is probably the control customization options.

• Patch 1.03 will feature new levels, main objectives, side objectives, enemies and story's. It will be a MASSIVE patch in terms of content and I hope that it will be enjoyed.

On a side note. Let me know what types of things you'd be interested in me adding to On Call. I'm planning on adding things to do in space, like Races not dissimilar to those seen in Ratchet and Clank 2. The way I see it is that On Call can sort of be our little platform to make the game we bought a Vita for, it may take time and effort, but I believe we can get there.

As always, I hope this is good news for you and I hope you have a good time today (or night, whatevs) Ill keep you posted with progress reports.

On Call Patch Performance

I've found some unexpected optimizations that needed to happen due to game crashing bugs.

This is a good thing though as performance is greatly boosted, especially when using the flashlight. The game now runs almost constantly at 60fps, but still has drops when using the flashlight and some stuttering in some areas that I cant quite pin down the cause for.

I'm obviously always trying to squeeze out more frames per second and flatten out stuttering, so this is a massively good find! I guarantee that you'll be able to feel the difference between version 1.01 and 1.02 when using the flashlight. Or you wont... Its hard for me to know if you will even feel it. I do, but On Call is practically all I've been playing lately and I have a frame rate counter for debug, so you know, there's that. I'm not sure of the exact performance gain, but its between 5-10fps.

I'm also quite happy with the 2D arcade level I'm adding in. Unfortunately I could not upload the patch to Sony yesterday as I found game crashing bugs that I fixed. I'll hopefully have it done for upload by tomorrow, thus still being on time for Sony's deadline.

Tomorrow, after the patch is uploaded, I also plan on continuing with my AI code so that I can add in the soldiers and stuff. That's what I've been looking towards adding in. I cant wait, its the biggest addition to On Call as it creates new level and story possibilities.

On Call Patch 1.02 - New Content

I'm busy with the last thing that I want to add for this patch. Its a new Arcade challenge. Its a 2.5d wave based shooter where you shoot enemies to score points, dodge asteroids and fight bosses.

Its not much, as a matter of fact I plan to include it on an in game video games console for the player to play this game within On Call, but its still the first batch of fresh content for On Call and I hope its done by the end of tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will upload the patch to Sony, they will test it and if it passes (I can't see a reason why it won't pass their testing, but they did initially reject us using triangle, circle, x and square, so you never know with Sony's testing) it will take Sony up to a further 2 weeks to upload the patch after that point. Once its online, you just simply log into the PSM store and re-download On Call to install the patch.

Here's what the new level looks like at the moment (Note that its not near finished, but as I have the assets already, it should only take a day or 2 to get the code done for it):

On Call Patch 1.02 - Inverting Controlls

This morning I've been working on the last things that will be implemented for patch 1.02, as I've said before, there's so much I want to do, I have to spit it into several patches.

As for what I've just added this morning. Its a feature that many people have asked me to put into the game, and so I hope you like it. Its the ability to invert the player camera, ship camera and ship controls. I've done it in a way to allow for each person to set any of those values to one they prefer, thus hopefully everyone will get more enjoyment from the game!

As I've said before, many people have asked me for this, and I've wanted to add this feature for quite some time. But I'd like to thank Forsaken Crown for bringing it up in the comments here, as if it wasn't for that, this feature would likely have only made it into a later update. Another requested feature is the ability to lock the camera behind the ship. This has been in the game since launch, by pressing O while in the ship, you are able to lock the camera. I want to improve on how I've done it here, as evidently its not good enough. I can see several reasons as too why that is and I'm currently investigating better ways to do this.

To access these options simply follow the menu: Pause > Controls > On Fool / In Ship
Here's what it looks like in the options menu:

On Call Patch 1.02 - Progress report

I'm nearly done with the patch!

I've split my targets into acceptable and achievable goals over a reasonable time frame. On top of that, I've fixed all but 1 of the crashes that have sprung up with the addition of textures. My massive University Java coding assignment is due today, which means that I'll finally have some time where I can smash out some awesome dev time this weekend and finish off the patch and add in as much of the other features as I possibly can before uploading it to Sony and starting on Patch 1.03

Thought I'd post some pictures of the progress that this patch has made. The screens obviously speak for graphical changes and not for the numerous game play changes and obviously, these are progress shots, so its important to keep in mind that I hope to fix and add even more into the patch before my deadline.

On Call Patch 1.02 - Progress report

I've gone through the levels that run out of memory one by one and reduced their memory footprint. Its frustrating, as even though Unity Insists that PSM offers "near native" performance and hardware access, I only have access to less than 100mb of memory... That's not "near native" performance and hardware access, which leads me believe that PSM's run time is more like an emulator, with many background possesses such as DRM slowing things down, but what do I know, I'm just some woefully inexperienced part time indy dev / University student.

In any case, I've made great progress and I'm flattening out one or 2 more bugs and crashes till I upload Patch 1.02 to Sony, which they will review in a day or 2 after I upload and then they'll give it to you guys in a further 2 weeks after the point of review. I'm getting used to this workflow.

Things In the current Patch:

• Hold L1 to look down sights
• FoV adjusts when looking down sights
• New control images for the new functions
• Dynamic FoV in the Ship
• Faster Character movement
• Faster Ship movement
• Faster Aiming in the Ship
• Other general control tweaks to improve responsiveness and tighten controls
• Performance Optimizations for 60fps
• Some stutter resolved (constantly trying to get rid of it completely)
• Performance with the flashlight active is improved from 30fps to 45fps
• Taken out annoying space turrets (Will add new story content to replace them)
• Tripled Asteroid count (Looking into a low performance cost fog / clouds in the belt)
• Ship takes damage on collision with objects
• Added version number in main menu
• Improved texture filtering on baked shadows
• Optimized shadow resolution
• Compressed textures to lighten memory load (For faster load times and less crashes due to filling the memory)
• Fixed random technical bugs / glitches
• Tweaked AI
• Fixed random AI bugs / glitches

I'm still busy adding / changing more things for this coming patch, but as I don't want to make you guys wait too long, I might have to upload this version, and then start the next patch with some of the other stuff I'm still working on. Hope you will enjoy the progress we've made, and please keep in mind that we are still working hard adding new features, content and fixes.

I'll finish this patch up and upload it ASAP, then I'll start the next patch.

On Call Patch 1.02

I had the patch ready for upload tonight, but I was testing it and found a crash. It seems that PSM on the vita has too high a memory restriction (as it has access to the full vita, but has to run through essentially an emulator, thus loosing some resources resulting in less CPU and RAM being available)

Ill have to tweak the new textures to see just how far I can push them.

The bad thing about the Vita is that when it hits its memory limit, it doesn't slow down, It simply crashes and reports an error... What this means is that its extremely hard to squeeze every drop of performance out of the vita to get say, a beautiful game running at 30fps, and at the same time, as soon as you have more than 20k polys on screen there is a chance you will lose frames, though I push 100k at 60fps... So 60fps is also hard to hit...

Over all its an awkward device, but progress is coming along extremely well with performance closer to 60fps than ever with better visuals than ever.

Progress Report

Unfortunately my Game Dev work has slowed to a crawl as I have several assignments due for University, but I should be more able to work on On Call Updates and new games soon.

I've done some planning for On Calls future updates and I've even started implementing them.

Stuff to expect in an update for On Call within the coming weeks:

• Hold L1 to look down sights
• Fully re-balanced and tweaked controls for faster, more accurate and tighter movement on foot and in space
• Triple the amount of asteroids
• Cleaner Pause menu
• No more performance or quality mode. Ive rather optimized each level for individual levels of MSAA to maintain 60fps
• FoV changes when you look down sights
• Faster Bullet speeds
• Added textures
• Added more reflective substances
• Fixed bugs
• Improved performance
• FoV is dynamic in space and gets larger when you are moving faster and slower when moving slower
• Took out annoying turrets (will replace them with story content)
• Ship now takes damage on collision with objects in space

Stuff I'm working on for this update and future updates (In no specific order, expect quicker things in the sooner updates)

• Multiplayer (at first it will be simple dog-fighting in space, later on foot)
• optimizing again for even more stable 60fps
• A prologue of before the Officer is sent to space with 2 new levels where the enemies are rebel mercenaries with several AI routines for on the ground combat
• 2 new weapons, an assault rifle and a shotgun
• Replacing the spiders with rebel mercenaries
• Redesigning the Crew and engine levels
• Adding more story content, such as events that happen in space and on nearby planets
• 2 Planets with larger levels, one reminiscent of Ratchet and Clank, an open level with multiple spokes and one reminiscent of Far Cry 3 (but on a far far far smaller scale)
• A bar level where the player will get Intel for the side story
• A side story
• Replacing the target practice areas with better side missions (As they suck)
• Adding more things to do at the Space station, like playing mini-games on a tv and a target practice area there
• Overhauling the Upgrades to rather let the player pick how to spent them, as its currently automatic and thus doesn't feel rewarding or like it does anything
• Adding a new level to the arcade mode, this time on foot instead of in space. It will be like a hoard mode using the new AI system that Im writing for ground combat with the rebel mercenaries

I hope to have the next update Uploaded to Sony within a week or two, which means that Sony will have the update for 1-2 weeks before they will upload it to you guys... I hope you enjoy the update when it comes out. Let me know if there's anything else I should look into adding / changing. In the end, these updates strive to make On Call the game I envisioned it to be, but since with have no budget, a tiny team of just me and a story / sound guy (my brother) and hardly any time, progress is slow. Hope you understand.

Some shots showing the new dynamic FoV in space according to speed and larger asteroid population:

Small FoV, LOW speed:

Large FoV, HIGH speed:

On Call Patch

Its been brought to my attention that the update is not visible on the PS Vita.

I've checked on this and the only way to download the patch is to go to the PSM store and hit the download button, it will download the update and install it from there... A little odd that its not on the game itself and its inconvenient that you will need to get the patch through the PSM store and not the game icon, but there's nothing we can do about the way patches are deployed to PSM games, sorry about the confusion.

Hope this helps and hope you enjoy the patch.

On Call - Patch 1.01

After 2 weeks of waiting, the 1.01 patch is live today!

Just a reminder, it fixes a bucket load of issues:

• Made new, more professional buttons
• Simplified the HUD
• Added better control images in the menu
• Changed visual feedback for ammo
• Added glow around the illuminated parts of the gun according to requests from player feedback
• Fixed AI bugs on Bridge and Crew levels
• Fixed AI bugs on Arcade level
• Added several more routines to Arcade level AI
• Vastly improved path-finding on Arcade level AI
• Tweaked stats and values for Arcade level
• Added player requested features for Arcade level
• Added gun sway, idle and walk animations
• Tweaked timing of end credits
• Tweaked location and health of rebel ship to prevent audio glitch
• Fixed typo
• Re-baked shadows at higher resolution
• Fixed GUI objective information glitch
• Fixed several other small glitches
• Improved game play according to player feedback
• Added clearer, less blurry banner Image
• Added new screens that reflect the changes made in the patch

2.5D Platformer

We're busy working on a 2.5D platformer called: "Finding Me" at the moment. I've mentioned it before, but I wanted to show off the latest build that we have running... This build is made to run on the Vita at native resolution, 60fps so it does differ from the early conceptual screen I posted earlier.

Game Dev Woes

So It would seem as if Sony take an entire 2 weeks to deploy patches on PSM... So I can send them a patch every 5min, but they will only roll out that first patch an entire 2 weeks later, so patching is just really not viable. Therefor I think the next patch should be bigger than just tweaks and bug-fixes... Maybe an extra level and a price drop? Seeing as this patch would only come out in about 4 weeks thanks to Sony's painstakingly slow updating of their store.

On top of that, I'm struggling to find time to do honest dev now that classes are in full swing and I'm working to pay off uni... So that's always a fun challenge. Oh and I lost my new phone on a buss yesterday.

With all the bad stuff going round, I'm just hoping its my turn to get some good stuff... Till then Ill be working harder than I ever have before, pushing myself to be the Dev that I want to be, cos if you work hard and push yourself, you will get better and be rewarded.

Finding Me

Working on a smaller, less ambitious indy platformer at the moment.

Its about a robot that has been left at the dump and longs for nothing more than to find its lost parts... We hope to craft a more touching yet lighthearted game that is still beautiful to look at and fun to play.

Here's a sneak peek at the first level. Its still just a working title and everything is still conceptual... So don't expect anything to remain the same.

Mask

After watching Guardians of the Galaxy, I had the urge to make a really quick concept sculpt of a space mask. I wanted it to look almost like a robot's face mixed with a WW2 gas mask.

Its not the best thing I've ever done, but the idea was to do a super fast concept mock-up. I ended up only taking about 30min, which isn't bad, bust still not great.

Sculpting

I decided to practice my sculpting today and spent a few hours on this... I know its not much, but like everything I'm doing, its far better than last time ;) Its a good feeling to be learning and getting better.

On Call Patch 1.01 news

We've successfully updated the game and now its being tested over at Sony, the update will only be downloadable once Sony have tested and reviewed it, which will take 1 or 2 days.

For now the current version is completely playable, just expect a decent upgrade in a few days ;)

On Call Patch 1.01 Screenshot comparison

Seeing as we are having trouble uploading the new patch (we're working hard at resolving the issues) I thought I'd upload some pictures to show the new updated GUI and HUD...

Other fixes include numerous AI improvements and fixes for AI glitches, higher resolution shadows, gun sway / walk / idle animations... Its a pretty decent patch... Hope its out soon. Old screens are on top, New screens are on the bottom.

On Call Patch 1.01 Gameplay

Here's some gameplay from the patch that we are working on.

The improvements in the gui, button images, hud, shadow resolution and AI are really great and so I hope that the patch is out sooner rather than later.

We have reached out to Sony and other PSM devs to see if they know why we are having the issues we have with uploading the patch, hopefully its resolved soon.

Nothing is broken in version 1.00, but version 1.01 is a lot more professional and I feel its nicer... We apologize that it didn't release at 1.01, but we are a small developer with no funding and little time, so we hope you are understanding. We are working as hard as we can to ensure you guys have a blast playing this ;)

LINK TO VIDEO: http://youtu.be/SPv-n8HGg-E

On Call

The day has come!

On Call is now available on PS Vita from the PSM Store!

We are trying to update the game to include the fixes that have been done from player feedback, but have run into a roadblock of sorts... Hopefully we will have the update live soon, luckily there's nothing game-breaking that needs to be fixed, but rather just tweaks...

On the Australian Store it sits at $4.35 which is not bad, but considerably higher than the $2.94 that we were hoping for.

Hope you enjoy the game and hope that the patch is out as soon as possible, Ill be devoting all my time to it ;)

On Call Update

Had to take new screenshots for the 1.01 patch, so that the screens on the store match what you will be playing... Also updated the sale banner to be far less blurry.

Keep in mind that the Vita's resolution is 960x544, so these screens look incredibly clear on the actual Vita screen as the game runs at native resolution with 4xMSAA