New Developments

Things are looking up now with the animation system now in place. I'm currently working on some testing and working out a few niggles but otherwise it's all there which is a pretty big relief for me..

I'm gonna be away for the weekend but hopefully i'll be finishing up another prototype build next week which, i'm hoping will enable us to finally post up some video media for your viewing pleasure!

This is a big step and as such there are a few things to work out before hand but hopefully it wont be long before we can properly reveal some of the awesome progress we've been making to the world.. :D

See you soon!

Back to Action!!

Looks like things are back underway after a lengthy period of interruptions and temporary suspends on the project (maily due to a change of job, change of house & change of marital status... No i'm not yet married but I officially will be next year at least..) it's looking pretty good..

After some re-evaluations we've decided to look into making some important changes to the overall direction of the project at this stage, mainly in the art department but also some design aspects too. I'm not going to go into too much detail of those just yet though as we still have some finer details to iron out but once we do then i'll be sure to post an update feature list for your viewing pleasure!

Anyways I've got PSP gameplay scripts to write & XNA games to build but i'll leave you with some early test shots of the new art direction we're looking to move in.. Enjoy!!

Quick Update!

Just a quick update!

Things are moving along quite well at the moment. I've been spending as much time as I can in between moving house, city & jobs to try and get the next incremental prototype done. At this stage i've been sorting out the rendering engine, collision systems and squad mechanics which hopefully should put us in a good position to start seeing the seeds of gameplay bear fruit..

Other than that I've been doing some thinking about the Xbox360 version of the game & regarding some additions and alterations i'd like to make. Predominantly regarding the prospects of multiplayer since I feel the structure of the game would really be suited to supporting simultaneous 4 player action. However this would consequently provoke further design changes which could be made in accordance (to balance out the restriction of locking a single player to a single merc by adding another layer to the squad system which enhances the experience in another way...) This is all speculative however and may or maynot happen depending on what's resolved once I discuss it with rooster properly, but I do think it could be really cool to play coop (and maybe add online coop support depending on whether MS get their act together and add network support to GSE.. /pipedream..)

Anyways I'll be pushing hard on development in the next few months so hopefully we'll have some new media to showcase soon..

SmashCrew - What's It All About?

The best way to describe SMC would be a cross between "the chaos engine", "syndicate wars" & "cannon fodder"..

You take control of the smash crew; an elite mercenary group tasked with exploring abandoned space stations/ships, battling hostile inhabitants and ultimately scavenging resources to be used as a source of currency (can be used to purcahse weapons, upgrades and equipment). We have a pretty neat story which ties into the game too but this will be revealed in detail at a later date..

Some of the game features are as follows:-

[ Game ]

• Control a squad of elite mercenaries and wield some of the most sohpisticated weapons in the galaxy
• Use squad based tactics to separate your unit into upto 3 mini-squads, leveraging a strategic advantage to take down the meanest foes
• Incorperates a recruit system allowing lost men in the field to be replaced back at the base with new units
• Customise each recruit, giving each a unique dogtag (alias), equipment and weaponary
• Character development system allows your mercs to advance in rank as they progress through more and more battles (improving their stats such as accuracy, health etc)
• Recover salvage from expeditions to be used to purchase equipment, weapons and upgrades for your team
• Explore a wide range of locations such as military, scientific and civilian spacestations/ships which play host to a wide variety of enemies (from space mutants, to robotic sentinels and even other mercs)
• Randomisation system to allow levels to be generated so that no two levels will ever be the same (Provides High Level Replayability)
• Document system tells the story through documents and notes recovered throughout the levels (replaying the game will reveal more and more of the plot)
  

[ Tech]

• Supports both K/B & Mouse and Xbox360 GamePad in ether Windows or Xbox360 (No m/b + mouse) mode
• Non-realistic, stylised rendering with post-processing
• Supports rigid body dynamics on selective objects
  
• Procedural level generation framework incorperating support for xml based heuristic definitions

That's all the information we're revealing for now. Stay tuned for more details in the near future!

Progress: First Prototype!

Well things have been moving quite slowly so far on the smash front. Had a few minor delays here and there (got alot going on at the moment...) but luckily things have settled down a bit and as a result we've been cracking on hard to try and get back up to speed.
At the moment i'm almost done fleshing out the basic systems (for control, setup and rendering) and pretty soon we should be in a state where we can start testing mechanics and working through the flow of gameplay.
Overall I'm really impressed with how fast XNA actually is in terms of productivity. Coming from a C/C++ & DirectX background, its just bewildering to see that what would have usually taken me around a week to write, I can do in a matter of an hour or so and get everything up and running as intended. Although we still have a ways to go before the game is at a position where we can start showing it off in motion, things are moving along very well and with a bit of luck (and alot of unpaid man-hours stolen from our personal lives) we should hopefully be able to come up with something really impressive..

Lastly I'd just like to leave you with a quick screendump rooster did as a style test...:-



Don't forget to check back soon for more updates!

Enjoy!

Early Concepts

Since the blog is just starting up I thought it would be fitting to drop some of rooster's excellent early concept work here. So far the game is still in the early stages of development with alot of engine and content work that still needs to be done before we have anything to show that resembles the finished article. However work is dilligently underway and hopefully if all goes to plan, we should have alot in place within the next few months.


Stay tuned for more media updates..!

Early Concepts:

Introduction

Welcome to the grande unveiling of our new blog dedicated to the development of our brand new XNA game (tentatively titled "Smash Crew"). The game will primarily be a top down squad-based shooter with some tactical elements and strong a focus on fast and fun, addictive gameplay, high replayability and a strong sense of style.
To provide some background on the title, the original concept began life as the brainchild of rooster and has evolved through refinement into the title in development today (although the vast majority of rooster's original concept has remained intact). The game is in development for PC and Xbox360 using XNA as the platform of choice. Lastly the current list of development staff to date is as follows:-

rooster - artistic & creative lead
archangelmorph - programming lead & "ideas" guy

Stay tuned for game updates in the form of concepts, screens and videos as well as some interesting and insightful posts detailing the thrills and spills of developing such a hugely ambitious but rewarding title..!