See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

It’s been a while since I have written an update and just seeing the date of the previous one makes me realise it’s been almost three years ago already. Somewhere during the development I made a concious decision to just do my thing and work in the ‘dark’, due to various reasons that are not important to get into right now. With this update I want to shed just a tiny bit of light on what is going on with Horizon Danger.

Just like the updates it also has been awhile since I have shown Horizon Danger to the public and last week was finally the moment that it was playable again at an event. The game was shown at Courage Cologne, a small showcase event that took place prior to the start of Gamescom.

During my summer vacation I dedicated a substantial amount of time to get the game in a state that shows the quality that I want for the end product to be and to make it feel like a complete package. I was rather anxious to show it to the public again, I think that’s mainly due to the fact I have been working and thinking about Horizon Danger since late 2013 and it becomes rather difficult to gauge the quality of the product that you are making since you are so close to it. But also for the fact that you dedicate so much of your time to make something and what if people don’t actually like it, what then? In that case it would have been a waste of time but also in the other hand it’s a learningful experience, something that I need to keep reminding myself in the back of my mind. And if you ask me, it’s has been a learningful experience.

But back to the event, Horizon Danger was shown! My level of anxiousness and fears were unfounded and it was absolutely an awesome experience. It was nice to show the game again after such a long time and just to play it for 5 hours straight with the crowd, the feedback and reception was cool and people seemed to dig it. When someone wants a rematch just for another chance to try to kick your butt, I can’t really describe it but moments like that makes it all worth it. So I just want to thank everyone again for playing the game at Courage Cologne, I really appreciate all the feedback and for you taking the time to play Horizon Danger. It gave me a real confidence boost! So thank you!

So what’s the next step, the game will be shown again at some smaller local events in the Netherlands, mainly in Leeuwarden, Groningen and perhaps in Utrecht with some luck. I would like to show it at bigger events, in the Netherlands but also in other countries but at the moment that is not doable due to budget reasons. When the game is playable at an event I will post it on Twitter @scaffa or here.

As mentioned before my goal, at the end of the sumer, was to make a product that feels and looks like an end product and a complete package. I think I achieved that goal but with that said the release date is still to be determined, it’s not going to be this year nor will it be early next year. I wish I could give a firm release window but I honestly can’t, my apologies for that and I hope you understand. 

At the end of the day it’s a project that I work on in my spare time, without a proper budget and you know what.. game development is just fricking hard. There are still some milestones that I need to reach before the game becomes what I envisioned it to be and to make sure that it delivers an unique experience that I set out to create for the players. 

Thanks for reading this update and for your patience.

Hi everybody! Here is an update about Horizon Danger. And let’s start with a fun fact, it has been three years since I created a game prototype called Dispute that later became Horizon Danger. Three years! Longest project ever. 

A few weeks ago I started doing some tests with creating a Horizon Danger build for the Xbox One by using a regular Xbox One in Dev Mode. It’s not a priority at the moment but I just had to know how this worked and if it’s something doable in the future. 

One of the results is that creating a build and get it running was an fairly easy task and required little to no effort, which is awesome! But I encountered some major issues while running the game.

The first big one is no audio or audio stuttering. After some other tests I found out what caused the problem and it was an error on my end. Horizon Danger is a HTML5 game and for the most part all the audio is in the .ogg format, which is supported by Chromium but not in Edge. Xbox One uses that for running HTML5 games and thus there is no audio. This isn’t a huge issue but it means that if I were to make a build for the Xbox One I need to convert most of the audio samples to the proper format or re-export the audio and have both formats in the project. Like I said not a huge issue but it’s more a hassle to be honest. No problem! I’m glad I found this out now since a ton of audio work is scheduled on a later date.            

The second issue, and this might be the biggest since I haven’t found a solution yet, is the fact that while the framerate is alright it’s not a steady 60 fps and there is a very noticable stutter. My assumption is that the stutter is not related to the fps drops but due to something else, it might be related to the audio issue since the game tries to play audio and there is none so it stays in a loop or something. Im just guessing! I need to do more test with the XBox One build, make a test project and test other game prototypes to find out what the limits are and get a better sense of what causes the issue. 

Parts of this are and can be frustrating since you need to make a new build everytime, that takes time and you might not actually find the solution right away. At the same time it’s very valuable and I need to know if it’s solvable and what is required to solve it. To be honest it’s also kinda fun!   

It was a small investment to make, I didn’t own a Xbox One yet and specifically bought it for testing the project, and I think it was worth it. While the results are not optimal it could have been worse. The project runs and is testable. I’m sure there are other issues that I have not encountered yet but it’s a start. It was kinda cool to see the game running on an actual console for the first time and have it in a somewhat ‘playable’ state. 

I can’t stress it enough that a Xbox One version of Horizon Danger is not something that is a priority at the moment and it might never happen. I’m testing it out because I just need to know what i’m dealing with and what is required. The PC version is priority number one.  

Here is an update about Horizon Danger and other things that might be relevant or not at all, let’s get started!

Normally I make a summary of things that have been changed since the previous #devupdate but I won’t do so today. The last few months have been solid for dev’ing and during the summer vacation I spent most if not every minute of my time working on the game. That might sound bad but trust me , I loved it. 

So listing all the things that have been changed or added might take awhile and I don’t think that will add much to the conversation. So this update is just to let you know that i’m still working on the game and i’m certainly not planning on stopping. Someone actually thought I wasn’t working on it anymore so I can’t stress this enough. I know I’m taking my sweet time with this project but you know what, why shouldn’t I? I have the usual habbit of ‘going off the grid’ and work in silence. 

Development is going steady and i’m content with the current state of the project. It’s not exactly where I want it to be at but I have a feeling it’s getting there and most of the pieces are slowly starting to fit together. The project has become more manageable since a few heavy tasks have been taken care of and the focus shifted more towards working on the smaller things that don’t require a week or a month of focus. So every day I’m able to work a hour or 2 in the morning on the game and actually get the feeling i’m getting things done, which is great!     

I have been thinking a’lot lately about different ways to post updates, the move to tumblr made posting updates easier but writing it is still an issue for me, it consumes a’lot of time and I don’t really enjoy it that much to be honest. I’m playing around with several idea’s on how to solve this and i’m leaning towards the idea of making video’s instead. Now making video’s won’t be an easy thing either but it’s certainly a more fun thing to do.

So yeah there is actually just not much to say but I felt the need to post something. I also want to take this moment to thank you for your patience!  Let me know what you think about the video thing! 

If you have any questions then please don’t hesitate and ask it right here. Let me know if you like this style of dev update or what else you want to hear about! :) 

Here is an update about what is going on with Horizon Danger. The following might change and is not final.

Update:

• As previously mentioned some of the stages are being scrapped or redesigned. Progress on this point is going steady, at the moment i’m spending most of the time brainstorming new idea’s for stages and creating mockups. The mockups will help me decide if the idea is actually good or needs adjustments before I implement it. Once that is done the music will be made. On that note the way the music is handled at the moment might likely also see a slight overhaul.  
• Work is still going on redesigning how the ‘Powerups’ are handled. I go back and forth between a few ideas. Some basic systems are in place and being made that support either option. Accessibility for new players is a focus point but I also want to offer something extra for experienced players, i’m trying to find a balance between those two. There is still a’lot of work left to be done on this front.  
• UI Navigation, some work has been done that will make it easier to make quick adjustments to the navigation and hopefully that results in making future updates easier. It still requires work but I think it’s getting there.

Shoutout: 

I was thinking about giving a quick shoutout to a couple of games. Games that have grabbed my attention in the last few months. 

DOOM - Look, I know it’s a big budget game but holy shit it’s just way to good! How? HOW?! I think they actually made a pact with the devil to make this game.  

Master Spy - The music and art style is just way to slick. Just check that trailer, alright! 

The Guardian Legend - It’s old (NES) but listen you are a space ship and then you transform and then…just check it out ok?

If you have any questions then please don’t hesistate and ask it right here. Let me know if you like this style of dev update or what else you want to hear about! :)

Here is an update about what is going on with Horizon Danger. The following might change and is not final. 

Changes (not all):

• 70 % of the stages are being scrapped or redesigned. Reason: Lack of quality. This also includes the music that was made for those stages. 
• 45 % performance increase. Reason: Well, it seemed like a thing to do. 
• Work has started on reimplementing and designing the ‘Powerups’. Reason: There are a few ideas floating around and want to explore that, seems like a good time investment. Biggest part of the project at the moment and requires some proper attention and work.
• UI Navigation, functional redesign and tweaking, to make the game more accessible and easier to navigate. Reason: Accessibility is a strong focus point for me, current navigation was alright but not good.

Current focus:

At the moment the focus for the project is creating most if not all of the systems that are required to get the game to a state that I feel satisfied with. This includes for example implementing the required systems to support ‘Powerups’ and the adjustments to the UI navigation. I want to finish this before I move over again to the art or sound side of things.  

If you have any questions then please don’t hesistate and ask it right here. Let me know if you like this style of dev update or what else you want to hear about! :)

I enabled the Ask Me Anything thing on this Tumblr so if you have any burning questions then feel free to ask. It’s set to anon so no account required. The link is at the top of the page. 

A quick update, on my personal blog I set a deadline to send out an update regarding the development of Horizon Danger. This update is set to be posted at the end of the month (March 2016), the focus of the update will contain info about what happend in the last few months and what is going to happen in the following months. 

I enabled the Ask Me Anything thing on tumblr so if you have any burning questions then feel free to ask. It’s set to anon so no account required. 

It’s a rainy cold day and I decided it was time to make some changes and clean stuff up. Since the start I used my personal blog at scaffa.nl to push out updates regarding the development of Horizon Danger. In the beginning it worked out fine but the more stuff I posted there it became harder to keep everything up to date, remove outdated info and some technical difficulties made it cumbersome to update the design of the blog. 

To make it easier, I decided to move everything to Tumblr in the hopes that this will eliminate some of the problems I encountered. I’m not sure if this is a long term fix but I’m sure it will do for the time being. 

Thanks for your understanding.