NZC: planning for the future
Hi Noxcrew community!
Another week of paradise in our isolation stations, how are we all holding up?
We’ve hard at work pinning down all we need to know to get things started on Nice Zoomy Cats!
It’s a bit of a different approach than we usually take. Usually, we know, or at least have a solid idea on, what a map is going to look and feel like at the very start of a project. Of course, things change as development progresses and new ideas are brought to the table, but we’re generally pretty certain about things like the world’s aesthetic, inspirations for enemies and entities and the specifics of the gameplay loop, especially if we’re working on an adventure map from the start.
This time things are a little looser and free for experimentation. There's been a lot of discussions on what we want to do, with lots of different, if equally interesting ideas on how things should look, act and feel being brought to the table. Special consideration has been made concerning the new movement mechanics we’re looking to implement into the world, with the mechanics team already showing off some exciting results and a very cool new animation that has really gotten everyone really excited!
The level designers have also been experimenting with styles, building up tester areas using different architectural and environmental designs with various temporary texture packs to try and find out what works best for the world we’re developing. At the same time, the art team had a big group meeting to go over all the ideas people suggested about how the world should look, gathering up pictures for inspiration and working with the build team to make decisions on what they’re developing!
As I said before, we’re always running the risk of introducing a bit of feature creep into projects like this (aka we become so enamoured with an idea that we keep stacking more and more onto it to make it the best thing ever!) but, for the time being, we’re behaving and trying to keep that to a minimum. Hopefully, by next week we’ll have everything pinned down and be ready to start building!
Testing for Codename: Cow continues, with a big push to clear all the issues picked up in last Friday’s test and get them tested too. As such mechanics have been very busy, prodding and poking at the map, smoothing over cracks and squashing bugs. I’m told we’re only days away from shipping her off which will be a relief, looking back we’ve been working on Codename:Cow (on and off) since April last year! Be good to see it finally gone!
2 weeks ago we let you all know about a skin pack being spearheaded by Skyescribbles. Well I’m pleased to report that in the time since the pack has been shipped, cleared and scheduled for release on the 21st of April, so look out for it then!
Finally, we’re only a week away from MCC4 and we’ve been hard at it making sure the arena is ready for our contestants old and new! If you haven’t seen the team announcements yet (how could you not?!) head over to the MCC Twitter, we have some interesting teams lined up to play!
Anyway, in preparation for their arrival, we thought we’d brighten the place up a bit to celebrate the season, so now its Springtime in MCC! We’ve decorated the lobby, hidden some eggs and even added a splash of seasonal colour to some of the games! That’s not the only surprise we’ve got hiding in MCC 4 but you’ll have to wait until the big day to discover what we’ve been up to (ooo mysterious)!
And that’s your lot!
I hope you all have a lovely relaxed bank holiday (don’t be a numpty, stay indoors) and I’ll see you next week.
Until then, stay safe!
Noctis