My monthly update is this time a bit earlier than usual, but I do have a thing or two to discuss here.

Main content demo almost done

At the present time I am working on the finishing touches of the final required dungeon of the demo version of the game. Please don’t get the word “demo” wrong, as I am not planning on a paid version of the game, however this “demo” will be playable for the first set of dungeons you can play while I work on the rest of the game.

Does this mean we can expect this “demo” anytime soon?

Urgh…. I wish it were so.
No there are a few things in the way.

• First of all, the fact that the dungeons are all done, doesn’t mean the rest of the game is, and I still got a lot of work to do.

• For example, there is one (small) optional dungeon planned I still need to start on. That is not something I’m really worried about though.

• Next I have this list of issues to take care of. This is only a portion of the full list, as that the full list is much larger, but these are the issues I must fix or otherwise take care off before we can even PREPARE for release. I always hate that part as it always seems to take forever. Well, gives me more satisfaction when it’s done at last, that’s for sure. (and I must add, it’s not uncommon for this list to GROW rather than shrink once all content has been added and the first full tests are done).

• Not to mention the demo ends when you obtain your own spaceship, however I will allow you in the demo to use the special features the ship brings you and I need to script those out fully too.

And once the demo is released?

Then I will first take some time off. You may not believe by the high-load of crap I post on the forums, but at this moment this project dominates my life. When I get out of bed I’m working on this game, until I go to sleep. It’s just not healthy anymore. I don’t want to tire myself out completely, as I know myself good enough to tell that this will lead to me sooner or later hating the game, and then we’ll end up with a rushed or unfinished product, and I do not want that. So in order to completely devote myself to this game I will need this break after the demo is released.
After this break I will take on this project again at full force. No I’m not being lazy. People who played Dyrt from start to finish know how hard I work on this.

Do you know how much time you need to complete the full version after the demo has been released?

Short answer: No.
Long answer: This will really depend on setbacks that I might suffer. The demo took longer than planned, but that was because I completely dissed the original LAURA system I used for Dyrt to come up with a new more efficient system called LAURA II. The system was more efficient, but completely incompatible with LAURA, so I had to completely start anew from scratch. That extra work that gave me is now all done, meaning that when I get onto the full version of the game, I can really focus myself on the game and the game alone. The new tools and stuff I had to rewrite as well may need a few tiny bugfixes, but nothing of that is a big deal. In other words, things can go pretty fast in the full version. Well much faster as in the production of the demo that’s for sure.

Say, if I download this demo and finish it, can I still use my savegames in the full version once that’s done?

If everything goes the way it’s planned: Yes!
That’s basically the beauty of the way I set up my savegames. Always keeping the possibility for expansion in mind.
I cannot make cold-hard promises, but I’ll do everything in my power to make the demo savegames compatible with the full version.
If I cannot make this come true (which I deem very unlikely), I will make a proper announcement, but I don’t expect this to happen.

I can already tell this probably won’t go vice versa. After all if you have already reached the non-demo content the demo cannot do anything with the savegame any more :)
(Which is pure logic, I think).

Right and if I have a savegame and I have a crash, can I still use the savegame after the crash is fixed?

That will depend if the data in the savegame is the source of evil or not. It the savegame itself is not the source of the evil, then yes, it will be very likely you can play the game after the fix.

I can hardly wait!

I know, I know.
Trust me, I know how frustrating it can be to wait for something, but I have to ask for your patience a little longer. I hope I can release the demo before christmas, but unfortunately I cannot promise that.
Of course, you can still play the alpha version but of course you will have to take into account that this version is not finished and most of all buggy.

Well, hold on.
The game is on the way.
Remember haste makes waste, so I will need my time to do this right.

See you soon ;)

Jeroen