Hi guys it's the first month of official development. Our pre-pre-alpha build was only to show proof of concept and to pitch an idea, but now we know we have the funds to make it happen we need to scrap that and rebuild from the ground up. The correct way. So here is what we have been up to.


Game Design

This is has been taking up most of our time for the past 4 months. We have to write out and detail every system not only for Beta but for the final version of the game. That means every button click, every reaction, every possible issue which may arise etc. It's a lot more tedious than a single player game, being multiple player especially with an economy every decision can either solidify the game or possibly cause a break down. However it's better to take our time with this now and bring you guys a more functional game than run into issues later and wasted the funds and time. So please bare with us as we keep developing this. We are also going to have a feature lock soon which means no more extra features, or "Hey wouldn't it be cool is we have.." No. We are putting the final decisions in place so we know exactly what the final game will have. Special thanks to KeeperMatt and Jrome who have been assiting us.

Character Animation

This is a big one as we really need to get the character customization up and running as it's a big part of our features and the first thing you do when you start the game. We successfully swapped out the old model with the new one in engine, and now we are working on it getting it setup so it can be dynamic. Meaning the ability to swap out body parts and also clothes and customization options. So fingers crossed we get a good start on this month because that system will take awhile. Special thanks to Mark who had to tweak and edit the character over a dozen times to get it to work correctly. It takes a lot of patience to work this.

Character Design

Character designs are coming along slowly but surely and I know everyone is usually excited for that. We've gotten a lot of feedback for ideas for more types of characters we should have which will be addessed in the upcoming character designs. Granted we don't want the characters to not be forced as we have always said. So there isn't like the token 'fat character' or the token 'kid in a wheelchair' or 'gay' character etc. We're also doing digital designs instead of traditional which will go by a lot faster. So be on the look out for new characters in the coming months. Special thanks to Matt for his lovely character creaions.


Asset Creation.

Currently we have our modellers working on the furniture sets, while we begin fleshing out the map and towns to get an asset list for that. Currently we have 56 themes planned with an average of 33 pieces of furniture per set, not to mention sets will have multiple color and texture options for them. So all that combined gives many options and possibilities for ways to decorate your private house. 
Special thanks to Jeremy for working on that for us. We won't be seeing them texture however for awhile since that has to be planned and organized carefully.

Map creation

So we're starting building on the final version of the map and getting the technical aspect of piecing it together done before we start actually world building. Special thanks to Sarrene who is helping me on that. In February we'll hopefully be seeing what our game world will look like. And being an mmorpg it's going to be pretty big.


Music

Music is still coming along, :) It's one of the last things implemented in the game so it's a not a huge rush Clark has been taking his time.


Icons and UI

We also finished creating the UI for the character creation screen and we're currently putting it together in the engine. And Teagan and I 'finished' the crop icons. It was over 100 different types of crops and seed bad versions of them. It's not a crucial part in our game development but in an mmorpg with over 1000 items I figure it's best to get a head start on those now than rush them later.

Kickstarter Report

Still making out those rewards and letters slowly but surely. The goal is to have most of it sent out by July, so stay tune for that. 


Goals for Feburary

- Feature lock further development in the Game Design
- Character Customization UI implemented (not necessarily functional)
- Begin work on Dynamic character set up
- Complete the ores and gem icons
- More furniture sets
- More Music
- Mail out more Kickstarter rewards. 

Thanks again for your support guys :3 Be sure to follow us on tumblr for more frequest reports.