I’m planning on submitting a build of Operation: Star Hammer in the DreamBuildPlay competition. Entries close August 6, so I have 14 days (including today) to get the game polished up and looking good. However the DreamBuildPlay entry won’t be the end of development.

Instead, I’m focussing on getting the most important aspects of the game reasonably well tuned. I think some focus testing soon would be a good idea too. I got some great feedback when the game was shown earlier in the year, but their have been a lot of changeds and improvements since.

There have been quite a number of developments lately. I recently rewrote the AI that drives the enemy fighters – I think combat is more fun and engaging now. The move to 3D has allowed for simple cinematics, such as a take-off sequence when a new mission starts. Time, budget and ability providing, I’ll be expanding on that a bit after DreamBuildPlay. I’ve got a writer friend working on a new backstory and totally overhauling the missions and game story arc (more on this in a later post). I’m still having fun with shaders and cool effects.

The benefit of entering the competition is that it forces me to think really hard about what is important. I have a limited time budget, and I have to spend it wisely. It means having a strong idea of what the end product should look/feel/play like. Development has to be efficient. I like efficient.

It also means I’ll be able put together a video and show some new screenshots soon, something I’m looking forward to doing.

Anyway, back to work, I’ve got a competition to enter and a client to write software for.

I’ve created a new colour scheme/theme for the Black Lab Games site. The site is still very light on for content, but that’s because I don’t have much to say yet. That will change in good time.

I’m still undecided on what I want to use for a logo. The blocky ‘b’ is ok, but I’m not sure it portrays the image of digital games company. Much pondering to do…

Thoughts?