I try to do a big update with Torque2D every year. This year the big update will center around the GUI Editor. I started rebuilding the entire GUI system years ago. Building a fully functioning editor is the final step in revamping the GUI system because it allows other to easily tap into the changes […]
Read More
So what have we been working on at Circuit Hive? We’ve been building tools to make new games! We’ve updated the latest version of Torque2D so that games can be made more quickly. Part of the work we did here was to take some of the code we developed for Pirate Code and moved it […]
Read More
As usual, I have been busy coding and not writing blog posts. So today I’m happy to be talking about the release of a major update to Torque2D – The Rocket Edition, Early Access! For those who don’t know, Circuit Hive is closely tied to the Torque2D game engine since being placed in charge of […]
Read More
Right out of the gate, it was clear that the most challenging part of playing Pirate Code was dealing with the battle screen’s user interface. It took up a lot of space at the bottom of the screen and still managed to hide many important bits of information behind tabs.
Read More
Several years ago Pirate Code was approved by the powers that be on Steam’s Greenlight. When that happened I sat down and worked through all the ideas I had for Pirate Code and decided what needed to go into the Steam version. At some point in March of 2018 I actually finished all those features and on April 24th I released Pirate Code on Steam. Although Pirate Code wasn’t met with fanfare, I’m proud to say that I’ve made it and feedback is generally good. So now the big question is: what’s next?
Read More
I just finished reading my previous post from a year ago. It’s a little depressing to know how much more I really needed to do to cross the finish line. Like watching a movie where you know something bad is about to happen to the main character, but you can’t warn them. It was true, a year ago, the game seemed very close to done, but there were things – major things – left on my to-do list. Today it’s a different story. The game is done.
Read More
To prepare for Steam, Pirate Code has been undergoing a wave of changes! At the heart of these changes is the inventory. When first released Pirate Code had no visible inventory. The game actually did keep track of the items that you collected during missions, but you couldn’t buy or sell items. More importantly, you couldn’t actually use any items. All that has changed in the last few months! Let’s take a look at the Pirate Code inventory system.
Read More
Once a game reaches a certain level of complexity with the main game mechanic, the focus of the game designer shifts from designing the main game to creating a balance between challenge and reward. That’s where we’re at right now with our game, Pirate Code.
Read More
I’ve struggled with how much time I should dedicate to marketing versus actual game development. The problem is always time. Even with large teams, there just isn’t enough time to do everything. So to help myself, I broke down the process of selling a game into three tests that a game must pass in order to sell. If you’re an indie game developer, I hope you’ll find them useful as well.
Read More
Indie game developers are not always the most organized people. Many start as hobbyists and become more serious as time wears on. If that’s the boat you’re in, then you probably didn’t think about source control when you started writing your game. You might not even know what it is! Here’s a handful of reasons to check it out.
Read More