BrightRidge Update 1.2.1 is available Now Go head and download it. WHAT'S NEW IN UPDATE 1.2.1? - First Person View (options > camera > First person view) - Photo Mode - compose and save screenshots with the new freecam (options > world > photo mode_ - Bug Fixes, GUI fixes and optimization - Feet now splash in rivers I'm already working on Update 1.2.2 I'm getting closer to adding and refining the rest of the mechanics i wanted to add before i add the quests. The portal bomb feature is coming up next and i think people will like it. BTW off topic - im playing assassins creed unity and except for RYSE it is the most beautiful game ive ever played
I still can't get the game to run. I'm crashing in the same place, the game gets stuck on this screen the moment I start a new game and stays like that until it crashes.
Like Protopop wrote some pages back this very likely is a memory issue. You are on an iPhone 4s like your info says? I guess you tried rebooting/shutting down your phone, and it didn't help? Can you try the Battery Doctor I mentioned on page 50? It's free and has a function to show how much RAM you have available, and also clean it up at runtime (no reboot required) . @Protopop: I cannot remember right away on which quality settings Brightridge starts. Not sure if that's possible, but if yes: how about adding a device detection that automatically puts the settings to lowest level on startup when something like a 4S is shown? Or, plan B, add a one-time quality selector to the startup so folks can select manually. Chosen setting should be saved, so you don't have to do it everytime you start the game, but of course be changeable from the menu.
Sorry Jenohart, and thanks for the pic. What Nullzone mentions above is correct - try closing all your other apps, then restarting the device. I'm trying to make it work as consistently as possible on devices with 512mb of memory, but sometimes it just doesn't seem to work. Can you let me know if closing the app and the restart works?
Thanks for your help Nullzone. Thats a good idea and yes it detects the device and starts in a low detail version (thats why the text overlaps in Jenohart's screenshot because its in low res and i havent made the text responsive to the lower resolution yet). I am pretty sure it is the texture memory that is making the game crash, it seems in my experience like the CPU and GPU can handle the actual game loop but there are so many textures - i wish unity offered a 1/16th option for texture quality as well I'm looking to see how i can reduce texture usage while keeping the game quality high, im even looking into separating BrightRidge into the regular version that would support only A6 and higher, and a BrightRidge Lite free version that would be the same game but optimized for A5. Right now both are in the same single app, but i am thinking if i separate them maybe i can further optimize the lite version because it wont include the higher res assets in the app file. Anyways thats a pretty big change but maybe its the way to go, it would also free up the newer version so that i could add more too it... I'm giving it some thought
Thanks for asking redribbon - realistically, i am aiming to finish all of the mechanics updates and bug fixes (updates 1.2.5, 1.3 and 1.3.5) before February (which is when this potentially game stopping 64bit Apple app requirement kicks in) - and then the Quests (update 1.4), if i can still work with the 64bit requirement - would be done in February for, say, march. (at which point the game will be officially "finished") I've actually already written most of the quests, but I want to get the mechanics all ready and as bug free and smooth as possible, because i will be using the framework of this game for the other 3 locations - DoonPillar, Residi Bay and GoldenWood. The ancient city of Residi is the setting for an upcoming Nimian Nations game. I'm looking forward to introducing players to Titanic Seaskralls (they are quite a sight)
I like the first person mode and if you don't mind I have a suggestion. Can you add the first person mode for the eagle and the butterfly? I think it would add a very immersive experience to the game. Thanks
That's a great idea - thanks jaysraptors_to I will try to add it in the next update. I appreciate the feedback and I'm glad you tried the game. The Inner Sea - on the west coast of BrightRidge - taken on iPad Mini 2 in Photo Mode
Good News What a week! My Mac crashed Monday and I had to wipe the hard drive. Fortunately is was literally minutes after i uploaded Update 1.2.1 (which is now live) Thankfully with backup i only lost a day (now my backup is always on every hour) and just a bit of the latest update. Best part is i freed up 100gb of space on my hard drive which will help with my game development. The big news though is that this morning i tested what looks like a fix to the Unity Tree Bug - im running more tests but if it pans out it means i will be able to upgrade Unity and have a lot more options (like Metal and more), and will be able to work on the game past Apple's February 64bit/ios8 sdk requirement. This really gives me a renewed encouragement Just thought i would pass on the good news, and i will keep results posted here.
Cheers on the potential fix for the tree bug. *does the happy dance* Metal, here he comes! Not so nice about the harddrive crash, glad to hear you did a backup (something I'm notoriously bad with myself). If you need a voluntary victim (aka tester ) for the treebug fix, you know where to find me.
Thanks Nullzone Im going to try nd get TestFlight setup so i can easily send people beta. I tested DoonPillar (the next location) and BrightRidge in the latest version of Unity and it worked great, and exports to IOS 8. I have some updating to get the project up to date with the new Unity but it should open up the ability to optimize things even more
Download Plum Nut Free DOWNLOAD: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/plum-nut/id580664043?mt=8 WATCH 60 SECOND TRAILER:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZQYwkD4Sbc The Music of the Nutcracker comes to life in this holiday musical platformer You can support my game design by downloading Plum Nut, my first game, for free. You play the part of a tou come to life, collecting the notes of the nutcracker in time with the music to unlock the most points
Took me a bit, but wanted to tell you that my kid loves Plum Nut! We have been playing it every day since I downloaded it a week ago or so. His favorites are the Santa Claus and Viking caps If it were a little easier to play, and the rats less scary, it'd be a great children's app I bet. He really likes the Giant Rat King, and frequently ask where he is when we play. But sometimes he still is afraid of him; no surprise with a 3-year old I guess...
That's awesome Nullzone And that's good feedback. To know that someone as young as 3 can play the game is good to know. I don't know that much about children at early ages, so hearing that the rats can be a bit scary is good feedback too. Ive been working on an update that make's it a bit more obvious when to grab the notes, and that let's you catch up easier, because another parent said it was hard to catch up once you fall behind. I'm really glad he liked it I think Plum Nut is a really original concept, and it's very dear to my heart. Plus I loved the nutcracker as a child so it's cool to be able to work with Tchaikovsky's beautiful music!
Loving the open world of BrightRidge, but wondering if I haven't explored enough? Done lighting skadads, killed momma wolf and bear and feeling despicable, killed wood cutters, got shapes eagle,Fox, stag, butterfly but I can't get outta Bright Ridge, correct? I tried to take three road out but I'm stopped by invisible wall or do I need to do something else to break through to the other side/town? I see that there are shapes left locked so I'm guessing my player still has yet something to uncover or is that in the next episode?
Yes, you cannot leave the area, the invisible walls mark the boundaries. Somewhere buried in this thread Protopop explained that the area he originally planned was 3 or 4 times the current size; but he decided to split it into several games (more to follow), to keep the filesize smaller. Well, with all those monster downloads of 1.5+ GB I disagree with him on that but I understand the decision, downloading that much over a mobile connection must be a pain. And even with a good Wifi/Internet connection, those large downloads take a long time and might turn away people due to getting impatient. About the locked shapes: If I remember right, Protopop wrote that he has a few more shapeshifts planned, e.g. a bear. Oh, and there are quests coming (which should be really interesting, from what Proto told about them) in a future update, which I hope isn't too far away. Thought on the invisible walls: Might be good to change those to something more obvious in the future. Think Ravenloft Mists Crow has a good implementation of area borders: The closer you get to the border, the thicker the mist gets until you can't see anything. And you can see the mist from further away, giving you a visual hint where the borders are. If you go in far enough, you get automatically turned around and nudged back to the game area.
Thanks GCL - i'm really glad you like it. Nullzone is right about the locked shapes, there are 4 more shapeshifts coming, a new underground area, and quests. The bridge is locked off, but I am building the games using a project structure so that POTENTIALLY i can offer a single game that will contain all 4 areas - kind of like a gold edition. But for the time being they are coming out as single areas in 4 different games. I'll post an update below with some more details about it and the updates for brightridge. That's a great idea Nullzone, and in DoonPillar and the upcoming games i'm working hard to make those invisible boundaries more sensicle (in doonpillar im experimenting with a sandstorm that eventually becomes too thick to go any further). The split into smaller games is more about my sanity The original area could fit in a phone (back then for some reason it even ran smoothly on the iPhone 4s) but there's just too much scope to fill it all in. With BrightRidge Ive been able to add more detail and get closer to the rich wilderness im trying to create. And once it's ready with all the mechanics in place it will be easier to launch the other 3 areas. But as i just mentioned above, I am building the project file so that potentially I can have a single gold edition with all 4 areas inside. Right now Ive been working hard on several fronts - time for an update: BrightRidge Update Unity and BrightRidge The best news is that Unity's Terrain Tree bug that was threatening to close my game design biz for good has been fixed just in time for Apple's february deadline for all apps being 64bit. Right now there is a lot of chaos i guess you could call it around Unity as they are trying to get version 5 ready, devs are testing 5 (including me) to make sure our games work (it takes a lot of work because the versions 4 and 5 are very different), they are scrambling to get 64bit support into 5 (whoch is still i beta) and Unity 4.6, and they're not adding 64bit support into any unity version below 4.6 (which was released just last week and doesnt have 64bit support yet). All this to say i am sending a lot of time converting and testing Brightridge, and it takes about 3 hours per test. What it seems i am settling on is Unity 4.6.1 (the first official version that includes the Tree fix) is supposed to be released this week. Once i get it, convert BrightRidge and test it to make sure it's working, I'm going to upgrade to 4.6 and make that my official Unity version for now, and continue with the updates. For the moment i have stopped on them because i don't want to work in a project file too deeply that is going to be upgraded within a week. DoonPillar But i have been moving forward. I've restructured the project file so that i can work on the 3 new areas - Residi Bay, DoonPillar and GoldenWood - while I work on BrightRidge. Here's the first screenshots from DoonPillar: First Screenshots from Nimian Legends : DoonPillar Nimian Legends Procedural RPG I am also working on the update to http://nimianlegends.com It's an HTML5 RPG that has been difficult to update because of the time it takes to populate the world. It's the setting form these games and in the new version you can actually visit BrightRidge, DoonPillar and the rest, and learn about their history. Anyways I have been preparing a 2.0 update that is semi-procedural. Instead of writing all the citizens, landmarks and quests, I am telling the webpage HOW to create them. So far it is coming along great and I will be launching it Early 2015 to go alongside the iPhone Games Android, Mac, PC There are (thankfully) quite a few people asking for Mac and Android support. The biggest challenge with the android port has been that the game can run at 1080p on phones that support it, like the Nexus, and the buttons are too small almost to use on this (aside from that BrightRidge is running on Android flawlessly). So i am waiting for this weeks 4.6.1 Unity release which includes a new resolution independent UI system that i plan to use for the Android Port. Mac and PC versions run well too, but i am missing some mouse and gamepad supprt so those will come a bit later There's also my day job, where I create things like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC6xYr5jhJM&list=UUiqxaQiuMt04HhEFrqFsWCw So everything is going smoothly, and there will be a BrightRidge Update 1.2.5 coming soon. It is slow and steady but as the game improves i am getting closer to my vision for the finished product, and Im super grateful to everyone who has shared in the journey and explored BrightRidge. I' hope everyone will enjoy the upcoming quests and new areas.
