Tag Archives: video

Hyper Gauntlet Beta 1.0 Release Date

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Hyper Gauntlet header

Hyper Gauntlet: Legacy of Nozzlethruster III v1.0 will launch in 14 days, on March 1st, 2014. Let’s have a look at the features you can expect from the launch release:

  • Hurtle at whiplash-inducing speeds through a never-ending gauntlet of shiny blocks

  • Boost your score with reckless runs and power ups

  • Compete against the world for the highest score

  • Blocks of over 1 colour (2 colours)

  • More polished than the Queen’s cabinets

  • “Just. One. More. Go.” replayability

Not only do you get all that for the low, low price of $5 but if you buy within the first week, you’ll get an early bird special of $3.50!

Hyper Gauntlet whizzing through clear blue blocks

But wait, there’s more!

It’s a beta! So you’ll get the chance to help shape the future of Hyper Gauntlet by suggesting features and complaining when I change things, which I’m sure you’ll enjoy. You’ll also be able to mock the fools who waited until the final release to buy when the price will be higher. When I put it like that, it kinda sounds like an investment, doesn’t it?

Here’s what people who write professionally think of Hyper Gauntlet:

It’s the sort of thing you don’t stop playing until long after your day’s responsibilities have rotted or left you a series of very angry text messages. And then after that, it sits in the back of your skull, screaming to the forefront every time you blink, colorful squares rushing by behind your eyelids like midnight traffic.” – Nathan Grayson, Rock Paper Shotgun

“Give Hyper Gauntlet 10 seconds of your time, and if you’re not gripped by then, fair enough, move on with your life. Otherwise, welcome to the leaderboards!” – Chris Priestman, IndieStatik

“My evening’s been lost to this reflex-based tunnel-racer.” – Julian Benson,PC Games N

Hyper Gauntlet flying through red blocks

So where do I buy it already?

First, wait until March 1st. Your desire to play Hyper Gauntlet right this very second is understandable, so if you want to play the free version 0.9 while you wait, go ahead.

Is it the 1st of March yet? Great! Then you should now be able to buy Hyper Gauntlet from any of the following sites (pending some verification / set up processes):

Hyper Gauntlet flying through red blocks, bottom right corner

What about Steam?

Steam is lovely, isn’t it? It is! That’s why I’ve decided to launch a Greenlight page for Hyper Gauntlet, but I need your help. If you go to my Greenlight page and click the “yes” button, Hyper Gauntlet will rocket up the rankings and with a bit of luck will be greenlit before breakfast. And when it’s Greenlit you’ll be able to buy it from Steam or – if you’ve already bought it from somewhere else by then – you’ll receive a key for the Steam version.

Saturday Update #2 – I am not good at this

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It looks like I’m late, a whole week to be precise, but it’s time (finally) for another Saturday Update!

I started my job last week, and the work has certainly taken its toll on development time, but worry not, for I have still managed to get some things done!

Hyper Gauntlet

I’ve not gotten a huge amount done to Hyper Gauntlet. There’s been a lot of testing undertaken, and some more bugs fixed, but mainly I’ve been video editing and compiling. That sort of thing takes a while and I didn’t expect that.

Done

  • Trailer
  • Launch announcement text

To do

  • Screenshots!
  • Pick a release date!
  • Difficulty tweaks

ZenCell

On the other hand, ZenCell has been flying along! So fast has it flown in fact that I should put a dedicated page up on here soon.

Most importantly, you can now see a trailer of sorts for it, including typical game play. Do me a favour and check it out.

Done

  • Loading
  • Saving
  • Main menu
  • Intro
  • GUI
  • Scoring
  • Trailer

To do

  • Tool-tip help
  • High score system
  • Fixes
  • Difficulty tweaks

That’s it for this week, tune in next time for another great Saturday Update!

Missed Hyper Gauntlet on the Indie Dev Supershow?

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Well, now’s your chance to catch up!

I was interviewed by the awesome Man vs. Game on the Indie Dev Supershow, who managed to keep a coherent conversation going while racking up some impressive Hyper Gauntlet runs (and one bug found, yay!). It was a great experience, and the first time my ultra-posh voice has graced the internet airwaves. You’d be a fool to miss it.

It’s been a fairly slow time for me, as you may have noticed. I managed to annihilate my development PC over the Christmas period, and had to send it off for repairs. Turns out I’d fried the motherboard, and my processor wouldn’t fit the new one. Consequently I’m now rocking a pretty powerful new i7 and a large solid state drive. This computer fully boots Windows 8.1 before my monitor has woken itself up. Amazing.

Additionally, I’ve been very quiet on the article front. Sorry about that, it’s become very difficult working on Hyper Gauntlet while keeping the energy to write detailed blog posts. As such, I’ve decided to change my posting schedule a little. From now on you’ll get updates every Saturday (although I’ll probably aim for a time like 3PM GMT instead of this late), which will detail the progress I’ve made on Hyper Gauntlet, etc. Expect screenshots, videos, and detailed bug reports. In addition to this, I’ll try to post some more in-depth articles when I can. This draws the focus of this website away from the technical matters and towards the games, which is something I always intended.

So here’s a quick update: work continues on Hyper Gauntlet, and I’ve swapped out a few of the old systems with newer, shinier, more advanced ones which let me take control of the various systems in much more detail. It also means adding new features later will be a piece of cake.

All new features are complete, and all that remains is bug fixing. Not too many to go now. Expect a new build as soon as I’m satisfied with it, and then a release!

Speaking of releases, Noble Kale – a friend of mine – has just released his awesome rogue-like mining game Quarries of Scred on itch.io. The game is great fun and now you can get it for a discounted price, so what are you waiting for?

Arkaroid – a Breakout / Tower Defence blend

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For the past couple of days, I’ve been unable to work on Hyper Gauntlet because my other job has required that my PC be on 24/7, and my PC needs a restart before Unity will let me debug anything in MonoDevelop, so instead I’ve been working on something brand new behind the scenes. Don’t worry, I’ll get back to Hyper Gauntlet as soon as I can (probably over the next few days), but it’s been nice to work on something a bit different recently, and today in lieu of a dev post, I’d like to announce it.

What is Arkaroid, you ask? Arkaroid is an insane cross between Breakout and tower defence with a little hint of Cookie Clicker thrown in for good measure.

The game takes place in stages. To start with, you will be hard pressed to find any difference between Arkaroid and a normal game of breakout, you’ll have your paddle, your ball and some coloured blocks to break. When you break a block, however, coins will come out. Collect them with your paddle and they’ll be stored for later. After a couple of levels, the blocks will start slowly falling from the top of the screen. If a block passes or hits the paddle, it’s game over!

When you’ve earned enough coins, you can buy your first gun. Guns are upgradable towers that automatically fire at blocks on the screen. You’ll need them to help you take out the tougher and more numerous blocks of the later stages. You can have two guns at any one time. Varying the types of gun used per level will be wise, as some are better-suited to certain situations than others.

Additionally, you’ll be able to upgrade your paddle and ball with both one-off upgrades and temporary, but powerful consumables.

So far, I’ve only been working on Arkaroid for two days, but here’s what it looks like.